How did you know you were pregnant?

In My Humble Opinion
1

Obviously, I’m asking the women on the board;).

Last week, the husband and I timed things a little too perfectly- I was under the impression that I was NOT ovulating since I’ve yet to have a period since going off the Pill three months ago. However, apparently, we did the deed assuming that there was no need for anything protective and then…ba-dum-bum - it seems that I may have ovulated since all symptoms seem to be go (ovulation pain, basal temps going up, an item I won’t mention due to it being TMI, nipple pain - which I usually get when I ovulate) - and my temps have stayed up with slight dips off and on.

So…there’s a chance that I could be pregnant. I won’t know for at least a week or so, but I’m just curious as to what symptoms you experienced before you knew you were pregnant. And was there a point where you just knew?

I’m a little nervous as it’s a couple of months sooner than we were planning - but then again, it’s only a couple of months sooner than we were planning. I have conquered a lot in the past few months (and for the first time in a couple of years, I am HEALTHY, emotionally and physically), and I’ve wanted motherhood so badly - so this will be a blessing for us. But now it’s just the week or so wait to find out if I am or not. If I’m not, well, we go on with the original plan in a couple of months.

E.

2

What made me suspect I was pregnant was the absence of the rotten feeling I usually got the few days before my period started. I will almost always have a migraine for about 24-48 hours before I start bleeding. No headaches would show up, though, and I’d feel great, until the morning sickness set in about two weeks later.

Congratulations to you and your hubby, Elza, on setting off on this marvelous roller coaster ride of parenthood!

3

Our kid was a surprise, and we were using condoms + NFP. So I was pretty darn familar with the inner workings of my uterus & associated parts. Despite what the doctor’s little wheelie thing says, I also know for damn sure I got pregnant on the 25th of March 2004, not a few days earlier. But I digress.

Anyway, I got pregnant on the 25th of March. April 1st DrLoveGun and I go to the Mutter museum in Philadelphia. I complain vigorously about being able to smell the embalming fluid of some of the exhibts, despite them being sealed behind glass. This was odd, and it was clue #1. Later on I enjoyed a duriyan smoothie. Duriyan is an exceptionally foul fruit I usually avoid like the plague. This was clue #2.

The final clue was that later that night when I went to the bathroom, I saw two wee drops of blood on the tissue I wiped myself with. My immediate thought was, “Hey, that looks exactly like what the textbook description of implantation spotting looks like!”

That’s when I knew.

Except the next day at a doctor’s visit I was told I was absolutely NOT pregnant by virtue of a blood test (I was in for an unrelated matter, but they ran the test in case they decided to give me meds). Oh, but I was. I just had slightly too little HCG for a qualatative test.

April 13th I had a + HPT.

By that point I had some weird bloating, and it felt like the world’s worst PMS ever, plus I was exhausted.

I never had morning sickness. Puked only 3 times during pregnancy.

I did, however, crap myself at the first ultrasound, but I doubt anyone wants to hear that story.

4

Oh, and good luck!

Amazon.com sells HPTs for $0.98 each. Stock up and enjoy! Pee early, pee often!

5

Okay, if I say yes, I do, will you think I’m weird?

Thanks for both of the stories - I’m not saying anything to mr e right now because he has been SO SET on waiting until our first anniversary to try (another two months from tomorrow), but I know he’ll be happy when he recovers from passing out in the living room and banging his head against the coffee table. And while the timing may have been scarily perfect based upon my symptoms, his boys still gotta make it all the way without dying.

E.

6

Nope. Weird medical stories, especially involving pregnancy, are fascinating.

But I will spoiler it because some people may not want to read about poopie.

[SPOILER] So, early on in my pregnancy, I became very bloated in my pelvic reigon. Also, instead of pooping logs, I began to poop a very thick mud. The consequence of both these things was that I could never tell when I had to crap. It always felt like I had to crap, because of all the bloating and pressure. So, knowing I usually crap around 10 AM every day, I just would give it a go at that time and see if I had any results. Usually I did.

