(FAIR WARNING: Your Input Will Be Requested At The End Of This Post)
To test or not to test, that is the question. That is always the question during the two week wait.
Today is 8 dpo (8 days post-ovulation). As I’m sure we all know, days 6-10 after ovulation are the implantation days. Then, Hcg gets released and, at a certain level, the HPT (home pregnancy test), a.k.a. POAS (pee on a stick), can pick-up the pregnancy.
Mother’s Day is falling on my 10 dpo or, in HPT language, four days before the expected start date of my next period. If your ears perk up like mine do whenever a pregnancy test commercial comes on TV, you know that most tests "can detect pregnancy up to 4 days before the first day of your missed period." Specifically, according to the charts made by the HPT manufacturers, if I test on Mother’s Day and I AM pregnant, I have a 57% chance of the test showing a positive.
Of course, I have exhaustively searched online and found many stories of women who got their BFP’s (big fat positives) 5 days after a day 5 transfer (10 dpo). I have also read a lot of stories of women who got negatives at 10 dpo and then BFP’s at 12 dpo. And, of course, there are many women in the “wait until the beta test” camp. Those women listen to their doctors and spare themselves the agony of deciding when to POAS, by choosing not to POAS at all. I envy you women…but I will never be one of you. Even if I were to wait for the beta test, I would agonize…oh how I would agonize!
So, the question for me, I guess, is not even really “to test or not to test.” Rather, the question is- “to test on Mother’s Day or to wait until later.” But the latter doesn’t really have the same ring to it.
Quick update for those of you who are new to this blog, my announcement to The Prince has been in the works for some time. He is a Jersey Shore
Now that everyone is up to speed, you should know that The Prince and I have EXTREMELY tight schedules, and that is complicating my testing scenarios. The Prince is working at his parent’s restaurant on Saturday and on Sunday, during the day. We both will work during the day Monday through Friday, at our regular jobs. On Monday, that's it...when we get home, we're home. But on Tuesday through Thursday, The Prince works a second job, so on those days we will be home together from 4:30 - 5:00, and then The Prince won't be home again until 8:00 p.m. Also, I am having dinner ou with friends on Tuesday night and won't be back until very late.
So, based on the schedules, I believe I have worked out all of the possible testing scenarios, and they are as follows:
1) Test on Sunday morning, find out I’m pregnant, make the announcement to the Prince on Sunday evening, when he gets home, for the best Mother’s Day ever!
2) Test on Sunday morning, get a negative, work at convincing myself that I am in the 43% of pregnant women who wouldn’t test positive that early, and don’t mention any of it to The Prince who, at least, won’t be home most of the day.
3) Test on Monday morning, find out I’m pregnant, sit with that knowledge the whole damn day at work…and announce the news to The Prince when I get home.
4) Test on Monday morning, get a negative, and try not to fall apart at work that day.
5) Test on Wednesday and…(see #’s 3 and 4 above)
6) Wait until Thursday morning’s beta test, get the results at work, then don’t answer the phone when The Prince calls for the results, so I can rush home and make my announcement in between his two jobs. (Unfortunately, The Prince has gone through IVF cycles with me enough times to know when my beta’s get scheduled and I’ve lied to him about when the blood test was in the past, to give myself time to process the news before facing him, so I can’t just lie and say it is on Friday in order to surprise him on Thursday. He’s too crafty for that.).
I think it is likely clear which choice I like the best, but I am putting it out there for “my people” to weigh-in on. I’m not promising anything (and if I don't follow advice I'm totally blaming it on the hormones), but bring on the comments and advice, being kind to my fragile ego and cognizant of my need for this to be a big deal. I’m dying to know what other people have to say about all of this…and I know there are lots of other Type A’s out there reading this. So please don’t be shy about letting me know if I missed a fabulous timing/testing/announcing scenario. Can't wait to hear your opinions!
8 comments:
I'm certainly a fellow type-A... and POAS whenever I can, so I'm probably not the best person to give advise - but my logical side would say : only POAS if you know you can reassure yourself that it might be too early if it comes up negative. But the biggest thing is how you would feel if it came up positive then you later find out that it's negative and a chemical pregnancy only. I wonder whether I'm strong enough for that at the moment and reading Krista's story this week has brought me to tears for her.... so my POAS tendency might be less this cycle... I'm just not strong enough. It would be such a wonderful mum's day to find a positive though :) Not sure what I'd do in your situation. Thinking of you every step of the way xoxo
You didn't have a trigger shot right? If the answer is no then I think with out a doubt test first thing Sunday morning, maybe even early early before he goes to the restaurant. If its still negitive then, no big deal becasue its super early. Then I would wait and test Monday at work in the late afternoon so that you have a few minutes to process on the way home and then you can put on the shirt when you get there...
I'm so so so excited for you! (also if you did trigger, I'm a huge spaz and I built a hcg trigger leaving the system calculator with the statistical half life so I can give you your day 10 P10, P50 and P90.)
Hi, new to your blog from New Year Mums blog. I have such short cycles that I never get to the point of being able to test. The red bitch usually arrives 10-12dpo. So any opportunity that I get I will poas till my heart is content. But, 2 cycles ago I had a chem preg, and I have since been averted from the early poas activity. I say go all or nothing. POAS every opportunity, or dont POAS till at least 14dpo.
Best best best best of luck!!!!
I am grappling with this same questions myself! It is quite dramatic, but it sounds so incredible to find out you are pregnant on Mother's Day! For me, this will be my last natural cycle before going on to meds and possibly beyond. Will be 13dpo for me, expecting the witch on Monday, the very next day. I know it sounds like a waste in my case, but it just seems like a must!
I say go for it on Sunday. Waiting will likely just be agony. But, I would say be prepared to have the attitude that it just might not be positive yet if it goes that way, as I know a lot of people who didn't get their positives until much later. Love your announcement plan, by the way!
Best of luck with your little bean!
For me the focus would be on not falling apart at work, so I would test on Sunday. Also, then if you get a negative, there is still a large chance that it might actually be a positive over the next few days. If it remains negative, then you've had a chance to prepare yourself for the week ahead.
Thank you for all of the great advice!
Red Power Ranger - I am so sorry about your chemical pregnancy. I know that is a legitimate concern for me to have, but I am so desperate for a positive pregnancy test that I feel like the disappointment of a chemical pregnancy can't be worse than the disappointment of this not working for us the 13th time around. Maybe I'll feel differently if it actually happens...but I like the "POAS every opportunity" approach.
Bead dreams - It doesn't sound like a waste at all. POAS is never a waste in my opinion, but I'm an information junkie, too. If you do test tomorrow, best of luck!
Lindsey - no trigger shot for me, so I'm good to go. Even when I used to take a trigger shot, I would POAS every single day to watch it leave my system, and appraently my body isn't a fan of hcg because it would excrete it within a couple of days. Hopefully my body will like it better this time around. :)
Thanks again, ladies. You'll see soon what I decided to do.
Like others have said, if you can handle it being - on Sunday, test then. If it is +, greatest Mother's day ever! If not, wait until the beta later that week.
I tetter-totter between POAS early or waiting it out. It depends on how strong I feel that cycle. If I have any really strong symptoms, I generally try to wait it out or test ridiculously early to where I know it will be -. That probably doesn't make any sense.
I'm struggling with the same thing. I want to test so badly today. My first beta is Monday. I want to know for Mother's Day but I'm also worried about it being negative and wrecking my mom's day. I'm no help here sorry. I think I'm going to try to wait until Monday but it will be so hard.
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