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!

Naps, naps, naps

Yesterday I took a 2 hour post-BD nap, and it solidified my "let's have a lazy day" attitude. :) I was up at 8am today, and went grocery shopping from 9-10:45am at two different stores. I came home, and made lunch around noon. As I was finishing up lunch (baked eggplant parm, whole wheat pasta, and fresh sautéed vegetables mixed in the spaghetti sauce) with DH, I started to feel a little depressed. It was mostly a feeling of being overwhelmed. It creeps up on me when my self-imposed to-do list gets too long. I hate cleaning bathrooms, and both of them need to be done. I had some sewing projects I wanted to continue with, plus read more in my book. I still had more cooking to do as well. My head started to get a little frazzled, so I talked to DH about it. He suggested I go read on the couch and if I felt like a nap, go for it. That's what happened. I read for about 45 minutes, then took a two hour nap. I woke up very refreshed, and started working on my sewing projects. Now that I'm at a comfortable stopping point with those, I'm going to make dinner. DH and I are going to go for a walk tonight. I think I will clean the bathrooms tomorrow. :)

Feeling the 2WW

Today has been tough for me being in the 2WW. A friend who is only 3 days ahead of me got her BFP today at 10DPO. I've marked my testing date for next Saturday at 14 DPO. Now I'm struggling with, "well, would I want to know sooner?" Here are my thoughts.

If I test at 10 DPO, it would be next Tuesday. I probably wouldn't be able to concentrate at work. My other fear is that I'll get a BFP but it disappear a few days later and AF shows up. I think I would feel very fragile for some reason. I would be more cautious about everything I do because my embryo would be still so newly attached. I'm probably crazy for thinking that, but this is the place I allow myself to let out such thoughts.

I feel that testing at 14 DPO (on a Saturday) will give me the weekend to soak it all in and set up a game plan for the next week. I will have figured out when I need to call my OB and/or birthing center with the good news. In addition, I'm hoping to see a darker line than 10 DPO because my camera is not the best at taking close up pictures. I had a rough time getting clear pictures of my OPKs, so I think a faint BFP would also be difficult.

Anyways, these are my thoughts. I'm hoping to be the wrap-up finale to the March BFPs; I'm confident there will be many!

Where did it all go?

CD23 (yesterday) was the first day I haven't felt any sort of activity from my uterus area. I've been complaining about how the cramps and back aches continued even after O, but now that they are stopped, I feel like knocking on my abdomen, "Hello, can anybody hear me?" I'm grateful for the break from discomfort, but the discomfort was some sort of reassurance in my mind that maybe I was pregnant. Many women tell me they didn't have any symptoms during their 2WW and still got their BFP. I'm crossing my fingers I still get mine!

Last night I wanted to take a 3mg tablet of melatonin to help me sleep and go to bed early (8:30pm). I read the warning on the label and pregnant women should not take it. I told DH, and his response was, "Ok, don't take it then." That made me feel good for a moment; I'm glad he's optimistic. I was bummed that I was going to try to get 10 hours of sleep without assistance, and I knew it wasn't going to be very successful. DH lied down next to me and held me. I was feeling a little emotional and had the desire to vomit, but I think the later feeling may have been from taking my prenatal pill too early in the evening.

I woke up at 2:30 to temp, which was 96.88 degrees. I tried going back to bed but my mind woke up. I went to FF and put in my temp and entered in my cervix data for yesterday as well (LFC). Then I went to FB and saw a post from my brother's girlfriend about their baby boy's name being in their most recent blog post. Of course I had to check it out. Christopher Dale. Her favorite name is Christopher, which happens to be my brother's middle name and our father's first name as well. She had told me through a text a few weeks ago that she really wanted to use it but wasn't quite sure how to fit it in as a fn or mn. I saw "Dale" and got jealous. I want to use Dale for a second son's mn because our first son will be Merrick Rainier. In our case, Dale is for DH's maternal grandfather, my maternal grandfather, and is also my step-dad's middle name. I sent her a message through FB telling her that I liked the name, and asked her if they chose Dale because it was our grandfather's name. Her response, "It is your step-dad's middle name." Duh, Sweetie, you don't have to tell me. So, I guess they chose Dale for the same reasons I would have. I have to tell myself that they are the ones with the REAL baby, and I just have an imaginative baby that is probably 6 years away if we're lucky, meaning we have a girl followed by 2 boys. I'm the genealogy nerd in the family, so I'm also very pleased that the name they chose has meaning in that regard as well.

I am starting to feel a little bit more emotional, which is probably due to my hormones during this phase of my cycle, but it's a good reminder that I definitely need to think before I speak, to take a deep breath and think about what I want to say and how I want to say it.

Today is Friday, and I'm definitely going to be working on some baby projects. This should be fun.

Told My Mom...

I ended up telling my mom that we were TTC.  :o/

I called her on my lunch break to get her reaction to finding out her second grandchild is another boy. She said she would have been happy with either gender ("not a lot of options," she said). Deep down she wants a granddaughter though to panda-fy. My mom is a panda fanatic! She's gotten my almost 2 year old nephew some panda things, but I'm sure it isn't as satisfying as panda-fying a little girl. So because this baby is a boy, she asked me when I would be having a daughter.

Mom: "I know you were on the 5 year plan. How are things going now?"
Me: "Well, due to DH's extra income and time, we've moved up our plans quite a bit?"
Mom: "Oh, yeah." She said something else to make me reply...
Me: "Ok, I'll just tell you. This is our first month trying. I'm in the 2WW, and I'm testing on the 31st."
We talked about a few topics with TTC, and she told me to just take it easy and have fun, don't try. Oh, and that she hoped I wasn't putting pressure on DH, as if I'm tapping my foot and my watch saying, "It's time to BD, Sweetie." My response was that I'd rather be proactive than just taking a shot in the dark. No, I did not treat DH that way, and even if I did, that's our business.

I'll mother advice from Mom, but not TTC advice. I also told her that she mustn't tell anyone about our conversation. I'm going to send her an email and just reiterate a few key points about our conversation. Also, I'm going to make it very clear that nobody is going to find out whether we are pregnant this cycle or not until we are ready to announce it. If she calls me on the 31st wanting to know, I'm going to tell her, "I'm sorry, Mom, but I'm not sharing whether we are pregnant or not. DH and I are sticking to our original decision of letting everyone know when we are comfortable, and that could be in 12 weeks or in 12 months."

But why did you tell you're mom that you're TTC, Sarah? Because the way the conversation was going, I would have had to lie, and I hate lying. I think it bring bad karma and one's character loses credibility. Ok, I'm going to go email her now...

