Top ways to tell if your wife is pregnant - maybe even before she does

Pregnancy is usually accompanied by a number of telltale signs. If your spouse is pregnant, these pregnancy symptoms will most likely let you know—much before a medical test confirms your happy suspicion. Read on about how to identify signs that could tell you that your spouse is going to become a mother.

• Your spouse may report increased sensitivity in her breasts. While some women experience this only around their nipples, in others, this feeling extends to the entire breasts.
  
  


• You may see a cluster of bluish veins appear around the breasts.
  
  


• The areola, or the dark circular portion around the nipples, may reveal small, lighter colored bumps.
  
  


• Your spouse's vaginal area may swell. She may also experience vaginal discharge due to the increased blood flow in this region.
  
  


• Changes in your spouse's skin may also be a pregnancy symptom. Acne, rashes, and drying or chapping of the lips is quite common during pregnancy.
  
  


• Many pregnant women also experience a dull cramping pain that is similar to what they experience before or during menstruation.
  
  


• Heartburn may be another sign that could suggest your spouse is pregnant.
  
  


• Morning sickness, characterized by nausea, is a common pregnancy symptom.
  
  


• Your spouse may become intolerant to many smells. Even smells she liked earlier may cause her nausea.
  
  


• Another sign of pregnancy is if your spouse suddenly starts complaining of increasing fatigue.
  
  


• The early stage of pregnancy may also be marked by heightened hunger pangs. At the same time, your spouse may actually develop an aversion for many foods that she relished earlier.
  
  


• Heightened emotional sensitivity is one of the other common pregnancy symptoms. Your spouse may display erratic mood changes during this phase in her life.

While these pregnancy symptoms are often reliable pointers, only a medical test will be able to confirm this.

Conceiving a Baby: Things Future Dads Should Avoid

Men don't usually scour pre-pregnancy books, stocking up on all the right vitamins and minerals, and planning against the hidden dangers that could harm their baby-to-be. But - though in a couple trying to get pregnant the attention tends to be focused on the woman - there is a lot you can do to ensure a healthy pregnancy for your wife and become a proud dad.

Future dads, who are trying to conceive, would do well to avoid the following things:

• Hot water baths: Heat around the testicles may affect a man's ability to conceive. One reason why men have testicles that hang outside the body is that it makes them cooler and improves their capacity to produce healthy sperm. Soaking in a hot bath or spa will therefore adversely affect your sperm production. Besides, it will also harm immature sperm before it develops. Thus, bathing in hot water today may end up reducing the fertility of your sperm up to three months down the line.

• Warm underwear: Warm or tight underwear can also affect your sperm production by raising the temperature in the groin area.

• Too much cycling: If you are an enthusiastic cyclist who cycles daily, you may run the risk of reducing your sperm count. This is because of the overheating of the testicles caused by the fact they remain squeezed between the legs and the seat of the cycle.

• Sex, in case of yeast infection: If you suffer from a yeast infection, avoid having sex with your spouse. You run the risk of infecting your spouse, who can pass the infection back to you and so on. A yeast infection will generally make intercourse less pleasant, and therefore reduce the number of times you have sex; this could indirectly affect your chances of conception. Some also believe that the creams or suppositories used to treat yeast infections may interfere with successful conception.

If you are about to start a family with your spouse, you will often hear about "family planning". But what really does it mean? Family planning is often understood as prevention of pregnancy.

Taking a Home Pregnancy Test

If you and your spouse are trying to conceive a baby, you may want to know if your wife is pregnant. The best and earliest method to that is to use a home pregnancy test.

What does a home pregnancy test do?

The way a home pregnancy test works is simple. The test measures the amount of a pregnancy hormone called human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) in your spouse's urine. A woman's body starts releasing hCG only after a fertilized egg attaches itself to the uterus wall and the placenta begins to form around it. All this happens within the first 10-15 days of a pregnancy.

The placenta stimulates the release of hCG in a woman's bloodstream but some amount of the hormone passes out through her urine, which is detected by a home pregnancy test. Most kits can detect anywhere between 15 to 100 mIU/ml of hCG in the urine.

What are the different types of tests available?

A home pregnancy test comes in three main forms and is most accurate when the first morning urine sample is used.

• The most common home pregnancy test consists of a test stick your spouse can dip into her urine. The stick changes color if hCG is present and confirms a pregnancy.

• A second pregnancy test includes a urine collection cup and a testing mechanism (like a dipstick), with a well in it. A few drops of urine are put in the well or the well is dipped into the urine collected in the cup. If hCG is present, a specific part of the test device changes color.

• A newer pregnancy test available involves mixing a urine sample with a special substance (in powder or liquid form) to produce a chemical reaction. This reaction will occur only if hCG is present in the urine.

Is a home pregnancy test accurate?

A home pregnancy test is reasonably accurate. hCG takes around 2 weeks or more after fertilization to start being detected in the urine so a pregnancy test performed within this period will yield a negative result. For better accuracy, your spouse should take a test at least one week after the first day of her missed period.

The accuracy of a home pregnancy test also depends on your spouse's menstrual cycle, the exact day of fertilization, and the sensitivity of the test itself. Remember that even if your spouse's test is positive, she still needs to have her doctor confirm her pregnancy.