A Recipe for Success

I took my last Provera pill yesterday and am now awaiting AF (which I believe will show on Thursday - today is Tuesday). I will probably start taking Clomid on Monday (April 6th) depending on when exactly AF starts.

My plan of action is: Clomid + baby aspirin + Pre-seed + prayer!

DH just picked up the baby aspirin today...didn't even ask what it was for (lol). I've heard of this before and just today I read about it working for several women...2 of whom got pregnant like this very recently. Supposedly baby aspirin helps blood flow easily to your uterus and ovaries and helps with the uterine lining.

Hopefully the Pre-Seed and baby aspirin will help counteract the negative effects of Clomid. Plus I will be taking the advice of many who have said I should take the Clomid at night so that I can avoid trying to kill DH in an evil bitch-fest (you know...the usual side effect). I think we'll be alright...

"Trouble TTC"??

Every once in a while I go on TheBump.com's Trouble TTC board to hear about others' issues with getting pregnant. I just realized that the name of the board is pretty silly.

I don't think any of us are having trouble trying to conceive. I can speak for myself that I have noooooo problem trying to conceive...it's the actual conception part we're having trouble with, not the trying part!

Maybe it should be called "Trouble Conceiving"...just a thought.

By the way, I'm on day 4 of Provera. I definitely saw the temperature spike on my chart the morning after I took the first pill. My Fertility Friend chart is so confused. It does not know what to make of this spike...it thinks I MAY HAVE ovulated between day 19 and 38. Lol...very funny. Obviously I haven't ovulated...it's just the Provera but I find it funny that it guessed such a ridiculously wide range. Check it out!

Confession...

I POAS today at work. I couldn't help it. I only had 1 more day to go to testing and I got to looking at my chart and thought I saw some sort of pattern that, if correct, meant that I could have ovulated 17 or 18 days ago. If that were the case I'd be able to test immediately and see some result. Well...the office "covert operation" felt silly after seeing the one lonely line on that stick.

*sighhh*

I'll do it again tomorrow morning before work just for good measure (I have about 30 test strips at home that I purchased on-line) so that I can start Provera tomorrow night. And off we go onto our first medicated TTC cycle!

BDing at mom's house??

So technically it's been about 5 months since we've been TTC and today I'm on CD31 and still no ovulation detected. I can see that there will be no BFP and that I will have to start Clomid next month for sure. So now I must wait 9 more days (until CD40) then I can start the Provera for 7 days, then usually I get AF 3 days after Provera and then I start Clomid 50mg from CD5-9. Then BD every other day starting on CD11...and pray for ovulation!! I guess I should buy the Pre-seed!

Funny thing is that I calculated the days on the calendar and it looks like we'll be BDing the whole week that we're visiting my mother in Florida...and staying in her house! That should make for an interesting time! LOL

By the way, having a BFP this month would have meant having a baby this year. I pray that 2010 will be our lucky year!

Chandler

Just wanted to introduce our kitty, Chandler! She's about 2 and a half years old now and is a sweetheart.

Chance of Twins on Clomid - 50%? 10%?

When my doc first mentioned Clomid after several months of TTC, she told us that there's a 50% chance of having twins on Clomid. She said a couple of her friends that have taken it did have twins. DH and I looked at each other...

It funny because we've talked about it before. Twins don't run in either of our families but I admit to having said it would be great to have twins...two in one shot! Things we said regarding having kids was always said without a second thought or sometimes even half joking. But after hearing about there being a 50% shot from my doc I had to take a step back and think things through.

I mean, sure, if we were to get pregnant with twins naturally and without meds we would be thrilled (although scared at first!) But actually taking a medication that the doc says has a pretty high chance of resulting in twins...well that was different.

We were faced with the decision to try to wait it out another few months or start Clomid at the start of the next cycle. We left that doctor's office having decided to wait another few "cycles" (although they weren't actual cycles if I was not ovulating - which I wasn't).

I went online to find out and I realized that many sites said Clomid increases the chance by 10% (not 50%) unless you have a family history of twins then it would be higher. I also went on chat boards to find out what other doctors told women about Clomid. The ones I read up on all said 10%. After discussing it further over the next few days and talking to my brother about it, we decided to start Clomid.

As of right now, I'm waiting until March 24th before starting Provera and then Cycle #1 of Clomid. And whether we get pregnant with one or two...we'll be so excited to be starting our journey to becoming parents!

