The Dreaded 2WW

Advice offered by Barb, 40 (five failed IUIs, in second trimester with boy), as posted on the Choice Moms discussion group:

For anyone that is scrutinizing every little twinge and nausea during the two week wait, you should be aware of some timing. It takes the egg a minimum 5-6 days to travel to the uterus and implant. It's usually more like 7-10 days, since the fertilized egg really can't "hatch" and implant itself before about day 6 (which is why day 5 blastocyst IVF transfers are more succesful than 3-day IVF transfers).

If you are feeling any "symptoms" before day 6 or 7, they are not necessarily pregnancy symptoms but symptoms of the rising hormone levels in your body that are part of your normal cycle. Progesterone is a hormone that your body naturally produces during the second half of your menstrual cycle and it's responsible for many of the symptoms of PMS... which are the same symptoms of pregnancy.

I know it's excruiciating to be waiting for two full weeks, and how much you analyze and scrutinize every little twinge, because I did it too. But really, until about day 6-7, any symptoms you have are not symptoms of pregnancy but symptoms of the rising progesterone in your body. HCG is the hormone that will spike when the embryo actually implants, and that usually happens around day 7-10, which is why home pregnancies (which meaasure HCG) don't work before then.

Good luck to anyone in the "2 week wait." I really feel for you because I've been there many, many times and it is one of the hardest parts of this process.

14 Things to Do When 14 Days Seem Like Forever

Found at bellybelly.com.au
by Lynn Steen, a 38-year-old Choice Mom-in-the-making

• Plant a hope garden. Or a hope rosebush. Or a hope citrus tree. You want to grow something inside of you, well start by growing something outside of you. Nurture it. Feed it. Give it water. Talk to it. But do not send out birth announcements.
• Swim laps. Think about the sperm and how they need to swim to your egg. Imagine that you are a sperm, the end of the pool is the egg, then GO, GO, GO! Don't wear a tail or anything. Just imagine it quietly.
• Delegate the burden of the two-week wait. Clearly someone has to worry constantly during this time, but does it have to be you? Divide the days up among your best friends and closest family. On their assigned day they are required to think, wonder, and worry all day about whether you are pregnant or not. At the end of the day they have to describe how agonizing it was and report if they had any "symptoms." You will be surprised how many people have early pregnancy symptoms if they look.