Since one's period is a joy that is bestowed upon women every month, they become quite used to it, in most cases. But being used to a regular cycle makes it ever more alarming if said joy is late. For many women, that happening leads to a trip to the pharmacy and buying a pregnancy test.
While that is a somewhat common scenario, a late period is only one of the numerous tell-tale signs signaling that the woman might be pregnant. For other women it’s changes in their bodies or a newfound hatred for something they used to love that might give it away. Even the amount of food they consume can become a hint!
All of these, and many more examples, were shared in a thread started on the ‘Ask Women’ subreddit, where one netizen asked females about the tell-tale signs signaling storks coming even before the test did. If you’re curious about what other things can be indicative of a family expansion, scroll down to find more of the netizens’ answers on the list below.
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I ate everything. I had been doing IVF unsuccessfully. We were on our fourth IVF cycle but I refused to test until the day before the blood test at the doctors. I was also a very light eater.
It was Sunday, and as I did every Sunday I walked the dog and picked up an egg and cheese on a bagel sandwich for breakfast. I normally would eat half and save the other half for when my husband woke up. I ate the whole thing…
When my husband woke up and discovered no half breakfast bagel he started to make a sandwich for an early lunch. I asked him to make me a sandwich too…
We decided to go to the movies and got a large popcorn and soda to share. The popcorn bucket was on my lap. My husband didn’t have much popcorn but an hour in he reached down into the bucket, and hit bottom. I had eaten the majority of the popcorn…
As we left the theater I asked my husband where we were planning on going to dinner and recommended a restaurant to him for an early dinner.
He look at me and asked me if I thought I was actually pregnant this time. “Don’t Say That!” I yelled.
Dinner at the restaurant was delicious. I also had dessert.
By the way, it was twins. They’re almost 15.
It's a late congratulations,but still I'm gonna congratulate you after everything you have been through.
My dog was obsessed with me, climbing all over me whenever I sat down, and following me all around the house.
My mom tells me this happened to her when she was pregnant with me. Her dog would NOT leave her side.
They have a very sensitive nose and are able to detect changes in our hormones. They can also detect diseases. Stands to reason they would know if you were pregnant.
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I felt great! My skin was clear, my hair was behaving, I had no cramps, no bloating, no headaches, no muscle aches - none of my typical PMS symptoms which usually kick up about 5-7 days before my period. I was one of those happy, glowing pregnant people, which sounds like I’m gloating but it’s in opposition to the swamp witch I usually am. Lol.
You are a lucky woman. Pregnancy seemed to poison me. I never got my health back.
I felt like this too - with my first. So I was floating along and looking forward to an easy time with my second. Reader, it was not to be!
I went to reach for my smokes and realized I could not smoke. It wasn't a thought. It was a rolling, physical YUCK! We found out a couple of weeks later tha I was pregnant. I didn't smoke again for 28 years. No withdrawals. Nothing. I became a non smoker instantly.
Yes, I did start again...dumba*s.
I had a dream about a baby, it was laying in a basket on a soft white blanket. When I went up to it, its face lit up and said, “it’s me!”
Never have I ever had a dream about a newborn baby.
Maybe TMI for some people but I had a dream I was about to give birth one night, woke up and found out that day that I was extremely constipated lmao
We were totally happy with our first baby, a daughter, but I did struggle after she was born. We were not really planning to have a second. One day, when she was 3, she told me that she had a dream that "she was playing with her little brother at the place [she] had been before [she] came to us". Fast forward 18 months and her baby brother was born! We did not want to find out the sex of the baby either time but when a little boy popped out, I was a little bit freaked out by our previous conversation!
I had a friend who was expecting, who had chosen not to be informed of the gender. One night, I had a vivid dream in which I saw two pairs of pink sandals - one adult sized, one child sized, and my friend was there telling me "we've just been having story time!" I didn't see the child, but I knew right then and there it was a girl. Sure enough, a few months later, along came an adorable baby girl. Though amusingly enough when I blurted "I KNEW it was going to be a girl!" I was told "yeah, that's what everybody else said".
I was super flexible at yoga. I am not flexible at all. I remembered that once we had a pregnant woman in our class and our instructor told her to go easy because she had hormones that were making her flexible and she could injure herself.
