Thursday 12 November 2009

Could I possibly be pregnant?

I see these questions on the internet all the time. A woman lists a series of symptoms, most sounding exactly the same as PMS, and then asks the world or chat room or answer page if she could possibly be pregnant. My symptom spotting days were pretty short lived, as I assume most women's are. Well, that's not quite true, I still looked for symptoms, I just didn't google them all anymore, in the hopes of some magical earth mama predictor identifying my specific combination of symptoms as special and giving me the conception go ahead. I mean the answer to the question is- you might be pregnant, you might be experiencing one of those short lived pregnancies that women never know about, or you have PMS. It is one of the three and it is far easier to tell the difference in hindsight. I am realizing the same answers apply to symptom spotting in fear of a miscarriage. There is no answer except in hindsight. It is so hard to accept not knowing what's going on in your body. And men just don't seem to understand. I can only imagine that it is the positive side to the dark experience of cancer- you have no idea what your body is doing and no recourse but to rely on tests and time while your body attacks itself. Horrible. But in honor and respect for those tortured symptom spotters who I so relate to, here goes. I tested a very light positive on an HPT at 10 days past ovulation (dpo). I didn't believe it, and tested another light positive at 11dpo. I showed my husband this one. He could kind of see it (which was a change from a false positive I got once which he couldn't see and showed up hours later- although I could always see it). He danced some sort of spermy victory dance, but I was still not convinced. I was convinced at 13 dpo when I got a darkish positive and a "pregnant 1-2" on a digital test. My symptoms? Well, I had PMS too soon. I told my best friend that I felt high and pissed. I was slightly dizzy, really, it can only be accurately described as feeling kind of high. And I was freakin emotional. I walked into a room in stretch pants and a sweatshirt and my husband said I looked like one of those ladies in the airport trying to look like Paris Hilton and I cried. He thought he had made me cry over something else he said, which I think was actually more critical, but no, it was the sweat pants. I thought they were cute and I cried my eyes out. I started feeling light cramps after that, and I usually get cramps only on the first day of my period. I hadn't had a drop in temperature, although I once got my period before my temp dropped, so I didn't think that was enough of a sign. The cramps went on for few days, which has never happened. They were very very light, not at all like the dreaded first day of a period. Finally, I felt pregnant. I had felt pregnant before and hadn't been, and I wasn't so committed that there would be tears if I got my period, but I felt pregnant. And it turns out I was. That was it. No nausea, maybe a little breast soreness but nothing noteworthy or different, no peeing a lot, nothing. If anything, it was slightly anticlimactic. I still am having trouble believing it and it has been over three weeks since I found out. Oh, there was one other thing. I got winded on my downhill walk to the gym. I'm not an Olympic athlete, and I already have a post telling you I'm overweight, but I'm in okay shape and it was pretty crazy to get winded so easily. This winded thing has continued. It was definitely a sign of pregnancy for me. And I was/am thirsty as hell. Lead this horse to water, I'm gonna drink it all!
The funny thing is, now I'm pregnant, and I'm still symptom spotting. I want to ask people on the internet if I'm having a miscarriage because my breasts hurt at different degrees throughout the day. It is exactly the same. And I'm still feeling impatient, this time for the first trimester to end so I'm more in the clear. Although I think I'll find something else to be desperate about after that. So I think I am slowly learning a lesson about this, although I haven't quite put it into words yet. I'll get back to you. Feel free to symptom spot in the comments! Or, if you have put the wisdom of waiting into words, I'd love to hear it

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