My temp has now been up at the raised (after the evening of bad cramps) level for 3 days in a row, so that makes my chart triphasic, which is really really REALLY pregnant of me. ;) The bad cramps have always been an absolute pregnancy symptom anyway, but last cycle for the first time, I had bad cramps in my luteal phase and I didn't feel that I was pregnant. So my confidence is shaken on that symptom being a dead cert, but even so, it's probably like 98% likely to be a symptom caused by pregnancy than something else, so that's encouraging too! :)
The other great thing about my temp this morning is that it was 36.71, exactly the same temp as yesterday's! They were already pretty flat, but you can't get much more so than that (yet another pregnancy sign for me)! :)
So I wasn't planning to test. I went to the bathroom and hesitated for a while, sort of willing myself to just PEE already and then I would no longer have my FMU to tempt me, lol! But in the end I gave in, and tested. *sigh* I wish I had more willpower! At 8DPO I am unlikely to see anything anyway, and waiting until tomorrow would have been better. I saw a shadowy line, fat and with some hint of colour, which came up within 2-3 minutes (on the test I've got, you have to read it between 5 and 10 minutes, and discard any results that come up after 10 mins). Normally I would get all excited about that. I still see it tonight when I look at the stick. BUT, I have had so many of these shadowy lines, even though I have had some chemical pregnancies where it was just too early to get a clear positive - so maybe they were positives? I could photograph the lines.... But after so many, ending in a period, I have begun to second guess, and wonder if that's just the way negative looks on those tests? It's annoying if so, because it's a LINE! And a line (in the right time-frame, which it always has been) is a line, right? Urgh. Anyway, so I am calling it a negative, and waiting to see what tomorrow's temp is.
Tomorrow I will be NINE days past ovulation!! I've reached that on the last 3 cycles, but my period has arrived that day on all of them. So far, my temp has dropped on the morning of 9DPO (except last cycle where it was already low-ish anyway! Such wacky temps last cycle!), followed by bleeding later. I'm kind of breathless with anticipation over tomorrow morning's temp! Repeat the cycle with a drop in temp? Or the temp stays up, which gives me a) hope of pregnancy (yay!), or b) hopefully a longer luteal phase than last time! :) I soooooooo hope my temp stays up tomorrow! I'm kind of nervous! I will be disappointed if it drops, because I will expect bleeding to follow, and well, that's a shame. :( This morning I woke up when it was already light, with a dry DRY mouth and almost jumped in a panic because I knew it meant I had been mouth-breathing, which would TOTALLY skew my temp, dropping it down as though I was getting a pre-period drop (when it otherwise wouldn't have)! Thankfully, I glanced around me and saw sleeping little people everywhere, so I shut my eyes (and my mouth, lol!) and went back to sleep quick! ;) When they woke me, I was able to temp accurately. I'm anxious that I'll wake mouth-breathing tomorrow, but with AWAKE children around me, so I will have to temp and get up! I say it every time, but I hate this stage with the One (or two, sometimes) Very Important Day to get an accurate temp.
Today has been mostly uneventful, symptom wise. I feel quite neutral, although I have that "something's afoot" feeling deep inside. Funnily enough, it's quite common for me in my pregnancies, to have a very "absolutely nothing is happening! I don't feel pregnant at all!" feeling between 7 and 9 DPO - I remember Lydia's and Nathan's being like this, but I'm sure some of the others were too.
I am mildly crampy on and off again today. Sometimes the crampy feeling is quite sore, but it really only lasts for little bursts (minutes) and then goes off, and comes back again later. It's across the whole of my lower abdomen between my hips (just above my pubic bone) but it doesn't feel like period pain, quite. It does radiate through to my lower back which is giving me backache more than usual at the moment. I have a sensation that I can't describe in words, it's physical but there's no actual sensation description. In the pit of my abdomen I feel like... something is going on. I would say it's like a sensation of a slightly weighted ball in there, but without the feeling of shape definition that a ball has (I told you I couldn't describe it, lol!). Sometimes I feel uncomfortable like I slightly might need to have a BM, but it's not in the right place, it's in front of that - I am guessing it's uterine in nature, and hopefully pregnancy related! :) I have that sensation right now actually.