I did the test and bingo.
Careful. The ligaments do loosen up and so on but it's very easy to do yourself a mischief.
My cat followed me for a week straight (normally does their own thing with periods of affection).. every time I sat down, he laid on my belly and appeared to be “smelling my breasts”. My dog didn’t even seem to notice… not that early anyway.
Well, I would assume the hormones cause your smell to take a large change.
My mom looked me up and down and said “Your a*s is pregnant”. Took a test and it was positive. I asked how she knew and she just said “because my eyes work” which didn’t really answer the question.
Its the face. The face will change first. Its a subtle change. I did the same to my junior co-worker... I told her she's pregnant before she knew it herself.
I realized my period was a week or so late. We had kind of been trying so I decided to take a test. Same thing happened with our second one, period was a week or so late but we hadn't been trying, turned out my antibiotics interfered with my birth control (this was over 27 years ago so that wasn't really common knowledge yet).
I cried, I mean really cried, reading an article about a cow that had survived a hurricane and being washed to sea.
I’d been trying for years, and had given up. I absolutely have a habit of getting emotional over animals. But my friend turned around, looked me dead in the eye and said, “You’re pregnant.” She said it with such certainty that I took the test the next day. ❤️.
My husband went to give me a back rub and I told him if he touched me I would divorce his butt then 2 second later I was hysterically crying because I felt bad that I didn’t want to be touched and I threatened to leave him. He said babe I think your pregnant then I told him to shut his stupid mouth then started crying again.
Haha! I hope you hung onto each other through the rapids! It's a wild ride!
I suddenly got overheated all day, no reason at all. It was a odd feeling, a feeling I never felt before, 1st baby. When it happened with my second baby, I knew immediately I was pregnant. Those were happy days.
I was out for breakfast and instead of being annoyed by a crying child, I wondered if there were anything I could do to comfort instead.
More like a maternal instinct... Not everyone likes kids
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I walked into work and got told I was glowing. A customer came in and told me I was glowing. Then the manager told me I was glowing. I got out of work and took a test, and it came back inconclusive so I took another one the next day and it said it was positive. 3 people telling you you’re glowing when you feel like biting heads off was the first sign.
I could have been a monster from evil dead during my pregnancies. “I’ll swallow your soul!”
Brace yourself for the perimenopause, honey! :D (I can tell if I forget to take my gingko one day, and so can my family...)
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Hysterically crying because my partner suggested seeing the in-laws (they are really not that bad!! haha).
First time it was my teeth became more sensitive than normal. I ate an apple and almost cried bc it hurt and my friend was like “you’re prob pregnant.” Second time I couldn’t stay awake at work. My coworker was like “buy a test on the way home.”.
Oh god, the crushing fatigue. I had an insomnia for 15 years and still had never experienced anything like it.
People don't really realize that early pregnancy is so tiring! Your body is making so many new red blood cells, from what I read, and that is exhausting! I was exhausted too!
Load More Replies...The fatigue was it for me too. I was shopping with a friend and we hadn't even been out that long and I was just so wiped out. It was just such an unusual level of tired at that time. The entire rest of the weekend, all I wanted was to sleep. Took a test and it was positive.
I had the alien busting out of my chest dream. Every single time.
Super weird, but I had like waxy buildup on one of my nipples. It was just like a little white clump. I looked it up, and it was listed as an early sign of pregnancy. We had been trying to get pregnant but hadn’t had a positive test yet. Tested positive a few days later!
My son’s daycare teachers told me I was pregnant when I was one day late. Based off my son’s behavior, they could tell. They were right!
It was weird but I just felt something in my body. It seems impossible but I could feel it. I kept taking tests that came up negative and I said to my husband “I’m really worried because if I’m not pregnant I might have cancer”. Luckily the test was positive a few days later.
I knew, I mean I just knew that I was pregnant the day after conception and she would be wonderful and healthy. We had tried so many times. We were looking at adoption. We had had three miscarriages before before we got our Gracie. She hates for me tell this story but it is so wonderful. She was conceived on December 24th,1992 At Walt Disney World in the Caribbean Beach Resort on property room 405. I remember the room number because it was our area code at the time!! She is 31 now and my pride and joy!!
