The Progress–Reading Fully Fertile
Things have toned down and geared up at the same time. I’ve set an “official” goal for baby makin’ time, and every day it’s getting little closer.
I’ve accepted the fact that it may not happen right away, and have actually found out that it only does for 25% of people?… I dunno, if you ask me the number seems A LOT bigger than that. I mean, I feel like everyone I know is pregnant!
Despite that, I have calmed down a lot. I still give my husband a little crap every now and then for drinking caffeine, and wearing tight underwear, but I’m trying to go easy on him. In fact… He’s even been cooperating and taking a male vitamin with Zinc and other good stuff to help his swimmers.–I’m not sure if he knows that’s why I gave it to him–If so, he sure is being a good sport about it.
When I got to the part about organic foods and nutrition I was kind of dreading it a little–I’ve never really been big on the whole “organic craze” that’s been going on lately. To be honest I read all nutrition things with a grain of salt… I don’t feel like I have time to check every detauk if everything I eat with a microscope… I know I should be better, but I sorta figure since I don’t drink or smoke, a strawberry that may have been sprayed with pesticides once in it’s life won’t kill me–As fast. BUT since I’m thinking I may be eating for two… Eventually, I’m trying to have a more open mind about these things (even though I swear a lot of women eat like crap and still have healthy babies).
I also love fruit, and I may try to buy organic fruit, or… There’s a good list in the book of fruits that have the most pesticide, then their main nutrient, and a comparable fruit you could eat instead. For example: Strawberries have a lot of pesticides. The main vitamin in it is C and a good “nutritional match” with lower pesticides is: Blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, kiwi, orange and cantaloupe. I’m going to try to be more aware of little things like this as far as diet. Do you buy organic? Why or why not?
I’m also going to try to be better about sleeping. It’s easy for me to stay up all night and read, write or surf the net. But sleep is one of the most important parts of the life cycle, and not getting enough could be detrimental.–Who knew? Instead of pulling so many all-nighters, I’ve decided to give my body a break and attempt to get 8 hours of sleep for the next month… We’ll see how that goes! I’m not sure how many people I know who actually get that much sleep.
I’ve given up caffeine for the most part. I admit, I’ve snuck a cola here and there, but I’d say my headaches are proving my abstinence from the drug.
And the biggest thing that’s been keeping me is the dentist. Well guess what?.. Wednesday is my big day to take care of that! I’ve been worried if I was pregnant any time before that the Novocaine I’m sure I’ll need probably wouldn’t be good for my growing spawn.
And on a sort of side note… Have you heard of Feng Shui? It’s confusing but fun to read about at the same time. For instance… I have no idea the best place to put the bed since it’s like a loose loose the way my room is positioned, however I’m not making up my bed again every morning, so I have a neat, and calmer bed to get into at night. There was a section on that in Fully Fertile too, I found it intriguing.
I know people are probbaly reading all of this and thinking I’m crazy. Probably saying to themselves I should “just have fun” at first. And I completely understand that. But I think it’s hard to relax when in the back of your mind you know what the goal is. I will say though, at this point, I’m doing more of this research for fun an education rather than out of fear or paranoia. That’s progress right?
As far as all the tracking goes, I’m still doing the BBT readings, however last month they totally screwed me up. I thought my cycle was going to be like 40 days cause my temperatures never went up but I was spot on around day 28 again. SO… Knowing that it has pretty much been that way since April, when I went off hormonal birth control–give or take a day or two– I’m not going to stress about it the next few months. I mean… If you have regular cycles, isn’t that kind of a good sign?
Just for fun, I’ll try to see if I can figure out the big “O” day, and see if it’s consistent, so I can possibly plan a baby makin’ moon kick off… But we’ll see. Am I going overboard? Ok, but really, women who want to get pregnant… How much planing are you doing? And to women who have gotten pregnant–How did you do it?–No, I mean, with food and sleep and all that good stuff, did you pay attention to all of that?
On another side note… It’s the 4th of July! Happy 
Independence Day my friends! I hope you’re having a wonderful time with those you love! I made this cake… Aren’t you loving how domestic I have become? Ok I admit… I was running a little late so hubs baked it for me… But I decorated it!
