Well that was unexpected

So I know I haven't been posting in a while but I'll get you up to date with what's been going on. 

So I haven't seen my RE in almost 6 months. I've stopped all artificial treatments and have taken up eastern medicine, aka natural remedies. I've been doing acupuncture and herbal treatments and it has been amazing!

The acupuncturist I go to is an actual doctor and not some person who just specializes in acupuncture. He told me that my BBT was low and have given herbs to raise my temps. Believe it or not, they have worked! The acupuncture is extremely relaxing! Talk about distressing yourself! They say that's a key point to address while trying to conceive! So if you're trying and maybe want to take an alternative, more natural route to conceive, try acupuncture!

My experience with acupuncture is nothing but positive. The needles do not hurt. They're so tiny that your don't even notice them. The acupuncturist pinpoints specific areas on your body and inserts a needle to that area. When I first went, my doctor placed a needle near the arches of both of my feet, on the top of my feet, near my shins, two under my underwire of my bra, one on my sternum, one on each wrist, in between thumb, couple on my ears, and pointer finger, one in the middle of forehead, and one on the top of my head. After that, he focused more on my abdomen, trying to increase blood flow while still placing the needles in the stress areas (feet and hands). 

Other treatments he has done is electoacupuncture which where he places tiny alligator clamps to the needles and delivers small amounts if electricity to specific areas. In my case, it was my abdomen. Another method was infrared laser treatment. This is supposed to focus on the areas where the needles are inserted and to enhance what the acupuncture is trying to accomplish. For me, this was an increase in blood flow to the uterus in order to thicken the walls for conception. The last treatment I've had are basically suction cups on my abdomen. Again, the purpose is to increase blood flow. 

Along with these treatments, I've been taking herbs. These herbs are to help with reproductive health. They also increase blood flow while increasing my BBT. I haven't experienced any side effects which is nice. 

I'm still charting my BBT but I'm also using the Clear Blue Fertility Monitor. It was somewhat confusing to use but I'll try to break it down for you.

When you first get it, you cannot use it unless it is CD1 thru CD5. CD6, don't even bother. Just wait for your next cycle to use it.  There will be an "m" button near the screen. This sets what cycle day you're on. When you set this button, it also sets an internal timer. This timer gives you a 6 hour window. So if you set you "m" button around 12 pm, you can test between 9 am and 3 pm. This works for me personally because I work a graveyard shift, this allows plenty of time to test on my on and off work days. So plan ahead on the time when it's best for you to test. 

Now, this test shows you your low "non fertile" days, your high fertile but not quite  ovulating days, and then your peak ovulating days. Obviously, if you're in the mood on your low days, by all means, go for it. On your high days, take advantage! Then your peak days, that's a no brainer. 

When I first started, I had so many peak days. I think it's maybe just the monitor adjusting to YOUR body? But then it seemed to regulate my 2nd time I used it. Both times it did not indicate I was ovulating. Also, I wasn't doing acupuncture. My third round with the monitor, I had started the acupuncture and herbal treatments. Low and behold, I OVULATED! CD12. I'm very excited but it's very surreal. So hopefully I'll be able to take a pregnancy test in two weeks and I'm praying that we'll have our positive! 

This is what a high date looks like. 

And this is what it looks like when you're ovulating! 

Wish us luck! 

Defining charts and loving apps

So I use two different BBT (basal body temperature) apps for my iPhone.  One is called Kindara (top chart) and the second is called Fertility Friend (bottom chart). I like both but for different reasons.  Kindara to me if very "eye friendly".  It seems to read easier especially if you are also including your cervical mucus.  Fertility Friend will pinpoint your ovulation based on your BBT.  I haven't seen Kindara do it. 

The way you chart your BBT is right when you get up.  They say you shouldn't even get out of bed. You need to have at least 4 hours of sleep and you should be temping around the same time.  Working graveyards and trying to have a normal schedule on my days off doesn't allow me to temp around the same time. So I temp when I get up and it seemed to be ok. 

During your period (the follicular phase), you're temps will set basically the bar of when you could see when you are ovulating. During this time, cysts will be forming which will release the egg during ovulation. When you ovulate, you'll see a spike in your temp and this is when your cervical mucus will be the best for conception.  It'll be consistent to that of egg whites.  I was so oblivious to what EWCM (egg white cervical mucus) was.  Does it really look like raw egg whites?  It sure does. Imagine cracking an egg and looking at the egg white and the yolk before it is cooked.  The egg white is clear and stretchy, almost like something you'd blow out your nose when you're sick.  That, my friends, is EWCM which will help your guy's sperm swim to that egg. So you will learn to love EWCM if you're TTC. Remember, you have 12-48 hours to try and fertilize that egg! Afterwards, your temp will rise because of the increase of progesterone. This is your luteal phase which is basically when the blastocyst (a fertilized egg) attempts to implant itself in the uterine walls.  Progesterone is a hormone needed to help sustain a pregnancy.  If you're pregnant, your BBT will continue to rise. If you're not pregnant, your BBT will drop right before you start a new cycle.

