A Girl...

Have you had your hormone levels tested post-MC? Your symptoms could be linked to lingering hormones if you haven't had a cycle yet.

Those lingering hormones can also give you a false positive pregnancy test, which may be another reason they say to wait before trying again (I really have no idea, just my random speculation).

My random speculation is about why to wait, not that you can have a false positive- I know that for a fact. Just wanted to clarify.

Being someone who tests, oh, daily, I know it can be both comforting and terrifying to test that often. And, being one of those lucky people who got pregnant the cycle after a MC, I was actually three full weeks late before the test was positive. It was at week 8 from the miscarriage that I noticed something. Apparently my cycle was about 2 weeks past usual ovulation.

Not that this means anything because everyone is different. But sometimes it's nice to know someone's story even if it means nothing to compare it to your own.

With all that said.. here for you as always and rootin' for y'all one pee stick at a time.

I have no answers. Just hugs. And prayers :)

xoxoxo

Well I had two negative tests (and a bottle of champagne!) before getting a postive test so sometimes it can just be too early to detect, especially if your hormones are still wacky. I know the waiting must be desperate. Here's wishing you patience and clarity!

Nicole--My levels were 0 as of eleven days post MC. (I had three blood tests total.) The first time I was tested, two days post MC, my hcg was only 320, which was waaaaaaay lower than it should have been for a 7ish-week pregnancy, which means it had probably been over for some time. Bleh. Anyhow, it was good to know that the levels had returned to normal, and it was even good to get a neg. test just so I know my next pos. won't be a residual one, but I'm still awfully suspicious of these really pregnancy-specific (for me) symptoms and really really really anxious to get back on schedule (or to, you know, get a positive test; I'm not picky).

Thanks, everyone, for rooting for me/us. I realize how bizarre it is to be reporting a play-by-play of our adventures in reproduction, so thanks for sticking with me. I'll probably shut up soon.

it's not bizarre... i think it's natural to want to share something so important.

rooting for you. :)

Blessings to you and your urine. I am sure that is is just as it should be.

xo

as someone who always has completely irregular cycles, I couldn't go with the whole 'late' period thing for knowing when to test so we did the whole temperature/other fertility signs monitoring (see tcoyf.com if anyone is wondering what I'm talking about) and it did help us know where we were in my cycle. If you're wondering what your body is up to for much longer, I'd recommend it. That being said, there are considerable negatives - like all the charting making you spend even more time thinking about it than can possibly be healthy. Hoping the waiting doesn't last too much longer...

Just wanting to send you happy thoughts and good wishes...

I'm thinking of you.

Trish--You hit the nail on the head; I don't want to get obsessed, and I'm afraid spreadsheets would be the gateway to that. Since we were able to get pregnant so easily the first time, I'd like to just go with the flow again and let things happen as they will again. That "two week wait" is awful, yes, but I don't think any amount of charting would solve that. The problem right now is that I have absolutely no information to go on (I haven't had a "normal" period since September) and I'm just anxious to get things back on track. (Note to self: If you hadn't had unprotected sex after the miscarriage, you wouldn't have this problem of wondering whether you're pregnant or have the flu, you dummy.)

That said, I will probably start charting anyway because I'm CRAZY.

I don't know much about what could be going on pregnancy and body-wise, but I continue to be amazed by your attitude throughout.

We should all handle the hurdles life throws at as well as you are handling everything.

*Furrows brow, sends positive vibes in general direction of the Bay area.

My fingers? They're still crossed.

Leah, I just recently had an ultrasound, and even though I knew EXACTLY when my last period was, they still measured the embryo and told me it was a few days younger than I was saying. Basically, I'm telling you that it doesn't really matter if you don't know when your last period was, or you don't have your exact cycle figured out, because they can measure it :)

you could save some moolah on HPTs by buying a
thermometer and taking your temperature at the same time every morning before you get out of bed. i'm sure you know the method, so i won't explain everything, but you could have a confirmation one way or the other way before another week is up, and for much cheaper. :) you want a temp consistently over 98 to confirm a pregnancy; lower temps indicate you're still pre-ovulatory. oops, sorry, now i'm explaining. in the off-chance you've never explored this, check out a book called TAKING CHARGE OF YOUR FERTILITY.

good luck!

