Decisions, Decisions

I wake up this morning and Zack is determined to figure out if we should purchase a OV-Watch or the Clear Blue Easy fertility monitor. He's comparing prices and reading postings by users to see which one is best.

The OV-Watch seems

interesting, and Zack found out that you actually wear it at night. It costs a little more than the pee sticks and might be slightly uncomfortable to sleep in, but it might be more effective in helping us get pregnant because it tells you four days before you ovulate that its time to make a deposit into the baby bank.

The Clear Blue Easy (CBE) is your slightly above standard urine test... I've tried two types already and have had no success. The lack of success is probably due to the fact that I don't know exactly

when to pee on the stick because my cycles are irregular. Also, I don't want to use up all the sticks because I don't want to have to keep buying them.

Well, the CBE is on sale on Costco.com for 134.00 until the 10th of January, so we're going to make a decision on the 5th or 6th as to which monitor we're going to buy. After watching the video below, I think I'm leaning towards the watch (thx Samira!)

Playing with Tickers

So... in efforts to be better at blogging, I've tried to create one of those nifty tickers. This is a ticker showing how many days that have passed since my last period.

Zack and I have concluded that I have a nonexistent "period" at the end of the month. I get these weird cramps but nothing happens. I wait.... and wait... and in another month I'll get my period at the time I'm supposed to get it that month. We're predicting that my pseudomenstration is happening right now, and I'll ovulate again on the 3-6 of January.

Walgreens: Good for more than just prescriptions

On December 17th I woke up with the WORST scratchy throat! By the end of that day, I thought I some hybrid sickness of the Swine Flu, the Bubonic Plague, and Strep Throat.

Zack was sure to run to the store that evening and buy me like 80 cans of chicken noodle soup, and 35 gallons of orange juice. I didn't get better, and every night I would go to bed and wake up feeling like the Old Testament's Revelations.

A week later on Christmas eve, I decided to wake up and drive to the Walgreens Health Clinic. I got back to the nurse who asked me questions like "What types of meds are you on?", "What are you allergic to?", "and.......... "Oh, so are you trying to get pregnant?"

I told her I was and she asked another series of questions like how long we'd been trying, if I was having sex with a pillow, and if I was taking Robutussin.

I answered her: Since May, yes, and I was taking it for what I thought was a cold.

She informed me that I should have sex every other day and lay on the pillow for at least 20 minutes, Zack and I should take a tsp of Tussin every day, I should call her friend (the nurse practictioner) to arrange an appointment at the OB/GYN's office for a prescription for Clomid, and I should fill the prescription at Kroger because they only charge 9 bucks.

She went on with her testimony by saying that she'd tried all that was was able to conceive her two daughters who are 12 and 7.

She looked up the number to the OB/GYN and wrote it on a post-it note, confirmed that I had a sinus infection and wrote two prescriptions for that, and sent me on my way.

I told Zack about the visit, and he said I should call to set up the appointment. I'll think about it and might call this week. The only downfall is that the doctor's office is in Lawrenceville.... Maybe I'll try a doctor a little closer.

Snuggles

I had a ladies brunch at my house on the 19th and a friend of mine brought her 6 week old baby. I'm usually not the one to hold babies who are less than 4 months in age but I'd been waiting so long to see him. I remember talking to his mom a year ago about pregnancy and babies and such, and I wondered when we'd all get pregnant. It was a goal that we all got pregnant together, but oh well...

Baby Jones came through the front door with a ton of personality. He looked around and was calm as all the googley-eyed women waited to hold him. Finally, after I finished cooking and prepared to sit down, I picked him up and sat on the sofa.

Oh my!

He snuggled his cutsy, wootsy little face into my neck being sure to move my cotton shirt away with his little baby fingers. His mom said he didn't like the feeling of clothing and preferred skin against his face. I didn't mind at all. He snuggled and snuggled and SNUGGLE-WUGGLED until he was into a little, warm ball in my neck. It felt nice... almost like those little class hamsters we had in Mrs. Harris' 1st grade class. They furrow into your hand until they're comfortable, and then they sit there and nap like little angels.

After so long, I felt like maybe he couldn't breathe with his little nose in my neck, so I moved him to my arm. He did the same thing there... pushed my sleeve out the way and snuggled his head into the crease of my arm. He looked up at me with bright, blue, sweet little angel-wangel baby eyes (please excuse the baby language).

I talked to him and told him auntie Steph loved him. He simply looked at me. And it was at THAT moment that I realized I needed one of my own because I was literally about to snuggle his little face off!

Miraculous Conception

Soooooooooooo........

I just watched Robin Thicke's "Sex Therapy" video, and I think he has done it.

I think I have just conceived my first child by simply watching the artist I affectionately call "Thicke" on a music video.

Sure... Z was upstairs doing whatever he was doing in our room, and I was downstairs watching VH1 soul in the living room.

Of course... I understand that there traditionally has to have been some sort of sex act to conceive.

Absolutely... I know that drooling on the television and suppressing the urge to scream like a little school girl at Thicke's every movement does not constitute a conceivable situation.

