Pregnancy can be a wonderful time of anticipation and wonder.  There are some symptoms to look forward to in order to know that you are pregnant. Some are pleasant and others are less than pleasant.

Early in the pregnancy, there can be some spotting as the placenta digs into the uterine wall.  It can begin around the time of the anticipated period and can last up to the twelfth week of pregnancy.  Too much bleeding can mean a threatened miscarriage but a bit of spotting or heavy discharge is normal.  The estrogen content in the body is high at this time so the discharge can be heavier than normal.

A woman can begin to feel a sensitivity to smells or nausea around certain foods.  She can find that foods she tolerated perfectly well when she wasn’t pregnant will be too overwhelming to eat. Specific foods that can cause this are peppers, onions and meats, but any food might be more than a pregnant woman can handle.  Fortunately, this passes generally after the twelfth week of pregnancy.

Women tend to gain weight as soon as they find they are pregnant and long before the uterus or the fetus actually weighs anything.  A woman’s blood volume increases in anticipation of the advancing pregnancy and there is water weight gain that causes her to gain up to a pound a week, even in the early stages of pregnancy.

In the beginning stages of pregnancy, a woman can become more irritable or emotional—almost as if she has premenstrual syndrome.  She might find herself more tearful and crying for the least little thing.  She might also find herself more angry and irritable than before she got pregnant.  All of this is due to hormonal changes occurring rapidly in the early stages of pregnancy that affect both the mind and the body.

Women find that they are thicker around the middle or in the pelvic region, even before the baby has grown enough to enlarge the uterus.  This is extra water weight that makes her look a bit pregnant even before she is very far along in the pregnancy. 

Swelling of the ankles can occur, especially as the pregnancy advances.  Women can get varicose veins or spider veins as the pregnancy advances due to the pressure of the enlarging uterus on the veins exiting the legs.  Some women can get swelling of the vulva due to varicose veins in the vulvar area.

As the pregnancy advances, a woman tends to be less irritable and will actually feel radiant and happy most of the time.  She may still be more emotional, on the other hand, due to the hormones of pregnancy.  She may also develop back pain due to the fact that she must tip her back backwards a bit to accommodate the advancing pregnancy.  This causes what’s known as a “lumbar lordosis” and results in lower back pain and pains in the legs.

Everyone has her own set of symptoms and signs of pregnancy, and not every pregnancy is the same.  What’s true is that, if you carefully pay attention, you can tell you are pregnant within a few weeks of becoming pregnant.