Early Pregnancy Symptoms

In my many, many “two week waits” I constantly scoured the internet looking for early signs of pregnancy. I was searching for any symptom that I was having that might indicate that it was finally our time. It didn’t help that I had consistently erratic cycles and would inevitably trick myself into believing that I was “late” rather than what probably happened which is that I didn’t ovulate that month. Regardless, with nothing other than thoughts of whether I was pregnant or not to occupy my mind I voraciously sought out accounts from other people about what they experienced when newly pregnant.

The most common answer to the question of “what symptoms did you have” is a missed period. When struggling with infertility this is definitely not a reliable sign. In fact, when I actually was pregnant I had more spotting and bleeding early than I normally did with my cycle. However, if you do have a regular menstrual cycle or if you are beyond even your longest typical cycle then test, test, test. The best way to put an end to the am I or not debate is to take a home pregnancy test if you are not too early, and hope and pray for two lines! If you are in the midst of IVF or IUI be cautious about taking a test too early since the trigger shot can still be in your system or it may be too early to get a true positive or negative.

I really wanted to know what people felt, though, before even the missed period. In my experience, there really wasn’t much that I knew definitively was a sign but when I look back some of the things I felt and experienced were explained by the positive result. Even early on I was extremely thirsty – not just oh I would like something to drink, but rather give me 32 ounces of water and I will drink it in one gulp. I did have sore breasts (although they could be explained by having to take progesterone) that were more “veiny” than usual. My nipples also darkened a bit and the bumps surrounding them were more pronounced. I was also gassier than normal and did spend a lot of time “googling” burping as an early pregnancy sign. I don’t recall when my crankiness and foul mood began in full force but I do think I was a little off from the beginning and my whole first trimester was characterized by sudden outbursts and wild mood swings. The only other symptom that I noticed before I got the call from the nurse was constipation. That worsened throughout the pregnancy, but the onset was definitely in the early stages.

Everyone is different, of course, but hopefully it is helpful to hear the experiences of as many people as possible. I know how hard it is to wait and wonder and how crushing it is to get your hopes up only to have them dashed – but if you are experiencing odd symptoms and want to, even just for a little while, blame them on pregnancy than I say go for it. It is just so hard to figure out our darn bodies and unfortunately fertility treatments can create some of the same symptoms as pregnancy. If you are hesitant to take an hpt for fear that it will be negative yet again and you are experiencing any of the typical symptoms – implantation bleeding, a missed period, swollen or tender breasts, fatigue or tiredness, nausea or frequent urination – then try to put your worries aside and take that test. You just might get to see the words or lines you have been waiting for!

Photo Credit.

Related posts:

1. Early Pregnancy Stress Raises Miscarriages
2. Home Pregnancy Tests
3. Spotting
4. Great Product Idea-Refillable Pregnancy Test
5. Ectopic Pregnancy

This entry was posted on Friday, July 24th, 2009 at 1:54 pm and is filed under General Infertility. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.