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5. Fatigue: Feeling tired? No, make that exhausted. High levels of the hormone progesterone can make you feel as if you've run a marathon when all you've done is put in a day at the office. Fatigue is a hallmark of early pregnancy, though probably not a surefire symptom on its own.

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Okay..so sleepy isn't a surefire symptom on its own.

I was exhausted, that was my first symptom.
 

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Posted by Papa Moose (Member # 1992) on :
 
The second line?
 

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Posted by Frisco (Member # 3765) on :
 
One of them is not a swollen, fetus filled belly.

So if the chick you hooked up with at a party three weeks ago has one and comes knocking on your door telling you congratulations and where to send the child-support check, it's most likely a scam.
 

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Posted by Kama (Member # 3022) on :
 
I felt sick all day today.

But I'm not pregnant.
 

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Posted by Olivetta (Member # 6456) on :
 
When I was preggers with Liam, the hubby told me so because the smell of my breath changed. He could also tell when I was on my period by the breath thing.

The week after I failed the "sniff test" I saw my doc, had a pap smear and a urine pregnancy test. It was negative, but a few days later it was positive.

Some other early syptoms that are not all conclusive are sluggish bowels and tender breasts.

It is important to note, though, that you can have all of these symptoms (including missed period) and not be pregnant.
 

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Posted by Jenny Gardener (Member # 903) on :
 
My natural body odor changed, my hair got greasier, and I broke out with zits in my early pregnancy!
 

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Posted by Jenny Gardener (Member # 903) on :
 
Hey, Livvy, me too!(the breath thing)

Isn't that weird? We must have very sensually sensitive husbands! (Lucky us)
 

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Posted by Papa Moose (Member # 1992) on :
 
Wow, Jenny -- I guess I was pregnant around when I turned 12.
 

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Posted by Olivetta (Member # 6456) on :
 
Ooo, yeah. Lucky, lucky us!
 

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Posted by porcelain girl (Member # 1080) on :
 
my mom does the breath thing with me too.
 

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Posted by Farmgirl (Member # 5567) on :
 
BEFORE the missed period -- these were the signs that told me immediately that I was pregnant:

Insatiable thirst (thought maybe I was diabetic -- I just was SO thirsty all the time)

And smells -- all smells were a lot stronger or different. Odors that normally didn't bother me really bothered me or seemed too strong.

My 2 cents

Farmgirl
 

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Posted by Christy (Member # 4397) on :
 
*laugh* I don't think there really are any immediate signs of pregnancy. I was convinced I was pregnant for two months before I actually was and many of the "signs" can be over- or under-interpreted.

A pregnancy test or going to the doctor is the best bet
 

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Posted by pooka (Member # 5003) on :
 
I have the smell sensitivity too. But maybe it's only Republicans, or that is why we are Republican or something.

Fatigue. Needing to nap and I never nap.

Depression, for me. But I realized I was probably a bit unbalanced in my hormones at the time.

I've never, in 4 pregnancies, had a positive home pregnancy test. Everytime I took one it was negative and my period started the next day.
 

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Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
 
I was a RAGING B***H. I mean raging, like the worst PMS ever. I was puking almost immediately, right around the time I would have gotten my period. Tired beyond belief.
 

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Posted by skrika03 (Member # 5930) on :
 
The hormones of pregnancy are identical to the hormones of PMS. This means it may be hard to tell if one is pregnant or about to start a period.
 

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Posted by Tammy (Member # 4119) on :
 
That would explain the worst cramps of my life, right before I went into labor!
 

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Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
 
The surest way to tell if you are pregnant is wait nine months and see if a baby pops out of your body. If it does, then you were pregnant!
 

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Posted by Tammy (Member # 4119) on :
 
That would be one way!

What amazes me is when a woman can be so completely out of touch with her body, in such severe denial, that she does not realize she's pregnant until she goes into labor and delivers.


