After nearly 18 months, today I had my Mirena removed. There are a couple reasons for this, first, my son is almost 2, and I'm starting to feel a little itchy for a baby. And to be honest, I think he is too. At my cousin's house (who has 3 little girls) he loved pushing around a doll stroller with his Tigger in it. He is so very helpful (most of the time) and will assist with many chores. He throws things away for me, puts his toys away, and will push the right buttons on the dishwasher or washer/dryer when asked to. He also feeds the girls for us. We just have to fill the cup up with the amount we want them to have. He will pour the cup out into the bowl regardless of how much is in it. (And when he misses a couple pieces of dog food, he will sit there and pick each one up and put it in that dog's bowl. It is something he doesn't need to do, because they will eat it, but he is a slight neat freak.) :)
The second reason, is one that is a little bit more detailed. And for that reason I'm going to put it behind a "jump break." That way, it is your own fault if you accidentally read something you don't want to. It isn't too graphic, but it is a bit detailed and personal, so some people might not want to read about it. Hint: it involves my reproductive organs.
Read on...
Showing posts with label ovulation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ovulation. Show all posts
Friday, August 24, 2012
Friday, February 26, 2010
The suspense is killing me...
Day 46/47.
It appears that Aunt Flo might be making her appearance soon. I have some very slight spotting today. If I start for real tomorrow, I'll call today Day 1 of my second independent cycle, because I'm tired of this confusing mumbo jumbo with 2 possible days.
So I must admit, that I got slightly confused about my cycle. You see, I've been reading How to Choose the Sex of Your Baby by Dr. Shettles, but I had checked it out from the library and had to return it last week. Well, I've come to realize that some resources a person just needs to have at their disposal at all times just in case.
Let me explain.
I had signs that ovulation was starting on Saturday, and it was confirmed on Sunday via the ovulation test strips. The ovulation test strips test for a hormone commonly referred to as LH (or Luteinizing Hormone). This hormone is released prior to ovulation and is usually detected for 24-48 hours in the urine. (I unfortunately had no tests with me on Saturday, and had I tested then, I'm sure it would have been positive, making my LH surge on the long side at 48 hours or so.) But since I didn't test on Saturday my first positive test was Sunday at 1700. I continued to test positive at 2200 on Monday, with my first negative test on Tuesday morning at 1100.
The positive LH surge signifies impending ovulation, it does not necessarily mean that ovulation has occurred, which is where I got confused. The "fertile period" begins about 4-5 days prior to ovulation and ends 24-48 hours after ovulation. This means if a couple is not trying to get pregnant they should abstain or use a condom beginning 5-6 days prior to ovulation (which gets tricky if, like me, your cycles are new to you and/or not regular), and continue until 48-72 hours after suspected ovulation. In my head, I was thinking that Saturday was the day I ovulated, so on Tuesday, the day I had my first negative LH test, I thought we were in the clear. We had unprotected sex on that day. Now, I realize that I was possibly ovulating on that day and should have waited 72 hours after Tuesday. (Which, if you do your math is actually today.)
It isn't likely that I'll get pregnant, but there is a chance.
Confused? Join the club. ;) Even as a nurse I feel overwhelmed with the planning, timing, and details of conception and fertility. It takes a while to get a good handle on all of this fertility craziness, and that is why I decided I needed to purchase some resources so that I could easily reference them if I had a question or concern. I ended up with the following:
I actually enjoyed How to Choose the Sex of your Baby book, even though there are some chapters that I skipped over as they talk about the history of sex selection. People have wanted to be able to pick the sex of their baby for a very long time. It was kind of funny reading about some of the ways they used to increase the chances of having a boy (or girl, though I think it was more common for people to prefer to have male offspring.) The methods in this book are not 100% effective, because there is always a chance of having either sex, though you can increase your chances of having either a girl or a boy if you time intercourse at a certain time.
I will love any baby I am blessed with, but I really want to have a daughter. I also want to have a son, but I am my mom's last chance to have a granddaughter, and I promised her way back when I was 19 that she would get one. I just love little girl clothes etc...
Fertility and Conception, was a book I picked up because it looked like a good one from the outside. After perusing it a bit, I found that it was very colorful with lots of pictures and looked like it had a variety of information, so I chose it for a simple resource. It also looked like a fairly simple read, and looks like it has a bit of humor as well. Let's face it, when you're reading about cervical mucous, positions of the cervix, and timing of intercourse, a person needs a little humor.
And finally Taking Charge of Your Fertility is a book that I had heard of, and also googled online and got it because it spans the lifespan of a woman. It features explanations of how to conceive, how to naturally avoid pregnancy, and generally teaches about reproductive health. It looks dull, upon flipping through it, and since it is pretty thick, it will be a daunting read, but the reviews say that the text is easy to understand and enjoyable. We'll see. It might be one of those books that is more effective to use by going to the index and reading what you desire at that moment in time...(The reason I say it looks dull, is because the pictures are in black and white, and there appears to be a lot of text, in pretty small font. I didn't even read a word out of it, so I don't know how it flows.)
