The symptoms and discomforts of pregnancy are those presentations and conditions that result from pregnancy but do not significantly interfere with activities of daily living or pose a threat to the health of the mother or baby. This is in contrast to pregnancy complications. Sometimes a symptom that is considered a discomfort can be considered a complication when it is more severe. For example, nausea (morning sickness) can be a discomfort, but if, in combination with significant vomiting it causes a water-electrolyte imbalance, it is a complication known as hyperemesis gravidarum.

Common symptoms and discomforts of pregnancy include:

- Tiredness.

- Constipation

- Pelvic girdle pain

- Back pain

- Braxton Hicks contractions. Occasional, irregular, and often painless contractions that occur several times per day.

- Edema (swelling). Common complaint in advancing pregnancy. Caused by compression of the inferior vena cava and pelvic veins by the uterus leads to increased hydrostatic pressure in lower extremities.

- Increased urinary frequency. A common complaint, caused by increased intravascular volume, elevated glomerular filtration rate, and compression of the bladder by the expanding uterus.

- Urinary tract infection

- Varicose veins. Common complaint caused by relaxation of the venous smooth muscle and increased intravascular pressure.

- Haemorrhoids (piles). Swollen veins at or inside the anal area. Caused by impaired venous return, straining associated with constipation, or increased intra-abdominal pressure in later pregnancy.

- Regurgitation, heartburn, and nausea.

- Stretch marks

- Breast tenderness is common during the first trimester, and is more common in women who are pregnant at a young age.

In addition, pregnancy may result in pregnancy complication such as deep vein thrombosis or worsening of an intercurrent disease in pregnancy.

The symptoms of pseudocyesis are similar to the symptoms of true pregnancy and are often hard to distinguish from it. Such natural signs as amenorrhoea, morning sickness, tender breasts, and weight gain may all be present. Many health care professionals can be deceived by the symptoms associated with pseudocyesis. Research shows that 18% of women with pseudocyesis were at one time diagnosed as pregnant by medical professionals.

The hallmark sign of pseudocyesis that is common to all cases is that the affected patient is convinced that she is pregnant.

Abdominal distension is the most common physical symptom of pseudocyesis (60–90%). The abdomen expands in the same manner as it does during pregnancy so that the affected woman looks pregnant. These symptoms often resolve under general anesthesia and the woman's abdomen returns to its normal size.

The second most common physical sign of pseudocyesis is menstrual irregularity (50–90%). Women are also reported to experience the sensation of fetal movements known as quickening, even though there is no fetus present (50–75%). Other common signs and symptoms include gastrointestinal symptoms, breast changes or secretions, labor pains, uterine enlargement, and softening of the cervix. One percent of women eventually experience false labor.

To be diagnosed as true pseudocyesis, the woman must actually believe that she is pregnant. When a woman intentionally and consciously feigns pregnancy, it is termed a simulated pregnancy.

Symptoms of pseudocyesis can also occur in men who have couvade syndrome.

Pregnancy over age 50 has, over recent years, become more possible for women, due to recent advances in assisted reproductive technology, in particular egg donation. Typically, a woman's fecundity ends with menopause, which by definition is 12 consecutive months without having had any menstrual flow at all. During perimenopause, the menstrual cycle and the periods become irregular and eventually stop altogether, but even when periods are still regular, the egg quality of women in their forties is lower than in younger women, making the likelihood of conceiving a healthy baby also reduced, particularly after age 42. It is important to note, that the female biological clock can vary greatly from woman to woman. A woman's individual level of fertility can be tested through a variety of methods.

Men also experience a decline in fertility as they age, for example, the average time to pregnancy if a man is under 25 is just over 4.5 months but nearly two years if a man is over 40 (if the woman is under 25). The risk of genetic defects is greatly increased due to the paternal age effect. Children with fathers aged 40 or older are more than five times as likely to have an autism spectrum disorder than children fathered by men aged under 30. Researchers estimate that compared to a male fathering a child in his early 20's - there is double the chance of the child getting schizophrenia when the father is age 40, and triple the risk of schizophrenia when the father is age 50 (though, for most people this means the risk goes from approximately 1 in 121 when a man is 29, to 1 in 47 when a man is age 50 to 54). Men's fertility declines throughout the lifespan, with the volume of a man’s semen and sperm motility (the ability of sperm to move towards an egg) decrease continually between the ages of 20 and 80. The risk of dwarfism and miscarriage also increases as men age

In the United States, between 1997 and 1999, 539 births were reported among mothers over age 50 (four per 100,000 births), with 194 being over 55.

