While every pregnancy is different, most women will encounter a few early signs, however subtle they may be. The easiest way to confirm a pregnancy is a home pregnancy test or a trip to the doctor or midwife.
Missed Period
Perhaps the most obvious sign of pregnancy is a missed period. But periods may also be late because of stress or changes in diet and exercise. Some women may think they are having a period when they are actually having implantation bleeding. Bleeding may also be a more serious complication of pregnancy, such as miscarriage, ectopic or molar pregnancy.
Tender Breasts
If a woman is pregnant, her breasts may be even more sensitive than they are before menstruation. She may notice other changes in her breasts, such as darkened areolas and slight engorgement. It may hurt to wear a bra. Breast tenderness is caused by the rapid increase in hormones and may level off around the fifth or sixth month when the breasts are able to produce colostrum, the precursor to breast milk.
Fatigue
Rapidly increasing progesterone levels combined with an increase in blood production can lead to exhaustion for a pregnant woman. Because the pregnant woman's body is constantly working to grow another human being, this exhaustion does not usually go away with more rest. The fatigue tends to subside in the second trimester once hormone levels have leveled off a bit.
Nausea
Contrary to popular belief, morning sickness does not just happen during the first hours of the day. A pregnant woman may feel ill afternoons and evenings too. The nausea may last all day or may be intermittent. Some pregnant women may actually find they vomit.
Approximately 70 to 80 percent of pregnant women experience some form of nausea or vomiting. A very small percentage of these women may go on to experience hyperemesis gravidarum, a severe condition in which excess vomiting leads to dehydration, weight loss, metabolic imbalances and, ultimately, hospitalization.
Frequent Urination
Women experience a need to urinate more frequently during the third trimester, when the weight of the fetus presses into the bladder. This is also one of the earliest symptoms of pregnancy. Once the embyro has implanted in the uterine wall, a woman's hormone levels begin to change. Human chorionic gonadotropin (commonly referred to as hCG) is the hormone responsible for frequent urination.
