Not sure if I’m pregnant.. please help! Anyone experience very early pregnant symptoms?

[BambinaBoo]

Hi all,

I signed up to this forum as I’m TTC. I had sex two days ago & I have started having cramping in my left lower abdomen. I can’t take a pregnancy test for a while & my AF isn’t due for another 12 days!

Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

You wouldnt get symptoms this early. It may be your AF thats due.
When was your last period?

Even if you get pregnant from the recent sex you aren’t pregnant yet so you can’t be having symptoms yet. When an egg get fertilised it takes at least 5 days to be formed enough to start implanting. But it can take as long as 8-10 days. After implantation has happened that’s when your body starts producing HCG which is what causes pregnancy symptoms. So even if you get pregnant you won’t be experiencing symptoms at least for another week.

The cramps aren’t early pregnancy if the only time you had sex was 2 days ago.
When do you ovulate? The ‘standard’ cycle is 14 days but some people ovulate earlier/later (I personally don’t ovulate until earliest day 17 and latest day 23!)

tbh, as someone who has been TTC for two years and has been pregnant once (ended in miscarriage) stop symptom spotting - it will drive you insane. Every early pregnancy symptom is exactly the same as PMS and I never got any actual pregnancy symptoms until I was five weeks pregnant (about two weeks after AF was due).

Thank you so much for the replies! Yes, I am probably overthinking it. The last day of my ovulation was Wednesday of this week (16th July). I start my AF on 31st July.

I have bought an ultra early pregnancy test & have been told that I can use it on 23rd July but this seems incredibly early to me. Any thoughts on this, please?

P.S. I shall let you all know when I take the test.. think I might have to wait a little longer tbh.

Personally I wouldn’t advise testing until at least 28th July. That’ll be about 12dpo. While not everyone will get a positive at that point, a large majority will. To be honest, I wouldn’t really recommend testing at all until you’re late though. It saves any possible disappointment of seeing negative tests. But if you do really want to test early, I would advise not before 28th July and DON’T use clearblue tests. They are known for showing thin blue evap/dye run lines that make the test look positive when they’re not. Either use a digital test with a sensitivity of 10miu or use a test that uses pink dye not blue.

Thank you so much. I bought a Clear Blue one so I will try & get a First Response one instead. Will keep you all posted. Fingers crossed! 🤞🏽

One last thing.. I use Flo to calculate my ovulation & fertile days. I have noticed posters talking about DPO & I was wondering how I work this out, please? Is it from the first day of ovulation or the last? 🤔

Just worked out I’m 7 DPO. Implantation won’t be for the next couple of days so happy to wait with the test. It’s so difficult though! Thanks for all of your replies again.

Flo doesn't know when you ovulate unless you input data like LH levels, basal body temp or cervical mucus changes. It just assumes based on algorithms.

If you are truly trying to get pregnant then it might be a good idea to track one of these. Or just have very regular sex.

So I assume you had sex around your ovulation and not just the two days ago? Only asking because that’s the one you mentioned. Plus as the PP said these apps only estimate your ovulation based on averages. It might be better to start using strips to track so you know when you ovulated and when you can test. It’s fine not to track and just make sure you have plenty of sex, but if you want to know when you can test early etc then really you should track.

Also, if you’re 7dpo now and due on your period on 31st that would give you a 19 day luteal phase (time between ovulation and your period). While not impossible, it’s quite long and would be pretty unusual. Most people’s are under 15 days with the average being 12-14. Earlier you said the “last day” of your ovulation was 16th. I assume you mean this is the last day your app was telling you you were fertile? Normally this is only the day after the estimated ovulation as the egg dies pretty quickly after release. So if that was the case it would make you 4-5dpo and not 7. Which would fit in better with your period due 31st and would give you a 15/16 day lutual phase which is more average.

@BambinaBoo you might want to switch to the Conception board if you're TTC. Plenty of threads, info about all manner of TTC stuff over there:

www.mumsnet.com/talk/conception

Yes, what it’s showing as your fertile window without any data is just a guess based on standard 28 day cycle and assuming ovulation is day 14. Ovulation is actually only one day, but you have a fertile period in the run up to it (based on how long sperm is likely to stay alive). If you’ve just started TTC you may not need to track things yet, as you may find you’re one of the lucky ones who does have a textbook cycle and ovulates on CD14, but keep an eye on cycle length over the next couple of cycles and if they seem longer/shorter, then it might be an idea to get some OPKs or track your temperature so you can have a better idea of what’s going on. Good luck!

