@Kibby Thanks, babes. Me too. 
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@Kibby it may be the progesterone making you feel sick this early. I would say I had waves of nausea starting probably around 11DPO (before I knew I was pregnant), and stuck around for about a week as I think my progesterone kept increasing. [name_f]My[/name_f] understanding with HG is that for most people you have it with every pregnancy if you get it, and since you haven’t had it in the past you may be safe.
@Beort12 - You may be right! I had my progesterone checked middle of last week and it was near 200, the normal high range days 90, so mine is really up there!
[name_f]My[/name_f] SIL had the terrible sickness in both of her pregnancies, it was absolutely brutal on her, her second pregnancy has to deliver 3 weeks early because her liver was struggling and my nephew stopped growing. He was a skinny baby but healthy!
@Kibby I didn’t get my progesterone checked but I think it was pretty high from the get-go, at least based on the intensity of progesterone symptoms I had especially early on. I wonder somewhat if even without the suppository my progesterone would have been okay, I know there is a school of thought that a healthy embryo will send signals back to the corpus luteum to really get things going, and even if on unsuccessful months you have low progesterone that won’t necessarily mean you always will. But who knows, really. No idea if it made a difference for me but I am grateful for the peace of mind at least.
The nausea sort of kicked me in the butt again today, so hopefully that’s a good sign. I work in education and mostly haven’t been face to face with tons of people yet because classes haven’t started, but today I met with a parent who smelled strongly of smoke and it about killed me. Later in the day another parent came in wearing very strong perfume and I had to literally go to a different floor of the building. Normally I have a terrible sense of smell (a huge blessing working in a junior high because personal hygiene is very much a learned skill), so this sense of smell is hitting me hard on the days I already don’t feel well!
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@Beort12 - Oof yeah when school starts up your sense of smell and nausea is gonna be working over time in a junior high! I wonder if there’s anything you can do. (There’s a scene with Vicks in [name_f]Silence[/name_f] of the Lambs that comes to mind hahahaha) That’s great news though, nausea and increased sensitivity to smell is a great sign, even if it doesn’t always feel so great!
I’m definitely feeling the early exhaustion settling in, I was just thinking how nice it was that I’ve been feeling energetic, and then I woke up an hour and a half later during the credits of a movie I was trying to watch hahaha
I finally called my fertility clinic, and of course the [name_u]Doctor[/name_u] is now on vacation. So I still go for my next progesterone check next week along with the hcg blood draw. And I’ve got a phone call appointment for Sept 11 with him.
And the best news! I applied to the midwifery system here in my province, it’s basically like a lottery, where you submit your case and cross your fingers that a midwife sees your file and wants to take you on. The access to midwives here has improved but it’s still not great, my SIL applied with both kids and never got one. BUT!!! I got an email last night from one of my preferred midwife groups, and one accepted my case! Such amazing news, they do solo care so I’ll have [name_f]Jenna[/name_f] for all my care and my labour, with a second midwife present for delivery support as well. She delivers at both the birthing centre and my hospital of choice so I’ll have options down the line depending on my comfort level. The birthing centre is really lovely and set up for water birth which I’m interested in for pain management. But mostly I’m just super happy I’ve got a midwife!!! Her office is just down the highway from our house and my first appointment will be at 10/11 weeks on [name_u]October[/name_u] 3rd, she said we can try with the Doppler to hear a heartbeat at the appointment, and that she’ll happily send me for a dating ultrasound, but I also think the fertility clinic will give me one in [name_u]September[/name_u] too.
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I’m in the same boat!! [name_m]Just[/name_m] got a few very early positives for baby number 3 with a due date of [name_f]April[/name_f] 29 (if it sticks!)
Congrats to you!!
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@samosier24 - Welcome!!! It’s great to see another face in the group!! I’ll get you added to the due date list! The first weeks are so hard and full of uncertainty!!!
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@samosier24 congratulations!! I hope everything progresses really well, and it is good to have someone else in the group!
