If you think you may be pregnant and are experiencing any of the symptoms below, you should take a pregnancy test to know for sure.
The most common first signs of pregnancy include:
- Missed period: Missing your period is the most common sign of pregnancy; however, stress, exercise, eating habits or other factors may cause irregular periods.
- Breast tenderness: Within a few days, some women notice increased sensitivity, fullness, or heaviness. By two weeks after conception, your areolas (the pinkish or brown area around your nipples) may enlarge or darken.
- Spotting: Lighter than a period and sometimes mixed with a yellowish discharge, a small amount of bleeding may occur when the developing egg implants itself in your uterine wall.
- Fatigue: If you feel tired even after a good night’s sleep, your body may be going through the changes of early pregnancy.
- Nausea: Don’t think of nausea as “morning sickness,” as it can strike at any time of the day or night. It may feel like a slight case of sea sickness, a full-fledged stomach virus, or you may not experience it at all.
Health Services offers urine pregnancy tests. The urine pregnancy test detects the presence of HCG (human chorionic gonadotropin), a hormone produced by the body during pregnancy. The test is sensitive 10 days after conception (2 weeks from the last episode of intercourse) when the hormone levels are greater. A test done prior to this time may be falsely negative, as the levels of HCG are not high enough to be detected in the urine.
If your test is negative and you still do not get your period within two weeks, you should return to Health Services for another test. If your second test is negative, you should make an appointment with the Health Services APRN .