The oldest mother to date to conceive, was 71 years, and the youngest mother, 5 years old. According to statistics from the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, in the UK more than 20 babies are born to women over age 50 per year through in-vitro fertilization with the use of donor oocytes (eggs).

Maria del Carmen Bousada de Lara is the oldest verified mother; she was aged 66 years 358 days when she gave birth to twins; she was 130 days older than Adriana Iliescu, who gave birth in 2005 to a baby girl. In both cases the children were conceived through IVF with donor eggs. The oldest verified mother to conceive naturally (listed currently in the Guinness Records) is Dawn Brooke (UK); she conceived a son at the age of 59 years in 1997 while taking oestrogen.

Signs of a miscarriage include vaginal spotting, abdominal pain or cramping, and fluid or tissue passing from the vagina. Bleeding can be a symptom of miscarriage, but many women also have bleeding in early pregnancy and don't miscarry. Bleeding during pregnancy may be referred to as a threatened miscarriage. Of those who seek clinical treatment for bleeding during pregnancy, about half will miscarry. Miscarriage may be detected during an ultrasound exam, or through serial human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) testing.

Each year, ill health as a result of pregnancy is experienced (sometimes permanently) by more than 20 million women around the world. In 2013 complications of pregnancy resulted in 293,000 deaths down from 377,000 deaths in 1990. Common causes include maternal bleeding (44,000), complications of abortion (44,000), high blood pressure of pregnancy (29,000), maternal sepsis (24,000), and obstructed labor (19,000).

The following are some examples of pregnancy complications:

- Pregnancy induced hypertension

- Anemia

- Postpartum depression

- Postpartum psychosis

- Thromboembolic disorders. These are the leading cause of death in pregnant women in the US.

- PUPPP (Pruritic Urticarial Papules and Plaques of Pregnancy), a skin disease that develops around the 32nd week. Signs are red plaques, papules, and itchiness around the belly button that then spreads all over the body except for the inside of hands and face.

- Ectopic pregnancy, implantation of the embryo outside the uterus.

- Hyperemesis gravidarum, excessive nausea and vomiting that is more severe than normal morning sickness.

- Pulmonary embolism, blood clots that form in the legs that can migrate to the lungs.

There is also an increased susceptibility and severity of certain infections in pregnancy.

False pregnancy, phantom pregnancy, or hysterical pregnancy—officially called pseudocyesis in humans and pseudopregnancy in other mammals—is the appearance of clinical or subclinical signs and symptoms associated with pregnancy when the organism is not actually pregnant. Clinically, false pregnancy is most common in veterinary medicine (particularly in dogs and mice). False pregnancy in humans is less common, and may sometimes be purely psychological. It is generally believed that false pregnancy is caused by changes in the endocrine system of the body, leading to the secretion of hormones that cause physical changes similar to those during pregnancy. Some men experience the same illnesses as a woman would experience while pregnant when their partner is pregnant (see Couvade syndrome), possibly caused by pheromones that increase estrogen, prolactin, and cortisol levels.

Miscarriage may occur for many reasons, not all of which can be identified. Risk factors are those things that increase the likelihood of having a miscarriage but don't necessarily cause a miscarriage. Up to 70 conditions, infections, medical procedures, lifestyle factors, occupational exposures, chemical exposure, and shift work are associated with increased risk for miscarriage. Some of these risks include endocrine, genetic, uterine, or hormonal abnormalities, reproductive tract infections, and tissue rejection caused by an autoimmune disorder.

