[SPEAKER_00]: This is a quick little fun story time episode of how I found out I was pregnant.

[SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to the all about pregnancy and birth podcast.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm Dr.

Nicole Callaway Rankin's a board certified OB-GYN who's been in practice for nearly fifteen years.

[SPEAKER_00]: I've had the privilege of helping over one thousand babies into this world and I'm here to help you become confident and empowered to have a beautiful pregnancy infer.

[SPEAKER_00]: Quick note, this podcast is for educational purposes only, and it's not a substitute for medical advice.

[SPEAKER_00]: Check out the full disclaimer at darkdonaclewrinking.com for slash disclaimer.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now let's get to it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Hello there, welcome to another episode of the podcast, whether you are a new listener or a returning listener.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm so grateful you're spending some of your time with me today.

[SPEAKER_00]: So in this short episode, I am going to share with you how I found out that was pregnant for both of my sweet girls.

[SPEAKER_00]: All right, so let's go ahead and just hop right in.

[SPEAKER_00]: So our first, for our first, we tried to get pregnant for about six months.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I know that doesn't sound like a long time.

[SPEAKER_00]: And for people who have taken a lot longer to get pregnant, I know that that sounds crazy.

[SPEAKER_00]: But for me, that six months really felt like forever.

[SPEAKER_00]: especially for someone who is like a high achiever, you know, type A and what things to happen when I want them to happen kind of thing.

[SPEAKER_00]: So six months and it was just driving me crazy.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then in addition to it taking longer than I had anticipated, I was also having a lot of pain.

[SPEAKER_00]: So prior to that, I had been on birth control pills for years.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know, maybe like, ten years at least.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, it had been a long time that I was on birth control pill.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I was not used to having painful periods or really any sort of pain at all.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I was having quite a bit of pain during the process of trying, and it was hard to pinpoint when it was happening, and it was just a lot.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I really thought that I might have endometriosis.

[SPEAKER_00]: So endometriosis is a condition where the lining of the uterus instead of going out [SPEAKER_00]: Like, and being shed during the period, it goes backwards.

[SPEAKER_00]: We believe through the philopian tubes and then it settles into the abdomen.

[SPEAKER_00]: And there's really no place for it to go.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it still stimulated in the same way by hormones that the tissue inside the uterus is.

[SPEAKER_00]: So it goes through the cycle of building up and bleeding and causing that inside of the belly.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it can lead to a lot of pain.

[SPEAKER_00]: It can lead to scar tissue.

[SPEAKER_00]: It can lead to challenges getting pregnant.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I thought between me having the pain and then it taking six months, I thought I might have endometriosis.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, we were about to schedule a surgery.

[SPEAKER_00]: I was about to schedule a surgery, a diagnostic laparoscopy.

[SPEAKER_00]: A laparoscopy is a surgery where we look inside of your belly with small cameras and just see what we see.

[SPEAKER_00]: So diagnostic was just, let's just look and see what we see.

[SPEAKER_00]: See if there's any endometriosis that needs to be [SPEAKER_00]: cleaned up, then needs to be taken care of, that may be impacting your ability to get pregnant.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I know we generally say that, you know, wait a year of infertility before you start getting concerned, but I felt like, you know, I'm a little older, even though in hindsight, thirty-two is not old, but I felt older.

[SPEAKER_00]: So, and me again, my type A is like, I just want to look and figure this out and know what's going on now.

[SPEAKER_00]: So we had told my family, you know, we've been trying, it's not working out.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think I'm going to get a surgery and look and see what's going on and kind of go from there.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, loan behold one day, my period was late.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I was like, oh, great, now I'm going to start being a regular on top of everything else, okay?

[SPEAKER_00]: So I really just, we had still been trying, but I just didn't really think, you know, that I was probably pregnant.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I took a pregnancy test just to be thorough.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that joker popped up immediately positive.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I looked at it and I was like, huh?

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, out legitimately, I was so confused because I was just like, am I really pregnant?

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, what is what, huh?

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, it's been taking longer, you know, I'm about to get to the surgery.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I like got up out the bathroom and like walked out the bathroom with the pregnancy test in my hand and just like stuck my hand out and then showed it to my husband like, look at this and he was like, what?

