I don’t even know what to think anymore, besides the fact that my body is throwing me for a loop and my tendency to overanalyze is only making things worse. For the past week or so, something has just felt “off.” And despite the fact that I promised myself I wouldn’t test until my period was actually late, I gave in and tested last Friday. Negative. Nope, not pregnant. Must have been all in my head… right? Well, it was pretty early… maybe too early to know? Okay, I decided (this time for reals) that I would wait it out. If my period didn’t show by Tuesday, I would test again. Of course, I have no willpower and tested again on Monday. Negative again. While part of me was beginning to accept the result, part of me wondered if maybe it was still too early to know for sure. After all, I was still only 10 days past ovulation, and most home pregnancy tests have only a 35% accuracy rate at that stage. Not to mention I was still not quite feeling like myself. Well, late Monday night I got a more convincing confirmation to the negative: what appeared to be the start of my period. While I can’t deny that I was disappointed, it was a relief just to know already. I was so ready to finally get off this crazy train, for at least another month.
Or so I thought. The next day, my “special friend” was gone.
Huh?! So now, thanks to Google (which gives me access to way more information than a crazy hypochondriac like me should be allowed), my latest theory is that maybe I experienced phenomenon known as “implantation bleeding.” Some women experience some light bleeding they mistake for a period, but it’s really just the fertilized egg burrowing in, something that usually happens around 6-12 days after ovulation. Additionally, some women experience a drop in basal temperature at implantation, and Tuesday morning’s temperature drop also supports that theory. Then again, your temp is also supposed to drop as you approach your period. The difference is, your temperature is supposed to drop and stay low during your period, whereas it would dip and then jump back up again if it was an ovulation dip. To make things more complicated, today’s temperature jumped up a little, but not back to where it was, so I’m even more confused than ever.
So what now? I guess I just have to wait… either for my period to show up again and chalk it up to a weird body fluke, or if it doesn’t show by tomorrow, test again. Bah…
9/8 update: Today marks 13 days past ovulation. Negative pregnancy test this morning. Temps have taken a dive and are now around my pre-ovulatory temps. Still no sign of my period and I’m even more confused than ever!
9/9 update: Temps were even lower this morning, but I FINALLY started my period (let’s hope it sticks around this time). At this point I’m over being disappointed about not being pregnant – I’m just glad to finally know that I can move on to the next cycle – the cycle we were supposed to start trying anyway. Bonus: no drink fakeouts required at the bachelorette party and wedding! This also means I had a 13 day luteal phase this cycle, which is great news, as that’s more in the normal range.
Keeping up with the Hoffmans 