thismagic

Thanks in advance for reading this, I hope someone can give me some advice!

I've always had really irregular periods, usually 4-6 weeks between each period. In February and March both, I got my period around the 17th, both times with a lot of cramps a day or two before, then 2 to 4 days of bleeding. That's usually how my periods go, no matter when in the month I get them (some months I don't get one at all).

Now here is my problem. On April 1st, my boyfriend and I had sex for the first time. He didn't have a condom, but he was only inside me for a few minutes, then I told him to stop and we needed to wait until we had a condom. The next night, he had one, so we had sex. Neither of us "finished." The same happened again two days later. We haven't had sex since.

A few days after that, I went to the doctor to see about getting on birth control. I knew I had to wait for my period to start them, so I had figured I would be starting them this past Sunday, the 18th. Just to be sure, I took a pregnancy test on the 10th, then again on the 18th, both were negative.

All last week, I had been feeling really hungry, really fatigued and had several acne breakouts, all of which were unusual for me during PMS, however, I know that these are common symptoms for a lot of people. I had a few minor cramps on the 17th and 18th and had very light spotting on the 17th. I've had nothing else since then, other than a few cramps here and there.

I was talking this over with my mom today and she thinks that since I've been so stressed over school and the sex the past few weeks, that this spotting is all I may have this month. Normally, I wouldn't be concerned if this happened, if it weren't for the sex, though I really do feel as though I'm not pregnant. My main concern is that I want to start taking my birth control, but I'm unsure if I should or not.

Any advice would be very helpful. Do you think I should wait a few days and see if I start bleeding? And if I don't, should I try taking another HPT?