Chantel--Yes, I'm familiar with all the charting stuff, but from what I've read, you can't confirm pregnancy that way until two weeks after ovulation anyway (usually the same as waiting for a missed period), and that wouldn't really help me this time since I have no idea when/if ovulation even happened or if it's yet to come.

Also, aren't basal body temperatures relative? Since everyone's "normal" temps are a little different, their pregnancy temps will be different too, which means 98+ isn't enough to confirm a pregnancy. Right? (Correct me if I'm wrong; I'm still learning.) The key seems to be to keep track of things (temps, cervical mucus, cervix position, etc.) for several cycles so you can determine what "normal" is; only then can you look to that stuff for clues. As far as I know, though, there's nothing save a blood test that will give you any solid info in those days you're waiting for your period if you haven't been charting for several months.

Anyway, I'm not going to rely on temperatures to confirm ANYTHING at this point. Hell, I can't even trust an HPT anymore. I won't start believing I'm coming home with an actual baby until I at least see a heartbeat on a scan. It sucks to be pessimistic, but that's where things stand right now. :(

So I'm not the only one who shouts down to her belly "Just tell me what the hell is going on down there already!!!"?

I'm pulling for you. Baby in '08!

Once I'd finally decided to try to make a baby with my husband (after two years of discussions; I was pretty serious about not wanting kids before that), the first thing I did after going off the pill and having my first period in 7 years (I take the pill continuously) was to buy an Ovulation Predictor Kit. I wanted to get the show on the road before I chickened out, and I didn't have the patience for temperature-taking and charting. I found the OPKs very helpful; I think we got pregnant on the second cycle. For whatever that's worth...

it is ideal to have a month or more of charted cycles on hand so you can tell exactly when you've ovulated and how long your luteal (post-ovulatory) phase is under normal (read: not pregnant) circumstances, but taking your temps even for a few days at this point will tell you at least if you've ovulated. basal temps are relative only if you've got a thyroid, progestorone-related or other such issue, which you'd know about by now thanks to all the pregnancy- and miscarriage-related blood tests.
so, assuming the absence of those issues, temps of 98+ wouldn't confirm a pregnancy in one day, but they would confirm that you've ovulated. a pattern of rising temps from there would indicate pregnancy, as would a sustained span of temps in the 98-degree range; on the other end, temps in the 97-97.5 range would indicate either that you haven't ovulated yet or that you have, have gotten pregnant, and have miscarried too early to register anything on an HPT.

that's why it's cheaper and faster to chart than to use HPTs: while the book(s) will tell you that a pregnancy can't be confirmed until around the time of a missed period, many women find that after charting for a few cycles, they know exactly what to expect of a regular cycle and can predict a pregnancy as early as 7DPO. because you don't know where you are in your cycle, it might give some reassurance to take one temp tomorrow morning and note what range it's in so you know if you should keep trying this cycle!

(as an aside to that, i had a miscarriage at 10 weeks this summer, was pregnant again 15 days later, and miscarried again right away. my doctor said after that waiting a few cycles after a miscarriage has only partly to do with accurate dating -- especially when you chart -- and a lot to do with whether your body is even ready to handle a pregnancy again so soon. hormones will trigger ovulation regardless, but because the uterine lining sheds so violently with a miscarriage, it may not have had enough time to build up sufficiently to host a new embryo in just one cycle.)

Gee, I had a TTC blog, and if that's not obsessive, I don't know what is. I think it's cool that you're sharing this time with us.

Best wishes!!

