What is Pregnancy? What are the symptoms?
Pregnancy is a marathon that lasts approximately 40 weeks. In terms of months, it is expressed as 9 months, 10 days. The onset of pregnancy is also the first day of the menstrual cycle at conception. For this reason, in the first week of pregnancy, the expectant mother is not actually pregnant.
What is pregnancy?
The expectant mother may have difficulty remembering the time of conception. At this point, it is necessary to remember the first day of the last menstrual week. Controls and pregnancy follow-up are carried out according to the first day of menstruation.
That is, from the first day of the last menstrual period, pregnancy is completed at 40 weeks. In various cases, the baby may be born several weeks late or early.
On average, on the 14th day of the menstrual cycle, ovulation occurs. Fallopian tubes are thrown into the right or left tube and the egg matures.
Fallopian tubes are located to the right and left of the uterus. We can liken the fallopian tubes to thin channels. These tubes are covered with hairs that will send the egg to the inner layer of the uterus. Since the pregnancy will take place in the uterus, the egg must be delivered to the uterus through the tubes.
The uterus is an organ located in the bony roof called the pelvis. Neighboring organs are the bladder and large intestine. Since the uterus and bladder are close, the expectant mother needs to urinate frequently during pregnancy. During pregnancy, the uterus continues to grow, thus putting pressure on the bladder.
What are the pregnancy symptoms?
In fact, pregnancy symptoms are an experience that every expectant mother can experience differently. Although there are classical symptoms, the intensity and form of these symptoms may be different in each expectant mother. The most determining factor among pregnancy symptoms is the delay of menstruation. However, in some cases, the bleeding due to the establishment of pregnancy can be confused with menstrual bleeding, and the woman may think that she is not pregnant. Or she may suspect that she is pregnant with different symptoms before her menstrual delay. So, pregnancy symptoms can vary from person to person. At this point, the most important factor is that the expectant mother is alert to the changes in her body.
Some expectant mothers may not realize that they are pregnant until the following weeks of pregnancy. Pregnancy free may not experience any symptoms. Or, the symptoms may be similar to premenstrual syndrome and may not notice it. For this reason, even if the mentioned symptoms are not experienced, if you suspect that you are pregnant, you should definitely get tested. In addition, even if you have all the symptoms, you may not be pregnant. For this reason, you should consider the symptoms, but you should definitely benefit from the opinion of an expert.
Most expectant mothers worry about using birth control pills until they realize they are pregnant. She may be frightened by the thought that these pills will harm the pregnancy. However, studies show that birth control pills do not harm the baby in any way.
The easiest and most reliable way to find out if you are pregnant is a pregnancy test.
Early signs of pregnancy
Tiredness
When a woman becomes pregnant, various changes occur in her body. The body's needs increase. Metabolism accelerates to meet the needs of pregnancy and the mother. For this reason, the expectant mother may feel tired in the early weeks of pregnancy. Apart from this, the expectant mother may feel more tired and sleepy due to the soothing effect caused by the progesterone hormone secreted more during pregnancy. Therefore, in the early weeks of pregnancy, expectant mothers may feel more tired, exhausted and sleepless than normal. At this point, expectant mothers should rest as much as possible.
Change in breasts
Even in the early stages of pregnancy, breast tenderness can be felt. Breast enlargement, tenderness or pain may occur due to hormonal changes in the body. Women may confuse these symptoms with those that occur in the premenstrual period.
Nausea and vomiting
For the majority of women, one of the first signs of pregnancy is vomiting and nausea. Since there are hormonal changes in the body, the body enters an adaptation process and the expectant mother experiences this as nausea. These nausea, which is mostly experienced in the morning, can be experienced at any time of the day.
Opening or closing of appetite
The appetite of most of the pregnant mothers is increased. The expectant mother may feel that she is not full or is constantly hungry. Apart from this, some expectant mothers may lose their appetite due to nausea and even lose weight. A food that was abhorred before pregnancy can be craved during pregnancy.
The need to urinate frequently
Even in the first week of pregnancy, the expectant mother may notice that she needs more toilets. During pregnancy, the uterus continues to grow. The uterus and bladder are organs that are very close to each other. As the uterus grows, it puts pressure on the bladder. Constipation may also occur in some expectant mothers.
Dizziness
Another common early pregnancy symptom is dizziness. During pregnancy, blood vessels expand. For this reason, blood pressure may decrease. This may cause dizziness when the expectant mother stands up from a sitting position or sits while standing.
Changes in mood
Hormonal changes in the body of the expectant mother do not only affect the pregnant woman in a physiological sense. Psychology is also affected by these hormonal changes. For this reason, mood changes may occur during the day. You may notice symptoms such as feeling overly emotional or getting angry quickly for a very simple event. Apart from that, you can be very happy at once and get stressed soon after. These are symptoms that are considered normal during pregnancy. As the body gets used to pregnancy and accepts the hormonal changes, the mood swings will decrease.
It is among the most common symptoms.
Llight spotting bleeding
Some women may experience spotting bleeding in the early weeks of pregnancy. You may notice such bleeding 10-14 days after fertilization occurs. This bleeding is implantation bleeding. The fertilized egg, that is, the embryo, settles on the uterine wall and this bleeding occurs. Since implantation bleeding and menstrual period coincide almost simultaneously, the expectant mother may confuse this bleeding with menstrual bleeding. However, this bleeding is shorter and lighter in color than menstrual bleeding.
Changes in the skin
During pregnancy, pigmentation increases due to hormonal changes. For this reason, the skin may become acne prone. However, in some mothers-to-be, the skin is stretched and may have a more radiant and healthy appearance. This is experienced entirely in relation to the mother's structure.
Changes in the heart and circulatory system
There is a significant increase in blood volume during pregnancy. For this reason, blood density decreases. This means that the mother-to-be experiences heart palpitations, heart pressure does not decrease, and symptoms such as varicose veins.
All these symptoms can be experienced in different ways in every mother-to-be. A blood pregnancy test is essential for the definitive diagnosis of pregnancy.
4-5. definite findings observed after a month
- Hearing the heartbeat of pregnancy
- Perception of the movements of pregnancy by the mother or noticing it from the outside
- It can be summarized as noticing the baby's body parts in the doctor's manual examination.
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