A woman realizes that she is pregnant when she misses a period, and by this time she is usually in the 3rd to 5th week of her pregnancy because conception takes place about 2 weeks after menstruation. So by the time she realizes that she is pregnant she has already completed almost a month of her pregnancy. The first signs on pregnancy are the missing of a period. The pregnancy calendar starts a week after the last period had started and after this there are forty weeks to complete a full term when the baby is ready to be born. Once a period has been missed the woman can go for a pregnancy test to make sure that this is because she is pregnant and there is no other cause for the absence of a period.

Pregnancy symptoms which start after the first period has been missed are very misguiding and appear to be very similar to when your period is just about to appear. There is more of discharge from the vagina, cramps in the lower abdomen, a tired feeling, breasts become tender and painful, a funny taste in the mouth and nausea. The only difference is that there is no period happening and this is the most definite symptom of pregnancy. Early pregnancy is not a very comfortable time as the mother to be is experiencing too many symptoms which are new to her and added to all this, the nausea and pain in the lower abdomen which does not seem to go away.

The hormone levels in the body are changing so that the lining of the uterus tissue is thick enough to sustain and cushion the egg which is fertilized and attached to the wall of the uterus. The gender of the fetus is already determined by the chromosome in the sperm which is and X for a female child and Y for a male child. The fertilized egg develops more cells which is a blastocyst which is going to be the baby finally.

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