I'M BACK...with an exciting story to tell!

Today is my birthday, so I thought it was a fitting day to jump back into the blog world!

It’s been several months since my last blog post…maybe you’ve guessed the reason. Not even a month after I started this blog to document our trying to conceive journey, I got my BFP!! Needless to say, I think I’m going to have to think of a new blog name because now this is our all-things-baby blog.

The day after my last post on September 25, I got a positive pregnancy test…actually 3 of them! The whirlwind of emotions I felt that morning were crazy! I was in shock. I was overwhelmed, excited, scared, excited, nervous, excited…you get the idea. =] 

Of course, I couldn’t wait to tell the Hubby, unfortunately, he had already left for work. I spent the rest of the day debating whether or not to call and tell him or wait till he got home and tell him in person. I’m an extremely impatient person so it killed me to keep it to myself all day, but I managed. I went to the doctor that afternoon for a blood test to confirm, then stopped and got Hubby a few presents to give him when he got home.

I wrapped up a few University of Kentucky (Hubby’s alma mater and favorite team) onesies and one of the positive tests and waited as patiently as possible for Hubs to get home. He was late, of course. 5 mins…10 mins…15 mins. I was going crazy! Finally, I heard him pull into the garage and I could barely contain myself. I badgered him as soon as he walked in the door wanting to know what took so long. He was proactive and knew we were low on cat food so decided to stop and get some on his way…I couldn’t be mad about that.

Hubby’s birthday was November 28 so I told him I had a really early birthday present for him, but he had to open it now because it’s time sensitive. His first thought…UK football tickets! Boy was he wrong. =]  Now, if you don’t know Hubby, you don’t know that he doesn’t do “excited”. At least not according to my standards – I’m the jump up and down and scream kind of person. However, he was completely in surprised – finding out he is going to be a daddy is not what he was expecting to see in that box. He kept asking, “are you really, really sure?” “It’s not just a fluke, right?” I had to keep reassuring him that it was, in fact, true and he really was going to be a daddy in 2012!

Stay tuned for more posts describing the next two months of complete elation…and misery!

AF...to be or not to be

So AF is due to arrive today or tomorrow. I'm not exactly sure when since I didn't track anything this month (we were taking a TTC break). Even though we weren't trying, I'm still anxious for the next day or two. I hate the waiting game. If she is gonna show (which I'm sure she will) I want her to show now so I can move onto cycle 8.

I typically start spotting the day before AF arrives, so far I've got nothing. My cycles average 28 days and today is day 28. The longest cycle since I started tracking was 30 days and the shortest 25. My 30 day cycle happened to be the month my hubby was out of the country during my fertile week...I didn't O until the day he came home - 4 days later than normal.

I have been tracking my cycles since April and I can pretty much tell when I'm about to O. The ewcm tends to give it away. I did have loads of ewcm this month - it was ridiculous! In case you forgot - ewcm means many good things for those little swimmers. That's what you want around O time. Hubby and I only DTD twice during my fertile week - but it only takes once so I know there is always the possibility that we caught the egg.

So now its just a waiting game [insert Jeopardy theme music here]. I haven't had any desire to test this month. I don't know if its because I'm convinced it will be negative (again!) or more because we weren't trying so I don't think there is a chance. But, like previously mentioned, I'm anxious to know if she will show her evil face or not. If I have no signs of her arrival tomorrow, I might have to break out a test on Tuesday with FMU. At that point she will officially be late. This poas-aholic, has admitted to the problem and has made great strides on the road to recovery this month.

Keep your fingers crossed for some good news for us!

Our TTC Journey...so far

As mentioned in a previous post, we started our TTC journey in March 2011. I was one of those clueless girls who thought I would get pregnant (pg) right away. Now, I wasn’t expecting it to happen that very first month, but I was convinced it would happen within 2 or 3 months. In April 2011, I started charting my BBT and recording all of my data on my Fertility Friend (FF) app…still convinced it would happen in a matter of weeks.

Hubby was all for the “just do what we normally do and wait for it to happen method”. I so am not a sit back and wait type of person! When I want something, I want it now! Ask my mother, she’ll tell you I was born impatient and I haven’t changed. When Hubby gave the ok to start trying, I wanted that baby NOW!! I was reading and doing everything in my power to make it happen quickly. But, it seems as if God is trying to teach me a lesson in patience.

