Back to Basics

Well here we are again. I feel like it’s over 2 and ½ years ago when this journey started. Since we’re “taking a break” from the fertility meds I’m going to try some different things this time then I did way back in the beginning when we first started to TTC.

I am not temping this time. I was a religious BBT temper (Basal Body Temperature). Every morning for a year and half (no matter where we were) at 5am my alarm would go off and I would stick that BBT thermometer where the sun don’t shine in my va-jay jay. Hubster had no idea what I was doing and I think after a while he stopped hearing my alarm. He is a very deep sleeper… me, not so much. So a lot of times after I would take my temp I would not fall back to sleep. Made for some pretty tired days. The idea is that at the same time every morning before you really move you take your temperature. It’s your base temp and you will see throughout your cycle it should go up when you’re going to ovulate and peak at ovulation. Then during the 2 week wait it’ll either go up up up until you have a positive pregnancy test or start to fall when you’re going to get your period. I did this every day for over a year and a half. I have a nice big folder filled with charts. On the charts you also put what your cervical mucus (CM) was like (dry, sticky, egg white) and when you had sex. It was really interesting to see how my cycles went, they were (are) really long and it was good to have that to show my OBGYN and then later my Fertility Specialist. I read the book, Taking Charge of Your Fertility by Toni Weschler, and it was really really informative. I recommend anyone who is starting on this journey to read this book. I learned a lot about the goings on in my body. But this time I feel like I do not need to go through all that again because frankly after a while it stressed me out.

I also will not be using OPK’s (ovulation predictor kits). Well, I should clarify – I will not be doing OPK’s like a mad woman. I would get the “cheapies” from Amazon (like 40 for $6) and use them in conjunction with the temping. I would start them on day 8 or 10 and then do them 2x a day until I ovulated. Sometimes I would not ovulate until day 25 (during 40+ day cycles- that sucked). I had a whole system down pat. I would stop drinking liquids at 9 am, hold my pee, and take the OPK at 11 am. Then I would stop drinking liquids at 2:30 pm, hold my pee, and take the OPK at 4:30 pm. I would do this until I ovulated. Talk about stressful! So yeah – I will not be doing that whole thing again!

I had mentioned in the prior post that I was looking to get a Clear Blue Easy Fertility Monitor on eBay. Well I got one! This seriously makes the whole process so much less stressful. I ended up getting it the day that I wrote the last post and then it arrived at my house on Monday! I read the booklet and you can set the monitor up for a new cycle up until day 5 and my day 5 was Tuesday so it was perfect timing. Every morning you get up and push a button on the monitor. You have a 6 hour window of time to do this, for example, I pushed the button for the first time at 7 am. So I can now get up and push the button anywhere from 4am-10am. That is SO MUCH less stressful than temping! Starting on the morning of day 6 it asks you to insert a stick when you push the button (of course it’s a special stick for the machine). Same concept as an OPK- hold your pee (so it’s more concentrated) and then pee on the stick (or like me I pee in a Dixie cup and then dip it in there for 15 seconds because I pee all over my hand the other way), then insert it into the slot in the machine. It then flashes for a couple minutes and it tells you if you’re low, high or peak. You want to have sex every other day starting on your first high. Some people have sex every day starting on the first high but my doctor said that once a man gets over 30 they could be shooting blanks if it’s every day. This machine is worth it just so that I’m not temping and peeing on OPKs all the time for days on end. That all seriously stressed me out because it was all that I was thinking about. I might start doing the OPK’s once a day (probably at like 4 pm) once I get a high but we’ll see. I might just see what happens with the machine this month.

I also have to keep in mind that I only have one tube… so even if I ovulate every month it’s not necessarily on the side with the tube. Grrr frustrating.

Anyhoo – nothing I can do about that. But I am taking the CoQ10 that the FS told me to take. I also started to drink something called “Fertili Tea.” I got it on my favorite place (Amazon, of course) after reading a bunch online about it when I was looking into the CBE Monitor. It has Vitex Agnus Castus (Chasteberry), Green Tea, Red Raspberry, Ladies Mantle, Nettle Leaf, and Peppermint Leaf. These are all things that are supposed to help women with long cycles (*jumps up and down waving hand, “Me! Me!”*) and general reproductive health. It was created by a fertility specialist and all of the ingredients have been scientifically proven to enhance fertility. Sign. Me. Up. It’s a lose tea so I used a mesh tea ball. I actually made it last night and drank it today, haha. I filled a glass quart mason jar with boiling water (4 cups) and then the tea ball with the lose tea and let it steep overnight. This way I was able to pour it over ice and drank it on the way to work this morning. It’s just too warm out for me right now to be drinking hot tea. I didn’t put any sweetener in it and the only way I can describe it is that it tasted almost like peppermint tea. If you do not like peppermint then this is not the tea for you, lol.

I am still trucking along with the Paleo. I’m mostly doing a modified version of it though. I’m sticking to the basic premise of no dairy, no legumes, and no grains/carbs. So pretty much veggies, fruit, meat, egg whites (because I can’t eat the yolk, makes me physically sick) and nuts (but no peanuts). I will be honest that I do cheat sometimes. Like last night we had tacos – I always have a taco salad versus the shells because I can’t eat corn (I’m allergic to it). I tried to have the taco salad with just a mescaline lettuce mix, shredded carrots, tomatoes avocado and the taco meat… but it just wasn’t cutting it without a little sour cream! So I had a little spoon full and all was well with the world. I feel like if I really stress myself out and not let myself cave every once in a while then I will not stick with this. I know myself. The Paleo diet also says that you should have all organic fruits and veggies and only grass fed meats. Well… I do what I can. But I will say I’m certainly feeling better and sleeping a lot better. I’ve also started to slowly but surely lose some weight too (halleluiah).

Hubster and I have been getting up almost every morning and taking our boxer for a walk. We have a small manmade lake near us that is a mile around that we do at least 2x (depending on what time it is since I have to get ready for work). We also live in a very rural neighborhood so it’s nice to walk around there as well. He has been working on his final thesis for his masters so this gets the dog tired out so that she’s lazy for the rest of the day and he can work. I think it’s good that we’re both getting up and getting the blood flowing – I know it’s beneficial for my reproductive organs and I can only assume it is for his as well.

Clearly “taking a break” doesn’t mean just going with the flow! My cycles are so irregular that I felt like if we just did our thing I would be constantly wondering if we had missed my ovulation and (I know myself) stressing out about that. I feel like the monitor takes all the guess work out it.

So… here we go :)