Early Signs of Pregnancy - Continued

Signs of pregnancy vary

No one symptom proves that you are pregnant, and you can also be pregnant without experiencing them. Missing a period is, of course, the most obvious clue. But women sometimes miss a period for other reasons. And when you’re pregnant, you might just get a light period. Note any difference in the color, texture, or amount of blood.

If you see any tip-offs, take a home pregnancy test. But don’t rush it. These tests work best depending on when you take them — for guidance, plug in the date when your last period began and the length of your usual cycle into this calculator.

Whether the answer is positive or negative, repeat the test two days later to be sure. A negative result can be wrong. Also, you might get a positive result and then a negative one the second time. Sometimes women get a period a week after a positive test result, probably because of a near-miss known as a chemical pregnancy. This can be a good sign if you’re worried about your fertility — you got close.

Don’t assume you can’t be pregnant because you use birth control. No contraception is 100 percent effective, and people often slip up and miss a pill or forget to use a condom. According to Planned Parenthood, about 15 out of 100 women who rely on condoms as their only birth control method will get pregnant each year.

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