Weird and Common Early Pregnancy Signs Before Your Missed Period

I would normally think these are all pretty indicative of your period being on the horizon, but the spotting makes me wonder if you were actually experiencing implantation bleeding. Some women have it, others don't.

If you haven't already started your period, you could go ahead and take a pregnancy test at this point since you're right around the time your cycle should be starting (or not starting, if you're pregnant).

Something unfortunate about PMS is sometimes it can feel a lot like early pregnancy! Since your last period was short and not what it normally is, I would take a pregnancy test now (granted, you haven't started your next period).

If the test comes back negative and your periods continue to be extra short, talk to your doctor to find out if you might have a treatable hormone or thyroid condition affecting your cycle.

I'm not a doctor, and I can't say with absolute certainty that you aren't pregnant but straight up, no, I don't think you're pregnant at all. Messing around without penetration is not an effective way to get pregnant, and it's super unlikely that that's what's going on with you.

You might want to talk to your doctor about what is normal and not normal for periods while on the kind of birth control you're on or research it at bedsider.org.

All of those symptoms are certainly common in early pregnancy, but they're also common before the start of your period too.

The thing that makes me think you need to take a pregnancy test though, is the four days of spotting. If this was truly spotting, which would only be enough to need a pantyliner and not a tampon or pad, then it could be implantation bleeding.

Take a test and if it's negative wait a couple of more days and try again. If it's still negative, then it's possible you had a very light period which isn't necessarily a big deal. If your cycles continue to be light though you should let your doctor know because it can be a sign of a treatable disorder (like a thyroid disorder).

If the test comes back positive then, of course, you should still call your doctor.

It's definitely not typical to get your period and then get it again the next week. I would say that more than likely, this second "cycle" was not a period, because you would have needed to ovulate between those periods. Hold off on taking a pregnancy test unless your period is late.

If you get your next period at the regular time that you're expecting it but then experience another mid-cycle bleed, you should talk to your doctor.

It's possible, and I've heard stories from friends who didn't get a positive test until a couple of weeks later. However, at this point, I would stop into your doctor for a simple blood test to confirm. If their test comes back negative, then at least they'll also know that your period is delayed and can help you get it back on track if it doesn't take care of itself.

You should definitely take a pregnancy test if your period is two weeks late, especially considering you haven't had a period since January. If your test comes back negative and you're still feeling sick please call your doctor.

Since you took the Plan B within 72 hours of the unprotected sex, then according to Plan B's website, you have an "up to 89%" chance of NOT conceiving.

Also according to their site, it's not uncommon for women to experience, among other symptoms mentioned, breast tenderness and nausea caused by the Plan B.

If I were you, I would take a deep breath and know that you took the steps to prevent pregnancy, and just try to relax in that. Any time any of us have sex, even if we're using the most effective form of birth control, there's ALWAYS a chance of conceiving.

But right now, the odds are very much so in your favor, and there's only a slim chance you'll get pregnant from this.

That the blood is brown indicates it's old blood, so it could be the start of your period, but if you're not experiencing a flow, then it does make you (and I) wonder if it's a symptom of implantation.

If I were you, I would take an at home pregnancy test, if you haven't already.

The symptoms you're describing can be indicative of typical PMS, but they're also super common for early pregnancy.

If you test comes back negative and you still don't experience a flow of blood over the next couple of days, I'd make an appointment with your doctor, preferably you OB if you have one, and let them know what's going on.

Yes, it's very possible that you're pregnant if you had unprotected sex while you were ovulating. If you haven't taken a pregnancy test already, then you could take one right now and get pretty accurate results.

In my experience, once you're late for your period, you can usually take a pregnancy test at any point in the day, and you'll get an accurate result. However, I do know a couple of people this wasn't true for! If your period continues to be late, then I would take another pregnancy test, but take it in the morning with your first urine of the day and trust that result.

I too get really exhausted right before and during the first day of my period. It's not fun, but it's not that uncommon. If it continues to be a problem for you, you can talk to your doctor. Extreme fatigue around your menstrual cycle can also be a sign of a treatable condition (like low iron, or a simple thyroid issue).

If you're saying that your period has been late and now you are suddenly bleeding, then it's possible that your period was just delayed. That's not uncommon, especially if you've recently dealt with stress, illness or a change in your sleep schedule. If you're suspicious that you may be pregnant go ahead and take a pregnancy test. At this stage, it should be accurate.

What you're describing is called "the pull out method" or "the withdrawal method," and doctors and just about everyone else have GREATLY debated the effectiveness.

