Pregnancy Symptoms

Overview
Pregnancy symptoms are often difficult to understand because each symptom may be related to something other than pregnancy. Some women experience pregnancy symptoms within a week of conception while other women develop symptoms over a few weeks or never at all.

Here are some of the most common pregnancy symptoms:

•Missed period
This is the most common and easily spotted sign of pregnancy. Missed or late periods are sometimes caused by excessive weight gain/loss, fatigue, hormonal problems, stress or ceasing to take the birth control pill, but it may mean you are pregnant. While some women can bleed while they are pregnant, the bleeding will usually be shorter or lighter than a normal period. If you have been sexually active and missed a period, it is recommended that you buy and take a pregnancy test.

• Swollen and/or tender breasts
This pregnancy symptom that may begin only one or two weeks after conception. Breasts may become tender to the touch, sore or swollen due to hormonal changes

• Fatigue
Feeling fatigued or extremely tired is a pregnancy symptom that can start as early as the first week after conception. This is sometimes caused by PMS, stress, exhaustion, depression, a common cold or the flu, but it may also mean that your body is reacting to the overwhelming changes happening so quickly.

• Morning sickness
This well-known pregnancy symptom causes frequent and intense nausea between the second and eighth week after conception. It is caused by the body adjusting to the new hormone levels caused by pregnancy. Some women do not ever have to deal with morning sickness, while others will feel nauseous throughout most of their pregnancy or for the first trimester.

• Frequent urination
Around six to eight weeks after conception, you may find yourself making a few extra trips to the bathroom. It's not from the pressure of the uterus but a hormonal reaction to a flood of progesterone, which relaxes the bladder muscles and signals to the brain that you have a full bladder.

• Darkening of areolas
If you are pregnant, the skin around your nipples may get darker. However, this sometimes means that you have an unrelated hormonal balance or have a leftover effect from a previous pregnancy.

Ask Your Physician
You may visit Planned Parenthood online or call them to get a confidential consultation or pregnancy test.