Chantel--I'm still confused about the 98+ reading. Isn't "normal" for most people 98.7? Also, I thought that the difference in temperatures between preg and not-preg was teeny-tiny (i.e., less than one whole degree), which is why you're supposed to get a specific basal thermometer (measures to 0.01) instead of just a regular fever thermometer (measures to 0.1). Again, I could be totally off, since most of my info is from reading posts by messageboarders, who are not to be trusted. :)

In my charting experience - my temps did rise after ovulation just like the book says but I couldn't have told that without measuring the temperatures pre-ovulation. So no, I don't think you could take your temp now and tell if you've ovulated unless you're more talented than me. Also I found it more useful for keeping track of ovulation than pregnancy - I got a positive at 13 days post-ovulation from a test and the temperature method is supposed to take 18 days.

But the good news is that it was all obvious on the first cycle - so you don't need several months of 'practice' (I think that's for birth control). After all, worst case scenario, you think you might be ovulating, have lots of sex, don't ovulate, and then repeat the whole process the next week. (I did that several times - C didn't complain).

The cervical mucous/position thing is (while wayyy too much information) very useful too and super reliable.

But Leah - I agree - charting makes you absolutely crazy. Or at least it made me crazy. I just decided I'd rather be crazy if it made me more likely to get pregnant. And I can't believe I've just posted this much information on a website. Am shocked with myself. My grandfather better not find this (I don't think he's that competant with the internet thankfully!)

The problem is that it's either "Crazy with Too Much Info" or "Crazy with Not Enough." Potato, potahto, right?

Trish, what you said about charting to track ovulation versus charting to confirm pregnancy--yes, that's what I think too. Charting would be mostly helpful if I wanted to know the one time of the month I needed to have sex, but, uh, that's not really a problem here, if you know what I mean. (Hi Dad!)

All in all, I don't think we need to get too technical at this point, as we don't seem to have trouble getting pregnant, just staying pregnant, and even that, knock on wood, was just one of those flukes that happens 20 percent of the time. My frustration right now is directly the result of being post-MC and not knowing what's going on. After I get my period again, I will feel much, much better, and will stop needing to vent about it on the internet. You're welcome. :)

you're right that messageboarders are not to be trusted! 98.7 is normal (actually, 98.6, but never mind) when you're up and around, but it drops significantly while you're sleeping. it doesn't drop AS significantly if you're pregnant because of all the progesterone swimming around in your system. that's why you have to chart first thing in the morning. if you checked right now and it said 98.6, it wouldn't mean anything.

i'm definitely no expert, but i've been charting for a few years now, and although it definitely can be crazy-making, it's several iotas less so (for me) than wondering when i'm going to ovulate, wondering if i've ovulated, and then wondering for two weeks if i'm pregnant. it's also kind of nice to be able to pinpoint the day you conceived, though maybe that's dimished by not getting to see two pink lines appear on the stick. :)

oh, and the difference between preg and not-preg definitely isn't teeny tiny, so a basal thermometer is a waste of money. (they are more expensive.) if you're not pregnant post-ovulation, your temps will bob around in the 97.5-98 range. if you are, they'll be over 98; some women even say they go as high as 99+, though anything over 100 is a fever, not a pregnancy symptom.

this is where it comes back to being ideal to have a whole month to look back on and see if your temps are trending up, staying the same, or trending downward, but it doesn't make the check-once-tomorrow-morning suggestion any less accurate. all that said, maybe this crazy-making wait just has a bad rap ... maybe we're just control freaks who need to step aside and let shit happen. i'm rooting for you guys!

I wonder how an electric blanket affects morning temps? I usually wake up emanating heat like a furnace...

I don't think I'm going to be doing any temp charting anytime soon. My "normal" up-and-walking-around temp is usually in the low 97s (not the mid 98s), so I'd really hate to check it tomorrow, see a morning temp of 98+ (electric blanket induced), and get all excited over nothing.

I'm going to follow Sarah's suggestion and start freaking out about my thyroid instead.