Female fertility is affected by age. Age is thus a major fertility factor for women. Menarche, the first menstrual period, usually occurs around 12-13, although it may happen earlier or later, depending on each girl. After puberty, female fertility increases and then decreases, with advanced maternal age causing an increased risk of female infertility. In humans, a woman's fertility peaks in the early and mid-20s, after which it starts to decline slowly. While many sources suggest a more dramatic drop at around 35, this is unclear since studies are still cited from the nineteenth century and earlier. One 2004 study of European women found fertility of the 27-34 and the 35–39 groups had only a four-percent difference. At age 45, a woman starting to try to conceive will have no live birth in 50–80 percent of cases. Menopause, or the cessation of menstrual periods, generally occurs in the 40s and 50s and marks the cessation of fertility, although age-related infertility can occur before then. The relationship between age and female fertility is sometimes referred to as a woman's "biological clock."

Advanced maternal age, in a broad sense, is the instance of a woman being of an older age at a stage of reproduction, although there are various definitions of specific age and stage of reproduction. The variability in definitions is in part explained by the effects of increasing age occurring as a continuum rather than as a threshold effect.

In Western, Northern, and Southern Europe, first-time mothers are on average 26 to 29 years old, up from 23 to 25 years at the start of the 1970s. In a number of European countries (Spain), the mean age of women at first childbirth has crossed the 30 year threshold.

This process is not restricted to Europe. Asia, Japan and the United States are all seeing average age at first birth on the rise, and increasingly the process is spreading to countries in the developing world like China, Turkey and Iran. In the U.S., the average age of first childbirth was 26 in 2013.

Advanced maternal age is associated with adverse reproductive effects such as increased risk of infertility, and that the children have chromosomal abnormalities. The corresponding paternal age effect is less pronounced.

In present generations it is more common to have children at an older age. Several factors may influence the decisions of parents when having their first baby. Such factors include educational, social and economic status.

Up to 10% of women with ectopic pregnancy have no symptoms, and one-third have no medical signs. In many cases the symptoms have low specificity, and can be similar to those of other genitourinary and gastrointestinal disorders, such as appendicitis, salpingitis, rupture of a corpus luteum cyst, miscarriage, ovarian torsion or urinary tract infection. Clinical presentation of ectopic pregnancy occurs at a mean of 7.2 weeks after the last normal menstrual period, with a range of 4 to 8 weeks. Later presentations are more common in communities deprived of modern diagnostic ability.

Signs and symptoms of ectopic pregnancy include increased hCG, vaginal bleeding (in varying amounts), sudden lower abdominal pain, pelvic pain, a tender cervix, an adnexal mass, or adnexal tenderness. In the absence of ultrasound or hCG assessment, heavy vaginal bleeding may lead to a misdiagnosis of miscarriage. Nausea, vomiting and diarrhea are more rare symptoms of ectopic pregnancy.

Rupture of an ectopic pregnancy can lead to symptoms such as abdominal distension, tenderness, peritonism and hypovolemic shock. A woman with ectopic pregnancy may be excessively mobile with upright posturing, in order to decrease intrapelvic blood flow, which can lead to swelling of the abdominal cavity and cause additional pain.

Other conditions that cause similar symptoms include: miscarriage, ovarian torsion, and acute appendicitis, ruptured ovarian cyst, kidney stone, and pelvic inflammatory disease, among others.

Symptoms are set into 3 categories: mild, moderate, and severe. Mild symptoms include abdominal bloating and feeling of fullness, nausea, diarrhea, and slight weight gain. Moderate symptoms include excessive weight gain (weight gain of greater than 2 pounds per day), increased abdominal girth, vomiting, diarrhea, darker urine, decreased urine output, excessive thirst, and skin and/or hair feeling dry (in addition to mild symptoms). Severe symptoms are fullness/bloating above the waist, shortness of breath, pleural effusion, urination significantly darker or has ceased, calf and chest pains, marked abdominal bloating or distention, and lower abdominal pains (in addition to mild and moderate symptoms).

A woman's fertility peaks lasts during the twenties and first half of thirties, after which it starts to decline, with advanced maternal age causing an increased risk of female infertility.

According to Henri Leridon, PhD, an epidemiologist with the French Institute of Health and Medical Research, of women trying to get pregnant, without using fertility drugs or in vitro fertilization:

- At age 30

- 75% will have a conception ending in a live birth within one year

- 91% will have a conception ending in a live birth within four years.

