Discovering You Are Pregnant

Finding out you are expecting a baby is an extremely exciting moment for you and your partner. You will be filled with joy but you will most probably also feel a bit scared and uncertain (especially if it is your first child). Some women "know" they are pregnant but the most don't realize until they notice their period is late. With my first child I "knew" I was pregnant even though 3 home testing kits showed otherwise but with my second baby I had no idea and it was a bit of a suprise. A period that is late is probably the number one sign that you are pregnant, however it is possible to have light bleeding when you're pregnant - if your test is positive and you are experiencing bleeding rather go and see your doctor.

Different types of tests
- Home testing kit: you can buy them at the supermarket or pharmacy. They are simple to use and very accurate if you follow the instructions.
- Doctor testing kit: they are very similar to the home tests.
- Blood (serum) tests: many women use a blood pregnancy test performed by a doctor especially if they are in doubt.
The first two testing kits check your urine for a hormone called CHG (human chorionic gonadotrophin). The kit will tell you to urinate on the stick and then wait a few minutes for the colour to change or two stripes to appear in the little window, this indicates that you are pregnant. Sometimes ( like in my case with my fist baby) the test might show a negative result but if you still feel that you might be pregnant repeat the test a few days later.

Other indications that you've conceived is
- feeling more tired, especially in the early evening ( this usually last for the whole 1st trimester)
- a kind of meatllic taste in the mouth
- feeling nauseous, some women feel it in the mornings "morningsickness" but quite a few women feel sick throughout the whole day.
- needing to urinate more frequently
- tender breasts and nipples

Your delivery date
The average pregnancy lasts for 266 days.Doctors consider anything between 38 to 42 weeks as a normal pregnancy. It is difficult to know exactly when conception occured therefore the delivery date is usually calculated from the first day of your last menstrual cycle. This means that your estimated delivery date will be 280 days from your last menstrual period. It is difficult to predict the EDD if you do not have regular 28 day cycles.
Please remember that this is only a estimated date and only few babies actually arrive on that day.