Implantation bleeding or your early period?

What is implantation bleeding? and how do you know how it looks or feels?

Imagine this scenario, you are trying to have a baby, desperate to conceive. Your period is due in about a week. You’ve been feeling pretty cramps all morning, you go to the bathroom and there it is, blood! Now it has started again. So you write it down in your journal as an early period. and we look forward to next month.

During the next two weeks, you begin to feel fatigued, you are tired, and yet you don’t know why. You may feel a little nauseous, with a stuffy nose.

All of these symptoms may be a sign that your last ‘period’ was actually an implantation bleed. Did it occur between a week and a few days before your period expiration date? Was the bleeding light enough instead of a normal “flow”? Was the color the same as your normal menstrual blood? Implantation bleeding normally produces pink or brown blood, more like a slight discharge or spotting than a normal period. How long did the bleeding last? A few hours, a couple of days?

If the bleeding has progressed to a full menstrual flow, then it is highly unlikely that it is implantation bleeding. You may have had your period a few days before. Although some women are known to experience a period every month of their entire pregnancy!

Now link any other feelings or symptoms you may have.

• Mild to moderate headaches.
• A cramping sensation in the lower abdomen, similar to menstrual cramps.
• Nausea.
• Stuffy or stuffy nose.
• Sore or tender breasts
• Tiredness.
• Dizziness or fainting

These are just a few of the many early pregnancy symptoms that you may feel after the pregnancy implantation bleeding has occurred. On the other hand, some women do not feel any symptoms.

Without even realizing it, your body could be preparing for the most incredible 9 months of your life.

Why does implantation bleeding occur?

If you have sex at the time of ovulation and the egg is fertilized. It will travel down the fallopian tube to the uterus. Then it will be implanted in the endometrial tissue. This is the lining of blood that grows in the uterus. This causes a small part of the endometrial tissue to separate from the wall of the uterus and flow out. Implantation in the uterus will occur within 6 to 8 days after ovulation, if the egg has been fertilized.

Implantation bleeding from pregnancy is not a problem, it will not affect the embryo. Not all women will experience this extremely early pregnancy bleeding either, only around 20-30%.

Usually it is too early to do an implantation pregnancy test. Hormone levels will remain fairly stable. So it’s just a matter of waiting and keeping those fingers firmly crossed.