Signs of pregnancy
The most obvious sign that you are pregnant is when you miss your period. However, if you have irregular periods it may be difficult to tell when this has happened. Also, women can miss periods for other reasons, such as stress or weight changes.
Other signs of pregnancy may be feeling sick or nauseous, getting a metallic' taste in your mouth, sore breasts, feeling tired, needing to urinate more often, or an increased amount of vaginal discharge.
The only way to know for sure is to get a pregnancy test.
Pregnancy testing
If you think you may be pregnant it is important to take a pregnancy test to find out for sure as soon as possible. This is because the sooner you find out, the more options you will have and the better you will be able to take care of your health. You can get a free pregnancy test at GP surgeries, family planning and young person’s clinics. Alternatively you can buy home pregnancy test kits from a chemist, which costs approximately £5.
It is recommended to take a pregnancy test three weeks after you have had unprotected sex, as this is usually how long it takes for the level of hormones the test looks for to be high enough to be detected. Or, if you are unsure when that was, you can take a test on the first day of your missed period.
Keep in mind that it is possible to have a ‘false negative’ result. This means that the test comes back negative, when, in fact, you are actually pregnant. This might happen if you do the test too soon, before there are enough pregnancy hormones in your body to show up on the test. If your period still doesn’t come, it is best to check in with your GP or a sexual health clinic to find out what is going on.
If have a positive pregnancy test, it is important to learn more about your options, and what you need to do next.