PS: The winner of my “Labor Fascination” post giveaway with the wonderful birth coach Karen Angstadt from Intentional Birth is #54 Nichole from Scorpion Sojourn. I also love her blog “Smothered in Motherness” But it’s private 🙂 She’s expecting her first baby and is 22 weeks along so this is PERFECT for her! Congrats! Email me and I’ll get you in touch with Karen for your free hour session!
That’s really cool!!
Oh, and some women’s temps don’t go up when the ovulate, just as an FYI. If you are having your period regular though, I wouldn’t worry until you start trying.
Congrats on all the info, and good luck!
When we started thinking it was time to have kids, I figured it would take a couple of months of “trying”, we had about two months before hubs deployed so I figured if it happened it happened. And it happened the first time, same again with number two, I told hubs it would probably take longer and well, it didn’t. I took my vitamins before hand and ate a little better but other then that I just went with it. Our kids, with the exception of this pregnancy, have been fairly well planned because of hub’s military schedule, but there was some aspect of “just going with the flow” after all when you make plans, God laughs! And how true that can be.
Wow. I’m feeling overwhelmed reading your post! My husband and I talk about having children, and our “plan”, however you are WAAAAAAY ahead of me in the prepping and all. 🙂
The hard part for us is our timeline and life events. Things happen, and yes, they always will, however we are such planners, and re-organizers, that it has become difficult to decide WHEN to have a family!!!
Good for you on doing your homework. Knowledge will be helpful in understanding your body and what will work and what won’t. good job!
I really want to read the Fully Fertile book…I may have already told you that 🙂 I think the way you are approaching this is very responsible and mature. You are actively researching getting pregnant and I think that’s admirable. I wish you all the luck! 🙂
ROFLOL, I had four children four years apart. No planning, no different foods, no birth control in between. Just the good Lord who knew how they needed to arrive for me to be able to raise them with love instead of stress. I am a Type A personality and so organized my friends say when i reach heaven the Angels will shudder because thier sock drawers are not organized. LOL Yes we planned the time of our first then left the rest up to God. Have fun enjoy yourself and your children when they arrive. Plans are made to fail where children are concerned. No child will ever fit into your plans for them they will walk to thier own music. Good Luck Happy Life, Angel
Happy 4th July!
The first time, we had planned to get pregnant if we could and to be honest, I went with the flow; I drank my wine as usual alongside coffee and ate my usual, reasonably healthy diet. I was slim, fit and healthy and didn’t think about it too much although I really admire that you have. I didn’t become pregnant right away. I had things going on other than that in my life but once things cooled off, I put a few extra pounds on and I seemed to get pregnant quickly…I’m not for a moment saying this had anything to do with it but I wasn’t running as much, I was more relaxed with work and enjoying a few glasses of wine or gin and tonic a week.
I’m sure you know this but just checking you’re taking folic acid?
With the twins, I was tentatively thinking about possibly getting pregnant but assumed it would take a good while…well, it happened sooner rather than later and I was even a bit nervous at telling my husband…plus, I’d dreamt the night before I took the test that I was pregnant with twins and when I did the test, knowing I was only 4 weeks, the hcg level must have been high because the test was a dark blue line, unlike the faded, pale blue line when I found I was pregnant the first time, at around 4 weeks. I just knew it was twins! Spooky.
:O)
x
I agree with the “relax and have fun” attitude, but I don’t think it hurts to be educated, either. We did a lot of reading and a lot of planning before we started trying. (Although it took us four months before we were successful–not sure if that was because we were trying to plan too much!)
Anyway, the main reason for my response to this post is to commend your attempts at eating organic. When you buy something, you are casting a vote, in a sense. When you buy organic food, you’re telling your grocer that you care about your health and the health of the planet and that you want to see more organic items in the store. If more people buy organic, the price will come down.
Now as for buying organic eggs and yogurt–AWESOME!!! Organic dairy products mean that animals on the farms are treated better. Eggs from “regular” chickens are raised in cages that are too small for them to even move. They eventually die when their legs (which have never received any exercise) break under the weight of the animal. Organic eggs are from chickens who are not only free of antibiotics and other chemicals, they’re also treated much more humanely and given access to the outdoors. (Check wikipedia for more info.)
