11 earliest signs of pregnancy

The article was professionally consulted with Specialist Doctor I Pham Thi Yen - Obstetrician-Gynecologist - Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology - Vinmec Hai Phong International General Hospital.

If you start to feel some of the early pregnancy symptoms below, along with a missed period, there is a high chance that you are pregnant. Here are 11 signs of pregnancy that are common to most women.

If you're new to pregnancy, constipation may be the first symptom you'll notice. The cause of this problem comes from an increase in the hormone progesterone, which relaxes smooth organs throughout the body, including the digestive tract. This causes food to pass through the intestines more slowly and leads to constipation.

Most women experience some mood swings during pregnancy. This is partly due to hormonal changes in a woman's body, which significantly affect neurotransmitters - known as chemical messengers in the brain.
In addition, each person will react differently to these changes. Some moms-to-be may experience high levels of emotions, both good and bad; while many others feel depressed or anxious all the time.
If you are feeling sad, hopeless or unable to cope with your daily responsibilities, even intend to harm yourself, it is best to tell a health professional immediately ie to find out the exact cause of this problem.

Your body's hormonal changes during early pregnancy can cause you to experience bloating. This condition is sometimes similar to what some women feel right before their period. This is also why you may feel your clothes become tighter than usual, especially around your waistline, even if your uterus is still quite small.

Immediately after you conceive, hormonal changes lead to a cascade of agents that increase the speed of blood flow through the kidneys in the body. This causes your bladder to fill faster, so you have to urinate more often.
Frequent urination will continue or increase in frequency as a woman's pregnancy progresses. Your blood volume also increases dramatically during pregnancy, resulting in fluid being processed and ending up in your bladder. To complicate matters further, the fetus is growing in the womb and putting more pressure on the bladder.

Fatigue in early pregnancy can be traced back to a rapid increase in the level of the hormone progesterone in the body, which contributes to feeling sleepy all the time. In addition, morning sickness and frequent nighttime urination can also make you feel more tired, lethargic, and sluggish.
As you enter the second trimester, you will start to feel more energetic. However, fatigue is still common late in pregnancy as your weight increases, along with the common pregnancy discomfort that makes it hard to get a good night's sleep.

One of the other common symptoms of pregnancy in women is breast swelling and sensitivity due to increased hormone levels. The pain and swelling in your breasts can be similar to what you feel before your period. However, this discomfort should subside significantly after the first trimester, when your body has adapted to the hormonal changes.

Light vaginal bleeding can be a sign of early pregnancy in women. If you only see pink spots around the time of your period, it could be a sign of pregnancy. This happens because the fertilized egg settles into the lining of the woman's uterus, leading to vaginal bleeding.
According to research, about 1 in 4 women experience spotting or light bleeding during the first trimester. This is completely normal, but sometimes it can be a sign of a miscarriage or an ectopic pregnancy. If you have heavy vaginal bleeding, or are accompanied by pain and dizziness, immediately go to a medical facility for timely diagnosis and treatment.

For some women, morning sickness doesn't happen until about a month or two after conception. In others, however, it can start as early as about 2 weeks.
The feeling of nausea related to pregnancy (with or without vomiting) can appear at any time, be it morning, noon or evening.
Most nausea in pregnant women will subside by the beginning of the second trimester. In some cases it can take up to a month or longer for this feeling to subside, while some are lucky enough to get rid of it completely.

If your period is fairly regular, but suddenly late, you should take a pregnancy test before you notice any of the symptoms listed above. However, if your periods are often irregular, or if you don't keep track of your cycle closely, along with symptoms such as nausea, breast tenderness and frequent urination, then there is a high chance that you're pregnant. I was pregnant before I realized I missed my period.

You may be pregnant if your body temperature is elevated for more than two weeks.

Many home pregnancy tests may not be sensitive enough to detect pregnancy accurately until about a week after a missed period. So, if you decide to take a pregnancy test earlier than that time, and get a negative result, you should try again a few days later.
Usually, the fetus will start to develop before you find out you are pregnant, so take good care of yourself while you wait to detect and monitor early pregnancy symptoms .
When you get a positive result after taking a pregnancy test, schedule a routine prenatal visit with your obstetrician to check your baby's growth throughout your pregnancy. The first 3 months are the most sensitive time during pregnancy. In order for mother and baby to be healthy, parents need to pay attention to:
Understand early signs of pregnancy, pregnancy poisoning, bleeding during pregnancy. Timely, correct and sufficient first prenatal check-up, avoiding too early/too late. Fetal malformation screening at 12 weeks detects dangerous fetal malformations that can be intervened early. Distinguish between normal vaginal bleeding and pathological vaginal bleeding for timely intervention to maintain pregnancy. Screening for thyroid disease in the first 3 months of pregnancy avoids dangerous risks before and during delivery. Vinmec currently has many maternity packages (12-27-36 weeks), in which the 12-week maternity package helps monitor the health of mother and baby right from the beginning of pregnancy, early detection and timely intervention of health issues. In addition to the usual services, the maternity monitoring program from 12 weeks has special services that other maternity packages do not have such as: Double Test or Triple Test to screen for fetal malformations; Quantitative angiogenesis factor test to diagnose preeclampsia; thyroid screening test; Rubella test; Testing for parasites transmitted from mother to child seriously affects the baby's brain and physical development after birth.
For more information about the 12-week maternity package and registration, you can contact the clinics and hospitals of Vinmec health system nationwide.

Reference source: babycenter.com