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7 Very Early Pregnancy Symptoms That Aren't Just Your Imagination

by Mary Fischer on December 14, 2012 at 10:27 AM

pregnantOne of the toughest parts of trying to get pregnant has to be playing the waiting game each month to see whether or not you get your period and, of course, whether or not you wind up with a positive home pregnancy test.

But even though you can't confirm things until you get two pink lines or a plus sign on a test stick, there are some really early pregnancy symptoms that might be an indication that you have a baby on board even if it's way too early to officially detect things yet.

When I got pregnant with my son, I swear I "felt" pregnant a few days after he was conceived. And believe it or not, my mother even looked at me at one point and thought to herself, "Oh my God, she's pregnant." I guess I had a glow about me or something like that.

More from The Stir: The Annoying Pregnancy Symptom Nobody Warned Me About

Obviously both of our intuitions turned out to be spot on, so there really must be some truth to the idea that some women "just know" they're pregnant right from the get-go.

Here are seven very early signs of pregnancy to look out for. (No, you're not crazy for noticing them.)

  1. Breast tenderness -- This is a tricky one, because your boobs could also be hurting due to where you are in your cycle. But having sore tatas could very well mean you've got a bun in the oven too.
  2. Unexplained mood swings -- And when I say mood swings, I mean mood swings. About two weeks after my son was conceived, my husband picked up barbecue takeout on his way home from work, and he forgot the potato salad. (How DARE he?) And normally I wouldn't have cared about it at all, but for some reason, I threw a full-blown temper tantrum about that potato salad, to the point where he finally broke down and went and got it for me. (Two weeks later, I had a very good excuse for my little fit.)
  3. Feeling "funny" -- I know this one sounds pretty general, but that's because the definition of "feeling funny" varies from woman to woman. Immediately after I got pregnant, I just felt "off" -- and not like myself at all. If something doesn't feel quite right to you, it's not your imagination -- you might be pregnant.
  4. Weird abdominal pain -- This is likely due to implantation, and I know I experienced it for sure. For me, it felt different than menstrual cramps -- almost like really, really bad gas. I couldn't explain it at the time, but obviously there were changes happening in my belly.
  5. Vaginal discharge -- Again, this happens to a lot of women anyway during their menstrual cycles, but a white, milky discharge could be a result of your vagina's walls thickening due to conception.
  6. Extreme fatigue -- Feeling tired all of a sudden even though you got plenty of sleep? Well, your body is going through a lot of hormone changes right after you conceive, and it's forming all those new cells, so feeling tired makes total sense.
  7. Food aversions or cravings -- Back to the potato salad incident -- I HAD to have that potato salad, so I'm guessing this was my earliest pregnancy craving. Also, the smell of certain foods, like eggs, made me gag, when they hadn't ever before. 

Did you have any super early signs of pregnancy?

 

Image via Daquella manera/Flickr

Filed Under: pregnancy signs, pregnancy symptoms

Comments

143
  • Rosas...
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    RosasMummy

    December 14, 2012 at 11:04 AM
    I was 17 and had a coil when I fell with my DD and I knew I was pregnant 2 weeks before I was even due on again. My boobs were hurting and I felt sick and I just knew, but cos I was due to come on on Xmas eve I ignored it and hoped for the best, I was not shocked when I never came on and a couple of days after new year I took the test but I knew 100% by that point anyway
  • linzemae
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    linzemae

    December 14, 2012 at 11:29 AM
    #1 was my first sign. Holy smokes did they hurt! I couldn't even walk without pain
  • RMT1995
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    RMT1995

    December 14, 2012 at 11:32 AM

    Yes, the boob thing. I'm a DD and I could barely stand it when my own arm brushed up against them, they'd be SO sore. But more than that ... I had to PEE. I remember using the bathroom before leaving work and before I even got halfway to the T (a 7 minute walk) I had to go again. I knew right then I was PG. I was only 5.5 weeks along too, so pretty early.


  • sarah
    -- Nonmember comment from

    sarah

    December 14, 2012 at 12:02 PM
    it wasnt so much the boob pain but how big they got over night. all of the sudden they were spilling over my bra cups
  • kelti...
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    kelticmom

    December 14, 2012 at 12:04 PM
    Implantation bleeding. I saw a tiny amount of blood one day, and I just had a feeling. A week later - positive pregnancy test!
  • Foley...
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    Foleygirl24

    December 14, 2012 at 12:49 PM

    My first sign was a super heightened sense of smell. That's actually what made me go take a pregnancy test, cause I wasn't actually late yet (my DS was a bit of a surprise)! I could seriously smell the kitchen trash from upstairs in our bedroom with the door shut... and there wasn't even anything particularly stinky in there to make it extra bad or anything. My DH had no idea what I was talking about when I started complaining about the smell when we woke up. He thought I was nuts. 


  • femal...
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    femaleMIKE

    December 14, 2012 at 1:35 PM

    Like Sarah above, my breasts literally grew 1 size in a few hours.  I wore the bra to work and when I got home my breasts kept on popping out of the bra.  I didn't allow myself to believe it 100%.


  • Desig...
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    Designmama

    December 14, 2012 at 1:55 PM

    These are all just pms symptoms, and it's a bad idea to list them because then crazy women ttc think every little ping or symptom means they could be pregnant even when they're not. And women do not just know they're pregnant, they just hope they are. You have a chance of being right or not. I know so many women who "just knew" but then they got their periods and a negative test and still grasping for straws they try to think they're like those women on "I didn't know I was pregnant" who get their periods... So no one just knows, they just hope


  • pupuk...
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    pupukeawahine

    December 14, 2012 at 2:40 PM

    Feeling "spacey."  During part of pregnancy I didn't want to read much or do anything that required hard thought.  It was weird.  Since I love to read, it was sort of strange.


  • tuffy...
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    tuffymama

    December 14, 2012 at 3:10 PM
    Designmama, these are legitimate symptoms of early pregnancy, and they are on numerous websites. It isn't irresponsible for them to be listed here, at all.

    I have just had a feeling with every one of my pregnancies. In fact, I told DH the next morning after we DTD on his birthday the night before, "I'm pretty sure we made a baby." Two weeks later, I woke up with throbbing, painful boobs, nausea and acne. LOL. The first trimester is HELL for me. (LO was conceived on dh's birthday and born on mine!)
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