Pregnancy signs: how do you know if you are pregnant?

A woman who wants to become a mother of a healthy child should know the first signs of pregnancy. This is necessary in order to stop taking medications, alcohol and smoking in time, not to mention drugs.

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First signs of pregnancy

The very first signs of pregnancy are the cessation of menstruation. Of course, this sign in itself is not very reliable. Menstruation may stop due to certain diseases (anemia, tuberculosis, diabetes); when changing climate zones (moving to another city, country); during emotional shocks (fear, grief). In women with infantilism (underdevelopment) of the genitals, with an unstable nervous system, menstruation may be irregular.

With the onset of regular sexual activity, some restructuring of the hormonal background occurs in young girls, and this can lead to either a delay or an unscheduled onset of menstruation. In most healthy women, the absence of menstruation indicates that conception has occurred.

Common Signs of Pregnancy

The next signs of pregnancy are attacks of nausea or even vomiting, more often in the morning or throughout the day. Sometimes there is no vomiting, but salivation is noted. These symptoms usually appear after the fifth week after fertilization and cease by the fourth month. Previously, these symptoms were called toxicosis. Now the word "toxicosis" has been replaced by the word "gestosis", since there is no true intoxication (accumulation of toxins). By the way, the word "gestosis" is more often used to describe disorders that accompany the second half of pregnancy.

Nausea in the first days after conception is associated with increased metabolism.

If it bothers you very much, try some antiemetics: in the morning, before getting out of bed, eat a hard unsweetened cracker or toast and only get out of bed half an hour later. Limit your food intake. It is better to eat less, but more often. If you feel nauseous in the morning, move your main meal to the evening, if nausea bothers you at lunch, eat most of your food in the morning or evening. Nausea often occurs as a reaction to kitchen smells. In this case, you should try to spend less time in the kitchen.

If the urge to vomit is strong, you can try to hold it in: breathe frequently but shallowly with your mouth open, like a dog. You can lie down and apply a cold heating pad to your stomach. Sometimes, on the contrary, the heating pad should be warm. If you feel nauseous all day long, and the nausea is accompanied by vomiting, and quite often, then all these methods will most likely not help and you should seek help from a doctor, since frequent vomiting leads to dehydration, and this is life-threatening.

Changes in the mammary glands are common signs of pregnancy. You may say: "Changes in the mammary glands also occur before red days of the calendar." Yes, it is. Before menstruation, most women's breasts increase in size, swell and may even hurt. But this does not last long - a few days, and with the onset of menstruation, these phenomena disappear. The same changes occur when conception occurs. In this case, the nipple and areola darken. In addition, the subcutaneous vessels become more noticeable. The nipples increase somewhat, and when pressed, a white-yellow liquid - colostrum - begins to appear from them. These signs of pregnancy are more important in first-time mothers, since in women who have given birth, colostrum (or milk) can be squeezed out even after the birth of the child.

Signs of pregnancy can be seen in changes in the mammary glands already in the second or third month. If you want your breasts to remain beautiful after the birth of your child and not lose their shape, turning into "spaniel ears", then you need to take care of them from the beginning of fertilization. Due to the enlargement of the glands, the breasts become heavier, they can sag, the skin on them stretches. To some extent, this can be corrected with the help of a properly selected bra. It evenly distributes the mass of the breasts over the entire chest, balances both glands, which, by the way, are almost always different in size, prevents the development of poor posture, back and neck pain. At the same time, the bra should not be tight or, conversely, too loose.

You also need to take care of your nipples. Sometimes the shape of the nipple is such that the baby cannot grasp it with his mouth and, therefore, cannot suck properly. Therefore, you need to try to change the shape. Start with massaging the nipples: pull them, squeeze them with your fingers, rub them. Of course, you should not do this roughly, so as not to injure yourself. (Although this phrase is almost absurd - there are not so many masochists among women and almost everyone loves themselves and their bodies.) You can resort to the help of your husband - let him gently pull the nipples with his lips. You can also sew a circle of thick fabric to the inside of the bra so that the nipple constantly rubs against it. This will thicken the skin of the nipple, and then during feeding the risk of cracked nipples will be minimized.

In the first three months after conception, women experience pregnancy symptoms such as frequent urination. This is due to the fact that the lower part of the abdominal cavity is excessively filled with blood, since the uterus and other internal reproductive organs receive more nutrition during this period. The organs filled with blood compress the bladder more than usual. In addition, the general metabolism changes (it is more intense), which contributes to increased water formation.

Frequent urination usually occurs until the fourth month. Then these signs of pregnancy disappear, only to reappear before delivery.

Sometimes pregnant women become excessively sleepy. Moreover, the desire to sleep overcomes the woman, even if she slept well at night. Sleepiness increases in cramped, stuffy rooms and in transport. In order to get rid of sleepiness or at least reduce it (after all, you still need to work), you should spend more time in the fresh air, ventilate the room more often, eat more foods containing vitamins - vegetables, fruits, juices (preferably fresh).

Signs of pregnancy: changes in the skin

Almost all women experience pregnancy symptoms such as skin changes. These are freckles, brown pigment spots on the face and other parts of the body. A characteristic sign is darkening of the nipples and areolas and the so-called white line of the abdomen, which runs from the navel down to the pubis. This is due to the activation of biochemical processes and increased production of melanin (a hormone that activates pigment metabolism). The production of other hormones is also activated, as a result of which the sebaceous and sweat glands begin to function more actively. At the same time, sweating and sebum production increase. There is nothing wrong with this, but the fact is that among the sweat glands there are so-called apocrine glands, located in the armpits and near the genitals and secreting a secretion with an unpleasant odor. And this is already a problem, albeit a minor one. You do not want your colleagues at work to look askance at you when you pass by and "spray" them with your "aroma". To get rid of the smell, you need to follow basic hygiene rules: shower more often (two to three times a day), change clothes more often and use deodorants.

Mental instability (tearfulness, emotionality, sometimes aggressiveness or, on the contrary, lethargy, apathy) are also common signs of pregnancy. Of course, this sign cannot be considered the main one, since everyone knows that a woman behaves the same way with PMS (premenstrual syndrome).

If you have noticed these signs of pregnancy and you have decided that you will have a child, we congratulate you (or sympathize) and advise you to see a gynecologist. An experienced doctor will always determine whether you have signs of pregnancy or you are wishing for reality. In addition, it would be desirable to know where the egg was implanted. If the egg was implanted in the uterus, this is normal. If the egg stopped in the fallopian tube, then this is a pathology that, if this problem is not solved in time, can cause a lot of trouble. The tube can rupture (the embryo is growing) and cause profuse bleeding into the abdominal cavity. To determine where the egg was implanted, you need to do an ultrasound examination.

If you don't really believe in these signs of pregnancy, take a test. Special tests are now widely used for express diagnostics. This is a strip of paper with yellow or other colored lines. Each test has instructions. To determine the presence or absence of conception, you need to dip the strip of paper into a jar of urine, and then, following the instructions, draw a conclusion. The reliability of the method is quite high, but far from 100%. Therefore, you should not completely trust it. The fact is that all these tests react to the presence of chorionic gonadotropin in a woman's urine - a hormone that is formed only after fertilization. But the tests react only to a certain concentration of it. Therefore, if the amount of the hormone is still insufficient, and all the signs of pregnancy are evident, the strip will show a negative result. This may be the case if you are testing during the day or in the evening. Therefore, the test should be done in the morning, with the urine that was collected in the bladder all night. Then the test result will be more accurate, but, again, not 100%.