Anecdotally, I could tell you that I know people it's worked for. Personally, I'm going to tell you it's a tricky birth control method in that you really need to do it perfectly for it to work and even then - you're playing with fire, so to speak. But I guess this could be true of any other birth control method, right?

According to Planned Parenthood, "For every 100 women who use the pull out method perfectly, 4 will get pregnant." Those aren't terrible odds, but they're not 100% either.

So to answer your question, the withdrawal method, when practiced without flaw is effective against pregnancy 96% of the time, according to Planned Parenthood's statistics.

If you'd like more information on birth control options I recommend https://bedsider.org where you'll find all kinds of articles and cool features on everything from condoms, the patch and yes, withdrawal to help you see all of your options for preventing pregnancy and how to obtain them.

If you decide to go with a method that takes less willpower talk to your OB or general physician about what they can offer you.

Not every woman experiences implantation bleeding (IB) before getting a positive pregnancy test. I have never had implantation bleeding, personally, so not having it is not necessarily a sign that you're not pregnant.

Since you're so close to starting your cycle and since you've been actively trying to conceive, you should take a pregnancy test now.

You're probably wondering if this is implantation spotting and it very well could be, especially since the bleeding started earlier than your normal cycle. A good way to tell the difference between implantation and the start of your period is if there's a flow. Do you have to change pads or tampons? If you are, then I would say this is just an early period.

Either way, just to reassure yourself, take a test on the day your period was supposed to start. If you really are pregnant, you should be able to get at least a faint positive at that point.

I think that you probably tested too early to get an accurate result either way. It's good that you checked for a UTI, that's really smart, and something that more women need to be aware of; sometimes what seems like pregnancy symptoms are indeed symptoms of a urinary tract infection. I'm glad that in your case they're not.

I think that it's likely you're actually experiencing symptoms of ovulation. Ovulation symptoms CAN cause some weird, unpleasant stuff like sore breasts and pain in pressure in the lower abdomen/pelvic region. Actually, I always get a lot of pain there during and following ovulation. My OB/GYN explained to me that that's because some women are extra sensitive to ovulation as small cysts form and burst during the release of the egg.

Since your period is due on Saturday, April 21st, you should hold off on taking another pregnancy test until Tuesday, April 18th at the earliest and from there take one every two days until you either get your period or a positive pregnancy test.

The most likely reason is that you're gearing up to start your period. However, if you've recently had unprotected sex, then the next best possibility is early pregnancy symptoms! If you haven't started your cycle yet, then I would take a pregnancy test because today would be your official "late" day.

According to The Mayo Clinic, gonorrhea itself does not cause infertility and having had it would not affect your ability to get pregnant. However, gonorrhea can cause Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (PID).

If Pelvic Inflammatory Disease isn't treated properly, it can damage your reproductive organs which could lead to infertility or a lower chance of getting pregnant.

So here's what I think you should do - I think you should get in touch with the doctor who treated you for gonorrhea and find out if you were tested for pelvic inflammatory disease and if you were, what the results were. If you weren't tested, I would make an appointment to get tested.

Again, according to The Mayo Clinic, the test for PID would include a pelvic exam, where your doctor would check things out to see if there's any inflammation, scarring, etc. They would probably also take a sample of your urine and cervical fluids. All of this, along with any symptoms you describe to them, would be used to diagnose you (or not!) with PID.

Now, if it turns out you don't have PID, there are other fertility tests that you and your partner could undergo. Remember that it's possible that your partner is the one dealing with the fertility issues, not you. Most doctors, however, would probably not test you or your partner for fertility issues until it's been a full year of trying to conceive without success. That's because even in healthy couples who have zero fertility issues, it can still take a full year to you conceive!

In the meantime, to up your chances of conceiving I would invest in OPKs. These are tests that you pee on just like a pregnancy test, and they let you know when you're ovulating so that you know when to have sex. Conception is tricky in that there are only a few short days during the month that women are fertile enough to conceive. So even if it feels like you've been trying for months, the problem may just be in your timing.

Based on your timing, I don't think your symptoms are pregnancy related. That's because typically, pregnancy symptoms like vomiting usually don't start until after you have implantation and implantation is most common seven to ten days after you ovulate. So even if you did conceive, it's unlikely that implantation has happened yet. The more likely cause of your symptoms is a stomach virus, since it's the season for those.

