BFP!

I got my BFP on Tuesday, April 24th! I thought it may be too early, but the date was significant and thought I would POAS. I did an Internet cheapie test at 2:30am after temping. It was faint, but definitely visible. I tried taking a picture, but my camera does not do well with close-ups. Around 4am I drove to Walmart to buy a package of pink dye tests and digitals. I also found the gummy prenatal pills, so I picked up those as well.

I peed in a cup and did the pink dye FRER first. Sure enough, there was a visible second line. Then I dunked the digital in the cup for 5 seconds (upon further reading I should have left it in there for 20 seconds), then watched the hour glass on the screen. 3 minutes later I was quite modernly informed that I was pregnant. I took a picture of the digital and shared with my TTC support group online. They were excited!

Yesterday I was up from 2:30am (had 4 hours of sleep) until 9pm--quite the long day. During the time between BFPs and DH waking up, I set up this little surprise for him.

Inside the note reads, "We have a secret to share with you. Love, Mommy & Baby Reeske." I also put a copy of "What to Expect When You're Expected" in his briefcase, but he found it before even leaving the house. He's been looking forward to reading that book because of how hilarious it is. DH's reaction was less than stellar, but only because it takes him a long time to wake up mentally. 

I was so proud of myself that only DH and I know (plus my TTC group). I spilled it to any one else, lol. I'm waiting until Friday to share it with my friend Candice, who lives in Austin and is due in September, and my best friend Heather, who lives in NC. I'm waiting until Friday only because I'll consider myself "late" by then as AF would have arrived on Thursday on 12DPO. 

I called the Austin Birthing Center and told them our good news. Stacy the receptionist remembered me from my March 1st tour, pulled my file, and told me that a midwife would call me later in the afternoon. It was around 5pm when Vikki called me to go over my file and ask me routine questions about this cycle. According to my LMP, my EDD is 1/3/13 but since I ovulated on CD17, my EDD would be 1/5/13. I've told DH just to tell people, such as some of his college classmates who knew we were trying, if they ask that we are due the first week of January. My first prenatal appointment is Friday, June 1st at 11am, and it should last a hour. Hopefully Marshall will still be in town (instead of being away at his internship) and can go with me. I know there won't be much for him to do, but he can get a look at all of the rooms. We'll also do a scan at that time to determine if I'm having one baby Reeske or two baby Reeskes. I'm very concerned because twins run in my family, and the Birthing Center will only take low risk patients. We can afford the BC, but not afford a hospital birth as my insurance does not provide any maternity coverage. 

For dinner DH and I went to Texas Roadhouse. I ate way more than I was should have and I knew it. Then we went to Amy's Ice Cream, and I had white chocolate ice cream with crushed in Oreos--yum. We took our ice cream and sat on a rock bench near a playground and water play area that had little kids having a good time with the water jets that shoot up from the ground. I told DH that I was going to focus on having a fit and happy pregnancy. I want to be active and make decisions that will lead to me being happy instead of feeling deprived. I also told him that I was concerned over how emotional I'll be since I wear my heart on my sleeve as it is. I asked him to be conscious of whenever we're talking about something and he feels like I'm overreacting, being irrational, or making a mountain out of a mole hill, to just stop and do something to calm me down. We decided that he would say, "Come sit on the couch with me," and that would be my cue that I need to calm down and regain control of myself. 

Another thing we talked about was what we would do after our baby arrives. DH will have three semesters left in college, so a guaranteed 18 months left in Austin before we may move to wherever he can get a quality job. We can't afford daycare, and it isn't our desire to go that route anyway. DH expects to still be telecommuting for his computer programming job 20-30 hours per week and going to school. Him working 30 hours per week is equivalent to my take-home pay with a 40-hour work week.  I want to stay home full time, and after our baby is a few months old and I've gotten into a routine, maybe watch another child during the day. One coworker's daughter would be 20 months old in May 2013 plus she lives 5 minutes away, and my neighbor's youngest will be closer to 2.5 years old. 

All in all, DH and I are both really happy, but it hasn't sunk in fully yet. I think it might when I start experiencing morning sickness--how could it not?!

Cycle #2

Today is CD4 of cycle #2 in our journey of TTC. I'm seeing brown spotting, which means AF is on her way out the door. What are my plans for this cycle?

