Every woman’s body reacts to pregnancy a little bit differently. Many women will experience morning sickness, for example. Other women may not experience any nausea due to pregnancy. Some women will have severe back pain and others won’t. For many women, breasts become tender during pregnancy, while for others they become downright painful. Some women will crave pickles and ice cream, while others may crave pizza, and still others may crave nothing at all.

The symptoms of pregnancy can vary greatly. For some women, heartburn seems to be a common side effect of pregnancy. The changing hormone levels that can cause morning sickness can certainly cause a little bit of acid reflux. However, heartburn is not considered one of the most common symptoms of pregnancy, and most pregnant women will probably not experience heartburn that is related to their pregnancy.

The most common symptoms of pregnancy include:

• A missed period. This is often the first and most obvious sign of pregnancy for many women.
• Frequent urination.
• Morning sickness, or pregnancy-induced-nausea. Morning sickness can happen at any time of the day, and may range from a little bit of nausea to full-fledged vomiting.
• Implantation bleeding. When the fertilized egg attaches to the uterus, some women will have a very light bleeding. This will typically be from pinkish to reddish-brown in color, and typically lasts for 1-2 days.
• Tenderness of the breasts. Breast tenderness is one of the very earliest signs of pregnancy. Increased hormones cause breasts to be sensitive and sore, and often to swell.

The most reliable and effective way that you can determine whether you are pregnant is, of course, with a pregnancy test. For most women, it may be possible to determine whether you are pregnant as early as 7-10 days after conception using a home pregnancy test. However, the time required depends greatly on the type of pregnancy test being used, as well as your own individual physiology. For some women, a pregnancy may not show up for as much as 14 days or more after conception.

This entry was posted in Getting Pregnant, Morning Sickness.