Finding Out You're Pregnant, Taking a Pregnancy Test

Once upon a time, a woman had to be almost finished with the first trimester before she could safely assume she was pregnant. That's a long time, and this could result in birth defects and miscarriages. What she did and what she consumed could have tragic results.

Now, we have a lot of tools to detect pregnancy. At home tests are available, and blood tests can determine to the hour how long you've been gestating. That's necessary because the formation of most of the child's body systems happen in the first three months.

The first thing to know would be the symptoms of a pregnancy. Many women develop morning sickness, though not all do. This can start almost as soon as the baby is implanted, and includes nausea and vomiting, usually when you first wake up. You may also feel some pain in the hips and lower back as your body prepares to carry the child.

If it's your first pregnancy, at about two months of gestation, your nipples will change color, from pinkish to brownish. This change only happens the one time, they will stay the same in subsequent pregnancies.

At home tests are not as strong as those your doctor uses. It may take two or three weeks before there is enough of the hormones to change the test from blue to pink. This is especially true of the older kits, newer versions are a bit stronger. Even your doctor's tests must occur after the baby is implanted, as the hormones being tested for don't start being reproduced until that point.

One reason to see your doctor the moment you suspect that you're pregnant is if you are in a high risk category. Women under twenty and over forty are automatically in that group. If you've had a difficult pregnancy before or you suffer from a serious illness, you also belong in this group.

Once you find out you are expecting a baby, the next question is usually, "Is it a boy or a girl?" Before ultrasound and amniocentesis, you had to wait until the baby was born to find out. Now, if the baby cooperates, you can know fairly soon what the gender is via ultrasound and definitely through amnio. This comes in handy for two reasons; you can know what colors to use for clothing and the nursery and if there is a danger of gender specific birth defects, you can find them. Some of these defects can now be corrected in utero.

If you're pregnant or think you may be, early detection can play a key role in both your health and that of your unborn child. Congratulations!