Timing my FMC's pregnancy

[Catrin Lewis]

I've decided that the third novel in my Architects romantic suspense series will start when my protagonist couple's firstborn is nearly two years old. To that end, I want to determine her date of birth.

I've also decided that she should have been conceived sometime in the course of the second novel, when my protags are on their honeymoon which went to hell once they got involved with a Red terrorist gang. I want them to be able to look back and think of this child as something positive that came out of an otherwise traumatic time.

Going by how I've set up my heroine's monthly calendar/fertile days, there are three opportunities, two just before the crap hits the fan, and one a month later when things have settled down. To raise the poignancy factor, I'd rather the child be conceived during one of the two earlier unions.

Here's the problem: The next day, my heroine is taken hostage and over the next three and a half days is intermittently starved, frozen, and beaten (not in the stomach) by the bad guys. She's a healthy young woman overall, but would a newly-implanted zygote hold on through all that? I'm hoping the answer is yes, but . . .

Yeah, I know. I should ask an OB/GYN. But it's so much more satisfying to float the question here.

 

[JT Woody]

She's a healthy young woman overall, but would a newly-implanted zygote hold on through all that? I'm hoping the answer is yes, but . . .

For some women, just being stressed out at work is enough to cause a miscarriage. But then, you have women who dont even know they are pregnant and do all these risky dangerous things up until the baby's birth (i used to watch the TLC show "I Didn’t Know I Was Pregnant" and its WILD!).
Then there are pregnant Olympic athletes who put their bodies through rigorous training and stress and still deliver healthy babies... and (going dark here), kidnapped victims who gave birth in torturous conditions.
(also, it is YOUR story, so you make up the rules )
So what you have isn't impossible.

 

[CatrionaGrace]

I'd say "yes" is a reasonable answer. In the bad old days before Roe Wade (ahem), desperate women did everything from sit in baths of ice water to jump off tables in an attempt to dislodge an unwanted child. Many, many babies refused to be budged by such measures.

 

[Homer Potvin]

Yeah, you're fine. After three days the baster is barely dry, if you get my drift.

 

[Catrin Lewis]

For some women, just being stressed out at work is enough to cause a miscarriage. But then, you have women who dont even know they are pregnant and do all these risky dangerous things up until the baby's birth (i used to watch the TLC show "I Didn’t Know I Was Pregnant" and its WILD!).
Then there are pregnant Olympic athletes who put their bodies through rigorous training and stress and still deliver healthy babies... and (going dark here), kidnapped victims who gave birth in torturous conditions.
(also, it is YOUR story, so you make up the rules )
So what you have isn't impossible.

Thanks for mentioning the Olympians. My FMC has been training in Krav Maga and has to use it at the crisis point, which would be comparable to the rigor and stress you spoke of.

It just now hits me that when she misses her period during her post-ordeal recovery, she (and the doctors) will just assume it's a reaction to what she's been through. And being in a foreign country at the time, she won't push getting tested. The fact that that Book 2 is set in 1983 may contribute to that.

 

[JT Woody]

It just now hits me that when she misses her period during her post-ordeal recovery, she (and the doctors) will just assume it's a reaction to what she's been through.

yep.
as a former athlete, can say with personal knowledge that high intensity actions does mess with your period. I had 3 practices a day and a track meet every other week. and was on a certain diet. My period was sparse. It wouldnt have surprised me if I just didnt get it that month. or if it was very very late.

When i STOPPED running track and training competitively, and ate regularly.... i started getting it regularly on a schedule
but the year I trained for my most recent Spartan Race (diet, weight lifting, and running), it went back to being sparse which i'd forgotten about, and freaked out until I remembered "oh, you're training again. this is normal"