Pregnancy Signs & Symptoms, Week by Week Pregnancy Guide

Being pregnant is the most joyful experience of a woman’s life.

However, dealing with early pregnancy is very difficult, especially when it is for the first time.

You have several early pregnancy signs to detect your conception.

How to confirm pregnancy? The first and the most common early pregnancy sign is missed menstrual period.

The other common early pregnancy symptoms are fatigue, frequent urination, breast tenderness, darkening of nipples as well as areolas, morning sickness, cramping in the legs, food cravings, and aversion to certain foods.

You may or may not develop these early pregnancy signs and, if it does, it takes four to six weeks to develop these symptoms after conception.

It is always good to confirm your pregnancy through pregnancy tests.

How to confirm pregnancy through tests? The early pregnancy tests can be done through home pregnancy test kit or laboratory tests.

These tests measure the presence of human chorionic gonadatrophin (HCG), a pregnancy hormone that is usually produced by the body when you are 4 weeks pregnant.

A home pregnancy test is very simple and easy to use. The results of this test will be very quick and accurate. This early pregnancy test kit is available at all drug stores. The most popular are velocit and pregcolour.

The test kit makes use of urine sample to confirm your pregnancy, particularly the sample of first morning urine (FMU). In order to use this kit, place the kit on a flat surface and use dropper to put few (2-3) drops of urine on the test window.

The early pregnancy test kit contains a blotting tissue to detect the presence of hCG hormone.

A single colored line on the test window indicates no conception. Two colored lines indicate a successful conception and no color indicates to perform another test. Remember that the home pregnancy test kit should be used only once.

On the other hand, the laboratory tests make use of both urine and blood samples to confirm your early pregnancy. The blood tests are of two types: qualitative and quantitative.

The qualitative pregnancy blood test measures the presence of hCG hormone in the blood whereas quantitative pregnancy test measures the amount of hCG in the blood.

To perform the early pregnancy blood test, the lab technician inserts a needle into your vein in order to draw blood into the syringe or vial. The blood sample will be sent to the laboratory to test and confirm the presence of hCG hormone in the blood.

Remember that the early pregnancy test using urine sample is inexpensive and quicker when compared to the pregnancy blood tests. However, the pregnancy blood test can measure the concentration of pregnancy hormone production in the blood.

The positive result of the blood test indicates that you are pregnant whereas negative result indicates no conception occurred.

Once your pregnancy is confirmed, determine your delivery date as well as the gender of your baby through early pregnancy calculator by providing your date of your last period and average length of your menstrual cycle.

Always maintain a healthy diet and practice exercise regularly to avoid early pregnancy complications.