- At age 35

- 66% will have a conception ending in a live birth within one year

- 84% will have a conception ending in a live birth within four years.

- At age 40

- 44% will have a conception ending in a live birth within one year

- 64% will have a conception ending in a live birth within four years.

OHSS is divided into the categories mild, moderate, severe, and critical.

In mild forms of OHSS the ovaries are enlarged (5–12 cm) and there may be additional accumulation of ascites with mild abdominal distension, abdominal pain, nausea, and diarrhea. In severe forms of OHSS there may be hemoconcentration, thrombosis, distension, oliguria (decreased urine production), pleural effusion, and respiratory distress. Early OHSS develops before pregnancy testing and late OHSS is seen in early pregnancy.

Criteria for severe OHSS include enlarged ovary, ascites, hematocrit > 45%, WBC > 15,000, oliguria, creatinine 1.0-1.5 mg/dl, creatinine clearance > 50 ml/min, liver dysfunction, and anasarca. Critical OHSS includes enlarged ovary, tense ascites with hydrothorax and pericardial effusion, hematocrit > 55%, WBC > 25,000, oligoanuria, creatinine > 1.6 mg/dl, creatinine clearance < 50 ml/min, renal failure, thromboembolic phenomena, and ARDS.

Abortion is the ending of pregnancy by removing a fetus or embryo before it can survive outside the uterus. An abortion that occurs spontaneously is also known as a miscarriage. An abortion may be caused purposely and is then called an induced abortion, or less frequently, "induced miscarriage". The word "abortion" is often used to mean only induced abortions. A similar procedure after the fetus could potentially survive outside the womb is known as a "late termination of pregnancy".

When allowed by law, abortion in the developed world is one of the safest procedures in medicine. Modern methods use medication or surgery for abortions. The drug mifepristone in combination with prostaglandin appears to be as safe and effective as surgery during the first and second trimester of pregnancy. Birth control, such as the pill or intrauterine devices, can be used immediately following abortion. When performed legally and safely, induced abortions do not increase the risk of long-term mental or physical problems. In contrast, unsafe abortions (those performed by unskilled individuals, with hazardous equipment, or in unsanitary facilities) cause 47,000 deaths and 5 million hospital admissions each year. The World Health Organization recommends safe and legal abortions be available to all women.

Around 56 million abortions are performed each year in the world, with about 45% done unsafely. Abortion rates changed little between 2003 and 2008, before which they decreased for at least two decades as access to family planning and birth control increased. , 40% of the world's women had access to legal abortions without limits as to reason. Countries that permit abortions have different limits on how late in pregnancy abortion is allowed.

Historically, abortions have been done using herbal medicines, sharp tools, with force, or through other traditional methods. Abortion laws and cultural or religious views of abortions are different around the world. In some areas abortion is legal only in specific cases such as rape, problems with the fetus, poverty, risk to a woman's health, or incest. In many places there is much debate over the moral, ethical, and legal issues of abortion. Those who oppose abortion often maintain that an embryo or fetus is a human with a right to life and may compare abortion to murder. Those who favor the legality of abortion often hold that a woman has a right to make decisions about her own body.

The risk of pregnancy complications increases as the mother's age increases. Risks associated with childbearing over the age of 50 include an increased incidence of gestational diabetes, hypertension, delivery by caesarean section, miscarriage, preeclampsia, and placenta previa. In comparison to mothers between 20 and 29 years of age, mothers over 50 are at almost three times the risk of low birth weight, premature birth, and extremely premature birth; their risk of extremely low birth weight, small size for gestational age, and fetal mortality was almost double.

In the early stages of placental abruption, there may be no symptoms. When symptoms develop, they tend to develop suddenly. Common symptoms include sudden-onset abdominal pain, contractions that seem continuous and do not stop, vaginal bleeding, enlarged uterus disproportionate to the gestational age of the fetus, decreased fetal movement, and decreased fetal heart rate.

Vaginal bleeding, if it occurs, may be bright red or dark.

