A sixth sense
For nine months, Amy Birks and her husband waited for a sign. The couple had experienced a devastating miscarriage earlier that year and desperately wanted to become pregnant again — and soon, since Birks was 38 years old. Then one day in Birks’ office, the sign came. “Suddenly, I had this … feeling of absolute certainty that I was pregnant,” recalls Birks, a 42-year-old author and online marketing strategist in Beacon, New York. Her daughter is now 3 years old. Indeed, while many signs of early pregnancy are rooted in hormonal and other changes, “some of this is intuitive,” says Dr. Rachel Rapkin, an OB-GYN in Tampa, Florida. Here, eight other moms share their clues:
A sign in nature
Carolyn Sallen-Thomas and her husband were walking around a local lake in April, per their usual routine, when they spotted a trio of birds. When the couple walked by them, a fourth bird flew out of the sky and joined its brethren. “I took this as a sign that there was a little one on the way,” recalls Sallen-Thomas, a 30-year-old high school assistant principal in Denver. She’s now five months along. How women interpret such experiences isn’t scientific, but can be influenced by the knowledge that they’ve had unprotected sex, finds Rapkin, also an assistant professor at the University of South Florida. Media and cultural influences can make a difference too, one survey suggests.
A burst of emotion
All it took was the name of someone she vaguely knew of for Beth Pitel to burst into tears at church. The person was included in a prayer, either due to death or sickness. “I was simply overcome by emotion, which is not like me at all,” recalls Pitel, a 34-year-old laboratory development technologist in Rochester, Minnesota. She and her husband picked up a pregnancy test on the way home and sure enough, Pitel was pregnant with her now 3-year-old son. Out-of-character emotions are “totally normal” early in (and throughout) pregnancy, thanks to hormonal changes, Rapkin says. Tell your doctor about more severe anxiety or depression, though, since those conditions can and should be treated, she adds.
A pimple
Mary Lynch was sitting at her kitchen table when she felt a pimple on her chin. The normally clear-skinned mom knew immediately she was pregnant with her second child, a daughter who is now 9. “I started crying,” remembers Lynch, a 44-year-old sales and marketing professional in Burlington, Wisconsin, whose first child was only four months old at the time. Skin changes including new or worsening acne are also quite common during pregnancy, in part thanks to hormonal changes, though the science behind them isn’t entirely understood, reports the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Since some acne medications aren’t recommended for pregnant women, check with your provider or ACOG’s guide before self-medicating.
Turned off by booze
Melissa Tavss should have been having a great time — she was at a beer, bourbon and barbecue festival, after all. But the beers tasted weird, she felt dizzy and she couldn’t shake her irritable mood. “After the first few tastes, I just knew I should stop drinking,” says Tavss, a 31-year-old entrepreneur in New York City. “I had a gut feeling I was pregnant.” About a week later, she took a pregnancy test that confirmed it. Food or drink aversions are normal during pregnancy, thanks to hormonal changes that can cause acid reflux, nausea and constipation, Rapkin says. A distaste for booze can also be influenced by the subconscious knowledge that pregnancy is possible, she adds.
A Motrin avoidance
Whenever Dr. Heather Abraham got bad migraines, she’d take a Tylenol and a Motrin. But for whatever reason, when a migraine hit last spring, the 33-year-old internal medicine and pediatrics specialist in Detroit skipped the Motrin, a drug that can be risky during pregnancy. It wasn’t until she was 10 weeks pregnant that a test confirmed her subconscious suspicion. “I had even been joking with friends and colleagues that I must be pregnant,” Abraham recalls, which seemed outlandish since she was using an intrauterine device, or IUD, to prevent pregnancy at the time. Like Tavss, Abraham had cut back on drinking without logically putting together why. In retrospect, she says, “I think it was totally my body being on the defensive.”
A breast milk drought
Dianne Suprun was pumping breast milk at work for her then-4-month-old fourth child when suddenly, the milk dried up. “Nothing happened when I pumped, and baby No. 4 refused to nurse from then on,” says Suprun, a 40-year-old risk manager in Dallas, Texas, who says she was certain right then she was pregnant with her fifth. A week later, she had the positive pregnancy test to prove it. “The extra volume [of body fluids] you need to support the baby — some of that is being taken away from the breast milk,” explains Rapkin, who also became pregnant while breastfeeding. “It’s a good reminder that people can’t rely on breastfeeding as a form of birth control.”
A racing heart
Molly Grimm was enjoying a relaxing Saturday when she felt her heart racing. “I told my husband and he confidently said, ‘That’s because you’re pregnant and your body is working on pumping extra blood,'” recalls Grimm, a 32-year-old account manager in Rochester, Minnesota. Turns out, he was both right that she was pregnant (their son is now 7 months) and about his reasoning for thinking that: “You have more circulating blood volume,” during pregnancy, Rapkin explains, which is also why needing to pee frequently is another common sign. Minor heart rhythm changes or palpitations are common, too, and are typically benign, Rapkin adds.
An intuitive partner
Carson Quinn also says her husband had an inkling she was pregnant after 18 months of trying. “I had no clue,” says Quinn, a 34-year-old public relations firm owner in Austin, Texas, whose daughter is now 5 months old. Rapkin says there may be some evolutionary reasoning behind men sensing their partners are pregnant, just like studies show men can detect, on some level, when women are ovulating based on their scent. “Maybe men are more intuitive than we give them credit for,” she says. Just don’t think a strong suspicion always accompanies early pregnancy; plenty of couples miss the signs and don’t seek care as early as they should. “If you’re ever unsure,” Rapkin says, “just take a pregnancy test.”
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How 9 Women Knew They Were Pregnant Without a Test originally appeared on usnews.com
