WINNING INFERTILITY

This post has been weighing heavily on me. As I sit to write this down, I write it not just for me, but for you because if you're reading this you're either 1) intrigued about our infertility journey and success or 2) you're in the thick of infertility yourself and are either looking for to share your frustrations with or are looking for some guidance or hope. PS: this is another long post.

CLOMID YEAR 2 • ROUND 3 {09.16.2015}

Hold up! Is this post really about Clomid? But, I thought you were done trying? Well, after much debate, we decided it wasn't over. We returned home from our cruise and felt that it was time to give it another round. Since I want to keep you updated, especially since I have some TTC sisters following, I decided to do another Clomid update. This cycle, AF started on her own, for the first time in a long time, I didn't need Provera! AF started on my 23rd birthday, September 9, (yay me!). Luckily, the day before, I placed an order for Clomid to be refilled. Everything was perfect timing. I literally picked up my medication on September 10, just in time for me to start taking it on September 11. This cycle, I promised myself that I wouldn't get crazy, I want to take it one day at a time while also preparing my body and doing everything I can to ensure this time we get a BFP with a healthy baby.

 

With our first pregnancy in July of 2013, I literally did nothing. We took the medication and basically didn't care about timing or temping. This is why, for almost 10 weeks, I had no idea that I was even pregnant. The most recent pregnancy, in January, was completely different. This time, we did everything! Vitamins, BBT charting, Acupuncture, OPKs, Pineapple core...you name it, we did it! Naturally, I decided that if we were going to spend the money on the medication, that we should make it count. So, this time around, we will be doing everything in our power to ensure that we not only get pregnant, but that this baby sticks and grows healthy and strong. With that, here are the results from Round 3 of Clomid.

Cycle Day: 1 (9/10)

Medication: Prenatals, CoQ10, B12, Fish Oil

Symptoms: Horrible headache in the evening

OPK or HPT: Neither

Next Dr. Appt.: Not scheduled 

Milestones: Clomid starts tomorrow

Cycle Day: 2 (9/11)
Medication: Prenatals, CoQ10, B12, Fish Oil and day 1 of 100mg Clomid
Symptoms: Backache, extremely tired (but that is due to crazy schedule)
OPK or HPT: Neither
Next Dr. Appt.: Not scheduled
Milestones: Remembered to take my BBT this morning

Cycle Day: 3 (9/12)
Medication: Prenatals, CoQ10, B12, Fish Oil and day 2 of 100mg Clomid
Symptoms: None, felt great!
OPK or HPT: Neither
Next Dr. Appt.: Not scheduled
Milestones: First acupuncture appointment for this cycle, I can already feel a difference in both my stress levels as well as AF symptoms; Also temporarily lost my BBT so I had to use a regular thermometer

Cycle Day: 4 (9/13)
Medication: Prenatals, CoQ10, B12, Fish Oil and day 3 of 100mg Clomid
Symptoms: A little cramping but not horrible
OPK or HPT: Not yet
Next Dr. Appt.: Not scheduled
Milestones:  Just feeling great, no crazy Clomid symptoms

Cycle Day: 5 (9/14)
Medication: Prenatals, CoQ10, B12, Fish Oil and day 4 of 100mg Clomid
Symptoms: Slight hot flashes at night time, woke up this morning feeling really sweaty; Temperature outside in Texas is amazing for mid-September, @ 65 degrees!!! Horrible headache that started around 5pm and did not go away until I fell asleep.
OPK or HPT: Not yet
Next Dr. Appt.: Not scheduled
Milestones: Tomorrow is the last day of Clomid and so far I haven't had any crazy symptoms, just simple hot flashes but I still get those even when we are taking a break from Clomid

Cycle Day: 6 (9/15)
Medication: Prenatals, CoQ10, B12, Fish Oil and day 5 of 100mg Clomid
Symptoms: Surprisingly, after my horrible headache last night, I have no symptoms; AF is extremely light today, I can tell she will be gone by the time I get home tonight
OPK or HPT: Not yet
Next Dr. Appt.: Not scheduled
Milestones: LAST DAY OF CLOMID!

