My longing for pregnancy was like no other longing I had experienced in life. Some intense and burning biological desire was spurred in me immediately after meeting my husband. It was as if my little ova knew they'd met their perfect sperm matches and wanted to combine immediately, no discussion nor negotiation allowed. So, we started trying right away and were pregnant just 2 months after marrying.
I was so very eager to bring home little bouncing "Bralenas" (a combo of my husband Brian and my name Kalena) that I would start testing my urine for HCG mere moments after copulation.
BTW: You can get super inexpensive test strips and ovulation strips from Natalist and other sources. These tests are about $1 a pop and made for obsessive testing where I would hold the little strips up to the light and squint in an effort to mind control an extra pink band indicating pregnancy. Feel free to click that paid link on the image.
These tests detect even the tiniest amounts of HCG, so I started seeing the little test indicators about 7 days after conception, no joke!
For those who don't know, that didn't mean I was a week pregnant; that meant I was 3 weeks pregnant in the language of medicine.
Fun fact: Medical providers consider the two weeks prior to fertilization to be weeks 1 and 2 of pregnancy. Doctors count the start of pregnancy from the 1st day of you last period, which is generally 2 weeks prior to the next ovulation. I personally think this to be a flaw in the system because many woman, such as myself, are not regular. My periods were usually about 3-6 months apart due to some weird hormonal and amenorrhea issues.
According to my "first date of last menses" I was estimated to be 3 months pregnant, which concerned my practitioners when they merely viewed a tiny gestational sac in the very first ultrasound. They speculated that the fetus wasn't developing normally and that it may be the start of a spontaneous abortion. But from those ovulation strips and from a strong skill in mittelschmerz'ing, I knew EXACTLY when I conceived. It was just days prior. I had to convince the doc that I had a bit of an understanding of the way these things work in order to lock in his confidence. On the image is a link to the strips, if you are interested.
"Look doc, I know when I had sex" wasn't enough to convince him." Fortunately, as the weeks progressed, I developed beautifully and ultrasound measurements continued to verify my own estimations for a due date, which was quite magically set at 11.11.11. I was beyond delighted and wore the "told-ya-so" like a badge.
Was pregnancy delightful? Oh hell no. Allow me to elucidate in my next blog post. Let me tell you, pregnancy is for super heros!
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