1. Time: my wait to ovulate is always longer than 2 weeks, whereas my wait to find out if I'm pregnant or not is more like 10-13 days. So while I face the wait to O with an uncertainty of how long I'll be stuck there and an insecurity that I might not O at all, I face the TWW with a certainty that this will not last more than 2 weeks, tops.
2. Symptom Spotting: I seem to be pretty spot on when it comes to "feeling pregnant" or not. So there's not too much mystery by the end of it for me. With Dominic, the increased sense of smell started as early as 6DPO (days post-ovulation), although I didn't realize what it was at the time. A general ickiness, fatigue, and increased appetite started at about 10DPO. By 12DPO I was pretty sure I was either pregnant or getting sick. I tested at 13DPO just to make sure it was safe for me to drink that weekend, and sure enough, it was positive. The second time around, the nausea started as early as 6DPO and the fatigue kicked in at 9DPO. I wasn't too discouraged when I got a negative test on 9DPO, because I knew it was still early. My first extremely faint positive test came on 10DPO. Either way, I'm pretty good at rationalizing that a lot of my symptoms could just as easily be caused by progesterone as pregnancy. That way I don't get my hopes up.
3. The lack of stress: some women stress about whether or not they could be pregnant, but I find the TWW so much LESS stressful. All of the stress is in the beginning of the cycle when every day I'm checking my temp, cervix, and ovulation predictor tests. I'm worried that I won't ovulate or that I'll miss it. In my TWW, I know I've already O'ed and I've already done everything I could to try and catch the egg. Now I can just relax and see if it worked or not. The TWW feels like such a more hopeful time for me. The stress of getting everything right is over, and it's just a couple weeks of waiting. But most importantly, in these couple weeks, there is hope. There is potential. I just feel so much more at ease.
Now this is not to say that I'm not an obsessive pregnancy test-taker, cause I'm just as bad as the next woman. I've firmly told my husband that I will not start testing until at least 12DPO this cycle. I can guarantee this by not buying any tests until I'm on my way home from work, Friday. I've found out from past experience that if they're in the house... I'll take them. This cycle - I'm 7DPO and not feeling particularly pregnant or un-pregnant. But I know it's too early to give up hope, and if this isn't the cycle... on to the next one.