I was still breastfeeding my baby (she was about 11 months old) and she abruptly started refusing the breast. As soon as the milk started flowing she’d yank her head off and away. I was devastated - hadn’t been planning to wean her yet - but shortly after, discovered I was pregnant. I hadn’t used birth control because I had been told that pregnancy was unlikely as long as the baby was primarily breastfed. Oops.
Yeah don't do this if you're not wanting a second. This is how my younger sister manifested, too.
Old wives tale! I have a friend who ended up with 6 children instead of 3 because she wouldn't stop believing this one.
Load More Replies...I don't know if this can happen but I am wondering if the taste of the milk in the breast changed somehow and the baby could tell.
They you dont ovulate if you are breastfeeding. That its harder to get pregnant while nursing, but that is not true.
Load More Replies... With my first born:
I woke up one morning and did NOT want coffee. Like it didn't sound good and I couldn't imagine drinking it.
With my second born, I developed hyper-smell overnight. My deodorant was too strong, the new candle I had bought and loved suddenly repulsed me and the fridge suddenly stunk. That and my kitty cat started jumping into my lap to snuggle. The only other time she ever did that was at the beginning of my first pregnancy, so I knew. Such good memories.
This was chocolate for me with my first. I went to a chocolate tasting event at a chocolatier to choose bonbonnieres for our upcoming wedding. Everything tasted like sawdust. My girlfriend gave me the side eye and told me I was pregnant. I hadn't even missed my period. Bought a test on the way home but it was negative. Too early. Few days later no period, tested again. We announced the pregnancy at the wedding.
I couldn’t give up coffee but when I was pregnant with my first, cream made me nauseous and sugar was just nasty. I’ve been drinking my coffee black for 32 years now
Mum knew she was pregnant with me because tea tasted like cat wee. Never did ask her how she knew what that tasted like….
Very TMI but my pee smelled so damn strong! I drink A LOT of water so I noticed immediately. On a regular day I just go, use our bidet, and carry on. After the third extra fragrant trip to the bathroom I googled bc I didn't have any UTI symptoms just the strong smell.
The ammonia ( i think its ammonia iirc) in your body increases.
Right, but in this case OP said there were no other symptoms of an UTI.
Load More Replies... It was 2 days before Christmas, a week earlier I’d told my BF that I thought I had a stomach bug because I was really nauseated. A few days after that I thought my period was coming because my boobs were really sore. So Dec 23, we were at his mother’s house for a pre-Christmas brunch, drinking mimosas, and I go to the washroom, as I’m peeing I think… where is my period? When was my last period? I don’t know… boobs are still sore… still have a topsy turvy tummy…. Eff.
When we left I asked him to stop at a pharmacy saying I needed to pickup some last minute things. I get the test, we go home and I go straight to the washroom. That thing lit up immediately, no waiting. Super pregnant.
The smell of bacon cooking made me throw up instantly. And I love bacon.
The reverse for me lol, as a vegetarian I craved burnt bacon on brown bread with brown sauce (UK).
Me too. I craved (and ate) meat throughout my pregnancy despite having been vegetarian since I was 11.
Load More Replies...Pizza made me nauseous, which is so sad because pizza is like my favorite ever! All I wanted to eat was sour candy and spicy instant ramen bowls lol...
Yup... this was me. From day one EVERYTHING made me sick and I couldn't stand food
Woke with completely clogged (but very dry) sinuses. Every time.
I had this in both pregnancies from about week 5 to the birth. Salt water nose spray helped a lot.
I cracked an egg into the trash and put the shells in my bowl.
To be fair i do stuff like that anyway. Tea in the trash, paper in my cup. Peel an orange and chunk it and put the peel in front of me.
I was falling asleep walking from how tired I was. I wasn’t hungry and when I was my body only accepted one kind of food. I miscarried not long after but that’s how I knew something was up.
