No go

10 unsuccessful cycles down...we're on to cycle 11.  Hopefully the results for James' analysis will be back soon and we can figure out where our hold up is.

Semen Analysis

James has an appointment on Friday for his semen analysis.  We probably won't get the results back for a week or two, but I'm happy that he got that all set up and we'll be able to see if testing me is going to be necessary.

Miss Annika Claire

My friend, Rebecca, who was pregnant when I met her back in October, had her little girl last night!  She came exactly 2 weeks early and she's the cutest little peanut, weighing in at 5lbs, 4oz!

Enjoy the baby squishiness!

Time for another update

We are on our 9th cycle TTC and I actually feel better about it this month than I did last month.  James got a referral to get a semen analysis if this cycle is another unsuccessful one.  We've decided that we're really not ready to go the route of getting me tested because I'm not ready to dive into medical procedures to try to get pregnant.  And I figure if I'm not ready for that, why would I want to get tested now?  So, if we still aren't pregnant within the next 6 months or so, then I'll consider going in to get some testing done myself.  We've also been doing a lot of talking about names...some pretty exciting stuff, but I think we've decided that even though we'll probably pick a name right away, we probably won't be announcing it to many people until the baby arrives...for several reasons.

Update on the abs.

 

Still looking pretty good considering I rarely find time to work out these days.  This was after 1 week straight of P90X.  I need to try to get back into it, but I'm terrible about devoting an hour to working out.  I'm just hoping I can keep this up, or MAYBE drop a couple of pounds before I get pregnant.

Day one

So today is day one of what would be our 8th month TTC, but since James is going to be gone until April 8 (day 22), we're going to miss trying this cycle.  When he first left (last Sunday), I was feeling really down about the whole situation.  I just had this feeling that I wasn't pregnant (which I'm obviously not) and I was really bummed about having to skip a month and spend another month charting.  I just had this feeling of stress and just not really wanting to chart (which I really need to because I took the last 2 months off from it).  

Until....

I read this book.  Taking Charge of Your Fertility.  Now, I had been told to get this book when we first started trying and I already had a few books and just really didn't feel like I needed to get another one that was going to tell me the same thing that the ones I had were telling me.  Boy oh boy was I wrong. Just in the first 30 mins of sitting down with this book, I had already learned things that I didn't know about my body before.  This book is SO comprehensive, but easy to understand at the same time.  Some of the things were things that had been explained to me but I just really didn't have a great understanding of and some of them were flat out new to me.  In any case, I'll be buying the book as soon as I have to return this copy to the library.  Honestly, every female should read this book if she hasn't already.  It gave me a new understanding of what charting is and why you should do it.  It's about so much more than pinpointing ovulation.  It introduced me to the concept of charting being a privilege and something that you should be happy you get to do instead of thinking about it as some huge burden.

That being said, even though I'm a definitely bummed that my period is here and we will not have a baby in 2011, I'm excited to get a fresh start with charting.  I'm excited that I now feel like I finally understand what I'm looking for and I'm excited to learn how to interpret all the signs that my body is giving me.  I even printed out a whole bunch of charts and put them in a 3 ring binder so that I can actually sit and write everything out first thing in the morning before my day gets in the way.

Update

I decided to chart without temperatures this cycle again because I felt like I needed a fresh start.  I'm on day 27 of my 7th cycle trying to conceive.  I took a test (negative) on day 24 because James was leaving for a month and I didn't want to miss the chance to find out while he was still here, but I kinda knew it would be too early.  I had an appointment with my OBGYN last friday for my annual and to discuss where we're at with TTC and the fact that my periods are still really irregular since coming off the pill (I still haven't had 2 cycles back to back that are the same length).  I was pleasantly surprised that she told me pretty much exactly what I was hoping to hear:  that it's normal to have irregular cycles as long as I think I'm ovulating and to just continue charting for now and if I'm not pregnant by the one year mark to come back to discuss the next step.  I was just really shocked to here a doctor that didn't just want to prescribe me drugs right off the bat.  

So, I'm going to take this time while James is gone to chart and try to get back into a routine with it.  It's so much easier when he's not here to remember to take my temperature because he likes the alarm clock across the room and it's SO hard to remember to pop that thermometer in my mouth before running across the room to turn that sucker off.

Still not successful.

After our 6th cycle TTC, we are still unsuccessful.  I have an appointment at my GYN on Wednesday for my yearly appt and I'm hoping they'll be able to tell me why my cycles are still not normal and maybe they can at least tell me why I'm not being able to figure out when I'm ovulating.  So I'm hoping for more answers on Wednesday.  Keep your fingers crossed!

Frustrations

I'm starting to reach a point of frustration.  I'm not really frustrated with the fact that I'm not pregnant yet, as long as it happens within I'd say 2 years or so I think I'll be alright.  

I am very frustrated with my cycles being so unpredictable.  I've only had 2 cycles since going off the pill that have been the same length.  They have been 37, 30, 27, 30, 33, 28, and 34 days.  I also do not ovulate at the same time every month.  This is what's concerning me.  I have an appointment on February 23 for my annual exam, so I'm hoping they can shed some light on this issue and possibly lend me some help.  If anyone else has any opinions or ideas, I'd love to hear them

She reared her ugly head...

Well, no pregnancy this month =(