Each month, I would get anxious and nervous and start testing with internet cheapies (IC) by 10 dpo – convinced that I was pg and had all these “symptoms” that proved it! I quickly discovered most of my so-called “symptoms” were a figment of my imagination or easily contributed to something else.

The BD marathons were fun, in theory. Not so much in practice. Don’t get me wrong, the BD’g was fun. But all of the spontaneity and fun was gone. Dare I say it? We. Scheduled. Sex. If Hubby was in the mood and it wasn’t close to my fertile time, I felt like we were wasting that time.

There was one month (last month) where I tried to get him to BD everyday for a week…a very stressful week for him at work, mind you. By day 4 of that particular BD session, he was tired. He made the following comment, “I know we need to do this to have the best chance possible, but I’m really stressed and tired, so can we make this as quick as possible.” OUCH! That was a stab in the heart! He didn’t mean to hurt my feelings, but it did.

That was last month (August 2011). So, when AF showed her ugly face at the end of the month, I took a day or two to really think things through. I sat down and talked to Hubby and told him I think we should take a break for the month of September. He is so sweet and caring; he’ll do anything I ask him to. His only concern/criteria was that when the end of the month comes and I get another BFN, I can’t be upset – because, hey, we weren’t trying, right?

This pretty much catches us up to today. I am in my tww for September. AF is due in 3-4 days and I sit here just waiting for her to show her face so we can move onto cycle 8.

TTC Acronyms

I thought before I started getting too far into my (potentially descriptive) posts, I should give you a quick run down of the various acronyms we TTCers use on a daily basis.

TTC – trying to conceive

DH – Dear Husband

PNV – prenatal vitamin

BD – Baby Dance (you know, the fun part)

DTD – Did/Doing the Deed (again, the fun part)

OPK – Ovulation Predictor Kit

HPT – pregnancy test

IC – Internet cheapie (hpt or opk test)

FRER – First Response, Early Result (type of HPT)

AF – Aunt Flo (aka: the yucky part of your cycle)

CD – calendar/cycle day

O – Ovulation, ovulating, ovulated, etc

DPO – days past ovulation

TWW or 2WW – two week wait (the time from ovulation to the start of your next period, mine is consistently 13-14 days each month, average is 12-16 days.)

LP – Luteal Phase (the technical name for the tww)

CM – cervical mucus (gross!)

EWCM – egg white cervical mucus (the really good stuff that you should get when you are ovulating)

BBT – basal body temp (waking temp each morning – if you monitor it closely, you can use this to tell when you have ovulated)

FF – Fertility Friend (FREE website/iphone app you can use to track your BBT and other TTC info)

FMU – first morning urine (used for an hpt test)

POAS – Pee on a stick! (for an hpt or an opk)

BFN/BFP – Big Fat Negative/Positive (in reference to an hpt or opk)

EDD – estimated due date

PG – pregnant (this is our goal, people!)

The Baby Bug

For as long as I can remember, I have wanted to be a mother. I always helped in the nursery at church so I could “play with the babies”. I have tons of cousins younger than me. When I was 14, my aunt and uncle (who actually lived in the same city as us) had their first baby. My sisters and I were instantly a babysitting trio. We would volunteer constantly to babysit so we could keep our cousin. Within 5 years, we had three young cousins to babysit. I. Loved. It.

My Hubby loves kids…and acts like one half of the time. But he is also very responsible. He will make such a wonderful baby daddy! His childhood was very different than mine in some respects. He is the baby of his family and the youngest of all his cousins. He never had any younger family member to take care of or play with. Plus, his dad was 42 when he was born! The idea of waiting to have kids his mid-30’s didn’t bother him at all!

Growing up, I always wanted to be a young, stay-at-home mom. That was my hope for the future. Though, I didn’t realize I would be so far into my 20’s before I got the chance to try. It seems to be a theme in my family to have all your babies before you turn 25. So, needless to say, the fact that I didn’t even get married until I was 25, really weighed on my mind. As soon as Hubby proposed, I started daydreaming about our future together…including visions of chubby-cheeked little baby bundles with Hubby’s eyes and my nose.