@Kibby you are being so patient about these blood tests, I am so impressed! That is also great that you got into the midwife group you wanted! That sounds like a fairly complex system. I really only have one hospital system to work with here, which also includes my RE and PCP. The OBGYN group has regular OBs (plus MFM and such) but also have certified nurse midwives and you choose one or the other. They both deliver at the same hospital where essentially the same resources are available. With the OBs you generally see one provider for all your prenatal care but who knows who will be available when you deliver, with the midwives you cycle through many of them for your prenatal care and then get whoever is on call for your birth. I would like to go with the midwives, but my husband feels much more comfortable with an OB. If my dating ultrasound goes well I will need to schedule ASAP because especially for the OBs there is a shortage and scheduling is really tough. Honestly it may come down to scheduling - I told my husband if I can’t get in with an OB that sounds good I am going to go with the midwives.
Woke up with way less nausea again today…trying to convince myself that this roller coaster is just how it goes. I took advantage and had a fruit smoothie for breakfast because I have been getting so little fruit and veggies the last few days. It actually isn’t sitting great in my stomach, but hopefully it settles down a little more with time.
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@Beort12 @Kibby Thank you both!! I love that I’ll have a few people to go through this crazy journey with!
@Beort12 [name_f]Hope[/name_f] you’re feeling well today! I had crazy nausea with my first two pregnancies - it’s the worst. It did come and go in the very early stages. It’s nice to have relief from it but then you question why it isn’t there lol! it really is a rollercoaster.
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I’m feeling unusually zen about timelines and blood work, I guess I just know it’s out of my hands. And I’m doing all I can to encourage a healthy pregnancy and taking progesterone so, if it doesn’t work out, it wasn’t meant to.
I would really like to get to the ultrasound though because it just feels safer to me than hcg counts. Thought I am really curious what I’m at, I’m still not feeling overly well whether it’s hcg or progesterone.
I’ve had a killer headache since yesterday so I’m seeing my chiropractor today. Normally I’d just pop an ibuprofen and feel better within an hour but there’s evidence suggesting ibuprofen increases risk of miscarriage in the first trimester (and birth defects in 2nd/3rd!) so I’m trying to avoid it.
I’ve been dreaming about a nursery and I’m thinking maybe Penguins haha or Space Penguins. I’ve got a tattoo of a penguin holding three balloons trying to float, in memoriam of 4 of my pregnancies, and I’ve been considering reaching out to my tattoo artist asking him to create some custom artwork 
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@Kibby I think space penguins is super cute!! And I really like that tribute idea - I’ve had a few losses as well. One at 6.5 weeks and one at about 5 weeks. I’m feeling pretty confident about this pregnancy - I hope it sticks!! It feels like time is ticking by sooooo slowly lol I haven’t even made it to my missed period day yet.
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@samosier24 - I think all of us in this thread right now have a history of loss and very much understand the feelings that go with another pregnancy, but I’m also feeling confident this time, however the confidence kinda scares me too haha
I’m officially missing my period now, what would be CD30, and I usually have it by day 29, so that’s a good sign!!
I allllllmost told my best friend yesterday while we were shopping but I didn’t, she’s just signed on her first home purchase and I want her to have her moment and feel that joy before I “steal her thunder”, I know she’ll be crazy happy for us but also she so deserves her moment!
@Kibby I like the penguins! That is really cute idea, especially with some bespoke art. I haven’t thought about a nursery much because I think I will wait until after we have a baby to try to convince my husband to give up his home office (which he never uses) rather than a guest room since I figure a baby will be in our room for the first little while anyways.
@samosier24 it does feel like time moves slowly! Especially if you haven’t even passed the point of missing a period. It’s a small downside to finding out early.
So far I have only told my best friend at work, because she knows the struggles we have had and had her own issues and losses with her kids. Plus we are the only two in this role, so if I was feeling crappy I would ask her to cover for me. When I told her she actually jumped up and down (not normally in her character!) and said “I’m so excited I feel like I just got a positive test!”. And then she told her husband (who is also a colleague in another building) and her two kids. So right now all the people who know are me, my husband, my friend, her husband, and their two elementary-aged kids 
I am 7 weeks tomorrow and can’t quite believe it…still have everything crossed that things are progressing okay. I was thinking about the fact that when you reach 7 weeks (or any week), you actually have completed that week of pregnancy. Crazy! Time is moving super slowly, but somehow still passing…
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@Beort12 - Your scan is gonna be here before you know it!!!
