Pregnancy signs at two weeks (2024)

Wondering if you’re pregnant? Even if it’s still early days, there may be tell-tale signs that your body is changing.

Some, but not all, women get the feeling that they’re pregnant a few days after they’ve conceived (Murray and Hassall 2014). So it’s possible that you may experience pregnancy symptoms as early as two weeks after conception. But it's more likely that you won't feel anything for a little while longer yet.

You may feel a prickling or tingling sensation in your breasts, particularly around your nipples. It happens because pregnancy hormones increase the blood supply to your breasts (Blackburn 2013, Murray and Hassall 2014).

This can be one of the earliest signs of pregnancy. You may notice how tender your breasts feel within a week or so of conception. Your usual bra may become uncomfortable and chafe more than usual. Sore breasts more commonly become noticeable about three weeks to four weeks after conception, though (Murray and Hassall 2014).

Another early sign of pregnancy is the change in colour of your vulva and vagin*. Your vulva and vagin* are usually pink, but this changes to dark purplish-red as your pregnancy progresses (Geraghty and Pomeranz 2011 cited Hassall and Murray 2014).

The change is caused by the increased amount of blood being supplied to the tissues around your vagin*. Midwives call this change in colour Chadwick’s sign (Geraghty and Pomeranz 2011 cited Murray and Hassall 2014).

It’s possible that if you’re particularly in tune with your usual menstrual cycle, you will notice changes to your vagin*l discharge at this early stage.

Not necessarily. You may notice a slight pink or brown-coloured stain in your undies, or when you wee, or feel slight cramping. It’s common to have some spotting or light bleeding between week six and week seven (Hasan et al 2010, Newson 2014).

Experts aren’t sure why spotting in very early pregnancy happens, but it’s likely to be caused by the developing placenta. Once you're about six weeks pregnant, the placenta takes over from your body the job of making pregnancy hormones (Hasan et al 2010, van Oppenraaij et al 2009), which may result in some light bleeding.

At this early stage, you're more likely to experience a change in your appetite than cravings for particular foods (NHS 2016). You may notice a metallic taste in your mouth and be extra sensitive to the smells of food or cooking (Newson 2014, NHS 2016).

The pregnancy hormone progesterone may make you feel hungrier (Hirschberg 2012). But it’s also normal to feel hungrier just before your period for the same reason – higher levels of progesterone. So increased appetite doesn’t necessarily mean you've conceived (Hirschberg 2012).

Morning sickness can start two weeks after you’ve conceived, when you’re actually four weeks pregnant. It’s more common for it to start when you’re about six weeks pregnant, though (Blackburn 2013, Murray and Hassall 2014, NHS 2016).

You may feel nauseous, with or without vomiting, at any time of the day or night. Morning sickness usually starts to ease as you reach the end of the first trimester (Niebyl 2010), although about one woman in 10 still feels sick after week 20 (NHS 2015b).

The exact cause of morning sickness is unknown, but it’s thought to be connected to the rise in pregnancy hormones human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG) and oestrogen.

You may start to feel tired right from the early stages of pregnancy, as your body gets ready to support your growing baby. You’ll find this lasts until you’re about 12 weeks pregnant (Blackburn 2013). You may also feel weepy and emotional, while at other times elated (NHS 2016, Raynor and Oates 2009).

Though fatigue is not a sure-fire symptom on its own, it’s a common pregnancy symptom, and often goes hand in hand with morning sickness (Gartland et al 2010, NHS 2015b).

At two weeks, it may be. The more sensitive home pregnancy tests claim to detect low levels of pregnancy hormones as early as four or five days before your period is due (NHS 2015c).

But the most reliable sign of pregnancy is a missed period. You’ll get the most accurate result from your pregnancy test if you use it no earlier than the time when your period would be due.

If your period is late, and your test result is negative, try testing again in three days’ time. If you have an irregular cycle, it may be that you’ve tested a little too early.