Have you heard about the stories when people confirm the pregnancy status of a woman by seeing her eyes, merely? Yes, this was a common practice in old times.
All thanks to technology now we have more sophisticated methods to confirm the pregnancy. Seeing two colors can bring you happiness and announce your journey to parenthood. However, have you ever wondered how people used to confirm pregnancy before these strips of hope came into practice?
A variety of methods can help you with the confirmation of pregnancy. Long before we go towards pregnancy detection methods, many early signs of pregnancy are thought to be quite helpful in this regard.
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Wheat and Barley For Even Gender Confirmation!
You might be really surprised to know this… but ancient Egyptians used wheat and barley tests to confirm the pregnancy. In this test, a woman was asked to pee on wheat and barley seeds for several days. Subsequent sprouting of barley or wheat was used for pregnancy confirmation.
Even this method was used to predict the gender of an unborn child. If urination resulted in wheat seeds sprouting, then the woman was pregnant with a female child. In contrast, barley seeds sprouting were thought to be pregnant with a male child.
Early Pregnancy Signs to Know About
Before you start seeing the tiny life through scans or before your baby bump becomes visible, you may get the signs that your body is nourishing a life. Knowing about these early signs can be important for many reasons.
If you have been trying to conceive fast then here are some of the early pregnancy signs and symptoms that you may need to know.
1- Frequent Bathroom Visits
One of the earliest indicators of pregnancy is frequent bathroom visits. The reason behind this is pretty clear. To nourish the tiny human inside your body, your blood volume increases. Increased blood volume means more urine production after blood filtration that increases your number of bathroom visits.
2- Feeling Tired All the Time
Constant feeling of tiredness is something very common in pregnancy.
Most women experience pregnancy fatigue. This is one of the very earliest signs of pregnancy. When your body starts bearing the child, there is an increased level of progesterone hormone in your body, which is mainly responsible for fatigue. Other than this, changes in your blood sugar level and blood pressure can also contribute to your lower energy levels.
3- Morning Sickness
Nausea during pregnancy is one of the earliest things to happen. However, not every woman gets it.
Nausea during pregnancy usually comes during the earliest part of the day. You will see many women complaining that they wake up dizzy in the morning and throwing up. Usually termed as morning sickness, but it turns into afternoon or sometimes evening sickness for many women. So, morning sickness could be one of the first clues telling you the beginning of your mommy war.
4- Swollen Breasts
Many women experience this right before their periods begin.
Slightly painful breasts are one of the early pregnancy signs. Hormonal changes cause breast soreness as well as induce changes in nipples. You may experience the darkening of nipples and their expansion. Breast tenderness goes on its own within a few weeks once your body gets used to the hormonal changes.
5- Implantation Bleeding and Cramps
This is just similar to the period’s symptoms you go through. During the early pregnancy phase, all the changes are at a cellular level and you may experience the signs of periods such as cramping and bleeding.
This is never truly the bleeding but only the spots you get. Bleeding episodes only last for less than 3 days and are likely to turn into the menstrual flow. The cramps are usually milder than the ones you experience during your painful periods.
6- Mood Changes
Your hormones are the culprit here!
Yes, a part of pregnancy changes in the extreme mood swings you experience. These mood swings are due to hormonal fluctuations. One moment you may be sitting silently and the next moment you are tearful. You found yourself emotionally vulnerable and this emotional roller coaster ride is intolerable for you.
7- Pregnancy Errorrrr! Periods Not Found
After a tiny embryo starts growing inside your body, then your body doesn’t need to break the protective cushion it builds to retain pregnancy. This serves as one of the earliest pregnancy symptoms as pregnant women miss their periods. This is one evident sign to confirm the pregnancy however, this is less important among women who suffer from irregular periods already.
8- Food Preferences Changes
Pregnancy is commonly associated with food cravings. Food cravings though begin a bit late in pregnancy usually after 5 weeks but many women start developing food aversion during pregnancy. Food aversion is usually the change in your food preferences.
All of a sudden you develop a sudden dislike towards certain foods. One possible explanation behind food aversion is the changes it brings to your overall condition such as nausea.
When Should I Take a Pregnancy Test?
When you start experiencing a few of these pregnancy symptoms, you can then go for pregnancy testing. You can either confirm your pregnancy at home by using pregnancy strips. You can further consult your physician for hormonal testing for accurate pregnancy testing.
Take Away!
Pregnancy detection marks the beginning of your journey towards parenthood. Early signs of pregnancy can help women whether they should go for a pregnancy test or not. These signs can vary from one woman to another. Further, these signs can overlap with the symptoms arising due to other conditions making it difficult to confirm pregnancy.
Knowing about these pregnancy signs can be fairly helpful but confirmation through medical testing is essential. Once confirmed, your physician can give you the right plan to make sure that your baby arrives safely without any medical complications. Depending upon your condition your gynecologist can give you the right pregnancy plan. You can consult the best gynecologists in Lahore via Healthwire.pk and make wise decisions regarding your pregnancy planning.