That being said, any time you have sex there's a possibility of becoming pregnant. I would hold off on taking a pregnancy test until you're about four days away from starting your period. At that point, if your symptoms are pregnancy related, then the test will probably be able to turn positive by then. If it comes back negative and your symptoms don't clear up, let your doctor know just to rule out an infection.

There's a possibility, especially with your symptoms. I think that throwing up five days after sex might be a little too early to attribute to pregnancy but it's possible that if you were ovulating at the time your body is already reacting to the hormones.

Since you're having lots of symptoms already, I'd go ahead and take a pregnancy test. If it comes back negative, hold off and take another one if your period ends up being late.

If, when you wrote this, you were 13 days late then the last time you tested was when you were only six days late. Since it's possible that you ovulated later than you expected it's also possible that you weren't as late as you thought you were when you first took the test.

You should take another pregnancy test, there's a possibility you're still pregnant. If, at the two-week mark, you're still getting negative tests and no period you should call your doctor and let them know what's going on. They may want to do a blood test to confirm whether or not you're pregnant.

Yes, you could. A common misconception is that if you have intercourse during your menstrual cycle, you are less likely to get pregnant. However, since sperm live up to five days, if you were to ovulate shortly after your period ended, there's a possibility that you could become pregnant.

Since the blood is brown, this would indicate that it's old blood rather than fresh blood. Why it would go on for nearly a month though I'm really not sure. I could take a few guesses that include an infection, an irritation to your cervix or a reaction to birth control.

I don't think it would have to do with pregnancy, but if you want to take a pregnancy test, it won't hurt. After that, contact your doctor and make an appointment to be seen. They can give you a pap smear to rule out more serious conditions, and then from there troubleshoot the cause, so you don't have to deal with the brown spotting long term.

There's definitely a chance that you could still be pregnant, but since the test is negative and your period is late, I would say the chances are slim.

Let's say that spotting was implantation bleeding, and it occurred, according to the dates you're giving me, around March 16th. You should have been able to get an accurate pregnancy test around March 18th or 19th at the earliest, but by March 25th you should have almost certainly had a positive test IF the spotting was implantation.

Now, maybe it wasn't. Maybe it was something else and you had implantation later on, then it's possible that your body still hasn't sent out the pregnancy hormone required for an HPT to turn positive.

My best advice is to test again on the 27th. Test again every other day or until your period shows up. If you end up more than two weeks late call your doctor and ask for a blood pregnancy test. If that comes back negative then you and your doctor can talk about other things that could be causing your period to be late.

Almost always, a late period is not severe, and easy to troubleshoot.

I've certainly heard of women not getting a positive result for two weeks after their missed period - one of my good friends is one of those women. She found out with her first that she was pregnant when she was already six weeks along!

If you've been taking at home tests, though, and they're negative, then the chance that you're pregnant isn't super high (but it's not out of the realm of possibility either).

You're doing the best thing by going to the doctor for confirmation. If their test comes back negative, then they can help you troubleshoot why your period hasn't started. That's almost always an easy fix, and it isn't usually a big concern.

I hope you get the answer you want!

According to https://americanpregnancy.org, the chances are getting pregnant while using Depo-Provera correctly are less than 1%. To put that in perspective, those are around the same odds as getting pregnant after your partner has had a successful vasectomy.

So, in a word, no. You're very unlikely to get pregnant on Depo-Provera.

I think there's a more than likely possibility that you're pregnant. If you have an irregular period, then I can see why you'd be hesitant to take a pregnancy test, since you may not technically be late. However, the spotting and other pregnancy signs, along with a seemingly late period suggests that you are probably pregnant. You need to take a pregnancy test like your doctor advised.

It could mean you have a stomach virus. When I have a stomach virus, the inflammation does cause stomach tightness and vomiting and then, of course, a headache. But if you've recently had unprotected sex, it could also mean you're pregnant. If you think that you might be pregnant, now would be a good time to take a pregnancy test. If you continue to feel sick, you should see a doctor.

You don't need to wait until your period is due to know whether or not you're pregnant, because I can assure you, you aren't. I'm not a doctor and I can't officially "diagnose" you but I can tell you from nearly three decades of life that you absolutely need to have intercourse to get pregnant.

If you have not had sex (intercourse), then you can not get pregnant. You didn't have sex, so you're not pregnant.

That being said, "messing around" unprotected still leaves you vulnerable to sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and sexually transmitted infections (STIs). So it would be a good idea to check out https://bedsider.org and see what methods of protection are right for you and your partner to protect the both of you from STIs and STDs. Likewise, before and after getting intimate, you and your partner should wash your hands.

