Advice?

I'm looking for some advice. It doesn't have to be educated. I'm not picky. Anyone know anything about flying in the first trimester?

My husband and I (reluctantly) are going on a family trip to Disney World in a couple of weeks. Disney isn't really our thing...although I actually don't know that for sure. Neither of us has been to Disney in the last 25 years. So, it could totally be our thing. But, going out on a limb, I'm guessing that it isn't. Since we don't have kids, we aren't super stoked about this trip. His parents are really excited about it and since all of the siblings and nieces and nephews are going, we figured we would join in.

So, that brings me to my question. I have long since stopped planning things based around the assumption that I will be pregnant. I have missed out on two half-marathons and a marathon that I would have LOVE to have run thinking that I would be pregnant. But, no such luck. So, those experiences are down the tubes for no reason. We went ahead and signed up with the family to go on this trip assuming that I would NOT be pregnant. Now that I am a week away from finding out whether we were successful this month, I am getting a little nervous.

We are catching a ride (14 hours) with the in-laws in the back of a minivan with the kiddos. That could be hazardous to our health in itself. But, we have tickets to fly home. I started googling flying and first trimester, and I can't find anything conclusive. Some say there isn't anything to worry about and others say not to do it. I would only be about 5 weeks pregnant, so the risk of miscarriage is scary to me. Of course, I say this all while I have NO IDEA whether I'm even pregnant yet.

So...anyone know anything? Or have an opinion? Or been given advice by their midwife, doctor, or Great-Aunt Sally?

Crazy Bitch

Anyone else think of Buckcherry? The feminist in me wants to hate that song, but it's just so catchy. I'm just checking in today to say...I'm a crazy bitch. If you had caught me about an hour ago, I would have fought you on this fact...and likely cut you. However, the wild swinging pendulum that is my mood has now swung and I will admit it. I'm absolutely, certifiably nuts.

First of all, you should know that I'm dressed like a unicorn today. That's not really relevant to the story except for that it has significantly contributed to how crazy I feel. But, I'll back up to what happened before I had to get dressed for work this morning. So, I'm using OPK's again this month. I got a questionable positive on Sunday afternoon. I assume that ovulated Monday afternoon, but I'm not really sure. So, Garrison and I got romantic on Sunday, Monday, and yesterday morning. Well...."romantic" meaning that I woke him up with an elbow to the side and said, "You've got 10 minutes before I have to get in the shower."

For the last few days, he's been a really good sport. He got right to the point and even squeezed in a little spooning afterwards. Then, this morning, he suddenly was offended at my advances and wanted a little more romancing. I responded to his need for a little intimacy and affection by bursting into tears and stomping down the hall to the shower. Did the shower calm me down? Oh no, this fit of rage lasted right into breakfast where I slammed pots and pans around while making eggs. I kept right on screaming at him as I pulled on my golden furry costume with the hooves. Do you have any idea how hard it is to get someone to take your tantrum seriously while pinning on your tail?? Then, my tirade continued as I passive-aggressively ignored texts from my husband and cried my way down the highway to work.

Then, I pulled myself together, pulled on my furry headpiece with the unicorn horn, held my head high and walked into the building. As soon as I walked inside, I felt great. Not just in a good mood, but positively giddy. Walking on cloud nine. Giving high-fives, cracking jokes, and bouncing around the room.

Perhaps it was the gold sequins on my costume, but I'm pretty sure it had something to do with that little pill called Progesterone. That stuff makes me absolutely BATTY. I can go from being ready to scratch a coworker's eyes out to hysterical laughter to a sobbing puddle all within 10 minutes.

So, I'm not sure about my timing this month. I had felt pretty good about it until my husband decided to hold out on me this morning. Yes, I know. It's now two days past the day that I suspect that I ovulated and that is way too late to conceive. But, I reserve the right to blame him if I'm not pregnant. And you can bet that I will make him pay dearly for that.

The best part of the whole day? The text I received from Garrison about 15 minutes ago apologizing for HIS behavior this morning. Sigh. Poor bunny. If he escapes all of this without PTSD it will be a miracle.

