How Do I Know I’m Pregnant?
Ever wondered how you get the GOOD NEWS – that you’re pregnant?
The first positive test result is often considered as the first step towards pregnancy. But before you get to know you’re pregnant, there’s lot of changes happening in your body after it has conceived. Right from the first day of fertilization, there are several hormonal, emotional and physical changes that your body undergoes and prepares you and your child for the upcoming months of pregnancy.
Let’s know about them a bit more.
What happens during first three weeks of pregnancy?
During your monthly periods (menstruation), egg is released by one of the two ovaries. When a sperm cell penetrates this egg, they combine their genetic material and form a fertilized egg called ‘Zygote’. This process is known as fertilization.
Upon continuous division, the zygote becomes a ball of 32 cells in just 3 days after fertilization. And before reaching the uterus, they grow upto 500 cells surrounding a fluid filled cavity. The ball of cells then implants itself into the uterus wall, on the seventh day.
How do we get to know the pregnancy news through urine test?
The growing baby inside the uterus needs nourishment, for which the cells outside the ball create the yolk sac and the placenta around it. A hormone called HCG (Human Chorionic Gonadotropin) is released which indicates the ovaries to stop producing eggs further. It is this hormone that shows up in urine, and gives you the first good news you’ve been waiting for. This is the reason why HCG is known as the pregnancy announcer harmone.
What are the symptoms of pregnancy during first three months?
In first three weeks, you may not even know that you are pregnant. However, few may complain of breast tenderness, increased frequency to urinate, nausea, tiredness, bleeding or spotting, dizziness, fainting or headache.
If you miss your period, it is wiser to get your urine pregnancy test done and later confirm with the Doctor.
How to know the estimated date of delivery?
EDD or estimated date of delivery is calculated by adding 280 days (40 weeks) to the first day of last menstrual period. There are multiple online EDD calculators available to help you.
How is the gender of the baby decided?
Traits like your child’s physical appearance, intelligence, personality, sex are held by chromosomes. The sperm and the egg each contain 23 of these chromosomes. Your egg always contains X chromosome and the sex of your child depends on the chromosome of the sperm. If the sperm contains an X, a girl will be born, and a boy will be born if it contains a Y.
When to visit a doctor?
You can decide to visit a doctor once you have your urine pregnancy test positive. Select the hospital carefully as it will be a next 9 months’ journey where you need to closely follow up with your Doctor on a regular basis. You can select the hospital that is near to your home or office so that is convenient for you to make frequent visits to the hospital. During first three months, your Doctor may ask you to visit on monthly basis and same for next three months. However, last three months you might need to visit every week based on your clinical conditions.
How to finalise your Doctor?
With internet and availability of reviews as well as information on various website, you may prefer to do a research before visiting a doctor. But we would suggest you to also consider days when you are comfortable visiting doctor. Meet the doctor, most of the hospitals will have multiple doctors visiting. You can take the decision on your personal comfort with the Doctor.
What are the questions you can ask during the first visit to your doctor?
As a mom-to-be you may have several questions in your mind. Make sure you discuss all those with your Doctor, let the Dad-to-be also clear all doubts. You may have questions like, when is the due date?, what should be the frequency of the visits, and much more. You must also collect the emergency numbers of your selected hospital. You can discuss about the symptoms you are facing, especially in case of bleeding and spotting. Ask about food and exercise, medications that need to be taken as well as drugs that are avoided during pregnancy.
Discuss about your work and travel plans, ask about sex during pregnancy. All these questions are very specific to you and your pregnancy, generalised answers on internet may not be correct way of dealing with the queries you have.