A placental abruption caused by arterial bleeding at the center of the placenta leads to sudden development of severe symptoms and life-threatening conditions including fetal heart rate abnormalities, severe maternal hemorrhage, and disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC). Those abruptions caused by venous bleeding at the periphery of the placenta develop more slowly and cause small amounts of bleeding, intrauterine growth restriction, and oligohydramnios (low levels of amniotic fluid).

Infertility is the inability of a person, animal or plant to reproduce by natural means. It is usually not the natural state of a healthy adult, except notably among certain eusocial species (mostly haplodiploid insects).

In humans, infertility is the inability to become pregnant or carry a pregnancy to full term. There are many causes of infertility, including some that medical intervention can treat. Estimates from 1997 suggest that worldwide about five percent of all hetersexual couples have an unresolved problem with infertility. Many more couples, however, experience involuntary childlessness for at least one year: estimates range from 12% to 28%." 20-30% of infertility cases are due to male infertility, 20-35% are due to female infertility, and 25-40% are due to combined problems in both parts. In 10-20% of cases, no cause is found. The most common cause of female infertility is ovulatory problems which generally manifest themselves by sparse or absent menstrual periods. Male infertility is most commonly due to deficiencies in the semen, and semen quality is used as a surrogate measure of male fecundity.

Women who are fertile experience a natural period of fertility before and during ovulation, and they are naturally infertile for the rest of the menstrual cycle. Fertility awareness methods are used to discern when these changes occur by tracking changes in cervical mucus or basal body temperature.

Preterm infants usually show physical signs of prematurity in reverse proportion to the gestational age. As a result, they are at risk for numerous medical problems affecting different organ systems.

- Neurological problems include apnea of prematurity, hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE), retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), developmental disability, transient hyperammonemia of the newborn, cerebral palsy and intraventricular hemorrhage, the latter affecting 25 percent of babies born preterm, usually before 32 weeks of pregnancy. Mild brain bleeds usually leave no or few lasting complications, but severe bleeds often result in brain damage or even death. Neurodevelopmental problems have been linked to lack of maternal thyroid hormones, at a time when their own thyroid is unable to meet postnatal needs.

- Cardiovascular complications may arise from the failure of the ductus arteriosus to close after birth: patent ductus arteriosus (PDA).

- Respiratory problems are common, specifically the respiratory distress syndrome (RDS or IRDS) (previously called hyaline membrane disease). Another problem can be chronic lung disease (previously called bronchopulmonary dysplasia or BPD).

- Gastrointestinal and metabolic issues can arise from neonatal hypoglycemia, feeding difficulties, rickets of prematurity, hypocalcemia, inguinal hernia, and necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC).

- Hematologic complications include anemia of prematurity, thrombocytopenia, and hyperbilirubinemia (jaundice) that can lead to kernicterus.

- Infection, including sepsis, pneumonia, and urinary tract infection

A study of 241 children born between 22 and 25 weeks who were currently of school age found that 46 percent had severe or moderate disabilities such as cerebral palsy, vision or hearing loss and learning problems. 34 percent were mildly disabled and 20 percent had no disabilities, while 12 percent had disabling cerebral palsy.

Preterm birth causes a range of problems.

The main categories of causes of preterm birth are preterm labor induction and spontaneous preterm labor. Signs and symptoms of preterm labor include four or more uterine contractions in one hour. In contrast to false labour, true labor is accompanied by cervical dilatation and effacement. Also, vaginal bleeding in the third trimester, heavy pressure in the pelvis, or abdominal or back pain could be indicators that a preterm birth is about to occur. A watery discharge from the vagina may indicate premature rupture of the membranes that surround the baby. While the rupture of the membranes may not be followed by labor, usually delivery is indicated as infection (chorioamnionitis) is a serious threat to both fetus and mother. In some cases, the cervix dilates prematurely without pain or perceived contractions, so that the mother may not have warning signs until very late in the birthing process.

A review into using uterine monitoring at home to detect contractions and possible preterm births in women at higher risk of having a preterm baby found that it did not reduce the number of preterm births. The research included in the review was poor quality but it showed that home monitoring may increase the number of unplanned antenatal visits and may reduce the number of babies admitted to special care when compared with women receiving normal antenatal care.

