According to my husband, I'm trying a little too hard to get pregnant this month...hmm.  I asked him if I should stop temping, charting, using OPK's, etc and he said no, but now I feel like I have to "hide" when I'm entering all the info because he doesn't quite "get" why I need to do it when we, obviously, didn't have any issues getting pregnant the first two times. (uff, sorry about the run-on sentence there)

Anyways, I kind of have to agree with him, but my problem is that I hate the "unknown."  I detest surprises, unless they're the really, really good ones.  If you ever throw me a surprise birthday party, I might curse at you - just saying! :P

Anyways, there's another problem that comes from doing all these things plus reading and getting to know all about my body.  I'm getting frustrated that my body isn't doing what I want it to or what a "normal" cycle would be doing. Today is CD 15 for me and well I haven't picked up a BFP on the OPK's yet and it's bumming me out!  On top of that, I'm temping and I haven't seen any kind of temp surge indicating ovulation yet.  :(

I also read that you only have a 20% chance of getting pregnant every cycle - wow, that bummed me out too!  I think I'm going to try to stay away from letting my mind get the best of me and just enjoy TTC for the first time ever.  :)

OPK's

YAY!  AF was officially gone on Sunday - let's get this TTC train going!

I bought a box of OPK's at Target, their Up & Up brand to be exact, to try out our first month of TTC.  Obviously, I never used OPK's with my 2 previous pregnancies - they were both complete surprises.  The problem I'm facing with them though, is that my cycles have been much longer while I had my IUD than the norm of 28 days.  So, I'm having trouble deciphering when I should start POAS (peeing on a stick)... I only bought the 7 day test kit (there are 30 day kits out there).  The little phamplet inside tells me, per my average cycle length (35 days), I should start testing on CD (cycle day) 18.  For the average cycle length (of 28 days) it says to start on CD 11.  Want to guess when I started POAS?!  Yep, today, CD 11...I'm guessing I'll probably end up buying another box of the things to test for 2 weeks...gosh I sure hope I O (ovulate) in the next 7 days!  Then comes the dreaded TWW (two week wait) post O before I can POAS for a BFP!

Tired of the acronyms yet?  I know, there's a lot - hopefully soon I'll throw a little glossary to the right...

Wooo!!

AF (aunt flow...aka my period) came today!!  :)

I wasn't sure when to expect AF, so the fact that she showed  up only a couple days after I suspected is glorious!  My cycles had been quite a bit longer after I got the ParaGuard and this cycle was actually around 39 days!

This means we can officially get this TTC baby train moving!!  I'm so excited - if we get lucky our first month we'll have ourselves a late May baby!  I'm really trying not to get ahead of myself in thinking we'll get lucky the first month, but I sure can have hope!

Opinions

"You don't have to agree with my choices, but as my friends you do need to respect them."
-Leigh Ann (Sandra Bullock) from The Blind Side 

 

Kind of a continuation on this last post I wrote. 

 

My friends and I all have varying opinions (some are much stronger in certain areas than others - definitely not a new phenomena), but we all usually respect those opinions and our friendships aren't  hindered by them.  Unfortunately though, there are times I wonder if our decision to have another baby is a choice that some disagree with to a degree where it may actually affect our friendship.  I have all hope it won't, but "Leigh Ann's" words above definitely are the mantra I'll be repeating!

 

On a side note: I'm sure you remember this post.  With Grandma coming I decided to just flip over my TCOYF book because she probably wouldn't be going in our bedroom (all the HPT's and OPK's were put away in a drawer).  Well, go figure, she needed to go in our room to get the key off of our modem to use her laptop.  I have no doubt she picked up the book in curiosity to see what I was reading.  Hopefully she didn't "read" into the title of the book too much - maybe she just thinks I'm trying to get to know my body better and leave it at that! lol  For all she knows, I still have an IUD!

Reminders

Some days I sit wondering how I'm going to respond to those closest to us when we do tell them our news.  I'm not worried about our decision to add another member to our family, but unfortunately, a person is still affected by the words that come out of their family and friends.  Yes, we have a small house (smaller than most people's apartment), bills that always need to be paid, busy schedules, etc.  None of that really matters though because we have home filled with love.  We know through faith we will be provided for and our needs will be met.  Therefore, our hearts yearn for another blessing and we know we'll be just fine - we're happy and the rest all works itself out (it has this far)!

Today, I was reading a post from a young lady named Katie, who lives in Uganda and has adopted 14 girls!  God works in mysterious ways and through Katie's post, I was given the reminder I needed...

She wrote about Genesis 33 where Esau approaches Jacob about the many children following behind him.  Esau asks Jacob, "and who are these with you?"  Jacobs reply: "These are the children that the Lord saw fit to bless me with."  She was referring to adoption in her case, but I also felt it applied to the feelings associated with opinions on how many children one family should have.

If the Lord sees it fit to bless us with a third miracle - we will most graciously accept it!  I'm more ready now, for the questions "why more when you had one of each already?  how are you going to fit more in your house? what about this? what about that?" etc
    "These are the children that the Lord saw fit to bless us with!"

As I'm finishing up and glancing over the comments of the post, I see this verse...

"...with God all things are possible."  Matthew 16:26

Yes, yes they are!  We are ready for whatever He has in store for us next!

Grandma's Coming

Grandma's coming to watch our children tomorrow, so the hubs and I can have a date night.  It's been awhile - so we're going to go enjoy a meal and a movie without two tornadoes!  BUUUUUT, this means that all the paraphernalia of TTC needs to be hidden.  TCOYF (Taking Charge of Your Fertility) needs to be pulled off my nightstand....the OPK's (ovulation predictor kits) and HPT's (home pregnancy tests) need to be pulled out from under the bathroom sink (my luck she would go looking for something and see them) and I better make sure the PNV's are not sitting on the counter!

We've decided to keep our TTC journey a surprise from our family until we get our BFP (big fat positive) and are a little ways along in the pregnancy.  It feels kind of deceitful, I've always been pretty honest with my mom, but then it's really nice taking this journey with husband (and of course my lovely readers of this blog).

Sucked into the vortex...

...of maternity clothes!  Ahhh!! 

My friend, who is 28 weeks pregnant or so, is trying to put together outfits for her upcoming family photo shoot.  So, I'm poking around clothing websites looking at maternity clothes for her and I then I get sucked in and start looking for myself!!  Oops!

I found this suuuuuper cute top...I want it, but considering the 18 gallon tote plus some of maternity clothes I already own, I don't technically need it.

How could I possibly convince my husband I need this already? lol