July 2026.

Saturday, July 25, 2026

Yesterday I finally had my follow-up call with my fertility doctor after emailing her about all of the spotting I'd been having since stopping my first stimulation cycle.
She wasn't concerned.

She explained that the bleeding made sense considering what my body had just been through. I had started stimulation medications, taken them for several days, and then abruptly stopped when we canceled the cycle. Between starting all of those hormones and then suddenly coming off of them, my body was essentially just confused.

It was reassuring to hear that nothing unexpected seemed to be happening.

She also walked me through the plan for my next cycle.
This time, instead of going directly into Menopur and Follistim like I did during the first attempt, I'm supposed to start with Lupron for two days. Then, on the third day, I'll add the stimulation medications. My reservation for the next cycle is scheduled for early August.

Because for the last few weeks, that's basically what I'd been doing.

I had been bleeding on and off, but barely. Most of the time I wouldn't have known it was happening unless I went to the bathroom. Sometimes there would be a little blood when I wiped. Sometimes maybe a drop while I peed. It never felt like an actual period.

And I wasn't expecting one yet. Based on my normal timing, I thought my next period would be closer to August 9th or 10th.

Then yesterday afternoon, everything changed.

I had just gotten out of the shower and was standing in my closet getting dressed when I suddenly felt that unmistakable sensation of blood coming out.
I immediately threw on underwear and ran to the bathroom.

Bright red blood.
Okay.
Maybe this was actually my period.

I put on a light panty liner and decided to go for my walk anyway. I figured I would be fine.
I was not fine.

During the walk I felt that horrible little gush feeling more than once, but because I'd spent weeks having random spotting, I still wasn't completely convinced anything dramatic was happening.

By the time I got home, about forty five minutes later, I had bled through the liner, through my underwear, and onto one of my favorite pairs of light blue jeans.
So much for spotting.

I changed and put in a small tampon. Within about two hours, that was already full too. When I took it out, there was more blood on the toilet paper and pad underneath it.

And suddenly I had a new question: is July 25 cycle day 1?

Sunday, July 26, 2026

The bleeding continued today, and it's definitely heavier than what I'm used to.

I went through a regular tampon this morning faster than I normally would and eventually switched back to a pad.

Strangely, part of me feels relieved.
For weeks I've been trying to interpret every tiny bit of spotting and wondering what my body was doing after the canceled cycle. This, at least, feels definitive.

Something is happening.
Maybe my body is finally resetting itself after all of the starting and stopping.

But there's another part of me that doesn't know what to do with it yet.
I don't know if yesterday officially counts as Cycle Day 1.
I don't know if having my period this early changes my August reservation.
I don't know whether the Lupron protocol starts sooner now or whether everything stays exactly as planned.
And I don't know whether this is just another weird aftereffect of stimulation or the actual beginning of the next attempt.

One thing I'm realizing through this process is how quickly ordinary things stop feeling ordinary.
Before fertility treatment, getting my period early would have mostly been annoying.
Now I'm standing in my bathroom looking at a bloody pad thinking: does this change everything?

So I emailed the clinic and got a response: yes — July 25 counted as Cycle Day 1.
Based on that, my estimated next cycle start date moved to August 17, with a built-in grace period of about a week on either side.