Does implantation bleeding always happen?

[Shawnamarie]

I'm due to start my period in 3 days and I've been having possible pregnancy symptoms for over a week. Nausea, mild breast tenderness, vivid dreams, restless sleep, and cramping. However, I haven't had any spotting that I can tell.

I'm trying to wait until tomorrow or the next day to take a pregnancy test but the waiting is killing me. Could I be pregnant without the spotting?

Thanks!

[tiqa]

No, not always.  And sometimes it's so light that you might miss it - although I imagine you're definitely looking for it. ;)  Three of my five pregnancies I had no spotting whatsoever.  I think it's a bit random...

[Jaimee]

I would actually go further to say that implantation spotting very rarely happens.  What seems to be much more common is spotting around the time of expected AF.  But spotting is absolutely not necessary to be pregnant and conversely can be part of a normal, healthy pregnancy as well.  Your other symptoms sound promising!  Some women get accurate results as early as 9 or 10dpo.  Good luck with testing... keep us updated!

[Shawnamarie]

Ugh. Well, I caved and took a pregnancy test. It came back negative and now I'm totally confused.

[Jaimee]

It's probably just early.  If you're due in 2 days you might be only 9 or 10dpo and this doesn't account for possibly delayed O.  For 99% accurate results test at 14dpo with first of the morning urine and a pink dye NON +/- test.

[Shawnamarie]

Thanks, Jaimee. Technically I took the test three days before my expected period, in the evening. That was probably a silly thing to do. I'm going to try to wait until the day I expect to start my period (Saturday) or the day after. Patience.

The test I have indicates pregnancy with 2 lines though I'm not sure of the color. The brand is Answer.

[Jaimee]

Yeah, I'm sure that is why you got a BFN at this time... too early AND in the evening.  Answer brand is a fine test and only requires a level of 25, so I would assume you'll get accurate results with it in a couple of days with FMU.

[Shawnamarie]

Alright, I'm kind of going crazy over here.

I think I ovulated on February 1st. I started having all the symptoms I mentioned on February 4th, which is when my temp actually shifted. I think I'm one of those women that it takes a few days for my thermal shift to kick in after ovulation. I got a BFN on February 10th and my symptoms shifted. Since February 10th I've primarily been experiencing sore and full bbs, mood swings, fatigue, and my temp throughout the day has been as high as 99.2 without me feeling feverish. I also took a blood test at the doctor on Friday which I should hear back about today or tomorrow. Ugh. I was expecting AF on Saturday and still no sign. I got another BFN with FMU this morning.

What is going on? Do I just need to wait a couple more days and test again? Is there any chance that my blood test at the doctor would have been too early and possibly give me a false negative? Could that happen?

Thanks for any thoughts...  

[Shawnamarie]

I've also still had some mild cramping (never get cramps with AF) and hot flashes.

[Jaimee]

Okay, if your temp shifted on the 4th, then let's go off of Feb. 3 as your O day.  That would put you at 10DPO today, conservatively speaking.  That's much later than I thought you were talking about in your earlier posts.  So yes, all the tests you've taken could easily be too early.  The blood test on Friday would therefore have been on 7DPO and yes, that could be too early, too.  Implantation occurs between 6 and 12DPO and 84% of the time between 8 and 10DPO.  So technically the embryo might not have even implanted yet!  The embryo really starts producing hCG when it implants and it would take a few days to build up to a high enough level to test positive on an HPT.  A blood test would reveal things sooner and usually anything over 5 is considered pregnant, though some doctors have a higher cut off (like 10 or 15).  Hopefully you got the quantitative test and not the qualitative so that you can see what your actual level is not just get a "yes or no" answer.  If your doctor does give you a "no" answer, ask if the hCG level was recorded and find out what it was.  If it wasn't determined, ask what the cut off level is.

Even if you did O on the 1st, that puts you at 12DPO today and the blood test at 9DPO.  Again, everything could be too early, though it's more likely that the blood test would be accurate at 9DPO.  I am anxious to hear the results of that... hopefully today!  Call the office prior to close if you don't hear anything by then.  And if you are 12DPO today an HPT should be accurate by Wednesday if no AF.  But if you're only 10DPO today then I wouldn't be surprised if you needed to wait a couple days longer for AF to show/get accurate results on an HPT.  Good luck and keep us posted!!!