Hope you all don't mind hearing about my reproductive parts in action...
It appears that Aunt Flo might be making her appearance soon. I have some very slight spotting today. If I start for real tomorrow, I'll call today Day 1 of my second independent cycle, because I'm tired of this confusing mumbo jumbo with 2 possible days.
So I must admit, that I got slightly confused about my cycle. You see, I've been reading How to Choose the Sex of Your Baby by Dr. Shettles, but I had checked it out from the library and had to return it last week. Well, I've come to realize that some resources a person just needs to have at their disposal at all times just in case.
Let me explain.
I had signs that ovulation was starting on Saturday, and it was confirmed on Sunday via the ovulation test strips. The ovulation test strips test for a hormone commonly referred to as LH (or Luteinizing Hormone). This hormone is released prior to ovulation and is usually detected for 24-48 hours in the urine. (I unfortunately had no tests with me on Saturday, and had I tested then, I'm sure it would have been positive, making my LH surge on the long side at 48 hours or so.) But since I didn't test on Saturday my first positive test was Sunday at 1700. I continued to test positive at 2200 on Monday, with my first negative test on Tuesday morning at 1100.
The positive LH surge signifies impending ovulation, it does not necessarily mean that ovulation has occurred, which is where I got confused. The "fertile period" begins about 4-5 days prior to ovulation and ends 24-48 hours after ovulation. This means if a couple is not trying to get pregnant they should abstain or use a condom beginning 5-6 days prior to ovulation (which gets tricky if, like me, your cycles are new to you and/or not regular), and continue until 48-72 hours after suspected ovulation. In my head, I was thinking that Saturday was the day I ovulated, so on Tuesday, the day I had my first negative LH test, I thought we were in the clear. We had unprotected sex on that day. Now, I realize that I was possibly ovulating on that day and should have waited 72 hours after Tuesday. (Which, if you do your math is actually today.)
It isn't likely that I'll get pregnant, but there is a chance.
Confused? Join the club. ;) Even as a nurse I feel overwhelmed with the planning, timing, and details of conception and fertility. It takes a while to get a good handle on all of this fertility craziness, and that is why I decided I needed to purchase some resources so that I could easily reference them if I had a question or concern. I ended up with the following:
I actually enjoyed How to Choose the Sex of your Baby book, even though there are some chapters that I skipped over as they talk about the history of sex selection. People have wanted to be able to pick the sex of their baby for a very long time. It was kind of funny reading about some of the ways they used to increase the chances of having a boy (or girl, though I think it was more common for people to prefer to have male offspring.) The methods in this book are not 100% effective, because there is always a chance of having either sex, though you can increase your chances of having either a girl or a boy if you time intercourse at a certain time.
I will love any baby I am blessed with, but I really want to have a daughter. I also want to have a son, but I am my mom's last chance to have a granddaughter, and I promised her way back when I was 19 that she would get one. I just love little girl clothes etc...
Fertility and Conception, was a book I picked up because it looked like a good one from the outside. After perusing it a bit, I found that it was very colorful with lots of pictures and looked like it had a variety of information, so I chose it for a simple resource. It also looked like a fairly simple read, and looks like it has a bit of humor as well. Let's face it, when you're reading about cervical mucous, positions of the cervix, and timing of intercourse, a person needs a little humor.
And finally Taking Charge of Your Fertility is a book that I had heard of, and also googled online and got it because it spans the lifespan of a woman. It features explanations of how to conceive, how to naturally avoid pregnancy, and generally teaches about reproductive health. It looks dull, upon flipping through it, and since it is pretty thick, it will be a daunting read, but the reviews say that the text is easy to understand and enjoyable. We'll see. It might be one of those books that is more effective to use by going to the index and reading what you desire at that moment in time...(The reason I say it looks dull, is because the pictures are in black and white, and there appears to be a lot of text, in pretty small font. I didn't even read a word out of it, so I don't know how it flows.)
Hope you all don't mind hearing about my reproductive parts in action...
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Vitamins and minerals
Prior to my realization this weekend that I wasn't pregnant, I was freaking out. Here is the situation:
Jamaal, Bret, Joe and I go to Safeway, because I don't feel very good and I want ginger ale, cranberry juice, tums, wheat thins and nilla wafers.
I also secretly wanted to buy a pregnancy test. But, I didn't want them to know. The boys decide once they are done following me around, that they should get chips and pretzels to snack on later in the night. This was my chance to break for it.
When I get to the pregnancy test spot, however, there are none available for purchase, instead you have to go to the pharmacy desk or service desk to purchase them. Because apparently they are at risk of being stolen. (Food can also be stolen...)
Of course, there is a line at the pharmacy, but on a turnstile thing near the bottom, I find this:
Jamaal, Bret, Joe and I go to Safeway, because I don't feel very good and I want ginger ale, cranberry juice, tums, wheat thins and nilla wafers.