Charting and Daylight Savings Time

I totally screwed up this morning. I usually take my temperature at 7am and somehow (duh!) I thought that since we jumped an hour ahead, that means I should take my temperature at 6am to make up for the hour. I should have taken it at 8am so I did the opposite. So taking my temp 2 hours in advanced definitely made me have a lower than usual temp this morning. I woke up thinking, "wow, maybe this is my temp dip before ovulation!". After I fully awoke and talked to hubby about it, he showed me the error I made. Ughhhh...

On Chris Brown...Off Topic

I am so appalled and disgusted with Chris Brown right now. I hope and pray that he spends at least 2 or 3 years in prison for what he did to Rihanna. And you know what, if Rihanna is attempting to reconcile with Brown, then I am disgusted with her too.

I know that in many cases of partner abuse there is some level of coersive control that takes place over the victim making her powerless and more likely to crave the abusers acceptance blah blah blah. I mean I know coersive control is a real phenomena (I studied it in school...the link above was written by the professor that taught it to me at UMDNJ), but Rihanna really needs to rise above this and set a positive example for all the young girls out there that look up to her. I understand her wanting to forgive him...because until she forgives him he still has power over her. But, don't get back together with him!! I mean, who knows what's really happening right now between them. We've heard rumors that they have gotten together and have spent some time together after the "altercation" (as many sites are calling it) AND Rihanna isn't pressing charges. Well, oh well Chris...the State of California will not let that stop them from pressing charges.

Chris Brown faces up to 4 years and 8 months in prison if he is found guilty of the 2 felonies he is charged with: (1) assault by means likely (likely?) to create great bodily injury, and (2) criminal threats.

The girl almost passed out from his beating...yeah, a BEATING, not an "altercation" people. And you know what, I hope the photogs release the picture of Rihanna a day later (said to be much worse than the one release by TMZ that everyone has seen). Not that I wish more harm for Rihanna, but if releasing that picture causes Chris Brown's career to disintegrate...well good for him, he deserves it.

Check out the actual search warrant and affidavit which provides more detail, below. Leave it to The Smoking Gun to find and post all the gory details.

Details on the Chris Brown/ Rihanna Case

Dieting While TTC

I lost about 20 pounds for my wedding 5 months ago and have since gained back about 15 pounds. I would love to go back down to my wedding-day weight but that was a struggle to get to and it's almost impossible to stay there for long. I had already gained 5 pounds by the time we arrived home after our honeymoon (but I guess that's to be expected after a whole week of gorging on all-you-can-eat Mexican cuisine).

Anyway, I (stupidly) expected that I would be pregnant within a month or two after the wedding so I really didn't care that I was starting to gain weight. And, honestly, after about 7 months of dieting I really just wanted to eat what I wanted to eat.

Now, several months later, I started trying to eat sensibly again and work out. I've been having ceareal for 2 meals per day and doing cardio on the eliptical at home for about 30 minutes at least 4 times per week. It's been about 2 weeks and, although I must admit I haven't been perfect, I've been pretty steady with this method. I lost about 2 pounds and then gained them back. Then I get upset, say "f it" and go buy a Twix! I frustrate myself.

I know it's the right thing to do to lose some weight before I get pregnant so that I can be healthier for the pregnancy...but I can't help that little voice inside my head that says "Eat whatever you want, when you get pregnant you're going to gain weight anyway!" Trust me, I know about the holes in that logic. But that's the problem, when dealing with food and hunger, sometimes logic goes out the window and you're ruled by cravings, taste and satisfaction.

Hello Out There...

This is my first time blogging so bear with me. My name is Marielle. I married my best friend, Alex in October of 2008. We have been TTC since. It's been almost 5 months now. March 2009 is my last attempt to TTC without any meds...if I don't ovluate, I'm starting clomid in April.

I haven't been ovulating since before the wedding probably because of the stress of planning a wedding combined with being on BCP for almost a decade up until the end of 2007 and then for about 3 months at the time of my wedding (I didn't want to have to deal with having a period on my wedding day or on the honeymoon). The last period I had on my own was probably in the summer of 2008. Now it's the winter (about to be spring of 2009).

My ob/gyn ordered blood work and some analysis on me and hubby and all came out normal. Now we wait until March 24th. If I don't have my period by then and I'm still not preg, then I go on Clomid in mid-April. Wish me luck for March!