One thing I usually have by now if I'm pregnant, is some sort of breast symptoms - I think? Maybe it's a bit later with some of my pregnancies... Anyway I have none of that so far. Yesterday or the day before it was sore to nurse, but it's not too bad now. Elijah and Lydia are breastfeeding CRAZY much. Or asking to, even if I say no. Lydia has been a little more whiney and clingy today and yesterday, than she usually is. All my little nurslings have done that when I was newly pregnant, so I'm taking that as a good sign! ;)
I still have a ridiculously sweet tooth and yearnings for high fat, high sugar food! (I say this whilst eating my second slice of chocolate cheesecake of the day! ;) ) I have no nausea, and my appetite is good. I am still more irritable than usual, but it must be better than it was, because the last few days have been much more manageable. I was super irritable from 2-5DPO, exactly the same as one or two of my other pregnancies, and then I had a break for a few days and then another bout of irritability. In other pregnancies I was "insanely irritable" (!!) at different times, but all in the same kind of time frame (eg. 4-6DPO).
Neil phoned me today from work, to see what my temp was! :) I told him my chart was triphasic, and he sounded excited! He said, "So you think it's a boy?" and I said I only had one day of protein craving (which made me think maybe I was pregnant with a boy), but nothing since, so who knows. He said, "I was kind of hoping it might be a girl... for Lydie's sake at least!" ;) It would be nice for her to have a sister, and I would LOVE that for her! But brothers are wonderful, especially baby brothers! :D I have prayed and prayed for another daughter, but I will be overjoyed with a son. I suddenly was concerned about something for the first time though - the boys have now had the experience of a baby girl, and they are absolutely besotted! They frequently (especially the oldest 3) comment that it would be so lovely if we had another baby girly, because Lydie is so lovely, and "TWO baby girlies would be so sweeeeet!" :) I feel the same! I hope so much that if we have a boy, the children won't be disappointed. They've never been anything but thrilled and excited about each of our babies on the way - gender has never been an issue for them. This time, though, if it's a boy, maybe they'll say they wish it was a girl... I think that would make me feel sad to hear, even if I totally understand, because I'll be carrying that little boy that they're wishing away, and will kind of "feel it" for him... Silly, and probably hormonally so, but anyway! It just occurred to me today, that's all.
One of the first things Neil did when he got home (late - he had to stay late tonight to fix a problem, urgh! Poor man worked 11 hours, with a 2 hour drive either side!!) was to stroke my cheeks to see if my skin was "weirdly soft" (something I chart, because it's a sure sign for me). He is my official skin tester! :P Anyway, he said, "Hmmm... not yet, but getting there!" :)
Oh! One other thing that is really pregnant of me, is that I am absolutely out of puff going up the stairs, or trying to talk on the phone and walk about the house at the same time! I know that sounds daft, but even this early in my pregnancies, that's one thing that's common to all of them. I get out of breath really quickly, and I usually notice it first when I find myself out of breath at the top of the stairs. I didn't yesterday (I remember going up at a jog and feeling fine at the top, and thinking, "Hmmm, not breathless then!" before going to do whatever it was I was up there for!), but today I went upstairs for something and was SO EXCITED to be puffing for air at the top! When Neil phoned me today, the kiddies were being noisy around me, so I closed the living room door and walked about in the hallway and kitchen while talking to him. Again, SO EXCITED (and I told him so!) that I was having to pause in things I was saying to catch my breath properly! :D Eeeeee, whatever happens, this is so pregnant of me! I feel properly pregnant right at this time! Whatever happens... I look out of the window and see blossom and flowers and bright green new leaves, and birds, and just NEW LIFE everywhere, and it makes something inside me leap for joy because as well as just observing it, I feel that I am actually participating in it this year! :) Such blessing!
Well, I think I had better go to bed. It's way too late, and I am tired. I am not yet "pregnant tired"... we'll see how things go. I can't wait to find out my temp in the morning, and I will go from there. If it's up, I MAY test, but I am not sure... I have had a very stark white negative test at 9DPO with Samuel's pregnancy, and I was so discouraged that I didn't bother testing at 10DPO, but when my temp was still up at 11DPO I tested and got a positive! :) So even if I am pregnant, and I test tomorrow, I may not get a positive. So maybe I'll wait... Maybe. I have very bad willpower when it comes to these things, so maybe not, lol! ;) If my temp drops that will save me the decision.
I wrote a post at my arthursmummy blog, at LAST!!! It has the family photo that I posted here, and another one from this month that doesn't have Neil in it (he was taking the photo). I love that one because my littles look so precious, and I love seeing their heights since they are standing. :) Love my baby girly looking so grown up and adorable too! Otherwise it's just a pre-cursor to the posts I plan to write, with a bit of an update on our house move and such. If you're interested, that is. :)
I will update tomorrow! Thanks for the comments (and ELLA!!!! SO EXCITED!!!!!! :D )