(When we were in England last year, we learned that all of the eggs at one of their grocery stores (Marks and Spencer) sells ONLY free range eggs. This is largely due to the fact that consumers so often chose free range eggs over conventional eggs that it made sense to sell only free range eggs. I only wish we could be that progressive here in the states!)
Looks delicious!
This is too funny! I made a cake that looked just like this today. 🙂
Wow, it sounds like you’re going through an awful lot of stressful stuff to “plan” for a baby!! That’s crazy! Of course…I also got no sleep & was pretty sure I lived on Mickey D’s French Fries, & had a perfectly healthy baby boy 3 wks ago…so I guess it’s different for every person.
My husband and I didn’t plan it out, but we knew it was coming because we want a large family, & don’t believe in birth control..
I was using cycle beads for a while (y’can google them if you don’t know what they are), & may after I start my period again…they actually worked pretty well to plan, as long as I am consistant!
Anyway, good luck, I enjoy reading your blog.
God bless!
Good idea going to the dentist! Our son was a bit of a surprise so I didn’t get to do the pre ttc dental trip. At around 18 weeks or so I had a horrible experience where I had to have a wisdom tooth pulled. (Apparently pregnancy can make them come in if they haven’t already) I was out of work for over a week and on pain pills. Ugh… Yay for pre ttc dental!
This is my third month of trying. We are having FUN… but I would be a liar if I said that I didn’t think (obsess?) about it every day. I’m charting my BBT and striving for an overall healthy lifestyle. I’m can kinda be a control-freak about all things in my life, but I have to keep reminding myself that this is one thing I can’t control. It will happen when it’s supposed to happen. I love your blog and I feel like I’m on this “journey” with you. Good luck!
I planned way ahead before TTC. I started drinking less caffeine (down to almost none), more water, eating better – though not necessarily organic, started an exercise routine, took folic acid and B12 and B complex every day. I tracked cycles, and noted EWCM, tried to pinpoint my O day, took ovulation tests. . . all of the above.
I AM SO EXCITED that I WON! I’ve been reading up on labor and I’m more convinced than ever that my body can and will figure this out. I’m excited to talk with Karen! Thanks you!
BTW, after reading some of the comments, I just wanted to say that I think there is something very beautiful about having an “intentional” pregnancy – about wanting it, planning for it, preparing for it. I think it’s a testament to the child you will one day bear of how much they were wanted and loved before they ever even came into earthly existence.
you make me laugh. thanks for that. and not in an at you way, but in a with you, and a “that reminds me of me when i wanted to get pregnant” kinda way.
We’ve been doing a lot of planning here too, but not quite to the extent you are. I got a book called Fertility Facts that has some good tips and I also use The Essential Fertility Log to track my cycles. I also went to the doctor who gave me some tips and gave me Clomid b/c of the depo shot- it messed me up big time so I’m hoping this will help. I’ve also cut out a lot of stress, cut back on caffine, and have tried losing some weight. Good luck with trying and do remember to have fun!
I wish you the best of luck in your TTC journey! I was the same as you, reading everything, trying different foods, avoiding our hot tub (which I miss now that we have moved), taking my temp and even using that Pre-Seed lube that is supposed to be sperm friendly. I drove myself crazy for 3 years wondering if it had happened each and every time after we had time together. It is difficult not to wonder when that is how babies are made in the first place, right?
So the other day at our Mom’s Group, I asked the other moms what they felt had “done it” for them to get pregnant. Almost everyone agreed, myself included, that position had a lot to do with it. We didn’t get into details with each other, would have been difficult to explain anyway, but that was a common feeling.
Definitely continue to take care of yourself, you’ll need your body at it’s best for the long pregnant journey, but don’t lost sight of the love for your husband, and the time you do have together now. Having a child is the most wonderful thing, but I do miss those spontaneous loving moments when we didn’t have child screaming in our ears, or where both of us were in the mood, or both of us were awake. 🙂
Have fun, and good luck again!