But I feel it in my soul! Thicke was able to create something of a miraculous conception. I knew just as the video ended that something special had happened. I totally wanted to run upstairs and take a pregnancy test, but I didn't.

I figured I'd wait to see what happens... If this miraculous conceptions is simply a figment of my imagination, I'll definitely buy the "Sex Therapy" single and put it on heavy rotation in the house... especially at 6am and 6pm.

User Error

My and Z's bathroom looks somewhat like a lab. I have designated one lucky styrofoam cup to be our sample collection cup, and it sits neatly (and cleanly) on my side of the sink. The cup also multi-tasks as a holder for testing sticks... about seven to be exact.

The routine stands... I wake up, pee in the cup, insert the stick, count to 20, wait for the lines, ask Z what he thinks of the "results," write the date on the stick, wash cup, place sticks back in cup, take shower, get dressed, and go to work. We'll spend at least 15 minutes trying to guess if the light blue line is actually the blue indicating ovulation... then we conclude that we simply don't know.

The other day, I looked at previous sticks and noticed that the test from 12/5 had two solid blue lines which indicates ovulation... Great! but........ today is the 10th!!!

We've now decided to buy and use the electronic kit which will provide us with a simple smiley face when the time is right... no smiley face yet.

To make myself feel better, I go online to do research (because all things are answered through Google, of course)...

I found...

1. Some women ovulate 10 or so days after having their period (and not the 14 I originally thought) and...

2. Some eggs only live 12-24 hours after ovulation (not necessarily 24-48hours)

So, Z and I have come up with a game plan... starting 4 days after my next period, we're going into overdrive... I'm talking about every 12 hours... once before breakfast and once before (or after) dinner... for about 14 days.

Why??? Because we're freakin determined... thats why!

Will it work??? Will we stick to it???

Of course not! But where would we be without some kind of outrageous plan?!

Ready... Set... Flo....

I've been waiting and waiting, and she's finally here! Aunt Flo has FINALLY decided to get her late behind back into the game. Oddly, I'm super pumped about her arrival because now marks a starting time for my cycle.

I'm sure Zack will be a little (read: a lot) disappointed that we're not preggers, but its all good. Hopefully, he'll be just as pumped about getting out his calendar and charting my cycle and telling me when I'm ovulating.

Sometimes I wonder if God made me the husband and Zack the wife and switched our reproductive organs as some funny trick. Zack is always on me to take my vitamin, track my ovulation, get my body in shape, making sure positioning is optimal for sperm and egg, etc...

There have been many times when I've told him that he should be my wife so that he could be in control of this process, but unfortunately he's not. I could totally imagine him as a baby-crazed, ovulation obsessed, basel body temperture taking psycho.

With Aunt Flo in town, he definitely gets his chance... because we're at the start line.
*firing gun*

Awkward!

My mom had her big time 60th birthday party this past Saturday at the Blue Room. We were sure to invite all her good friends and family. One of the people who fall into the combination "friends/family" column is my parents' neighbor's mother whom i'll call Mrs. P.

Background on Mrs. P... I totally freakin' LOVE her! She's sweet, and so is her husband. My senior year in high school, they offered for me to live with them in New Orleans if I was to attend Xavier or any other university in the area. They'd say, "If you want to be in medicine, you can work in Mr. P's pharmacy while you major in biology!" They bought Zack and me a really nice wedding gift, and all-in-all, are like family.

Fastforward to last Saturday...

Mr. and Mrs. P walk into the party, and I greet them at the door. They both hug me tightly and kiss me on the cheek. Then......

Mrs. P says with increasing excitement, "Wow, Nikki! Look at you in that dress! And your face is GLOWING!!! ARE YOU PREGNANT?!?!?!"

I giggled and shook my head "no."

"Why, you MUST be! Look at you!!! You're glowing!"

***Notethat all of this is going on at the door of the party, and people are coming in.***

I insist, "Nope. I'm not pregnant. I've just gained a few pounds since you last saw me."

"Well, Zack must be giving it to you GOOD because it looks like marriage agrees with you!"

*cringe*

wait a minute... **double cringe**

Mrs. P looks at me frontways and backways and is adamant that my husband must be laying the smack down in the bedroom because my butt had filled out (not exactly her words, but thats exactly what I heard).

That moment definitely ranks a strong #2 on my Most Random Awkward Moments scale (only second to my mom telling me she found a CD with nude pics of me... which was totally a lie, FYI).

I just kept giving her a nervous giggle while hoping that God would make the moment disappear.

I couldn't imagine my mother being that way! If she were, I'd be writing this blog from a rock I decided to hide and live under.

I know Mrs. P only meant the best, and will probably be one of the most excited people whenever we do get pregnant. I wonder what she'll say then?!?!

It'll probably be something TOTALLY inappropriate like, "I bet he blew your back out!"

***shudders at the thought***

While the Gettin's Good...

Z: So, when are you gonna start taking the ovulation thing?

