You may suspect you’re pregnant even before you take a pregnancy test – that’s because your hormones go into overdrive very early on.
In this feature, we look at
The top five signs of pregnancy
Some women say they know the exact moment they conceived, some women notice signs before they miss a period, while others don’t know they’re pregnant for several weeks. In early pregnancy you could notice:
1 Tender breasts that seem to be growing already!
2 Slight bleeding or cramping as the embryo implants in your uterus.
3 Nausea or sickness can start very early for some women.
4 Extreme tiredness... yes, it might not just be too many late nights, after all!
5 Needing to have a wee more often.
Most women ovulate two weeks before their period starts. So by the time you miss a period, your unborn baby is two weeks old. But because pregnancy is dated from the first day of your last period, you are said to be four weeks pregnant. If you have a cycle of five weeks, your baby will still only be two weeks old when you miss your period, but your midwife will put you down as five weeks pregnant!
Home pregnancy tests
A home pregnancy test measures how much of the hormone human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG) there is in your urine (wee).This hCG can usually be detected by a home pregnancy test on the first day you miss your period.
Home pregnancy tests are 97% accurate. But there is the other three per cent... which is why some kits come with two tests.
Boy or girl?
Your baby’s sex is decided at the moment the egg and sperm join. The egg always contains an X chromosome. A sperm can carry either an X or a Y. If it’s another X, the baby will be a girl, if it’s a Y, a boy. However, you won’t be able to tell if it’s a boy or girl until much later.
Folic acid – why you need it
Before you even know you’re pregnant, your baby’s brain, heart and spine have already begun to form. The spine develops from a part of the embryo called the ‘neural tube’. If it does not form properly, babies are born with ‘neural tube defects’ such as spina bifida (‘split spine’). Children with spina bifida may be unable to walk or take care of themselves. Folic acid, one of the B vitamins,
will help your baby’s spine to develop properly. It’s important to eat more food containing folic acid, and more foods with added folic acid such as breakfast cereals, and take a daily folic acid supplement designed for pregnant women.
Take a daily tablet containing 400 micrograms (sometimes shown as 400 mcg or 0.4 mg) from the time you start trying for a baby and for the first 12 weeks of your pregnancy.
You can get folic acid from chemists, health food shops and some supermarkets. If you get free prescriptions, ask your doctor for a prescription for it. If you have had a previous pregnancy affected by spina bifida, or are taking medication for epilepsy, talk to your doctor as your needs may be different.
Food sources of folic acid
To top up your folic acid levels, eat these:
- Dark green leafy vegetables such as Brussels sprouts, spinach or spring greens; don’t overcook the vegetables as this destroys the folic acid.
- Citrus fruits (like oranges and tangerines).
- Black-eyed beans, brown rice, broccoli, green beans, cauliflower, peas and nuts.
- Bread and breakfast cereals often have added folic acid too; check the information on the label.
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