Bullseye!

Temp spike today!! Hurray! It's finally above 97 degrees. I had to discard CD20's low temp, which may have been a fallback rise, then FF said, "Oh, hey, let's give Sarah crosshairs because I think it's pretty obvious she O'd on Saturday, CD18." Thanks FF!

If There Was a Ever A Day...

If I get pregnant this cycle, and I won't find out until 3/31, and someone asks me, "when did you really think you could be pregnant before you got your BFP?" I would have to say today. There were just too many odd things happening with my body today that I really can't believe would be related to being heavy on the progesterone during my LP.

1) I was a little light headed this morning for just a few moments. It almost felt like one of the first days I started taking prenatals; however, I've been taking them at the same time with food or milk and haven't' had any issues since.

2) I was more hungry than normal today. Granted, I was a little bit more bored than yesterday, but I went through half my lunch and all my snacks before 12:30. I had a lean cuisine type of meal left, and I looked at it thinking, "that isn't going to tide me over for the rest of the afternoon."

3) I had a craving for Wendy's fries and a hamburger. This is particular strange to me because I eat the same thing at every restaurant I go to. At Patsy's Cowgirl Cafe, I get the Sandra Bullock without mayo and potato chips. At Chik-fil-A I get the chargrilled chicken sandwich. At Wendy's I get the spicy chicken sandwich without mayo but with honey mustard. I haven't eaten at a McDonald's since August 2009. I haven't eaten at a Whataburger in probably close to a year. I don't eat fast food hamburgers, but today my body told my brain that it wanted fries and a hamburger. On top of all that, I've been doing WW for 15 months and know without a shadow of a doubt that a Wendy's hamburger and fries is not a good food choice!

4) I'm still feeling twinges, but the cramping has decreased dramatically.

5) DH has been wrinkling his nose when I "pluff." Horrible, horrible gas--yuck.

6) Still have the super sniffer syndrome.

7) I've been more fatigued for more consecutive days in a row than ever before in my life. I really wanted to fall asleep while at work this afternoon. I'm getting the same amount of sleep during the night each day. Something is going on here!

I really hope I am pregnant, and all of these symptoms could be from a number of things, but the goal of this blog is to capture any TTC related occurrence during our first month. I don't want to be super analytical nor become out-of-control during the 2WW.

Eyes

Can pregnancy affect one's eyes? Although I've become acclimated to a culture of checking for pregnancy symptoms, since this is my first cycle without BC, I feel I have too many variables to accurately label as "non-BD related" or "BFP related." One thing has happened recently that I can't explain. My eyes hurt. My vision is just a tiny bit different. I don't know if maybe my eyes are little bit more dry. Just for some reason my eyes hurt a little bit more. I'm not spending any more time looking at a computer screen than what is normal for me. I haven't been watching movies in the dark. It just something odd that I've noticed.

My sense of smell has picked up. The new temp janitor at work smells like she's covered every square inch of her body underneath her clothes with baby powder. Last week it was strong and made you think, "Whoa!" to yourself when the smell hit you. Yesterday and today I thought I smelled a little bit of citrus mixed with the baby powder. Do they make citrus or tropical scented baby powder at all? Today in the hallway (and she doesn't even have to be within view) was super overwhelming to me. I had to fan my face for 2 minutes. I've heard that having a super sniffer can be a pregnancy symptom. I've never had a strong sense of smell, so having this sense come alive for me is certainly different.

DH's Surprise Gift

DH and I went for a walk on Saturday or Friday night last week, and I think I brought up my friend's really cute gender reveal for her daughter who is due in July. DH said that he needs the book "What to Expect When You're Expected." So, I'm going to get it for him, and when I get my BFP at the end of the month, I'm going to use it to let him know he's going to be a father.

Hmm, how creative can I get with this? :D  When my sister was expecting my nephew, I got 40 pounds off craigslist for $100. In there were these baby suede cowboy boots. DH let me pull them out and keep them because my sister wasn't going to appreciate them as much as I would considering we live in Texas. If I get a BFP on Saturday, March 31st, should I keep it a secret and try to play an April Fool's day joke on him about getting AF instead of a BFP? That's kind of predictable though, right? Perhaps I should have the book standing up on the kitchen island with the little boots next to it along with a card from baby Reeske to Mommy and Daddy. Many people find creative ways to incorporate their pets when sharing the news. We have three cats. What if I could get a picture of all three next to a message like, "Does our baby sister or brother really have to get all the new blankets?" It's funny because our cats are blanket hogs. I don't know yet. I should think on this some more. :)

2/3 Done

I am 2/3 through my cycle. Today is CD20, and other than continued fatigue, lower back aches and feeling bloated, I'm doing well. I definitely did not feel this way while on BC. Could really just be my body reacting to it's natural cocktail of hormones, or could I be in the very early days of nurturing a zygote?

My temp this morning was disappointing. I wanted to throw my BBT across the room. It plummeted to 95.87. I hope it is a fallback rise, and it will go up tomorrow. If not, I may just lose my mind. I want crosshairs on my chart so badly. There's nothing more I'm going to be able to do to conceive this month. DH and I both are worn out, and I'm spent emotionally from all the pre-O tracking.

I'm cycle buddies with some great ladies, and I hope we all get BFPs together.

Horrible Sleep

I fell asleep after 11:15pm last night, and woke up naturally at 2am. Shucks, might as well take my temp. It was 96.73. Ok, higher is good. I like this. I fall back asleep and my alarm goes off at 2:30. The BBT shows me 97.03. Damn! I like the second number better, but I have to go with the first one. I added notes to FF, and hope to see more temps in the 97 degree range tomorrow. It's funny. My favorite time of the day isn't 4:30pm when I get off of work; it's 2:30am when I can take my temp.

Cervix today hasn't changed much, but I think it is more medium instead of soft. It's still open, so I'm considering myself still fertile. We BD'd this afternoon (for a long time) and it seems that DH was right that his body can only do every other day. Today was suppose to be a down day, but I had an opportunity and I seduced him while on the couch. I'm afraid that BDing tomorrow won't do anything for conception, and I know we could both use a break.

So, how do I feel after making it through ovulation and being in this temporary limbo phase of "am I getting crosshairs?" I really hope we conceived partly because CD16 and CD17 sucked pain-wise. But Sarah, delivery is much worse. I know, but I'm not used to having my body affect me to that extent for multiple days in a row. It sucked the energy out of me. I feel tired again today, but then again I couldn't fall back asleep until nearly 6am after waking up at 2:30. I also have my heart on a December baby, which I know that if AF shows up, I would get over that pretty quickly. I also think that my hormones are way more up and down than what I'm use to. Better get used to it if you get pregnant. Very true.

Begging

Please let today be O! I POAS in the early afternoon and it looks like my LH surge is winding down. My test line was not as dark, as yesterday morning's but it is just a tad lighter than the control. I really hope today is O for 3 reasons. 1) I haven't felt cramps at all today. I don't want those to come back. 2) DH has been such a good sport, but he can only do every other day max. If tomorrow is O, we could maybe get in O+1 whereas if O is today, we got O-5, O-2, and O for sure. 3) I have a nice low temp that I would like to see spike tomorrow.

I did not use my microscope test after yesterday's clear-as-day negative. I am not going to use any more OPKs either unless my temp is still low on Tuesday. I will still check my cervix though.

I'm looking forward to my first 2WW partly because I feel I don't have to be as observant as I was in the first half of my cycle trying to pinpoint ovulation. I'm also looking forward to putting money in the symptoms jar, hehehe.

Mean Ovary

If my ovaries are going to continue to pout and be fussy at their comfortableness and pass it along to me, I don't know how this baby-making adventure is going to turn out. Thursday's big deal was fatigue. Today's has definitely been ovulation pains in my left ovary. During BD, it just hurt too much, I had to tap out. DH didn't like seeing me in pain, and agreed to try again tomorrow. I sure do hope some swimmers from last night are still in there. More than that, I hope I ovulate so this friggin pain will go away!! :"(

Still no O?

I woke up at 2:20am and decided to temp instead of waiting 10 minutes. Temp was 96.97, which gave me a healthy spike. I thought to myself, "Sweet, I must be done." I took another OPK to see how my surge was doing and the stick told me, "full steam ahead." My uterus was quiet--no cramps or bloated feelings. Maybe the storm had passed? Was it just the calm before the storm? I don't know these things.

My microscope showed no ferning patterns. None. Just little blobs like tiny bushes in a desert. So, experiment-wise, my ferning pattern should stop the day after I get my first + OPK.

I went back to bed for about 3 hours. Cramps and aches came back. It's been recommended that I BD until I get crosshairs since I could still O tomorrow or even a day or 2 after that. I sure am glad DH is a stud and can keep up, lol.

I'm feeling tired after everything physically I went through yesterday in the preparations for O. My back ached, hips ached, cramps, bloated sensations and worse of all, fatigue. I do not know how long these symptoms will last, and I have to remember that I'm doing this for not only me but DH and our baby. I'm going to create an intelligent begin who is going to bring much happiness into the world.

3 OPKs from today are positive. This is such a cool learning experience for me, and should we have to move into the next cycle, I will have much more knowledge than I did going into this one.

It's hard to image that it was 3 weeks ago today that I had a talk with DH about my pregnancy dream. Wow.

Rose's Response

I actually see you pregnant NOW or will become pregnant within the next cycle!  I also see a baby GIRL with this pregnancy! 


This was psychic Rose's response to my free TTC reading that revealed what she saw for one's next pregnancy regarding month and gender. I was really surprised that it matched Sky's reading too. Needless to say, I would be very happy to have a daughter born around my birthday. :)

Happy Baby Dance

Where to begin? I woke up and my temp was 96.26, which is still low (no unforeseen early spike) and in range with previous temps. I used a generous saliva sample for the microscope and it took a lot longer to dry. In fact, I forgot about it this morning and looked at it around 4:15. Definitely still seeing lots of ferning patterns. Hurray!

Work today was mildly frustrating because be job revolves around the computer, specifically email. Something was bogging down the network, and our email was so slow. I was very displeased, and I managed to still keep busy. In the early afternoon I started developing a headache. All day my lower back and hips had been very achey. I had been feeling cramps and tweezing in my lower abdomen all day. At 3:35 I was in the bathroom and when I looked in the mirror, I looked pale. I have fair skin and rosy cheeks, but this looked different to me. I realized how fatigued I had been for the past few hours, and asked my coworker Emily if she had any problem with having DH pick up at 4 instead of 4:30. I just wasn't feeling well. Many people have been sick at work lately, and I didn't want to tell her it was because I was in the process of ovulating. I had stayed 30 minutes late yesterday, so leaving early today wasn't a big deal. DH picked me up and I told him about everything I was feeling. I told him I just wanted a pear and to rest on the couch when we got home. I napped for 2 hours. His also told me that I should just let him know when I felt up to BDing. What a sweetheart.

When I woke up, I went to the pantry and pulled down a few plastic cups then heading towards the bathroom to POAS, well, pee in a cup and dip instead. I got my + OPK! I'm going to test it again in the late morning to see if it is still positive.

BD was a success. Hopefully after leaving empty handed last night, a generous deposit was given. I kept my hips elevated for 30 minutes. I did have EWCM earlier today, but for some reason being off of BC, I just don't see the same fluid results when I'm aroused. Very odd to me. We did have to use Pre-Seed, so I'm really glad I purchased it last weekend.

Oh, yes, CP was HS(gaping)O. Today was a good baby-making day.

One more day?

Ok, my body is being very forgiving right now. No temp spike this morning, which means I have not ovulated yet. I found DH on the couch this morning, which means that he probably didn't get to sleep until late. I'm going to cancel the possible AM BD, and just make sure we strive for tonight. My saliva sample for the ovulation microscope is drying, and I hope I see a more dense ferning pattern this morning. I'm expecting to get a positive OPK today. I think I am going to test at lunch (12:30) and this evening, maybe 5:30.

I hope I can add more fertile signs to my FF chart today!

New Psychic Reading

On Monday I was expecting to hear back from a psychic I had heard about, but not contacted previously. I received her reply this afternoon. I've added my comments in bold.

Sarah,

Hi sweetie hope you're having a wonderful day :) I'm hoping that you and all those around you are in good health and spirits.

When I focus in on you I sense that you are very much ready and wanting for a child. Your husband is your soul mate and your best friend. I sense that in some people's eyes you haven't known him very long, around 5-7 years. A very important date is coming up for the two of you? An anniversary? Not sure just a strong feeling I'm getting. He is very happy to be starting a family with you and can't wait for a child to come along.

I get that in a way you have experience taking care of people. Maybe not the same way as a mother but still caring for children, possibly just by being an older sibling. (older sibling of 5)

I see that pregnancy is very soon for you. I am not getting a specific month but I definitely feel that within the next 3 months you will be pregnant. I see you with a small baby bump by the end of the summer - middle of fall at the latest. I'm definitely seeing a lot of happiness surrounding this pregnancy! Your family and friends are so happy for you :)  (that would be you!!)

I sense that emotionally pregnancy is a breeze for you. You have so much support and every one is happy. Physically its a bit different. You have all the typical pregnancy symptoms, morning sickness, heartburn, fatigued, and it's all in full swing. (Maybe I won't be able to hide it very long at work, eh?)

I see that you are over due with your pregnancy before you go into labor, but I definitely feel that you do so naturally. (Oh, I sure do hope so!! I don't want those hospital bills.)

Congrats I see a healthy baby girl being brought into our world :) I sense she is around 6 lbs 9-11 oz. She is born with a full head of chocolate brown hair. (Maybe she will lose all her hair and come back blonde for 6 years like the kids do on my side of the family)

I don't see any issues with feedings or sleeping. It takes a couple months to establish a sleeping pattern but I think that's normal. She'll seem to have her days and nights a bit mixed up.

I see that as she grows up she has a very fiery personality. She seems to intimidate people with her presence but she's a very nice girl. She has very strong views and she often seems to clash with people who don't see things her way. (Mama has lots of experience with this, so I will be able to teach her how to control her feelings)

I sense that this outside personality is just a cover up. She doesn't want to seem to nice and people take advantage of that sometimes.

Welcome Mat

I guess my cervix has put out the welcome mat for all the guests for the upcoming part--HSO. I'm having lower backaches and lots of grumbles in my uterus area. I feel like my ovary is going to drop a bowling ball!

DH and I went for a walk tonight, and it was nice because I've been going on them alone lately.

We are currently taking a breather from our BD tonight. Close but now cigar. "Give me 30 minutes," he tells me. He agreed that if tonight doesn't work out, we can try again in the morning.

I'm still not seeing much CM in the bathroom. I wish there was more. :(

What else, what else. I was fatigued tonight while DH was cooking dinner. While the potatoes boiled (I love making mashed potatoes as of late) I rested and closed my eyes on the couch. That normally doesn't happen.

I sure do hope that we're able to get in at least 2 more successful BD sessions before it's too late. I'm so proud of DH though; he knows how much I've put into timing everything and letting him know when he's up to bat.

Fertile Window

I'm safely in the fertile window! Question now is how long will it last? I'm CD14, and am feeling all sorts of twinges, cramps, and bubbles in my lower abdomen; it feels like someone is planning a party down there. I did observe come stretchy EWCM today, but only 2 small samples. My cervix tonight is high and open, and more medium texture to me.

I'm so proud of my body for adapting itself well after coming off of the Pill. I'm still waiting for the "I want to die!" ovulation pains that I'm expecting. I just don't want to deal with AF because she's SO mean when I'm not on BC.

DH got his emergency rations of his KO night medicine from the VA this morning. He hasn't slept well in at least 3 nights. He lied down to nap at 5:30, shortly after picking me up from work. I just poked him (at 8pm) to take his medicine so he can zonk out for the night. Not expecting any BDing tonight, but I'm ok because of last night and hopeful we'll get tomorrow and the day after. :)

Confuse and Conquer!

The clock was approaching 10:30pm, and I had just finished watching The Tudors on Netflix--time for bed. I met DH in the kitchen, and told him I was getting ready for bed. He became affectionate, and thinking that if I could exploit even the tiniest fracture in his resolve to not BD from that morning, I would do so. He asked me what I was thinking about, and I said, "I want a dark test line. Let me show you my friend's and how dark hers is. See? Mine will look like that hopefully soon." I'm not really sure what he thought, but he told me that we could try to BD but no promises on the pay off. I was halfway to victory!

I used some of the Pre~Seed, and the BD session worked. I kept my hips elevated for 25 minutes afterwards and put a hand towel over myself. DH asked about it, and I told him, "I don't want them to see the light. I want them confused and affected by gravity." We both laughed. I had this funny mental image of enticing the spermies into a large vault that has the giant locking mechanism that looks like a ship's steering wheel (I can't think of the proper term right now), then slamming it shut so the victims are confused and captured. Hopefully they stay alive incase I O today on CD14. 

Needing to Breathe

I woke up this morning and put my saliva sample on the microscope lens, then went to my computer for a spell and do an ab exercise. I couldn't believe all the ferns I saw when I put it to my eye! They weren't overlapping like a jungle, but they were everywhere. It was a HUGE increase from the previous observations 24 hours before. I also had some wet CM today. So, my next guess is that when I see this type of ferning pattern, I'm at the start of my fertile window.

I came out of the bathroom with it, and DH was lying in bed, slowly waking up. I asked if he wanted to see it, and he thought it was cool. He said it looked like a type of corrosion caused by a fungus that he often saw on his helicopters in the Navy. I then tried to plant the idea in his head that we should BD before work because LOOK @ those FERNS!! I got shot down. Bad. Worse thing is that I can't do anything about it.

DH has a very balanced cocktail of 3-4 medications that he has to take in order for him to function properly. By 'function properly' I mean not have seizure-like anxiety attacks, fall and stay asleep, and have strong cognitive abilities. Without his medications, if he's stressed, he gets a debilitating headache and even loses his ability to communicate. Without one particular medicine that he takes at night, his body has an extremely difficult time falling and staying asleep. Well, he got all his refills minus the KO medicine, so he only had three hours of not-so-good sleep. Plus, just the stress of not having his medicine was starting to affect him. It was exactly 4 weeks ago when he last had an issue with his medications, and it was pretty disastrous. So, he tells me that he's hurting to just keep himself together, and that BDing in the morning and tonight would be out of the question. Like an arrow right through the heart of this eager TTC woman. *sigh

All day I thought about how important it was not to pout because I wasn't going to BD on this very monumentous day in my little world, and instead focus on my husband's needs. I texted him and wanted to make sure that he was doing ok. I even told him that if his medicine arrived when we got home, if he wanted to take it right away and just pass out for the evening/night, I wouldn't be upset.

This situation made me feel like a little girl doing the potty dance except I was trying to mentally keep my ovaries from ovulating. Stay in there. Don't come out yet. I don't have any of the "kissing fish" I promised you (yeah, I told my ovaries that I would get the egg(s) a bunch of "kissing fish," little swimming wiggly creatures that will kiss them all over). I thought I felt a few twinges here and there, but I'm honestly expecting full out ovulation pains that will make me be on the brink of tears because that was how it was the last time I went off of BC in November 2010. CD16 was painful!

I forgot to bring an OPK to test on my lunch break. DH was driving me to work and we were about halfway there when I remembered. Dang!! You best believe I ran through the door and went straight towards our master bathroom when I got home though. Nothing was going to deter me from POAS!

Then I saw the line. Pathetically not any darker than last night's 9:15 line. *sigh Then I started to worry. Could I have missed the surge in that 20 hour window??? How much time should it take between getting that awesome ferning to a + OPK?? Questions, question, questions.

As Sleuth Sarah, her's what I think is happening. I believe I am at the beginning of my fertile window. I do not think I have ovulated yet. I hope to see more fertile CM over the next three days at least. I am going to take another test at 10:30pm, and another one at 7:15 tomorrow morning. I expect to see a ferning pattern similar if not more dense than what I saw this morning. DH said that he's going to the VA tomorrow to get "emergency rations" of his KO medicine. BDing may be out of the question tomorrow as well. Please Ovaries, give me at least 2 more days before making the drop!!!

Getting Closer!

Ok, ok, ok, OK!! I saw some samples of the ferning pattern on the lens of my ovulation microscope this morning!! I was so excited; I even texted my sister (I had to confess to her that we were trying and she swears on her life that she won't tell anyone). I told DH about it later in the day, and his response was, "Cool, can I see it?" I had already cleaned it off. I'll show him it again tomorrow though.

Still no CM, although, I checked my cervix around 9:15pm, and it seemed to have a different consistency than what it has been. I couldn't quite tell it if was creamy or sticky, and if it was either of those, it wouldn't be very much. I'm going to still mark the day as "dry" because I've seen creamy and sticky CM before in the bathroom, so I know it can come out if it really wants to.

It didn't take much to convince myself that with the partial ferning and being on CD12, I should start testing for a +OPK twice daily now.

I've been mentally placing a 1-10 value on the darkness of each line on the OPK. CD9 I consider a 2; CD10  and CD11 are 3s. My early CD12 test was a 4. I could tell it was a tiny bit darker than the previous 2. I tested again tonight, and it was the darkest yet, so I put it at a 5. Here's my best attempt at a picture of all of them. As I was putting them together, it felt like an art project, and I couldn't help but think, "Wow, Sarah, look how far you've come." lol

I'm nervous about testing at work around 12:30, but I don't think anyone will notice if I stay for a bit in the second bathroom that isn't by my boss' office. Time to get a game plan and be creative!

DH is now on Spring Break, so there shouldn't be anything that would take precedence over me telling him, "I think we should BD tonight." Those are his magic words that I am fertile and need him to do his part. :D

Armed with Pre~Seed

I went to two different grocery stores this morning and in between them is a Walgreens. I decided that since it was on the way I would take a look to see if they carried Pre-Seed. I found it, and the price was $22.99.

$22.99?! Do I really want to spend that much on that? That's a better-than-normal bottle of wine, which if I bought it, may do what I need this Pre-Seed to do. Should I buy it? Nah, you can find other ways to get by without it. Wait a second. You have been really dry lately, and there's no guarantee that you'll get EWCM. What if you don't get a BFP this month? Would you gawk at the price then? No, I wouldn't. I would rush out and get it. Ok, take it to the counter, Sarah, and let's move on.


That was my internal conversation about buying Pre~Seed today.

BD Confession

I came home from my WW meeting in a very silly mood. DH was actually awake and it was 10:30am. I normally don't see him until 1pm. I started joking that I was a bad wife for not making him a quiche for breakfast (I make one and he eats it for 6 days) because he had finished the last one yesterday morning. He came over and between fits of giggles and wiggles the cats could hear "don't beat me with the big stick." Good thing they didn't understand because momma likes this particular stick. :)

It's been on my mind to not be so down-to-business in the BD department while TTC so that DH doesn't feel like I'm only doing it to get pregnant. Since I don't have any fertile signs right now, I knew that our romp this morning wasn't going to make or break anything. I added some favorites for DH so he wouldn't consider it "vanilla-sex" and be pleasantly surprised. At the end, we were both a little worn out but there had been no victory explosion.

We took a shower together, and I hadn't seen him that lovey-dovey in a while. He wanted to hold me and be with him. It was kinda cute. Later on before I took him out to lunch, he brought up this question, "Has sex changed for you at all now that we are [TTC]?" I told him I would be honest. During the recent BD, I was actually thinking about how many babies are conceived without the woman orgasming. I didn't really care if I had an orgasm though. I have the mindset to BD for reproduction more than pleasure right now because I am so focused on knowing the different phases of my cycle. It's really important to me. If it is not pleasurable I am going to stop, but my plan of every other day plus 4 days straight when I get a +OPK, is because 1) I want us to "practice" to make sure a key player doesn't get stage fright and 2) to see if we have any unexpected feelings after BD such as "omg, what am I doing? I'm not ready" or anything we weren't expecting to feel. DH was very understanding about my confession. He is actually going to research to see if there's anything online about tricks and tips to do to make sure he does his part during my fertile window. Awe, I love him.

The other thing about BD right now is that I'm on the dry side. We have been lubing me up naturally without saliva, but it will only get us so far. I think I want to go buy some Preseed to help in that department. Or some fertile EWCM can show up and make my life a lot easier!

All in all, I'm really glad DH truly wanted to know what was on my brain about BD relating to TTC. So, when I tell him that it's time for the 4 day BD marathon, he'll have a clue what I'm talking about.

Waiting for the +

Yesterday was my first OPK test in the afternoon. I took another one after work today around 4:30pm. It was probably 5% darker than the faint line from the original, so I still have more time before I get a + OPK. My cervix was high and soft when I investigated at work, and it was still high while at home but perhaps more medium in texture (I still really don't know how to tell if it is open, medium or closed). My plan is to still BD every other day until a + OPK then to BD for 4 days straight.

I'm still praying that I'll be extremely lucky and get pregnant on my first try. I know from LOTS of friends' experiences that chance is slim though. If I didn't know as much as I do (now), I would be even more optimistic by thinking, "the egg will have to get fertilized if there are just tons of sperm in there!"Oh, and I  ordered a TTC reading from an online psychic last night, and I should have my reading within 4 days. I'm so curious!

On my way home from my painting class tonight, I thought about diapers. I'd like to use both disposable diapers for when we are in public places, at the grandparents' house, etc and use cloth when we are at home. One woman I know is due today but her little girl is being stubborn, and she made the majority of her cloth diapers. I'm definitely going to make it a point to follow up with how they turned out functionality-wise once her daughter is putting them to good use.

No November Niece/Nephew

Today is CD1 for my sister who told me last week that she was hoping to be pregnant. She had a 33 day cycle, her longest ever. She has this woman's app (she says) and it's telling her that based off her February cycle, she should be fertile the 20-27, so my sis tells me that she's going to BD everyday the 17-29. 12 days of BD would totally wear me out, so I tell her that I'd call her on my lunch break.

I sit my car for such a private topic and proceed to download as much information as I have gathered from my mommies-to-be group online. My guess is that as she approaches the 17th, she'll call me and ask me what signs she should look for again. What a great big sister I am, yes?

If we both get pregnant in March, our EDDs would be in early December together--fun!

Fine at 9

My temp today was 96.8, which is becoming a new favorite for my body, I guess. I think I will know when I O if my temp spike goes above 97 degrees.

Cervix is medium all the way around. I guess I'm just in limbo status as I wait to O. I'm curious as to what day it will be--eek!

I Peed on Something!!

My Amazon package arrived--super excited! I snuck a peek at the confirmation online at work (when I'm not suppose to be on the Internet) and saw that it was delivered. I drove by the house first, but went directly to the mailbox. Just some junk mail and DH's medicines. What is going on? It was pouring rain, and I had to go pick up DH at the Starbucks by his bus stop. As I drove by the house I saw a small package leaning against the front door. Success!! I'll be back in 20 minutes, Little Sticks; I'll be right there. I had to pee like a race horse, so this was going to be good!

Picked up DH, and tried to have a conversation and not pee myself in the car at the same time while it was raining outside. I grab my purse and lunch bag from the back seat, scramble to the front door, unlock it, and whisk the box to the kitchen counter where I whipped out some ninja stars (scissors) and sliced the tape along the edges. "I'll be right back," I told DH. He just let me be and concentrated on making himself some food.

I open the box and see the Fertility Focus Ovulation Microscope, a group of pink packets banded together, and a larger group of blue ones done the same way. I guess that the blue group must be the 40 OPKs, so I grab one and rip it open. I pull out a white toothpick! Wow, this thing is super small--I had no idea. I see this lump of pink dye sort of in the middle and think, "None of the girls' test look like this, hmmm." I then proceed to empty my bladder in the most exciting way possible--on a stick. Then I look at it. "Now what?" Better read the directions, huh? Ok, I read the directions, and I lie it down flat. Wait a couple of minutes. Ok, I can do that too. Wait, the dye is shifting. It's moving away from the lump. Oh!! I see how this little toothpick works now. Op, there's the control line developing. *gasp What's that faint line to the left?! Hurray! I haven't ovulated yet; it's pretty light. It definitely has room to get darker. Sa-weet!

While my stick was drying, I investigated my new microscope. I let the saliva dry for 20 minutes, then came back. No ferning pattern! Yes! I'm not fertile yet. I still have time to play around with this thing. :D  I even let DH take a look. So far the results of my experiment of comparing the darkness of the OPK lines to the observed patterns through the microscope are these: if the OPK is very faint, I can expect to see little bubbles. Tomorrow I will test again and see if there's any different conclusions.

How Low Can You Go?

My temp decided to stay low this morning? I've been sleeping under 2 blankets, and when my alarm alerted me that it was time to temp, I had been tossing and turning and my covers were mostly off of me. BBT read 95.9, which caught me a little by surprise. My other 95 degree temp was on a frigid night where I was freezing due to the AC blowing on me. Last night I didn't have any chills at all; my skin felt normal. Maybe this means my temp is going to hang out low until a spike comes along? :)

Also speaking of low, my dang cervix was high and soft mid-morning today but not even 30 minutes ago it was low, firm and closed. I started having twinges on my right side in my lower abdomen. First thing that came to mind was ovulation pains, but on CD8? They were noticeable but nothing that I required me to army crawl down the hallway to my coworker in the lobby who has the ibuprofen. They lasted for about 2 hours, and during that time, I checked my cervix. I even texted DH, "I think we should make a baby tonight" (overly hopeful, I know). If these really were ovulation pains and my cervix was virtually saying, "c'mon in, I have milk and cookies waiting for you," I'd prefer to send in an army of hungry swimmers. I also told DH that he would be off the hook if my test got here and they showed I wasn't fertile yet. Nothing in the mail for me today, and this low cervix makes me think that DH deserves a break tonight.

Faster than Expected?

OMG! My OPKs and ovulation microscope may be here earlier than the 10th. Eeek!! That would make me sooo happy!

Bland 7

Well, the most exciting thing today on CD7 was a breast self exam. TCOYF recommends doing it on CD7 because it is the point in a woman's cycle where rising and decreasing hormones aren't affecting her breasts as much as other days. Everything seems to be find with me.

Still dry as a desert. I'm hoping for some sticky or creamy CM to start showing up. I checked my cervix twice today--once at work on my lunch break, and after relaxing a bit when I got home. C was softer than yesterday's while at lunch, so I would consider it medium for texture. Today was also a little more of a stretch for me to reach it, so I think today would be medium for position and yesterday would be low. In the late afternoon, C felt much softer than even at lunch time. I can still feel a dimple, but I do not know how to tell if it is open or not. For some reason I keep thinking it will feel like the tip of a penis. Stay tuned for more updates tomorrow.

Meet & Greet at 6

I had a meet & greet with my cervix today. I checked it at 1pm during my lunch break. I could touch it, which I assumed meant low or medium for the position. It felt like my nose, so I marked "firm" in FF. Just a few minutes ago I got personal with C and found the little dimpled opening. It was closed, so I entered that information into FF as well. If today was low instead of medium, I'm going to have a hard time reaching it when it's high.

The CM was wet, but not fertile quality. I only got a substantial amount on my fingers because I was swirling around it, lol. Hoping I see some sticky or creamy within the next few days just to see that my body can produce what it's suppose to on schedule.

Temp was 96.8, so it's being pretty consistent. Anything to make me see an obvious thermal shift in about 10 days will make me happy. :D

Sister Tuesday Testing

My sister was expecting AF Sunday or today but she's MIA. She's testing tomorrow morning. Hoping for a BFP. I texted her, "What if Mom gets 2 grandkids this year?!" Her response, "Or 3 if I have twins." My reply, "Or 5 if I have twins." Dang. She didn't text back. I wonder if she's seen it or just got busy with work. I thought it was at least draw her in to ask about me. We haven't told any family that we are trying, only very close friends who don't have connections to our families. Hope my sister gets her BFP tomorrow and sends me a picture. She doesn't want to tell anyone until 12-13 weeks, but I know she won't be able to keep it a secret for that long, hehehe.

Announcement

Right now I think that if we get pregnant in March, we would announce it to our families on Mother's Day, which would put me at 10 weeks.

