If you’ve been trying to get pregnant without any success, each month can be filled with anticipation, anxiety and, unfortunately, disappointment. For couples that have been at it for a while, the couple of weeks between the baby dance and the time a pregnancy test will give you an accurate result can be just simply excruciating.

Here are a few tips to get you through the two-week waiting period:

1. Don’t get hung up looking for pregnancy signs. Just because you ate a bad burrito and felt nauseous in the morning doesn’t mean you’re pregnant. Yes, your body is going to let you know when you’re pregnant. However, it takes a little bit of time. Especially if you’ve been trying for a while, you can start to think that every little feeling or flutter is a sign that you’re pregnant, and it may or may not be so.

2. Stay busy. Find something to do. Time crawls to a standstill during these two weeks, to be sure. It’s like the night before Christmas, and you’re not sure if you’ve been good enough for Santa to bring you a present or whether you’ll find a lump of coal in your stocking. Fill in your calendar to take your mind off it.

3. Give yourself permission to be a little anxious. Check your BBT chart once a day, or get out your calendar each night and count how many days before you can take a test. Don’t spend all day doing it, though. Give yourself 15 minutes or so in the morning or the evening (or both, if you must).

4. Don’t take tests too early. Even if you are pregnant, taking a test a week before your period is due is only asking for disappointment. The odds of getting a positive before you’re late for your period are tiny. Way tiny. Too tiny to even consider. Just wait it out.

5. Relax. Pamper yourself a bit. Use stress management techniques. Treat yourself to a spa day, or listen to some light Jazz for an hour or two. Keep your stress level managed and you’ll feel less anxious overall.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 15th, 2010 and is filed under Trying to Conceive.