Written by Mary Fischer for CafeMom's blog, The Stir.
One of the toughest parts of trying to get pregnant has to be playing the waiting game each month to see whether or not you get your period and, of course, whether or not you wind up with a positive home pregnancy test.
But even though you can't confirm things until you get two pink lines or a plus sign on a test stick, there are some really early pregnancy symptoms that might be an indication that you have a baby on board even if it's way too early to officially detect things yet.
When I got pregnant with my son, I swear I "felt" pregnant a few days after he was conceived. And believe it or not, my mother even looked at me at one point and thought to herself, "Oh my God, she's pregnant." I guess I had a glow about me or something like that.
Obviously both of our intuitions turned out to be spot on, so there really must be some truth to the idea that some women "just know" they're pregnant right from the get-go.
Here are seven very early signs of pregnancy to look out for. (No, you're not crazy for noticing them.)
Breast tenderness -- This is a tricky one, because your boobs could also be hurting due to where you are in your cycle. But having sore tatas could very well mean you've got a bun in the oven too.
Unexplained mood swings -- And when I say mood swings, I mean mood swings. About two weeks after my son was conceived, my husband picked up barbecue takeout on his way home from work, and he forgot the potato salad. (How DARE he?) And normally I wouldn't have cared about it at all, but for some reason, I threw a full-blown temper tantrum about that potato salad, to the point where he finally broke down and went and got it for me. (Two weeks later, I had a very good excuse for my little fit.)
Feeling "funny" -- I know this one sounds pretty general, but that's because the definition of "feeling funny" varies from woman to woman. Immediately after I got pregnant, I just felt "off" -- and not like myself at all. If something doesn't feel quite right to you, it's not your imagination -- you might be pregnant.
Weird abdominal pain -- This is likely due to implantation, and I know I experienced it for sure. For me, it felt different than menstrual cramps -- almost like really, really bad gas. I couldn't explain it at the time, but obviously there were changes happening in my belly.
Vaginal discharge -- Again, this happens to a lot of women anyway during their menstrual cycles, but a white, milky discharge could be a result of your vagina's walls thickening due to conception.
Extreme fatigue -- Feeling tired all of a sudden even though you got plenty of sleep? Well, your body is going through a lot of hormone changes right after you conceive, and it's forming all those new cells, so feeling tired makes total sense.
Food aversions or cravings -- Back to the potato salad incident -- I HAD to have that potato salad, so I'm guessing this was my earliest pregnancy craving. Also, the smell of certain foods, like eggs, made me gag, when they hadn't ever before.
Did you have any super early signs of pregnancy?
More from The Stir: