Looks Who's Come for a Visit

AF.
That's right.  Today is CD2 and those same bittersweet emotions are back.  Bitter because, duh, it means it wasn't our cycle.  Sweet because she came all on her own.  No meds this cycle (no fertility meds, really) and she's showed up just as scheduled.  That's a good thing, right?  It could mean my woman parts are finally starting to regulate.  Unfortunately, it turns out I didn't ovulate this past cycle and another month goes by of waiting.  Still, I've got to stay positive.

So I started acupuncture last week, and I have to say it's been quite an interesting experience.  I will be going three times a week and getting spinal adjustments as well.  My doc says I need to drink more water, increase my exercise, and not stress about scheduling BD.  Tell me something I haven't already told myself.  It's all about the motivation, that's the only obstacle.  I've been to two treatments already.  So far, I haven't really noticed a difference other than being sore and having more "regular" BMs (two side effects he warned me about).  Sorry TMI, but it comes with the territory.  I've also started taking Vitex, and haven't notice any side effects from it.  Another thing, that I started this week was getting back to the gym.  Two months had gone by since my last visit and I could definately feel it today.  The cardio was harder to do, and I couldn't lift as much weight as I had before.  I know I have to ease into it, especially because I'm still dealing with issues from an old knee injury and pain from plantar fascitis/heel spur.  But I'm back in the gym and that's something to celebrate.  Now that I'm getting the hang of what my new work schedule will be like, I'm trying to adapt my workout routine around it.

I also wanted to mention that I've been doing research and reading alot about holistic and alternative therapies for IF.  I've come across a bunch of things that I didn't know about.  One gadget I started looking into is the DuoFertility (DF) monitor.  Check out their website here.  It's basically a high-tech, virtual, expensive BBT thermometer.  You can wear it 24/7 or as often as you'd like.  It works like an oral thermometer, except that you wear it under your arm and it records your temperature like every 5 seconds.  Then you download information from it as many times as you want onto an online system where experts monitor your information closely and send you regular reports about your temps and how your body is working.  Because you have this close system of monitoring, you will be better able to track your cycles and find out exactly when you O.  It's good for those who have irregular sleep patterns or do shift work since the time you take your temps in the morning can vary a great deal (I know this first hand).  They also claim it is ideal for those with PCOS or irregular menstrual cycles since OPKs don't always pinpoint when you will ovulate or if you will even ovulate that cycle. And since OPKs only work within a set range of LH, if you do have a low LH surge, these will hardly ever work. With DF, they can determine whether you have O'd and after a few cycles of using it, can even give you a countdown and predict when you will O.  Not having to worry about taking my temps, POAS, or guessing when we should BD has me very tempted to buy it.  Only recently has it been made available to the USA.  In the UK where it was developed, they had alot of success.  It's even FDA approved.  The only problem, is it comes with a heafty price tag of $795 for 12 months of service.  The research on it has suggested that it has the same success rate as doing IVF but for only a fraction of the costs.  And since finances is the only thing stopping us from trying IVF, this device seems very enticing.  I've filled out a suitability profile online to send to their experts to determine whether this would work from me.  And if I was living in the UK, I'd have a 100% money back guarantee if not PG in one year (guarantee not available in the US as of yet)!

Other than that, I feel like I haven't blogged much recently.  Ever since stopping the medicated cycles and the continuous monitoring and doctor visits, I feel like I don't really have much to say.  I also feel that with this new holistic/alternative approach to TTCing, it's gonna take a few months before we see any real differences or changes.  So I probably won't have much to say until then.

However, I may start blogging on something new coming up in our lives that may be "parenting" related.  A friend of mine knows one of the liasons of International Student Exchange (ISE), a high school student foreign exchange program. DH and I are very interested in persuing this new opportunity.  I talked with a couple of people who have hosted international students and they have alot of positive feedback about their experiences.  We are excited to begin this new chapter of our lives should we decide to move forward.  We are awaiting our information packet and application.  Hopefully this can divert our attention for while so that our lives are not so TTC centered.  But in the meantime, we'll still be BDing and hoping the new distraction can bring some new chakra.