My Fertility Homework

So I'm reading my very first TTC book, and so far it has answered so many questions that I had all along. It is packed with such good information that I hadn't even thought of. I love the book because it is easy to understand, makes sense and makes you laugh. It's called What to Expect Before You're Expecting from the What to Expect line.


I also have Taking Charge of Your Fertility which or course is the fertility bible, but it is much larger than I thought it was and is kind of intimidating, ha ha! I am excited to read that as well but right now I am so pleased with the What to Expect! There are even exerts for the dad-to-be to read and several are questions that my husband has asked me already!


Oh, and of course I'm having IPS all because I O'd more around the "normal" time I should O. The other day I went to the ladies room and thought to myself, God my boobs hurt! Then I realized, OMG my boobs hurt! I didn't even have to poke them to see if they were sore, they just were! Of course I've had some increased hunger and gas as well but I'm sure it is all imaginary. I even keep looking for implantation bleeding or CM discharge, and it has only been just a few days since I got that positive opk, ha ha!

I'm just giddy! :D

So last night before Brise and I went out to eat I took another OPK, expecting to see it either as faint as the one yesterday morning or fainter...but it was POSITIVE! I'm so very excited because it is only CD 17 and was exactly 14 days since the end of my period. I am still in so much shock! I really thought I had missed it because I got a pretty positive result from my Answer OPK on CD 16 that morning and a fainter line that evening, and since I took the first one in the AM but not after sleeping or 1st morning urine (I got home at 6 AM so I didn't have a build up or anything).

We BD'd last night so I'm keeping my fingers crossed but no matter what happens I am pretty excited! I can't wait to take my opk's for today (since I just woke up a few hours ago I'll be waiting until after 12 noon to take my opk) and see what it looks like. I think that will give me an idea of how good the First Response OPKs are.

AND I got my 2nd Cheri reading, it's at the bottom but it also says SEPTEMBER! I just hope, if it's true, that it is this September!

So I might just believe in magic!!!

So it is August. 8 months TTC. In the 8 months of TTC I have not ovulated anywhere near 2 weeks after AF. For the past 3 months I've had a very short LP, around 10 or less so last month I devised a plan. I thought to myself, I've never been like all the other TTC girls, I've never actually been in a two week wait (2ww). I've never had 2 weeks to wait after O to see if AF is coming or not. With that 2 weeks, she comes---like clockwork. Although one or two months my cycle has been thrown off by TTC, she's came. Ever so vigilant, every month.

So back to my plan last month, after reading about LP deficiencies I came across an article about low progesterone. It said to go get tested by your OBGYN or do the easy thing and count from when/around O to when AF started. Since my OB has no openings until the end of September I thought, I'll try this progesterone cream, it can't actually hurt anything. So the deal was a day or so after O you rub it on, twice a day, until AF should arrive or a nice time length between O and AF (since you need over 10-12 days for the pregnancy to stick if you did indeed conceive). So on top of that I took my B6 and prenatals. I took B6 from about 2 weeks before O to about 2 weeks ago and I had been taking my prenatals. Even though my last AF was on June 28th, I didn't O until around July 22nd or so, positive opk on CD22, so I was able to hold off AF for about 11-12 days after O, which meant my cycle was the longest it has ever been in my entire life (literally) around 38 days. For kicks I took a pregnancy test on August 3rd....BFN and the next morning I woke up to AF (which was weird not feeling any cramps or anything).

So after the World War I of TTC we had a few weeks ago, I have taken nothing. No prenatal vitamins, no B6, no progesterone cream. I threw away the opks, the digital opks, broke the thermometer and said I gave up. I told DH he could start buying the things when he got serious. So, last Sunday, after a whole whopping 7 day TTC break, he tells me he has a surprise for me. It was new bbt thermometer, ha ha! So I laugh it off and take my temp for a few days.

Then, 2 days ago, something happened. I had some crampy type pain (ovary pains). I was thinking, there's no way. I'm not feeling what I think I'm feeling. I NEVER feel any O signs and it was only CD 14, I never even THINK of Oing when I should be. Then a few hours later I noticed some cm. Then the next afternoon the same thing. I came home and took an opk (which I had done everyday before just to keep track of it) but suddenly I see it. *2* lines?!? WTF!!!! Around the "perfect" time for me to O I have a positive?!

So DH and I did not DTD yesterday (the day of the positive opk) and DH comes home to do some research and tells me what I already know, "A positive opk does not mean that you O'd or are O'ing as we speak. It means withing 24-36 hours you are at peak fertility" so we took advantage and got some BD time in. It would be 24 hours from when I got my pos opk (lets hope that maybe, just maybe we might catch it....I know we won't but still). He also did more research and found that there are a lot of good things people say about the 1st Response opk so I needed to get those this time. I did and took one this morning before we DTD. There were 2 lines there, not a positive line but there was definitely something there which still gave me hope.

Even a little bit of magic feels nice. I have to admit I'm a little excited. I'm sure that it could possibly have something to do with all that I did last month but my point is that I am so excited and happy that I got to feel what all those other women feel, the "normal" ones! I'm still keeping my fingers crossed :)

Well AF showed today. That was a good morning present :(

I took a digital test last night and it said "Not Pregnant". I was using progesterone and B6 and got to around 12dop so I guess that is good, but not great. I was hoping the progesterone would hold it off until next week and I was going to stop taking it next weekend but I guess it is only so strong. At least that puts us a week sooner back into TTC for this month I guess.

On to August/September

The first pieces of our baby stash

So this weekend was the silent and live auction for a friend of mine, Amber Johns. She has a very rare form of cancer, EHE and we're organizing fundraisers to help fund her treatment at The Cancer Treatment Centers of America. I just found out today that we raised about $20,000! It is amazing!

So there was one thing in the silent auction that I had my eye on, it was a baby set and a monogramming package. I bid on it, then outbid someone on it, and won! I was so excited. I thought that my mother (who was there with my father) was going to have something snide to say because we aren't pregnant but she didn't. People from her work were there so for a while I was looking for somewhere else to sit instead of her table because I didn't want her friends to think I was crazy; didn't want to embarass her but she waved us over and wanted to see what all I had. She said she loved the stuff, she even wanted the blanket! She even told a story about when I was little and I had a best friend, Adray. Only Adray wasn't real, ha ha! After she told the story she told her friend, "Now ask her what she's going to name her daughter if she has a little girl" and I said "Adrianna, I got the idea from Adray, now only she'll be real one day!"

It made me feel good and oddly enough I didn't feel like a weirdo at all, even though most people who are TTC start a baby stash, to people who aren't TTC or don't have problems getting pregnant, I'm sure it seems a little strange to be buying things for a baby you don't have. But after all, all the proceeds went to charity anyway :)