Concert

I'm on CD 18, waiting to o with 10KL.  Although D has said we will TTC this cycle, we haven't used any days yet.   I'm fine either way since my surgery is in 23 days.

This Saturday I went with my choir friends to the Mich.ael W. S.mith, Mat.t Ma.her (who was the main reason we went even though he wasn't the headliner), Ph.il St.acy, and Mer.edith Andrews concert.  It was lots of fun and M.att Ma.her was definitely the best part, although I'd have preferred to see a concert were he was the headliner and not at a Protestant church.

Busy Weekend

We had friends over for dinner on Friday, and Saturday my dad came to drop off the stuff we are getting while they are overseas. Some of the things they gave us included their fridge, a stand mixer, tools, a mattress and a dining table. I spent Saturday morning (late morning...I was up late Friday night) going to the farmer's market. The farmer's market was ok. There wasn't any fruit when I got there toward the end, but I did get tomatoes. Afterwards I went to W (the boy that I nanny for)'s second birthday party. I did some cleaning before my dad got in town, and then we spent the rest of the night getting stuff unloaded and put in the house.

A lot of the weekend was spent cooking. I made yogurt in my crockpot, homemade chicken stock, and tomato sauce (all for the first time). Since we were switching out the fridge, I couldn't go grocery shopping until Sunday morning, so it was late last night when I finished up and went to bed. The good news is that I don't have to make tomato sauce or broth again for a while since I made really big batches.

I really haven't been thinking about IF/TTC that much lately. I don't know without looking at my chart when my cycle started or what cycle day I'm on. I'm pretty sure that we have no chance until at least after my surgery, so I've pretty much put it out of my head except when I'm around pregnant women or things like that.

I haven't had any more heavy bleeding, and I think since it was so heavy, it actually caused my period to be lighter than usual.

Technology breakdown

D's computer, our wireless router, our modem, and I all had a breakdown on Sunday evening. D's computer was his work computer so that is still with the IT dept. trying to fix it. He got a new laptop yesterday which I am borrowing today since my computer is both physically broken and incredibly slow. We had to buy a new wireless router since ours got fried somehow (the one we had was free so it wasn't as bad as if we had bought the original). Luckily the modem just got reset when the wireless blew out so we just had call our ISP to get the user name and password to reset. We also got 2 large TV that we bought from one of D's work friends for $350. We still don't have cable/satellite but we are getting satellite when my parents move to Qatar for my dad's work later this year.

I am going to visit my parents this weekend since a friend is having a bridal shower this Sunday in our hometown. My mom recently got a new computer so I'm going to get my dad to put my hard drive in her old computer and hopefully the performance will improve.

My cousin who was having premature labor at 32 weeks had her son at 35-36 weeks. He is doing well and didn't have to go to the NICU or special care nursery.

P.S. I need some prayers that the little girl that I nanny for will get into the Montes.sori school (for preschool) for the fall. She's on the waiting list and she really needs the Montes.sori style schooling enviroment. I think she will do so much better there than a traditional school environment and that will reduce my stress as well as her parents' stress.

The stress of all our technology breaking down at once plus normal period crazies was not a good combo. I'm feeling emotionally better but the cramps kicked in yesterday and now they are quite painful. Also my hypoglycemia has been bothering me a bit lately and I feel nauseated unless I eat something every hour or so.

P+8 and other stuff

This is the first time in a few months (and only three or four times in the last year) where (as of yet) I have gotten to O/P+8 without spotting/bleeding. Dr. Hilger put D and I on a 3 week antibiotics course which we start on P+1. I can't be sure, but it would be nice if it was stopping whatever is causing the crazy bleeding.

The antibiotics give me a stomachache and they give me a bad taste in my mouth, but it's worth it if it moves us closer to conceiving.

D and I went to NJ for his cousin's wedding last weekend. It was fun and we got to see all his family who we only see about twice a year. We are actually going to send a letter to his grandma, and ask her to pray for us with regard to infertility.

S (the 3-year-old girl I nanny for) punch me in the face today. I'm hoping that her parents can deal with her in a way that will reduce that kind of behavior.

Thyroid study, waiting to o and other stuff

I did my temps and pulses last week for the Thyroid Study. My ave. temp was about 98.1 (pre-Peak), but my pulse was almost always between 80-90. I definitely have a family history of thyroid issues on my dad's side of the family (grandmother, great-aunt, aunt, and cousin all have diagnosed issues).

I'm still just charting yellow stickers (I'm using them both pre- and post-peak now) with 6C or 8C, so I'm guessing I'm not going to o on CD 16 like last month. Oh well, I doubt that the physical conditions in my uterus are such that pregnancy is probable before my surgery.

D and I are trying to decide if November or December will be better for the surgery, but he has to think about it some more. D probably won't be able to come up to Omaha with me, but either my mom or my middle brother, M/BP, will try to come with me.

M/BP, the brother who is a Brother (in the monk/religious vow sense), is going to be going to seminary this fall. The other Brother recently finished seminary and once their order grows large enough he will be ordained.

I've got a bit of a stuffy nose, which is of course at a horrible time, being relatively close to and before ovulation. I know that "normal/fertile" people get pregnant after taking Sudafed, but we are getting close to two years of trying and I want to maximize our chances.

D and I have a bit of traveling coming up soon. His cousin gets married in about 10 days in NJ. His best friend gets married in late June in St. Louis. We are also going to visit my dad's side of the family in the Pacific Northwest in August. We are only flying to the first wedding; the rest of the trips will be by car.

Another cousin is pregnant

I found out yesterday that another one of my cousins is having a baby. This will be the 4th of my cousins (or their wives) who have gotten pregnant since March of this year (and two have had their babies).  Don't get me wrong, I am happy for her.  This is her second child, and her little girl will be three in a couple months.  I'm just sad for myself, that I'm not pregnant yet, and I don't even know what's wrong with me yet.  One side of my family will have 9 great-grandchildren by July, and I'm the second oldest on that side and none are mine.  

I'm still waiting to see 10C/KL or 10KL (so no fertile mucus yet).  I'm on CD 15, so I hope to see it soon.  I've had 10C for the past couple days but it's not really looking like truly fertile mucus.  I'm definitely not going to o on CD 18.

We still don't know if D is off Friday, so we don't know if we are going home for Christmas or just waiting until the weekend.  I'm off starting early this afternoon until the end of the weekend.  I got stuff for Christmas dinner in case we are here.  Luckily, there was already a ham in our freezer that my ILs gave us when their power was out due to Hurricane Ike.

Dating Anniversary and Deep Thoughts

As of today, D and I have been together for 4 years.  Before I started dating D, the longest that I'd ever dated someone was less than 4 months.  Sometimes I still worry that he'll chance his mind, that he'll decide this was a mistake.  I know that this isn't a good way to feel, and I know that he loves me, but I still have a crazy paranoia.  Ever since moving back from England right before first grade, I've always felt a bit precarious in my friendships.  Partly the problem is that so many of my friends have always come through another friend, so if something happens to that relationship then all the other go away too.  Since all my siblings are brothers and they are all younger, they were always the ones who were together.  I was separate.  

Ok, enough with my craziness, I'm on CD 11.  I've had 10C once or twice a day for the last three days or so.  I had some spotting/bleeding on Wednesday and yesterday (probably since I wrote that I wasn't bleeding anymore).  I've finished up my antibiotic and antihistimine/decongestant as of this morning.

D and I had some miscommunicate about what days he has off, so we may not be going home until the weekend after Christmas.  It depends on if he gets approved to take the day after Christmas off.   

Meds, but not for TTC

I've stopped bleeding for the moment.  For me, CD 9 without bleeding isn't too bad.  I went to the my GP last Friday, since I hadn't been able to get over the cold/allergies/congestion/whatever.  I'm taking 6 days of oral cortiosteriods, and 7 days of antibiotics and antihistamine/decongesytants.  I'm feeling mostly better.  

As of today, all my Christmas cards have been sent.  The tree is up and the ornaments are on.  I've still got some shopping left to do for our families.  We are going to be able to spend Christmas Eve through the follow Sunday with both families.  Only one of my brothers will be in town, but both of D's sisters will be there at some point.  

There's not too much else going on right now, but I'll try to update again soon.

9/10 DPO and Dr. Hilgers got my letter

I'm currently 9/10 DPO (P+8).  Both D and I have been sick for a while now.  D was up a couple times during the night, which kept me up too.  Luckily, I got off early today and was able to take a nap.  I have had a bit of a bloody nose since my nose has been messed up for a while.  CD 1 of cycle #15 should finally be here between Sunday and Tuesday, which will make it 47-49 days long.  Even if I o'd on the later day, our timing was still likely bad since it was late at night so the egg might have been degraded by then.  We'll have been married 17 months in a little over a week, and cycle #15 will have just started.

I got my acknowledgment from PPVI that Dr. Hilgers received my letter.  It was dated Tuesday.  The acknowledgment letter says that I should receive a reply within 6 weeks,  which will be around January 14 (when will have been married 18 months).  I'm really looking forward to receiving his reply.

I was supposed to have my 5th follow-up (it's by phone) on Wednesday, but it completely slipped my mind.  It's rescheduled for next Wednesday, and I put a reminder in Outlook.

 

I'm off all next week since the family I nanny for will be on vacation in D.isne.y Worl.d.  Hopefully the kids will be better by the tim   D said he would take a day some time next week, but he hadn't put in last time I asked.  We are going to go see a movie with our friend C tonight.  

I have about 2o of my 50 Christmas cards finish, and I'll be send the first batch early next week.  One of my goals for next week is to get the Christmas cards done.  I have been using my iPod's notes function to look at a text version of my address file.  That has allowed me to do cards while I'm working.  W (the little boy I nanny for) will try to mess with my computer if it's where he can reach, but he doesn't find the iPod as interesting.  

What I did on my day off, and It's in the Mail

I had today off since both doctors that I work for were on call this weekend, and the dad ended up having the day off.  I actually got a lot done

1. Look at skirt that my mother bought so I can make jewelry to match- check
2. Buy beads to match Mom's skirt, to make a Christmas necklace for her and to finish Grandma's earrings-check
3. Finish earrings for Grandma so they can be sent- check
4. Pick up records from ob-gyn's office to be sent to Dr. Hilgers- check
5. Go to post office to send earrings & necklace to Grandma and letter (w/ records) to Dr. Hilgers- check
6. Get flu shot- check
7. Drop off refill prescription for prenatals- check

As you can see from #5, my letter to Dr. Hilgers is in the mail.  I'm quite excited about that.  Now I wait for the reply, and I have a handy-dandy ticker to tell me how long it's been.

I'm pretty sure that the bleeding that I had wasn't a real period since I'm having very fertile (10K or 10 C/K) since yesterday.  Of course D is out of town, so if I'm going to ovulate soon, hopefully my body can wait until at least Wednesday night, when D and I will actually be together.  Of course, we'll be staying at his parents' house, but we'll have to make due.  I'm trying to decide if I should be counting this as a separate cycle or combine it back with the last.  When I sent my chart, I put it on a new line as a separate cycle.  However, it really seems like it could be part of the last, since I am on CD 5 with fertile mucus and only spotting (not even close to normal) and I didn't have a clear ovulation the last "cycle".

Waiting for Monday

I should have confirmation if I ovulated on Monday, since my period should arrive on Sunday or Monday if I ovulated when I think I did.  If my period doesn't come, it could be late ovulation, an annovulatory cycle or I could be pregnant.  I'm not testing until at least Tuesday or Wednesday if my period hasn't shown up.  If it's late ovulation, I better ovulate some time soon since I'm already on CD 29 (haha...we know our body will do what we want, right?).   I also have to wait until Monday to get my records from my dr, since she won't be in the office to sign off on the release before then.  If I can get the records and my period has come by then, I should be sending my letter to Dr. Hilgers on Monday.

It's been a long week, since I've had to wake up at 5:15 or 5:30 every day so far instead of my usual 6:00.  I also have shoulder and lower back pain right now.

I'm really looking forward to Thanksgiving.  We are going to be going home and spending it with both sets of parents.  Since they only live a couple miles apart, we can do early dinner with my parents and late with D's parents.  D will be on a business trip from Sunday to Wednesday, but he'll be meeting me in Houston on Wednesday night.

Business trips

D will be going out of town next week for work.  Of course I should hopefully o next week, luckily it shouldn't be until Saturday.  I was quite disappointed when he told me, since he'd been changed to a different division of the company and wasn't going to be travelling at all.  He likes traveling, but it's bad timing since we are going to Austin next weekend for my parents' anniversary party and we'll have to meet in Houston.  Otherwise he'd have to drive 3 hours here and 6 hours to Austin.  This way I'm driving 4 hours, he's driving 3 and then we'll drive 3 1/2 together.

I don't like being home by myself all week long.  I was also hoping to actually be able to have a couple days before o to cover our bases.  I guess I've just got to conceive D to take advantage of Friday and Saturday (at minimum).

It's almost my birthday

My 28th birthday is tomorrow and so is my 10 year high school reunion.  There's not really anyone from high school (from my year at least) that I'm still friends with, but I'm curious to see everyone.  We are going to a football game tonight (as part of the reunion) where the high school that I went to is playing the high school that my youngest brother just graduated from in June.  My parents are going to the game although they'll be on the side of my brother's high school since he was a varsity starter for 2 years.

This week has been long and tiring.  I went on Mondayto get my license finally changed to Louisiana (after living here over two years), since my Texas one was about to expire.  I didn't have all the documentation that I needed (since the website is not very clear), so I had to go home and then come back.  I had a dentist appt on Wednesday and I got my car "inspection" (they don't really inspect much that I can tell) and I had to take the lady I work for her cell phone.

I think I oed yesterday since my temp went up and I went to less fertile mucus (from 10KL to 8CL).  I hope I did, so that this no sex cycle will over with soon.  I'm ready to get back to trying and it would also be nice if I could be oing around CD 17 or 18, instead of CD 21, even without the CD 21.  I was worried (and still am slightly worried) that I'll go back to my regular CD 21 o with some cycles going closer to CD 28 to 30-something.  

I think that for next cycle I need to figure out some way to let D know that it's fertile time without telling him so that he can be the initiator.  He's been more interested in sex ever since we have been on the break, so I'd like to have some ideas on keeping him interested so that we'll have decent timing in the future.

Some more random stuff

I have more random stuff that isn't really connected to talk about:

D seems to have more interested in having sex now that we aren't supposed to have sex for a month. I'm guessing once we get back to o time of the next cycle when we're actually trying, he won't want sex anymore. It's quite annoying.

My back has been bothering me a lot lately. I probably need to start by wearing my most supportive tennis shoes.

W, the little boy that I nanny for, threw up on Wednesday. Luckily we were in the garage and he only threw up once.

My 28th birthday is next Saturday and so is my high school reunion.

I dyed my hair blonder, but it's not as light as I hoped and expected from the box. I'm going to do it light in early to mid-November.

CD 3

Some thoughts that are not really connected to each other:

One of the bloggers, who underwent IVF and got a BFN, got her BFP on a unmedicated cycle. She even had days of spotting. It has given me some hope that it might eventually happen for us.

When I talked to my Creighton Model teacher, she said that my peak day was CD 20. My BBT shows ovulation on CD 18, so they definitely are not matching up.

I'm planning my parents' 30th anniversary party, which is in November. I'm calling and arranging for the resturant, and scheduling out the rest of the day. I'm pretty much the coordinator, since I'm a planner and I have three younger brothers.

D's best friend is getting married next June and D will be a groomsman. The couple had broken up, then his friend proposed and the girl said no. When they got back together, they started planning the wedding. They are just starting to tell people, since they have the church and reception site arranged.

I won't be pregnant before my 28th birthday, since it's October 11 and we're not having sex this cycle. I only have 3 more chances to even have a baby before I'm 29.

CD 10

I stopped bleeding Friday, but I had some spotting yesterday. I'm really hoping that it's done with or will be soon since I've been spotting or bleeding 58 days since the beginning of June (when all this craziness started). If it was all put together I've been spotting or bleeding 2 whole months out of the past three.

D caught my cold and has had a bad cough for 4 or 5 days now. It's actually bad enough that it kept me up a lot of last night, until he went to see in the other room. I'm really hoping that he'll be better soon; it bothers me so much to not be able to make him feel better.

W, the boy that I nanny, had his first birthday on Saturday. D and I went to the party, and it was a pretty good time. D had never met them, so it was nice that he went with me. W was funny since he won't let some of his relatives hold him but he'd practically try to jump into my arms.

Despite my strong political feelings, I generally avoid political discussions since I tend to avoid conflict. However, I was so happy when I heard about McCain picking Palin as his VP running mate. I'm so glad he picked a good pro-life, conservative and the cherry on top is that she's a woman.

I've decided that it's time for me to go back to church. I haven't really been going since we moved here about 2 years ago, but I actually taught for a few months at the school connected to the parish. It's also where the older two kids I that I nanny go to school (one's in 6th grade and the other in PK-3). I don't think that D will go with me, even though he's Catholic too. I was reading a blog that has been pushing me to get back into it, and they also talk about the Creighton Model which is something I'm going to look into. I just wish that there was something closer than where we used to live.

Dancing

D agreed to try to find a place to go do line dancing. The bachelorette party for my SIL was at a country line dancing place and it was so much fun. Also, at the wedding D was the only guy up dancing the cupid shuffle. We first hear it at our wedding and D liked it so much that we got the song on iTunes and we'll randomly dance to it at home and stuff. D's family was surprised at how much and how well he dances. He's a pretty good dancer once he's had a few drinks and is willing to actually go out to dance. I'm hoping that we'll be able to go somewhere on Friday or Saturday.

SIL's wedding

My SIL got married on Friday to a great guy. The wedding was good and the reception was fun. We only had one person ask when we were having kids, and D answered "When she gets pregnant". There was a lot of other random baby talk and stuff, but I think I handled it well. I finally met/got to know some of D's family, and I met C's (new BIL) cousin who was a bridesmaid and she was awesome. We had a really good time getting together with everyone that we don't get to see often.

I have no idea whether or not I've oed yet. My Saturday temp was after lots of drinking and little sleep and I didn't temp today at all, but I'm definitely in my fertile phase right now. The wedding stuff took up a lot of our time, so we actually only had intercourse one day other than today which was Wednesday. I'm pretty sure that I haven't oed yet, but this cycle is super funky due to the provera. I'm either on CD 15 or CD 25. My temp tomorrow should hopefully give me an idea whether or not I oed yet.

Vacation

We are in northern NY state right now for my SIL's wedding on Friday. Right now I'm sitting at a Honda dealership getting my tires aligned. We left Friday after work and got to my SIL and FBIL's house in Virginia on Saturday in the late morning. We stayed the night with them and then drove up to New Jersey to see D's grandma and some of his aunts and uncles (even though we'll see them later this week). We stopped for the night at a hotel and then drove up yesterday to the Finger Lakes and went wine tasting. We had a lot of wine and a good lunch, and we bought a couple hundred dollars worth of wine. Tomorrow we have the bachelor/bachelorette parties, and D is going golfing in the morning. Thursday is bridesmaids' luncheon and rehearsal/rehearsal dinner, and then the wedding is Friday. We leave sometime on Saturday to get back sometime on Sunday.

It looks like o is not impending, so I was right about this counting as a new cycle. It's disappointing since we are on vacation now, but luckily CD 21 is on a Saturday (8/16). We'll have to see how that timing is.

I'll probably be able to post a couple more times this week.

Done with Provera

I took my last provera last night, and the spotting seems to be gone as of yesterday. Hopefully, the spotting won't return. If it did, I would be beyond frustrated since I've already dealt with it for the past two cycles.

D is home this week, which is very exciting since he was traveling for the last SIX weeks. He, of course, had to work today (but he does get paid extra for weekends). We leave on Friday to drive up to my SIL's wedding, which is the following Friday. We'll be going wine tasting the Monday of our trip and SIL's wedding reception is at a different winery.

We'll be staying at a hotel, which is good since I should be oing on Wednesday of that week. I'm hoping that I'll have a less stressed-out husband since he won't have to work that week...which means romance hopefully.