I just added a new recipe to the recipe page. It's amazing. It's Sweet Potato and Garbanzo Bean Curry. Sweet Potatoes are good for fertility! I stole it from another site, so I can't take credit. Try it served over some brown rice. It's amazing.
Anyone else feeling a little crazy from all of this TTC madness? Are any of your partners feeling a little used and abused? How do you handle it?

Babies or Used Cars?

In the last two weeks, I've graduated from some moderate disappointment over the monthly return of Flo to full-fledged frustration and panic over where we'll go from here if pregnancy isn't in the cards. I wish I were one of those women who could say that life will be just as full if children aren't in the cards, but I'm not. Adoption would certainly be an option and I would be very okay with that. It isn't nearly time to count ourselves out of the game, but we have come to a point where the "What if...?" conversation is starting to come up.

So, there's this book. Have any of you ever read it?

In short, Orenstein chronicles her journey from being unsure of her desire to have children to becoming completely consumed by the desire to become a mother. Along the way, she is confronted with cancer, marital troubles, and infertility. If you are at the point where you are starting to think about the what-ifs, then it makes for some interesting reading. Orenstein is honest and witty and her account of her battles with infertility will leave you feeling both raw and comforted. Don't worry, I'm not trying to write a book review. I will come back to this book in a moment. First, let me tell you about this bizarre experience I had last week that has me thinking a lot about some of the points that Orenstein made. (I'm going somewhere with this, I promise.)

So, after I was sure that we were unsuccessful again last month, I called my sister and had a little (huge) temper tantrum. The next day there was a message on my voicemail from her stating that she had talked to one of the fertility specialists in her practice. Her synopsis of the conversation was vague and hurried, but she said that the doctor said that I should talk to someone about something and if I wanted to talk about that something, then I needed to be somewhere at 4:30 that afternoon or I wouldn't be able to talk about anything. What's that you say? Talk to someone!? About something!? I'll be there!

And so I was. I entered the fertility suites that I'm beginning to grow accustomed to and waited my turn to talk to someone. The nurse led me to the back and after doing the normal weight checks and LMP chat, led me down the back hallway to what I assumed would be the exam room. Instead, she took me to an office with a flat screen television. I was becoming a little apprehensive, but I figured, "Hey. These are doctors. They are going to talk to me about something."

After a few minutes, a woman in a white lab coat entered. She looked and spoke exactly like Mary Katherine Gallagher. We talked a little about my history and then she explained that she wanted to talk to me about a different type of charting called the Creighton Method that focuses primarily on cervical mucous. She took me through a powerpoint presentation (enter the flat screen television) on the science behind this method and the technique behind the charting.

About 45 minutes into the presentation, it occurs to me that I've never had a doctor sit with me for longer than about ten minutes. My mind starts to wander and I start to stare at her i.d. badge. It's then that it hits me. This woman is no doctor. I'm in the middle of a sales pitch. Hey.....

As duped as I felt, I decided that I had already been there almost an hour and might as well stick it out. Besides, I was learning a lot about cervical mucous and can you ever really know too much about cervical mucous? The woman really knew her stuff and I was starting to think that maybe I should give some thought to purchasing the charting materials and follow up sessions. Then....it happened. When I told her that I would love to get back to her after running it by my husband, she said that the materials were only this price for the next two weeks. If I didn't get back to her, then we would have to pay for another initial interview. Ugh. In a matter of one hour, this woman went from revered doctor to used car salesman.

But, you know what? I had no business being upset that I felt duped. No one had tried to trick me into going to this sales pitch. My desperation to make progress, any progress, toward becoming pregnant had caused me to leave running from work straight into an office waving my wallet above my head without having any idea of why I was there or what I was paying for.

The whole experience reminded me of Peggy Orenstein's words when reflecting on her own attempts to navigate the "vortex of persuasive doctors and miracle cures."

"That's the insidious thing about fertility treatments: the very fact of their existence, the

potential, however slim, that the next round might get you pregnant creates an imperative

that may not have otherwise existed. If you didn't try it, you'd always have to wonder whether

it would've worked. That's how you lose sight of your real choices, because the ones you're offered

make you feel as if you have none.

