How to tell if you’re pregnant (without testing)
How can you tell if you’re pregnant by checking your body’s symptoms? If you are asking yourself this question, you have probably had one or more unprotected intercourse and think that there is a possibility that you may have become pregnant.
In short:
- write the date of your last menstrual cycle and the dates of the intercourse you had
- check if you had intercourse in your fertile period
- intercourse must have been complete (with ejaculation inside the vagina)
- if the condom broke, consider that intercourse as a full intercourse
- Check for early pregnancy symptoms
- for a definitive confirmation you have to take a pregnancy test , but at the right time
How to tell if you’re pregnant: dates of last cycle and intercourse
The menstrual cycle in the medical sense is the period from one menstrual flow (loss of blood) to the next. We usually call the days of bleeding “cycle”, but that would not be the correct term.
Ovulation usually occurs within this period. A few days before and after ovulation you are in your “fertile period”. On these days, full sexual intercourse can initiate pregnancy. That is why it is important to know these dates.
Calculation of the fertile period
If, and only if, you have a regular cycle that lasts a specific number of days (always 28 or 29 or 30 and so on) then the fertile window calculator helps you figure out what your fertile days might have been. By comparing them to the days you’ve had intercourse you can tell if the chance of being pregnant is high or low.
Always remember: it is only an indication, the calculator cannot give any mathematical certainty!
How was the relationship?
Sexual intercourse must have been complete, ejaculation (emission of semen) must have been inside the vagina. Having touched hands “dirty” with sperm can hardly lead to fertilization of the egg.
If the condom broke or slipped off
If you had used a condom and it broke, it’s like having had full intercourse (if semen came out during intercourse). If the condom only slipped off but did not lose its content, probably no sperm could start its journey in search of the egg.
The first symptoms of pregnancy
When you are pregnant, your body starts producing the hormone beta-hCG which soars during the first period. This hormone gives rise to as many of the symptoms of early pregnancy as you can verify (remember that they are very mild and therefore not exactly reliable).
The pregnancy test: the definitive answer
The pregnancy test, the one you buy in pharmacies or online, gives the definitive and safe answer. Warning that it cannot be done too soon, it usually starts to be effective two-three days before the next menstrual flow (which in case of pregnancy will not arrive). Different tests may have different sensitivities, it should be checked in the package insert.
Don’t make the mistake of taking the test too soon, it would give you a negative result but for the simple fact that it can’t detect pregnancy hormones yet.
Kathryn Barlow is an OB/GYN doctor, which is the medical specialty that deals with the care of women's reproductive health, including pregnancy and childbirth.
Obstetricians provide care to women during pregnancy, labor, and delivery, while gynecologists focus on the health of the female reproductive system, including the ovaries, uterus, vagina, and breasts. OB/GYN doctors are trained to provide medical and surgical care for a wide range of conditions related to women's reproductive health.