 

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Posted by Mama Squirrel (Member # 4155) on :
 
I knew I prego with Superstation before I missed my period because I had to pee all the time (like every hour or less).
 

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Posted by Tammy (Member # 4119) on :
 


Wow, Mama S. you must have been extremely uncomfortable towards the end.
 

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Posted by Papa Moose (Member # 1992) on :
 
You think she was uncomfortable?
 

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Posted by romanylass (Member # 6306) on :
 
In addition to above, weird cravings. I ate Tapatio from the bottle when I was pregnant with Andrew. Also pre kids I loved onions. Now I can't stand them.
 

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Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
 
OK, what is Tapatio? It doesn;t even sound like food! (cravings for non-food can be a sign of pregnancy-haha)
 

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Posted by Christy (Member # 4397) on :
 
Tapatio, oh-la-la! I've been craving spicy food towards the end of my pregnancy, too. Although, I've also been eating sweets like mad.
 

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Posted by Misha McBride (Member # 6578) on :
 
I was sleepy all the time, napping a lot.
My front area was kinda sensitive, not enough to be sore.
Smells really got to me, I could detect the odor of zippo fluid from across the room whenever someone lit one.
I was also very PMSy and cranky.
 

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Posted by porcelain girl (Member # 1080) on :
 
woooWEE, i can't WAIT to start havin' babies! hot dang! pms intensified, fatigue, nausea, and then BIRTH?
just makes me tingly all over.

good moms are great people.
 

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Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
 
PG,
When they say it is all worth it, they mean it.
Being a mother is the best thing I've ever done. It is the most important thing in my life. It has brought the whole world into focus. I am more myself than I ever was.
Yes, pregnancy is sometimes hard. But I have friends who thrived in all pregnancies. They did not mind childbirth. They have four or more kids. So, sometimes it is sort of fun. You have a weird energy.
Liz
 

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Posted by beverly (Member # 6246) on :
 
Two very early pregnancy symptoms for me: breast soreness, which I never get pre-menstration as many women do, and twinges of pain from the ligament that supports the uterus every time I try to get up too fast. *ouch!!* Although, now that I have had 3 children, I still get that twinge sometimes when I try to get up too fast.
 

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Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
 

quote:

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But I have friends who thrived in all pregnancies. They did not mind childbirth. They have four or more kids.

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Pfft. I have an aunt with 12 kids (only 11 pregnancies, though), friends from high school who already have 6 or 7, and know personally several women who've had 13 or more.

A friend of a friend supposedly has 20 (19 pregnancies).
 

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Posted by mackillian (Member # 586) on :
 
Yeah...*continues to postpone having kinds to far future*
 

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Posted by Paul Goldner (Member # 1910) on :
 
We had neighbors with 16 kids... all of em no more then 13 months apart, and no twins.

*eyes*
 

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Posted by Kayla (Member # 2403) on :
 
They were Irish, right?
 

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Posted by Kayla (Member # 2403) on :
 
Oh, signs of pregnancy include large weight gain, intense pain, half a dozen years of sleep deprivation and a lifetime of worry lines. Of course, children are usually a big tip-off that there has been a pregnancy. Not always, but mostly.
 

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Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
 
Thanks for the tapatio link. I am a sucker for a good hot sauce.
 

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Posted by Lissande (Member # 350) on :
 
What does it mean if I'm on the pill but my period doesn't come (der, when it should)? Isn't that, like...not supposed to happen? (well, my last pill was friday and it's now wednesday and nothing) I went on it in the first place because I hadn't had a period in several months. They also said my ovaries are too big and my uterus too small, which either causes or is caused by lack of menstruation, but should be fixed eventually by the pill. Can that cause me to miss a period even when I'm taking my pills regularly?

Also, for future reference, how much leeway do I have on the pill? If I take a pill at 9 one day and 10 the next, will that lower its effectiveness? Can I get pregnant if I miss just one day? Two days? And I understand it's normal to gain weight, which I have. But is it just a little bit of one-time gain, or are we talking gain and gain? I don't want to buy new clothes.

