Pregnancy Symptoms

Pregnancy symptoms: It’s all about the hormones!

You don’t quite feel like yourself. Wondering if you could be pregnant?

Here are some of the most common symptoms of early pregnancy:

A Missed Period

• This can be the first sign of a pregnancy.

• Each month, an egg is usually released from an ovary and if it is not fertilized, the lining of uterus is shed, which is a period.

• When a fertilized egg implants in the uterine wall, that lining remains in place to help support the pregnancy, so you will not have a period.

• During this implantation, some people may experience a small amount of bleeding or spotting.

This is a more reliable sign of pregnancy when you have regular periods. Stress or illness may also cause a missed or irregular periods.

Nausea & Vomiting

• This is often the earliest symptom- can start as early as 2 weeks and usually improves between 13 and 16 weeks.

• Seen in up to 50% of pregnancies

• Sometimes referred to as morning sickness because it can be worse in the morning, but it can occur any time of day or night.

• The cause of nausea in pregnancy is not really clear. It is thought to be due to hormone changes.

Tender Breasts

• Like many pregnancy symptoms, sore, tender and/or tingling in breasts is due to increases in hormones, that support the pregnancy and begin to prepare the breasts for breastfeeding.

Increased Urination.

• During pregnancy, extra blood builds up in your body. This causes your kidneys to create more fluids, which are expelled by your bladder.

Fatigue

• In early pregnancy, levels of a hormone called progesterone increase. This may cause you to feel more tired than usual.

If you are having any of these symptoms you might want to take a pregnancy test. This is will tell you if you have the pregnancy hormone hCG present in your urine. The only way to confirm that you are pregnant is with an ultrasound.

At Bloom by PRC you can get a professional, free and confidential pregnancy test and in most cases a free ultrasound to confirm your pregnancy.

You can make an appointment here:

References:

American Pregnancy Association. Early Signs of Pregnancy (https://americanpregnancy.org/pregnancy-

symptoms/early-signs-of-pregnancy/). Accessed 3/19/2024.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Morning Sickness: Nausea and Vomiting of

Pregnancy (https://www.acog.org/patient-resources/faqs/pregnancy/morning-sickness-nausea-and-

vomiting-of-pregnancy). Accessed 7/26/2022

Bernstein, H. (2019). Normal Pregnancy & Prenatal Care. In CURRENT Diagnosis & Treatment: Obstetrics

& Gynecology, 12th ed. McGraw-Hill.

Written by Kelly Lash , RN, MSN, ANP-BC