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Signs of pregnancy: how do you know that you are pregnant?

, medical expert
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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A woman who wants to become a mother of a healthy child should know the first signs of pregnancy. This is necessary in order to stop taking drugs, alcohol and stop smoking on time, not to mention drugs.

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The first signs of pregnancy

The very first signs of pregnancy are the cessation of menstruation. By itself, of course, this sign is not very reliable. Monthly can stop with some diseases (anemia, tuberculosis, diabetes); when changing the climatic belt (moving to another city, country); with mental shocks (fear, grief). In women with infantilism (underdevelopment) of the genitals, with an unstable nervous system, menstruation may be irregular.

With the onset of a regular sexual life in young girls, there is some restructuring of the hormonal background, and this may entail either a delay or an extraordinary offensive of menstruation. In most healthy women, the absence of menstruation indicates that there was a conception.

Common signs of pregnancy

The following signs of pregnancy - attacks of nausea or even vomiting, often in the morning or throughout the day. Sometimes vomiting is absent, but salivation is noted. These symptoms appear, usually after the fifth week after fertilization, and stop by the fourth month. Earlier these symptoms were called toxicosis. Now the word "toxicosis" was replaced by the word "gestosis", since there is no true intoxication (accumulation of toxins). By the way, the word "gestosis" is more often used to refer to the disorders accompanying the second half of the child's growing.

Nausea in the first days after conception is associated with increased metabolism.

If she worries you very much, try some anti-emetics: in the morning, before getting out of bed, eat a hard savory rusk or toast and only after half an hour after that get out of bed. Limit food intake. It is better to eat less, but more often. If you get nauseated in the morning, move the main meal for the evening, if nausea worries you at lunch - eat most of the diet in the morning or evening. Often, nausea occurs as a reaction to kitchen odors. In this case, you need to try to be smaller in the kitchen.

If the urge to vomit is strong, you can try to detain it: often, but do not breathe deeply with your mouth open like a dog. You can lie down and put a cold water bottle on your stomach. Sometimes, on the contrary, the warmer should be warm. If, however, the whole day is nauseated and nausea is accompanied by vomiting, and often enough, then all these techniques will most likely not help, and you need to seek help from a doctor, as frequent vomiting leads to dehydration of the body, and this is life-threatening.

Changes in the mammary glands are frequent signs of pregnancy. You can say: "Changes in the mammary glands occur before the red days of the calendar." Yes it is. Before menstruation in most women, the breast increases in size, swells and may even ache. But this does not last long - a few days, and with the onset of the monthly these phenomena disappear. The same changes occur when conception occurs. Thus the nipple and okolososovy circle darken. In addition, the subcutaneous vessels become more prominent. The nipples increase somewhat, and out of them, under pressure, a white and yellow liquid begins to appear, colostrum. More important, these signs of pregnancy in the first-pregnant, because in women giving birth colostrum (or milk) can squeeze out and after the birth of a child.

Signs of pregnancy can be seen in the change in the mammary glands as early as the second or third month. If you want your breasts to remain beautiful after the birth of the baby and not lose shape, turning into "spaniel ears", then you need to take care of it after the beginning of fertilization. In connection with the increase in the glands, the chest becomes heavier, it may hang, the skin on it stretches. To some extent, this can be corrected with the help of a properly selected bra. It evenly distributes the mass of the breast to the entire thorax, balances both glands, which, by the way, are almost always different in magnitude, prevents the development of incorrect posture, back and neck pain. In this case, the bra should not be tight or, conversely, too loose.

You also need to take care of the nipples. Sometimes the shape of the nipple is such that the child can not grasp his mouth and, therefore, can not fully suck. Therefore, you need to try to change the form. Start with a massage of the nipples: pull them, squeeze your fingers, rub them. Of course, this should not be done rudely, so as not to injure yourself. (Although this phrase is almost absurd - among women there are not so many masochists and almost everyone loves themselves and their body.) You can resort to the help of your husband - let your lips gently pull your nipples. Also, you can sew to the inner side of a bra a circle of dense fabric, so that the nipple constantly rubs against it. This will lead to a thickening of the nipple's skin, and then during feeding, the risk of cracking of the nipples will be minimized.

In the first three months after conception, women have such signs of pregnancy as frequent urination. This is due to the fact that the lower part of the abdominal cavity is excessively overfilled with blood, since the uterus and other internal reproductive organs receive more nutrition during this period. Overflowing organs squeeze the bladder more than usual. In addition, the overall metabolism also changes (it goes more intensively), which contributes to enhanced water formation.

Frequent urination is usually observed until the fourth month. Then these signs of pregnancy pass to reappear before giving birth.

Sometimes pregnant women become excessively drowsy. And the desire to sleep overcomes a woman, even if she slept beautifully at night. Drowsiness intensifies in cramped, stuffy rooms and in transport. In order to get rid of sleepiness or at least reduce it (after all, you also need to work), you should stay out in the fresh air, often ventilate the room, eat plenty of foods containing vitamins - vegetables, fruits, juices (preferably in fresh form).

Signs of pregnancy: changes in skin

Virtually all women experience such signs of pregnancy as changes on the skin. These are freckles, pigmented brown spots on the face and other parts of the body. A characteristic feature is the darkening of the nipples and nipples and the so-called white line of the abdomen, going from the navel down to the pubis. This is due to activation of biochemical processes and increased production of melanin (a hormone that activates pigment metabolism). The production of other hormones is also activated, as a result of which the sebaceous and sweat glands begin to function more actively. This increases sweating and the production of sebum. There is nothing wrong with this, but the fact is that among the sweat glands there are the so-called apocrine glands located in the armpits and near the genital organs and secrete a secret that has an unpleasant odor. And this is already, albeit insignificant, but the problem. You do not want colleagues to work glancing at you, when you, passing by, "wrap" them with their "fragrance." To get rid of the smell, you must follow the basic rules of hygiene: more often take a shower (two or three times a day), change clothes more often and use deodorants.

Mental unbalance (tearfulness, emotionality, sometimes - aggressiveness or, conversely, lethargy, apathy) are still frequent signs of pregnancy. Of course, this sign can not be considered the main one, since it is common knowledge that a woman behaves in the same way with PMS (premenstrual syndrome).

If you noted these signs of pregnancy and you decided that you have a baby, we congratulate you (or sympathize) and advise you to contact a gynecologist. An experienced doctor will always determine if you have any signs of pregnancy or wishful thinking. In addition, it would be desirable to find out where the egg was implanted. If the egg was implanted in the uterus - this is normal. If the egg stops in the fallopian tube, it is a pathology that, if not solved this problem in time, can bring many troubles. The tube can burst (the embryo grows) and cause profuse bleeding into the abdominal cavity. To determine where the implanted egg, you need to conduct an ultrasound.

If you do not strongly believe in these signs of pregnancy, take a test. For express diagnostics special tests are now widely used. This is a strip of paper with yellow or other color dashes. With each test there is an instruction. To determine the presence or absence of conception, you need to lower the strip of paper in the jar with urine, and then, following the instructions, draw a conclusion. The reliability of the method is quite high, but far from complete. So you should not trust him completely. The fact is that all these tests react to the presence in the urine of a female chorionic gonadotropin - a hormone, which is formed only after fertilization. But tests react only to a certain concentration. Therefore, if the amount of the hormone is not enough, and the face all the signs of pregnancy, the strip will show a negative result. This can be the case if you are testing day or evening. Therefore, the test should be carried out in the morning, with the urine that was collected in the bladder all night. Then the test result will be more accurate, but, again, not 100%.

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