The Pregnant Pause:Our TTC Journey

We are so close to the second trimester, I can't believe it! So much has happened in the last month I'm not even sure where to begin! I'll start off saying that I found out I am RH Negative (O- Blood type) so I'll have to have a shot at 28 weeks pregnant to make sure that any other babies I have in the future are safe. I also found out I'm Strep B Positive (a kind of UTI) that will require me to take antibiotics during labor to make sure I don't pass it to the baby if I end up with it again. Lots of fun, right? At my 11 Week appointment, my doctor wouldn't even entertain the idea of listening for a heartbeat. I really wanted to hear a heartbeat before my vacation since we would be announcing while we were there. A Disney World announcement... How could we resist? So, I opted to purchase my own doppler and it arrived only a few days later! My husband and I looked for about ten minutes and then we finally heard that blessed sound. 170 something beats per m

It has been a long time since I have posted and there is definitely a reason for it which I'll get to momentarily. After my chemical pregnancy, I had people reach out to me and tell me thank you for raising awareness. It is often overlooked even in the medical industry. I now know there is a reason God put me through that. I was able to help people and talk to people about it. I was a source of hope for people and that's a pretty cool thing. I even had a close friend who just experienced one herself. So, it's much more common than people think. After I found out about my chemical pregnancy, it made me wonder how many I might have had myself before the one I caught. I know my chemical was caused by low progesterone. So, how many cycles did I actually unknowingly experience a chemical pregnancy? I'll never know and that's probably better. Immediately after the grief of my chemical pregnancy started to wear off, I knew this month we would be successful. I, again, j

Hey everyone! I'm wanting to discuss how your cycles can be affected by a chemical pregnancy. Considering, I have first hand experience with this now I think it might help others who are currently or have recently experienced a chemical pregnancy. Even though chemical pregnancies are miscarriages before 5 weeks (mine was 4 weeks, 1 day) they can still impact the following cycle in different ways. Some women find they take a long time to ovulate afterwards. Some find they ovulate very quickly afterwards and much earlier than usual. That was the case for me. I had read some advice to start OPKs right after my period ended because my hormones could be all out of whack. My period was longer and heavier than normal with a ton of clots. I was finally period free on CD8 and that is when I started OPKs. It was crazy for me to already see a fairly dark line. Granted, it was still negative but I knew that a positive OPK was only days away. On CD10, I had a really dark line on the OPK but

Well, it's official. I have a consult with my new RE on August 21st, 2014. This means I should have an entire cycle in the books before this consult. I've spoken with my girls on my TWW board and I've decided that I am going to start taking my progesterone vaginally (more potent than orally) and I'm going to up my dosage to 200mg by taking 100mg in the morning and 100mg in the evening. I just know that progesterone is the key to making a pregnancy stick. I finally got a positive pregnancy test with 100mg of progesterone but my progesterone levels were still only a 5.1 at that time which makes it almost impossible for a viable pregnancy. I figure this is MY cycle. I will have no doctor intervention. I know the extra dosage of progesterone won't have any bad side effects. My doctor said so herself. In fact, this dosage is fairly normal. So, my plan for this cycle is the same as last with a minor tweak. I'm still going to enjoy the crap out of my dear husband. I

Well, I'm uttering the words I never thought I'd say. We have just experienced a chemical pregnancy. It sucks. This is how it all went down. We were in Colorado for our two year wedding anniversary and had the most amazing time. Towards the end of our trip I started feeling off. I'd get nauseous and headaches, insane hot flashes, I was drinking water like I was in the desert... Not to mention I ate part of a hard boiled egg in my salad at dinner one night and about died. Anyway,that night we had actually went to see a psychic. Yes, I'm sure some of you just rolled your eyes. It was for fun and I was taking everything she said with a grain of salt. I kid you not though... The first thing she said to me when we walked in was, "Are you pregnant?!" I replied with, "Not that I know of!" She then said that I'd be pregnant this year. She could see that. Well, two days later I was home and decided to take a pregnancy test. I was prescribed 100mg of pro

Hi everyone! So, we got all of our test results back... Everything looks great! I had CD3 bloodwork done testing my Estradiol, Prolactin, and FSH. *Estradiol was 40 (normal is between 25 and 75) *Prolactin was a 6.6 (normal is under 25) *FSH was 6.8 (great numbers are under 9) DH got his semen analysis results back as well! *Sperm Count was 35.92 million (normal is between 12 and 20 million) *Motility Pre-Wash was 64% (normal over 40%) *Morphology 4% (normal is 5% and under...still not sure how to understand the morphology results but if it's normal, what do I care?) So, overall everything is great with us! I'm scheduled to do an HSG next month just to make sure my fallopian tubes aren't blocked. I don't think there's an issue with them but I guess we'll find out next month! I've also just started a Youtube channel to document my TTC journey as well! Please, feel free to follow along! I'm finishing up the edits on my first video and I&

Well, here we are after another unsuccessful cycle. This one hurt because I realized that it marked one year since we stopped preventing. One good thing that comes from hitting that mark is that we get to do some tests to see if there is something wrong. On CD3, I had some blood taken to do three tests. The three tests that were performed were Estradiol, FSH, and Prolactin. For those who aren't familiar: Follicle Stimulating Hormone (FSH) - is produced by the pituitary gland and is responsible for the egg maturation process. High day 3 FSH levels are associated with diminished ovarian reserve. Estradiol (E2) - is produced by the ovary and levels should be low in the early part of the menstrual cycle. High day 3 levels may indicate a cyst in the ovary or diminished ovarian reserve. Prolactin - Both luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) are necessary for ovulation. If, for example, hyperlactinemia is caused by a prolactionoma, a tumor in the pituitary

Today is CD 1 of my 8th TTC cycle. Bummer, right? I'm going to be blatantly honest here. TTC sucks. I never thought it would be this hard. It's not just the emotional aspect failing over and over again. It's the constant advice you get from people who think they're giving you brand new never before heard of advice. Well guess what... I've heard it all. Here are the most common pieces of advice you get: *Just relax. *You're trying to hard. *You're stressing out too much. *It'll happen when the time is right. *Try OPKs. *Have sex on CDX, CDX, and CDX. *Have sex every other day/have sex every day. *Just have fun! *Stop taking it so seriously. I am so sick and tired of hearing these pieces of advice over and over. Every time I hear one, I just smile and thank the person because they honestly think they're helping and I appreciate that. If you've ever been through TTC and it's been difficult you know what I'm talking about. It'

Today marks the 12th day of my current cycle. I'm just waiting to ovulate and I haven't felt this good and relaxed in a while. I learned a lot from last cycle as I've mentioned in previous posts and I'm really taking it to heart this cycle. I'm so much more relaxed and that's helping me both in my personal and professional life. Here are some of the things I've done that I believe are making a difference! 1) I started drinking a lot more water this cycle. What has this done for me? I'm sitting here looking at my Caffeine Free Diet Coke thinking how gross it looks. The more water I drink, the less I want my pop. It's also... get ready for TMI... given me an increase in EWCM which is exactly what you want when you're TTC. So, that's been a welcome addition. 2) I started exercising again and man does it feel good to be getting active again. After all, if we don't end up conceiving before May, I've got a vacation in Mexico to go to an