I also secretly wanted to buy a pregnancy test. But, I didn't want them to know. The boys decide once they are done following me around, that they should get chips and pretzels to snack on later in the night. This was my chance to break for it.
When I get to the pregnancy test spot, however, there are none available for purchase, instead you have to go to the pharmacy desk or service desk to purchase them. Because apparently they are at risk of being stolen. (Food can also be stolen...)
Of course, there is a line at the pharmacy, but on a turnstile thing near the bottom, I find this:
If you remember, I was thinking about buying one of these babies online, but didn't know what size to get. This little baby is way too big really for my current vitamin regimen, but everything fits with plenty of room. There is a divider for AM and PM meds, that comes out easily. But for now, I'll leave it in so I can take two calcium chews per day.
Back to the story....since I was freaking out, thinking I was pregnant, I thought it would be prudent of me to begin taking vitamins regularly. So I purchased the medication organizer.
The boys, by this time, were waiting for me at the front, wondering what had gotten into me. I wish I had a picture, but I was carrying cranberry juice, the boxes of wheat thins and nilla wafers, and the pill organizer. We left the store, and I was trying to figure out how I would get back there later.
The ginger ale I went with was awful, I chose a 2 liter of Safeway brand Diet, and it was terrible. I prefer Canada Dry Diet any day. Lesson learned...
Also, we decided on Papa Murphy's for dinner, so I was in charge of picking it up. This trip, I also picked up a couple bananas and carrots, which both sounded good to me. It is interesting to me, that I had pretty severe food cravings last weekend. I knew exactly what sounded good to me, which made me think that I was pregnant even more. I'm anxious to see what I'll be like when actually pregnant...
What a basket case.
Once I realized I was ovulating, I went on to play beer pong and did horribly. Jamaal and I were partners, and at one point we had only 1 cup left on our side, and hadn't gotten a single cup on their side. Of course I got blamed for being lousy. Oh well...
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Exciting News.
Day 41/42.
I've been freaking out. While I want to get pregnant, I am not quite ready to get pregnant right now. I need to figure out my cycle first and get to know my body. Also, I would prefer to look a little less like a fat cow at my good friend Kristina's wedding in August. :)
After working all night Friday night, I got home on Saturday morning, showered and got in the car to drive to Portland. We went to see Bret's new house that he bought, and to play beer pong. I was nervous, because it was day 40/41 and I was beginning to be concerned. And then, in the car, I was nauseated. Only slightly, but still nauseated. I felt bloated and slightly crampy. I got so nervous that I went out and bought 2 different types of pregnancy tests (secretly) and didn't tell anyone that I took one.
It was negative. But then, as everyone went out into the garage to play beer pong I stayed inside. I really didn't feel very good. Pizza did not sound good, carrots and banana and wheat thins were all that sounded good to me. Then, as I was sitting on the couch I realized I felt wet, you know, down there.
When I went to the bathroom to check, I found very slippery, clear cervical mucous. There was a lot of it. Since I have been on the pill for nearly 5 years now, I haven't really had any cervical mucous, so this was a huge thing for me to notice. It hit me that I wasn't pregnant, I was ovulating.
Today, when I got home, I took an ovulation test, and it was immediately positive.
So while I am slightly disappointed that I'm not pregnant, I am very excited that I ovulated. I'm hoping that it continues to be quite obvious when I do ovulate like it was this time. Though I hope that my cycles shorten a little as it has been a very stressful month.
Kristina, it was a very very short trip, next time I'll come visit you, I promise.
I've been freaking out. While I want to get pregnant, I am not quite ready to get pregnant right now. I need to figure out my cycle first and get to know my body. Also, I would prefer to look a little less like a fat cow at my good friend Kristina's wedding in August. :)
After working all night Friday night, I got home on Saturday morning, showered and got in the car to drive to Portland. We went to see Bret's new house that he bought, and to play beer pong. I was nervous, because it was day 40/41 and I was beginning to be concerned. And then, in the car, I was nauseated. Only slightly, but still nauseated. I felt bloated and slightly crampy. I got so nervous that I went out and bought 2 different types of pregnancy tests (secretly) and didn't tell anyone that I took one.
It was negative. But then, as everyone went out into the garage to play beer pong I stayed inside. I really didn't feel very good. Pizza did not sound good, carrots and banana and wheat thins were all that sounded good to me. Then, as I was sitting on the couch I realized I felt wet, you know, down there.
When I went to the bathroom to check, I found very slippery, clear cervical mucous. There was a lot of it. Since I have been on the pill for nearly 5 years now, I haven't really had any cervical mucous, so this was a huge thing for me to notice. It hit me that I wasn't pregnant, I was ovulating.
Today, when I got home, I took an ovulation test, and it was immediately positive.
So while I am slightly disappointed that I'm not pregnant, I am very excited that I ovulated. I'm hoping that it continues to be quite obvious when I do ovulate like it was this time. Though I hope that my cycles shorten a little as it has been a very stressful month.
Kristina, it was a very very short trip, next time I'll come visit you, I promise.
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