I have a cousin and her husband knew before she did. Whenever she is pregnant she really really dislikes her husband. Like hearing him talk is something that makes her annoyed. She said his scent made her nauseous. And so on. So this poor guy pretty much their in the room or tried to make himself as little seen at home as possible so she wouldn’t be as irritated. Once the baby is born they go back to being touchy and things. But yeah everytime she was pregnant he knew before her by the way she was acting towards him. I found this sad but interesting.
I can't stand to French kiss when I'm pregnant. No idea why. Takes awhile after for that aversion to go away too. Poor hubby. We've been married 6yr and have had 4 kids and a miscarriage so most of our marriage I've been pregnant! Lol
Missing my period usually made me suspicious.
But I could also feel my uterus had ‘hardened’ or firmed up, or something.
The first time I really suspected I was pregnant, I felt my lower abdomen and it did feel firmer. Turns out I was pregnant.
I’ve had three kids, that ‘firm uterus’ thing tipped me off each time. I had a tubal over a decade ago, and if my period is ever late, it’s still the first thing I check.
I could smell EVERYTHING all of a sudden. Even celery.
I ordered Mexican food 3x in a week.
Like look, I like Mexican food but not that much.
If I could afford it and could eat more, right now I would eat Mexican food 3 to 4 times a week. I am 65 and just don't need as much food as when I was younger.
Increased appetite, i ate 4 big burgers within an hour 😵💫 then vomited all of it up afterwards. i assumed it was bc i overate but the next day i ate a small breakfast and also threw up so i took a test.
Indigestion and vivid dreams, the day before my missed period. I've had 2 babies and 4 pregnancies and I just *knew* every time. Wasn't ever wrong!
The day before I was supposed to get my period. I was extremely exhausted for no reason. Couldn't stay awake and just wanted to lay down all day even though I couldn't. I realized later on that day that the last time I felt that kind of exhaustion was when I was pregnant with my first. Que a few days later and no period, I ended up with 3 positive tests. I was 4 weeks pregnant. And now I'm almost 29 weeks 😅.
All the very best for the next months and early years! Wishing you an easy time and a happy bond with your baby!
With my first I kept having "period cramps" but no period came.
Me too, the day my period should have started I had these intense cramps. They were much more pronounced than usual. I took a test right away and voilà - mini dino was created
My tell tail sign was my dreams. When I am pregnant all of my dreams are incredibly vivid and intense unfortunately not in a good way. Not nightmare bad but bad enough that it’s uncomfortable and they would stick with me a little while.
I was swollen like a fat little tick!
It's weird but I felt it almost immediately. Not in a specific way, but it was almost a spiritual feeling. It wasn't any way I had ever felt before. Almost a 6th sense kind of thing. I just knew.
I even tried to talk myself out of it because she wasn't planned, I had just started dating her dad the month previous and I had been told in the past that I was infertile.
About 10mins after having sex I had a voice in my head telling me that I had just conceived. It makes no sense whatsoever but somehow I just knew. I also "knew" all the way through my pregnancy what day I would give birth and that I was having a daughter.
This was me with the third child. My cycle had been upset and ovulation a week later when I thought it was "safe", but I knew right away. I knew exactly who was coming, name and all.
Load More Replies...But unnecessary and super judgy. They'd been dating for a month, they could have had a discussion about their intimate history, they could have gone on a date to a health clinic and been tested, you don't know, you assume. Hopefully you'll teach your offspring to give people grace, not judgement.
Load More Replies...I didn't realize it at the time but my positive test made me look back and say "of course!". I started waking up in the middle of the night needing to pee which I never usually did (post pregnancy is another story lol). All of the sudden I found myself extra cold all the time. And I was super tired and going to bed hours early. Pregnancy makes you get like 1.5 times the amount of blood you normally have in your body which explains the peeing and the chills (it can also cause the opposite and make you feel very warm). I struggled with the blood volume issues all pregnancy, I wound up with low blood pressure so I would feel faint and need to sit down a lot.
Burning nipples. Not just sensitivity, but I'm talking on fire and couldn't concentrate on anything else. Lasted a few minutes each time. That had just never happened before as a PMS symptom.
God, the first trimester my nipples hurt so bad even the water from the shower was unbearable
This is also bringing back very intense memories for me too. OUCH! Cuddles were definitely off limits. Even the "wrong" bra was unbearable.
