Mother's Day Project

Such a cute and creative gift! M is for mom...found the letters at Joanne's Fabrics and Craft store.

Paint one side of the letter, as well as the outside. I used a stamp to make them have more color and "flare".

Print out small photos onto photo paper and use Modge Podge to paste them however you want on the letter. We printed our photos in black and white and noticed that once we put Modge Podge over the picture to really solidify the pictures to the letter, it turned them a slight pinkish color.

Let dry and voila!

Check it out! A positive OPK! Cycle Day 30...finally!! This is the Clinical Guard brand.

To follow up from my last post about the ultrasounds, I am actually attaching a few images so you can see the difference.

 This is one of my ovaries on Day 10, Cycle 1, when I was going to acupuncture once a week. You can see the dominant follicle forming. The dominant follicle can be defined as "the large cyst in the ovary during each menstrual cycle. An egg is released from the dominant follicle with ovulation-it supplies the majority of estrogen and all the progesterone for that particular menstrual cycle" (the Centre for Menstrual Cycle and Ovulation Research).

Basically, this is good news. It means I am getting closer to actually ovulating.

Here is a follow up photo on Day 15, Cycle 1:

See how much bigger it is? I went home that night and took a positive OPK (ovulation predictor test). I probably ovulated that night...when Alex was away on business. Perfect. This was the point when I told my acupuncturist that since I know I ovulated, I want to take a mini-break. Turns out, consistency is key here.

 

Here is Day 14, Cycle 2:

You can see that there are a lot of follicles in my ovary, but none of them are dominant, meaning I am not close to ovulation in this photo.

 

Here we go again, Day 20, Cycle 2:

Same thing. Nothing is happening! Grrrrr!! This is the point where the ultrasound tech mentioned I might have something called Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, otherwise known as PCOS. If you search for other ultrasound photos of women with PCOS, you will see photos that look very similar to the one above. It is referred to as "the string of pearls" based on its appearance. The ultrasound tech asked our Physician Assistant if that's what it looked like, and she said it most certainly did.

 

As of now I have an appointment at the end of the month to see a doctor outside of the one I work in to get an official diagnosis, and see if there is anything I need to do fertility-wise. I do feel blessed that I was able to discover this so early in my TTC journey. Some women go through a year or more of TTC before figuring out that this may be holding them back.

 

It is amazing to see the difference between the cycle in which I used acupuncture and the one in which I didn't. Just goes to show how much acupuncture was helping to regulate my cycle, making me ovulate, and treating a condition I didn't even know I had at that point. Back to acupuncture I go! Just had a session this weekend, and will continue to go once a week.

 

As of now I am taking an OPK once a day, because I know that I will ovulate in the cycle at some point, I just don't know exactly when. Since my history pre-acupuncture was cycles ranging between 6 and 7 weeks, I am guessing somewhere around CD 30.

 

Here is Carly with the bone she stole from Coby.

A rare moment where we think they love each other, but it's probably just coincidence.

Example #1: Remember when I told you that she has no interest in playing with Coby? Poor guy...

Holy cow...it has been almost a full year since my last blog. Except this time I am coming back with a new purpose. First, let me update you since my last post...

Alex decided that Sassy was too much of a puppy for our family, so she got adopted by a wonderful older couple who will take good care of her for the rest of her life. Coby lost his playmate, but we did end up adopting another dog who is, unfortunatelty, less than enthusastic to play with him. It was a very sad couple of weeks for me as I really wanted to adopt her, but I know she's in a good place :) Our new addition is Carly, a 4 year old Boston Terrier. She has turned out to be as big of a pain in the butt as Coby, but we love her still and are trying to resolve some behavioral issues. That's what you get when you adopt, but I wouldn't do anything different.

I also got a new job at a Ob/GYN office in December, and am trying to build my photography portfolio so I can make some income doing that one day as well. I'll post my photos on her periodically to showcase my work!

So as I was saying...my new purpose. Alex and I have decided that now is the time to start trying to build our family. That's right, that means making babies. Like, a human being. I honestly thought this day would never come. It took some haggling to get to this decision...if it were up to Alex entirely, we'd be waiting another 10 years to get started. But I've always wanted to be a mom, and knew that I wanted to be a young mom too. I think starting the process at 24 is a good age, after all, you don't know how long it will take. Statistically, even a completely healthy couple can take up to a year to conceive. There is only a 20% chance of conceiving each month, so the stars really have to align for the sperm to meet the egg.

Since I work at an OB/GYN office, there happens to be an ultrasound technician who also happens to be really ridiculously nice and helpful. Since finding out that I am TTC (trying to conceive), she has offered to check out my ovaries every once in awhile to see if I'm ovulating. Since coming off birth control in October, my cycles have ranged from 6-7 weeks long. That's not horribly long, but still kinda long...especially when you're trying to make a baby. One of our doctors recommended going to acupuncture as a way to regulate my cycles, and boy did it ever. Just going once a week and taking the recommended herbal vitamins brought my next cycle down to 27 days...I was surprised, and amazed, and...HAPPY! Now I could be a normal woman who has close to perfect 28-day cycles and ovulation on cycle day 14. Yeah right...

So after I finished that 27 day cycle, Alex and I considered ourselves to be officially "trying." Yay. I continued to go to acupuncture, up until I confirmed ovulation with an OPK (ovulation predictor kit) on CD (cycle day) 15. I then texted my acupuncturist, Michele, telling her that I wanted to take a break for a few weeks to see if it worked. I have been trying to bill my insurance, and I am secretly terrified I am going to get a gigantic bill in the mail saying it didn't cover anything. Hence, my decision to "take a break for a few weeks". After obsessively testing and freaking out for the next few weeks, my period finally started confirming that the first go around was unsuccessful. Poop. I decided I would continue to take the herbal vitamins, but still forego acupuncture, really believing I would ovulate on or around CD 15 again. Ultrasounds showed otherwise...

(To be continued...)