Sunday 17 August 2014

TTC in the age of (mis)information

The whole process of trying to conceive, for those of us who have to plan and monitor our bodily functions in the hope of catching that elusive egg, is full of questions, doubts, and mysteries.

It should be that having access to more information about how our bodies work and how conception occurs should make the process easier, and perhaps in some ways it does. In other ways, all the information so readily available at our fingertips seems to do nothing more than fuel the TTC craziness.

When I last posted I was 12 dpo. I had tested earlier in the day and got a bfn. Right, I thought, only two days till AF is due, I can wait it out. The following day, having had a slight bit of spotting, I tested again. Another bfn. Now, at this point, I KNEW we were out for this month. Sitting alone in the house a few hours later I pulled out my phone and searched "BFP after BFN at 13dpo" What SHOULD have come up is a matter of fact explanation that, at this point, most tests would pick up a pregnancy and most women get reliable results from these tests. What did come up was far different.

I saw board after board, page after page, full of women asking the same question and reading about other women who got their BFP at 14, 15 or 16 dpo. Women who never got a positive home pregnancy test no matter how far along they were when they tested, etc.

Then I searched about spotting at 13dpo and if it could be implantation bleeding. Same thing.

It really is disheartening. What I was looking for was confirmation of my gut instinct. What I found instead was false hope.

Will it stop me searching in the future? Not a chance. I know there is valuable and reliable information out there. Will I steer away from certain pages and message boards? I can guarantee it!

I'd love to hear from others who have had the same struggle with information overload. Do you have a story to share?

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