Load More Replies... When my PMDD wasn’t PMDDing.
Why do I not feel like unaliving myself right before my period is supposed to come?
Suspicious.
So I took the test early and it was positive.
My husband always knew before me. He’s never told me how he knows. 😂 He’s always just come home with a pregnancy test.
I thought i had covid because i was exhausted and felt like s**t, positive test the next morning.
I was happily eating my then-fave egg pesto sandwich and as I started on the other half, I just suddenly felt nauseated at the thought of taking another bite and gave it to my mum. Tested positive a week later. My kid is almost two now and I have no desire to eat egg pesto sandwiches from that cafe again D:.
Not pregnant, but I have no desire to eat an egg pesto sandwich. I’m sure it’s delightful, but it sounds grim!
I didn’t know at the time but my first ever symptom during my first pregnancy was craving billy bear meat (if you’re not from the UK it’s like sliced ham/pork with a bear face on it), which I hadn’t had since I was a kid so it was super random, and then crying when I couldn’t find it in the supermarket. The second pregnancy, I started craving egg mayo which I usually hate. Turns out it’s delicious when I’m pregnant lol.
I walked into a building and gagged. Said "Oh, that was weird!" It was like the smell in the building just did not agree with me. I tested a couple of days later.
We had gone for a walk after dinner and I had the worst heartburn of my life. Like violent, almost vomiting, heartburn. I knew then I was pregnant. Next day, it was positive. I had horrible heartburn everyday until I miscarried.
I could not get enough boiled eggs. No one likes boiled eggs that much.
Some pregnant ladies do, it seems! I like peaches and nectarines normally but nowhere near as much as I did when pregnant. I could eat my body weight in them - and that's saying something. I was an absolute unit of a carthorse when pregnant.
My boss looked at her horoscope, so I decided to check mine out. It said You or someone close to you is pregnant….
No coincidence at all. The 'or someone close to you' pretty much makes it a certainty.
Load More Replies...I have the dumbest story about NOT realising you‘re pregnant: My SO and I wanted a child, but it seemed like it wasn’t meant to be. Normal sex, IVF, trying to adopt, nothing worked. Then I had another IVF and shortly after I started getting morning sickness. I was annoyed by it and absolutely did NOT make the connection. Then when I took the pregnancy test (you do after every IVF), I stared at the little icon in the manual showing 'not pregnant' and stared at my test. It didn’t match. I was confused and thought I had done something wrong, but the icon for 'invalid test' also didn’t match. And then it hit me.
I had cervical cancer 2x in my early 20s, removed a piece of my cervix. In conjunction with a severe estrogen deficiency, I was told getting pregnant on my own wasn't possible. 1st time, I was sleeping so much i thought I was sick! I also couldn't figure out why my boobs were sore, which had never happened before. 2nd one, 6 years later, hubby & I both somehow just "knew."
Assuming you did want children, I am very happy for you it worked out!
Load More Replies...I was vegetarian. Had a craving for a bacon sandwich that went on for two days. Bought one and ate it in secret. Next week found out I was pregnant.
WOW, me too, Socks !!! Lol, as i posted earlier, vegetarian craving burnt bacon on brown bread with brown sauce (UK.) And yes, i fell off the wagon for 9 months 😱
Load More Replies...Mine was walking by a KFC and thinking, 'damn, that smells good.' Is been a vegetarian most my life, but all I craved was KFC singer burgers, and I puked up tofu, which I love. Oh, and Cullen Skink, was super nauseous on a family trip in Scotland but the stinky smoked fish soup Cullen Skunk was like heavenly manna. I am back to being vegetarian, but the kiddo still hates tofu.
First one- had a long phone conversation with my BFF about my inability to conceive. She got off the phone with me, turned to her husband and said, "Mrs.C is pregnant, she just doesn't know it yet." The next week my husband told me I needed to take a test. I didn't want to because they'd been negative for 3 years. He just knew. He knew with baby #2 before I did. #3- I peed 4 times in 2 hours. The 4th time I realized I was pregnant. Baby #2 was 6 months old. I was actually 12 weeks along.
