dear smilesattheweekend - it really is lovely to have this sort of support - i've never posted on a discussion board before mumsnet, and it helps enormously.
after our mc the doctor said in earlier years the advice was to wait anything from a couple of cycles to a full year to let the body recover. Now, the doctor said, the advice was generally to wait until after one period after the mc, but that is really only so that it becomes easier to date the pg (making things easier for the doctors). our doctor then said there was no real reason to wait, and why not just go for it. We considered using contraception, but that felt emotionally the absolutely wrong thing to do ? it would have upset me so much to do so. It took us 7 months to get pregnant first time, and I have very long and irregular cycles which the doctor suggested meant I wasn?t ovulating all the time (also read an old fashioned book that suggested that after a mc you are unlikely to ovulate for a couple of months) so I was absolutely unprepared for getting pregnant so soon afterwards ? was convinced I wasn?t going to ovulate at all. As it happens, it looks like I did after about 2 weeks after the mc.
If this pg doesn?t end up working out, we are, however, going to use contraception for a couple of months to let things get back to normal (this was incidentally also the advice of my cousin who is an obstetrics expert in new Zealand). afterall my body thinks it?s been pregnant on and off since april now (when we first conceived with pg number 1). At least we know we can conceive now ? and comparatively easily at that, what with apparently being super fertile post mc (which only now I realise is quite a common phenomenon). And also ? I just want to get my head back in gear ? the mw did ask how we were feeling emotionally now that we were apparently pg so soon after the mc ? to be honest, we were delighted and also utterly terrified ? I tried my best to put the mc down to biology and statistics (and possibly my age ? 34) and not see anything portentous in it. If they do find a heartbeat tomorrow I will be absolutely delighted and still utterly terrified ? afterall it will only be about 7 weeks and that means 4-6 weeks to go until the major threat of mc is over. If, however, we find out we aren?t pg tomorrow, then I am planning on GETTING DRUNK for the first time in the last 3 weeks, then eating well, going back to running (had been advised to stop almost all exercise due to previous mc), and trying to reclaim my mind and body away from the scans, blood tests, worries, doubts and fears and enjoy myself for a while. We?ll start trying again in the autumn/winter and see what happens.
We?ve booked ourselves into a very flash, far too expensive hotel this weekend coming in anticipation of it being either congratulations or commiserations ? of course, if they can?t see anything and ask us to come back in a week or 2, it?ll be limbo again and I?ll still be waiting.
Sorry ? that is quite a long-winded answer to your question.
Good luck with going back to work - i'll be thinking of you too ? I?ll try and post tomorrow. Aaaaaaaargh