Missing the period is not the earliest sign of pregnancy. There are some pregnancy symptoms you can get before a missed period. In this article, we are going to discuss 18 early signs of pregnancy before the periods.
Many pregnancy symptoms appear as you get into 2 to 3 weeks of pregnancy, which means days before you miss your period. The symptoms can be divided into categories like change in senses, some pains and aches, emotional, and physical changes. However, many of these symptoms can be mild and only will be able to detect only if you are a little more observant.
“Why do I feel pregnant before my period?” is one of the most frequently asked questions. The reason is the hormonal variation that is associated with ovulation. After every ovulation, the body prepares for a possible pregnancy.
These preparations make you feel pregnant before your periods. However, there are some classic symptoms of pregnancy before your missed period.
18 Early Signs Of Pregnancy Before Periods
Here are 18 early signs of pregnancy before the period. Even though its severity changes with women, if you experience more than 4 or five of these symptoms before periods, it could be a sign of pregnancy.
1. Morning sickness
Even though morning sickness typically happens two weeks after missing the period, many expecting women say they experience a feeling of nausea before missing their period. A few weeks after conception, your body produces more estrogen and progesterone, causing nausea or vomiting. This makes women nauseous.
Pregnancy nausea is the most common sign of pregnancy, widely popularised by cinema and television as well.
2. Fatigue
One of the most common early pregnancy symptoms before a missed period is extreme fatigue or exhaustion. Even the activities you used to do in full energy might make you tired. Also, you always feel like you still want to sleep a lot even after getting 9 hours of sleep.
The increased need for nutrients and increased effort of the body to support the developing baby, including the surge of pregnancy hormones, cause this extreme tiredness during the early week of pregnancy. Extreme tiredness, which is one of the early signs of pregnancy, hits the women mostly at the beginning of the day.
3. Breast changes
The breasts becoming heavy or tender, swollen or sore are a sign of early pregnancy. However, this could be a sign of PMS as well. But, besides the above-mentioned breast changes, if the areola becomes darker as well, and the veins in your breast become more clear, it can be counted as an early sign of pregnancy.
4. Nipple changes
Nipples may also change notably during the early weeks of pregnancy. Just after a week of implantation, you may experience nipple pain. You may also have a tingling feeling, the nipple might appear to protrude more than usual.
5. Spotting
Some women used to experience spotting during the first weeks of their pregnancy. This light pink or brownish blood is called implantation bleeding that happens when the fertilized egg gets rooted in the uterine wall. It happens a week prior to the due period.
Not all women experience this kind of spotting appears. It happens only in around 20% of pregnancies. Therefore, if you don’t get implantation bleeding that doesn’t mean the implantation is not a success.
The implantation bleeding will be very light comparing to the menstrual bleeding and will not last more than 1 day. More often it will be like pink cervical mucus that can be managed just with a pantry liner.
6. Period like cramps
Period-like cramping is one early pregnancy sign that is often confused with PMS or impending period. Once the pregnancy happens, the blood flow increases. Increased blood flow in the uterus can bring about cramping. Implantation can also cause mild cramps that last only for a few hours.
7. Stomach cramping
Other than period–like cramps, some women experience tummy cramps during the initial week of pregnancy. They might feel some curious feelings like sharp pulling, wrenching, stabbing, or pinching in their tummy.
This kind of feeling happens when the ligaments starting to stretch as the uterus starts to change its shape.
8. Changes in food preference and experiencing strange tastes
Most of the women suddenly feel a sudden change in their hunger pattern. They might suddenly feel less hungry than usual or can feel hungrier than usual. Slight cravings and aversions towards food will also start during the early weeks of pregnancy. This aversion and craving eventually increase as the first trimester progresses.
Many mothers also experience dysgeusia – altered taste during the early week of pregnancy. They experience a strange metallic taste in their mouth. This is one of the quite common, yet lesser-known early pregnancy signs. The intensity of this metallic taste might vary with women.