Cycle Day: 7 (9/16)
Medication: Prenatals, CoQ10, B12, Fish Oil
Symptoms: None! I feel great!
OPK or HPT: Not yet
Next Dr. Appt.: Not scheduled
Milestones: I managed to make it through another round of Clomid without any problems. Usually Clomid makes you crazy, but I think I'm used to it by now so I'm immune to the effects. OPKs start tomorrow (Cycle Day 8); Just like previous times, I am taking them (3) times a day at 8a, 2p, and 6p, this gives me a wide range to work with daily and see the full possibility of ovulation

*side note: I will be taking Progesterone after ovulation*

***********************************************************
Fertility Chart (current from Cycle Day 7)

 

 Ovia Fertility Monitor (current from Cycle Day 7)

Sperm Meets Egg Plan

•{Clomid}
Cycle days 2 thru 6:
9/11, 9/12, 9/13, 9/14, 9/15

•{Baby Dance}
Cycle days 8 thru 22:
9/17, 9/19, 9/21, 9/23, 9/25, 9/27, 9/29, 10/01

•{OPKs}
Cycle day 8 thru 23:
9/17 thru 10/02

•{Two Week Wait}
Cycle day 20 thru 30
9/29 thru 10/09

•{HPT}
Cycle day 30 thru 35
10/09 thru10/14

•{Progesterone}
Start on Cycle day 18
9/27

Get all the details about what we did to get pregnant in January below:

TTC Journey: Clomid Year 2 Round 1 & What We Did Different Year 2 Round 1 That Worked!

Also, be sure to read our pregnancy announcement, bumpdate, and miscarriage story.



 

*Praise God*

*4 Weeks & 4 Days*

*5 Weeks Bumpdate*

*Where Do We Go From Here*

 

CLOMID YEAR 2 • ROUND 2 {04.30.2015}

Cycle Day: 1 (4/24)

Medication: Prenatals

Symptoms: None, I feel great! I was actually so excited to see AF!!!

OPK or HPT: Neither

Next Dr. Appt.: Not scheduled 

Milestones: Clomid starts tomorrow

Cycle Day: 2 (4/25)
Medication: Prenatals and day 1 of 100mg Clomid
Symptoms: Feeling pretty good today, no hot flashes or mood swings
OPK or HPT: Neither
Next Dr. Appt.: Not scheduled
Milestones: Clomid Day 1 has begun and went down this morning with a prenatal

Cycle Day: 3 (4/26)
Medication: Prenatals and day 2 of 100mg Clomid
Symptoms: Very sleepy, a little moody, cramping
OPK or HPT: Not yet
Next Dr. Appt.: Not scheduled
Milestones: Temps have been pretty regular, not sure if basal body thermometer is right or not

Cycle Day: 4 (4/27)
Medication: Prenatals and day 3 of 100mg Clomid
Symptoms: Still pretty tired even after an early bedtime, hot flashes here and there
OPK or HPT: Not yet
Next Dr. Appt.: Not scheduled
Milestones: Managed to get in workouts everyday including this morning at 3am - no AF is going to hold me back

Cycle Day: 5 (4/28)
Medication: Prenatals and day 4 of 100mg Clomid
Symptoms: Hot flashes are starting to flare up but it's not unbearable
OPK or HPT: Not yet
Next Dr. Appt.: Not scheduled
Milestones: Did another workout this morning even though every part of me wanted to stay in bed and deal with these cramps but we are in week 8 of our 12 week workout program so I can't give in yet

Cycle Day: 6 (4/29)
Medication: Prenatals and day 5 of 100mg Clomid
Symptoms: None! I feel really good, very happy and ready to kick off this journey
OPK or HPT: Not yet
Next Dr. Appt.: Not scheduled
Milestones: LAST DAY OF CLOMID! Fingers Crossed we can catch that eggie

Cycle Day: 7 (4/30)
Medication: Prenatals
Symptoms: None - hooray!
OPK or HPT: Not yet
Next Dr. Appt.: Not scheduled
Milestones: OPKs start tomorrow (Cycle Day 8); I will be taking them (3) times a day at 8a, 2p, and 6p, this gives me a wide range to work with daily and see the full possibility of ovulation

*side note: you'll see below that my temps have been surprisingly level*

Also, I will finally be taking Progesterone after ovulation! I have been hearing so many good things about this drug and how it works wonders to help prevent miscarriage. Of course, there is no telling why our first two miscarriages ended, but I can only hope that it was due to low Progesterone and that this will help.