As you can see in my charts, during my follicular phase, my temps were lower than my luteal. Unfortunately, the dotted line on both of the charts indicate that no temperature was recorded. So I can't pinpoint when I ovulated but my best guess is between cycle day 16 thru 19. 

During my luteal phase, my BBT rose a bit but it seems like it was a short phase, at least 11 days. Luteal phases are typically supposed to last 12-14 days. Without all my temperatures being recorded, I can't really tell if I may have a luteal phase defect.  If your luteal phase is shorter than 12 days, there might be a lack of progesterone.  Usually RE's will give progesterone supplements to try and correct this.  Now you can see on CD29 (CD=cycle day) there is a grey dot on the Kindara chart and a lone blue dot on my FF chart. This is showing that there was a drop of temperature indicating that there was no pregnancy.  Sure enough, the next day I started a whole new cycle.

Although it's disappointing, I have to look at the silver lining in all of this.  It looks like I ovulated sometime during this cycle and I can temp everyday. It's a fresh start!

One more app I really like but don't use that much is the What To Expect Fertility app.  The one nice thing about it is when we can see a positive pregnancy test, it will show you your estimated due date which is always exciting!

Happy charting!

The Uncharted Charts and the BFN

So this cycle I decided to chart my basal body temperature. This chart was very screwy. First off, I started tempting late in the game. Second, I missed days. So I had a lot of blanks and I don't exactly know when I may have ovulated. The good news, the way my funky charts look point in the direction that I did ovulate this cycle! You go ovaries! It's about damn time. I just hope I'm not disappointed next cycle. Third, not enough...well....lovin' time. With our screwy schedules, it seems I may have ovulated right around the time I started an 11 day work week. 12 hour shifts and a 2 hour commute round trip, it really doesn't leave much time. So now that my schedule is back to normal, maybe we'll hit a home run this cycle. ;)

So, I had experienced what people describe as pregnancy symptoms. Low back pain, sore boobs, moodiness, abdominal pain, and even spotting. I was so excited. So this morning I took a test. Big. Fat. Negative. I got that annoying phrase "Not Pregnant" on my Clearblue digital test. Ugh. But since my temps look like I ovulated, I'll continue with what I'm doing. In the meantime, I'm going to invest in an ovulation monitor. They're not cheap but hey, we're coming up on a year and eight months of trying. So I think I can spend the money on a monitor to help us out.

Anyways. I'll post my charts and show you what you should NOT do (like not temping everyday)

And yes, this is MY actual test. I even covered the results with my finger and slowly revealed the ugly truth.

"Aim at the sun, and you may not reach it; but your arrow will fly far higher than if aimed at an object on a level with yourself." - J. Howes

Oh Lordy!

Well I hope everyone has been doing well!! So from my last post, I have not been back to my RE for any treatments. I've slowly changed my lifestyle as far as diet goes which was our game plan for now. I have to say, it's working! I got the best OPK result thus far! It's not a positive but it's pretty damn close. Unfortunately, our TTC efforts were put on a hold for a bit because of some health issues I was facing.  I experienced severe esophagitis which made me feel miserable and you know what feeling miserable can do to you...not make you feel like you want to be doing any type of "baby dancing". So, we've had some bumps in the road but we're overcoming them.

The game plan for right now is to continue with the progress of weight loss. My work schedule is difficult to schedule workout time at the gym. I work strictly nights and I'm on call everyday I don't work. It's definitely not an excuse but just like changing my diet, I have to start somewhere and just get used to it. I'll contact my RE soon and see if I can start Metformin and Clomid shortly and see how everything turns out!

Thank you everyone for your continuous support!

"If you're going thru hell, keep going." - Winston Churchill

I'm here!

Sorry I've been MIA for a while. With the craziness of the holidays and a small trip with the in-laws, I decided to take a beak from doing OPK's and whatnot. It has actually been somewhat relieving not to chart temps and analyze mucus. Along with that, I am so excited to announce that my husband's cousin and his wife had their first baby! They welcomed their son early Christmas morning and was as healthy as can be.

