Babies on the Brain
Knottie1438613010
member
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experience with early pregnancy symptoms
Knottie1438613010
member
** Trigger: Unplanned Pregnancy, Chemical Pregnancy, Miscarriage
Hello!! I've been lurking on these message boards for a while now. This is my first time posting, and I have read over the Terms of Use and the rules like a mad woman making sure I don't mess anything up, but I am still a newbie, so if this is in the wrong board or I messed anything up I apologize profusely!!
I'm supposed to first introduce myself! I'm 26 years old. My husband and I got married in January have been TTC our first child actively for 3 months but have had babies on our mind for about 6. I wanted to share an experience I had about 5 years ago because I think it may help any ladies who drive themselves crazy during the TWW (i.e. me) I'm sorry for the length, but I spend my time scouring over the message boards reading what everyone's symptoms are/were. Sometimes I find they are a little vague and I find myself asking "What do you mean round ligament pain?? What is that?? What does it actually feel like???" or "HOW did your boobs hurt?? Sharp?? Ache??" I find the best posts are the ones where women really go into detail about their symptoms.
About 5 years ago, I had an unplanned pregnancy. I ended up losing it around week 6 or 7.I am in a sort of unique position, as I'm sure other ladies on here who have experienced chemical pregnancies or early miscarriages, where I have experienced the very early symptoms that let me know I was pregnant, but none of the later symptoms. I never felt nauseaus, I never felt exhausted. Those symptoms never got a chance to come along. I know how much those of us TTC hate hearing about someone getting pregnant by accident. I hate THINKING about that time I got pregnant on accident, knowing how hard we try now and how badly we want to get pregnant. But I want to stress that part of this because it shows how strong the early symptoms can be. We hadn't had any obvious lapse in our birth control method. It's not like there was an incident that left me sitting around nervous for the rest of the month. I had no reason to think I could be pregnant. I was 21 years old; didn't know anything about ovulation, CM, charting, BBT. Yet there I was, days before AF was due, peeing on a stick, already knowing what it was going to say.
I had 3 symptoms. I'll list them in the order I noticed them. They came on fast and strong; I'd say all within about 3 to 4 days of each other the week before AF. There may have been other symptoms, but since I wasn't TTC I didn't really notice them. Although, I think that kind of speaks volumes itself; I DIDN'T NOTICE THEM.
1) SMELL: I think back on this and find it odd because I don't see a lot of other women saying this was a first symptom. I hate this symptom also because how in the world am I supposed to measure my sense of smell? Especially for myself, I have a pretty strong nose to begin with. But this was different. It wasn't constant. It's not like I was walking around like a bloodhound with my nose in the air able to smell every single thing. I almost didn't even realize it. There was one instance that brought my attention to it. I was over at my mom's house. She was in the kitchen making a cucumber salad. I was in the living room watching TV. My mom doesn't have an open floor plan, so I was a full room away. I couldn't hear her chopping anything. I remember yelling out and asking her if she was making her famous cucumber salad. She said yes, how did you know? I knew because I could smell the cucumber. Cucumber. Who smells cucumber?? My mom said you can smell that?? You have a strong nose! That was the first thing that made me stop and go hmmm...
2) CRAMPING: This was the big one. The thing I'm sitting around waiting for every month now. The one that really made me think I could be pregnant. I was having these cramps. But they weren't period cramps. I never really felt the twinging others report. These cramps were low and dull, and they BURNED. It was a burning/stinging sensation in my lower abdomen. It was kind of like I had heartburn in my uterus. That's the only way I can really think to describe it. But it unmistakably DID NOT feel like a period cramp. It was relatively constant. It didn't really hurt, but I could feel it all day. I called one of my best friends who had a baby and was telling her I thought I could be pregnant. She laughed and was blowing me off, as I probably would've in her situation, but then I mentioned the burning cramps. She got serious then and said "you need to go buy a test." My other best friend had a baby a year ago, and she also mentioned the burning feeling. Maybe this
3) THE FEELING: Everyone says you feel it in your gut. You have a feeling you're pregnant. Now that we're TTC, I find I don't really trust my gut anymore, because I have been wrong so many times. I've found myself thinking back 5 years ago to the feeling I had. It was STRONG. I KNEW. But it's not like it just came along by itself. It was definitely brought on by the first two symptoms. But I had no doubt. Deep down I knew. I took my pregnancy test about 4 days before AF, because I just knew. Every month I kind of convince myself that I have that feeling again, but I don't really. I don't know if I'll ever have that strong feeling again, since I doubt myself so often now. But then again, I haven't been pregnant since. Maybe when it happens, the undeniable feeling will come back.
