When Janet began feeling queasy in the stomach and had strange twinges in her nipples, she was at once filled with anticipation and anxiety. Could she be pregnant? It was not yet the due date for her period ─ she hadn’t missed it as yet ─ but already she was seeing signs that filled her with questions.
She and her husband had been trying for their first baby since they got married five months ago and they had been having unprotected sex quite often in the past weeks, eager to start a family. Janet was already in her mid-thirties, so having a baby right away was quite imperative. She had also heard that female fertility declines markedly from age 35 onwards and that 90% of her eggs would be gone by the time she hits 37. Time was of essence.
Of course, Janet was also getting strong premenstrual cramps ─ the usual precursor to her impending menses ─ so it could be that her period was coming after all, and maybe all that vomiting and breast activity were just her imagination?
She wanted to hope so much, but she also dared not hope too much, just in case it was a false alarm and she would come crashing down. So she held her breath and wondered, not daring to breathe or blink. Is it possible that she and her husband’s wish have come true?
If you are like Janet, anticipating pregnancy and wondering if you could be pregnant, here are some early signs that you could look out for.
Tell Tale Signs of Pregnancy
1. Missed Period
A missed period is often the earliest physical sign of pregnancy. Even if you see light bleeding or spotting around the time of your period, you could still be pregnant. This is because when a six to 12-day old fertilized egg attaches to the interior lining of your uterus, implantation bleeding may occur. It is absolutely normal and you don’t need to worry about it. The egg is just fixing itself to the uterus and this can result in light bleeding or spotting. It doesn’t occur for every woman though. One way you can tell it is implantation bleeding is by looking at the colour of the blood. It is usually pink (as opposed to period blood which is bright red). The duration of implantation bleeding can range from a few hours to one to two days.
Of course there are other reasons why you have missed your period. It could be due to you putting on or losing weight very quickly, doing excessive exercise and of course, mental and emotional stress. Missing your period is not a sure sign of pregnancy.
2. Tender Breasts
But of course your breasts hurt! They are growing and changing by the second since you conceived! Breast tenderness usually starts around Week 4 to Week 7 of pregnancy and lasts through the first trimester. During this time, the veins on your breasts may stand out and your areola (nipples) may darken. You may also feel strange twisting or tingling sensations inside your nipples while the rest of your breasts will feel swollen, sensitive and heavy, filled with a dull pain. Estrogen is growing the breast ducts and progesterone is forming those milk-production cells, so there is certainly a lot of breast activity contributing to the soreness in your breasts.
3. Feeling Tired
You are likely to feel unusually tired, exhausted even, in the first 12 to 14 weeks of pregnancy. Your body is adjusting to the enormous metabolic changes that are necessary to grow your baby while rising progesterone levels work to maintain the lining of your womb to help support the pregnancy. The progesterone hormone is also responsible for making you feel sleepy. The reason is to slow you down so that energy is conserved to make your baby.
4. Feeling Sick and Nauseous
Called “morning sickness”, nausea and vomiting are one of the commonest signs of pregnancy. It can begin as early as two weeks after conception and last till the end of the first trimester, sometimes longer. For some women, morning sickness ─ the feeling of wanting to throw up and actually throwing up ─ can prevail round the clock not just in the mornings, and could last throughout the entire duration of the pregnancy.
The exact causes of morning sickness are not known but experts nail it down to the very high levels of estrogen, progesterone, hypoglycemia (low blood sugar), and human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) coursing through the body. The sharpened sense of smell triggering aversions to certain scents and odours of food, drinks, heat, excess salivation add to the melee of bodily changes to bring on nausea and vomiting.
Although uncomfortable to the pregnant woman, some doctors think morning sickness is a good sign as it shows the placenta is developing well, thus lowering the risk of miscarriage. However some women don’t suffer from morning sickness at all yet they go on to have strong pregnancies and healthy children just the same.
5. Frequent Urination
About six to eight weeks after conception, you may feel you need to urinate more frequently. This is due to your enlarging uterus pressing down on your bladder. By the end of the first trimester your uterus will expand in height and width, rising up into your abdomen and this will take some of the pressure off your bladder.
6. Having Mood Swings
Again, the finger is pointed at those hormones as the main cause of mood swings. One minute happy and full of optimism, next minute anxious, angry and irritable or even weepy, it takes very little to trigger an avalanche of quick-change emotions in a pregnant woman.
Mood swings can be caused by physical stresses and discomfort, fatique, changes in your metabolism or by the hormones estrogen and progesterone. It is most commonly experienced early in the first trimester and then again in the third trimester as the body prepares for birth.
