It turns out that my recent spotting episodes are not a sign of ovulation, implantation or anything abnormal.  My period is back with an unmistakable bang.  Dang!  And I was starting to enjoy not having to bleed every month or so. 

The hubby caught the wind of it last week when I flew into a PMT rage at him for giving me short notice about certain upcoming events, although I still maintain that he asked for it.  It should have been a warning sign that something was amiss.  Oh well, at least now I know why I felt like taking out an axe and bludgeoning the hubby for being so infuriating instead of being the cool customer I know myself to be capable of being…

…”Yeah right,” says the hubby.

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Gavin is now one year and three weeks old and I’m spotting again.  The first time was when Gavin was about ten months.  The second time happened about three weeks ago.  This is the third time.  I have yet to experience a full bleed and I’m wondering if the spotting is just my menstrual cycle being slow to start up again, a sign of implantation, ovulation or something abnormal.  I’ve read that in the first period, there is no egg released, but I haven’t seen anything about how regular or irregular the bleed might be.  Is it normal to still be spotting at what I would presume to be my third period since becoming pregnant?  How many cycles does it take for the menstrual cycle to return to normal?

Yesterday, on the way back from Singapore, I was starting to get a little nauseous from the motion.  I’m sure the question in the hubby’s mind was whether I was pregnant again because he asked me again today whether I was still nauseous.  Haha… he wishes.  Even if I were pregnant again, I doubt the nausea could be related because it is just too early to be having pregnancy symptoms. 

I am a little worried that it might be an ovulation bleed because according to WebMD, ovulation can be accompanied by several days of stringy cervical mucus - which I have been having.  They also say that some women experience a brief period of sharp pain on one side of the lower abdomen (the side where the egg was released) when they ovulate and I recently had a sharp sensation in my abdomen that felt similar to the twinges I felt in my abdomen when I was breastfeeding Gavin in the early days.

Since I haven’t got any other symptoms, I guess we’ll just have to see what happens over the next couple of weeks to see what it all means.

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I’m spotting - does that mean my period is back?  Gavin’s ten months old.  I was sort of hoping my period wouldn’t come back until he was at least a year old.  Not having my period is another one of those additional benefits of breastfeeding - most women who do not breastfeed start menstruating again around two months post delivery, although this can vary between four weeks to six months.  I suppose ten months is still pretty good considering some women who breastfeed can still end up menstruating by six weeks post delivery.  The majority of women who breastfeed generally take longer, some even longer than a year and a half - I wish I were one of those women.  Well, it was nice while it lasted…

In terms of getting pregnant, pregnancy before menstruation has resumed is usually rare.  In most cases the first period is usually anovular (no egg is released), although the longer it takes for menstruation to resume, the more likely it is for ovulation to occur during the first period. 

When I first told the hubby I was spotting, he asked, “Are you pregnant?”  (In case you’re wondering, spotting can also be a sign of implantation, as in when the fertilised egg implants into the wall of the uterus - a sign I somehow missed when I first got pregnant thinking it was an irregular period)  Well, although I think it highly improbable, based on what I’ve just written, it looks like it could be possible.  Now that it’s dawning upon me just how much effort goes into raising a child, I don’t think I’m quite as gung ho about my original plan of having number two when Gavin turns one - try when Gavin turns two or three.

The plan for having two children in close succession was more for the benefit of the kids.  I’ve always thought it was nice growing up with an older brother who was relatively close in age to me.  And if you think number two is a great idea for keeping number one happy, I think the following cartoon that I received from my weekly Baby Center newsletter says it all…

Hope it brought a smile to your face like it did mine…

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