Pregnancy is calculated from the first day of your last period and not from conception. As a result, during week one of your pregnancy you are not actually pregnant. You count day one of pregnancy from the first day of your period.
So, what’s going on in your body during that first week?
On average, a menstrual cycle is around 28 days, with 21 to 35 days being the normal range. The first week of pregnancy (assuming you become pregnant in any given cycle) is mostly menstruation a.k.a your period. Hormone levels are at a low and are telling the body it is not pregnant, so it is shedding the uterine lining and preparing for a new cycle.
What should you be doing during the first week of pregnancy?
Now is the time to begin acting pregnant. How do you act pregnant, you ask? We don’t mean in the stereotypical vision of eating ice cream with pickles, but to begin taking prenatal vitamin vitamins and cease any drug and alcohol use. The condition of your body affects your new baby even before he/she baby has been conceived. Make sure your dad-to-be is also being health conscious at this point. The health of his sperm will also affect your baby.
You may also consider basal body temping as you are officially trying to conceive. Basal body temping can help you determine when you ovulate in a given cycle and increase your chances of becoming pregnant. Keep in mind that only about 25 percent of all couples make a baby in that first month of trying–it may take awhile.
Pregnancy Symptoms Week 1:
There are no symptoms in the first week of pregnancy, because you aren’t pregnant yet.
If you’re trying to conceive, it can be hard to wade through all the information in regards to fertility to know where to start. One common recommended step to increased fertility is leading a healthy lifestyle including diet and exercise. The question is, how does fertility really affect fertility, and is it good or bad?
 Does exercise increase female fertility?
It’s no secret fertility in women is strongly affected by hormones, such as estrogen, but fewer women know that fat cells produce estrogen. The more body fat you have, the more estrogen you produce, and if your body has high estrogen levels, you don’t ovulate. This is why many birth control pills contain estrogen. While estrogen does act to thicken your uterine wall to provide a home for a fertilized egg, too much estrogen can cause over thickening making it difficult for an egg to implant. Exercise reduces body fat, in turn helping to establish healthy estrogen levels, which leads to proper ovulation and more ideal conditions for fertilized egg implantation. About 12 percent of infertility cases are a result of weight issues.
Exercise also is an effective method of relieving stress. Stress can lead to depression and interrupted or irregular menstruation. Both of which decrease your chances of becoming pregnant.
Can exercise decrease female fertility?
On the flip side of this coin, too much exercise can also decrease fertility. As stated estrogen is produced by fat cells, and estrogen is essential in the production and release of eggs as well as the ripening and preparation of the body for pregnancy. If you have too little body fat, not enough estrogen will be produced which can lead to infertility.
On top of this, strenuous exercise and/or intense aerobic exercise reduces the production of progesterone and affects menstruation. Progesterone prevents the body from menstruating after an embryo has implanted. Some recent studies also show that excess exercise leaves the body too drained to make the necessary changes for pregnancy.
What about exercise and male fertility?
Intense exercise has been shown to decrease fertility in men as well. Exercise reduces the level of testosterone in the male body, which results in less sperm. However, moderate exercise helps keep the body healthy, which means healthier sperm. Though studies are inconclusive, it is suggested that high body fat levels may also lead to infertility in men. Reasons for this are unknown. One suggested cause is an inability to penetrate as deeply during sex resulting in a further swim for sperm to reach the egg. Certain sexual positions may remedy this.
In short, moderate exercise will help maintain a healthy body weight, hormone levels, and stress level in both sexes, which will lead to increase fertility. While in both cases, extreme or excess exercise may result in the opposite or infertility.
Early signs of pregnancy are a tricky beast. The problem is many of the same hormones that are present in early pregnancy are also present just before your period. So, if you’re having a particularly hormonal cycle, you could seem pretty pregnant and not actually be pregnant. Likewise, if you are trying to conceive you may notice symptoms you actually get every month more assuming they are early signs of pregnancy.
That said, why take an early pregnancy symptom quiz at all? I suppose for curiosities sake, but you’ll also find an explanation after each question as to why a symptom may be an early sign of pregnancy. Understanding what causes early signs of pregnancy can help you puzzle out whether or not your period is just late or you may actually be pregnant. Alternately, if quizzes aren’t your bag, beyond the start button to this quiz you can simply read about common early signs of pregnancy covered in the quiz.
A note about early signs of pregnancy:
While many women claim they got early pregnancy symptoms say, 2 or 3 days after they ovulated or had sex, these symptoms are not relevant to pregnancy as implantation does not occur until 6 to 12 days after fertilization with the average being 8 to 10 days. You will not have pregnancy symptoms before a missedperiod unless your periods are irregular. As mentioned above, those women who think they experienced early signs of pregnancy really, really early were likely just dealing with typical PMS symptoms. If they were pregnant it was coincidental or they got pregnant earlier than they thought they did.
