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We can't give you a crystal ball, but we can give you a no-nonsense guide to signs and what they mean...
'I've missed a period'
Amenorrhoea the technical name for a missed period - is an obvious one to use as a guide to whether you are pregnant. But the problem is that some women's periods don't always stop in pregnancy; some women have light periods up until month six, and sometimes even all the way through their pregnancies.
'My breasts are changing'
Even before your period is due you may see some changes in breasts. Most women's breasts become tender before their period is due and the veins on them seem to protrude even more, so your breasts resemble a road map (oh-so sexy).
Amazingly, even at this early stage your breasts are changing for milk production. The brownish circles around the nipples (the areolae) become darker and the little bumps on them (the strangely named Montgomery's tubercles) are more prominent.
'I have a little bleeding'
Often mistaken for a period, implantation bleeding, as it's known, occurs when the fertilised egg arrives in your uterus and embeds itself in your uterine lining. You'll find you lose a small amount of blood around this time, or just before your period. The blood tends to be reddish to begin with, but then quickly turns brownish. It only tends to last a day or two, so if it does stop quickly this could be a sign.
'I keep weeing'
As soon as your progesterone levels rise and the embryo starts to secrete the hormone HCG, the blood supply to your pelvic area increases, which leads to pelvic congestion. This leads to your bladder becoming irritated, and in the process, it tries to expel urine at frequent intervals - even in small amounts. Most women therefore experience a desire to wee more often than usual. This can happen as early as one week after conception.
'I'm craving certain foods'
You suddenly start to crave foods you never even thought twice about before. Many women crave tangy foods such as grapefruits, oranges and lemon juice. Other cravings are more peculiar, such as coal and chalk (this is a condition called pica and we don't need to tell you that eating coal is not good for you or the baby, do we?).
One theory is that cravings are your body's response to a deficiency in certain minerals and trace elements. If you crave citrus fruits, for example, you could be deficient in vitamin C although we don't know this for sure yet.
'I feel sick!'
Nausea is often worse in the morning mainly because you have an empty stomach and your blood sugar has dropped, but some women feel sick all day! Pregnancy sickness has been associated with poorer diets, infrequent meals and stress associated with the pregnancy. The hormone HCG (human chorionic gonadotrophin) is probably the most likely cause of pregnancy sickness.
But at least there's a positive side to nausea and vomiting in pregnancy - it's a sign that hormone levels in your bloodstream are high enough to ensure that the pregnancy is well established (although don't worry if this doesn't apply to you, as some women are lucky enough to sail through their pregnancies without feeling sick).
To be sure
Of course one easy way of finding out you are pregnant is to do a pregnancy test. You can buy a test kit from your local pharmacy or supermarket the day your period is due. Pregnancy test kits are 99 per cent accurate (a positive test is almost definitely correct; a negative result is less reliable you may have to wait a week and start again).
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