1) I am still going to check my cervix and CM everyday leading up to O and a little bit beyond.
2) I am going to use my ovulation microscope again.
3) I am going to use OPKs starting when I see a full fern pattern, then twice a day when I feel ovulation pains.
4) Try to get as many BD sessions in as possible during my fertile window CD14-CD18.
5) Continue to temp and track.

The End Has Come

This morning I had bright red spotting, then it went away. In the afternoon, it was brown. Now, about 17 hours after the first episode, there is more brown spotting. All of this has been accompanied by impressively painful cramps that I don't think anything could survive. So, maybe tomorrow will be another spotting day or CD1, but I'm mentally closing the book on our first month of TTC.

I had many variables this month, so hopefully charting during my next cycle will be better. I hope my LP lengthens a bit and of course that my post-O temps jump asap. I'm going to go buy a blessed BBT at Walgreens this weekend and wear a cami top to bed instead of my flannel pajama shirt. I'm not going to test OPKs until I see a full ferning pattern with my ovulation microscope either.

DH and I talked about today's events bringing us to a conclusion on cycle 1 of TTC. He's dedicated to continuing and listened to my concerns about the next two cycles. As of right now, I will chart, but we will  not actively try until closer to summer as we do not prefer our child's birthday in the beginning of the year. This is personal for us and we agree. Things could change, but this is what we talked about in the car when we pulled into the driveway after picking DH from the bus stop.

Is it the weekend yet?

10DPO today! I had a massive temp drop this morning, which was 6 hours after I noticed temporary very light spotting. I was also on top of my covers, and my feet were cold, both of which have contributed to low temps before (CD3-ish?). I'm hoping that with a solid night's rest under "normal" conditions my temp will jump to a whole new level. Hopes for a triphasic chart are out of the question, but I'd love for my temps to stay way above the cover line. Please?

Body-oddities for today include bloated and gassy. Very attractive, I know. No headaches, but still the perceived super sniffer. Still smelling baby powder everywhere at work. Last night I had pelvic pain when I sneezed, which I recently learned has been a BFP-precursor for others. I still think that all the signs are pointing to a very happy weekend for the Reeskes. Speaking of which, we are going out of town this weekend, a little get-away for the two of us to enjoy a different part of Texas.

Spotting

I wonder if my slight temp dip today of 97.77 to 97.48 could be in cahoots with the slight spotting I just experienced when I used the bathroom. It was very light pink, almost coral colored. Two thoughts went through my mind. 1) This is implantation bleeding and if I wipe again in the morning, or even later tonight, I don't expect it to be there. 2) Damn! I have a LP problem and this is AF's luggage showing up early.

Please let #1 prevail!!!

Another dream

I think it was back in January I had a dream that in April I got a BFP. Then towards the end of February I had the Kickstarting Dream that prompted the discussion of us TTC in March. Since then I had one at 3DPO and now another one last night! I had a serving nightmare on Saturday night too--it felt so long and real. What's weird is that I remember the majority of the dreams. Most of the time I'll remember the last little bit, or I'll find myself in a situation where my brain recalls something similar from a dream the previous night.

In this dream I got a BFP at 9DPO (today) but I didn't have time to take a picture and let anyone know. I only had time to add the + to my FF chart. While I was away (I'm assuming it was work) someone found it on my chart and then all my friends got really excited. I came home and apparently I lived with my parents, my sister and her nephew. I have no idea where DH was. I was trying to sneak around so my mom wouldn't know that I was there and heading towards the computer. I sat in the computer chair and found out that my sister got a BFP too and we had the same due date. Then, in the dream, I started thinking about how our babies were going to have to share this room. I started analyzing where each of the cribs would be. Afterwards I look online, and I have 93 FB notifications and am really excited that they had found out by looking at my chart.

I got up and tested:  BFN. Stark white. It's ok though. It's really early still. I'm hoping for a BAM-IN-YOUR-FACE dark pink line on Saturday. It will be as if our baby splashed cold water on my face and said, "You were right all along. I'm in here!" I was telling a friend tonight on the phone that Wednesday through Friday are paydays for us, so I'm looking forward to those days. Nothing special is happening on Tuesday (tomorrow), so that day just needs to go by quickly!

8DPO

I had another high temp today--97.77! If it doesn't dip more than just a pinch, I think 5-6DPO may have been implantation. I remember 5DPO was a pretty crazy day for me with possible pregnancy symptoms. I've heard that implantation is 7-10DPO, but many women have seen a possible implantation dip in their charts as early as 3DPO.

The longer my temps stay high, the more hopeful I get that I will have a sticky BFP!