What are the signs of pregnancy?
Signs of pregnancy typically include missing your period, light spotting and morning sickness. Other indicators may include changes in your mood and increased fatigue as well as sore breasts. You might notice your appetite becoming more intense as well as craving foods which were unappetizing before due to changes in hormones. These effects of gestation are all caused by pregnancy!
At first sign of pregnancy, missing your period can be the telltale tell. This occurs as your body produces hormones to prevent ovulation and shed of the uterine lining. But missing a period does not always indicate pregnancy – stress, exercise, dieting and other factors could all play a part in its absence.
Cramping, while normal in menstruation, should not be severe and typically affects both sides of your stomach or lower abdomen, often accompanying feelings of fullness or dysmenorrhea (dysmenorrhea).
Other symptoms of pregnancy can include bloating, sore breasts and an increase in transparent and odorless vaginal discharge. You may also experience constipation due to hormonal shifts. You might also develop an aversion for certain smells or have unexplained food cravings that make no sense. Finally, your sense of taste might change dramatically during this time causing you to become sensitive to certain odors or textures that were once undetectable before.
How do I know if I’m having a boy or a girl?
Many theories and tests purport to accurately predict the gender of your baby. Some involve your health or how you carry your bump. Other tests, like Jools mentions in his video above, use calendars or date checks that cross-reference lunar age with conception month – these do not have scientific support behind them.
Some argue that the gender of your unborn baby can be determined by how spread out your bump sits on your belly; larger and wider-spread bumps indicate male babies while smaller, lower bumps indicate female pregnancies.
Other methods, like the “nub theory”, suggest that looking at the fetus’s genital tubercle (or “nub”) can predict their sexuality; however, this only works within 15 weeks of gestation so is unlikely worth trying at home.
Some experts assert that certain changes in skin and hair can indicate sexuality, such as dull or spotty skin being indicative of female characteristics while shiny hair indicates male features. Others speculate that craving sweet items indicates femininity while craving salty items suggests masculinity; though remembering that morning sickness and cravings during pregnancy could skew your diet to either gender is key here!
