Early Signs of Pregnancy

 How does a female know that she is pregnant?

A number if early signs are associated with pregnancy, and they usually appear within the first few weeks after conception. However, not all of these signs will be present in everyone. Some of these signs include:

- Missed menstrual period: Well, there are other reasons why a female can miss her period, but once a female is pregnant, then the walls of the uterus must remain intact, therefore, she will not have her period.

-Implantation bleeding: this is a slight bleeding that occurs at the time of implantation of the embryo into the walls of the uterus. This can usually be observed about 10 to 14 days after implantation.

-Tender, swollen breasts

-Fatigue: This is because the hormone progesterone will rise significantly and in high doses, it will make the female feel sleepy. It also lowers blood pressure, and blood sugar levels

-Constipation: the hormone progesterone can cause food to pass out more slowly through the intestines, and therefore it may lead to constipation.

- Raised basal body temperature: this is the oral temperature that is measured when someone first wakes up in the morning. Usually, it is raised slightly after ovulation, and remains high until the next period. If a female is pregnant, then it would continue to remain high.

-The presence of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) in the blood and urine: these are usually detected by using home tests using urine samples, or by a medical practitioner who can test the blood.

And there are a number of other signs that a female can look out for to have an idea if she is pregnant or not. Despite all these signs, some women may still not realize that they are pregnant until they are a few months into pregnancy.

Trimesters

The pregnancy can be divided into three trimesters.

First Trimester

This is referring to the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.

Second Trimester

This is referring to weeks 13 to 28 of pregnancy

Third Trimester

Most of the weight gain of the mother occurs during this time, and the foetus will be growing at the fastest rate, gaining up to 28g per day.