There were more than a million fertility appointments made within the last year, and it's unclear

how many of them are necessary. One recent large scale study found that 90 percent-90 percent-

of women in their late thirties will get pregnant within two years of trying (assuming their

partners are also under forty). Yet infertility in this country is defined as failure to conceive

after just one year, and many couples...storm the clinic doors after just a few months. So, what's

a girl with a ticking biological clock to do? Until the workplace and family life better

accommodate mothers, there's no right answer. Nor can you count on the specialists to provide one;

their doctor-patient relationship is too easily influenced by profit motive and the vagaries

of self-regulation. As ever-newer "cures,"...are dangled before us, it's up to the

consumer to be alert to their pitfalls, to the allure of perpetual hope. I wish I had understood that."

I'm 33 years old and we've only been trying for about eight months. The "allure of perpetual hope" already has me running screaming into the doctor's office rather than giving my body and nature a chance to take its course. This month, I'm going to try and live by Orenstein's words. I'm going to continue with my OPK's and fertility smoothies, but I'm going to try and believe that my body can do this without any outside help from specialists or used car salesmen.

Before I go, a couple of things...

A) Before anyone wonders why my sister sent me into a sales pitch, that wasn't her fault. She assumed that I would call her so she could better prepare me for what the appointment was. I didn't call her and instead went to the appointment blind. This entire scenario was my fault for not educating myself prior to the walking into that office.

B) I am not, in any way, giving an opinion on the Creighton Method. The Creighton Method has apparently had some great successes that have been confirmed by independent studies. A fertility specialist said that I might be interested in hearing more about it, which I was. I haven't tried it. I know very little about it. My opinion was of the sales technique of the woman I encountered, NOT the method itself.

Keep on Truckin'

Hi, Friends. No fun news to share today. That bitch Flo showed up yesterday afternoon. She's no Auntie of mine.

My sweet sister knew that I would be testing on Saturday, so on Thursday night, she got me out of the house for one last bottle of wine (and also to spare my husband from mind-numbing symptom obsessing). We went to our favorite restaurant. It's this delicious little Ethiopian place and we are always the only people there. Has anyone else noticed that people have very strong reactions to Ethiopian food? Either they absolutely love it and can't get enough, or it keeps them awake all night violently ill. We generally only go on our sister date nights because we are the only people we know who fall into the first camp.

I started getting "that" feeling on Thursday, so I already had a feeling that my period would start soon. So, my sister (who is a midwife) and I spent part of our dinner discussing how to move forward. We also talked about things unrelated to fertility and related to her life. I'm not completely self-absorbed...only partly.

On Monday, I'm going to get some labwork done and then we're going to think about Clomid. I think I want one more shot at doing things the old-fashioned way before pulling out the big guns. My sis made some very good points about trusting my body. Quite frankly, right now I consider my uterus a real scheming bitch. I would like her to extend an olive branch before we try to push out a baby together. A great olive branch would be to get pregnant without making me go on meds that will give me headaches, make me gain more weight, and turn me into an even bigger loon that I already am. So, I'm giving her one last shot. Hear that, uterus? You've got one more shot to be the boss and then you're fired.

In the meantime, I'm going to spend this month really focusing on my nutrition. Over the last few months, my husband and I have trying to amp up our focus on fertility-friendly foods. (Okay, I've been amping up, he just eats what I give him.) Below is a list of some of the things that I've read will help with fertility. Like I've said before, I'm not pretending to be an expert or dispensing advice. These are just the things that I've read about and am giving a good ol' college try.

1. Tons of leafy greens (e.g. spinach, kale): Apparently, leafy greens are high in folate. If you are TTC, then you know all about folate and I won't bore you. It's good stuff and very important for growing healthy babies.

2. Healthy fats (e.g. avocados, nuts, salmon, pumpkin seeds): Once again, these guys are full of folate which is always a good thing. They are full of monounsaturated fat which apparently helps regulate important hormones like estrogen. Some say it's an aphrodisiac...they haven't made me feel like jumping in the sack yet, but that's what "they" say.

3. Whole milk: Have you tried whole milk lately? After spending my entire adult life avoiding fat and only drinking skim and 2%, whole milk is freaking amazing. There is nothing like a really cold cup of this creamy deliciousness. Especially if you make it chocolate. Wow. Anyway, whole dairy is supposed to help with ovulation. I don't know the science on this, but apparently women who eat a serving of whole dairy (without overdoing it) each day have less problems with ovulation.