Again, sorry this is so long. But I thought this may help someone who is symptom spotting like crazy (like me), or searching and searching for a detailed account of someone's symptoms (also me). Every pregnancy is different, which is what leads me to symptom spot every month even though I've experienced early pregnancy and should know what it feels like. But this is what I experienced. Hope this helps!! Good luck everyone
Hello!! I've been lurking on these message boards for a while now. This is my first time posting, and I have read over the Terms of Use and the rules like a mad woman making sure I don't mess anything up, but I am still a newbie, so if this is in the wrong board or I messed anything up I apologize profusely!!
I'm supposed to first introduce myself! I'm 26 years old. My husband and I got married in January have been TTC our first child actively for 3 months but have had babies on our mind for about 6. I wanted to share an experience I had about 5 years ago because I think it may help any ladies who drive themselves crazy during the TWW (i.e. me) I'm sorry for the length, but I spend my time scouring over the message boards reading what everyone's symptoms are/were. Sometimes I find they are a little vague and I find myself asking "What do you mean round ligament pain?? What is that?? What does it actually feel like???" or "HOW did your boobs hurt?? Sharp?? Ache??" I find the best posts are the ones where women really go into detail about their symptoms.
About 5 years ago, I had an unplanned pregnancy. I ended up losing it around week 6 or 7.I am in a sort of unique position, as I'm sure other ladies on here who have experienced chemical pregnancies or early miscarriages, where I have experienced the very early symptoms that let me know I was pregnant, but none of the later symptoms. I never felt nauseaus, I never felt exhausted. Those symptoms never got a chance to come along. I know how much those of us TTC hate hearing about someone getting pregnant by accident. I hate THINKING about that time I got pregnant on accident, knowing how hard we try now and how badly we want to get pregnant. But I want to stress that part of this because it shows how strong the early symptoms can be. We hadn't had any obvious lapse in our birth control method. It's not like there was an incident that left me sitting around nervous for the rest of the month. I had no reason to think I could be pregnant. I was 21 years old; didn't know anything about ovulation, CM, charting, BBT. Yet there I was, days before AF was due, peeing on a stick, already knowing what it was going to say.
I had 3 symptoms. I'll list them in the order I noticed them. They came on fast and strong; I'd say all within about 3 to 4 days of each other the week before AF. There may have been other symptoms, but since I wasn't TTC I didn't really notice them. Although, I think that kind of speaks volumes itself; I DIDN'T NOTICE THEM.
1) SMELL: I think back on this and find it odd because I don't see a lot of other women saying this was a first symptom. I hate this symptom also because how in the world am I supposed to measure my sense of smell? Especially for myself, I have a pretty strong nose to begin with. But this was different. It wasn't constant. It's not like I was walking around like a bloodhound with my nose in the air able to smell every single thing. I almost didn't even realize it. There was one instance that brought my attention to it. I was over at my mom's house. She was in the kitchen making a cucumber salad. I was in the living room watching TV. My mom doesn't have an open floor plan, so I was a full room away. I couldn't hear her chopping anything. I remember yelling out and asking her if she was making her famous cucumber salad. She said yes, how did you know? I knew because I could smell the cucumber. Cucumber. Who smells cucumber?? My mom said you can smell that?? You have a strong nose! That was the first thing that made me stop and go hmmm...