I still haven't decided if we will try in April for a January baby if March is a bust.

Evicting the Spiders

There's a story behind the title of this post, trust me.

About a month ago, after a protected BD session, I made the joking comment to DH that his spermies were afraid of all the cobwebs in my uterus because they don't go in there. He joked back that if there were cobwebs there must be spiders and yes, his spermies would be afraid of spiders. Last Sunday we went to a Mexican restaurant, and we always do a cheers with our drinks. I toasted, "To evicting SpiderVille!" He laughed and agreed.

Well, the spiders have been evicted!! We officially did the baby dance. I had no problem sending his swimmers on a recon mission to scope out my uterus. :D We BD'd in the early afternoon, but DH couldn't feel his orgasm mounting. I needed a breather anyway. Later DH mowed the lawn and I offered to take a shower with him. Well, both of us were naked and... I am now just a little bit more confident that we can make a baby. :p

I'm not sure what could be causing them but I've felt a few cramps in my uterus off and on this evening while we were at dinner. I would normally be starting birth control tonight (but that ain't happening), so I'm wondering if my body is expecting it for some reason. Hopefully it will adjust to the freedom of suppressed estrogen and spit out an egg or two next week.

Cinco

Last night was less than ideal for getting an accurate temp. I tried to fall asleep at 10:55pm, and saw the clock at 11:45. At 12:06 I was so warm that I got some water and used the bathroom. Then I got under one blanket and reset my alarm for 3:30 so I could test after 3 hours of sleep. Temp was 95.9, which was pretty close to the 95.4 I had on CD3 after a very cold night. My body woke up at 6:44 and I took my temperature again just for fun, and it was 96.9. I made a note in FF and kept the 95.9 temp.

Spotting finished up this morning, so I wanted to start checking my cervix position today, but I got wrapped up in other things that I forgot. FF recommends checking it once a day at the same time, which for me I think will be after I use the bathroom around my lunch break at work. I'll be able to check for CM at the same time, and I have a pretty good memory so I won't forget about logging it into FF later on. Today was very dry. Hopefully I start seeing some sticky and creamy by the end of the week.

Ooo, I received an email that my package from Amazon shipped today, and will be here on Saturday the 10th, which will be CD11 for me. I'll start them the following day on CD12 and do them twice a day along with the microscope. I really hope I O around the 15 or 16th. I can't wait for my temp spike on my chart!!

Back on track

My temp this morning was 96.8, which is much more in line with my temps from CD 1 and 2. I was asleep by 11pm and woke up to my alarm at 2:30. DH had turned off the AC so it wouldn't affect my temp again. This morning was ideal. I'm really curious if my temps will be 98 or above before O at all.

AF is on her way out, and I told DH to prepare for good things tomorrow. I meant that we were finally able to BD again after this 10 day dry spell. He thought I was referring to Sunday being the day we can conceive. Honey, we will certainly try, but it will be too early. Right now I think O will be on CD 16/March 15th because I have had ovulation pains on CD16 in the past when I wasn't on birth control (November 2010).

My OPKs and microscope haven't shipped yet from Amazon! I ordered them Wednesday night. They better ship on Monday because I really want them between the 7th and 10th, the ETA from Amazon.

I haven't been feeling any more side effects from the prenatal pills since my friend Schelby told me drink a glass of milk with it and/or take it on a full stomach. I did not like the nauseous feeling I had the second day after taking a prenatal pill--I felt so sick and awful all day at work. I take them a night right before bed when I use to take my BC.

Tomorrow is the day I had told DH we would have until in order to decide if we were going to TTC this month because I would need to start another pack of BC the Sunday after AF. We are definitely on the same page, and we want to make a baby Reeskle!!

Three Grandchildren?

My brother's girlfriend is due August 22. They find out the gender on March 21st. This will be my mom's second grandchild.

Tonight my sister told me that she has a woman's app that keeps track of your LMPs and possible ovulation days. She BD'd on the three fertile days the app predicted for her in February. She's expecting AF this weekend, but if she's late, she told me she would test on Wednesday. I asked her that if she wasn't pregnant, would she try again in March. She said probably.

Whoa! What if I get pregnant this month and she's due either the beginning of November or just a few days after I would be in December?! My mom would have three new grandchildren this year!

I haven't told any of my family that we are actively TTC this cycle because I don't want them to ask me about it every time we talk on the phone. "Hey, what's new? Are you pregnant?" Even if I was, I certainly wouldn't want to share it by being backed into a corner. It will below everyone away though if all three of us siblings have children this year though. :D

Limiting Late Nights

Last night I was asleep by 10:45 and woke up at 2:21, facing away from my thermometer. I asked myself, "since I'm not moving, should I just try to fall asleep again until my alarm goes off at 3:15?" Then I thought that me talking to myself and being conscious may affect my temperature, so I might as well take it and just make a note of the situation in FF. I was really cold, and the AC was blowing right on me. I'm going to make sure it won't be tonight. My temp was 95.5. Is that too low for normal? I'd rather have that low of a temp now than around CD 11 or 18 to mess me up thinking my O was off.

Since I've been waking up at 2:30 and 3:15 these first few days, I should really be in bed by 10:30. I'm going to limit my late nights. DH and I used to stay up til 1am watching a marathon of our favorite TV series on DVD or Netflix. I won't have a problem falling asleep tonight though because I could already go for a nap (it's almost 7pm).

Looking forward to another temp in the morning and seeing where this charting adventure will lead me.

Learning to Temp

Last night I took my temperature out of curiosity. It was 96.5 again--same as at 3:15 that morning. Sounded a little broken to me, so DH found a different thermometer to try. That was in the 97 range, so I decided to switch and use the second thermometer for temping in the mornings. I planned to wake up at 3:15 again; however, I rolled over and looked at the clock, and it was 2:30am. I took my temp anyways, and it was 97.4. I went to bed around 11:45, so it wasn't quite 3 hours, but I thought that if I wanted an extra 30 minutes, then I still wouldn't have had three continuous hours of rest. It's all a learning game. I am going to aim for 3:15am for tomorrow's temp.

Other than that, CD2 was quite similar to CD1. Very excited to push AF out the door and for my OPKs and microscope to arrive so I can experiment with them. I still predict that I will have O pains on CD16. I have been thinking about which days would be the best to BD. As soon as I see slippery, wet or eggwhite CM, guess who is going to rapish her husband. This girl right here! I've also thought about picking up my favorite romance novel from the book shelf and starting it around CD7-8 to help make myself a more sperm-friendly establishment.

