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Cramping in early pregnancy?


caro33

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I have been scouring the internet for information on ovulation timeframes, early pregnancy signs etc, and have found there to be real variation in what many of the sites advise.

 

I am particularly interested in if (and why) it's normal for pregnant women to cramp, specifically in the first few weeks (

 

I'm just wondering, who has experienced cramping early in the pregnancy, and how early did this happen post-conception? What did the cramps feel like compared to what you might have had before?

 

Thanks in advance .

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im a retired paramedic, and while it's been a long while since i've been working and pregnancy was never my area of expertise, i can contribute a few thoughts...

 

have you been having prenatal care/checkups?

 

how would you describe the cramps, and is there any bleeding accompanying them?

 

to be completely up front and honest here, everything i'm about to say is INTENDED to scare the crap out of you... but that shouldn't decrease it's importance.

 

cramping can sometimes be linked to other very serious conditions, such as pre-ecclampsia, ecclampsia, spontaneous abortion, abruptio placentae, and many others. these conditions can be life-threatening to both yourself and your unborn child. while it is true that mild to moderate cramping can be common throughout all stages of pregnancy, if it is consistent cramping that worsens and is associated with other symptoms that suggests a much more serious condition.

 

if you aren't having regular medical check-ups, start IMMEDIATELY. discuss your concerns with your OB/GYN. they are the absolute authority, because not only do they have all of the facts and statistics on each of these conditions memorized, they have had hands-on contact with you and can apply this knowledge to YOUR situation.

 

hope i've scared you into action if you weren't already taking that path. sorry i couldn't say something comforting, but this forum will not and should never take the place of a licensed professional...

 

i also hope all turns out well. and i'm certain it will. pregnancy has a wild way of transforming every aspect of your body and cramping often turns out to be just one of those "things" that cannot be avoided. BUT DON'T YOU DARE JUST BLOW IT OFF JUST YET!

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Thanks for your input and I appreciate it, however as far as I know I am not even pregnant yet. I am not sure if the mild cramping I have is a sign of pregancy or that I am about to have my period. If I am pregnant I would have only conceived two weeks ago or so.

 

So I am asking in order to see what the many pregnant people on this site have themselves experienced when they first fell pregnant, assuming the pregnancy has gone without too much drama. If I had any serious issues I would certainly go to the doctor.

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Hey caro

 

I have never been pregnant, but I am an avid reader of the pregnancy forum. So I can tell you that it seems as if a lot of the pregnant women on here did have cramps in early pregnancy. One of them said they were sort of short maybe even slightly stabbing pains that would come and go very fast. It seems like most of the women felt like their period was coming, but maybe with this extra "weird" feeling and an intuition they were pregnant. Also seems like feeling REALLY tired and having sore boobs are some really common early signs.

 

Sorry about the strange post. I wish I could give more personal advice, but this is what I remember reading on here. Fingers crossed you're pregnant!

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Thanks sophie, much appreciated.

 

I just took a test and the line for pregnancy seems to be there, but really really faint. The instructions told me that faint still meant 'yes'. I wasn't expecting an unambiguous result given I am still a day or two off my period (I think) and it wasn't morning pee, but I thought why not check anyway.

 

It's strange how the timeframes on the various websites change for the other symptoms as well. I swear my nipples are changing colour but most advice says that doesn't happen for ages. I may be willing myself into this!

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I definitely think you should re-test in a few days. It sounds like you do have a good chance of being pregnant.

 

From what I've heard, it is really to "create" pregnancy signs through wishful thinking, though apparently a lot of women do have that gut feeling.

 

Good luck! Either way, if not this month, then very soon I'm sure!

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Cramps are normal around the time of your missed period. My sister, friends, etc. all felt them. My nurse explained it to me this way - you don't have a real period, but your body hasn't quite figured that out yet. So it's still producing your period hormones and giving you the period symptoms.

 

For me, they felt different from menstrual cramps though. They were sharp and sudden and short. (whereas my menstrual cramps can last for 2-3 days, these ones only lasted 30 seconds or so). It's normal to have cramping at any time during your pregnancy - from beginning to end.

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I don't usually cramp and didn't cramp during my missed period, but boy, was I a grumpy girl for the entire week of my missed period. I thought, this feels like PMS and then, I thought, yeah, this might even be worse. I was just really irritable.

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Thanks again.

 

My cramps held off yesterday and are back again today. For me, it's just a dull ache that's reasonably constant. I think it's like period pain but I never really had period pain until I came off the Pill and I've only been off it since late Dec 06. Even then, when I was definitely not pregnant the pain came for no more than a half hour or so, and it was only a few hours before my period hit. So my body is doing weird stuff now.

 

I took another test this morning and the second line was still really faint, but there. I assume I am pregnant . Going to give my period the chance to be missed this weekend and then go to doctor's on Monday.

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Thanks Sophie!

 

Well 4 positive preg tests & one missed period later I am certain I am pregnant. All the symptoms seem to be here as well. Doctor is booked out for now but hopefully will see her in next day or so.

 

I have moments of being really light-headed, then warm bath sleepy feelings like I've taken sleeping pills. It honestly feels like I'm drugged. Stupid thing is that I am having real difficulty sleeping, not sure why. My boobs have gone up to a DD and are extremely painful, arrgh. I never realised how taxing pregnancy is in the early days!

 

But we are very pleased. I have to also admit to being kind of scared. It's so much more real now.

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