Conception Checklist (CD 6)

Aunt Flo? - check! (although it was wacky ... started late and only lasted 3 days - I always have a 5 day flow ... hmmm)

Swimmers ordered and shipped to RE? - check!

Swimmers arrived at RE? - not sure yet, calling today

Pre-natal vitamins and supplements daily? - check!

Waiting, waiting, waiting? - check! check! check!

About 10 days to go ...

Updated to say: Swimmers arrived at RE? - - check!

Birthday musings

My 36th birthday is two weeks from Monday. I realized that due to the tardy arrival of AF, I may be inseminating on my birthday! (I'm doing back to back insems).

I'm hoping that is another sign that this try will work. How crazy of a conception story would that be???

Update

The train is pulling in.

Aunt Flo is arriving.

HALLELUJAH!

And now back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Seriously? This is ridiculous ...

For once I'm really excited for my period to start because then we can get this show on the road! (well, there was also that other time, after being a bit irresponsible with the bcp - oops)

But AF is lost. My luteal phase is 12 days. Maybe 13 once in the last 9 months of charting. I'm now at 15 DPO and ... Nothing.

My temps are also still above the cover line.

And I'm certainly not pregnant. So that's not it.

This would happen now.

C'mon lady parts! Don't fail me now! You can do it!

A Sign?

So today I'm on my way to the salon for a much-needed Mani-pedi. This has been a super crazy busy few weeks at work (at my new less-intense job!). I stop at the trash room to put my trash down the chute and see this:

It's a crib that appears to be in great shape! Usually I get mad at my neighbors who are too lazy to take their large items down to the bins on the first floor, but today I'm excited!!!

So I claimed it and it is being stored in the closet on my porch until its time. I figure if someone wants to buy me a brand new crib, then I can put this back where I found it and let it bless someone else. Or I can convince the generous gifter to take care of another big ticket item.

It will need cleaning (this why it is NOT inside my apartment yet) but that will be a good project while I'm pregnant.

Here's hoping this means great things for try #1 in about 3 weeks!

Timing

I am really excited about my upcoming insemination in September - praying for my first and only!

However being who I am, I have to look forward into the future (not yet promised) ...

If I get pregnant from my September insemination, then I will be due late May-early June. Pretty convenient for the end of the school year. I will get 16 weeks of maternity leave, which means at full term delivery, I'd be going back to work toward the end of September.

Here's my dilemma: after I give birth, I don't think I want to stay in my current city because this is not where my real support system is. However, I want the maternity leave that I have earned, and clearly if I were to move sooner, I would not earn enough time in my new job for paid maternity leave.

I'm feeling a bit torn about this. Would I return to work in my current city after leave and give my two week notice? Then work two weeks and relocate (in this scenario I would probably "actually" relocate much earlier - as in right around the birth - and get hired for a new job to start after my last two weeks.) Is that unethical? How long would I need to stay post-leave to feel ok about it? Why am I worrying about this before a BFP? (answer to that last question is the C in OCD which makes it hard for me to do things without a plan in place. Especially something this big!).

Help please!

Random post ... Shopping

I had the brilliant idea today to go to Walmart because I needed some drugstore-type items (vitamins and a few supplements to try to improve those terrible numbers - likely not to work but can't hurt!) and some grocery type items. I even waited until 8 pm thinking the real shoppers would be gone.

However, apparently only 3 people work in this store and I'm questioning whether they are all still in training because none of the lines are moving. The lines curve back into the shopping area.

I am in line 22 and as you can tell from my picture, I am not even in the vicinity of the line! Argh!!! And it's not just my lane. They're all like this. my food is melting in the cart and I am so aggravated. Such is my really exciting Saturday night. Boo.

Thanks for listening.

OPK +

I got my positive OPK test this evening. I will test again in the morning. May have been positive this an, but I had to be to work by 7 am so no testing for me!

Four weeks to go!

Divine Message

I've been trying to get everything back on track for TTC, since I pretty much fell off during the wait due to the fibroids.  Now that we're all set to go in September, I'm trying to work on getting my life back together.  I had done a good job of exercising this summer - was up to 15+ miles running weekly, until the last two weeks (been doing a lot of manual labor during the day at work, and could not fathom getting up early to run beforehand ...although I'm committed to doing so this upcoming week).  But everything else was a bit of a mess.

So I've been cooking this weekend, reading, cleaning, running, and generally taking better care of myself.  This afternoon, I went out to the pool to get a little sun (and Vitamin D!).  I was only out for about an hour before the clouds moved in and the wind picked up - think a storm is coming!  As I was walking back to my apartment, I passed through one of the courtyards.  There was a woman sitting a table, reading.  She looked up as I passed and we both smiled and said hello.

Just as I reached the far side of the courtyard, she called out to me ("Miss!").  I turned around, thinking that maybe I had dropped something.  I walked back over to her, and she said that she had a scripture :  "For with God, nothing shall be impossible."  She said that as I passed, the scripture just came to her, and she wanted to share.

Wow!  I thanked her and told her that it was "right on time!"

When I got back to my apartment, I looked up the verse (I am very familiar with it, but could not recall its context).  The scripture comes from when the angel Gabriel came to Mary to tell her that she was going to have a child, and that her cousin Elizabeth would have a child in her old age.

Wow, again.

I'm going to continue to pray and continue to get my life in order.

I feel blessed to have experienced that brief moment today that demonstrates that He is watching and overseeing this process, even when I feel alone.

Green light!

So I just left my RE's office.

I got the go-ahead for my first IUI on my next cycle!

We did all my final paperwork and I'm set to go. So I will have my first IUI around the first week of September. Yay! Finally!

So what did we discuss today:
We had a lot of tests and scans to review ...

* ovarian cyst - could resolve on its own, likely not endometriosis according to HSG results. Will continue to monitor.

*. Fibroids - there are several, some very large. Since I don't have any symptoms due to them, and they aren't inside or distorting uterus, surgery not warranted at this time, as scarring from surgery could negatively impact my ability to get pregnant on my own (could still do IVF). So no surgery! Wahoo!

* the numbers - FSH is elevated (24.6) and AFC is a little low (8). AMH was mysteriously not reported in any of my tests so I have to get some more bloodwork done. Overall though, ovarian reserve doesn't look great.

We will start with unmediated IUIs then re-evaluate after 3 if necessary.

That's it for now. Excited!