Changes

Hey there, its me again, slacker! At last this time I have a good excuse, I have been swamped with my Etsy shop. There really hasn't ben too much excitement going on but I am planning on making some changes!

Change #1: I'm going dark! I have been putting it off for many years now but I am finally making the jump and dying my hair brown. I haven't had dark hair for a long long time. I love being blonde, don't get me wrong but I am just tired of dealing with it. Since I am taking prenatal vitamins my hair grows like CRAZY! I literally have 1 inch roots within 2 months and I hate dying my hair. Not only is it time consuming but its expensive too. Now that my color will be more like my natural color I will be able to get away with it for longer. I'm thinking this!

Change #2: I cant take Clomid this upcoming month. That was the original plan but with my grandma coming from Poland mid cycle and then S traveling for work at the end of my cycle its just too much. I don't want to miss my ovulation time because either him or me will be traveling. Also, I think I ovulated this month! Even though I did OPK's I think I missed my surge. The Clear Blue OPK tell you to tell first thing in the AM and since I only had so many I couldn't test multiple times a day. I did have a slight raise in my temp after the whole month being crazy and my CM was definitely egg white right before the surge but since its so late in my cycle (CD 19) I highly doubt a pregnancy is possible with such a shot LP. Maybe postponing Clomid for another month may not be a bad idea.

Today I am having major burning in my uterus area. I have no idea what it is but I have been feeling it a lot lately around the time of my period coming. I'm on CD 21 out of 24 day cycle so period is just around the corner. I had my progesterone draw yesterday but have not heard back the results yet but I'm certain I know what the answer will be.

I'm excited for the weekend. Its a long weekend and I get my hair done. Then we have some family trips planned for this weekend and I am looking forward to some down time. Hope everyone has a good weekend!

I Have Been Such a Slacker

I have been such a slacker when it comes to writing lately. Honestly I feel like I have nothing exciting to add. I've been feeling down recently about not being able to get pregnant ASAP again and its just frustrating me. I'm slowly starting to lose motivation in having sex because I feel like what's the point. I know there is more to it than baby making but that's all that's been on my mind.

I have been doing the Clear Blue OPK's every morning and still no smiley face. I'm not surprised because today is only CD 13 and before I had what I thought was a positive around CD 15. I've been having S wake me up every morning at 6am so I can take my temperature for charting and my chart's still look wonky. A has been sleeping AMAZING so I am definitely getting my 3-4 hours. I just don't know why charting isn't working out when it has for so many. (I always test at the same time but don't always enter at the same time which is messing up the color's of the dots)

 

On top of everything A has 4 teeth coming in all at once. She's been so cranky and fussy its wearing my down. Last night she couldn't fall asleep and got her foot stuck in the bars of the crib. Then she fell down because she couldn't get it out and twisted her ankle a bit before I had a chance to get to her. She limped when I had her walk but she seems to be doing a bit better this morning. It is kind of swollen and bruised though. At least these are the last few teeth until her last molars are due.

                                             Almost out, can already see the white peaks!

I still have to go get another progesterone draw on CD 20 and I'm dreading it because I pretty much know what the answer will be. I have Clomid waiting for me and if my charting shows no spike, the positive OPK and low test again for progesterone I'm just going to take it.

That's really all I have for now. Been kind of in a slump and I really don't feel like writing more.

Decision, Decisions....

Hello! I cant believe the weekend flew by so fast. Since the government furlough's got shortened this was our last long weekend. We finally got a chance to go to NJ and visit family that we haven't seen since maybe March! A had an awesome time visiting her grandparents and S and I got to take a 2 hour nap in an afternoon....together! That hasn't happened since before A was born.

Anyway, lets get to the juicy stuff. I went to the doctor on Thursday to discuss my low progesterone. My doctor believes I'm not ovulating based on the low progesterone tests and prescribed me Clomid. I was hoping she would be a little more thorough but she would like me to do unmonitored Clomid which is making me feel a bit uncomfortable. Normally there is a bunch of tests they want you do before starting fertility treatment but she didn't care to do any of that.

I have done a fair amount of my own research and talked to friends who have been in a similar situation and I keep coming across the same info...unmonitored Clomid can be dangerous. There are many risk factors but the two main ones that stick out to me are a much higher chance of conceiving twins and the possibility of over stimulating your ovaries. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't mind 2 babies but financially it may be quite a bit challenging. The health risks of carrying twins also scares me and when I told S the chance he kind of gave me the side eye. I definitely don't think he would be able to handle two for the price of one.