***********************************************************
Fertility Chart (current from Cycle Day 7)

Ovia Fertility Monitor (current from Cycle Day 7)

Sperm Meets Egg Plan

•{Clomid}
Cycle days 2 thru 6:
4/25, 4/26, 4/27, 4/28, 4/29

•{Baby Dance}
Cycle days 8 thru 22:
5/1, 5/3, 5/5, 5/7, 5/9, 5/11, 5/13, 5/15

•{OPKs}
Cycle day 8 thru 23:
5/1 thru 5/16

•{Two Week Wait}
Cycle day 20 thru 30
5/13 thru 5/23

•{HPT}
Cycle day 30 thru 35
5/23 thru 5/28

•{Progesterone}
After Ovulation

 

WHAT WE DID DIFFERENT YEAR 2 ROUND 1 THAT WORKED!!! {04.15.2015}

I wanted to share our "changes" that took place last cycle and helped us get pregnant so quickly. Let me just say that I have absolutely no idea which of these helped boost our chances, but I can tell you that God was the main source, the rest of the things were just a little "assistance," or so I like to say. It's so important to both E and I, to acknowledge God plays and played a HUGE part in our fertility journey. Do I think God wanted or planned for us to have miscarriages? ABSOLUTELY NOT! I believe God wants us to do as we are told, "go forth, be fruitful, and multiple," and that is why He continues to bless us with babies. So, without further ado, here is our TTC year 2 round 1 list of things we did to succeed.

1. I tracked everything!!! I'm so serious y'all. I tracked my temperature on two different fertility apps.
• a) Fertility Friend
• b) Ovia Fertility
2. I took daily OPKs starting on CD 8. I did use off-brand OPKs because I couldn't find the ClearBlue Digital sticks.
3. I attended weekly acupuncture appointments. I attended one appointment before starting Provera, one after Provera ended while still taking Clomid, one after Clomid ended near Ovulation, and one final appointment after Ovulation was registered.
4. I took prenatal vitamins. I have heard countless times that prenatal vitamins are sooo important, but I never really thought about it until after our first miscarriage in 2013. After taking the break during all of 2014, I decided that I would start taking prenatal vitamins at the start of my cycles. So for my year 2 round 2, I have decided to start taking those pills two days before the start of Provera (vitamins started on Monday, April 13).
5. Clomid was moved from CDs 3-7 to CDs 2-6. I don't really think this made a HUGE difference since I did get pregnant the first time taking Clomid on CDs 3-7. I will admit that I appreciate the change, I just seem to like the CD 2-6 better.
6. Pre-seed was used every time we BD. I've talked about it before, but pre-seed is amazing! Mostly because it is the ONLY sperm-friendly lubricant that I would trust.
7. I tracked my CM daily. Sure, it may not be the most amazing thing in the world, but I learned so much about my cycle just by paying attention to my body's signals.
8. We followed the SMEP, with a few adjustments to work with our schedules. Click to see the full SMEP!
9. Last but not least, I lost weight!!! I believe this was a real help in our TTC journey. I lost close to 30lbs at the start of the year and at my appointment on January 5, my doctor said that he was impressed and just knew that getting pregnant would be easier now...he was right!!! We got pregnant immediately! Obviously, I know this is not easy for everyone, but even just a weight adjustment of 5-10lbs can drastically increase chances of pregnancy.