Female infertility refers to infertility in female humans. It affects an estimated 48 million women with the highest prevalence of infertility affecting people in South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa/Middle East, and Central/Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Infertility is caused by many sources, including nutrition, diseases, and other malformations of the uterus. Infertility affects women from around the world, and the cultural and social stigma surrounding it varies.

Spontaneous abortion, also known as miscarriage, is the unintentional expulsion of an embryo or fetus before the 24th week of gestation. A pregnancy that ends before 37 weeks of gestation resulting in a live-born infant is known as a "premature birth" or a "preterm birth". When a fetus dies in utero after viability, or during delivery, it is usually termed "stillborn". Premature births and stillbirths are generally not considered to be miscarriages although usage of these terms can sometimes overlap.

Only 30% to 50% of conceptions progress past the first trimester. The vast majority of those that do not progress are lost before the woman is aware of the conception, and many pregnancies are lost before medical practitioners can detect an embryo. Between 15% and 30% of known pregnancies end in clinically apparent miscarriage, depending upon the age and health of the pregnant woman. 80% of these spontaneous abortions happen in the first trimester.

The most common cause of spontaneous abortion during the first trimester is chromosomal abnormalities of the embryo or fetus, accounting for at least 50% of sampled early pregnancy losses. Other causes include vascular disease (such as lupus), diabetes, other hormonal problems, infection, and abnormalities of the uterus. Advancing maternal age and a woman's history of previous spontaneous abortions are the two leading factors associated with a greater risk of spontaneous abortion. A spontaneous abortion can also be caused by accidental trauma; intentional trauma or stress to cause miscarriage is considered induced abortion or feticide.

There is no unanimous definition of female infertility, because the definition depends on social and physical characteristics which may vary by culture and situation. NICE guidelines state that: "A woman of reproductive age who has not conceived after 1 year of unprotected vaginal sexual intercourse, in the absence of any known cause of infertility, should be offered further clinical assessment and investigation along with her partner." It is recommended that a consultation with a fertility specialist should be made earlier if the woman is aged 36 years or over, or there is a known clinical cause of infertility or a history of predisposing factors for infertility. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), infertility can be described as the inability to become pregnant, maintain a pregnancy, or carry a pregnancy to live birth.

A clinical definition of infertility by the WHO and ICMART is “a disease of the reproductive system defined by the failure to achieve a clinical pregnancy after 12 months or more of regular unprotected sexual intercourse.” Infertility can further be broken down into primary and secondary infertility. Primary infertility refers to the inability to give birth either because of not being able to become pregnant, or carry a child to live birth, which may include miscarriage or a stillborn child.

There are 2 major categories of IUGR: symmetrical and asymmetrical. Some conditions are associated with both symmetrical and asymmetrical growth restriction.

Poor ovarian reserve is a condition of low fertility characterized by 1): low numbers of remaining oocytes in the ovaries or 2) possibly impaired preantral oocyte development or recruitment. Recent research suggests that premature ovarian aging and premature ovarian failure (aka primary ovarian insufficiency) may represent a continuum of premature ovarian senescence. It is usually accompanied by high FSH (follicle stimulating hormone) levels.

Quality of the eggs (oocytes) may also be impaired as a 1989 study by Scott et al. of 758 in vitro fertilisation (IVF) cycles showed a dramatic decline in implantation rates between high (> 25 mIU/mL) and low day three FSH (<15 mIU/mL) women even though the ages of the women were equivalent between the two groups (mean age 35 years). However, other studies show no association with elevated FSH levels and genetic quality of embryos after adjusting for age. The decline in quality was age related, not FSH related as the younger women with high day three FSH levels had higher live birth rates than the older women with high FSH. There was no significant difference in genetic embryo quality between same aged women regardless of FSH levels. A 2008 study concluded that diminished reserve did not affect the quality of oocytes and any reduction in quality in diminished reserve women was age related. One expert concluded: in young women with poor reserve when eggs are obtained they have near normal rates of implantation and pregnancy rates, but they are at high risk for IVF cancellation; if eggs are obtained, pregnancy rates are typically better than in older woman with normal reserve. However, if the FSH level is extremely elevated these conclusions are likely not applicable.