*Thanks to Jane for the article*
Addicted to HPT’s
(Home Pregnancy Test)©
By Karen Squires
If you laughed at this title, this article may be for you. HPT means Home Pregnancy Test and they are without a doubt, addictive. Alcoholics try to hide their addiction, so do women addicted HPT’s. I know because I’m one of them.
I found HPT’s at the dollar store for, you guessed it, a dollar. I was so excited. I only grabbed one test the first time I saw them. I ran home and used it right away. I got a BFN (Big Fat Negative). Of course I was only 7 days after ovulation so what could I expect.
The next day, after lying to my husband and telling him that I needed to run and get some shampoo, I was back at the dollar store for more. I bought five this time, figuring that if I ran one a day I would have enough to last until 12 days after ovulation. I always get a positive by 11 days after ovulation so I had enough to see if I had a baby in me this cycle. Two days later I had used them all up and was back at the store needing more shampoo. I bought another five tests. I was now 10 days after ovulation. Five more would last me until my next cycle started, which I hoped wouldn’t come.
As I drove home I tried desperately to remember when I had gone to the bathroom last. I needed to hold my urine for at least 4 hours to let the pregnancy hormone build up. I remembered that it had only been about one and 1/2 hours. It was now 10:00 am, I’ll have to wait until 12:30pm. I told myself that when I got home I’d do the dishes, vacuum, dust, paint the bathroom, anything to keep my mind off of running the test. I pulled in the driveway, ran straight to the bathroom, and peed in a cup. Another BFN. Dang it. I have no self control. I’ll have to start all over again.
It’s now 11 am. I have to hold my urine until 3 pm to let the hormone (if there is any) build up again. At 1:30 pm I run another test. BFN! Dang it all to heck! What is my problem. And I get frustrated at my kids not having any patience.
I decide to go to the mall to make sure that I can’t run another test for a few hours. I am tempted to take a test with me to use at the bathroom in the mall just in case I can’t control myself but I remember that I’ll have my five year old with me which would make it hard to run a test there. Off to the mall I go having made it out the door without a test hidden in my purse.
I have now gone most of the day with out drinking as I don’t want to dilute my urine and make what might be a BFP(Big Fat Positive) turn into a BFN by having too much water in my bladder. I am thirsty, frustrated and getting crabbier and crabbier by the minute.
We walk around the mall, me trying to get a peak at the baby and maternity things, but a five year old has no need for those so I don’t even get a fix by doing that. Two hours later we are bored and my son is begging to come home and eat. I look at my watch. I can’t go home yet, I just can’t. I tell my son that I’ll buy him something to eat, get him a toy, anything to stay there a little longer. He sees the desperation in my eyes and agrees to let me buy him a Hot Wheels car and some chicken strips. That uses up another hour. Soon he wants to go home again and no amount of bribing works this time. It’s only been three hours now so I take the long way home. I keep hearing a little voice from the back seat telling me that I’ve gone the wrong way and a tiny finger points to the east telling me to turn that way NOW!
Okay, Okay, we’ll go home.
It’s been three and 1/2 hours and I’m so thirsty that I can hardly swallow. We pull into the driveway, I run into the house, down the hall to the bathroom, and run another test. Another BFN!!! Dang it! Dang it! Dang it all to HECK! Grrrr.
I had ran the rest of the tests by the next day at noon and since it was now 11 days after ovulation and I still hadn’t got my BFP I knew that Aunt Flo and her dog spot would find me soon. On to the next cycle. I am going to have more self control next time.
A few days later I really do need some shampoo and tell dear hubby that I need to run and get some. He gives me a funny look and asks “Didn’t you just get some a few days ago?”
I walk into the dollar store knowing that I’m safe from my addiction for another two weeks but as I walk past the HPT’s to the shampoo I notice that they only have 20 tests left. I panic. What if they are all gone in two weeks, what will I do, where will I go. I grab all 20 tests and head to the cash register, kicking myself all the way there. When I get home I find a good place to hide them, way in the back of the closet.
My husband calls from the shower and asks me for the shampoo. I’m still in the process of hiding the tests and I call back to him, my mind still in an addictive fog, “Shampoo! What shampoo?”
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5 comments
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This is so funny. I was never as neurotic but that lack of self-control I can definitely relate to.
Hi, I’m a daily reader and very occasional poster. I can relate. But back when I was trying to get pregnant the tests cost thirteen dollars – ouch! The “sign” I looked for all the time was tender breasts. And you know if you poke your breasts often enough, checking them, they do eventually get tender!!
By the way I never did get a BFP but I did eventually get two BFBs (big fat babies) via adoption. I know how hard this time of year can be for anyone going through infertility.
Prayers,
Beth
I can definitely relate – and I should really know better! I mean, the earliest that a test is going to be positive will be conception + 10 days.
What I have noticed in my patients is the idea that if the test is negative, they aren’t pregnant. I can’t seem to get through to them that you are pregnant when that sperm and egg get together. I think the ready availability of the cheap quick uring pregnancy test has contributed to the acceptablity of post-coital birth prevention. Think about it.
I thought that I was the only nut-job who dod stuff like this. I buy the EPTs at Costco. They come in a three pack for about $8. Last month I was six days late and was taking them twice a day for about 10 days total. Every one was negative. And each time I just did not believe it, I thought that my urine was diluted or I took it too soon or whatever. You would think after having five kids I would be better at this kind of thing. At least calmer.
Hey ladies,
this is Karen Squires, the author of this article. I just wanted to let you all know that after 8 miscarriages I got a BFP again and this baby made it. She is now 7 weeks old and in the process of waking up to nurse as I write this.
Don’t give up. (Oh, and it took me 16 years to conceive)
Karen