My goal for this upcoming cycle is to follow the same pattern. I do want to try to eat Chia Seeds regularly throughout this upcoming cycle so that my body is healthy and for all of the health benefits. Click to read all about the health benefits of Chia Seeds. I have faith that we will have no problem getting pregnant this cycle, and with my doctor now considering us "high risk," I believe we will have a much better chance at keeping the next baby.

As always, thank you so much for reading and keeping up with our journey.

God Bless and Baby Dust!!!

TTC HAUL VIDEO & MORE {04.02.2015}

So this is the Rainbow Edition of my TTC Haul! This is a list of the items that help our TTC journey and if you are new to the TTC world, maybe these will help you too! I went ahead and added my YouTube video as well so you can watch. For reference, I went ahead and added the list below...Enjoy!!!

TTC HAUL : RAINBOW BABY EDITION

Provera - 5 Days at 10MG

• This is a prescription drug that is take to help start AF
• Used typically in conjunction with fertility drugs/treatment but can definitely be used without

Clomid - CD 2 thru 6 at 100MG

• This is a prescription drug that is taken to force the body to ovulate
• Used for women who have been TTC for more than 1year if under 35, or 6months if over 35

OPKs - 10 Days using Clear Blue and First Response

• Can be purchased at convenience/grocery stores
• Assists in tracking ovulation
• Works best if used in conjunction with BBT charting and CM tracking

Pre-Seed - CD 8 thru 20 (every other day)

• Can be purchased at convenience/grocery stores
• Use at least 10 minutes before BDing if injecting, of immediately before if using just as an assistant to BDing if dry due to fertility medications

Progesterone - Daily, after positive OPK

• This is a prescription drug that is taken only after ovulation takes place
• Helps produce more progesterone in the body
• Promotes health fetus growth
• *has the potential to eliminate the possibility of miscarriage*
• Only taken up to 10 weeks of pregnancy

 

Remember to keep your heads up ladies! We WILL get our Rainbow babies!

 

 

Wishes, Love, and Baby Dust to all my fellow TTC Sisters out there!

 

 

P.S.: Next Doctor's appointment is scheduled for Wednesday, April 8 at 9:20am. I am looking forward to sharing this "hisk risk", bumpy but blessed, TTC Journey!

 



OPK | CYCLE DAY 10 {01.22.2015}

Today was a pretty darn good day for me but not so much for the weather here in Katy, TX. I managed to wake up and get out of the house fairly early, which was nice because I got to "hang out" in the break room before starting work. Work was crazy busy and it didn't help that two of the girls were missing. After work, I headed to the acupuncturist. I will admit that I am so glad that I had the appointment for today because as you'll see below, my OPK was much darker today. I have a feeling I'll see a positive tomorrow. *sidenote* I did take the OPK at the same time, 11am. The only thing that always worries me is those darn temps. I went back down today. I guess the rise was just my pre-ovulation rise?at least I've read that that will happen. According to my Ovia app, I've got two days until I'm in the fertile window...we shall see. 

We are still following the SMEP to the best of our abilities. It's tricky with E's crazy work/school schedule but we're making sure that we stay focused. 

Going back, the acupuncture appointment went very well. It always does. I am praying that with everything we have factored in, that this round will be the one. My doctor seemed very confidant and both E and I feel the same!

Well, here's my cycle info for today. Let's see what the OPK, FF temps, and Ovia app look like tomorrow. 

OPK | CYCLE DAY 10 : CLOMID YEAR 2 • ROUND 1

Here is a side by side comparison of day 1 and day 2...

***********Cycle Update Below***********

Fertility Chart

Ovia Fertility Monitor

Sperm Meets Egg Plan (Baby Dance Days Only)

•{Baby Dance}
Cycle days 9 through 17:
1/22, 1/24, 1/26, 1/28, & 1/30

*sidenote* we will also be BDing on positive OPK day, the following 2 days, then skip a day and BD again: this will be the end of the cycle and will begin our TWW.

