When a woman experiences a delay in her period, she often asks herself, ‘Could I be pregnant?’. This is because menstrual delay is one of the most significant indicators for women who want to conceive. However, during the early weeks of pregnancy, it’s not always clear whether pregnancy has occurred. A urine or blood test conducted about 10 days after the delay can provide a definitive result.
Can the presence of pregnancy be detected before menstruation? What are the symptoms of early pregnancy? Let’s examine together.
When Do Early Pregnancy Symptoms Appear?
To find out if you’re pregnant, you need to endure an impatient wait. Although the body may show some responses, you often don’t suspect until before your period is delayed. Moreover, it’s not possible to know exactly when fertilisation occurred. A rough estimate of fertilisation time is determined based on the date of your last menstruation when your period is delayed. In short, you can only learn that you’re expecting when the embryo is about 3-4 weeks old.
During this time frame, you may notice some metabolic changes in your body. Due to the effect of pregnancy hormones, your body can exhibit some responses from the first week onwards. Not every woman may notice these signs, and they can often be confused or misunderstood with other conditions. However, pregnancy symptoms can manifest themselves from the first week onwards.
Early Pregnancy Symptoms Before Menstrual Delay
Expectant mothers, driven by excitement and curiosity, may seek answers to their doubts and track some symptoms in their bodies to find out if they’re pregnant. Let’s examine early pregnancy symptoms together.
Fatigue and Sleepiness
Progesterone hormone is a female hormone that plays an active role during menstruation and pregnancy periods. Every month, it undertakes the task of preparing the uterus for a potential pregnancy. The increase in progesterone hormone levels causes some changes in the mother’s uterus to allow the fertilised embryo to implant while also producing side effects in the body, such as fatigue and tiredness. This situation brings about feeling tired and sleepy. Therefore, feeling constantly sleepy, a decrease in energy, moodiness, and fatigue can be counted among the first signs that emerge in the initial weeks, and these symptoms can continue for the first 3 months.
However, it’s essential to remember that feeling tired due to increased progesterone levels could have other underlying causes. So, feeling tired or wanting to sleep all the time doesn’t prove that you’re pregnant.
Frequent Urination
Another sign that you can notice before your menstruation time is the urge to urinate frequently. About 2-3 weeks after fertilisation, hormone levels gradually increase, leading to an increase in the desire to urinate. The main reasons for this are:
- Increased blood volume due to pregnancy,
- The need for increased kidney efficiency to remove waste products from the body,
- Pressure from the uterus expanding on the bladder.
This situation that occurs in the early weeks can reoccur later in pregnancy due to increased pressure on the bladder from the growing baby.
Bloating and Constipation
Bloating and digestive problems are also among the early symptoms. Pregnancy hormones directly affect many systems in the body, with the digestive and excretory systems being the most affected during this period. Hormones slow down the digestive system, leading to slower digestion and excretion than normal. Therefore:
- Bloating increases,
- Heartburn and acid reflux occur,
- Indigestion increases,
- Excretion slows down,
- Constipation occurs.
Breast Sensitivity
Breasts are the areas where women experience the most sensitivity during special periods. Hormonal fluctuations in the body directly affect the breasts. The same is true when pregnancy is present.
When progesterone, prolactin, and estrogen hormones increase in the body, there is also an increase in the amount of blood carried to the breasts. Increased blood flow can cause tingling and pain in the breasts. Suddenly rising hormones prompt the breasts in women to take the first step in preparing for milk production. Therefore, before your period, the breasts may appear more swollen than usual, feel more sensitive to touch, and have a tingling sensation.
You can start experiencing these symptoms immediately after fertilisation. However, because similar complaints can occur before menstruation, this situation alone does not indicate pregnancy.
Darkening of the Nipples
The circular area around the nipples is called the areola. Areola areas can be of different colours depending on each woman’s skin tone. However, during pregnancy, hormones cause the areolas to darken. Additionally, it may be noticed that the areolas begin to widen 1-2 weeks after fertilisation.
Increased Sensitivity to Smells
An excessive sensitivity to smells is one of the most well-known pregnancy symptoms. This sign can manifest itself in the early stages of pregnancy.
The estrogen hormone can make a pregnant woman more sensitive to various dominant smells such as cigarettes, food, perfume, and body odor. In some cases, expectant mothers may also complain about the smell of objects and the house. If premenstrual sensitivity to smell occurs, pregnancy may be suspected.
Increase in Vaginal Discharge and Contractions
In the first 4 weeks of pregnancy, some vaginal findings may occur in expectant mothers. The main reason for these is hormonal changes, and many of them are not serious enough to worry about. Hormone levels can produce more secretions to protect the vaginal structure and embryo from external factors. This is a normal condition.
Mild contractions and cramps may be felt in the groin area in the early weeks. These symptoms occur during the implantation of the fertilised egg on the uterine inner wall and are natural.
Slight spotting in brown or pink colour and light bleeding may occur. This condition, also called implantation bleeding, is among the early signs. However, if there is abnormal bleeding or if cramps and contractions are unbearable, it is necessary to consult a specialist doctor.
Nausea
Nausea and a feeling of vomiting are signs that lead to suspicion of pregnancy. Beta HCG and estrogen hormones can cause nausea. Especially in the first 3 months of pregnancy, intense complaints of nausea and vomiting can be seen. Some expectant mothers may not experience nausea. However, 60-70% of pregnant women experience this symptom. The sudden changes in hormones can cause this symptom to occur in the first weeks.
Premenstrual pregnancy symptoms are, in fact, almost identical to pregnancy symptoms. Only their severity may vary. As the course of pregnancy progresses, there may be an increase in complaints, and sometimes a decrease. These signs are by no means a guarantee that you are expecting a baby. They could also be indicative of different conditions. Whether or not you are pregnant can only be determined definitively with a pregnancy test.
