We are surrounded!

They are everywhere! Every time I go out I see pregnant women! I am even now estimating how pregnant they actually are. On top of this there are babies everywhere! And then I guess their ages. There are fresh ones a month or so old and then the little ones starting to look like little people at 18 mo.

Tangent: What is with the whole 18 mo - 24 mo. thing?! Can't people just say a year and a half or 2 years? What is up with that? I am sure I will start to understand it better when my own child is 18 mo. old.

And last night was the creme de la creme of it all. The husband and I are at a restaurant and all I see are kids 5 yrs, 10 yrs. 14 yrs. 17 yrs. Just knowing that a little baby of mine will actually grow up into a big person that walks and talks and then eventually has his/her own life! WOW! This whole thing is amazing! Now I am seeing my future child as a teenager. I am so scared and excited!

After all the baby thing only lasts for a little while right. I guess I need to enjoy it as much as possible, when it happens and take lots of pictures.

A New Era

So for the last 15 years intimate activity has always been recreational. Now I find myself on the precipice of a new era where it now has a definitive purpose. What stress! Literally a life could hang in the blanace. Ok I am being too serious. But still this is HUGE. Creating a life. Wow. That sounds immense. It even feels huge just to type the words.


Strange but true fact - If women are born with all the eggs that we will ever have then technically a part of each one of us was inside our maternal grandmother at one point. Now wrap your brain around that one!

Too much information?

Well after that last post yesterday I realized that now you all know how much sex the husband and I have been having. Well yes - I agree even to me it is sometimes laughable - well now I just made you go check to count how many times. What do I get myself into? Am I sharing too much information? Well if I am then you can just self-censor yourself and stop reading the blog.

Still reading - well then I guess the level of information sharing is ok with you - well good I am fine with it too. So if I get bitchy with you, you can do your math and just say "yup she is on the rag" no wonder!

Coundown Continues

Well we only have 7 days until we are officially on the TTC journey! For those of you charting you may appreciate this. I have included my charts for the last few months. I feel like I want to share all this wealth of info with someone, since I work on it everyday. By the way have I said how much I love the TCOYF software? I love that I can upload my charts for the husband to look at and now I can put them here too. Gotta love all that technology! BTW these charts look much better if you use the Opera Web Browser - Internet Explorer makes it look funky.

Cycle 8 Chart


Cycle 7 Chart


Cycle 6 Chart

Chutes and Ladders

Ok so I definitely do not think that we conceived this cycle but we weren't trying anyways so I guess you can call that a successful cycle of family planning with the FAM (Fertility Awareness Method) for not getting pregnant. My temps started falling a couple of days ago and the new cycle should start day after tomorrow.

My biggest conern right now is my luteal phase - I am concerned that mine will be too short they have been 10 days which absolutely can't get any shorter becasue it will prevent successful implantation. I can't believe I talk like this now words like luteal, cycle, and implantation are now in my everyday vocabulary!

Makes me want to cry

So I have decided that I have the best husband in the whole world!

This week the husband came to me and asked if we could look at the TCOYF software together to check out when we needed to get busy in the next couple months to try to conceive. He has to plan his work travel and he wanted to make sure that his work travel didn't coincide with my forcasted fertile time, so that he could be here to send the troops into battle.

I was so touched that it made me want to cry!

By the way this cycle I am 7 DPO - 10 more days to day 18 (240 hours).

Luteal Lunacy

After ovulation you go into the luteal phase where you produce progesterone which in turn increases your temperature. The higher temperature acts like an incubator which is important in maturing a fertilized egg if conception has occurred. Usually you need a minimum of a 10 day luteal phase for successful implantation. Implantaition is sometimes marked with a brief spotting. Since a woman's luteal phase is very consistent each cycle if you reach day 18 of your luteal phase and have not had a period, there is a very good possibility that pregnancy has occurred.

By the way I have 15 more days left from the original 18 - so that's 360 more hours to go.

18 Days

So if you chart you know that 18 days of high tempatures mean that you are pregnant. So I ovulated on Saturday and now begins the 18 day wait. Not that we were trying this cycle but it just happend that normal life happened within my fertile period of days this cycle. So now I must wait what feels like forever until I either have 18 high temps or start to see my temps fall as a period approaches in two weeks.

