Pregnancy Symptoms with a False Negative Test

Hi A.,

My son is about 7 and starting when he was about your child's age, I can't tell you how many times I thought I was pregnant. I never was. For me, this was largely wishful thinking as my husband only wanted one child and I was always hoping I'd get pregnant accidentally. But I do know that a lot of normal hormone fluctuations can mimic pregnancy symptoms, even PMS. I don't have any technical medical advice or experience here, but my advice would be to relax and accept the pregnancy test results as accurate.

A.

I don't think your pregnant. You had a period since the conception. 27 days between periods in normal.

Out of all the symptoms you described the only one I can remember having with one of my pregnancies was fatigue. Of course this could have alot to do with the breastfeeding and that you're probably not getting a proper night's sleep on a regular basis.

Anyway if you want to be positive, call your doctor and have a test done.

Dear A.,
The doctors told me I could never have children and was so happily blessed when I had my daughter. I'd never had a normal period in my life so I had nothing really to gauge by, but I can't tell you how many times I was certain I was pregnant after she was born and wasn't. Strangely enough, 9 years later when I did get pregnant, it was the very last thing that entered my mind could be making me feel weird.
I think there was plenty of time between possible conception and the blood test to be accurate. I don't know why our bodies and/or minds play tricks on us sometimes, but it's my guess you aren't pregnant. Yet.
If you're not ready for another baby, take precautions, and if you're planning another child just keep trying. Some people want to know practically the minute they are pregnant. I was always of the mind that if you don't find out for about 4 weeks or so, it really makes the 40 week thing not seem so long.
Best wishes to you.

Breast feeding has no effect on hcg hormone, so that would not be the reason for the negative test result. Are you still having symptoms now? I know it's strange, but sometimes you can have those symptoms even when not pregnant. I tried to get pregnant with my son for almost a year and every month I had different pregnancy symptoms and it nearly drove me crazy! If you had only taken home urine tests, I would say maybe you had a very early miscarriage and the hcg never got high enough to register on a home test. However, a blood test detects the smallest amount of hcg, so if that is negative (excluding the possibility of lab error) then you are not pregnant. I'm sorry you're feeling so uncertain and I hope you are feeling back to normal soon!

you are probably NOT pregnant. The breastfeeding hormone (prolactin) should have no effect on the detection of HCG. That said, I would probably test yourself one last time (the previous tests may have been early and your blood and urine levels of hcg could still have been too low for either test to detect).