That's it for now.
 

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Posted by BannaOj (Member # 3206) on :
 
lissande read the fine print in the packaging that came with your particular pill. With some pills you are ok if you miss a day some two days, some none at all. It also depends on your individual body as well. Since you were having issues to begin with I'd definitely give your doctor a call.

AJ
 

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Posted by beverly (Member # 6246) on :
 
If you miss a pill.

As to being late, I don't know. It sounds like your situation is out of the ordinary to begin with. If you worry that you might be pregnant, a test might ease your mind. (Sometimes you can get cheap ones for $1 at the dollar store.)
 

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Posted by Space Opera (Member # 6504) on :
 
Depends on what type you're taking, since there's several. I believe the rule of thumb on missing is that 1-2 is ok, but more than that and you need to use an alternative birth control method until your next period. Of course, when I took the pill if I missed even 1, we used something else just in case.

space opera

edit: lookit - 3 posts at the same time - it's like we're a birth control club

[ June 09, 2004, 04:01 PM: Message edited by: Space Opera ]
 

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Posted by beverly (Member # 6246) on :
 
Is that part of the clique too?
 

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Posted by Space Opera (Member # 6504) on :
 
Yes, Bev. You have to know how to operate a birth control pill in order to join the clique. I don't wanna hear anything about that new-fangled birth control patch, either.

space opera
 

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Posted by Lissande (Member # 350) on :
 
Thanks everybody

Banna - the fine print for my pills isn't in English!

I'm not seriously worried about being pregnant, since my relationship is missing that certain je ne sais quoi it takes to make a baby. It does cross my mind that my ovaries could have actually fled my body and I wouldn't necessarily know, though. Whatever way you look at it, they aren't holding up their end of the bargain.

...

to clarify, I don't really not know what. I do know.
 

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Posted by beverly (Member # 6246) on :
 
I was gonna say....
 

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Posted by ludosti (Member # 1772) on :
 
I would say if your period hasn't started by Friday (when you would be starting your new pack of pills), you should call your doctor. Mine always tended to start really late in the week and my doc said I should only be worried if it hadn't started before I started the new pack.
 

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Posted by Lissande (Member # 350) on :
 
That sounds reasonable, ludi. It's getting closer to the time I'm actually going to need these things to serve their intended purpose. I'm not anti-baby...I'm just anti-honeymoon-baby, if I have a choice.
 

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Posted by romanylass (Member # 6306) on :
 
I never got nauseus when pregnant,and I was usually nicer to be around.
 

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Posted by Richard Berg (Member # 133) on :
 
Update! So are you pregnant or not, Phanto?

Lissande: when you are on the pill you don't ever have periods, per se. When you switch to the placebos you give your body a quick breather from the hormone therapy during which you may bleed etc., but it's not the same medical phenomenon as menstruation. In fact, most women could take the progesterone pills straight through for years with no side effects if they wanted (blame the Catholics -- seriously).

As for safety, it all depends on your body's tolerance for fluctuating chemical levels. You probably won't get pregnant being off by an hour, but the only sane way to look at it is via statistics. The drop-off in effectiveness is *exponential*. So while being off by 8 hours might "only" drop the protection from 99.7% to 99%, that's tripling your chances -- and it curtails precipitously from there.
 

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Posted by ludosti (Member # 1772) on :
 
I must disagree with Richard, based on what my obgyns and other doctors have told me. Birth control pills prevent ovulation. That is why they must be taken daily - to prevent an egg from being released that may later be fertilized. The "breather" in between packages does produce menstruation in that your body expells the lining of the uterus that would have been used had an egg (which is absent in this case) been present and fertilized. It is not true that a woman can go without a period for years with no side effects. Women can go for 2-4 months safely (depending on the doctor you ask) without a period. In the past I have had to have periods chemically induced to prevent toxicity, endometriosis and other problems that can occur when menstration doesn't occur frequently enough.

