Podcast EP 33
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[00:00:00] Hey sis, tell me if this sounds a little bit familiar. You know, you nailed your fertile window and you baby danced right around ovulation. You're now in your two week weight. Your boobs are a little bit sore, you're peeing more than regular, and you're absolutely exhausted. Deep down, you don't wanna get excited, but you know that this is it.
It has to be it. You are pregnant this time. You know what happens? You take a test and it's negative or your period shows up the next day. I know that disappointment far too well when you get your hopes up because of all of these symptoms, and it's still a negative pregnancy test, but I want you to know you're not imagining things.
In this video, I am gonna explain and break down why you are experiencing these [00:01:00] symptoms, what is happening within your body, and how to move forward. So if you're ready, let's dive in.
Hi, I'm Sophie Byfield and when I decided I was ready to be a mama, I thought it would be so easy. Get off birth control. Baby dance, like no one's watching. And poof, I was pregnant. But like many of you, that wasn't my story. After months of negative tests, endless treatments, and more supplements than you can count, I realized that getting pregnant isn't about fixing one piece of your fertility puzzle. It's about bringing your whole body. Back into balance so it feels safe enough to conceive. And this is where we focus on what really matters. Healing your whole body so that you can see those two pink lines. Welcome to the Heal to Conceive podcast.
Before we dive into everything, symptom spotting sis, I wanna share with you my most memorable symptom spotted dance. I had just done my very first IUI and in the beginning your girl was super naive and I believed that IUI was gonna change everything for me and it was gonna work on the very first try.
I bought some bacon a couple days later and I started cooking out my bacon 'cause your girl loves her some bacon. I was frying it up and I was, mm, this doesn't seem appetizing. My mind automatically jumped to, oh my gosh, I must be pregnant. There's nothing else that could explain that. The bacon did [00:02:00] not smell good.
I tested so early and was left devastated because it was negative. I was left devastated because it was negative. Your girl's heart was broken. But then I said to myself, wait, this is way too early. The bacon smells like ass. My boobs are super sore, and I am bloated and exhausted. Maybe I needed to wait a little bit longer to test again.
Well, I waited and it was still negative. I symptom spotted, and it was still negative. I was heartbroken. How can everything be perfect with IUI and my body telling me I'm pregnant with sore boobs, upset stomach, bacon, smells like ass bloating and exhaustion. [00:03:00] Your girl was devastated. I would love to say to you that in that moment is when I decided to no longer symptom spot, but it took me a little more longer or a couple more years before I actually stopped symptom spotting.
So let's dive into what is actually happening with your body during that two week wait and why you can feel certain symptoms and still not be pregnant. After ovulation, your body starts to produce progesterone. This hormone is used to thicken the uterine lining. It is a very important hormone in the whole entire process of bringing your baby home or seeing those two pink lines, but this little hormone.
This progesterone is also responsible for bloating, upset, stomach, nausea, sore boobs, diarrhea, [00:04:00] constipation. The list goes on and on. So when people say, I feel pregnant, or This symptom is happening during my two week, wait, am I pregnant? What you're experiencing is a very healthy progesterone search. Now here's the kicker.
Your body does this every single psycho, whether you're pregnant or not, your body is going to rise progesterone to thicken the lining, and then if you are not pregnant, you shed the lining by getting your menses. For some of us, these symptoms feel so much stronger when you're trying to conceive, but is it that they're stronger or that you are paying attention to them more?
And there's one more thing. Around seven to 10 days post ovulation, your estrogen starts to dip. That hormonal shift can cause a whole other set of [00:05:00] symptoms. Like, I'm not feeling well, my mood is off. Um, a little bit of cramping and also trigger the start of your period. So why does it feel like you're pregnant?
Well, sis, I hate to be the one to say it, but your early pregnancy symptoms and your PMS symptoms are twins. They are both driven by progesterone. Your progesterone increases to thicken your lining for implantation, and it does it regardless if you are pregnant that cycle or not. There's no reliable way to tell if you are pregnant by symptoms alone.
Let me share a little story with you. When I got my big fat positive, I had absolutely no pregnancy symptoms. Let me back up a little bit. As I was sharing with you, every single cycle I get some sort of PMS symptom, whether that's bloating, [00:06:00] whether that's sore boobs, whether that's food cravings. I always get something.
Now, this particular cycle, I was almost at the end of my cycle. I was like, I haven't experienced anything. There's been no bloating, no cramping, no sore boobs. I just was thirsty and I took a test and it came back positive. So there's absolutely no rhyme, no reason to. Early symptoms detecting if you're pregnant.
For some people like me, they have no symptoms at all, so I want you to know you were definitely not crazy because things are happening in your body to make you feel like you're pregnant, but you're actually PMS symptoms and I want you to also know that you are not alone. Many of us, your girl included, experience PMS symptoms and actually think that they are pregnancy symptoms.[00:07:00]
I want you to know that feeling these symptoms doesn't mean that there's something wrong with your body. It's actually an indicator that things are doing what they're supposed to do. We wanna know that your progesterone is rising. We wanna know that your lining is getting nice and juicy and thick for implantation, and these symptoms are a way of your body's telling you that things are doing what they're supposed to do, girl.
But I'm gonna be honest with you, when I say I get it, I totally get it. Remember, I was on the journey for four and a half years, and it wasn't until probably year three when I stopped driving myself crazy and stopped symptom spotting. One of the things I talk about inside the tribe with my sisters is.
Do not test, do not symptom spot until you've missed your period. I know that's really, really hard for some people, but it protects your [00:08:00] heart because that big, fat negative can really break your heart over and over again and leave you on this fertility rollercoaster or this emotional rollercoaster that really can destroy your mental health.
So yes, sis. Pregnancy symptoms without being pregnant are real. You are not broken. You're not strange. Your body is just trying to tell you something. Your hormones are shifting and changing like normal. They just match up to the exact same early symptoms of early pregnancy. So to make this absolutely easier on you, I suggest you think of it as my period is coming.
Until it doesn't. That little shift, that little shift in mindset may make this journey a little bit easier. So if this video helped you [00:09:00] looking at your period versus pregnancy symptoms a whole new way, hit that like and subscribe button. 'cause I've got way more fertility videos and trying to conceive videos coming your way.
And remember you've got this sis. You're going to get your two pink lines and when you don't got this, I got you. Baby dust for all.
