8 Women on the Weird Symptoms That Made Them Realize They Were Pregnant

Walking into Whole Foods one morning, I was plotting my mid-morning snack. Did I want an Rx Bar like usual? Nope. A latte? Nope. Olives? Yes, yes, yes!

As soon as I made a beeline for the olive bar, I thought: I bet I’m pregnant. Even though I’m an olive lover any day of the week, I typically don’t crave them so early in the day—except when I was pregnant with my son. Thing was, it was way too early to take a pregnancy test. I sat with the little secret until it was confirmed later that week.

Women everywhere have similar stories. They just knew they were pregnant—whether it was certain weird out-of-nowhere symptoms or they just felt it in their gut, no pregnancy test required. Here are eight I-knew-it! stories.

“I knew I was pregnant when I was shopping at Target with my one-year-old and suddenly felt so dizzy and hot that I had to lay down and sprawl out on the floor to prevent myself from passing out and hitting the ground hard. Luckily, my toddler wasn’t scared because she thought Mommy was playing a fun game! Needless to say, that kind of behavior wasn’t normal for me, so we ended up buying pregnancy tests during that shopping trip. They turned out to be positive.”

— Christina Tiplea, Chicago, IL, creator of Embracing Simple

My head was killing me

“For my second pregnancy, I just knew. I didn’t have any breast tenderness or morning sickness, but I did get a few migraines, which are very rare for me. I had one so bad that I couldn’t see out of my left eye for about an hour. I decided to take a test the next morning and sure enough: Pregnant!”

— Brittany Ogletree Whitacre, Dallas, author of Life as the Mrs.

“My cat Zeus became extremely clingy and would follow me around wherever I went. He started meowing more, especially at night and started sleeping on my pillow. I took Zeus to the vet and they ran some tests but didn’t find anything out of the ordinary. They had joked that maybe I was pregnant. I Googled my cat’s changes in behavior and kept coming across articles of pregnant women whose cats were also acting strange. I decided to take a pregnancy test just to make sure. We were so excited and surprised! Since I found out very early thanks to my cat, I didn’t have any symptoms yet.”

— Julie Paccamonti, Des Moines, Iowa

“Early in my first pregnancy, I remember going out to dinner with my husband [before I knew I was pregnant] and not being able to taste or feel the effects of the alcohol in my drink. I specifically remember sending back my margarita at the Mexican restaurant because I could not taste the tequila! Now I’m on my seventh pregnancy, and I got a very distinctive feeling in my stomach, like a kick in the gut. That’s how I knew.”

— Emily Westerfield, Celina, Ohio

“A friend was describing her early pregnancy symptoms, like extreme tiredness and weird breakouts. While she was talking, the main thing that stood out to me was weird breakout. I was literally looking in the mirror at my chest and noticing weird bumps as she spoke. When I realized I felt what she felt, I was in shock. I also thought there was no way that it was possible because I had only been off birth control for less than a month. I immediately went to the drugstore and bought every pregnancy test I saw—nine to be exact. I took them all. The first four said positive and the last five said negative. At the time, I didn’t realize that since I was only four weeks along, the more tests you take (and the more times you pee on a stick), it dilutes your pee. You live and you learn!”

— Amy Havlins, Dallas, blogger at Dallas Wardrob

“One night, my husband and I went out to have a margarita. The very next morning I woke up and I knew I was pregnant. I hadn’t missed a period yet, I hadn’t felt nauseous. Nothing out of the ordinary had occurred. I just knew I was pregnant. There wasn’t a single sign. I guess you can call it pre-mother’s intuition. Sure enough, I took a pregnancy test and it was positive.”

— Terri Huggins, Plainsboro, New Jersey