[ June 09, 2004, 08:33 PM: Message edited by: ludosti ]
 

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Posted by jacama (Member # 6291) on :
 
Odd sign of pregnancy as reported by my mom:

Food tastes different: she loved diet-coke, but when she got pregnant, the dc tasted flat and bad.

Missed periods as reported by my cousin:
Weight - I guess there's some magic weight that if you drop below, your body turns off the periods.

Hormone troubles- my cousin has a pituitary tumor that is causing too much of a hormone (progesterone?) to be released. She didn't have a period for 6 years. Dumb girl thought it was just the weight thing!
 

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Posted by Richard Berg (Member # 133) on :
 
Here is a good demonstration of the differences between taking the pill and a natural cycle. They have similarities, but they are not the same thing.

Here is a (not strictly professional) website on the need for periods or lack thereof. For women with many conditions, extended time between periods may not be healthy. There is not enough evidence to say for sure how prevalent these needs are, but they are certainly overstated at the moment. By contrast, menstruation is not always healthy:

quote:

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In a letter quoted on the Museum of Menstruation Web site, Dr. Patricia J. Sulak, an obstetrician and gynecologist at Texas A&M, wrote, "Incessant ovulation and menses, month after month after month, is associated with many health problems, including a proven increased risk of ovarian cancer, anemia associated with heavy menses, ovarian cysts and endometriosis."

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quote:

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From that time forward, my illness got increasingly worse. I started to get sick opening the fridge. Next, I got sick after walking by the fridge. Finally, I got sick when I walked up to the door of the house, just thinking about the fridge. I was feeling nauseaus from the moment I awoke to the time went to sleep, just anticipating smells.

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Elizabeth, I hear you! I wasn't quite that bad, but I did get to nauseous just thinking about the fridge. Also, I dependably lost my breakfast every morning right after walking into work. Something about the change of building, either temperature or smell or both, I could never decide. The worst part was that two of my coworkers were also pregnant and neither they or anyone else I talked to seemed to have EVER had any problems with nausea.

[ June 10, 2004, 07:33 PM: Message edited by: Christy ]
 

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Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
 
Christy,

The building issue might have been some cleaner they used, that your warped pregger-nose detected and rejected. I remember the smell of floor wax during that time.

It is so strange. It isn't that you are bothered by smells you used to love, it is that the smells have mutated into an evil entity.

After the first month or so, I did not get sick as often, but I still felt sick all the time. All of a sudden, at four months(first pregnancy) and three months(second), I was fine, and could smell anything safely.

I read a very cool article about morning sickness, and how it takes us back to some primal, natural state. Many of the things I couldn't stand, which were on the list, were potatoes, peppers, coffee, chocolate, onions, and cabbage. They have trace poisons(some are nightshade plants)and this theory states that it is nature's way of keeping you away from them.(What is "trace" for an adult might be harmful to a fetus.)

I will see if I can find a link to that article.

Edit: Ironically, i wanted potato chips all the time. And lemonade. The article said that craving is because potato has something in it(potassium, vitamin c), and lemons have folic acid.

[ June 10, 2004, 08:33 PM: Message edited by: Elizabeth ]
 

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Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
 
Christy, I was always jealous of women who managed to sail through pregnancy with little or no nausea/sickness. Then I actually experienced a pregnancy like that -- and it didn't last long. So I welcomed the nausea when I got pregnant with child #3. For me, it seems to be a sign that everything is well.
 

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Posted by Christy (Member # 4397) on :
 
Rivka, I did take heart in that. And I did sail through my 2nd trimester, but it was a VERY long first trimester.

I also have craved lemons, but nothing could make me crave potatoes! People look at me funny, though, when I suck on the lemons in Tom's iced tea or my water.
 

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Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
 
Christy:

Green apple Jolly Ranchers are the best.
 

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Posted by JonnyNotSoBravo (Member # 5715) on :
 
A sign of pregnancy: unexplained weight gain. Is there something you want to tell us porce?
 

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