could my pit be pregnant

Question
Q#1 My pit is about 15 months old and she just had her 1st period last month and lasted til the beginning of this mth.
Her nipples are all large and she is still very swollen where she was bleeding from and she looks thicker like she suddenly gained weight...could she be pregnant?  She got loose a few times, we live in PA in a development with lots of woods I don't know who she could have been with but she appears to be pregnant to me...how can I know without the cost of visiting a vet?
Q#2  Forgive this question, but will her body go back to before she had her period?  For instance, her private seems to be sticking out of her (I notice this when she is lying down sleeping), will her body ever go back to before she had her period or has she changed due to having her period?

Answer
Hi Carol. You said that her heat cycle lasted to the beginning of this month. If she had been bred, then it was most likely sometime during the last week of last month. If that's the case, then she shouldn't be showing these signs this early if she was pregnant. Sometimes dogs experience what's called a false pregnancy. They will show the same signs of actually being pregnant, and may even have contractions and even get milk in. At any rate, there's no real way of telling for sure this early. You'll have to wait her out some. Sometimes, after a heat cycle, the dog's nipples may stay slightly enlarged. I'm not sure what you mean by her privates seem to be sticking out of her. Do you mean that it is still enlarged? If a dog is not bred, then things usually go back to normal after a while. One thing I am concerned about is that you said she looks thicker. IF she goes off her food or water, just wants to lay around and runs a temp, get her to the vet. Sometimes after a heat cycle, a dog will get pyrometra, which is an infection of the uterus. It can be the open kind where you will actually see a tomato soup looking discharge. Or it can be closed, where you don't see a discharge. If she acts off at all, get her to the vet. It's a very serious condition and can kill.