4. Whole grains: We went to all whole-grain pasta and bread years ago for health reasons. I've actually grown to prefer it. (Unless we're talking about crusty French bread...dipped in olive oil and vinegar...with cheese...) This is supposed to help with insulin function because it takes longer to digest. Again, I don't understand the science of how insulin function relates to fertility, but apparently it does.

5. Sweet potatoes: These are high in beta-carotene which helps regulate the menstrual cycle. And, sweet potatoes are delicious. Especially when made into fries. Or tater-tots.

So, in addition to trying to work at least two or three of the above things into each meal during a day, I've been starting my day everyday with fertility smoothies. They are green and don't look very appetizing, but I promise you that they are delicious.

Fertility Breakfast Smoothie

1.5 frozen banana (high in B6 which one study from Harvard showed to improve conception odds by 40%)
3/4 cup whole milk
1.5 cups spinach
1.5 tbsp peanut butter (If you don't use White Chocolate Dreams peanut butter, you are only cheating yourself. Seriously. It will change your life.)
2 tbsp sweetened cocoa powder (I used to use chocolate soy protein powder until I read that it possibly negatively impacts fertility. I switched to cocoa powder because it's yummy and it is supposed to be an aphrodisiac. My husband would disagree with that last statement.)

Throw all of the above ingredients in a blender and blend until it's creamy and green. My blender is from 1972, so sometimes I have to add a little extra milk to get it all moving.

You might be asking yourself why you should try any of the above since I'm not an expert and my diet clearly hasn't been successful in getting me pregnant. To that I say...you're absolutely correct. Maybe you should do the complete opposite. Who knows?

Ya'll have a great Sunday! I'll be locked in my bedroom eating chocolate and watching trashy movies while I avoid the houseful of beer-drinking boys watching football in my living room.

Anyone have any food for fertility tips? Good recipes? I need advice!!

Nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs

Work has been b-a-n-a-n-a-s. So, this post will be short and sweet. I'm on CD 26. All you TTC-ers know that the last couple of days of the two week wait can be the WORST. Your body is super active because it is either gearing up for AF's arrival or maybe...just maybe...a baby??? Every cramp can either be AF or implantation. The pain in your boobs is pregnancy or PMS. Every single little gas bubble or tingle or toothache is worthy of endless analysis. Unfortunately, it isn't really socially acceptable to discuss any of this with people outside of your close circle (and most of them, especially your partner, are painfully bored by the topic) so you are left to have this insanity-inducing dialogue completely inside your head. So, that's basically where I am right now. I'm keeping myself away from computers for the next 48 hours so I don't drive myself completely crazy. I'll check back in when I'm either on CD 1 (while sobbing in the big ass glass of wine I plan to pour myself if I get yet another negative) or with fun news. In the meantime, I'll be chewing my nails up to the knuckle and watching lots of Reality Housewives as a distraction.

Women Supporting Women

Yesterday I had three cups of coffee. Three to five cups of coffee per day used to be pretty standard in my world. I cut it out cold turkey about three or four months into my TTC journey. Going from three to five cups of coffee to nothing overnight is not a good idea. Trust me. It doesn't take much to turn me into a raging bitch, but sweet cheeses, between the pounding headaches and wild mood swings, that was an ugly week.

Anyway, so I had a coffee date with a friend yesterday and the convo was so good that I allowed myself a couple of refills. My body just isn't used to that much caffeine these days, so I tossed and turned in bed until about three in the morning. While I was tossing and turning, I reflected on three unsettling conversations that I had over the course of the week. I'll recap:

1. An acquaintance is entering the hospital the next day to be induced. This is her first child. Her due date isn't for a couple of weeks, but the doc says the baby is over 8lbs. One of the women discussing this situation clucks and says, "Ack. All these unnecessary interventions. Mark my words. That baby will be born in 48 hours, 7 lbs, and will be an emergency c-section." Mind you, this is EXACTLY what happened, but still....

