Beyond Morning Sickness: Early Pregnancy Symptoms

When you think you might be pregnant, you over-analyze every little feeling in your body. You mentally run down the list of pregnancy symptoms such as nausea, fatigue, sore boobs, etc. wondering if this is it. Little do many first-time-moms know, these early pregnancy symptoms don't necessarily show up until well after you have seen those two pink lines. The following are some other things you may experience that you might not realize signal the start of a pregnancy.

Early Pregnancy Symptom: Headache

For a number of newly pregnant women, a moderately painful headache is the first sign that something is up. According to americanpregnancy.org, headaches in early pregnancy are the result of a surge of hormones throughout your body as well as a significant increase in the amount of blood in your body. For me, this was the earliest indication that I was pregnant. This headache was similar to a migraine and seemed to center at the base of my head.

Early Pregnancy Symptom: Cramps

This uncomfortable early pregnancy symptom feels very much like typical menstrual cramps, which can be confusing when you're hoping to be pregnant. If you pay close attention, though, it may feel slightly different, and can be described more as a pulling and stretching sensation than an actual cramp. Women who have been pregnant at least once before, tend to experience cramps more severely than women who have not previously been pregnant. While it can be alarming feeling, it is usually just your uterus stretching out to make room for baby.

Early Pregnancy Symptom: Spotting

Spotting, also known as implantation bleeding, is also an early pregnancy symptom that is often misread. A woman who was hoping to become pregnant may be discouraged when she begins spotting a few days after intercourse, when in fact this is just the body's signal that an egg has been fertilized. In addition, some women experience light bleeding around the time they would normally expect their period. This does not necessarily mean you are not pregnant! If the bleeding is heavy and very red in color, it may be a period though, so better luck next month.

Early Pregnancy Symptom: Hot Flashes

Just before I got a positive pregnancy test, I was waking up in the middle of the night hot and sweaty. This early pregnancy symptom was annoying, but thankfully didn't last long. It did, however, return for a little while after having my babies. Darn those hormones!

Early Pregnancy Symptom: Insomnia

As if waking up feeling like you have a fever isn't bad enough, you may find that you can't get back to sleep. According to babycenter.com, pregnancy insomnia is a common early pregnancy symptom as "78% of women have insomnia and other sleep problems during pregnancy." Unfortunately, this early pregnancy symptom may end up plaguing you for your entire pregnancy.

Early Pregnancy Symptom: Dizziness

Once again, the increase in blood flow throughout your body can make you feel dizzy, especially when you stand up quickly. Take your time standing up and be sure that you are getting plenty of fluids.

Early Pregnancy Symptom: Increased Urination

If you find yourself running to the bathroom every two seconds and you haven't been drinking more than your normal amount of liquids, you may be pregnant. Why not take the chance now and make friends with your toilet. You two will be seeing a lot of each other over the next several months.

Early Pregnancy Symptom: Breast Tenderness

Most women experience extremely painful breasts when they first get pregnant. At first, it may start out as a weird twinge, but can eventually turn into very tender breasts, so bad it hurts to even lay on them. Owie.

Early Pregnancy Symptom: Gas

If you find yourself burping or farting more than usual, you could have a bun in the oven. Then again, you may have had too much broccoli or beans for dinner the night before...

Early Pregnancy Symptom: Sensitive Teeth or Inflamed Gums

This is one early pregnancy symptom you don't hear about very much, but many women complain that their teeth become extra sensitive or their gums bleed when they're pregnant. According to the March of Dimes, sensitive teeth and bleeding gums during pregnancy can also be blamed on those darn hormones and increased blood flow.

Early Pregnancy Symptom: Intuition

When it all comes down to it, you will probably just "know" when you're pregnant. You may gobble down a meal and then just feel... odd, as in not sick, not overly full, just weird. Or you may feel cramps where you normally wouldn't feel them before. Either way, you will probably know you're pregnant before those two pink lines appear.

I hope this article was informative for you. I know how confusing it can be to try and figure out if you're pregnant or not based on your symptoms. So, if it's too early to take a test and you're feeling any or all of these early pregnancy symptoms, there is definitely hope that you'll be a Mommy soon!

Note: Unfortunately, many of these pregnancy symptoms can also mean a variety of other medical conditions. If you are concerned, please contact your doctor. Also, I am by no means a medical professional. This article is provided for informational purposes only.