More on Early Pregnancy Symptoms

Early pregnancy symptoms are defined as symptoms that occur before the menstrual cycles is missed. If a woman is actively trying to conceive and knows her body well, in particular her fertility signs, then she may pick up on some of the very early signs of pregnancy. A woman who wasn’t paying that much attention to her reproductive cycle may miss them.

If you can pinpoint ovulation, then you know that implantation can take place anywhere from about 5 days to 12 days past ovulation. You will not have any symptoms of pregnancy prior to implantation because your body doesn’t know if the egg is fertilized or not until it embeds into the uterine lining. It’s when implantation takes place that the body is signaled “I’m pregnant” and that’s when it’s possible for signs and symptoms of early pregnancy to take place. Keep in mind that some women will have no symptom of pregnancy other than a missed period and still be pregnant.

Early pregnancy symptoms could be:
Frequent urination
Nausea
Food cravings/aversion
Prominent blue veins on the breast
Extreme fatigue
Higher basal temperatures
Lack of PMS
Spotting at around 1 week post ovulation
Cramping at around 1 week post ovulation

Any of these symptoms can be present, or none if pregnant. Some other ways of determining pregnancy is seeing the ferning patterns on an ovulation microscope. This is because when pregnant both estrogen and progesterone is raised, thus the presence of the properties in saliva that causes ferning while fertile will possibly cause ferning while pregnant.

Each pregnancy is unique. Just because you experience nausea and craved pickles with your first baby, doesn’t mean you will with the second. Each of my four pregnancies held different early symptoms.

My first baby I had frequent urination and extreme fatigue, this occurred before I tested, before my cycle was even late. I also had waves of nausea that would bring me kneeling beside the toilet, all the while wondering what I could eat after I vomited. That was the first realization that I may be pregnant!

Baby number two I had NO symptoms. That was my clue, though. I always had the “PMS” headache a day or two before my cycle was to start and that month I had no headache. I had no early pregnancy symptoms either, but when I tested it was positive, the day BEFORE my period was due! And oh, this was one month after a miscarriage too!

Baby number three I had a bout of extreme fatigue hit me in the middle of the afternoon at 10 days post ovulation. That was unusual for me and I knew something was up. The following morning my husband cooked biscuits (which I normally love) and the smell hit me and made me want to vomit. I took my basal temperature, and saw the triphasic rise, jumped up and tested, sure enough positive!

Baby number four was a surprise. I was breastfeeding my then 13-month old daughter, my luteal phase was around 7 days and I figured conception would be impossible. That same month I started using Happy PMS Cream. I was charting my fertility signs, and like with pregnancy number 2, I had no PMS symptoms. I thought it was because of the progesterone cream. At 11 days post ovulation my temperature went triphasic (third level of highs) and so I tested. You guessed it, positive, a surprise to both my husband and myself!

Other “possible” signs of pregnancy is receiving a positive on an ovulation test (when I was using ovulation tests I would occasionally have one left over and would try it. With the 2nd miscarriage I had, I tested positive with an ovulation test.)

Whether you have early pregnancy symptoms or not, just remember to enjoy the journey!

Lori Ramsey of Stages in Pregnancy

©2006 by Lori Ramsey