2. A co-worker is discussing how her sister is at her wits end due to some sleeping issues that she is having with her 9-month-old. She is trying to transition her baby from co-sleeping to the crib. Another co-worker says, "Welp. That's what you get when you co-sleep with your baby. She had it coming. My babies were in the crib from day one. I let them cry it out and now we have no problems. I don't get all this hippy-dippy co-sleeping nonsense. You're just teaching your child to be dependent and spoiled."

3. At a baby shower last weekend, mothers were trading war stories about breast feeding. One mother stated that she found it too difficult to pump once she went back to work, so she only nursed her son for the first 12 weeks. Another mother chimed in, "Well, I feel that the benefits of breast feeding outweigh any inconvenience that might be placed on the mother." Another woman, in the SAME conversation, said, "Well, the really sick thing is all of these mothers who nurse their children until they are old enough to climb up on their laps and pull at their shirts. I mean, really. Breast feeding past 12 months? Gross."

I mean...really ya'll?

As I reflected on these conversations, I got the cold sweats and the room starting spinning. Is this the sisterhood of motherhood that I'm entering? I always pictured myself entering some sort of Red Tent style sorority where we all washed each other's feet, brushed each other's hair, and massaged oil onto each other's stretch marks.

Maybe I just wasn't paying attention up until now, but I had NO idea that there was this world of judgement out there. Apparently the judgement starts with how you get pregnant, continues into what you eat and how you conduct yourself during pregnancy, then continues into how you give birth, and plows full steam ahead into how you parent.

Ladies! What happened to WOMEN SUPPORTING WOMEN?? It's hard out there. Can't we help a sister out? Do we need to make it harder on each other by judging?

Like every single other woman in the world, my opinions and behaviors are formed by my background experiences. I am the sister of a midwife and the daughter of an amazing mother who I would love to emulate. I'll be honest, I have very strong opinions on how I would like to give birth and how I would like to parent. (This is assuming that I am ever lucky enough to actually be pregnant and be a parent.) But guess what. THESE ARE OPINIONS FOR MYSELF. My opinions and behaviors come out of love and the intense desire to give my (hypothetical) children the best life possible. So do everyone else's! The number one priority of the vast majority of mothers in the world is the well-being and happiness of their children. I'm not a mother, but I've heard enough mothers discuss how it's the hardest job in the world. Why would we tear each other down just because the way I want to give my child the best life possible is different than the way you want to give your child the best life possible?

Home birth, hospital birth, birth center birth, water birth, epidural, natural birth, breast feeding, not breast feeding, co-sleeping, crying it out, attachment parenting, all organic diet, processed food, competitive sports, non-competitive sports...WOMEN ARE DOING THE BEST THEY CAN! Instead of judging, how about a pat on the back and an offer to help a sister out? Or, if you can't muster the energy to help, how about just a sympathetic shake of the head and a, "Man. That's so hard. I feel you. You're doing awesome. Keep on truckin'."

That's my Sunday Soap Box. The end.

 

Ignore all advice and freak out right away.

My best friend recently gave me the honor of asking me to be the Godmother of her precious daughter. She is Jewish, and I am....well....not. My family was Methodist, but I'm ashamed to say that my most vivid memories of church involve my brother, silent but deadlies, and my mother begging us to behave by sinking her very sharp fingernails into my thigh (Are razor sharp fingernails a prerequisite for being a mother?). So, you can understand why I was a little confused why anyone would choose me to be responsible for the spiritual upbringing of her child upon their demise.

I did a little research and found out that the Godmother is really just a symbolic relationship. Once I was assured that my responsibilities were limited to being a fun auntie and attending a ceremony called a "Baby Naming" at which no body parts would be cut off, I was game.

At the reception following the ceremony (which was lovely and silent but deadly-free), my friend's father got up and gave a touching toast about timing and luck. It was truly moving and I would never be able to do it justice, but the synopsis was that although we may be impatient for things, when we look back, we often realize we would never change the timing. In this case, he was referring to my friend and her husband's timing in meeting each other that led to the timing of their pregnancy and in turn the perfect daughter. If the timing of any of those things had been at all different, their daughter wouldn't be the one who is here today.