*SMEP Full Version*

CLOMID YEAR 2 • ROUND 1 {01.05.2015}

Cycle Day: 1

Medication: Prenatals

Symptoms: Horrible horrible cramps! I had to use my heating-pad pretty much all night because of the cramps

OPK or HPT: Neither

Next Dr. Appt.: Not scheduled 

Milestones: Tomorrow I start Clomid

Cycle Day: 2
Medication: Prenatals and day 1 of 100mg Clomid
Symptoms: Cramps are back, but not as bad as last night
OPK or HPT: Neither
Next Dr. Appt.: Not scheduled
Milestones: No symptoms of Clomid yet-yay!

Cycle Day: 3
Medication: Prenatals and day 2 of 100mg Clomid
Symptoms: Hot flashes slowly beginning
OPK or HPT: Not yet
Next Dr. Appt.: Not scheduled
Milestones: I have been happy and positive, trying to beat those "normal" PMS/Hormones

Cycle Day: 4
Medication: Prenatals and day 3 of 100mg Clomid
Symptoms: Hot flashes getting worst
OPK or HPT: Not yet
Next Dr. Appt.: Not scheduled
Milestones: Bought the OPKs, been temping daily, and feel so so positive about this cycle

Cycle Day: 5
Medication: Prenatals and day 4 of 100mg Clomid
Symptoms: Hot flashes still bugging me but not horrible to my surprise
OPK or HPT: Not yet
Next Dr. Appt.: Not scheduled
Milestones: LAST DAY OF CLOMID!

***********************************************************
Fertility Chart

Ovia Fertility Monitor

Sperm Meets Egg Plan

•{Clomid}
Cycle days 2 through 6:
1/14, 1/15, 1/16, 1/17, & 1/18

•{Baby Dance}
Cycle days 7 through 17:
1/19, 1/21, 1/23, 1/25, 1/27, & 1/29

•{OPKs}
Cycle day 10 through 16:
1/22, 1/23, 1/24, 1/25, 1/26, 1/27, & 1/28

•{Two Week Wait}
Cycle day 18 through 32
1/30 through 2/13

•{HPT}
Cycle day 33 through 35
2/14 through 2/16

OBGYN | RECAP {01.05.2015}

This afternoon around 3:30pm was my much awaited visit with my OBGYN, who I haven't seen since our miscarriage back in October of 2013. Nerves, butterflies, excitement, and even a little bit of questioning our decisions went down. I arrived to the office and immediately felt sick to my stomach. I could feel the butterflies swirling around reminding me of the same drive we made when we would find out our baby gained his or her wings. It was also the same drive we made when I had to go through the dreaded D&C Procedure. 

After I checked in, I sat calmly and continued to remind myself that this is our year and we will get pregnant with our healthy rainbow baby. The nurse called me back and asked me what I was wanting to speak with the Dr. about. I let her know it was to continue fertility treatment and she walked me to another waiting room, this one was the same one we sat in when we waited for the ultrasound. I waited for another 30 minutes and finally it was time to see my doctor. He was very welcoming and I told him that E and I had been gone for so long because we just needed some time to "reset." He understood and explained that miscarriages are hard for anyone and it was understandable for us to have taken a break. I told him that I wanted to begin Clomid again and he understood. We talked for a few minutes before I handed him E's semen analysis. He immediately said "wow!, he is seriously good to go." I just giggled because that's the same thing the fertility specialist said. He gave me a prescription for five 10mg of Provera and ten 50mg of Clomid to be taken twice a day, so 100mg a day for five days. The only thing he changed was the days in which I will take Clomid. Used to be, I would take Clomid on days three through seven of my cycle. Now I will be taking it on days two through six. Before I took my prescription note, he said "next time I see you, you will be pregnant." E and I wholeheartedly believe that January will be our month. 

To all my TTC Sisters, I want to wish you the best of luck and I know in my heart that this is our year to get our healthy babies. 