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I’m trying to not drive myself crazy overthinking everything right now, nothing bad happening but starting to worry just constantly. [name_f]Do[/name_f] you guys constantly think about your pregnancy or is it maybe just my ADHD hyperfixating?
I’m still taking pregnancy tests every other day and have a strong strong line, even though I know to take line darkness with a grain of salt, I can’t help myself.
@Kibby I am sorry you are so worried! It is really tough. I am right there too, although the intensity does vary a little bit. I had a slight honeymoon period towards the end of 5 weeks where I was a little less stressed, but it has definitely come roaring back. I think about being pregnant constantly, but also can’t wrap my mind around it.
Word of warning about the tests, because I freaked myself out about this…I made myself stop taking tests at about 5 weeks after I had gotten a couple of line stealers (I only test on the super cheap strips I should add). However, at 6+3 I took another test because I was feeling anxious and it came back lighter. Of course I totally freaked and dipped another brand of test in the same urine. One test the test line was definitely lighter, the other it was about the same as the last test I had taken on that brand out 10 days before. Weirdly, though, the brand that was consistently more sensitive was the lighter one, which I wouldn’t make sense of. After about 24 hours of panicking I stumbled across something called the “hook effect”, where essentially the early detection tests get overwhelmed by high HCG and end up showing up lighter. Theoretically your HCG could be so high that a test is a true false negative, but I think that would be a very, very rare occurrence. The way to see if that is what is happening is to dilute your urine and see if the test line gets darker. I didn’t do this because I had never even heard of this until the day after I tested, but given that the more sensitive test was lighter I suspect it may have been this and by the time I learned this I had sworn off testing. It is also possible this was a bad sign and the ultrasound is going to go badly, I don’t know.
All this to say, maybe pick a point to stop testing? It is super hard, but I can say possibly freaking yourself out for no reason is even worse. I had always heard people say to stop testing after you get a dye stealer, but I never understood why. I guess this is the reason!
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I’ve definitely read about the hook effect, I’ve always thought it was wild that I never experienced it when my hcg was abnormally high in the over 800,000s, never got a dye stealer either!!
I’m not testing every day, I didn’t today, I think my main issue is I don’t have a point where I think I’ll feel safe. [name_f]My[/name_f] last pregnancy my hcg was always great (until it was obviously too great, a sign of the trisomy), we had a strong heart beat at 8 weeks, morning sickness, everything pointing to a healthy pregnancy until the ultrasound where we found baby made it to 12w and no further. The odds of that happening were so low but, it did. And the odds of it happening again are also so low and I try to remind myself of that.
For now I’m just testing to remind myself that yes, this is happening still, and I think once I have some real symptoms I’ll feel more relieved, just so hard to not overthink until then. It’s really not helping that I’m home alone all the time with nothing but opportunities to think too much 
I still haven’t requested bloodwork or a scan and I’m just waiting til [name_f]Wednesday[/name_f] for the bloodwork my doctor initially asked me to do on day 35. I’m trying to just focus on eating healthy and doing what I can to encourage a healthy pregnancy, everything else is out of my hands.
I really should book with my therapist but telling him I’m pregnant and anxious makes it feel too real. Still only my partner and I know.
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On another note! I’ve finished Expecting Better and moved onto Cribsheet, statistics and facts soothe me haha
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Congratulations! I hope to be added to the list soon. I’m currently 7dpo and having some super light spotting and mild cramps. [name_f]My[/name_f] prospective due date is [name_f]May[/name_f] 5th. We shall see! This is our 7th cycle TTC after vasectomy reversal.
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I too am trying hard not to test every day, but it’s so hard! I’m officially 4 weeks today which seems crazy but that’s what happens when you test so early. I feel pretty normal - no symptoms except some sore boobs. I haven’t booked bloodwork or a scan yet - I think I might around 5 weeks.
@benton_s_mama - I hope you get your bfp soon!!! Spotting and cramps at 7dpo sounds promising for sure!
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How exciting! I hope this is it for you!
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