Who took my symptoms?

You see on babycenter.com and the bump.com all the time, what I can symptom stalking. A girl will eat some bad shellfish at 3 seconds past ovulation and take it as a sign. So I was expecting some big symptoms.



Lucky and unlucky for me, I am not one of those girls. As I said, the only weird thing I had was a heavy feeling in my uterus on 7dpo for half a day. That's it. The month before, when I convinced myself I was pregnant and was going to surprise my husband on his bday, my boobs killed and grew. Well when I really was pregnant, there was no pain, no growth.



At about 4 weeks 6 days my boobs got a little sore, but honestly nothing compared to my false alarm in September. This last about a week or two.



Around 5.5 weeks I started feeling tired. And from about weeks 6-8, I was queasy. I would wake up queasy and it would last until about 1pm, everyday for 2 weeks. And then it went away. I never threw up once.



The only two things that have been consistent are pure exhaustion and not sleeping through the night. A couple times a week, I wake up around 2 or 3am, like it is daylight. I am so awake I could prepare my taxes or clean the house. I stay up for about 2 to 3 hours, then fall asleep.



So in all, I have been exceedingly lucky. The downside is after my experiences with miscarriages, I wanted some symptoms, just to let me know everything was ok with the baby. You can always explain away exhaustion (it is gloomy out, I might be coming down with something). Then on the birth club boards people are writing how they lost 15 pounds from throwing up and I didn't have any food aversions. Also, I had food aversions with a previous pregnancy that only lasted 6.5 weeks, so that freaked me out too, that my hormones were stronger with a doomed pregnancy.



Truly every pregnancy is different and if you are lucky like me to need a few naps and not become intimately acquainted with your bathroom floor, they rock on and don't brag to your friends who did lost 15 pounds those first three months.

How Many DPO can you Experience Pregnancy Symptoms and Indicators?

There are few things as exhilarating as interpreting little nuances in your body as signs of pregnancy. The question remains, is there any merit to these signs so early in a pregnancy?

Researches suggest most people don't experience signs of pregnancy until the 5th or 6th week. Most active TTCers start over-analyzing everything at what would be 3 or 4 weeks, if they were in fact pregnant.

According to fertilityfriend.com, implantation, or when the fertilized egg burrows into the uterine wall, typically happens 7 to 10dpo. This is an average so it could be earlier or later. The website contends some people might have implantation signs such as:

• light spotting around 7-10 dpo (implantation bleeding)



• a second thermal shift (i.e. triphasic chart for those tracking temps) that occurs between 7 and 10dpo. Note of caution, I once had a clear triphasic chart and was not pregnant.



• Implantation dip or a single temp drop for one day between 7 and 10dpo

I than found the pregnancy-symptom obsesser's dream on countdowntopregnancy.com. They have charts were you can look up a symptom, like cramps, and see when pregnant people (their members) experienced these symptoms. From their sample of users, the most common early pregnancy symptoms as follows:

• Fatigue/Exhaustion: I have experienced this, but during the fifth week. I had to come home from work and sleep for 30 minutes before cooking dinner.



• Mild/Dull Cramps/Pressure: some experience cramping as early as implantation (6-12 dpo). This includes twinges and pinching/pulling. I have experienced these twinges and the nurse said it was the uterus expanding.



• Constipation or feeling bloated

As much as I want to believe in these signs, I have not been accurate in predicting my own pregnancy chances. Take last November. It was our first cycle trying after the miscarriage the previous August. I was about 10dpo when we flew home for Thanksgiving. On the plane my breasts hurt so badly, I was actually holding them. I took this as a great sign because the first thing I noticed in my previous pregnancy (during the 5th week was breast pain and heaviness). Then on 11dpo my chart started a triphasic pattern. I was also absolutely exhausted and was taking naps everyday. I ended up having a 19 luteal phase (should be 14) and I wasn't pregnant. I was shocked. Now if you take my last pregnancy, I didn't record one pregnancy symptom but ended up with a BFP.

One of the main reasons for confusion is that the hormone, progesterone, is present both before you ovulate and in pregnancy. Both pregnancy and menstruation can cause breast pain, cramps and fatigue.

What has been your experience accurately or inaccurately predicting pregnancy based on early symptoms?

Pregnancy Symptoms- how do you know when you are pregnant?

There is nothing more fun or shall I saw, all-consuming, for a TTCer than over-analyzing her alleged pregnancy symptoms. We have learned to skillfully harness the energy we once used to over-analyze everything our boyfriends and husbands said, did, and thought and now use it for the power of pregnancy prognostication. We rely on these happy harbingers to answer the monthly questions - am I or aren't I pregnant?

I have compiled a bunch of symptoms from several lists. The big caveat is that a lot of people don't feel anything for weeks into their pregnancy. But what fun would it be to think the reason we are tired is because we didn't get home until 2 am when you could easily attribute it the fatigue you feel in early pregnancy?


Happy obsessing,
Dana



1) Swollen or tender breasts
2) Implantation bleeding
3) Delayed or no period
4) Fatigue or being tired
5) Morning sickness
6) Frequent urination
7) Headaches
8) Backaches
9) Areolas darken
10) Food cravings
11) Cramps
12) Heartburn
13) Feeling faint
14) Mood swings
15) Abdominal bloating