Baby Dust and God Bless

BLOG NAME CHANGE {01.01.2015}

Well, we did it! We made it 2015. Does anyone else seem like this came way too quickly? Oh well, it's here. This means that we have just turned page number 1 of our 365 page story. Be sure to write your story everyday. If I can just take a moment to quote Baz Luhmann here; "Do one thing every day that scares you." Need more inspiration? Just read the full lyrics here: http://www.metrolyrics.com/everybodys-free-to-wear-sunscreen-lyrics-baz-luhrmann.html. If it doesn't make your eyes open and hearts smile, then you didn't read it correctly and need to start over.

By now most of you, well the few that have been following our blog since the beginning, may have noticed a HUGE change. Well, you are right! We are no longer keeping the "Richards Family Blog" and have now become "Pending Conceivability." It suits us well for the imminent changes we will be facing. Oh, you want to know what the changes are? Well here's the details...

Erik and I "took off" a year (2014) from the TTC (trying to conceive) world. We decided that we wanted to focus solely on traveling and just "being." If you read our recap post, then you would have seen just how much we focused on travel and having fun.  But just as every year comes to an end, so does traveling. I must admit that we had a grand time all throughout 2014, but there comes a time when you must move forward with plans for the future. So, after many "sit-downs" and conversations, E and I decided it is time for us to return to the TTC world. And rather quickly too! As of right now, we have a Dr. appointment scheduled on January 5, 2015. Right now our goal is to get back on Clomid, and see where it takes us. I can't really answer a whole lot of questions about our plans because, frankly, we aren't trying to "plan" this time around. I think one moment that made me realize I can't plan this, is when E and I found out we were pregnant the first time. We tried, and tried, and tried and finally, when we got to our third round of Clomid we threw in the towel. had fun, and just took the medication. No planning, no OPKs or Temping, nothing! Just the old fashioned, medicine down the hatch, baby dancing style. And boom! We got pregnant. Unfortunately because we had thrown in the towel, we forgot to pay attention to the minuet hints that we were pregnant and when we finally took the test, we had already lost the baby. Well, I mean there are a few ideas and goals I would like to accomplish this time around, but I would like to be more like a minimalist and not plan so much. As of right now, here is the minimalist plan I do have... 

Step 1: Dr. appointment

Step 2: Medication

Step 3: Baby Dance

Step 4: Take tests at appropriate timing

Step 5: Repeat if necessary otherwise...CELEBRATE our Pregnancy!!!!

So that's kind of how the plan will go. Now, that's not to say that with this minimalist plan we won't be wishing and hoping and dreaming and praying. But as far as the planning aspect goes, it's all in His timing anyways so we just need to sit back and enjoy the ride. 

Plans for updating the blog? As of right now, I still have goals to update weekly, which would work out quite perfectly since most of my updates will be based on a weekly cycle. Now for most women, a cycle is start to end of a period. Basically, a cycle is from the start of period one period to the start of the next period. I'll break it down for the newbie's...let's say I start my period on January 10th, I finish it after 5 days, take Clomid on days 3 through 7 of the cycle, go through the horrid two week wait, take a few HPTs, and then my next period starts on February 13th. In this case, my first cycle would be completed on February 12th and my new cycle would begin on the first day of my next period, which is February 13th. This way of "cycling" will help me keep the blog updated. If it doesn't make sense, don't worry, I will try to explain it in detail and you can just follow me throughout my upcoming cycle. Another way I plan on updating the blog is by doing weekly, possibly daily, cycle trackers. I want to be able to look back on my journey, since I feel like I didn't divulged much of my first time on Clomid on the blog. Here is the flow of the tracker...

Cycle Day:

Medication:

Symptoms:

OPK or HPT:

Next Dr. Appt.:

Milestones:

Fertility Chart:

I may add things as needed, but so far that's what I've got. I figured it would be good for me to track things throughout my journey through the TTC world and second try at Clomid. This is one of the many things I wish I would've done my first try at Clomid because I would have had so much information to go off of, but, I can't dwell on the past and I just need to focus on staying up-to-date with this information so I can have it in the future. 

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. Hard to believe today is the first day of the new year. E and I hope that 2015 brings you all lots of happiness and health. I look forward to updating you after my Dr. appointment on Monday, January 5. Be safe, and welcome to 2015!!!