If you cramp a week before your period, spot then bleed heavy for two days and spot after are you pregnant?

Hi,
You said your cycle was supposed to be due today (you mean your period, right?), and then later in the paragraph you say that you have what seems like a cycle (again, period) and that you've "only changed your pad twice today".

So...that means you are bleeding, so your period has started, right? Are you asking because you had your hopes up that you were pregnant, that coupled with a different period...you are worried?

How long have you been tracking your cycles on your phone app? I ask, because once women start trying to conceive, sometimes they begin noticing variations in their menstrual period that went unnoticed before.

Please know that it is perfectly normal to have a period that is different from other periods, either by amount of flow (blood), color, duration of period, etc. When to call your doctor about a period is if there is excessive bleeding (soaking more than a pad or tampon every hour), or if a period lasts more than 7 days. Otherwise, a period that is slightly different in color (as long as it is some variation of red, pink or brown) is normal...even if it is different from your normal. Women's periods really do change from cycle-to-cycle, or from year-to-year.

I know it is bad timing for your cycle to be different now....now that you are tracking and noticing every nuance. Pregnancy symptoms are identical to pre-menstrual symptoms, unfortunately, and also are close to other conditions like the flu, cold, or just being stressed or over-tired.

With all of this said...you know your body best, and just keep tracking your spotting and period days. I am not sure if you had been using hormonal contraceptive until recently (how long have you been trying to conceive?), but when women stop using birth control, they can also experience spotting during the next few cycles. Women can also have slight spotting with ovulation (and, when you are on hormonal contraception, you do not ovulate, so you would not have noticed this symptom before).

You can always take a home pregnancy test, but menstrual bleeding indicates that you do not have a viable pregnancy. There are very rare exceptions, but see what happens over the next few days and you will most likely have a confirmed period.

Lastly, do not hesitate to call your doctor's office if you are concerned, or feel free to ask us any follow up questions.

OK...this is the last thing...the phone apps are great at predicting ovulation and fertile periods, but please know they are taking an AVERAGE of ALL women and you can not know that you ovulated on June 4th just by a phone app. Experts say to engage in unprotected sex often, as you can have a very large window of possible fertile times, as the time you ovulate can change from cycle-to-cycle. One month, you may ovulate around the middle of the cycle ("day 14" is usually the given average, although this has nothing to do with individual woman's ovulation dates!!), you can ovulate around "day 8", or you can ovulate around "day 20"...there really is THAT big of a window!

Good luck, and let us know if you have any additional questions!