12 ways real women knew they were pregnant - BEFORE taking a test

If you’ve ever tried to get pregnant, you’ll know how excruciating the infamous two-week wait is (the time between ovulation and your next period). While you can take a pregnancy test during this time, it may throw up a negative result if you test too early – even if you’re pregnant.

We asked some real-life mamas to tell us the moment they knew they were pregnant. While many women will be familiar with the very obvious tell-tale signs such as sore breasts or nausea, some of the symptoms of early pregnancy are very unusual and diverse. Here are 12 very different ways that mums-to-be knew they were expecting, even before a missed period or positive test. 

1 Sore breasts
Perhaps one of the most common early signs, painful breasts are one of the first symptoms of early pregnancy. “I fell pregnant when I was on the pill, so I wasn’t looking for signs,” says mum-of-three Megan Haviland. “My sister-in-law rang me to tell me she was pregnant and chatted about the sore boobs and off tummy being a giveaway. Immediately after getting off the phone I hugged my hubby - and the pain in my boobs was out of this world. I thought I was being a hypochondriac (given the conversation I had just had). Like when someone tells a story of nits and you suddenly feel itchy. So I didn't share my suspicions with hubby. But instead acted on my hunch alone and surely enough I was pregnant.”

2 Needing a new bra
Sometimes going up a cup size or a feeling that your bra isn’t sitting right can be a clue that you may be in the early stages of pregnancy. “I went on a 30km marathon training run. I was six weeks pregnant and didn’t know,” says mum Dani Lombard. “I kept asking to have my sports bra adjusted as my boobs felt weird and I felt kind of sick and couldn’t have my energy gels. My periods were all over the place at that time so wasn’t unusual to have a super long cycle. Went home and did pregnancy test and oops. I had been running 25km plus every weekend and actually raced in a half marathon also two weeks before.” Thankfully everything went well with the pregnancy and ‘baby’ Cleo is at school now!

3 I was strangely protective of my body
“I remember feeling strangely protective of my body,” says mum of two girls, Hanna Marton. “For example, I was walking along a very busy 70km road and I felt compelled to walk as far from the roadside as possible. That’s probably normal for most people but not for me at the time!”

4 I felt dizzy when I exercised
“I was working out with a trainer at a gym and suddenly got incredibly dizzy and had to sit down,” says mum of two Margaux Nissen Gray. “I knew immediately. Walked over the road and bought a pregnancy test, ran home and took it and that was my son Mack.”

5 My singing teacher told me
We all know people who mysteriously ‘know’ that someone else is pregnant – even before they do. “My amazing beloved singing teacher Madame Larissa Ramensky, who was about 90 at the time, looked me deeply in the eyes in an intense, examining way - and said ‘Are you pregnant?’ à propos of nothing,” says one mum. “I said ‘No’ as I hadn’t missed a period. She said ‘Are you sure?’ I said ‘Yes I’m sure’. She said ‘You are pregnant. You will soon discover you are pregnant.’ I just shrugged and said ‘I dunno, maybe’. Guess what? She was right. That next period never came - that was my second son!” The real kicker here is that the mum in question is a well-known and very experienced GP.

6 Heightened sense of smell
“Everything smelled gross,” says mum Shireen Kiddle. “I could smell things that didn’t exist like stinky sneakers that didn’t stink before.”

7 My intuition told me
“With my third baby, I just had an intuition I was pregnant, however the test was negative,” says mum Jannah Trundle. “Weirdly a week later it was positive.”

8 My body felt hotter than normal
“I’m normally the one warming icy cold feet on husbo’s legs in the night (lucky him) but he started to notice I was running super warm at night and my skin was really warm to the touch too - that was the first sign,” says mum-of-two Lou Cheung.

9 Breakouts, headaches and wooziness!
“With my first child I had a massive zit and a migraine," says mum Phoebe Adams, who has one daughter and is expecting twins. "In my current pregnancy, I walked across a wooden rope bridge with this pregnancy and felt like I was still on it once I’d gotten to the other side - super woozy!”

10 Alcohol tasted awful
“With my second child I knew I was pregnant a week before my period came,” says mum-of-two Billy Kemps. “I knew a week before I was supposed to get my period. Took a sip of champers and wanted to POWER BARF.”

11 My body felt ‘charged’
Whenever I fall pregnant, I feel ‘charged’ like I’ve been plugged into the electricity mains!” says mum Niki Waldegrave.

12 I felt really emotional
“Everything started to make me cry and feel emotional,” says mum-of-two Jane Lawless. “There was an ad for a health insurance company on TV and there was a line about being pregnant in the jingle. Every time I heard it, I burst into tears. That was with my first baby and I had been trying for so long I’d almost given up hope.”