7. Getting Food Cravings and being Sensitive to Smells
You may lose your appetite for certain food and drinks like coffee or fatty food and might start to crave for things you don’t normally like.
Some of the most commonly craved foods are sweets such as ice cream, candy, cake, doughnuts and sweet drinks, or dairy such as cheese, or starchy carbohydrates, or fruits and vegetables ─ sometimes like those you shouldn’t eat too much of during pregnancy such as pineapples and cucumber; and fast food like burgers and pizza.
There’s also a condition called Pica, when the pregnant woman craves eating dirt and paper.
On the other hand, you might develop food aversions and feel queasy when you smell certain food and drinks too – like coffee, alcohol, fat, meat, curries and eggs.
8. Getting Cramps
You may get cramps in your legs or feet in the first trimester, and sometimes later in your pregnancy. This is due to changes in the way your body is processing calcium. Other common cramps include lower abdomen or lower back cramps which may feel like pressure, or stretching and pulling pains. The cramps are not unlike period pains, which is why a lot of women get confused as to whether they are experiencing pre-menstrual cramps or pregnancy cramps.
What is a Pregnancy Test?
All of the eight points above are indicators that you could be pregnant. But the only way you can be 100% sure is to take a pregnancy test.
A pregnancy test detects the surge of hormones that are released in the body the moment a woman has conceived. In particular, it will detect the pregnancy hormone called human Chorionic Gonadotrophin or hCG in your urine or blood. hCG is produced in the placenta shortly after the embryo attaches to the uterine lining and doubles its levels approximately every 48 hours after implantation.
Most doctors will, however, advise that you wait at least a week after you have missed your period or at least until the first day of your missed period before taking a home pregnancy test so that the result can be accurate. Your body needs time to develop detectable levels of HCG.
Clearblue Pregnancy Test Kits
Clearblue Pregnancy tests are so sensitive that they can detect even the tiniest amount of hCG in your urine. Concentrations of hCG are reported in milliInternational Units (mIU) or an amount equal to 1/1000th of an IU per milliliter. A pregnancy test with a sensitivity of 25 mIU/ml is more sensitive than one with 50 mIU/ml, for example.
Clearblue Pregnancy tests are 25 mIU/ml. Therefore, the testkits are sensitive enough for you to test as early as four days before your period is due. The earlier you know you’re pregnant, the sooner you can start making plans for your baby and you.
If you get a “Pregnant” result, know with full confidence that it is accurate. Clearblue’s accuracy is over 99% accurate making it as accurate as a doctor’s test.
Clearblue for Each Stage of Your Life Cycle
There are three pregnancy tests available in the Clearblue range in Malaysia. They are:
- Clearblue Easy Pregnancy Test (Suitable for young adults starting out in life)
With Clearblue Easy Pregnancy Test, the absorbent tip turns pink to show you that your urine is being absorbed and worked on, while a clear plus (+) or minus (-) result will appear in just two minutes. This product is 99% accurate if you test on the day your period is due but it is so sensitive, you can test up to four days before your period is due.
- Clearblue Plus Pregnancy Test (provides firm grip for mess-free testing)
Clearblue Plus Pregnancy Test has been designed to offer you the easiest pregnancy testing experience, with the accuracy you would expect from Clearblue. Its ergonomic shape featuring a longer, curved handle makes it easier to handle and more hygienic to use while the 50% wider tip makes urine sampling easier. The tip changes colour from white to pink to let you know you’ve sampled correctly. This revolutionary design is the result of extensive research with women and even won a Red Dot Design award in 2012.
- Clearblue Digital Pregnancy Test with Conception Indicator (suitable for newly expectants excited to know how far along they are)
The Clearblue Digital Pregnancy Test with Conception Indicator is the first and only test that is as accurate as an ultrasound scan that dates your pregnancy. Its Smart Dual Sensor 
It’s like two tests in one: It first detects if you are pregnant and then it also indicates how many weeks your baby is since conception. The results given in the digital display will tell you: one to two, two to three or more than three weeks pregnant. The Conception Indicator is 92% accurate in detecting when you conceived.
Again, you can test up to four days early before your period is due. Results given are digital. You only need to wait three minutes.
[dropcap letter=”S”]o, if you are like Janet up there, or when you are in doubt and need to make an informed decision to move on, you know which pregnancy test to go for.
Try Clearblue today.
To find out more about Clearblue products, please visit the website or Facebook page.