Early period? Or something else?

[MsKitty84]

So I'm really confused. I'm one of those women with the evil, irregular periods. Generally a 31-day cycle, though I've been known to go 7-12 days late as often as twice a year or so. I'm never, ever early. We are not TTC but I don't use hormonal birth control. I've never had break-through bleeding in my life.

OK, so I woke up in the middle of the night with cramps, gas (ugh!), loads of mucus (also ugh) and bright pink-red bleeding. Five days early for my period. Complete surprise. I'm usually medium to heavy, 4-7 days, with my first day light, second and third days very heavy, and then trailing off after that. I'm on my third morning, still bleeding, but it's been super light, for me, the whole time (just a little bit on pads; I really only notice when I go to the restroom, but there's plenty of blood then). The first day was heaviest. I never get all this mucus either, so kinda weirded out by that. (very messy???) And it's still this bright pinkish red, not dark like a normal period.

I know this can be caused by early ovulation, so I'm prepared to write it off as a weird period, and nothing more, but curious whether I should take it more seriously. Have any of you experienced implant or first-trimester bleeding? In addition to the odd timing, I've got a sore throat, runny nose, persistent headache, shakiness, nausea, bloating, sore lower back, painful breasts, insomnia (but exhausted at night, like I've started yawning around 7:30 or 8 and I'm usually a night owl). Also been alternating between giddy, crabby and weepy. Oh, and people have started asking me if I'm pregnant. However. I had blighted ovum a couple years ago. And with that I had no weird bleeding, heightened sense of smell and major food aversions. I can't smell anything right now, so I'm not sure what to think.

[Clysta]

Congrats and good luck!!

[MsKitty84]

Huh. Well, I done shocked myself. It's positive!
Still don't quite believe the results so will be retesting in a week or so to make sure it's all hunky-dory.

[MsKitty84]

Thanks. I figured it was too early to test, but plan to in a few days. HPTs  have never worked on me this early in the game. I'm not even due for a couple days still. Bleeding pretty much stopped afternoon of day 3 (dropped to very light spotting last night and stayed that way). Based on my past experiences, I would've said any blood meant zero baby, but apparently first-trimester spotting can happen even if you've never had it with a previous pregnancy. So right now it's just weird.

Yeah I know some of it sounds/feels like a bug, although that's confusing in and of itself, since apparently women are often expected to get cold-like symptoms in early pregnancy? Knock on wood, nobody else in my house is or has been sick.

[Clysta]

Personally, it doesn't sound like implantation bleeding. Few women actually have this, and if they do it is maybe a spot or two of blood and nothing more. I personally know dozens of women who have had spotting/bleeding in early pregnancy, though I myself have not.

Some of your symptoms sound flu/cold problems, though symptoms in general are misleading and don't mean too much overall. Have you taken a pregnancy test at all? If not, I would say now would definitely be a good time to use one. Make sure to use first morning urine and a pink dye test is recommended. If this is negative, (or positive!) make an appointment with your doctor for blood testing and/or prenatal care. Good luck and keep us updated on what happens!

[MsKitty84]

Also, the cramps are gone! I just had them for a couple hours the first day, which is really, really odd.