Interesting Early Signs Of Pregnancy Before Your Missed Period
Those couple of weeks leading up to your period can seem like it takes forever when you’re trying to get pregnant. The good news is that there are some early signs of pregnancy before your missed period!
If you’re like me, the anticipation sets in, and you just want to know what’s going on! The following signs can help give you a heads up about what might be happening.
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Most Common Early Signs Of Pregnancy Before Your Missed Period
Nausea
Many women experience nausea early on in their pregnancy. On the other hand, some women never experience nausea at all.
Nausea during pregnancy is called morning sickness, but really, it can happen at any time of the day.
If you do have nausea, you will want to ensure you find a remedy that works for you as soon as you can. You will want to keep it under control!
You’ll also love:
The Best Morning Sickness Remedies
Breast Changes
Breast changes were the number one reason I knew I was pregnant before my missed period. It was unlike anything I had experienced in the past!
When you become pregnant, your breasts can start to grow and have increased sensitivity. The best thing you can do for this is to find a bra that is supportive and comfortable. Also, you can experience darkening areolas, which can happen early on in pregnancy.
Food Cravings and Aversions
Food cravings and aversions can start as early as five weeks into your pregnancy! The changes to your hormones usually cause this.
You might notice that you are craving certain foods, or some foods that you usually like taste really bad. For example, shortly after I became pregnant, coffee started tasting horrible. Also, things that I ate regularly were making me gag.
Fatigue
Many women experience fatigue very early in their pregnancy, and for a good reason- growing a baby is hard work!
It’s typical for your fatigue to ease up a little in the second trimester, but don’t be surprised if it returns in the third trimester.
If you are feeling pregnancy fatigue, the best thing to do is rest as often as you can, eat healthily, and don’t skimp on the water.
Mood Swings
Mood swings are an early pregnancy symptom, but they can also be a sign of PMS. This makes it a little harder to pinpoint if your mood swings are caused by pregnancy.
If you feel like your mood swings are severe or feel anxious or down, call your doctor. These feelings are normal, and your doctor can help you!
Weird Dreams
Another unusual pregnancy symptom brought on by hormone changes is experiencing weird dreams.
This article from WebMD explains that pregnant women remember more of their dreams because of frequently waking throughout the night. When you are waking more often, what you dream about is more likely to be fresh in your mind.
Increased Urination
You might think that increased urination starts farther along in your pregnancy due to your growing baby pushing on your bladder, but that’s not the case!
More frequent urination can start as early as around the time your period would start. As you probably guessed, this is because of that lovely HCG hormone!
Spotting
When the fertilized egg attaches to the uterus, that is called implantation. This process can cause some mild spotting to occur.
Many women will think that this spotting is the start of their period. If you are experiencing implantation bleeding, it typically lasts between 1-3 days and then stops. If you have any questions about the spotting you are experiencing, call your doctor!
Light Cramping
In addition to implantation bleeding, you can also experience some light cramping. This can also add to the confusion of thinking your period is going to start.
These cramps that follow implantation shouldn’t be too painful. They will be light, and like the spotting, not last for too long.
Higher Basal Body Temperature
Your basal body temperature is your body’s temperature while you are resting. When you are ovulating, your basal body temperature will slightly rise.
Tracking your basal body temperature can be helpful when you are trying to get pregnant and when you’re avoiding pregnancy, as you will tell when you are most likely ovulating.
After ovulation, your basal body temperature will stay high until your period starts. If you are pregnant, it will remain high.
To learn how to track your BBT, check out this helpful article from Verywell Family.
Sensitivity to Smells
Besides different cravings like I mentioned above, your hormone changes are also responsible for changes to your senses.
The most common sense to be affected is your sense of smell. You might find that everyday items that typically smell good now smell horrible.
If you find that certain smells are grossing you out, try chewing some minty gum or eating something like ginger. Items like these will help to offset the offensive odor.
Stuffy Nose
In addition to sensitivity to smells, your pregnancy hormones can also affect your nose in general.
If a stuffy or runny nose is the only symptom you have, it’s likely due to pregnancy.
When can you take a pregnancy test?
If you are experiencing some of these early signs of pregnancy before your missed period, you might want to take that pregnancy test as soon as possible, but wait!
It’s best to wait until the week after your missed period to take a test. This will help your body to produce enough of the HCG hormone to be detected.
If you really can’t wait that extra week, be sure to buy a test like this one that claims to detect HCG earlier.
Pregnancy or PMS?
The symptoms of PMS and pregnancy can be so similar. For this reason, it’s much more important to confirm a pregnancy with a test if you are experiencing these symptoms.
One of the most significant differences between PMS symptoms and pregnancy symptoms is that when you become pregnant, your areolas can darken. This is very unlikely to happen during PMS, so it can be a good indicator to take a pregnancy test.
Lastly, a good thing to keep in mind is that everyone’s experiences are different. Even if this isn’t your first pregnancy, you can experience different symptoms than you did before.
Before you go, check out these related articles:
- What To Do When You Find Out You’re Pregnant
- The Ultimate First Trimester Checklist
- Pregnancy Essentials That Help You Stay Comfortable
- How To Have A Baby On A Budget
- The Best Reasons To Be A Stay-At-Home Mom
What are some early signs of pregnancy that you’ve experienced? If this isn’t your first pregnancy, what’s the weirdest pregnancy symptom you’ve had? I would love to know in the comments below!
This is a very helpful article. I cannot tell you the amount of times I have googled this ! I remember those days very welll! This will be so helpful to mamas waiting to see that positive !
Thanks, Amanda! I’m glad you enjoyed this post! 🙂
For me I had lots of nausea and fatigue. My breasts always get really tender early on too!
That’s exactly how it was for me, too!
The stuffy nose was it for me!
Yes!!! I experienced this too; it’s such a weird symptom!
Great read!!! Oh how I remember all the weird dreams during pregnancy and looking back that was probably my first sign of pregnancy!
That’s interesting! Pregnancy dreams can be so strange sometimes haha