Doing my first two week wait completely on my own as a single woman. How do people get through test day by themselves?

I'm 37, single, and had my first donor IUI on Monday. I made this decision on my own over about two years and I don't regret it at all. My mum knows, two friends know, work doesn't.

What I didn't think through is the waiting. Everyone in the threads here seems to have someone to hold the test with them or sit on the edge of the bath, and I'm going to be on my own in a flat at 6am either way. Not looking for sympathy, honestly. I just want practical ideas from anyone who's done it solo. How did you do test day? Did you tell anyone the date?

Not solo, but my husband worked away for one of my waits and I did the test alone. What helped was having a plan for both results. If positive, ring X. If negative, ring Y, who had already agreed to come round and not try to fix anything.

Tell one person the date. Not everyone, one. Mine was my mum, who was under strict instructions not to text me until I texted her.

holly.b said:

I'm going to be on my own in a flat at 6am either way

Holly, welcome, and congratulations on getting here after two years of thinking it through. That is a lot of careful work and it shows in how you've written this.

You don't need anyone sitting on the bath to do test day well. What most people find helps, whatever their situation, is deciding the shape of the day in advance. Pick your test date (your clinic's date, not earlier, because testing early mostly buys more uncertainty), pick the time, and decide who you will tell and how. Gemma's two-plan idea is a very good one, and so is Louise's rule of one person who waits to hear from you rather than chasing. I'd add: book something gentle for later that day that works for either result, a walk, a film, lunch with your mum, so the day doesn't end at 6.05am.

For the days in between, it helps to know what's actually happening and why the signs are so unreliable, which is in the two-week wait. And for the harder days, I've written about coping with the emotional side of fertility treatment, including the support that's out there. Your clinic will also have counselling available, which plenty of single patients use before the first cycle, not only when things go wrong.

This is exactly what I needed. Plan is: test at 7 on the official day, text my friend Rachel either way, and lunch booked with Mum regardless. I've written both plans on a post-it and stuck it inside the bathroom cabinet which is either very organised or slightly unhinged.

Very organised. I wish I'd had a post-it.

Negative this morning. Followed the post-it, texted Rachel, had lunch with Mum, cried in the car park afterwards, which wasn't on the post-it. But it was bearable, which I wasn't sure it would be. Next cycle in a few weeks. Thank you all.