When taking this quiz or reading the early pregnancy symptoms below, please keep this in mind. It’s a waste of time to try to find out if you are or are not pregnant until after implantation, and so pregnancy, is actually even possible to avoid the confusion and heartache of constant wondering. I know the two week wait can seem an eternity if you’ve been trying to conceive, but hang in there.
Implantation usually occurs 6 to 12 days after ovulation (which is typically about 14 days after the first day of your period). Occasionally, implantation will cause minor spotting which may be as light as single drop. Keep in mind not all women experience implantation bleeding and spotting before your period is not always an early sign of pregnancy. If you experience bleeding around the time of your period, this is also not necessarily proof you aren’t pregnant. You can read more about period-like bleeding while pregnant here.
Early pregnancy symptoms: Sustained Elevated Basal Body Temperatures Over 16 Days
Sustained elevated basal body temperature is one the earliest symptoms of pregnancy. After ovulation the hormone progesterone elevates body temperature slightly. When this hormone dissipates, the uterine lining is shed and your temperature will drop again slightly as your cycle begins. If you are pregnant, progesterone levels continue to rise rather than falling keeping temperatures high.
This rise can sometimes cause a second temperature shift (if you’re charting this is referred to as a tri-phasic chart). Generally, a sustained temperature rise for 16 days is considered an early pregnancy sign. You must be checking your basal body temperature to catch this early pregnancy sign, simply taking your temp and finding it to be higher than usual is insufficient.
Early Signs of Pregnancy: Yellow Discharge
Once you become pregnant, your body creates a mucus plug within your cervix to protect your new baby from infection. Your cervix is the opening between your vaginal and your uterus. Early in pregnancy as this plug is formed, many women notice an increase in vaginal discharge which is often yellow in color and thick, sort of like snot. Though some women notice this same change just before their period begins. You can read more about regular vaginal discharge here and pregnancy discharge here.
Early Pregnancy Symptoms: Breast Changes
Breast changes are often cited as one of the most common early signs of pregnancy noticeable as early as the first week after a missed period. This is yet another bi-product of rapidly rising hormone levels. You may notice pain, tingling, sensitivity, darkening of the area around your nipples, or just seem a bit bustier than usual.
Early signs of pregnancy: Fatigue
Are you feeling really tired for no good reason? Making a baby is hard work, especially during the first trimester being that a baby goes from about the size of a pin head to the size of your hand in 13 short weeks. While fatigue can be a symptom of all sorts of things, it’s also very common in early pregnancy. Again, this symptom would not appear until at least 6 to 12 days after unprotected sex, likely longer.
Early pregnancy symptoms:Â Vomiting, Nausea, and Food Aversion
It’s suspected hCG, or the hormone that causes a positive pregnancy test, may be one of the primary culprits of morning sickness. While vomiting, nausea, and food aversion can all be signs of say, the flu, they can also be one of the early signs of pregnancy. Particularly if no other signs of sickness like a runny nose are present. Some women also experience odd food cravings or notice their tastes change.
Early signs of pregnancy: Gas, Constipation, Bloating and Other Gastro-issues
Progesterone, the hormone that sustains pregnancy, peaks in the first trimester. Coincidentally, it also works to relax smooth muscles– which is what your intestines are made of. This can lead to an increase in pregnancy gas, constipation, and bloating. Progesterone is present prior to pregnancy though, just in a lower concentration.
Early pregnancy symptoms:Â Abdominal Movement? Nope.
This was a trick question included in the quiz– unless you are much further along than you think. Yahoo questions abound with folks who claim they knew they were pregnant because they felt their baby move. Shy of about 10 week though, this is pretty much impossible, and even that early is unlikely unless you are carrying twins. Feeling movement just weeks after unprotected sex is likely gas or just muscle twitches. While I wouldn’t call no movement a sign, you won’t feel any this early either.
Early signs of pregnancy: Frequent Urination
As early as 3 weeks after unprotected sex, if you are pregnant, your blood flow has already begun to increase. This increase cases your kidneys to go into overdrive which can cause more frequent urination. Of course, frequent urination can also be a sign of bladder or kidney infection or even just drinking lots of fluids.
Early pregnancy symptoms: A Late or Missed Period
Yes, I know, this seems a no brainer, but many women begin trying to find out if they are pregnant before a missed period, and honestly, that’s very difficult to do. You’ll notice nearly all of the points on this early signs of pregnancy page pertain to at least 6 to 12 days after unprotected sex with more women landing on the closer to 12 side. That’s pretty close to when your period would be due. On average pregnancy symptoms don’t appear before 1 week after a missed period. You can read more about when pregnancy symptoms start here or read our guide on when to take a pregnancy test to confirm your suspicions here.
