How do you know if you’re pregnant?
Even if an egg, sperm, and uterus are all present, pregnancy is still just a possibility. For more on this topic, check out our article What is Risk: Pregnancy Edition.
Sometimes people wait until they have a period to rule out pregnancy, but periods can be late for all kinds of reasons. This includes things like: if you were sick or severely stressed after your last period, if you started any new medications, or made drastic changes to your exercise or diet. It’s also worth noting that while period tracking apps are really helpful, they’re better thought of as a diary than a period predictor, because few apps can capture all of the possible variables listed above.
Many of the signs and symptoms of pregnancy are pretty general (like tiredness, dizziness, nausea, cramps in the lower belly, etc) and shared by non-pregnancy related things. Even irregular or late periods can be caused by other medical situations (like COPD).
For more on finding out if you’re pregnant, check out the following articles:
Or walk through the self-assessment quiz:
Because of all this, the only way to know for sure if you’re pregnant is to do a pregnancy test.
Pregnancy tests are accurate when taken 14 days after a situation where there was a risk of pregnancy. Urine tests are just as accurate as blood tests. For more on pregnancy tests, check out our article Are Pregnancy Tests Accurate?
