AF Question

[Anonymous]

TMI warning

We're TTC. I had a week of brown spotting (instead of AF) and then a week of red, normal AF. This hasn't ever happened. On about day 5 of the brown spotting, I took a pregnancy test which was negative.

Does any of this mean anything? It's just so strange that this spotting/AF lasted for 2 weeks. Could it have been a chemical pregnancy? There has been lots of cramping and lots of blood, whereas I normally have extremely light, short periods and never any cramping.

Also, when should I say that the period started for charting purposes?

[Anonymous]

Day 1 of your cycle is the first day of red flow.

If you got a negative on a HPT, it wasn't a chemical pregnancy.

As for the brown spotting, it could be several things...you may have irritated your cervix, you could have a cyst, it could be from lower progesterone levels during your luteal phase. It's impossible to know without talking to a doctor. I also get a few days of brown spotting before my period starts, but my luteal phase is normal (14 days) and I've had 2 doctors tell me it's nothing to worry about. See what your body does next month -- if it happens again for a week, you might want to talk to a doctor about getting your progesterone levels tested. There are also progesterone creams that you rub into your skin that you could use during the LP (provided you are *certain* that you ovulated) to support your progesterone levels. But more likely than not, it was just an "off" cycle and your hormones were a bit out of whack. See what happens next month. Hopefully you get a BFP!

[Anonymous]

the month i got pregnant, i spotted each of the 13 days between ovulation and a positive pregnancy test. it had never happened before. midwives were like, maybe it was hemmherhoids? but it wasn't -- i know where that blood was coming from.

since you had red, normal AF and a negative test, i don't think you were or are pregnant. i have no idea why you spotted, but i read a lot about it when i was trying to figure out why i was spotting. basically, there are lots of reasons people spot and none of them are cause for any excitement or concern.