So, the time came for our first ultrasound. I was 7 weeks along. We had been told by friends to bring a videotape to record it, and by our doctor to bring a nonlatex condom to cover the wand with just in case they didn’t have any non latex gloves handy. At 8am, as we were getting in the car, DLG shouts across the parking lot, “hey, did you remember to grab the condoms and the videotape?!” Everyone else on their way to work stopped and stared. I could have killed my husband.

We get there, we wait around, and finally, we go in. The tech begins with a belly ultrasound. She pushes VERY HARD on my stomach. VERY HARD. Ever grab a full tube of toothpaste with the cap on and give it a nice firm squeeze? Yeah, it was kinda like that.

After she finishes, she tells me I can go remove my pants for the vaginal ultrasound. She leaves, and I duck in the bathroom. I drop trou to find a giant blob of peanut butter texture poo. What would you do? I was not prepared for this. Where could I hide my poopy pants?

Thinking quickly, I wrapped them in a paper towel and threw them in the biohazard bin. I washed myself off with papertowels as well as I could. I went back out to the exam room, and told DLG what happened. I hopped up into the stirrups and INSISTED he do a “poopy check” to be sure I had gotten it all clean for company. Good man that he is, he did it. [/SPOILER]

Moral of the story: carry extra underwear at all times while pregnant. This goes double if in the 3rd trimester.

Also, since this is your first pregnancy, I will warn you about Racoon Ass in advance. No one ever warns ladies of this, and it’s a damn shame to make them have such a shocking surprise.

So my butt has always been a nice berry pink. It would’ve been a great shade for lipstick, but I never wanted to go up to the custom makeup counter, drop trou, and say, “Give something like this.”

Anyway, I never would’ve known anything was different until one night around my 5th month, when I was in the shower. The skin between my cheeks felt…different. I asked my husband to check for me and see if something was wrong. My husband laughed. I told him I was serious. He finally agreed, on the condition we never speak of it again. Let’s not tell him about this post.

DLG said it was fine. I wanted to see for myself. So I grabbed a mirror. I spread 'em. And oh my god, my butt is now DARK GREY! Not just around my chocolate starfish, mind you, but all over between there.

I asked my husband why he didn’t tell me. He said he didn’t quite know how.

For the rest of the pregnancy, my ass looked like a racoon’s. So, it turns out, do the butts of many other ladies. It is caused by hormones, and generally reverts back a few months after giving birth.

Pregnancy books do not mention racoon butt, but I believe you have the right to know. So I’m telling you. You can thank me later.

7

Oh, holy mother. You’re kidding right? Why have NONE of my frineds who have given birth ever mentioned this??

Hmm…if I’m not pregnant now, perhaps we should just skip the whole thing. I can handle pain and suffering, but I draw the line at a grey butt.

Okay, maybe not. But I swear to God, I’ve never heard this before!

And I’m sorry - the story is hysterical. DLG is a good guy. I’m not sure mr e would do that for me!

E.

8

See, that’s why I’m useful. I actually warn you of things. Pregnancy books skirt around the issue by saying things like, “hormones tend to cause discoloration of the face, areola, and occasionally, the genital area.” Cut to the chase. Call it what it is- Racooon Ass.

I swear, I’m gonna write a book about surprise pregnancies and what really goes down. Forget this “What to Expect When Your Expecting” crap, I’m gonna write “So You Got Knocked Up…” Ladies deserve the straight dope on these things.

9

I was really tired. Didn’t feel right. Was really turned off by certain foods. But I didn’t know I was pregnant until I was staring at the pregnancy test.

I am well and truly slow to catch on to things.

10

Like** FaerieBeth**, I thought I MIGHT be pregnant when I didn’t have any PMS symptoms.

But my cycle was a little erratic since going off the Pill last fall, so I didn’t think much of it when I was 3-4 days late. I did a pregnancy test “just in case” on a Thursday night because we were going to a party the next night and I wanted to be sure it was okay to have a few drinks.

Needless to say, I didn’t have any drinks, and I was really glad I had taken the test.

11

After the alien creature strapped me down to that examining table and inserted that glowing green orb into my stomach, I figured I would soon be giving birth to a whole host of five-tentacled bundles of joy who would begin feasting on my internal organs upon hatching.

12

Cool, so I guess we did it right.

inkleberry, if you write your book, will you interview me for it?:smiley:

Thanks to the rest of you - I’m probably going to drive myself nuts for the next two weeks, but hey, it’ll be fun!

