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Oct 23, 2022 · Check out this week-by-week pregnancy symptom timeline so you know what to expect while carrying a baby. By Nicole Harris. Updated on October 23, 2022. Medically reviewed by Lulu Zhao, M.D....
- Overview
- Pregnancy signs and symptoms
- Cramping and spotting during early pregnancy
- Missed period during early pregnancy
- Raised body temperature during early pregnancy
- Fatigue during early pregnancy
- Increased heart rate during early pregnancy
- Early changes to breasts
- Changes in mood during early pregnancy
- Frequent urination and incontinence during early pregnancy
While pregnancy tests and ultrasounds are the only way to know if you’re pregnant, you can look for other signs and symptoms like morning sickness, fatigue, and more.
Though it may sound odd, your first week of pregnancy is based on the date of your last menstrual period. Your last menstrual period is considered week 1 of pregnancy, even if you weren’t pregnant yet.
If you’re pregnant, you may notice common early indicators. These can include:
•mild cramping and spotting
•missed period
•fatigue
•nausea
•tingling or sore breasts
About 10 to 14 days (week 4) after conception, you may experience implantation bleeding, which may be mistaken for a light period. It does not occur for everyone. If it does occur, it will usually happen around the time you expect your period.
Signs of implantation bleeding include:
•Color: The color may be pink, red, or brown.
•Bleeding: It’s often described as light bleeding that never turns into a flow or enough to need a tampon.
•Pain: Though usually milder than menstrual pain, it may involve mild to severe cramping.
•Timing: Bleeding episodes may last a few hours to a few days.
After implantation, your body starts making the hormone human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), which helps maintain the pregnancy. It also tells the ovaries to stop releasing mature eggs each month.
You will likely miss your next period 4 weeks after conception. If you typically have an irregular period, you’ll want to take a pregnancy test to confirm.
Most home tests can detect hCG as soon as 7 days after a missed period. A pregnancy test detects hCG levels in your urine and shows if you are pregnant.
•Know that a false negative is more likely than a false positive.
•If you get a positive result, schedule an appointment with a doctor to confirm.
•If you’re on any medications, ask a doctor whether they pose risks to the pregnancy.
When you’re pregnant, you may have a higher basal body temperature. Your core temperature may increase more easily with exercise or in hot weather. During this time, make sure to drink more water and exercise cautiously.
Fatigue can develop anytime during pregnancy. This symptom is common in early pregnancy. Rising progesterone levels can make you feel sleepy.
•The early weeks of pregnancy can make you feel exhausted. Try to get enough sleep if you can.
Around weeks 8 to 10, your heart may begin pumping faster and harder. Palpitations and arrhythmias are common in pregnancy. This is usually due to hormones.
Your blood flow can increase by around 50% during pregnancy. This adds to your heart’s workload.
Breast changes can occur between weeks 4 and 6. You’re likely to develop tender and swollen breasts due to hormone changes. This will likely go away after a few weeks when your body has adjusted to the hormones.
Nipple and breast changes can also occur around week 11. Hormones continue to cause your breasts to grow. The areola — the area around the nipple — may grow darker and larger.
•A comfortable, supportive, underwire-free maternity bra may help relieve breast tenderness.
•A bra with varying clasps can give you room to “grow” in the coming months.
Your estrogen and progesterone levels increase during pregnancy and can make you more emotional or reactive than usual. Mood swings are common during pregnancy and may cause feelings of:
•depression
•irritability
•anxiety
During pregnancy, your body increases the amount of blood it pumps. This causes the kidneys to process more fluid than usual, leading to more fluid in your bladder.
Hormones also play a large role in bladder health. During pregnancy, you may run to the bathroom more frequently or accidentally leak.
•Drink about 300 milliliters (a little more than a cup) of extra fluids each day.
•Plan out your bathroom trips ahead of time to avoid leaking urine.
- Karen Miles
- Early signs and symptoms of pregnancy. Early pregnancy symptoms can be subtle. You may notice your breasts feel different when you put on your bra or that you're making extra trips to the bathroom.
- Missed period. If you're usually pretty regular and your period is late, this may be the first and most obvious sign that you're pregnant. But if you have irregular periods or you're not keeping track of your menstrual cycle, other symptoms may be your first clues about a possible pregnancy.
- Frequent urination. Shortly after you become pregnant, hormonal changes prompt a chain of events that raise the rate of blood flow through your kidneys.
- Fatigue. Feeling tired all of a sudden? No, make that exhausted. No one knows for sure what causes early pregnancy fatigue, but it's possible that rapidly increasing levels of progesterone are to blame.
- Raised basal body temperature. If you've been using a special basal body thermometerto track your first morning temperature, you might notice that it rises around 1 degree when you conceive and stays elevated throughout your pregnancy.
- Smell sensitivity. A heightened sense of smellis an early pregnancy symptom that makes previously mild odors strong and unappealing. Since it's one of the first symptoms of pregnancy many women report, babies might be in the air if your sniffer's suddenly more sensitive and easily offended.
- Breast changes. Tender, swollen breasts and darkening, bumpy areolas are among the breast changesyou might experience early in pregnancy. The hormones estrogen and progesterone deserve most of the credit (or the blame) for this early pregnancy symptom.
- Fatigue. Imagine climbing a mountain without training while carrying a backpack that weighs a little more every day. That's pregnancy in a nutshell! In other words, it's hard work, which is why fatigue is an early pregnancy symptomalmost every mom-to-be experiences.
Generally, pregnancy symptoms start after successful implantation of a fertilized egg into your uterus, which occurs roughly eight to 10 days after ovulation. “Once a fertilized egg is implanted, then you’re going to have persistent pregnancy hormones,” says Dr. Jhaveri. “That’s when symptoms usually start.”
Mar 13, 2024 · The most common early signs and symptoms of pregnancy might include: Missed period. If you're in your childbearing years and a week or more has passed without the start of an expected menstrual cycle, you might be pregnant.
Jul 28, 2020 · If you're experiencing the first symptoms of pregnancy or wondering when pregnancy symptoms start, you can look forward to week 13, or the start of the second trimester, when early...