Obviously, you know where I'm going with this. I'm sure all you TTC-ers have heard it. Over and over again. And, I'm sure you try and use these words to help alleviate some of your frustration."It will all happen in good time." As I sat there that day listening to my friend's father, it all made so much sense. His words touched me and I went away feeling content to let fate take its course and allow timing to bring me my perfect child. (Please ignore the fact that I made this toast to my friend and her beautiful family completely about me.) So, I was about halfway through my two-hour drive home and it hit me. That's a bunch of crap. I don't want to be patient. I want what I want and I want it NOW!

When I first started TTC, the people who I confided in urged me to not stress it right away. "Just have fun with it!" they said. I decided to take a different route and begin peeing on sticks the very first month. The second month I started supplements. By month three, I was up to OPK's, B6 and any other supplement that happens to have a baby on the bottle, charting, raspberry leaf tea, checking my CM, the post-coital ritual of laying perfectly still with my head due north and two pillows under my rear, and Preseed. Some might say I am at best getting in my own way and at worst obsessive and crazy.

I disagree. Some of those things helped me avoid months of unsuccessful attempts without knowing why. For instance, if I hadn't started OPK's right away, I might not have known for quite some time about my luteal phase defect.

If you are reading these blogs like me, then you are already probably aware that the more you try to educate yourself about the method behind the madness of the fertility world, the more you find out that there are about a thousand answers to any one question and all of those answers directly contradict each other. The frustrating thing is that many of these answers are coming from doctors, midwives, nurses, and other experts in their field. Who's in charge here???

So, for the next few posts I'm going to try and summarize some of the things that I've learned about the different tools that we TTC-ers use to help us get those buns in our ovens. Not that I think I'm any expert...I am just as confused as the next guy. I've been down a million rabbit holes in the last seven months and I thought it might be nice (even if it's just for me to read) to have some of that information in one place.

I'm going to start with my favorite-the Ovulation Predictor Kit (OPK). 

Things I've learned:

1. What is an OPK you ask? Most of you probably are well-versed on this topic since you are here. But, for those of you who are just entering this world and haven't discovered that you can extend the joy of peeing on sticks throughout the month, this one's for you.

The luteinizing hormone is a hormone that is always present in your urine, but increases a day or two before you ovulate. This surge is what triggers your ovulation. So, the OPK determines when you are about to ovulate and tells you when you're most fertile.

2. They are expensive. Go ahead and invest in buying them in bulk. If you are lucky and get knocked up right away, sell them on Ebay or give them to your pal who isn't so lucky. Below is the link to the kind I've been using. They aren't fancy, but they work. $17 bucks for about five months worth. Not too shabby considering you'll pay at least that for a one month's supply at the drugstore.

http://www.amazon.com/Ovulation-Prediction-Strips-Pregnancy-Test/dp/B0026995KO/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1351805743&sr=8-3&keywords=ovulation+predictor+kit

3. Take two tests a day. OPK's aren't exactly like pregnancy tests. The best time to detect the LH surge is in the afternoon, so I've read. I started out by taking them with first morning urine, because that's what they say to do with pregnancy tests. But, apparently it's best to use the OPK at about 3:00. The first time I did this, I realized that my surge started a day earlier than I thought it did, which made me ragey...that may have been the progesterone however.

Considering that you apparently ovulate 12-36 hours after your surge starts, it is very possible that one could miss her window if she is only testing in the morning. So, now I test with FMU and at about 3:30 everyday.

4. Stop testing after your first positive test! Don't drive yourself crazy. I have not found one definitive answer about whether you have already ovulated once you get a negative OPK after your surge. The only thing that seems to be certain (Like I said, I am no expert...I'm only parroting what I've read on the internets.) is that most women ovulate anywhere between 12-36 hours after the surge. The only useful information you are going to get from those puppies is when your surge started. Once you get that positive, sit back (or lay down) and enjoy some baby makin'.

5. Don't leave them on the bathroom counter. Nothing takes the mystery and romance out of baby makin' than leaving urine soaked sticks on the bathroom counter for your man to find. Some things can be kept to yourself, ladies.


So...I made it to Day 20! Eight more days until I get to test. For all of you who obsess over every little twinge or lack thereof like I do, I haven't really felt anything that I can overanalyze yet. I usually have breast tenderness right after ovulation and I haven't really so far this month-so I guess that's something.

Is anyone else close in Cycle Day? Feeling anything you want to overanalyze? :)