Early Detection of Conception

So I'm still focused on symptoms, but perhaps less so today, 8 DPO (days post ovulation), as they don't seem as prominent. I'm peeing a bit less frequently and breast tenderness has decreased some. At the same time, I'm still noticing unusual things: my toes/feet keep cramping up, I'm really spacey, have shortness of breath, and have a lot of crampy feelings in my abdomen. Another woman and I on FF are both talking about feeling so many symptoms, almost like "knowing you're pregnant" just days after ovulation.

This got me thinking: How frequently do we actually concieve but the embryo fails to implant succesfully? Is this really common?

And then I found out something fascinating: the earliest sign of pregnancy can be measued JUST 48 HOURS after conception! There is a protein called "Early Pregnancy Factor" believed to be triggered by another chemical secreted by the conceptus almost immediately. It's presence can be tested for with the "rosette inhibition assay" just 48 hours after conception. Wow! A TTC's dream...get rid of the whole 2ww!

Given this fact, it is no wonder so many women "know" they're pregnant and have pregnancy type symptoms BEFORE implantation (7-10 DPO). Their bodies are already well aware of the pregnancy and are going into action. It would also explain why in some cycles women really do feel pregnant but never get a positive pregnancy test: it's quite possible they had symptoms of conception but implantation was unsuccesful.

Here's an interesting study on the topic of EPF and the detection of pregnancy before implantation:

Time of implantation of the conceptus and loss of pregnancy:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10362823
(Bottom line: just over 60% of women who concieved went on to have succesful implantation and clinical pregnancy.)

My thinking for this cycle, since we had not started trying in earnest (not until March was the plan), is that I while I really did not think we would/could get pregnant this cycle, I do suspect conception was somehow succesful given my over-abundance of symptoms. The real question now is whether the embryo will implant succesfully. The only way to know is to see whether HCG is produced and becomes detectable in the next few days with an HPT. Of course, I'll never know for sure if I'm right...not unless I could get someone to give that test to detect EPF!!

I'll be POAS like a mad women for the next several days, guaranteed, at any rate!