The Two-Week Wait: How to Cope With the Longest Two Weeks of Trying to Conceive

The two-week wait has an incredible ability to make every single day feel about three days long.

Whether you’re trying to conceive naturally, have had fertility treatment or you’re waiting after an embryo transfer, that space between “maybe” and “I’ll know soon” can feel completely all-consuming.

You promise yourself you won't symptom spot.

Then your boobs feel slightly different.

You won't Google.

Then you're searching “implantation symptoms 7DPO” at 11pm.

You won't test early.

Then suddenly you're holding a pregnancy test four days before your period is due.

I've been there.

And while I can't give you a magic trick that makes the two-week wait easy, there are ways to make those days feel a little less consuming.

Decide how you want to approach testing.

There isn't a morally superior way to take a pregnancy test.

If testing early helps you feel more prepared, that's okay.

If seeing a negative before you absolutely need to would make the wait harder, protecting yourself from that is okay too.

Rather than having the “Should I test?” debate with yourself every morning, it can help to decide in advance when you plan to test.

And if you change your mind? That's okay too.

You're navigating uncertainty, not sitting an exam.

Try not to give every symptom a meaning.

This is SO much easier said than done.

During the two-week wait, suddenly everything feels significant.

A cramp.

A headache.

Feeling tired.

Feeling emotional.

Feeling absolutely nothing and then worrying about why you're feeling absolutely nothing.

Your brain is looking for certainty because you desperately want to know what's happening.

When you notice yourself disappearing down the symptom-spotting rabbit hole, try asking:

“Do I actually have new information right now?”

Sometimes the answer is simply no.

And you don't have to solve the uncertainty before it's possible to know.

Give yourself something else to look forward to.

This doesn't mean “just distract yourself.”

You can't distract yourself out of desperately wanting a baby.

But the pregnancy test doesn't have to be the only thing on the horizon.

Plan dinner somewhere you love. See a friend. Start a new series. Go for a walk somewhere beautiful. Book something small for the weekend.

Give yourself little moments within those two weeks that have absolutely nothing to do with fertility.

You are allowed to enjoy something while simultaneously wondering whether you're pregnant.

Be careful with Google.

I say this knowing full well how tempting Google can be during the two-week wait.

Sometimes searching gives us useful information.

Sometimes it gives us another three questions to worry about.

If you notice yourself repeatedly searching the same symptoms and reading forums looking for someone whose experience matches yours exactly, it might be time to put the phone down.

Not because you're doing anything wrong.

Because you're probably looking for reassurance that Google can't actually give you yet.

Find something that calms your nervous system.

For me, yoga, meditation and breathwork became somewhere I could turn when my mind wouldn't stop.

They couldn't tell me whether a cycle had worked.

They couldn't control the outcome.

But they could help me through the waiting.

And sometimes that's enough.

Try a few minutes of slow breathing, a gentle yoga practice, a guided meditation or simply lying somewhere comfortable and allowing yourself to stop doing for a little while.

You don't have to make yourself feel completely calm.

Just give your mind somewhere else to land.

However you're feeling is okay.

You might feel incredibly hopeful during your two-week wait.

You might be convinced it hasn't worked.

You might swing between the two approximately 47 times before lunchtime.

There isn't a correct way to feel.

Being hopeful won't determine the outcome.

Neither will having a bad day, feeling anxious or not managing to “stay positive.”

You don't have to emotionally prepare for every possible outcome at once.

For today, you can just be where you are.

And tomorrow, you can meet tomorrow when it comes.

Need a little extra support through the two-week wait?

Inside Calm Conception, you'll find gentle yoga, guided meditations, breathwork and emotional support created specifically for the different moments of trying to conceive, infertility and IVF — including practices for the two-week wait.

Because sometimes you don't need more information.

You just need somewhere to turn while you wait.

Explore Calm Conception →