Did I Have a Chemical Pregnancy?

You might have had a weird or late lead up to a period and wondered, could I have been
pregnant? Was that a chemical pregnancy?

When trying to conceive, you’re most likely peeing on a lot of pregnancy tests! And you’re most likely doing it at the earliest possible time in your cycle to potentially see a line, about 10-12 days after ovulation.

If you get a positive very early on but end up having your period within a few days to a week of that positive test, unfortunately, you most likely had a “chemical pregnancy”.

Without getting a positive on a pregnancy test, it is really hard to say if you did indeed have a chemical pregnancy. I wish I could tell you that it feels like X, Y, and Z - but, unfortunately, it usually feels a lot like a regular period.

Outside of your normal period symptoms, you may experience heavier than normal bleeding, which may have dark or blackish clots. But other than that, there’s hardly any other signs because your body did not produce enough of the hormones associated with pregnancy to give you all those pregnancy related symptoms.

If you’re unsure of what’s going on, be sure to call your doctor. A chemical pregnancy can be a sign of underlying issues with your uterine lining, or a sign of PCOS, endometriosis, poor egg quality or low hormone levels.

If you are having multiple miscarriages, please make an appointment with your doctor or a fertility specialist to assess what’s causing them. But overall, most chemical pregnancies are due to mother nature making sure she puts forth the strongest embryos to make the transformation to baby, and unfortunately, that means she “eliminates” any embryos not fit for the journey through your period.

Please know that chemical pregnancies are common but even so, if you’ve experienced one, it’s ok to be sad. You’re allowed to be sad. And know that it’s not your fault so please don’t blame yourself!

While difficult to experience, there is something good to focus on here. You were able to get pregnant! And that means that the egg and the sperm are able to meet, and that they will likely meet again.

When you’re ready to try again, know that you could become pregnant as early as your next cycle.

If you’d like to read more about chemical pregnancies, please check out this educational blog post. You can also view What is a Chemical Pregnancy and What Does A Chemical Pregnancy Feel Like, here.