They Really Mess With Your Head

This whole progesterone thing has an interesting effect on the two week wait.    I’m over halfway through the 2ww, and this is about the time when I would normally, against my better judgment, start overanalyzing every little bodily change and function to see if it matches the gazillion different pregnancy symptoms I’ve heard about.

But of course, I’m taking progesterone supplements.  Which change everything.  They make me have wild mood swings, way worse than any PMS I can remember having in recent memory.  And they did it from about 3 dpo, so I know it’s not PMS.  I also know it’s not pregnancy.

They also have increased my appetite.  Decreased my sex drive.  Made me feel bloated.  Made me feel crampy and gassy on occasion.  Made me so utterly completely tired that I literally can’t make it through the day without a little catnap at some point.  Made my boobs so sore that it hurts to walk down a flight of stairs at more than a snail’s pace.  Made me nauseated at random moments.   And I won’t even mention the most unpleasant side effect, because any lady out there who has ever taken progesterone suppositories knows exactly what I’m talking about.

Check, check, check, etc., off the early pregnancy symptom list.  But you know what?  I’m not jumping to any conclusions.  Because I know the real cause.  I know it’s really the progesterone.   This means I’m able to be logical, and realize that even if there is implantation happening in my uterus right this very moment, I would not be having pregnancy symptoms yet.  It’s too early for any of the *real* ones.   Probably.

Still, I am cautiously optimistic.  After all, we timed the IUI perfectly, and this time we *know* it because I was actually being monitored by an RE.  But at least I’m not letting myself get carried away with the phantom symptoms.  These symptoms are far from phantom, and they have nothing to do with being pregnant.

But I do have to admit a bit of excitement over some ovarian cramping on 7 dpo and then general abdominal cramping on 8 dpo.  Just sayin.  Some fantasies won’t die.

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