Are or are you not pregnant? Feeling embarrassed to get a pregnancy kit from the chemist? Worried that you might be lifting your hopes too high? You might be wondering, "Is there any way that I could confirm my pregnancy without going to a doctor or a chemist? Well there are!

But to be fair, not every woman is the same! There are a few common symptoms that several women experience and some women don’t feel anything at all. A few women sail through the years blissfully comfortable with no swollen legs and no problems. And a few women have weight gain, swollen ankles and morning sickness till the day they deliver.

Morning sickness- This is one of the most common symptoms of pregnancy. Women start to feel nauseous early in the morning and the effects are felt all though the day. But again this symptom may or may not be present.

Engorged and tingling breasts- As the pregnancy progresses, the female body has to undergo physical changes to adjust to caring for a newborn. Milk formation is supposed to start after delivery to feed the newborn. As a result, the first symptoms that women experience is enlarged breasts to make space for the lactation ducts. The blood supply also increases to the breasts to help the lactation duct make milk. The increased blood supply makes the breasts tingle and ache almost continuously.

Enlarged and darkened aureoles- As the breasts deal with the increased milk duct size, the breasts also have to deal with helping the baby latch on the breast for feeding. The breast and the aureoles increase in size for just this reason.

Bleeding on implantation of the ovum- once the ovum is implanted in the uterus, there may be a little scanty brownish or reddish discharge. Menstruation stops during pregnancy but a few women do experience spotting on and off and that’s nothing to worry about.

Cessation of menstruation- The uterus prepares itself every month by increasing in thickness but when there is no implantation, the unfertilized egg and the thickened liming and ovum is shed in the form of monthly bleeding. One of the main signs of pregnancy is when the monthly period stops. The monthly period occurs only if implantation of the ovum does not take place in the uterus. If it stops then one reason is due to pregnancy.

Food cravings- Women experience food cravings during pregnancy. But this symptom is variable as some women do get it while others do not.

Weight gain- As the fetus develops normally, the pregnant women will have weight gain every month. The normal scale refers to about 10-12 kgs of excess weight gain in the nine months of pregnancy. A sudden spurt in weight gain is a good sign that the woman might be pregnant.

Suffice to say that there are common symptoms that women may or may not experience but are common during the first few months of pregnancy. To be sure, just get a home pregnancy test and do it in the privacy of your home.