Thanks. Would you recommend an OPK or another method. I’m not sure how I test for all of these things.. so many new things to learn! 😂

The easiest is using LH strips. Just get cheapy ones off Amazon. After your period test morning and early evening until you notice that the test line is as dark as, or darker than, the control line. This is a positive LH test and shows that your LH is surging. You should ovulate in the next 24-48 hours. You can keep testing to see the LH go down again.

at a minimum you need to be having sex as soon as you notice the positive test. Ideally once you've identified which CD (calender day, CD1 being the first day of your period) it usually occurs on, you should have sex before that surge too, since sperm can survive in the fallopian tubes, waiting for the egg as it were.

Input the positive test and any signs of egg white cervical mucus into your Flo app to help it learn what your cycle is like. I preferred the Fertility Friend app but each to their own.

Thanks very much. I will order these off Amazon as it gives me something else to think of & take my mind away from things. 😅

Seconded that Fertility Friend seems to learn the quickest and it’s got the easiest graphs to interpret. I have no idea why it’s fallen a bit out of favour, as I found PreMom rubbish in comparison (in terms of predictions and graphs).

Thanks, Curlie!

If your period is due in 12 days it may be that you’re ovulating late and this is ovulation pain.

If you start testing for ovulation (which is a great idea if you’ve been TTC for awhile) then read the test instructions carefully, it’s not like pregnancy tests where a second line is a positive.

Apologies if you’ve said how long you’ve been TTC for and I’ve missed it, but if you’re fairly new to it I would actually advise against testing for ovulation until you’re at least a couple of months in, and just having sex regularly. Unless you know you may have difficulty conceiving (age, PCOS etc)

Apparently, I’m 11dpo so going to test tomorrow then again on first day of AF. Fingers crossed! 🤞🏽

Hey, PinkFrogs!

Just started TTC. This is our first cycle. 😊

Left lower abdomen (your left side) if where you bowel goes on it's way to the rectum. It's likely to be wind or constipation.
For me that was linked to ovulation. I did get almost instant changes to bowel habits when I conceived.
Good luck OP.

I thought yesterday you worked out you were 7dpo? But now you think 11dpo but your period is due on 31st July? And your last fertile day was 5 days ago? None of those dates match up. If you’re 11dpo your period will be due in the next 3-4 days. How long is your cycle normally and are you normally regular?
Honestly seeing as you’ve just started TTC I would just advise you wait until you’re officially late for your period before testing. Or start actually tracking ovulation with sticks etc. Then you’ll definitely know when you can test.

Thought I would give you a beginners guided to your cycle incase it helps

The first day of your cycle (CD1) is the first day of your period.

Your cycle will usually be around 28-31 days but can be shorter/longer and can vary each month. You can use apps to track this as it’s easy to forget dates. Also good to use apps to track positive ovulation tests. Beyond that though apps are only guessing and you should take them with a pinch of salt.

Your cycle is split into 2 key parts with ovulation in the middle.

Pre-ovulation is the first half of your cycle. This will include your period and then a gradual build up to ovulation, where you will notice more and more discharge (“cervical mucus”) and this will become more clear and stretchy as you approach ovulation.

1-2 days before ovulation and up to 24 hours after ovulation is the best window to get pregnant. You can technically get pregnant by having sex up to 5 days before ovulation but that’s less likely.
For an average 28 day cycle you will be most fertile around days 12-15. But remember this is personal to you and it’s best to try work out what your dates are. It can vary every month.

You can work out when you’re ovulating using cheap test strips, you dip these in your pee a few times a day when you think ovulation is close and when they turn positive you know ovulation is about to happen. Ovulation usually happens 24 hours after a positive test.

After ovulation has actually happened, you have around 12-14 days until your period. This is called your luteal phase and for most people this is always the same length each month, so if you can pin down ovulation, you can learn exactly when to expect your period.

During the luteal phase you can experience a lot of ‘pregnancy’ symptoms
because the same hormone (progesterone) is high in both pregnancy and in the run up to your period. Having sore boobs etc doesn’t necessarily mean you’re pregnant, it could easily mean period is coming too.

You can start testing for pregnancy about 9 days after ovulation (9DPO) but if you can wait until more like 11-12DPO you will get more clarity.

If you want to be absolutely sure of exactly if and when you ovulated the only way to do that is with temperature charting, which is quite a faff and can make you a little obsessed so I don’t recommend initially.

For first 3-6 months of TTC, try to just have plenty of sex around the right time, use ovulation test strips, and log positive ovulation tests and period dates in an app to keep track. And try not to obsess. I think many of us can find it fun and exciting to really throw ourselves into it all, but when it doesn’t work straight away that can quickly turn to obsession and lots of stress. So try not to pay too much attention to the whole thing
Good luck!

Is this a good sign?? Thank you so much! ☺️