E.

13

My first: my period was late. I mean, four hours late. I knew. I was like clockwork. Yep, knocked up.

My second: I wanted odd foods, but my periods were still happening (irregular ever since the first baby). I wanted BBQ, which I normally hate. I craved orange juice. I wanted pork (which I’d not eaten for nearly 20 years). No weight gain, and I was almost 5 months along before I figured it out. I assumed I was going through early menopause, like most of my sisters have. On a hunch, I told my SO to grab a pregnancy test at the store. He said, “Is there something you need to tell me?” I said, “Don’t know. Get the test, and we’ll see.” (I had periods every 3-6 weeks until July, and the baby was born in December. I’m obviously some sort of freak, and we joke about our “microwave baby: done in five months.”)

After all that, I was positive I was knocked up again when GypsyBaby was two months old, because I had all the same signs. Nope. Not at all.

14

About a week and a half after my first conception fatigue set in. I could barely get through the day at work without coming home to crash on the couch. A few days after that I started vomiting (and didn’t stop for 8 1/2 months, but that’s an entirely different issue) and I knew. The period not coming the following week was simply confirmation.

With my second I knew almost instantly, although there wasn’t anything physical I can recall that clued me in. I think my body just remembered somehow, and that translated into me realizing what was happening.

15

I am not pregnant nor have I ever been, I just wanted to stop in and say “racoon ass” is going into the vault as one of those great terms to use.

Thank you Ink!

16

During my first and second pregnancies (which both ended in miscarriage), before I actually took the test I had this weird smell I smelled. It was almost minty and it covered up every other smell (not completely, it was just there on top of everything). I also had the worst heartburn. And, I was really tired.

So, when I got pregnant a third time (which turned out really well!), I was suspicious I was pregnant before I took the test. Weird minty smell? Check. Heartburn? Check. Want to go to bed at 7 pm every night? Check. I was pretty sure before I even peed on the stick that it would be positive. That smell thing lasted for my entire pregnancy, by the way. Really strange. The doctor couldn’t figure out what the hell I was talking about when I told him.

17

I just had a general feeling of “blahness” this time around. I didn’t actually find out I was pregnant until I was almost four months along because I don’t have regular periods and was told I probably wouldn’t ever conceive naturally because of PCOS.
Surprise!
The first time I remember the first thing that hit me was sore breasts and a tired feeling. I was doing a lot of rock climbing at the time, and from one week to the next it became hard enough just to go from car to rock, forget climbing anything.

18

Oh, I forgot about that. I smelled chocolate brownies all the time, when I was pregnant. Both times. Don’t know why that didn’t clue me in, for #2. This morning, I made coffee, which is rare, and it smelled like chocolate brownies, so I thought, “uh-oh!”

19

Now I’m going to have to ask my husband whether I had raccoon ass. inkleberry, you’ve coined one for the ages.

I suspected I might be pregnant after I had an odd period, which in hindsight was implantation spotting. Shortly thereafter I had a terrible craving for rare, red meat and gobbled down an entire tri-tip – which was bizarre because I get the oogies around fat and gristle, but that day I chowed them down with nary a qualm. After that I bought a home pregnancy test and voila!

Shortly thereafter I began to throw up so hard that poocanos erupted in my pants, but I’ll leave that for another thread.

Pregnancy is like a secret society. If you knew everything that was going to happen to your body when you got pregnant, you’d never have sex again. Thus, the mysteries are only revealed to you after you see the two blue lines.

20

I never had Racoon Ass, so you may be safe. But Inkleberry, you really should write that book.

With both of my kids, I knew before the sheets were dry. The first was a total oops, conceived my first time having sex, while we were using three forms of birth control. Still, as soon as we were “done,” I knew I was about to get pregnant. And I was right.

This time around, we actually planned it. But because we wanted a girl, we were waiting for the 4th day before my ovulation to have intercourse. Well, the day before that, the mood hit and (fill in the blank). As soon as we were done, I realized we didn’t have to do it again. Textbook be damned, the female sperm would live six days, not four, and I’d be pregnant by the end of the week. And, again, I was right.