If April 18th comes and goes and you still don't have your period, then you can take a home pregnancy test for reassurance. However, you should remember that stress (like stressing out about getting pregnant) can delay your period.

Since you had sex around the time of your ovulation, there's a good chance that you could have gotten pregnant, especially if you were trying to conceive. If you were using a reliable form of birth control, of course, your chances are much lower.

Since your period was not due for over a week when you took the pregnancy test, the results aren't reliable. It can be tempting and exciting to start testing as soon as you feel pregnancy symptoms, but it's not really a good idea because no home pregnancy test can give you a correct result that early.

Even though you may have conceived by definition of the egg being fertilized during ovulation, the fertilized egg must adhere to the wall of your uterus before your body starts sending out the pregnancy hormones that at-home tests detect. This is called implantation and doesn't happen until seven to ten days AFTER the egg is fertilized and after implantation occurs, it still takes another two days before your body starts sending out those hormones.

You don't want to start taking pregnancy tests until around five days before your period is due, at the earliest.

For the most accurate results, you should wait to take a pregnancy test until the day your period is due.

Since I don't know the date of your last period or how long your cycles usually are, I can't put them into a pregnancy test timing calculator. If you'd like to do that, there's a really awesome one over at https://countdowntopregnancy.com.

Now, since you had unprotected sex about two weeks before your period was due to arrive, it's entirely possible that you did get pregnant. Most women ovulate around two weeks before the beginning of their period, and this is when we're most fertile.

I'm not sure when you took the test and what kind you took, and it IS possible to get a false negative due to user error. I've done it; taking one too early during a month that it turns out I was actually pregnant.

If I were you, I would buy another pregnancy test and take it right away. Since your period was due at the end of March, you're probably fine to take any brand at any time because if you're pregnant, there should be enough pregnancy hormone to get a positive test by now.

My personal favorite for testing is just a good ol' First Response with the pink lines, not the digital.

However, if you're nervous about interpreting the lines, you might want to opt for a digital which will give you a clear "YES" or "NO" answer.

If you take one and it still comes back negative, then take a deep breath and remember that there are a lot of totally innocent reasons that a period can be late without being pregnant, including just ovulating a little off schedule. If your period ends up being more than two weeks late and you still have negative tests call your doctor and let them know. They may not do anything until you've missed at least two periods, or they may have you come in to explore other reasons your period could be late.

Apart from pregnancy, a late or missed period isn't usually serious at all.

If you still have not gotten your usual period then, by all means, yes, you could be pregnant, and you need to take a pregnancy test.

If you did get your period, then, unfortunately, these symptoms can also be attributed to premenstrual symptoms. Oh, the fun of being born female!

As a side note, if you're still experiencing a lot of severe pain (that makes it difficult to walk), you should call your doctor.

Those symptoms could certainly indicate pregnancy, especially since it sounds like you're actively trying to conceive. When I was pregnant with my first daughter I thought that I was experiencing cold and flu symptoms but it turns out it was early pregnancy signs.

If I were you I would wait to take a test for one more day. Begin testing the morning of March 13 and if the test is negative, wait to test again until the morning of March 15.

Something to keep in mind is that although ovulation apps and calendars are really helpful, unless you're temping and charting, or confirming ovulation with an OPK, it can be difficult to know for sure when or if you've ovulated.

Missing your period and then feeling sick and getting negative pregnancy tests is seriously the most frustrating thing ever. I've personally been there, and I know how infuriating and confusing it feels. It's like your body is playing tricks on you and then the anxiety of worrying if something else is wrong makes everything feel worse.

My best advice is first, you need to take a deep breath.

If you missed your period two weeks ago and you're still getting negative pregnancy tests then, except for the slim chance that you ovulated very late and it's still too early to get a positive pregnancy test, it doesn't sound like you're pregnant.

It sounds more like you have a delayed or missed period and your body is either getting ready to ovulate, getting ready to start that period (finally) or like you're dealing with a virus which could also be the cause of your missed period.

Going way, way back to our ancestors, our menstrual cycles revolved around conception. Back in the day when there were limited resources, our bodies would delay ovulation if an illness was coming on because we couldn't have sustained a pregnancy and an illness back then - there were no grocery stores, walk-in clinics or Gatorade.

That means that if you've been sick or stressed it's possible that this is the reason your period is so late, not pregnancy.

