Cindy Odinga

Every sexually active woman has at one point experienced the horror that is a pregnancy scare. This is when a woman who is not ready for a child believes she is pregnant, but later learns she is not.

<h3>Though extremely common, a pregnancy scare can be the most anxiety inducing experience.</h3>

It doesn't matter whether your period is late or you are not sure if the emergency contraception is working. It’s truly an experience that will try all your patience. What makes it worse is the fact that sometimes the early signs of pregnancy resemble PMS.

You start watching your body with hawk eyes, monitoring even the slightest change.

Feeling nauseous and fatigued are enough to send you into panic mode even though they just might be from a long day at work.

The first rule of thumb is don’t panic!

Seriously, the more you worry the longer you will have to wait for Aunt Flo to show up and that’s exactly what we are trying to stop.

Don’t go over to the internet either, you will only worsen an already nerve wracking situation.

What you want to do is check your calendar. There are many apps which can help you keep track of your menses and even key-in your sexual escapades. Figuring out your last period will help you track when your next period is expected and the correct time to take a pregnancy test.&nbsp;

Don't fixate on the scare. This may be the hardest task yet but as you are playing the waiting game, some distraction will do you good. Take on a task at work or even get yourself to the gym. This is the time to seek dopamine inducing activities to help your mood.

Don't keep it in, talk to someone you trust. It can be a close friend or a medical professional. Either way just talk to someone. It’s also okay to cry it out. Allow yourself to feel all the emotions. It doesn’t make you weak in any way. Crying might even help with some feel good hormones to ease your emotional pain

Lastly, take the damn pregnancy test. It’s natural to want to keep avoiding the truth but the only way to figure out if you’re actually pregnant is taking a test. Pee on that stick, preferably in the morning hours, a week after a missed period. This will guarantee the most accurate results. You don’t want to do it too soon and risk getting a false negative.

Three minutes and sweaty palms later, hopefully, the results are what you wanted.

No matter the outcome, acceptance is the way to go and it’s time to formulate a plan.

If it is just a case of a delayed period you might still want to see a doctor to ascertain the reason.

Don’t forget prevention is always better. You just got out of a torturous experience and you don’t want to go through it again next month.

If you are not looking to get pregnant, use a reliable method of birth control. There are so many choices out there and frankly, this is the best way to avoid a pregnancy scare.

Though extremely common, a pregnancy scare can be the most anxiety inducing experience.

5 things you should never do during a pregnancy scare

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Cindy Odinga

Articles written by the author

5 things you should never do during a pregnancy scare