2) CRAMPING: This was the big one. The thing I'm sitting around waiting for every month now. The one that really made me think I could be pregnant. I was having these cramps. But they weren't period cramps. I never really felt the twinging others report. These cramps were low and dull, and they BURNED. It was a burning/stinging sensation in my lower abdomen. It was kind of like I had heartburn in my uterus. That's the only way I can really think to describe it. But it unmistakably DID NOT feel like a period cramp. It was relatively constant. It didn't really hurt, but I could feel it all day. I called one of my best friends who had a baby and was telling her I thought I could be pregnant. She laughed and was blowing me off, as I probably would've in her situation, but then I mentioned the burning cramps. She got serious then and said "you need to go buy a test." My other best friend had a baby a year ago, and she also mentioned the burning feeling. Maybe this
3) THE FEELING: Everyone says you feel it in your gut. You have a feeling you're pregnant. Now that we're TTC, I find I don't really trust my gut anymore, because I have been wrong so many times. I've found myself thinking back 5 years ago to the feeling I had. It was STRONG. I KNEW. But it's not like it just came along by itself. It was definitely brought on by the first two symptoms. But I had no doubt. Deep down I knew. I took my pregnancy test about 4 days before AF, because I just knew. Every month I kind of convince myself that I have that feeling again, but I don't really. I don't know if I'll ever have that strong feeling again, since I doubt myself so often now. But then again, I haven't been pregnant since. Maybe when it happens, the undeniable feeling will come back.
Again, sorry this is so long. But I thought this may help someone who is symptom spotting like crazy (like me), or searching and searching for a detailed account of someone's symptoms (also me). Every pregnancy is different, which is what leads me to symptom spot every month even though I've experienced early pregnancy and should know what it feels like. But this is what I experienced. Hope this helps!! Good luck everyone
Re: experience with early pregnancy symptoms
Changes in period cramping is not unusual and may have no real cause. I had never had bad cramping. I always had a mild feeling in my lower abdomen for seven years. Then, one day into my period, I woke up in the middle of the night with horrible horrible cramps. I'd never experienced that. I wound up taking a Motrin they were so bad. That happened for two cycles. Now, my periods have been perfectly normal for three years. No cramps except that really mild feeling. I don't know why it was different for those two cycles.
Changes in sense of smell can also just be a period symptom or a sign of your fertile time (google it).
As for the "feeling," I truly felt last month I might be pregnant. And I symptom-spotted all over the place. I wasn't. A feeling really isn't a good thing to go by.
Again, hate to burst anyone's bubble, but symptom spotting (which you are essentially encouraging other women to do) is not a good idea because there is a good chance you'll be disappointed.
Keep in mind every pregnancy can also be different. Those may have been the symptoms you experienced last time, but it may be totally different when you become pregnant again... Or exactly the same.., there really is no way to predict it. Some women don't get any symptoms at all.
I have been pregnant twice. There were some similarities but also differences. The first ended in a miscarriage at 11 weeks. With that pregnancy I experienced nausea first. Like I felt like I had been spun in circles a ton but the feeling wouldn't go away. I also had sore boobs. Not a sharp pain, it was the same ache as I would get with a period, just slightly more tender. I did have that gut feeling though. Now my symptoms went away and I had light brown spotting at 6 weeks. Called my doctor and they said it was probably nothing but in my gut I knew something was wrong. Had hcg levels checked and they didn't rise appropriately. Went in for an emergency ultra sound and even though there was a heartbeat, the baby was growing abnormally. We waited to see what would happen and miscarried 5 weeks later.
My second pregnancy ended with a healthy baby boy. It's funny because I had that gut feeling with him too (before anything) BUT I didn't trust it because we hadn't timed sex that well during my cycle for various reasons. So I told myself it had to be wishful thinking. Then I felt slightly nauseas (not nearly as strong as the first time so I thought it was in my head) and a super strong craving for gyros. Like I had to have one or the world would end. I had never craved something so strongly in my life. I tested the next day, which was supposed to be the first day of my period, and was positive.
Now as others have said try not to symptom spot if you can. The problem with symptom spotting is early pregnancy symptoms can be the same as PMS or sometimes they can be in your head when you want something so bad. You will drive yourself crazy, I've watched too many of my loved ones get so stressed out symptom spotting. The only reliable sign of pregnancy is a positive test. Try to relax and have fun while trying to conceive, for some reason our bodies have an easier time getting pregnant when we aren't so stressed anyway.