S: I guess I should go take one now, don't you think?

Z: I don't know!

S: Ok. I'll go take it now. (walks to bathroom) Zack! Bring me a cup!

Z: (dutifully brings styrofoam cup)

S: (pees in cup. washes hands. walks to upstairs bathroom.) Don't cell phones have stop watches?

Z: Yeah.

S: (places ovulation test in cup. presses "start" on cell phone stop watch)

Z: What does it say?

S: I don't know yet. (takes test out and replaces cap on tip. sets test down on the counter)

Z: (waiting beside me staring at the test)

S: Is that line dark blue? (turing the test around)

Z: (goes and gets the instructions) It looks that way to me! What does that mean?

S: I guess I must be ovulating.

Z: Well, lets get to it!

So, right there... at that moment... we became two people on a mission. Some people would say that we're being too technical with trying to conceive, but the whole experience with taking the ovulation test and finding out I was ovulating was really fun! It was also our time to shine while the getting was good because I took the test this morning and the results of the test were totally different. Just in a matter of hours the results suggested that I was not ovulating.

Could ovulation seriously be like a ghost in the night or a phantom dodging my and Zack's efforts to introduce Mr. Sperm and Mrs. Egg?

The answer to that question..... YES! Yes, ovulation is a phantom menace! Just kidding...

;-)

Another One Bites the Dust

I am sure it is proper conception and pregnancy test procedure to miss one period before peeing on a stick. With this assumption, I add the thought that my grandmother and her mother (and her mother) probably didn't splurge their share cropper husbands' money on ClearBlue Easies and EPTs, and they all had successful pregnancies of 4 or more.

So me.....

I wait...........

Telling myself there is no need to test because God has given us all a built in pregnancy test.

I wait (a little more than five weeks).....................

From the 18th of this month, I've been sitting on my hands trying to keep them from reaching for the HPTs hidden deep in the back of my dark, storage closet of a bathroom cabinet. All the while telling myself that I'd wait "patiently" to take the test on Saturday when Zack leaves for work.

Surely something must be up since my body hasn't clued me in on its secrets for this month. Surely....

I take the test and wait for the symbol on the screen. I check the directions to make sure I'm reading it right. Then the realization sets in that another one bites the dust.

Another test taken in vain, and another 7 dollars down the drain.

However, although I was initially disappointed, I am content that I didn't just wait around until November thinking that I was pregnant the entire time. I spoke to Zack shortly after taking the test, and he couldn't understand why I just didn't (and couldn't) wait... I had little patience in helping him understand a woman's need to simply know the status of her body so that her mind and body can all be on the same page.

I'm attributing Aunt Flo's tardiness to the fact that I've just gone back to work (and changed grades), and my body is adjusting to the pheromones from my "new" co-workers (another concept that is hard to explain to the hubby). I first learned about this biological feature when I was living in a dorm in college, and I always thought it was a pretty cool feature of the woman's body. Despite me not being pregnant and wanting to be this time around, I still think its pretty cool.

But next month, Aunt Flo will have NO excuses...

If at first you don't succeed...

The husband and I have decided that the time has come for us to try the "become one" part of marriage. Finally... after months of conversations that sound like a tennis match of, "Well, I'm ready if you're ready," we're working on expanding our family. *Note the key word: Working*

We decided in May that I would stop taking the pill and get this whole baby thing underway. We go to the public library. We check out books. We read them. We learn that there is ONLY a 20 PERCENT chance each month to get pregnant (or something like that)!!!! I even heard that, in some cases, a woman can have her period and not ovulate!

My world was shook.....

My reaction: WTF!!! You mean to tell me that my dad was wrong when he told me I'd get pregnant if a boy sneezed on me?!?!?! I CAN'T get pregnant if my husband holds my hand while I'm not on birth control?!?!?!?

Well, based on this new discovery of ours, we decided to try guess-timating my ovulation because seriously.... how hard could it be? I could practically set a watch by my cycle (with or without the pill). I'd go on thenest.com and use their handy ovulation predictor calculator, and Zack and I will get busy based on the 2-3 days it says I'm most fertile.

Yeah... so.....

This tool might have been helpful if I could accurately pinpoint the actual day my cycle started, but I can't because I'm too lazy to write the stupid Xs or hearts on the calendar for days of my period. Sooooooo..... After about five months, I've decided that getting pregnant is like trying to catch a bus without the freakin' bus schedule. I try to predict when the bus will arrive then I run to the stop only to realize that I missed it by five minutes.

I would have preferred for this conception thing to get a move on back in the summertime because I'm on a schedule. I had everything all planned out. Off BC in May, pregnant in July, notify the parents on my dad's birthday in August, give birth in April-ish, be prepared to enjoy my 10 year class reunion in June, and I'd have the entire summer to spend with baby. Not so much...

We've decided to try an actual ovulation predictor kit to try and get this show on the road. We've both read the instructions and are not-so-patiently awaiting my period, so we can use this kit. If this doesn't work... we'll try the backseat of the car... it seems to work for the teenagers!