If you can, I think you should contact your doctor and let them know your symptoms and about your late period. They can give you a simple blood test to confirm whether or not you're pregnant.

In the meantime, hang in there - you're not the first, and you certainly won't be the last woman to feel sick with a late period and negative HPTs! This almost never indicates a serious issue.

Sore breasts can undoubtedly be a sign that your period is coming but they can also be a sign of early pregnancy, especially if the sides and underarms are sore as well. Since your period is late, now is a great time to take a pregnancy test. You could opt for a less expensive and less sensitive test at this point in your cycle, too.

For reassurance, I've personally gone mad with symptoms like this. However, those are definitely common early pregnancy symptoms, especially constipation. Having your period a week early isn't totally out of the norm, but it could mean that your cycle off.

If I were you I would take a home pregnancy test now, just to confirm that that period was indeed a period and not implantation bleeding.

If it comes back negative, then your symptoms are probably related to ovulation hormones since your period was two weeks ago (meaning, if it was a true period, you should be ovulating soon here).

Yes, these symptoms can be indicative of pregnancy. The first thing you should do is take a pregnancy test. If it comes back negative, you'll want to call your doctor and let them know what's going on. These symptoms can also be as a result of a treatable thyroid condition.

Periods aren't an exact science, unfortunately, especially when it comes to their timing. Before I look at your specific dates in relation to pregnancy, I want you to pull up a calendar for April 2018, and we're going to go over some hypothetical dates.

Let's say your period comes on April 1st, 2018 and you have a 28-day cycle (this is the average and most typical length of time that a woman's cycle lasts). You would get your period 28 days after April 1st, which is April 29th. Not only would you get two periods in one month, but the first period would also be at the beginning of the month and the second period would be at the end of the month. Confusing, but not at all irregular and in fact this is the clinical example of a "typical" period. Now let's say your second period is just two days late - you would begin that second period on May 1st, putting your period back into the first week of the month.

A good way for you to see just how regular or irregular your periods are is to use a period tracking app. I like Flo; it lets you track a lot of other stuff too.

Now, to your pregnancy question - since I don't know how long your average cycle lasts, I can't make an educated guess on when you probably ovulated. But, going off from a typical cycle, I think March 1st would have been too early for you to get pregnant unless you ovulated quite early. The most likely days for your ovulation and the highest chances of conception were probably around March 7th through the 11th.

All of that being said, you can check out the pregnancy test calculator for yourself at CountDownToPregnancy(dot)com where you can put in the start date of your last period (February 23rd) and then put in the average length of your cycle to find out when you should start testing for pregnancy. Personally, I think the best day for you to test would be on March 24th. This would be day 29 of your cycle, and unless you have very long cycles, you'd probably get an accurate result.

I'm sorry you're feeling so off. I've been there and I can promise a lot of other women reading this article have too!

First, it could have been too early to test. That's because often, implantation (which is when the fertilized egg adheres to the wall of the uterus) takes longer to occur than most of us think. It typically happens between six and twelve days after ovulation. What that means is that implantation can happen as late as just a couple of days before your period is due. After implantation happens, it then takes around two days for a pregnancy test to turn positive. Which is really confusing! You would think that when "conception" happens, you would be able to get a positive test right away but you have to wait until that fertilized egg is attached and ready to send out the hormones needed to get a positive pregnancy test.

Now, since you're using two forms of birth control I'm going to take an educated guess and say your symptoms are not pregnancy related at all, but related to an extra-miserable premenstrual week or side effects of your hormonal birth control.

If your symptoms continue and you are still getting negative pregnancy tests I'd put a call into your OB or GP to see if your birth control is the culprit.

According to Planned Parenthood, when practiced correctly, the withdrawal (or pull out) method is effective in preventing pregnancy 96% of the time. That means 4 out of every 100 women who use this method correctly will still end up pregnant. So yes, there's a chance you could be pregnant, but the odds of not being pregnant are certainly still in your favor.

Since you're not sure when you ovulated, and since you have irregular cycles, I would start testing for pregnancy no earlier than April 3rd and then if that test is negative test every OTHER day until the arrival of your period or until you get a positive test.

Since you don't know when you ovulated it's entirely possible that those symptoms right after "ovulation" were actually ovulation symptoms, which many women (including me) experience.

The chances are good that you're not pregnant but if you are, then there are lots of resources available to help you find the best path for you going forward.

And if (most likely) you're not pregnant check out Bedsider(dot)org which is a really awesome website that breaks down each method of birth control so you can make sure that you're using the one that gives you the most confidence!

