welcome back everyone last week we talked all about optimizing natural
fertility so if you missed any of those great tips about getting
pregnant fast go back and check out episode two
which means this week we are on week three of our 40-week pregnancy journey
and we're going to be talking about everything that happens after ovulation
fertilization the embryo's journey implantation and the dreaded
two-week weight make sure you stay tuned at the end of this episode we're going
to take a pregnancy test we're both really excited about that part but in
cases your first time meeting us we're both doctors documenting our own trying
to conceive and hopefully our own pregnancy journey
sharing some expert medical information along the way
i'm sarah i'm an ob gyn i'm kurt a pediatrician
and we are the doctors the organ
so today is week three in our week by week guide to
everything that's happening in pregnancy from the doctor's side of things this 40
week series is going to cover everything in terms of babies
development and pregnancy labor and delivery in addition to all
that we're also going to be sharing what's going on in real life
the books we're reading things we're doing to prepare and other things we're
learning as hopeful soon to be parents we're going to find
out if all that advice we've been giving patients over the years is going to
stack up and stay tuned at the end of this
episode we are going to take a pregnancy test after our very own two
week wait yeah last week we talked all about ovulation
tips to get pregnant fast but what about after all that effort
what happens next so in other words this week we're going
to be talking about during that two-week waiting period
after ovulation before you can take a pregnancy test
so the two-week wait is brutal uh the days kind of just crawl
by and you're waiting and waiting and waiting and i'm feeling my boobs to see
if i'm feeling any changes and i'm looking for body changes
and googling all sorts of things i'm in ob gyn and i'm googling these forums on
when people got their first pregnancy positive pregnancy test and
i'm googling what people's early pregnancy symptoms were and
looking at things about implantation bleeding and it just makes you crazy
and then you have another two week wait because you weren't pregnant the first
time and then you have another one and i'd say by the third one i was convinced
i would probably never get pregnant um and i know that these things are all
normal so it's a crazy process and
that's where we're at which means that we're going to talk about the very first
meeting of sperm and egg and that journey and development of a baby embryo
so around day 14 of the menstrual cycle the ovary releases an egg
and that is called ovulation that is that big event that you are trying to
time sex with to optimize your chances of getting pregnant
after that egg is released the fallopian tube sweeps around the ovary and picks
up that egg in about two to three minutes
and then pulls it into the upper end of the fallopian tube and there is where
that egg and sperm meet usually within 24 hours of the egg being released
that that fertilized egg hangs out in the upper end of the fallopian tube for
about three days before making an epic three-day journey
down the tube to the uterus this first six days
however isn't just about making a journey from
the ambulance to the uterus during this time the fertilized egg is
actually maturing growing and dividing growing and dividing going from two
cells to four cells to eight cells until it's a 64 cell blastocyst
which at that time is already starting to differentiate in between the part
that is the placenta and the part of that is baby over the
week after that there's a complex series of events that occurs
as this gets ready for implantation implantation occurs usually around day 9
but could be anywhere from day 6 to day 12. it is also around this time
of implantation that that outer layer of cells of the blastocyst start secreting
human chorionic gonadotropin or hcg and that is the hormone that you've been
waiting for because hcg is what is detected by a pregnancy test
hcg can be detected in the blood as early as eight days after fertilization
and that level just keeps growing and growing until it's able to be detected
in a urine around 10 to 14 days after fertilization
and that's what you're picking up on your home pregnancy
test okay let's talk about pregnancy tests
some people say wait till you're missed period some people start testing
on post ovulation day eight that with me i just couldn't wait and started peeing
on a stick as soon as i thought there was a chance
that there was hcg in the urine um so there's a variety of
tests if you're going to test early this is a the one i use because it
detects an hcg level of like six to ten um there are
the digital ones that have a digital readout that say pregnant or not
there's the triple pack where one is an early test one
is done in 60 seconds and then one's digital um
they're all super expensive and so by my second or third two week wait i
said we just can't pay for that and so i found these wandfo
six days sooner on the lovely amazon i will put a link for them below
um and they are little strips it comes in a pack of
25 tests and they detect an hcg of 10. so this is how to pregnancy test early
on a budget having done all this testing in early
testing i will say the one downside to starting to test
early is that you get that negative on post ovulation day eight and then you
get a negative on post ovulation day 12 and then you get another negative and
then you get your period and it was just so many days of kind of being let down
that it can be really hard and so you are
going to have to decide what is best for you and what
your heart can handle in this process so we want you to know
that even though the building anticipation you may be feeling during
this two-week wait can border on torture there's a couple of things you can keep
in mind that might make it a little bit easier
the pregnancy hasn't really stuck until six to eight days after the sperm meets
the egg and then after that there's still a few
more days until the pregnancy hormone gets to a level that's detectable on
your home pregnancy test right knowing all this for us having made it a
bit more exciting as we are rooting the process on
uh every two week journey we went through and also
made it a bit more exciting knowing when test day was coming
so stay tuned we are going to take a pregnancy test here at the end of our
two-week wait right after this and please keep in mind you may have to
endure a few of these two-week weights before you get your positive pregnancy
test and that is very normal so we're back we're on month
three of trying one three post ovulation day number eleven eleven
eleven um and we're gonna see if uh this month was the month
fingers crossed more disappointment or maybe some excitement
um i think neither of us are that optimistic this month for whatever
reason um partially because sarah was negative
yesterday when she tested without me um but we'll see what happens today
yeah is it time can you walk now we can look now okay he's like
you can look sure how am i gonna look look
is that a fake one this is not a drill this one's real this one's real you're
kidding no you're not kidding no
there's two lines this month no way
do you have to keep recording i mean i thought it would be really funny to get
this live because i knew he would cry anyway well
that's exciting that's exciting i didn't think that was
gonna happen how does it make you feel really scared um and excited and nervous
and um we'll find out now we get to see what
happens we're hoping it sticks yeah
things can happen a lot of things can happen one in four clinically recognized
pregnancies ends with miscarriage and this
is not clinically recognized yet we would be three weeks and four days along
at this point so cool way to really bring the excitement
level up for this moment so uh obgyn brain just doesn't shut off
anyway there's two lines that's fun oh yeah yeah yeah
there's also this one you what did you do these did you know this
did you know this yeah you knew today yeah
you're such a beard i may or may not have tested this morning while kurt was
at work he is on call this weekend and um
i thought it was too early i didn't think it'd be positive but i take those
stupid little tests every day and actually yesterday i thought it was
starting to turn positive on that little strip but i
thought i was imagining it i was like no that's just an evaporation
line i'm making this up i always reposted it it was very much
what they call a squinter um well yeah because i
sent pictures to mel and she was like take another one
so anyway well uh the tests say pregnant i probably can't read that out of focus
but anyway um i guess we've got um 38 weeks to go
so uh we'll see you next week
surprise
we're doctors but not your doctors anything we've said in this video is for
education or entertainment purposes only it is not
medical advice any specific medical questions you have
should be directed to your provider