[Shawnamarie]

Jaimee, thank you so much for chiming in. This is my first 2ww and damn it's hard!

[Shawnamarie]

Doctor called today and said my blood test last friday (2/10) was negative. They just left me a message so I didn't get a chance to ask if it was the qualitative or the quantitative version. Maybe I'm just out this month.

I figure I've got to get either AF or a BFP one of these days. Yeesh.

[Jaimee]

Sorry!  But, could be too early!

[Shawnamarie]

Still no AF. Still elevated temps, mild cramping, sore bbs, fatigue, and another BFN this morning. I figure I'm just going to continue taking them with FMU in the morning until I get AF (or don't).

On the bright side, I've changed my attitude about it a bit. I'm open to whatever happens and am trying to not stress out about it too much. Also, I think I've figured out how to share my chart. Does this work? 

[url=http://www.fertilityfriend.com/home/9f639]My Ovulation Chart[/url]

[Jaimee]

You want to paste just this part: http://www.fertilityfriend.com/home/9f639

You can also paste this into your signature (on your profile page... scroll down) so that people can view it anytime.  Though it's always nice to paste the link in your posts so people can just click on it instead of copying and pasting into a new window. 

Based on temp you pretty clearly O'd on CD22.  But you need some CF data on your chart to help confirm it!  But if that is right, then you are only 10DPO today!  That would mean that the blood test on Friday was only at 6DPO and even if the embryo implanted on the earliest possible day (6DPO) it wouldn't have had any time to build up hCG to test positive with!  While some women get their BFP's as early as 9 or 10DPO, really 11DPO is more common and 12-14DPO is most likely.  There is much hope yet!

Edited by Jaimee - 2/14/12 at 8:15am

[Shawnamarie]

Ah, yes. I knew there was something a bit off with the code I copied. 

I've been noting the first day of AF and the day of my temp shift for years and have gotten lazy about charting mucous. Since this was our first month TTCing (more like TTW), I was loose with it. Thanks for the reminder, though. I really do need to include that!

My temp usually shifts late like that but I've always been skeptical about ovulation actually occurring that late too. Don't I need a 10 day luteal phase for a pregnancy to even stick? My concern is that if I really did O on CD 22, can my body even support a pregnancy? I guess we'll see. 

[Jaimee]

It's not about when you O, it's about how long your LP truly is.  Your ovulation day can vary greatly cycle to cycle depending on what is happening in your life: illness, injury, travel, stress, diet and exercise changes, etc.  But your LP will only vary 1-2 days.  So when you spot O you can know within 1-2 days when AF should show up.  So if O is later than usual, AF will be as well.  You mentioned you've been noting the temp shift for a while... how long between the temp shift and AF typically?  Do you get spotting prior to AF in a normal cycle?  You could be dealing with low progesterone and short LP, but I can't see any of your past chart data to know.  If this is the case, I would recommend starting a vitamin B6 supplement (50-100mg).  It is generally agreed that you need at least 10 days to sustain a pregnancy.  This is b/c implantation occurs between 8 and 10 DPO 84% of the time.  And if your average LP is 10 days that might mean that some cycles it is 9 days and others it is 11 days.  Catching the longer LP cycles is where some luck is involved with TTC.

[Shawnamarie]

Thanks, Jaimee (and whoever else might be reading this).

Well, another day... another BFN this morning but with sustained temps. My cramping is duller these last two days and bbs are still sore. Also, I'm extremely thirsty and feel like my mouth is constantly dry. Lots of peeing and all I want is to go home and lay in bed! Lots of vivid dreams last night - mostly about looking for public restrooms and peeing on sticks, hah (I got BFPs in my dreams at least). 

I also noticed that ff didn't chart my temp for this morning, which was 98.7. What's up with that?

http://www.fertilityfriend.com/home/9f639

[Jaimee]

Nice high temps still!  That's good!  Try re-entering the temp to FF.  I'm not sure why it's not plotting it.

[Shawnamarie]

Jaimee, thanks for all of your help but it looks like I'm out. Temps dropped this morning even though I still feel pregnant. Hopefully AF will come soon and then I can figure out how to make this work in the future. 

http://www.fertilityfriend.com/home/9f639