Could I be pregnant??

[lisamarie54]

Hi everyone,

I am new here and this is my first time posting on the forum. I'll cut to the chase. I have been off the pill since June. My husband and I have been trying to get pregnant. My periods are always 28 days...except last month I got my period on the 8th and then again on the 27th. At first I thought it may be implantation bleeding on the 27th, but it was not. We started having sex at day 9 and had sex consistently until day 14. I don't use ovulation predictors. I use the WebMD ovulation calendar to get an idea, which has always been pretty accurate as far as predicting my periods. That calendar predicted that I would get my period on the 20th (yesterday). If this is correct, I am one day late. For the past 3-4 days I have felt naseous (nothing debilitating and no vomiting) and REALLY light-headed. Like reach for something on a shelf and almost topple over light-headed! I am not sure how accurate the WebMD calendar is, but do you think I even ovulated with that second period last month? Is that even possible?

Sorry for the lengthy explantation, I put a call into my doctor to ask her, but I have not rec'd a call back yet.

Thank you!

[Jaimee]

Welcome to MDC!! 

Some women are fertile right away after stopping the pill, others can take months and upwards of a year to fully regulate.  Even if you're having "regular" periods, this does not mean that you are ovulating or that you are ovulating around the same time each cycle.  In addition many common things can delay ovulation like illness, injury, travel, stress, strenuous exercise, diet changes, etc.  The time between O and AF (your luteal phase or LP) can be affected by the pill and take time to lengthen to a fertile length again.  It is generally agreed that 10 days are necessary to sustain a pregnancy.  Are you having any spotting prior to AF?  Any days that you spot cannot be counted toward the 10 days.  If you are experiencing spotting there are some things you can do to encourage a longer LP, but it is also a sign that your body is still regulating off the pill.

So you had bleeding on the 8th and just 19 days later had more bleeding?  Was the bleeding lighter/shorter than usual or normal?  A couple of things could cause this: an annovulatory cycle with breakthrough bleeding, early O with a short LP, hormonal fluctuations, implantation bleeding, or bleeding with pregnancy.  Implantation bleeding really is not that common and would occur in the implantation window of 6 and 12 days after ovulation.  What is more common when pregnant is bleeding around the time of expected AF. 

Now, if this bleeding was the 27th of October then you are a full month later now.  You would absolutely test positive on an HPT by now if you're pregnant.  Have you tested?  I recommend a pink dye, non +/- test that only requires an hCG level of 25 for best results.   If that was a true period then we might assume you ovulated again about two weeks later (around November 9th) and you'd currently be on CD 26 and 12 DPO.  Generally women get accurate results on HPT's around 12-14 DPO, so again, you should be able to test now, just be sure to use first of the morning urine (FMU).  If the bleeding was breakthrough bleeding then you could have ovulated at any point after that and we would not have a guess at how many DPO you are now. 

The best indication of O (without fully charting) is your cervical fluid (CF).  Do you recall your last patch of fertile CF- creamy or eggwhite in consistency?  This could help pinpoint things a bit better.  Now, if you don't get a BFP (positive test) and AF does not show within the next week, I would suggest a blood test.  If that is also negative it would then appear that you are not ovulating or at least not regularly ovulating yet.  Charting your basal body temperature and cervical fluid will take the mystery out of this process for you.  It can tell you when you are fertile, if/when you ovulate, how long your average LP is, when to test, when to expect AF, if you're pregnant, and if there is anything of concern happening with your cycle.  If you'd like more information about charting, just post!

Good luck and feel free to jump into any of the many TTC threads here in this forum for great support during this time!

[lisamarie54]

Thanks for your response!

I have never had any spotting. I literally had my period twice last month. Same flow, same length as usual. I did test after the bleeding stopped just to be sure and it was negative. Since the WebMD showed my fertile days between day 9-14, we had sex then. I am really terrible at charting, aside from my menstrual cycle, which was supposed to start yesterday. No signs of it coming (I usually get cramping at least a little and bloating/hard abdomen).

[Jaimee]

Charting is not hard once you get used to the routine.  Just wake up, roll over, take your temp.  Then throughout the day you just take notice of the type of CF you're having.  You can mark everything done on paper or directly log it into a free site like www.fertilityfriend.com so that you can share your charts with us for additional advice.  I would highly, highly recommend this as you could be timing sex incorrectly, you might not even be ovulating regularly and you could have a very short LP.  This knowledge will help you on your TTC journey and possibly prevent a LOT of frustration in the future.

Do you plan to test tomorrow morning?