Since I don't know when you started your period I can't put your dates into a calculator to see if there's a possibility that you were fertile during March 8th through March 17th.

You should visit https://countdowntopregnancy.com, where they have a really user-friendly pregnancy test calculator. You'll be able to put in the start of your last period and your average cycle length (the number of days between the first day of one period and the first day of the next period), and it will tell you when the best time to take a pregnancy test is.

I've spent a lot of years reading about this in the forums on BabyCenter, and the thing I've learned from studying other women is that there's honestly no single answer for this.

From what I've read and experienced myself, early pregnancy discharge is typically whitish in color has a milky, thin consistency.

Of course, for each woman, because we all react slightly differently to pregnancy hormones, this isn't necessarily a good indicator of pregnancy.

Many women undoubtedly experience pregnancy symptoms as early as around seven days past ovulation and around seven days before their missed period.

Most at home pregnancy tests are not going to give you an accurate result this early on though, so you'll need to sit tight (I know it's so hard when you're trying to conceive!) until it's the right time to test.

If you use an early result brand like First Response (their early results products), you can usually start testing around five days before your period is due to start, though the odds that the result will be accurate goes up drastically the closer you get to the start of your menstrual cycle. Personally, I have never had an accurate result earlier than four days before my expected period.

Between four and six weeks, but they get progressively more noticeable as time goes on.

Something to keep in mind about pregnancy symptoms is that though you may have unprotected sex during ovulation and an egg may be fertilized, most women won’t notice this part and any symptoms felt during this time are actually symptoms of ovulation, NOT pregnancy since you’re technically not pregnant yet.

Fertilization (which again, is when a single sperm meets the eggs that have been released during ovulation) usually happens around two weeks before your period is due to start.

After that happens, it can take over a week for that fertilized egg to implant into the uterus. At this point, you’re just days away from the due date of your period, but this is when many women report they began to feel early signs of being pregnant.

Does that mean you can’t feel symptoms before implantation? No. You could, since a fertilized egg creates a change in your body that can affect your hormones. However, the symptoms will get stronger once the fertilized egg has implanted into the uterus and begun to send out signals to your body (the same signals that turn urine and blood pregnancy tests positive) to say “Hey, we’re definitely having a baby over here!”

The chances you're pregnant are pretty good considering you've had a positive pregnancy test.

The first thing you should do, if you haven't already, is call your doctor or an OB to confirm pregnancy, especially since you seem unsure. That'll also give you a chance to talk to your doctor about what's ahead, along with birth control options that might be a better fit for you.

If the only time you've recently had unprotected sex was only five days ago, then the chances that your symptoms are caused by pregnancy is low, since it takes some time for a fertilized egg to implant into the uterus and begin sending signals to your body that you're pregnant. Those signals are what give you typical pregnancy symptoms like dizziness, headaches and lower abdominal pain.

The two most likely culprits for your symptoms are either ovulation or that you're about to start your period. Since I don't know where you're at in your cycle it's hard for me to say.

Ovulation happens about two weeks from the time your last period began and two weeks from the time your next period is supposed to begin. It can cause all kinds of not-so-fun feelings, especially that lower abdominal pain that's focused on either the right or the left side. That pain is caused by the actual release of the egg during ovulation.

The fastest way to find out you’re pregnant, from test to answer, is just with a home pregnancy test. While blood pregnancy tests can detect pregnancy earlier than a urine test, you still have to wait on the lab for the results whereas an at-home test only takes about 1-3 minutes for a result.

So, if you're already late for your period or close to it just do an at-home test.

Those can definitely be pregnancy symptoms, especially because if you had sex ten days ago, then this is around the time where you might start to feel those early symptoms.

If your period is due within the next few days and you still haven't started your cycle, it would be okay to take a test right now. If your symptoms are related to pregnancy then there should be enough hormone in your body at this point to get a positive result. If the test comes back negative then this sounds like particularly awful PMS.

If you usually have an average 28-day cycle, and you still haven't gotten your period OR a positive pregnancy test, I'd call up your OB and let them know. Make sure they also have a history of your other pregnancies and ask if you can have a blood test and ultrasound done to confirm whether or not you're pregnant.

My first thought is that you just had a wonky period that was lighter than usual. But if this kind of thing isn't typical for you, I wonder if you could be pregnant, but you tested too early, or if you have your ovulation dates off.

