I don't know much about it but I'd add swollen/tender breasts to those symptoms. Also - doctors can tell after a month (?) by putting their hands on your belly and feeling the outside - I think they know where to feel for a small growth or something like that -> I had an early pregnancy test by this method once. HTH!

A Pregnancy Test Timeline
1928 - Aschheim-Zondek: Also known as the A-Z Test, this very first scientific pregnancy test was developed in Germany. It involved several subcutaneous injections of varying amounts of a woman's urine into the backs of immature female mice weighing between five and eight grams. One hundred hours after the first injection, the mice were killed and the ovaries were examined. The A-Z test is named for German researchers Selmar Aschheim (1878-1965) and Bernhard Zondek (1891-1966). Zondek was the first person to describe the ovarian hormone and earned worldwide renown for discovering gonadotropins. He and Aschheim both worked at Charité Hospital's Women's Clinic in Berlin (now the Institute of Experimental Endocrinology, CCM).

1931 - Friedman: A refined version of the Aschheim-Zondek test, the Friedman test used rabbits instead of mice. Its advantages were the availability of the animals, a reduced error rate, and the reduced time required for completion of the test. The subject's urine was injected into the ear vein of a female rabbit. The test, named for Maurice H. Friedman (1903-1991), could be read within 36 to 48 hours after injecting the urine.

1939 - Hogben (Xenopus): In the Hogben test, a female African clawed toad (Xenopus laevis) is injected with urine (or an extract) into the dorsal lymph sac. The presence of five, six, or more eggs within four to twelve hours indicates pregnancy. A similar test was done using male frogs or male toads. A woman's urine or serum is injected into the dorsal lymph sac of two male frogs (Rana pipiens) or male toads (Bufo marinus). The presence of spermatozoa in the cloacal fluid of both animals is positive; in one animal, inconclusive; in neither animal, negative. This test is named for the British biologist Lancelot Hogben (1895-1975). Although the Hogben pregnancy test had the advantage of not killing the test animals, it was replaced by immunological methods in the 1960s.

1960 - Hemagglutination inhibition test: Also known as the Wide-Gemzell test, this was the first pregnancy test that did not require an animal. It tested urine for certain reactions with purified hCG. Much faster and cheaper than previous tests, it was, however, not as accurate.

1970 - Wampole test: This was a two-hour test kit available to physicians. It still required test tubes, syringes, and other items making it unsuitable for home use.

1976 - ACU, Answer, e.p.t. and Predictor: These home pregnancy test kits received FDA approval in 1976. Warner-Chilcott's e.p.t. test would be the first on the market at the end of 1977. It sold for about $10, but still required two hours for results. It was more accurate for positive results than negative. Current versions are more reliable.

1990s - Enzyme testing: Continuing research leads to better accuracy and improved methods. A large variety of home tests exist today, all based on an increase in urinary levels of hCG after fertilization. But no animals are harmed any longer—neither rabbits nor toads

If so, given that Madge had been orphaned at an early age, it would be expected that Jem would have had to fill that role and explained how to and diagnosed her pregnancy.

No sex ed then- just mum telling the daughter when she is about to be married about 'marital duties'. Or, if you were lucky, 'don't go too far with a boy' as she became a woman

It's in The Queen's Fool, which I'm partway through. I think I've previously read it in a Jean Plaidy book and possibly other places as well.

arent they the same person (philipa gregory and jean plaidy)

arent they the same person (philipa gregory and jean plaidy)

Well my mother, who is a little younger than Joey, says it's actually a myth that they didn't know anything. They did, I think, learn at school, possibly only vaguely, from one another. But she certainly said once, "Well, what do you think we got up to in parked cars?!"

I'm dreading to see what the movie for "The Other Boleyn Girl" is going to be like.

My mother in law, born in 1951, so a LOT younger than Joey, was told nothing at school or by her mum. It was left to her dad to explain to her why she was bleeding and what to do about it.