[SPEAKER_00]: Huh?

[SPEAKER_00]: Like are you pregnant?

[SPEAKER_00]: And so then I was like, uh, yeah, yeah, we were just so confused.

[SPEAKER_00]: So yeah, and yes, even though I know we do, I had still confused.

[SPEAKER_00]: So we immediately drove to the dollar store and I got like five more tests and yes, every single one of them was indeed positive.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that child is now about to turn it six, teen.

[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.

[SPEAKER_00]: So story number two, fast forward about a year after that child was born and we were trying to get pregnant with baby number two.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I just thought it would take some time.

[SPEAKER_00]: So as I mentioned, it took about six months for us to get pregnant with our first.

[SPEAKER_00]: And when we tried for baby number two, I was two years older, so I was thirty four, almost advanced maternal age, and by the time of the birth, I would be advanced maternal age.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I just assumed that it would probably take around the same amount of time or longer, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: That seems like logical, even though I know logically every single time is different every single time, it varies, but in my mind, I just seem to make sense.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm older, it's going to take longer because it took a while at first time.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, of course, after just one month of try.

[SPEAKER_00]: One month, I was sitting at my desk at work, eating lunch, you know, texting with my husband, and I said, you know what?

[SPEAKER_00]: My period is pretty late.

[SPEAKER_00]: I wonder what's going on.

[SPEAKER_00]: Again, no clue, no thought, no concept, despite the fact that I am a whole entire OBGYN.

[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, and I knew that we were trying to have a baby.

[SPEAKER_00]: It did not occur to me at all.

[SPEAKER_00]: I am not joking that I could possibly be pregnant and that should take a pregnancy test.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like the thought did not cross my mind even a little bit.

[SPEAKER_00]: So my husband texted me back and he said, um, aren't you an OBGYN?

[SPEAKER_00]: Go take a pregnancy test genius.

[SPEAKER_00]: And now it's like, oh, yes, I am an OBGYN.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, it does make sense.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, it is late.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, I should take a pregnancy test.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I went and grabbed one of the ones in the office that benefits of being an OBGYN.

[SPEAKER_00]: And yes, of course, that thing lit up like a Christmas tree as positive and that child is now about to turn for it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, so just a couple more comments about pregnancy test in general.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're in pregnancy test can pick up extremely low levels of the pregnancy hormone as low as twenty to fifty.

[SPEAKER_00]: So you might get a positive test result from an at home test as early as ten days after conception.

[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.

[SPEAKER_00]: As early as ten days after conception, it's going to be three or four days before your missed period.

[SPEAKER_00]: So you may get a positive test pretty early, depending on the sensitivity of the test.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now if you are really anxious and want to know, test in the morning, your intents to be more concentrated in the morning.

[SPEAKER_00]: So it's going to have a more concentrated level of the HCG hormones.

[SPEAKER_00]: And also those dollar store pregnancy tests work just fine.

[SPEAKER_00]: They work perfectly fine.

[SPEAKER_00]: You don't need to pay a ton of money for pregnancy test.

[SPEAKER_00]: The more expensive ones may pick up lower levels of ACG, I think there are some that even pick up levels as low as ten.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, you are barely pregnant with a level of ten.

[SPEAKER_00]: But those dollar store tests work just fine.

[SPEAKER_00]: Don't feel like you have to spend tons and tons of money on pregnancy tests because they all pick up very low levels of HCG.

[SPEAKER_00]: If one doesn't work one day it'll work in a day or two because the levels rise pretty quickly.

[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, is there anyone else who was surprised to find out when they were pregnant?

[SPEAKER_00]: She made DM on Instagram, a Dr.

Nicole Rankin's, let me know, or shoot me an email through my website and let me know your story of finding out that you were pregnant.

[SPEAKER_00]: Alright, so there you have it.

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[SPEAKER_00]: I am at Dr.

Nicole Rankins and again, I would love to hear your stories of how you found out you were pregnant to.

[SPEAKER_00]: So that is it for this episode.

[SPEAKER_00]: Do come on back next week and remember that you deserve a beautiful pregnancy and birth.