If you've tested within the last day, hold off on testing again. If it's been a few days since you last took a test, take one now. If it's still negative, I would wait until your next period is due to see if it comes and if that one doesn't come, call up your doctor.

It's possible you're pregnant, but the test is, for some reason, not giving you an accurate result.

It's also possible that you're dealing with an undiagnosed infection or treatable condition that only an OB could properly diagnose.

Keep in mind that's it's not unusual for women to skip a period or experience delayed periods once in a while, but if the spotting happens again without a menstrual flow, you'll want to call your doctor.

It's really hard for me to guess if these are signs of pregnancy since I don't know when you ovulated. However, you probably wouldn't have symptoms one day after sex so that I would discount the cold as a sign of pregnancy.

As for the bloating and abdominal pain, these could be early pregnancy symptoms, but they're also common things to experience before your period. Since there's a chance you could have conceived, then you should start testing four days before your period is due and if the test is negative, hold off and test two days later (you can do this until your period either arrives, or you get a positive pregnancy test).

Swollen breasts are a very common indicator of pregnancy, especially after your missed period. If you haven't already, you need to take a pregnancy test, and if it comes back, negative put a call into your doctor about your headaches and lower back pain which could be a sign of a simple infection, especially if you also have a fever. As for stretch marks on your breasts and stomach, if these are new, this would indicate quick weight gain, which doesn't usually happen in early pregnancy but could be a sign that you're dealing with a thyroid issue. This is all the more reason to call your doctor.

This is going to depend on the test you take. Generally, if you pick up an early detection pregnancy test (like a First Response Early Response), then you can take the test five days before the day your period is due to start.

Remember that the closer you get to the day your period is due, the more accurate your result will be (meaning that, if you take a test too early you may get a negative result when you're actually pregnant. I did that with my second daughter!)

Yes, two weeks before your missed period is too early to take a test. That's because it's possible that you haven't ovulated yet and you must ovulate to conceive.

Ovulation usually happens around two weeks after your period has started at two weeks before your next period is due to start.

The ideal time to take a pregnancy test is the day your period is due, but if you use an early detection test, then you can take it a few days before and still get reasonably accurate results. Just make sure to read the instructions on the test's box first to make sure you're not taking it too early.

They can be, but considering the time of year, these could also be signs of seasonal allergies, unfortunately, especially the congestion and headache.

These are all common pregnancy signs, especially if you're late for your period. Unfortunately, early pregnancy symptoms and premenstrual symptoms can be really similar and include the things you've mentioned.

One way that I could always tell the difference between my PMS symptoms and early pregnancy symptoms is that I'd be expecting my period but didn't have any of my typical symptoms like moodiness, food cravings, and fatigue. This was my clue to take a pregnancy test.

So, if your period is due in the next 3 or 4 days but you feel these symptoms are out of the norm for you, it wouldn't hurt to take a pregnancy test.

I don't think you could have ovulated and had your period at the same time; your period will generally come about two weeks after you've ovulated. Sometimes it will be a little early or a little late, but not at the same time.

Taking this timing into consideration, I would hold off on testing again for at least another week. If you are pregnant then yes, it was too early to test on Monday.

If this was not your period, it could have been mid-cycle spotting or implantation bleeding (though that usually doesn't happen near your ovulation either).

If you continue to get negative tests and you experience an abnormal period or unusual bleeding again, I would contact your doctor.

There's a possibility, or you may have just had a lighter than normal period.

Since your last period was off, if it was that way because of pregnancy then you are for sure good to take a pregnancy test right now. Either way, it should be accurate and put your mind at ease!

If it's not a false negative pregnancy test and you truly aren't pregnant, then the reason for the late period and pregnancy-like symptoms could just be prolonged PMS. Anecdotally, my PMS symptoms always worsen the later I get.

You could also be dealing with a hormonal imbalance or a thyroid condition, both of which are pretty treatable with a doctor's care.

For now, I'd stop taking pregnancy tests and give it a few days. If your period becomes two weeks late, call your doctor and let them know. I have a friend who couldn't get a positive on her pregnancy test until she was two weeks late!

Your symptoms certainly sound like early pregnancy, and it's definitely not unheard of to get a positive on one pregnancy test and a negative on another because of variables like what time of day you took it, how sensitive the test is, etc.

If the first one you took was clearly positive then I would ignore the ClearBlue and try a different brand to see what it says. I've encountered false positives on cheap tests before, but they were light. If the second line was very bright, then I would consider that negative.

So, if you haven't already, go out and grab another pregnancy test (not ClearBlue) and try again now that your period is late.

