Community post

Just wanted to update!

I'm now 7 dpo and last night I had tremedous tightness in my lower back and cramping. Couldn't tell if it was PMS, constipation, Plan B, or possibly implantation. All I know is that it's different than my usual.

Today I'm irritable for no reason.

The wait is so frustrating. So tell me, what do you guys do to distract yourselves? Anyone doing anything fun this weekend? How are you all holding up?

Would love to hear from you guys!

Hi Tiff1023,

I don't feel I have any particularly useful info for you but didn't want to read and run!

The wait is sooo difficult, especially when there is so much riding on it and there are no definitive symptoms, it could all be PMS!

I think if you took emergency contraceptive then the chance is likely pretty small. If you think that the chance of pregnancy in any given cycle is only about 20% anyway then if you do become pregnant you will have one very tenacious little bubba on board!

Also the egg only lives for max 24 hours after ovulation and if not fertilized during this time pregnancy cannot occur. So it more depends if you had unprotected sex in the few days before you think you ovulated.

I am 6dpo today and the days are dragging by so slowly! We are TTC our first baby after a misc last year. I spent a few cycles driving myself crazy symptom spotting and obsessing over every twinge and eventually getting so stressed out about it that I had to force myself to step back and change how I was thinking about it.

Now I am trying just to acknowledge any sensations I do feel (of which there are many! bad skin, bloating, twinges, and slightly sore boobs today) but know that they are most likely just normal PMS.

I seem to have different symptoms to varying degrees every cycle but none have resulted in becoming pregnant so I have given up trying to second guess what my body is up to!

Anyway, I hope you are managing to stay sane, I try to distract myself with anything that works, tv, seeing friends/family getting out of the house and away from my laptop!

I hope things work out the way you would like them to.

Take care and keep us posted!

M xx

Hi MLB! Thanks for the reply! Sorry for the delay, I wasn't checking over the weekend.

First of all, I'm sorry to hear about your misc. last year. Sending you all the baby dust and positive vibes!

So from what I've read, if you've already ovulated or are in that fertile window, ECPs are pretty much useless.

I was temping and taking OPKs for a few cycles using Natural Cycles to track my cycle and know my fertile days and when to be more careful/use protection, but SO was a little worried and we went to using lambskin condoms --- or we were kind of using them. What usually happened was that we got into the moment and he would just use withdrawl, which I was okay with because that method has worked well for me.

But just over a week ago, instead of withdrawing, he...didn't. Because I wasn't tracking like I did before, I have no way of really estimating when I actually ovulated -- I have a very regular 28-day cycle, but I don't get ovulation cramping or twinges. It's usually EWCM or increased libido that tips me off -- but even so, there's no real way to know the exact moment and that 24-hour window without all of my temps and OPKs

(The funny thing is, something kept telling me to OPK earlier that week and I just kept forgetting. Now I really wish I had so I had a little bit more of a clue!)

AF is due Friday, July 28 -- and based on a 28-day cycle with a 14-day luteal phase, that would put my O day somewhere between 7/13 and 7/16

We DTD on Saturday morning 7/15 - so there's a chance that my egg dropped within that 24-hour window, and prior to taking ECP.

Had I known that ECP wouldn't be effective, I wouldn't have taken it. Because now I'm just confused about any symptoms and worried my regular cycle is about to become a roller coaster *lol* But these are the lessons we learn, right?

I'm currently 10 dpo and I feel pretty much like I do every cycle -- I've also had no withdrawl bleeding from the ECP which leads me to believe that my body was already producing progesterone and that I had already ovulated. But again, there's really no way to know.

Over the weekend I noticed increasing fatigue, INSANE bloating, gas, increasingly sensitive and rather full breasts, weird cramping and pulling, creamy/snotty CM, mood swings, and a fullness in my lower abdomen. I was also peeing like crazy yesterday. And I've been having vivid dreams every night -- which is weird for me for sure.

On a whim, I used an OPK just to see if anything would come up and it was negative. But at 9dpo, that's still super early.

All things considered, and weighing the odds, it's most likely that I'm just reacting to the blast of hormones from the ECP and AF is going to arrive per usual.

I would be happy either way. And the beautiful thing about this entire situation is that it opened up the conversation about having kids -- something that I thought I already knew what I felt about and this situation has kind of made more clear.

It's hard when you're on the edge of sending your only child out into the world in less than a year. Starting all over again seems bittersweet for so many reasons.

But my window of opportunity is getting closer to closing and so I really needed to step back and think about what I want. And have the conversation with my partner about what he wants.

And this made us realize that someday, if not now, we want this. And if it IS now, it's going to be a beautiful thing.

Taking the ECP was a quick decision we made without really thinking through what we were prepared for. I wouldn't have done it had I given myself some time to think about all of this and had I known it would likely be ineffective anyways. Not just in terms of not working to prevent an unplanned pregnancy, but in terms of not working because there was no real risk anyways (if it were past that 24 hour window -- which it totally could have been)

If I hadn't taken it, I'd at least be able to understand my body right now and the 2WW might not be as crazy making.

That was a long long schpiel. So sorry!

Do you know when you plan to test? I'm really trying to wait until at least Thursday, which is the day before AF.

It's so tempting to do it sooner though! I can't imagine your anxiousness to get to a test date! I really, really hope it's all good things for you! Keep me posted!!!

Best,
T

UPDATE! BFP today 12 dpo.

I know no one is responding, but in case you were all following along!