By the way just in case yuu were wondering there are 432 hours in 18 days.

The Brief vs Boxer Debate

Here are our new house rules - the husband now is taking his fertility supplements so his troops in production that will be going into battle next month are strong and healthy. In addition I am insisting on the switch from briefs to boxers. Not the grandpa looking print kind but the sexy looking cotton jersey ones.

My feeling is that since the husband agrees to take the supplements and change to boxers then - he should follow through -- Well he keeps forgetting his suppliments and I keep seeing dirty briefs in the wash. The answer to why this is happening is always "oh I forgot" or "there wasn't breakfast food to eat with my suppliments".

Number 1 - I got him a weekly pill box that he has my his computer mouse so he can see it each morning when he is on the computer. Number 2 - we always have something even if it is just toast or OJ. Number 3 - before all the new house rules went into effect I asked the husband if he would be willing or interested in these changes. He agreed so I bought the suppliments and the weeks worth of boxers.

My feeling is that if I am taking my my fertility suppliments and temp every morning, charting my fluid every day, testing my saliva for fertility, and doing LH testing - then he can remember to take two supplement pills and climb into boxers each morning. Maybe it's just me and I know I am really being thorough with the charting - but still. Let's put it all into perspective - lasiness or forgetfulness shouldn't be a reason for not following through - it's an excuse.

Now don't get me wrong - I love the husband - I would lay my life down for him. And I really am not mad at him - really I am not. But It just erks me the tiniest bit. I think when we do the wash this week I am going to put all the briefs in an undisclosed location for later use. My big fear is that I just don't want to be the naggy wife that harps about taking the vitamin supplements.

Flunking my tests

What is wrong with me? I keep forgetting to take the LH test this week. I meant to start the LH strips for this cycle on Tuesday but now that I know I have to do the test in the afternoon and not in the morning when it is more convenient becasue I will have to test while I am at work - I keep forgetting!

No this is not a subliminal message saying that I am not ready to get prego. Anyone that knows me if I can plan and prepare for something then I am usually all over it! But testing at work? I promise to bring the test strips in to the office tomorrow - I swear - really.

After all this is the last cycle before we start TTC and I would really like to know when I ovulate for next month when we are really trying. The TCOYF says that Sunday is the big day so we will see.

Husbands think they are funny

So the husband was teasing me this morning because I announced - Wow look hew great this fluid is!" I continue to be amazed by the working of my body and feel that everyone should be just as amazed as I am. - Now funny man he thinks he is, he is says "Hey you were lying when you said you weren't fertile yesterday?!"

[Insert rolling eyes here]

He has access to my charts and there wasn't any fertile fluid yesterday - but the husband claims that he was just trying to be funny.

I sincerely informed him that I would under no condition try to trick him into getting us pregnant earlier than our plan. [Imagine freak out wife mode here]

Even if we did get prego 3 weeks early - it's not as if the world would end - only the world as we know it would change a bit - ok well more than that but still.

Husbands reading this - make a note to yourself - teasing the wife about the cycles and getting pregnant = an unpleasant day for you.

Tools for Cycle Charting with TCOYF

Taking Charge of Your Fertility (Revised Edition)(TCOYF)
by Toni Weschler
This book that was recommended to me by my good friend Jen. I never actually knew how my reproductive cycle worked in my own body until I read this book. This book should be required for all females! All the "dirty little secrets" the nuns never taught you in your junior high sex ed class! I actually now know when I am fertile and when I am not - what a freedom to have that natural power over your reproductive life without the hormones from the pill. (Not that I am dissing the pill or anything but that is another post.)

Even if you aren't TTC (trying to conceive) this book is a must have to know your body.




Ovusoft TCOYF Software
Now if you are charting your cycles then you must have this program! This program will calculate your due date and predict your cycles too!


I also have a few favoite gadgets to put the the TTC shopping list if you are making one:

The BD Basal Thermometer




Fertal Focus Saliva Ovulation Fertility Test




Fertility Blend Suppliments For Women




Fertility Blend Suppliments For Men



LH Ovulation Test Strips



Please note that the above products are ones that I am using - I am not saying that you have to use these products or that they definitively work nor an I receiving anything from the sale of these products. This info is just here as an FYI.