With all of my pregnancies, my first symptom is always sore and enlarged breasts as well as the fatigue. If I can't even wear a bralette, then it usually means I'm pregnant. Unfortunately 4 pregnancies with no baby yet. Hoping to find out soon if I can actually have a baby.
2 out of the three times I was pregnant I told my bf that if I was to become pregnant it was NOW! so we did the deed. And then about 3 weeks later I could just feel something happening inside me. It was this weird feeling accompanied by this image in my head of LEGO bricks assembling inside me. Cannot explain it better. I felt that my body was doing something new? And it turns out that when I'm pregnant I cannot smell or taste garlic. Normally I am super sensitive to it. So my bf made this homemade pregnancy test with my 3rd pregnancy where he'd cook a dish and fill it with garlic without telling me. And when I'd finished my meal he'd tell me. So that's when we got the more scientific test and it was positive. I couldn't feel it at all, the 3rd pregnancy. Lol.
I always felt like PMS but craving for betroots ans spinach. Every single time (4). I knew before the test could be positive, even before being late.
I have the dumbest story about NOT realising you‘re pregnant: My SO and I wanted a child, but it seemed like it wasn’t meant to be. Normal sex, IVF, trying to adopt, nothing worked. Then I had another IVF and shortly after I started getting morning sickness. I was annoyed by it and absolutely did NOT make the connection. Then when I took the pregnancy test (you do after every IVF), I stared at the little icon in the manual showing 'not pregnant' and stared at my test. It didn’t match. I was confused and thought I had done something wrong, but the icon for 'invalid test' also didn’t match. And then it hit me.
I had cervical cancer 2x in my early 20s, removed a piece of my cervix. In conjunction with a severe estrogen deficiency, I was told getting pregnant on my own wasn't possible. 1st time, I was sleeping so much i thought I was sick! I also couldn't figure out why my boobs were sore, which had never happened before. 2nd one, 6 years later, hubby & I both somehow just "knew."
Assuming you did want children, I am very happy for you it worked out!
Load More Replies...I was vegetarian. Had a craving for a bacon sandwich that went on for two days. Bought one and ate it in secret. Next week found out I was pregnant.
WOW, me too, Socks !!! Lol, as i posted earlier, vegetarian craving burnt bacon on brown bread with brown sauce (UK.) And yes, i fell off the wagon for 9 months 😱
Load More Replies...Mine was walking by a KFC and thinking, 'damn, that smells good.' Is been a vegetarian most my life, but all I craved was KFC singer burgers, and I puked up tofu, which I love. Oh, and Cullen Skink, was super nauseous on a family trip in Scotland but the stinky smoked fish soup Cullen Skunk was like heavenly manna. I am back to being vegetarian, but the kiddo still hates tofu.
First one- had a long phone conversation with my BFF about my inability to conceive. She got off the phone with me, turned to her husband and said, "Mrs.C is pregnant, she just doesn't know it yet." The next week my husband told me I needed to take a test. I didn't want to because they'd been negative for 3 years. He just knew. He knew with baby #2 before I did. #3- I peed 4 times in 2 hours. The 4th time I realized I was pregnant. Baby #2 was 6 months old. I was actually 12 weeks along.
With all of my pregnancies, my first symptom is always sore and enlarged breasts as well as the fatigue. If I can't even wear a bralette, then it usually means I'm pregnant. Unfortunately 4 pregnancies with no baby yet. Hoping to find out soon if I can actually have a baby.
2 out of the three times I was pregnant I told my bf that if I was to become pregnant it was NOW! so we did the deed. And then about 3 weeks later I could just feel something happening inside me. It was this weird feeling accompanied by this image in my head of LEGO bricks assembling inside me. Cannot explain it better. I felt that my body was doing something new? And it turns out that when I'm pregnant I cannot smell or taste garlic. Normally I am super sensitive to it. So my bf made this homemade pregnancy test with my 3rd pregnancy where he'd cook a dish and fill it with garlic without telling me. And when I'd finished my meal he'd tell me. So that's when we got the more scientific test and it was positive. I couldn't feel it at all, the 3rd pregnancy. Lol.
I always felt like PMS but craving for betroots ans spinach. Every single time (4). I knew before the test could be positive, even before being late.
