Getting Pregnant on the First Try: how I found out + 2 week wait symptoms

Sharing our experience getting pregnant on our first try, plus how I found out and my 2 week wait symptoms before the positive pregnancy test!

In case you missed it, I shared some really exciting news a couple weeks ago! Joe and I are so excited and so grateful for this sweet little bean and ready to take on the beautiful adventure of starting a family together.

Before I get into our experience with conceiving on the first try, how I found out, and the symptoms I had during the 2 week wait, I do want to acknowledge that everybody’s experiences with trying to conceive are unique. I know that for many, the journey is far from easy. So while it didn’t take long for us, know that I’m sending you love, light and strength if you’re currently struggling, and I hope you get that positive really soon.

Let’s do this!

So back in January, Joe and I were chatting about the new year, blissfully unaware of how truly crazy 2020 was about to be. But we were discussing our goals, both personal and professional, and got on the topic of making some babies.

We’ve been married for 4 years, and we knew a family was always a future goal. So in January we came to the conclusion that after 4 wonderful years just the two of us and having made great progress with our careers, that this year would be a great time to start working toward our family goals.

After taking some work and logistical stuff into account, we planned to start trying in May.

Following that conversation, I really started to focus on getting my cycle as regular as I could. I’ve discussed my experience with irregular periods and hypothalamic amenorrhea in the past, and had two cycles in a row back in November and December. But after that, my cycle became irregular again.

Since I knew we would be trying to conceive in few months, I really made conscious efforts to help my body feel safe and secure, so that by the time we were trying I would be able to easily track it and know when I was ovulating, so we would have the best chance to conceive each month.

Fast forward to May, and unfortunately, I hadn’t gotten my period yet. I knew that my personal cycle is pretty slow to respond to the positive changes I make, so I wasn’t too stressed about getting a perfectly regular monthly cycle (since I never had that even before I got on then off the pill many years ago). As backup, I got a pack of ovulation strips. I didn’t plan on using them when we first started trying, but wanted to have them on hand in case we went several months with no luck.

So once May arrived, we went into it super excited, positive, and hoping for the best. We wanted to have fun with the process, so we didn’t overthink it, stayed hopeful and positive, and figured if nothing else we’d been connecting more, which is never a bad thing!

Despite not having gotten my cycle back, I must’ve been taking the right steps and been ovulating, because less than 3 weeks after our FIRST TRY, I took a pregnancy test and it was positive!

How I found out

If you aren’t familiar with the many (like, too many) acronyms of the world of pregnancy + parenting, 2WW stands for the 2 week wait, which is the time between when you try and when you would normally get your period, or if you’re trying to conceive, when you can get a positive pregnancy test.

Many women dread this time each month, which is totally understandable as many have been trying to conceive for months. For me, I honestly didn’t think much about it. We had literally only tried a few times, and as I’ll address in a bit, I didn’t have any super intense symptoms. So really, I was just going about life as normal. I didn’t think there was ANY way I would get pregnant that fast, especially with irregular cycles, so I really didn’t think about it too much during this time.

But one random Wednesday morning, 2 1/2 weeks after our first try, I went down to our basement gym to do my usual morning workout. If you’re new around here (HI, so happy you’re here!), I LOVE working out and I’m very self-motivated. I typically have no trouble getting going in the morning, and my workout is one of my favorite parts of my day.

Well on this particular morning, I just found myself completely unable to start my warm-up. Like, I COULD NOT EVEN DO A JUMPING JACK. I promise I’m not even exaggerating, I was just so exhausted, and this had been like 3 days in a row, on top of that I was sleeping around 10 hours per night. The fatigue didn’t make any sense, and that was the very first time that a little voice in my head said, “what if you’re pregnant?”

I immediately thought, there’s NO way, we had literally tried twice (Joe’s work was pretty hectic at the time). The chances were so low, but I just felt SO dead I decided to just take a test, honestly just to prove that theory wrong and to make myself suck it up do my workout.

I went upstairs to our bathroom, took the test, and the box said it would take 4-5 minutes for the result. I sat and scrolled on IG, not even nervous to see the result, because again, I was convinced there was no way it would’ve already happened.

I glanced over after a few minutes (I wasn’t even keeping track of the time), and in bold, capital letters, saw the word PREGNANT.

To say I was shocked is the biggest understatement ever. But I quickly transitioned from total disbelief to explosive excitement, like shaking and smiling from ear to ear (see the goofy, blurry selfie I immediately snapped below). My mind started racing and I couldn’t wait to tell Joe, but I had 4 coaching calls to do that day and I decided to wait to tell him until the end of the work day. I don’t keep anything from him so it was the weirdest like 6 hours of my life anticipating sharing it with him! Here’s how I told him (and our parents!), in case you missed the video.

I found out at my first appointment (SEVEN WEEKS LATER, longest wait of my life!) that I took my test just about as early as I could to see a positive. I’m super in tune with my body and knew the fatigue wasn’t normal for me, but I can definitely see how some don’t find out until several weeks later!

2 Week Wait Symptoms

Like I said before, the 2 week wait is commonly known as the torturous period of waiting until you can take a pregnancy test to see if you’ve got a little bun in the oven.

It’s common for those who are trying to conceive to share symptoms so that others going through this period can see whether they’re potentially on their way to conceiving, too. There are literally hundreds of videos on youtube on 2 week wait symptoms, and they can definitely be fun to watch if you’re on pins and needles waiting to test. But I also think it’s really important to remember that everybody’s body and symptoms are SO unique, and just because you don’t experience the same symptoms, doesn’t mean you aren’t pregnant.

Personally, my 2 week wait symptoms were VERY mild. I watched videos that listed allllllll these really noticeable symptoms, that wasn’t my experience, so if you don’t feel anything, don’t give up hope! Everybody is different.

Here are the subtle hints I did experience during the 2 week wait:

• Mild cramping/twinges in my lower abdomen
• Mild pain in my lower back
• INTENSE fatigue, especially first thing in the morning, even when I slept well the night before
• Head rushes + dizziness, mostly when I’d get out of bed at night and in the morning to use the bathroom

While most of my 2 week wait symptoms weren’t super noticeable, as soon as I took the test, a lot more came on pretty quickly! I’ll do a first trimester recap soon to share how things went from here.

Mamas out there, do you remember your 2 week wait? What symptoms did you experience? And mamas to be, I hope you’re doing okay and making this time as positive and hopeful as possible!

Thanks for reading, guys! I really hope you’re as excited as I am for this fun new journey, can’t wait to share more as the process unfolds!

Xo,

Sara