It's most likely that you're just experiencing a heavy period.

However, there's a possibility that you had a chemical pregnancy. This is when you do conceive but miscarry so early on that it seems like a period and you may miss the early signs and symptoms, so you mistake it for another period. If you didn't take a test before this happened then, it's hard to say, but more-than-usual clots, tissue, blood loss, and pain can all be signs of an early miscarriage.

If the bleeding continues longer than your normal period or if you have clots that are larger than a quarter you should call your doctor.

For the most reliable result, your period should be one day late when you take a pregnancy test. But seriously, if you’re antsy to find out if you’re pregnant or not, then it’s way too hard to wait that long!

For most HPTs, you shouldn’t test any earlier than four days before the day your period is due, which is five days before your missed period.

If your period is due to start on Friday then with most tests you need to hold off on taking one until at least the Monday before. The reason is that pregnancy tests test for the hormone Human Chorionic Gonadotropin or, hCG for short. All women actually have a really tiny amount of this floating around in them already, no matter if they’re pregnant or not. What a pregnancy test does is measure that level through your urine. If the level is at a normal range for a woman who is not pregnant, the test will come back negative. But if the range is at a higher-than-normal level, implantation has occurred. This is when a fertilized egg attaches to the uterus, and thus, pregnancy occurs. The thing is though, implantation MUST occur for your body to start creating enough hCG for a pregnancy test to turn positive, and implantation doesn’t typically occur until right around when your period is due.

For this reason, you may have conceived during ovulation which happens a full two weeks before your missed period, but until the fertilized egg gets itself cozy in your uterus, your body can’t tell a test that it’s pregnant yet.

Thus, the closer you are to that missed period, the better chance you have of having an accurate result.

In my own experience, with my first daughter, I didn’t take a pregnancy test until I was a day late for my expected period. The test turned positive before I was done taking it.

With my second daughter, I was so eager to find out if I was pregnant or not that I took the test about six full days before my period was due. It was negative, but I just felt really strongly that I was pregnant and had taken the test too early because I was already starting to feel the symptoms I remembered from my first pregnancy. I was right! Two days later I took another pregnancy test, and it came back with a clear positive result. My body needed those two days to create enough hCG to tell the test that indeed, there was a little blastocyst in there.

You could definitely take a test today! If you had sex two weeks ago that would be around the time you would have ovulated. Keep in mind, we're all different and even from cycle to cycle we can experience little changes that speed up or delay ovulation. Unless you were tracking your ovulation, there's no guarantee that you were ovulating during that time, but it's still likely that you were.

If your test is negative don't get too worried about your symptoms--nausea, cramping, and breast tenderness are all completely normal before the start of your menstrual cycle.

I would definitely grab a pregnancy test and take one. Usually, I would say you're most likely just sick but having a two day, light period isn't normal (unless that IS your normal, but it sounds like it's not).

When (if) you're pregnant, the extra blood flow can contribute to a stuffed up nose and any nasal dripping can of course cause you to cough and feel nauseous. At this point, you could take a test during any time of day and almost for sure get an accurate result.

If the test comes back negative, you might want to talk to your doctor about seasonal allergies. Personally, I'm having a tough time with them this season, and that could be one reason why the cold medicine isn't helping you.

As for the short, light period, I wouldn't stress about it if the test is negative. If you continue to have short, light periods, talk to your doctor and let them know. That can be a sign of a (treatable) thyroid condition.

It's possible. The mucus plug-like thing you saw could be a sign of implantation.

The other possibility though (among others that are less exciting, I guess), is that you could be dealing with perimenopause. Since I don't know your age, this could be totally off! But for most women perimenopause, which is the stage before true menopause, starts in your 30-40's and can cause late periods and all of the fun that comes with that.

Your best bet right now is to grab a pregnancy test and take it. Since you're already late, it doesn't matter what time of day you take it. Although rare, according to americanpregnancy.org, between 2-10 women out of every 1,000 will become pregnant after 5+ years following their tubal ligation. So, even though I bet this isn't what's going on with you, there is that slim possibility that inspires a pregnancy test purchase.

Those could indeed be signs of the first trimester of pregnancy. If you think there's a chance that you could be pregnant, you should take a home pregnancy test. If it comes back negative, then the reasons for your symptoms could be something as simple as battling a virus.

If you just lost your breath from swimming, then you may have over-exercised, but if it occurs, then I would talk to your doctor just to make sure it's nothing that needs to be addressed.