I have had a lot of time to think this weekend and decided to take another month or two before Clomid. I have been been doing the cheap OPK's which don't really give me a definite answer so I ordered the Clear Blue OPK's to see if I can get a better positive this month. If I do not get a positive along with another low progesterone draw on CD 20 this month then I will consider taking the Clomid. I feel like I need more confirmation that I am really not ovulating than just 2 progesterone draws.

I also ordered the book "Taking Charge of Your Fertility" and will try charting again this month. Last month was a mess but maybe this month will work out better. I think that's all I got for now! I got a low of Etsy order this weekend so I'm off to unpack and get crocheting!

Patience

If having issues getting pregnant taught me anything, its definitely having patience. All you do is wait, wait and wait some more. Since my last progesterone test came in my doctor wants to see me to discuss options again. This time I was told it may include talking about Clomid so I have been doing my own research and trying to arm myself with as much info as possible. I'm meeting with the doctor today at 3:20.

Fertility is so complicated! This whole time I was understanding things backwards. I thought my progesterone was low which was causing me not to ovulate but really its the lack of ovulation that is causing the low progesterone. I was confused why the doctor wanted to talk Clomid instead of giving me progesterone supplements but I guess it makes sense now. Depending on what she offers I think I would still like to take 1-2 months ttc by ourselves before going on any drug. I don't think I'm ready to get medicated just yet.

On a different note, if I have another person tell me I should track my temp's I'm going to scream. Even when I tell them I tried but due to A waking up at night still I can never get the 3-4 hours needed for an accurate read they still tell me how I'm prob not doing it right and I should just do it. Even though my chart's are all crazy I'm still trying in hopes of it being accurate and having a spike its just so frustrating not being listened to. Its like they think I'm lying that its not working out for me.

Anyway, A is having a amazing nap today! Wish us luck at the doctors. I'm curious to see what she suggests.

Second Progesterone Test

I had a second blood draw on CD 17 for the progesterone test because my doctor believes every woman ovulates 14 days before her period. Well, the results came back as 0.9. Whomp whomp! This either means that my progesterone is low and I am not ovulating or we were way off assuming  ovulate on CD 10 out of a 24 da cycle. Kind of what  already expected so I wasn't really surprised. The doctor was on call only today so I have to wait and see what she wants to do next. Hopefully I hear back within the next day or two.

On a happy note, we went to Longwood Gardens today and had a great time! I am so glad we got the membership. Here are some pictures.

Friday!

I cant believe its Friday already. S having off Monday's because or the furlough really makes the week's fly. I got my progesterone blood draw today. Its CD 17 and since my doctor thinks I'm ovulating on CD 10 this will give us a read of the progesterone levels. I'm curious to see the results. Unfortunately I have to wait ALL the way till Monday to find out because of the weekend. Boo!

S has been in a funk lately. Maybe its the furlough getting to him or hes just feeling overwhelmed. I have been trying to be extra supportive and telling him how grateful we are to have him so I hope its been helping. We have a fun weekend ahead so hopefully that will help too. Tomorrow we have a small birthday party to go to for his co worker and on Sunday I will try taking him raspberry picking. He loves fruit so it may be a little pick me up. Then on Monday since he has off we will go to Longwood Gardens again and have a picnic. The weather will be beautiful in the high 70's.

Next week will be an exciting week for Annabelle and I! I decided that I will start an at home pre preschool program with her to start teaching her her basics such as numbers, letters, shapes, colors etc. We do a lot of activities throughout our week's but I think a nice formal way of teaching her will be very helpful to her. My friend sent me this website (CLICK HERE) with weekly lesson plans that I will switch around a bit to fit our schedule and learning goals but I am excited! She's been trying talk and talk more and I hope this will be an extra boost in her learning.

In other news, when A was in the hospital we received a little baby hat that a volunteer made. It was one of her first hats and whenever I think of her birth  I always imagine her with that little itty bitty hat on. Well we decided to give back and make some hats of our own to donate. We have been busy all week making them with this beautiful soft yarn I got at a craft fair. I am excited about bringing it to the hospital in a few days. I just have to add a few touches to them.

                                                  My babe and her little hat!

                                                 What we are donating!

Well, hope everyone has a good weekend! Looking forward to the cooler weather and some outdoor family time.