As soon as we were married, I wanted to start trying to conceive. But, my very reasonable, practical Hubby convinced me we needed some time to just enjoy each other and our time together before we grew our family. Finally! After trying to change his mind for nearly 2 years, he randomly mentioned one day in January 2011 that I should stop taking my birth control pills when the month was up. Oh boy did I jump on that!!

I stopped my birth control the end of January and used other methods of protection for another month or so. We officially started trying in March 2011 – just in time for our 2^nd wedding anniversary!

Our Story

We met in August 2006 and started dating a few weeks later. We quickly become inseparable. We did everything together. We became best friends – and, obviously, we still are. We encouraged each other to be the best versions of ourself. He encouraged me to go back to school and finish my degree. I took his advice and started back to school in December 2006. I only had 39 or so credits left to get my degree.

Hubby was in the Army at the time and preparing for a 16-month deployment. If you have never had to experience the pain of a deployment, consider yourself blessed and take a minute to thank a solider and his family. You can’t possibly understand what it’s like to live through such a stressful and scary time unless you have done it.

Anyway, we dated for 10 months before he deployed in March 2007. It. Was. Devastating. I didn’t know one person could feel so many emotions at one time. It was a long and emotionally trying 16 months, but we made it through. I wrote him a letter EVERY SINGLE DAY. Do you have any idea how many letters that is?! About 500. He kept every single one! To this day, they are sitting in our office in the same 3-ring binder and page protectors he put them in while deployed. We were fortunate that he had, mostly, a desk job. He did not have to leave the FOB (forward operating base) very often, but when he did – I did not do well at hiding my panic.

He FINALLY made it home in June 2008 – Hallelujah!! Can you hear the angels singing?! That was pretty much the best day ever…at least for the next 3 weeks! We went on vacation soon after he returned and he proposed!! At Disney World. In the Cinderella Castle. Complete with red roses, a miniture glass slipper and the most beautiful ring I had ever seen! *insert sappy, romantic sigh here*

He proposed our last night in Disney World and before we got on the plane the next day, I had already bought my first bridal magazine. I did not want to wait long – I was so excited to start our life together!! At first I was pushing for a Fall/Winter wedding. But, with Thanksgiving, Christmas and both our birthdays within four weeks of each other, he convinced me to spread the fun out a little bit. We got married March 14, 2009. Three weeks later (after our 2 week honeymoon), Hubby was discharged from Active Duty and the Army moved us 2700 miles away to his home state. We were jobless and homeless. What a way to start our marriage, right?!

We quickly found a townhouse to rent and Hubby lucked into a job with the Federal government – yay!! I was not so lucky. You would think a Bachelor’s degree and years of experience working in government would make it pretty easy to get a decent job – wrong! I was unemployed for eight months. And, due to a technicality, I could not collect unemployment benefits. In November 2009, I finally found a job similar to what I did before we got married. After I got my job, we started the process of buying our first house – it didn’t take long! We’ve been in our house for about a year and a half and loving every minute of it!

That’s a quick synopsis of our life together thus far. More to come!

Introduction

Welcome to my blog!! My name is Mrs. A (I'm trying to remain somewhat anonymous) and I'm brand new to the blog world. I love following blogs, but I'm not very technologically savvy, so this will be a learning process.

I created this blog as a way to share my feelings and frustrations in our journey trying to conceive our first little bundle of joy. I love my hubby so much and he's so supportive, but I think sometimes he doesn't know what to say to make me feel better. So, I decided to share my experiences big, wide world of bloggers!

I am 27 and my hubby is 32, we have been married for 2 and a half years and we are on our 7th cycle trying to conceive. I was one of those foolish women who was convinced that it would only take us 2-3 months to conceive. Boy, was I wrong! I have a feeling I'll be sharing things that are a bit overly personal - I'm warning you now! Readers beware!

My first few posts will give you some background on our TTC exploits - it's been an emotional roller coaster!! Hopefully sharing my experiences with the blog world will help to relieve some of the stress of the process. Welcome to my world!!