Early Pregnancy Symptoms

TENDER or SWOLLEN BREASTS

That tingly, sore and/or full feeling in your breasts that screams "look...but don't touch" is another of the first signs of pregnancy. The hormones estrogen and progesterone deserve most of the credit (or the blame) for breast and nipple tenderness. It's pain with a gain, though, since they're preparing your body for the milk-making to come.

DARKENING & BUMPY AREOLAS

Your areolas (the circles around your nipples) may get darker and increase in diameter, thanks to the pregnancy hormones surging through your body. Not only that, but you'll likely start to notice tiny bumps growing in size and number on your areolas. These bumps (called Montgomery's tubercles) were always there, but now they're gearing up to produce more oils that lubricate your nipples and areolas once baby starts suckling.

FATIGUE

Imagine running a daily marathon or climbing a mountain without training while carrying a backpack that weighs a little more every day. That's pregnancy in a nutshell. In other words, it's hard work! During early pregnancy, a huge amount of energy goes into building a placenta, the life-support system for your baby. All that can zap you of your usual get-up-and-go.

BLEEDING OR A MISSED PERIOD

For up to 30 percent of new moms, light spotting or implantation bleeding before you'd expect your period (around six to 12 days after conception) is sometimes a sign that an embryo has implanted itself into the uterine wall. On the flip side, it might be stating the obvious, but if you've missed a period (especially if your periods usually run like clockwork) you're probably suspecting pregnancy.

NAUSEA

That telltale queasy feeling in your stomach known as morning sickness can hit you at any time of day beginning just a few short weeks into your pregnancy. Hormones — mainly increased levels of progesterone, which cause the stomach to empty more slowly — are, again, largely to blame (though estrogen and hCG can also take some credit for your nausea). Nausea can strike a newly pregnant woman soon after conception, but it's more likely to begin around week 6.

FREQUENT URINATION

Two to three weeks after conception you may notice anincreased need to pee. This new gotta-go feeling usually crops up two to three weeks after conception and is due to the pregnancy hormone hCG, which increases blood flow to your kidneys, helping them to more efficiently rid your body (and, eventually, your baby's body) of waste. Your growing uterus is also beginning to put some pressure on your bladder, leaving less storage space for urine and making you head for the toilet more frequently.

BLOATING

Having trouble buttoning your jeans? Early pregnancy bloatingis hard to distinguish from pre-period bloat, but it's something many women feel soon after they conceive. You can't blame that puffy ate-too-much feeling on your baby yet, but you can blame it on the hormone progesterone, which helps slow down digestion, giving the nutrients from foods you eat more time to enter your bloodstream and reach your baby.

RAISED TEMPERATURE

If you've been using a special basal body thermometer to track your first morning temperature, you might notice that it rises around 1 degree when you conceive and stays elevated throughout your pregnancy. Though not a foolproof sign (there are other reasons your temp can rise), it could give you advance notice of the big news.

No matter what symptoms have cropped up for you, the only way to know for sure that you're pregnant is to make an appointment with your OB/GYN. Be sure to schedule the visit as early as you can so you can get the best care possible right from the start. And if it does turn out you're expecting a baby, congratulations! You're embarking on the journey of a lifetime.