For most of you the first you will be aware of is that late period followed by the two little blue lines on the pregnancy test. However when it came to my second pregnancy I knew immediately that I was pregnant before I even got to that stage due to one tell tale symptom. Not morning sickness but that disgusting metallic taste in my mouth. It was a dead giveaway for me and those of you who have experienced it will know exactly what I mean! Today I thought it would be good to talk about those little early signs and symptoms that may point towards a possible pregnancy.
Late Period
Without stating the obvious, if your period is late then it’s definitely worth doing a pregnancy test.
Sickness
Although it is called morning sickness it could just as easily be called morning, noon and night sickness as it can strike at any time. You will often find that the sickness symptoms start around 6 weeks and hopefully end sometime after your first trimester. You may not be physically sick but can feel queasy and have an unsettled stomach.
Tiredness
I don’t mean feeling a bit sleepy, I mean completely wiped out. In the early weeks I used to return home from work and collapse in bed at around 7pm. I just couldn’t keep awake. You might find your energy being zapped a little bit or not feel quite up to that early morning spin class but don’t worry, it is all fine and your energy levels do start to return.
Strange Tastes
As I mentioned before a lot of people say that they had a very odd taste in their mouth the whole time. I can only describe it as metallic and as soon as you have it you will know.
Heightened Sense Of Smell
Often you will find that you are more sensitive to smells than you were before. Certain foods or the smell of cooking are not always that appealing any more.
Breast Tenderness
This isn’t a symptom I experienced personally but it is a dead giveaway for a lot of people. You may have tingling or more prominent veins and a general feeling of tenderness. Your nipples may also be really sore and often start to change to a darker colour.
Cravings
You may not want to chow down on a lump of coal (although if you do that’s fine!) but your body might suddenly start wanting certain types of food. For a lot of people, including me, that was stodge or all the beige foods. Basically potatoes and bread were high on my meal time agenda. Equally you may find foods and drinks you loved suddenly loose all their appeal. You can read more about the teams random cravings here.
Increased Toilet Stops
Yep, the excessive need to pee starts early on!
Constipation
Sorry for the not so pleasant side effect but this can in fact be one of the early pregnancy symptoms caused by changes in your hormones.
Stomach Cramps
Quite a few women experience cramps or period style pains around the time you would normally expect to get your period. This can be down to the ligaments in your uterus stretching and contracting to accommodate the baby. If you are ever worried about stomach pains during pregnancy please contact your doctor or midwife.
Vivid Dreams
Finally, those early pregnancy hormones play havoc with your brain and can result in all sorts of weird and wonderful night time stories occurring!
Did anyone know before they took the test or did you have any other symptoms that were dead giveaways?
{Pin The Symptoms}
Image by Little Beanies.
With all six of my pregnancies I knew I was pregnant really early as I was extremely nauseous but my most telltale sign was something called ptyalism which is basically excess saliva. It’s a grim pregnancy side effect which resulted in me carrying around a drinks bottle to spit into whenever the saliva became too much (which was every few minutes at the worst times).
With both of mine I had really mild dizziness that I experienced before my period was late or I took a test. So second time around I knew. There’s so many weird pregnancy symptoms they don’t tell you about!
This was exactly the same for me – all 3 of my pregnancies started with me having a mild dizzy spell a few days before period was even due. I have naturally low blood pressure which drops super low in pregnancy so I wonder if this is part of the cause of the dizzy spells.
The heightened sense of smell and the other level tiredness – both times, so second time I knew I was pregnant before the test!
I got the boob tingle before my missed period. It wasn’t hugely painful, but a definite tickly tingle. The other big symptom was lack of spotting before my period. Usually I would spot beforehand for a few days, so if this didn’t happen it was a major giveaway.