9. Sensitivity to smells
The sense of smell tends to heighten during the early week of pregnancy. It will be like the expecting mother can smell anything and everything. Even a mild smell can be pungent for them. They might be able to smell things that she didn’t even know had a smell.
10. Frequent urination
It is quite common the pregnant women need to urinate frequently as the pregnancy progresses. This increased urge to urinate is due to the developing baby pressing the bladder.
Women also experience an increase in the frequency of urination during the initial week of pregnancy. This time it is not the developing fetus that causes the urge to urinate frequently. On the other hand, it happens due to the increased blood flow.
As the blood flow toward the kidney increases (usually blood flow increases 35% to 60%), the kidney starts to produce more urine. This increases the urge to urinate more often. This symptom can start right before the period is due and affects 77% of pregnancies.
11. Dizziness – a sign of pregnancy before periods
Shortly after a woman conceived, her hormone level changes to increase the blood flow. The blood vessels start to dilate to increase the blood flow. Increased blood flow can cause variation in blood pressure. The blood pressure might drop suddenly. This sudden dip in blood pressure can make you feel dizzy.
Lightheadedness and dizziness can hit you when you suddenly change your positions. Like sitting up after lying down for a while or suddenly standing up. You can feel dizzy before you miss your period especially if you are not having enough food as you are having a loss of appetite.
12. Mood swings- a common sign of pregnancy before missed period
As soon as the woman conceives, her hormone levels start to change significantly. The imbalance in hormones impinges on the neurotransmitters in the brain. This can bring about sudden mood swings. This is one of the earliest signs of pregnancy that you may experience before you miss your period.
13. Constipation and diarrhea
Pregnancy hormones relax the body muscles. This includes the muscles of the intestinal wall. It slows down the bowel movement. Slower the bowel movement slower will be the digestion. This increases the chances of constipation.
On the other hand, instead of constipation, some mothers say they experienced a sudden onset of diarrhea a few days before missed periods. Again, it can be another consequence of sudden hormonal fluctuations and their impact on digestion.
14. Gas
Before a missed period bloating can be experienced. As the hormonal variation can impede the digestion process, it can build up gas, a byproduct of digestion in the bowel. This trapped gas can give you a bloating feeling.
Bloating can be sometimes painful and can end in farting and burping, two lesser-known signs of early pregnancy.
15. Changes in cervical mucus
Even though many early symptoms of pregnancy and PMS overlaps making it harder to distinguish one from another, changes in cervical mucus are one of the distinctive signs that your period is not coming. cervical mucus before periods differs from that of early pregnancy.
Immediately after you conceived, the texture of the cervical mucus starts to change. It may change in color and consistency. As progesterone hormone starts to increase cervical mucus may change in color and consistency.
It can first appear thinner and slippery. You will feel more wetness in your panty longer than usual. Cervical mucus thickens as the progesterone level increases. This thickened mucus was one of the clearest early signs she was pregnant
16. Changes in sleeping pattern
The hormonal change that sets in with the pregnancy alters your sleeping pattern. Irrespective of being exhausted many women experience sleeplessness during the early stage of pregnancy. Insomnia has been really devastating.
Some just-pregnant women also experience strange or unusually vivid dreams. It is the surging pregnancy hormones causing inexplicable dreams and illusions during this stage of pregnancy. This can happen during the early weeks of pregnancy even before you have missed your period.
17. Headaches
Even though headaches are very common during the end of the first trimester and the beginning of the second trimester, it can set in during the early week of pregnancy as well.
The surge of pregnancy hormones causes a sudden fall in blood sugar. The brain cells find it hard to adjust to the sudden dip in glucose level. This can trigger a headache.
18. Muscle aches and back pain
Before a week before missing the period, many expecting women experience lower back pain. This happens because the ligaments in the body become softer and start to stretch. This puts lots of strain on the lower back. Constipation can also cause backache
The pregnancy hormones loosen up the ligaments and joints. This sudden change in joints can bring about aches in the hips, legs, and even arms during the early stage of pregnancy.