So I don't really have any new updates. Any OPK's I took were negative for ovulation but then again, I stopped doing them so who knows if I ovulated.  I'm currently on cycle day 46. Cycle days (CD) are basically how long your cycle runs for.  It starts on the first day of a flow from a menstrual cycle.  So the typical cycles are about 28 days. I called my RE and she said that this is pretty typical with someone who has had an HSG.  I'm not worried nor am I stressing about anything. 

I'm still trying to work on gettings those darn pictures of the HSG. If I don't start a new cycle here soon, I'll taking a trip to my RE and I'll get those pictures sent to me. 

I do have to say, the other day I had the urge to go baby outfit shopping. Holy moley! Number one, those onsies are EXPENSIVE! And what kills me is that babies apparently grow fast so they aren't even in those onsies for long! Secondly, when you dont even know what you're having, it's best to buy gender nuetral colors. I bought one for a girl and one for boy. Needless to say, twins would be awesome or at least if we can have a boy and then a girl (vice versa, beggers can't be choosers). Judge me all you want. I loved it and it was fun.  It's those guilty pleasures that keep me sane as far as trying to get pregnant is concerned.

I hope everyone had a great holiday and very a happy New Year!

“We all have dreams. But in order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline, and effort.”  - Jesse Owens

OPKs and the almost postive line

So I have to apologize for not posting my HSG pictures on here. I couldn't open them with my normal computer program but when the holidays come to an end, I'll ask my RE to email them to me.

Now I have some pretty exciting news! I've started really cracking down on doing my OPKs (ovulation predictor kit) and charting my basal body temperature. I have never been able to get a faint positive line on my OPKs but since my HSG, I have witnessed my first (and second and third) faint lines! Now OPKs are similar to pregnancy tests in the sense of detecting a specific hormone and usually you have to use urine in order to detect these hormones.  The difference is that OPKs detect what's called LH (luteinizing hormone) and pregnancy tests detect your hCG (human chorionic gonadotropin). You need your LH to be high enough to successfully ovulate and OPKs will indicate that. With OPKs, they will have a control line which will be dark in color and the test line will be darker or as dark as the control line if it's positive.  If it's lighter or there's no line, it's considered negative in the sense that there isn't enough LH to successfully ovulate.  When you do get a positive OPK, usually you have anywhere between 24 to 48 hours before you ovulate which means...you'll have to get busy. ;)

So since I was never able to ovulate, I've never been able to  see any thing on my OPKs. Since my tubes have been cleared, I've been able to get the fainest positive line I've ever seen. I was so excited that I decided to start looking on Amazon.com for OPKs and was lucky enough to find that Wondfo (a producer of OPKs and pregnancy tests) was selling 100 OPKs and 20 pregnancy tests for around $25. That's a steal considering that you can get 20 OPKs at Target for about $10-$15.

Since I have started testing, I've had 3 faint positives and they seem to be getting darker. I've read that it could mean nothing considering that they're considered negative but then I've also read that some women experience a fade-in result meaning that you can potentially see a pattern of your OPKs starting off very faint and gradually getting darker until you get a positive OPK.  If you have a regular and consistent menstrual cycle, it would be easier for you to predict when your ovulation day (O day) would be. I unfortunately do not have that regular cycles so it's a little hard to predict. But I'm hoping I'm experiencing the fade-in process and will see my positive OPK soon!! The nice thing is, if we are able to get pregnant this month, my estimated due date would be September 10, 2013....mine and my husband's anniversary date. I'm so cheesy but I think that's adorable.

This is my first test that I have been able to get a faint line in.  It also provides a better visual of what I'm talking about.

A website I'm starting to become addicted to is PeeOnAStick.com.  It has basically all the in's and out's of peeing on sticks, both OPKs and pregnancy tests. But if you want to see what a fade-in process is with OPK's, here's the link : http://www.peeonastick.com/opkodyssey.html
I thought this was pretty cool and it gave me hope for my OPKs. I am keeping tabs on my tests to see if there is any pattern at all and I'll keep posting them on here to keep you all up to speed too!

"Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase." - Martin Luther King Jr.

The results are in!

So I went in for my HSG test today and it was an experience I wasn't expecting.  First off, they make you fast for 4 hours prior to the procedure.  Well, with working nights fasting 4 hours prior to the procedure means not eating for the entire day. Oh my I was hungry. Secondly, I don't know if it was just the radiology center I went to that requires this but they need me to bring an unopened pregnancy test just to ensure that I was not with child and that the doctor was able to continue with the HSG safely. 