Birthing Center

Today I met with Stacy at the south Austin Birthing Center for a tour and to discuss becoming a patient in the future. I took some pictures (but you can see better ones on the website link above). 

This is the Austin Music Scene room, and I really like the decor. I think the tiny tiles on and around the tub are cool. Oo, check out the tub in the next room!

This is the Art Scene Room. Our living room is actually painted a very similar green, and I never thought to put orange with it! The last picture is of the bathroom with a large shower, but you can't see the bench that is behind the half-wall. I think I would choose this room. I like all the circles and colors. 


So, what did I learn during my visit? I learned that this is the place for me! They have an all-inclusive package. There aren't any add-ons or take-aways to adjust the price. 


*Monthly prenatal visits until 28 weeks. 
*Bimonthly prenatal visits 28 wks to 36 wks. 
*Weekly prenatal visits at 36 wks til birth.
*20 week u/s
*Early dating u/s if necessary
*Childbirth classes
*Unlimited learning classes, prenatal and postnatal yoga
*They take care of the birth certificate
*Nurse/Lactation Consultant comes to your house on day 3 after birth, also 2 and 6 weeks post-birth
*Have recommendations on pediatricians and doctors for baby and those that will do circumcision for boys
*Even if I have to get transferred to a hospital, a midwife will come with me
*Postpardum nurse stays after birth teaching us Baby 101 skills with new baby
*Discharged normally 8 hours after birth
*Get to choose your favorite of three birthing rooms
*They encourage you to be active during labor so they have a huge shower with a bench, birthing ball, and tub
*You're encouraged to walk around
*You can have as many friends and family in the room with you
*They are prepared if baby or mom or dad needs O2
*They can call in prescriptions if need be


The package is $3950 with $500 down at the first visit and the balance paid by 37 weeks. It would average to about $500 a month, and with DH's extra income from his part-time job, this is completely doable for us. I'm so glad this option is available to us. The only stipulation is that I have to be a low risk pregnancy because they do not have the resources to handle high-risk patients. I think that at around 6 weeks I will have to find a way to determine if I'm carrying twins or not. If we have twins, we will have to look for another solution. One has to take the good with the bad, right?

It's Finally March!

March is finally here! Lots of good things coming this month.

*AF should be gone by Sunday morning.
*My brother Matt comes home from his 9 week deployment.
*My OPKs, HPTs, and Ovulation Microscope will arrive from Amazon.
*My youngest brother Eric turns 17.
*I have a painting class that I'm doing for MIL's Mother's Day present.
*We learn the gender of Matt & Ashleigh's baby.
*Hopefully I'll get a BFP!

OPKs at Target

Tonight I went to Target to look at OPKs. I almost bought a package of 7 for $12.79, but decided against it. I wanted to check out the Amazon deal that my friends get for their OPKs and IC tests. 40 OPK test and 10 HPTs for $10.90 plus I bought a ovulation microscope for $27.95 (got free shipping on everything). I bought the microscope too to compare the lines on the OPKs to the fern pattern seen in the microscope. They should arrive between March 7-10th, which means that I will start testing for O immediately when they arrive. :)

The Kickstarting Dream

Last Thursday night (2/23) I had this dream, which I've broken up into the fragments that still stand out to me.

*I POAS, but really it is in a plastic 6 oz cup, and dip a HPT in it. The HPT is white and pink, and shows me that I'm pregnant.
*I looking online about being just a few days pregnant and the webpage I'm looking at links to my Facebook page. I scramble to erase it so nobody knows my secret.
*I'm in a meeting at work and afterwards tell my coworker Emily that I'm pregnant. Her reaction is, "Oh crap, now I have more work to do," meaning that I'm going to be leaving when I give birth and be a SAHM.
*I'm pregnant on my February cycle and know that my EDD is November. I know in the dream that I didn't an early November baby, yet I know that everything will be ok even though this isn't how I planned getting pregnant.

I wake up and feel very connected to the last bit, about "everything will be ok"--words I've seen and heard many times before from friends and family. This dream is on my mind all day long.

That evening I'm watching The Tudors on Netflix and there's an intimate scene. DH in the kitchen hears it and comes to investigate. Pretty soon we are kissing and holding each other, and I know that with a little encouragement I can get us moving to the bed room (or staying on the couch, find with me!). I think about the night before when we BD'd and I was this close *makes itty bitty measurement gesture* to not letting DH pull out. I think about how I know he's told me in the past that if he didn't pull out, it would cause him to worry until AF showed up, no matter where I was in my cycle (man brain). I start to cry because I have such conflicting emotions:  on one hand, my body has this huge instinct to TTC and I can't stop thinking about it every time we BD; and on the other, I don't want him to worry. He asks me what's wrong, and I tell him about my dream.

He was glad I told him. We talked for the next hour. His question was, "What if last night was conception and your dream came true?" We focused more on the two financial aspects the have caused us to be cautious about TTC, which is paying for medical costs during pregnancy, and paying our bills after birth. Now that DH has a part time job for at least 14 weeks, we'll get an unexpected $3,000 or so that can go towards our Baby Fund. We still get the GI Bill stipend, which will bulk up our general savings account. Then, if his summer internship pans out, we should make a little bit of money off of that as well. DH is optimistic that his current part-time job will be extended due to the amount of work available and how easy it is for the company to have him telecommute and see desired results. His-time job is about 70% of what I make a week, and he would be able to keep making that, then I could stay home with our baby, which is what we both want.

We made our hypothetical unplanned pregnancy work, and then we asked each other if we would be ok trying this month and having a baby by the end of the year. We agreed. We also agreed that it would be like jumping into a lake--get wet if you're going to get wet! DH said, "I'll make that jump with you." Awe, he's the best!

I told him that I had until the following Sunday (3/4) to decide if I should go back on the Pill, and we would check with each other to see if our feelings changed at all. It's been 5 days since our talk, and we're still on board.

Lucky #1

Today is CD1. I've had this day marked since last fall when I got a new calendar at work and decided to make a little open circle every fourth Wednesday for AF's arrival next to the giant number in the box. Yesterday I had some very faint spotting, but the cramps and irritability were quite present.

I set up my Fertility Friend account so I could chart my morning temperatures. I know a lot already, but I should probably go through the tutorials just to be the most knowledgable. I have the ticker as a race horse because well, I'm Sarah and everyone knows I love horse racing. The image of a horse racing to the finish line helped me finish college, so I wanted to use it in this new adventure too.

Please read my post called The Kickstarting Dream, which will explain how we suddenly changed course and decided to TTC so many more months (years?) earlier than anticipated. I wonder how many babies have been conceived due to a dream. Hmmm.