Woman taking a pregnancy test at the end of the two-week waitThe two-week wait. That emotional time between ovulation and menstruation when a woman who is trying to fall pregnant can do nothing except wait. When the two weeks are up, she’ll either have a positive pregnancy test, or her period — both of which outcomes cause huge amounts of emotion.

The wait to see whether she will have a baby or not is probably one of the hardest times in a woman’s reproductive life — especially if she has undergone fertility treatments in order to conceive.

Here are some things you can do to keep busy in the two-week wait — and some things you should steer clear of doing!

How to keep busy in the two-week wait

What to do, or try to do

  • Clean out your wardrobe — all of it, donate what you don’t want or need, and chuck out anything not worth giving to the needy.
  • Clean out your whole house, even! Kitchen cupboards, bathroom, any other rooms filled with clutter — a spring clean even if it’s not spring.
  • Read lots of books — all kinds of books. Re-read your old favourites and find some new favourites — but remember to stay away from sappy, family-related stories so you don’t keep thinking about it.
  • Watch lots of movies — same goes as for books — nothing sappy or family-related! Pick some MA rated, violent, action movies that don’t even feature a child in them.
  • Find some TV shows you’ve never watched, make sure they aren’t about babies or families, get all 4, 6, or even 10 seasons and binge watch them.
  • Make dates with your partner and with friends — get in some quality time and either take your mind off the wait, or vent about it. Either works — and you’ll be out of the house doing it.
  • Plan to run all those annoying errands you never get around to — go on, do it. They’ve got to be done sometime, and menial tasks are a great way to occupy a period of time, say two weeks.
  • Go shopping and buy something that makes you feel good — even if it’s little like lip gloss or nail polish. It’ll pick your spirits up and keep you distracted. This is best done with a friend, so you don’t spend all day just thinking about the wait.
  • Start walking. Just go out and walk around for as long as you want, wherever you want. It’ll keep you a little more sane, and healthy too!
  • Get stuck in to any projects you are behind on because of any time off you’ve had trying to conceive — this can be for work, around the house, or just personal ones for yourself.
READ: How you can avoid ‘infertility overwhelm’

What NOT to do at all, or try not to do

  • Obsess. Try not to overthink or overanalyse things. No matter what you do or what you think your body is doing, you have no way to tell what’s going on until the end of the wait.
  • Test every 5 minutes. You won’t get an accurate result until the two weeks are up, so don’t bother trying. You’ll only end up with either premature disappointment or premature excitement and this can lead to even more heartache down the track.
  • Google symptoms. Google is never your friend when it comes to searching for medical things. Either you’ll convince yourself that you have pregnancy symptoms, and get your hopes up prematurely, or you’ll convince yourself that that weird itch you’ve had for a few days is somehow a symptom of cancer. I’ll repeat, Google is never your friend.

The two-week wait is an extremely stressful and emotionally-charged time. Trying to keep busy in the two-week wait can prove incredibly difficult, but hopefully these tips help, even a little!

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