So I was told that I should take Tylenol or Motrin and a muscle relaxer so nothing would spasm and create a problem during the test.  Because I wasn't able to eat anything, I opted to not take any pain relievers or muscle relaxers.  So I was a little scared that this was going to hurt like hell. Paps are already uncomfortable and I was assuming this was the granddaddy of all paps. Actually, I was a bit surprised. It was not painful at all but slightly uncomfortable although it was totally bearable. I'll take you through the process.

First, they make you undress from the waist down. They'll give you a gown and you'll go into the exam room equipped with the x-ray machine and several monitors for the doctor to look at when he's doing the procedure.  You'll be sterilized and they will wash out the inside of you with a surgical soap to prevent infection.  A very small catheter will be inserted in the cervix and then slowly dye will be injected.  I swear I did not feel anything when this happened. I was expecting pain but it was virtually pain free. The doctor and nurse were really nice and made me feel extremely comfortable because when you're spread eagle and going through this process, the last thing you need is to be even more uncomfortable.  The whole procedure lasted maybe 30 minutes from start to finish. I was very happy with this experience (aside from hitting traffic to and from there).

Now for my results.  Good news and bad news.  Bad news was that both my fallopian tubes were blocked. I can't add the pictures up here now but give me a day or two and I'll be able to upload them. You can see where the dye was just sitting in my uterus and basically had no where to go.  At one point during the procedure, the doctor asked me to describe how I was feeling.  I told him I was fine and wasn't uncomfortable. Now the reason why he asked me was because either he kept filling my uterus with dye up to it's capacity or he increased the PSI because during the test, he was able to clear the blockages from both tubes. Obviously that's the good news! My tubes are clear and ready to start dropping eggs! He was extremely happy with how everything looked but said there was something about the outside of the uterus that he wasn't too content about but nonetheless, he didn't think there should be an issue with my tubes transporting eggs now.

Thank God!  I was praying for this news because I'm literally reaching a point where this is all so overwhelming. I know not a lot of people nowadays are religious but I really try to keep my faith.  For those who don't know, I'm Catholic but I'm not really active, meaning I regularly attend church like I should.  I recently started researching who the Patron Saint of infertility is and I came across a couple of Saints but one really stood out to me.  Saint Margaret of Antioch. So I started praying to her and of course to God to help me through all of this. I'm not trying to push my religious beliefs on anyone because I truly believe that all religions are sacred.  I know it goes against the Christian belief but I honestly don't care and I believe in my heart God wouldn't care either.  There are people who will disagree with me but we'll just agree to disagree in this case.  Anyways, so I feel like I'm on cloud 9 now.  The thought that maybe (just maybe) my blocked tubes were the only reason why we weren't able to get pregnant.

I was so ecstatic to tell my hubby.  When he came into the room to take a look at the pictures from the test, I could tell he was extremely nervous. So when I told him that both tubes were blocked, his heart dropped. But after telling him the doctor was able to clear both tubes, he was just elated and that made my day.  To see the man that I love and cherish become so excited made all of this worthwhile.  I just hope that this means we're able to conceive naturally and without problems.

Now you're probably wondering what was the blockage (like a blood clot). Although it's not 100% but the doctor believes it was a mucous plug which happens to a lot of women. He doesn't know how it ends up there or what causes it but it is very common.  There are other types of blockages that can cause tubes to clog up such as scar tissue.  I read that the main contributor to blocked tubes was pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) which is usually from an STD.  Now, I want to let you know that I've never had an STD and I still had blocked tubes.  So you can be as healthy as can be and still experience this.  I don't want someone to be naive and think that it can never happen to you. That was my thought and it did happen to me. I don't want to instill fear in you either but just be prepared for anything.  If you are experiencing some trouble conceiving, try asking for an HSG as soon as possible to rule out blocked tubes.  There's no sense in starting fertility treatments such as Chlomid or Metformin, etc. if your tubes are blocked.  If they're blocked, nothing is getting through. Save yourself the hassle, money, heartbreak, and stress and try to push your RE or OBGYN for the HSG.

Like I said, I will post the pictures from the procedure soon.  They're actually really cool to look at and see what exactly is in there. I didn't know this: the uterus prior to becoming pregnant is actually very small.  I was thinking it was a decent size since a baby grows in there but it's not. The analogy the doctor gave was the egg and sperm are tiny and they need a small, confined space to meet each other or they'll get lost. Makes sense.

"Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement." - Helen Keller