6 Simple Tips for the Dreaded Two Week Wait

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One of the first tests of patience for a soon-to-be mom is what we call the two week wait. It’s the roughly 2 week span between ovulation and your next expected period. This is that anxious gray area where you are too early to test and where all sorts of emotions emerge. If you are trying to get pregnant, this is where the fear of failure clashes daily (probably more like hourly) with the hope for good news. The what-ifs don’t stop. What if we have to try again? What if I am pregnant? What if, what if, what if…

Pregnancy Symptoms

If you are impatiently awaiting the day that you can finally test, you may have already starting looking up pregnancy symptoms. Guess what? A lot of them are very similar to period symptoms. Fatigue, bloating, irritability, etc. These are the same symptoms that happen every month between ovulation and menstruation.

Get Busy and Stay Busy

There’s nothing worse than standing around waiting for something to happen without knowing if it will. Remember the night before Christmas growing up? This is basically the adult version of that. A watched pot never boils. Figure out something to do that engages your mind and distracts you from thinking about you-know-what.

Find a new show to get into- Binge something interesting. Catch up on something you already started.
Plan a night out with dinner and a movie- Take future dad out for a night on the town. Go have fun together. No alcohol for mom, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get a kick out of letting dad get buzzed.
Clean house- It’s not going to get any easier to clean for the next 9 months, so now is the time to get it done.
Take up a new hobby- Now is a great time to learn something new and fun to do. Bonus points for something that requires you to be inside and sitting. You will probably be doing lots of that in the coming months. How about knitting or crocheting some new baby clothes?
Find a book
Grab a coloring book
Snuggle with the resident furball- Dogs and cats make for great pals during this time.
Take a nap

Go for a Walk

Light exercise is good for relieving stress and taking your mind off of things. Keep it light as strenuous activity may hurt your fertility. It can be around the block, in the mall, in the park, in the woods. Anywhere you feel relaxed or engaged.

Start a Journal

Writing can have many benefits. It gives your brain a chance to process and understand your thoughts. You may be able to work through any bad thoughts this way. Ask yourself a question and see what kinds of answers you come up with. If you have questions about your body or health without answers, talk to your doctor. Documenting your thoughts, feelings, and daily observations may help you figure out patterns and conditions or make for great content on a blog 🙂

Make Some Time To Worry

With all the things you will be doing to avoid worrying, it’s still important that the worrying gets processed in a healthy way. Those thoughts and emotions are still lingering somewhere in your head. We’re staying busy to not think about it, but subconsciously your brain is still doing some worrying.

To simply stop worrying probably isn’t humanly possible. Instead, allow your brain to do what it needs to do a few times a day. Give yourself a much-needed worry break. Let yourself indulge in all the worry you need to for a few minutes a few times a day. Check your signs, count the calendar for the Nth time, or cruise the web forums for whatever you want. Whatever has been bottled up all day. It’s time to release it at a scheduled time. Go a little crazy for 30 minutes. When that time is up, shut it down and get back to distracting yourself.

Save Some Pregnancy Tests

Taking multiple tests before your period is due probably won’t get you any useful information. The tests likely won’t pick up on the pregnancy hormone beta-hCG before your period is expected. You will likely get a false negative simply because the tests are not sensitive enough to catch low levels of beta-hCG. In this case, you would be pregnant and still get a negative test and all the disappointment and frustration to go with it.

So what can you do to avoid this? Wait. Wait until at least a day past your missed period, preferably a few days. The longer you wait, the better the quality of the positive test.

Final Thoughts

I know how anxious the two week wait is. I’ve been through it twice with my wife. It’s a waiting game. There’s no way around it. Take the time to process your thoughts. Take care of yourself and your partner. Reach out to friends and family for support. This isn’t the time to be alone- and you don’t have to be.