A number of medical signs are associated with pregnancy.
Early signs
These signs typically appear, if at all, within the first few weeks after conception. Although not all of these signs are universally present, nor are all of them diagnostic by themselves, taken together they may be useful to make a presumptive diagnosis of pregnancy.
- Presence of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) in the blood and urine, detectable by laboratory or home testing; this is the most reliable early sign of pregnancy
- Missed menstrual period
- Implantation bleeding, light spotting that occurs at implantation of the embryo in the uterus, in the third or fourth week after LMP
- Increased basal body temperature sustained for over two weeks after ovulation
- Chadwick's sign, a darkening of the cervix, vagina, and vulva
- Goodell's sign, a softening of the vaginal portion of the cervix
- Hegar's sign, a softening of the cervical isthmus
- Linea nigra, a darkening of the skin in a vertical line on the abdomen, caused by hyperpigmentation resulting from hormonal changes; it usually appears around the middle of pregnancy
- Steadily increasing abdominal swelling, the most visible sign of pregnancy
