Am I really not pregnant?

[Jg309]

My partner and I have been TTC for the past few months. This last month I have been getting intense waves of nausea, aversion to certain smells, cravings for salty foods (when I'm normally all about the sweet) and no period. I've been taking tests every morning - all negative, but I figured it was just too soon to detect. So I'm a bit confused as to why this morning, with no warning, my period arrived, two weeks late, and with cramping. I'm not usually exactly 28 days regular but I've never been more than a couple of days late. I don't understand why I'd get all the symptoms and then my period would come two weeks later :(

No one on the internet can tell you for certain what's happening with your body but chances are that if you're getting negative tests and now you're bleeding then you're not pregnant.
I think when we're TTC we become a lot more aware of our bodies and any "symptoms" we get. It can be very stressful, especially if you have irregular cycles.
Maybe speak to your GP about your cycles being irregular? Generally they don't investigate if you've been trying less than a year (or 6 months if you're over 35) but they might do if you've got a specific concern like irregular cycles.
Good luck!

Were you on hormonal contraception before you started ttc? If so, that’s what all your “symptoms” and late period will be down to. Your body takes time to regulate. It can take up to a year for your cycle to go back to normal. Trust me, I’ve been ttc for 18 months and I’ve been getting pregnancy type symptoms from the minute my implant was removed and I haven’t been pregnant once. Coming off birth control can make even the most regular of cycles mess up for a while. I wouldn’t worry too much. If you e taken tests and they’re negative and you are now having a period, you’re not pregnant. Also it’s good to remember that if you are pregnant enough for true pregnancy symptoms then you’re pregnant enough to get a positive test

Thanks for your replies. I've never used hormonal contraception, only barrier methods - my periods have been regular for years. The cramping intensified, I passed something stringy, about 2 inches long in the bleed and then the cramping and bleeding went away by the second day. My partner doesn't think it was anything other than a seriously late period but I know my body and I know what's normal. My period is always 5 days not two. I've always had terrible mood swings but recently they had disappeared and my mood has been lovely and stable. And now I just feel like I've dropped right back into being depressive, the mood swings are back. My mother suggested it was because I 'wanted a baby so badly that I tricked my body into thinking it was pregnant'. This also isn't true - it's my partner who really wants the baby, to be honest I'm indifferent. I'm upset not because I desperately wanted a child but because of the shock of what's happened and how quickly I've reverted to my previous depression, and what upsets me most is how the people closest to me seem to think I'm deluded.

Honestly, even if you don't think you're that invested, when you're TTC you become so hyper aware of every little thing. Sometimes bodies do weird things. I've had weird cycles where I've passed strange clots or where the bleeding has been different to usual, etc. and it's been nothing related to pregnancy. If you didn't get any positive tests (and if you were two weeks late, you would have had positive tests if you were pg) the levels of HcG in your system if you were pregnant would have been so minuscule that it's unlikely you would have had any symptoms at all. Progesterone, which rises a lot after ovulation, brings a load of symptoms with it in and of itself (and it can also have big effects on your mood too).

You probably just ovulated late, which is entirely normal, and that's made your cycle a bit unusual as a result, but it's unfortunate it's happened around the same time you are TTC. You could also have had an anovulatory cycle, which again is entirely normal, and you had not a normal period but breakthrough bleeding instead, hence the different duration.

I would suggest you see your GP, though, as your mood swings could be hormonal and they might be able to help.

This exact same thing has happened to me this month and I'm still confused. I was sure I "felt" pregnant and had a lot of symptoms. Af was very late and there was just spotting beforehand. I only bled for one day and had a big stringy clot. After that it stopped. This is very unlike me as periods are usually 4 days.
All tests have been negative so I'm clearly not pregnant but as yet don't know why my cycle was so off, why I've been sick the past two weeks and feeling strange. I'm going to have to put it down to having a bug or something and it just being at the same time we started TTC. I really wasn't trying to symptom spot so I don't know what was going on.

You may not have ovulated this month - it's pretty common to miss the odd month.