Obviously I would try and not get my hopes up, especially after a coupleof early losses, but my gut told me I was. Think the smell thing kicked in by about 5/6 weeks, so I already knew I was pregnant by then. Xx
For me a dead giveaway is a stitch when exercising. A killer stitch!! I did my first triathlon with no problems on a Sunday, went for a light jog on the Wednesday and was crippled with stitch. Having experienced this first time I knew straight away- and bingo positive test next morning 💗
We’re TTC and it’s taking a longer time than we had hoped. I’d say don’t get too excited by symptoms until you get the positive test – I’ve had a few months where I’ve had the full range of them, even down to the sickness, only to be disappointed.
Your body can really play tricks on you when you’re wanting something so badly – mine even produced a road map of blue-green veins everywhere, which had me convinced I was pregnant, only for my period to arrive a day or so later.
Sorry to be a Debbie-Downer, but I’ve avidly read these posts and got excited at little twinges. Now I’m trying to leave it to Mother Nature and avoid symptom spotting until if/when I get a positive…when I’ll be searching all of these posts with a newfound determination!
PS – love the blog, hope you don’t mind me loitering here despite not having the family…yet!
Absolutely hear you on this one, especially during the dreaded two week wait it’s so easy to pick up on every little symptom and I swear our bodies play tricks on us as well! Good luck in TTC, sending lots of love your way xx
Hi. We always welcome everyone and it’s so nice to see people here when they are TTC. Completely agree on this and I too experienced many of the symptoms in the long months when we were trying for our first only to find out I wasn’t pregnant. After a lot of disappointment I got to the point where I refused to take a pregnancy test for a month just in case I was wrong. It can be so disheartening so I think you have the perfect approach of staying positive and letting nature do it’s stuff. Wishing you lots of luck xx
Oh my goodness the increased sense of smell! It made me seriously consider if there was something dead under the floorboards because I was convinced our house smelt funny. Needless to say it was just the very early pregnancy symptoms.
My in-laws had got a new puppy during the very early weeks of my pregnancy when we were still hiding it from family, it was SO hard and the smell thing almost gave me away so many times as being in a room with her was overwhelmingly smelly for me and going on a walk meant I could smell a mile off when she had gone to the toilet! Hilarious to look back on though! Xx
The absolute overwhelming tiredness!! Second time round I feel asleep in the bath at 7pm and just knew!
Heartburn. I never had it in my life before I was pregnant with my daughter. I’m currently 37 weeks with my second and I knew before I’d even tested because it was back (much earlier second time around).
I must be about to give birth to the hairiest baby ever!
I am pregnant with my third, and with each pregnancy the extreme tiredness and really low mood hit me almost instantly after conception. Obviously with the first I just assumed I was coming down with a cold, and only realised once I had taken a pregnancy test, but with 2 and 3 I knew before the test and a missed period. Unfortunately the morning sickness has also kicked in again, but that happens a bit later 🙁
For me it was the lack of symptoms! We tried for 3 years to get our first here and I had googled every early pregnancy sign in the book! It was the lack of back ache and low mood (that I always hoped indicated I was pregnant but actually just heralded my period in the previous months) that made me think our ivf cycle had been successful! With our 3rd unexpected, it was nausea that got me doing period maths!!!
For me it was heartburn, right from the start, and also feeling like my heart rate had increased – apparently due to the increase in blood flow, but a bit disconcerting to begin with! Next time it would be a real giveaway.
Agree with the others saying that when TTC I seemed to have loads of these symptoms, only for my period to arrive a few days later though 🙁
A few days before I found out that I was pregnant I realised I’d made several cups of tea at work and they’d gone untouched, I just couldn’t get it down! I also started struggling to sleep! Insomnia stayed me throughout my whole pregnancy and it was definitely an early pregnancy sign.
Serious mood swings!! Bursting into tears for no reason at all has always been a major giveaway. And a weird sensation (almost like I’m about to get mild pregnancy cramps) that made me realise almost immediately on conception this time round. Just waiting for the 12 week scan in a few weeks and really really hoping this one works out after a missed miscarriage a few months ago. The brain definitely plays tricks on you all the way through those early weeks.