Pregnancy Diaries #1 – Positive test

The video and blog can be slightly different in content.

I have a positive test. This is the 3rd confirmed pregnancy this year and my 6th pregnancy with my partner – we have one beautiful daughter. Fingers crossed there will a sister or brother for her.

We were fortunate enough to have some isolation time and oddly that month my cycle came earlier, normally I am a 28 day cycle, so my period falls on day 28 which then becomes day 1 of a new cycle. I very rarely have ever had a shorter cycle but to my advantage I did which meant that my ovulation fell in the time I was able to be with my partner and success we have!!!

I knew there was a chance I could be pregnant and as normal my impatience took over so I found some ovulation tests first and I thought why not, so I tested and I got two bold lines. As I say in this video and other videos, it is not advised to use ovulation sticks in this way, but in the pregnancy world it is used and known to be fairly accurate, well it has been every time for me anyway!

After the ovulation test I went into my stash of pregnancy tests and I found some sticks that are not the best at detecting early pregnancy like First Response but they were there and always part of my kit, so I tested. I saw a very faint line and I was absolutely over the moon but no sooner had it appeared it went and I was soon deflated. I couldn’t believe that this had happened and I put it down to my eagerness and bad eyes that day. I decided to go and buy a first response feeling certain I saw the line and I was pregnant.

I went on the hunt for First Response but there were none available. I purchased a new test Newmark, which I have never used, and it was a negative, as were all the others that day in my kit, I was really sad. I felt deflated.

The next day, day 24 of my cycle (so counting day 1 as the first day of my period and my cycle being 28 days) I still was determined regardless off all the negative tests, I was seeking a positive. I managed to buy a first response and was so happy because they never fail me so I new I would know either way. It was negative. So I accepted reluctantly  I was not pregnant.

That night I had left overs from the night before and it was pasta with a cheese and leek sauce. I felt so sick I had to go to bed and I started to think I had given myself food poisoning. I was so tired and went to bed really early to!

Day 25 of my cycle I am not sure why I tested really. It was later evening and my Mum was chatting away to me from the hallway and I just randomly thought I would do another test. I had one First Response left but I always save those, so I used one of my Wilko tests a 99p one. As I sat there I saw a line, very faint, but there a clear YES!!!!

I couldn’t believe it. So I tested and tested and I did my First Response on day 26, 3 days before my due period and it was a YES!!!! There was a line. Day 28 came and no period. I wrote an email to my GP and consultant I was under in the past begging for Cyclogest (progesterone) because this is the 3rd confirmed pregnancy this year and I just didn’t want to loose it. I have had 6 confirmed (positive) pregnancies with my partner and the only difference being that the birth of our daughter came after treatment of progesterone early on in the pregnancy. Progesterone is really important in sustaining and supporting the pregnancy. I have talked about this in other videos and I am certain now it is my issue.

Luckily I had a prescription delivered and I have been using it since, along with Aspirin and Folic Acid. I have my early pregnancy scan booked for next Thursday when I will be 6 1/2 weeks gestational age which is calculated on the first day of your menstrual period. Normally you would be offered your first scan at 12 weeks but because of my situation I will be under an amazing team at Burnley Early Pregnancy Assessment Unit.

Fetal age refers to conception within the ovulation timeframe which is what I prefer to go by because of my own knowledge, research and experience, which in general would record the pregnancy more accurately and is usually 1 1/2 weeks to 2 weeks difference. So biologically conception happened when I ovulated so my dates based on that would make me at the time of the scan next week around 5 weeks. I will do another post on this.

I took photos of all my tests, some you will see the line others that were early lines that have faded but I can still see. The stronger lines I have found tend to not fade much as they age but I do eventually throw them away!

Back to the test on day 23 that I saw a line then it went, I do believe that it was showing the pregnancy, but as the HcG levels were so low at that point I think it had shown but went very quickly, a bit like the early positive tests tend to fade but the stronger ones don’t over time.

As for First Response not detecting the pregnancy on day 24 I was really surprised as they have never failed me before but Wilko was the winner this time!!!! I have spent way to much money on pregnancy tests but it is just the way it it!!!

More information on gestational age and fetal age here