D v2.0

{written on 2-22-12 – 4w4d. i have a couple posts that i wrote before we shared the news of this pregnancy that i’ll be putting up in the next few weeks.}

So I think I’m pregnant again. YIPPEE!!!!

I won’t know for sure until this afternoon when I get home from work and can take a test, but I’m pretty sure. And here just last week before we went to Tucson I told R I thought our efforts had failed again this cycle. Guess I’ve proven myself wrong. Thankfully!

**Warning: This post may contain material not suitable for those not wanting to know the ins and outs of my body’s monthly cycles, so if you fall into that category, TURN BACK NOW!**

We tried for 4 cycles this time around, whereas with D I got pregnant on our 2nd try. Well actually we could technically call it 5 cycles, since the very 1st one we did have good timing, but I think I was more ready to get this ball rolling than R at that point and it wasn’t a very concerted effort. So I guess that one doesn’t really count.

Then there was 1 cycle in there where I was frustrated so didn’t keep track of anything, and we totally blew our chances. Well played, body, well played. I kept track from then on.

So in all, we tried for 5-6 months.

Like the 1st time around when we were trying for D, I did keep track of my morning temps, signs from my body during different phases of each cycle, and used ovulation predictor strips. TMI? Sorry, I warned you. I didn’t feel like doing any guess-work this time either.

There were a couple cycles in there where I thought we had excellent timing, so I was starting to get discouraged when I thought this one was a bust as well. I was even going to call my doctor to chat if this cycle didn’t work. Yes, I realize 4-5 cycles is really nothing to be worried about, since it can take perfectly healthy couples a year or more to conceive, but I was just hoping there wasn’t something wrong since it took a shorter time frame for D.

Plus, charting and counting days can really wear on you when all you want and hope for is that one positive sign. It starts to suck the “fun” out of the whole process, if you will.

What did I do differently this cycle than the last that may have made a difference? The only real things were cutting out coffee drinks in the mornings and actually eating breakfast (i do still usually have a caffeinated soda at lunch, so i didn’t cut out caffeine completely) and drinking 8 oz. of pomegranate juice every day.

I’ve heard that pomegranate juice is supposed to help thicken the uterine lining, thereby lengthening the luteal phase of the cycle and making a more hospitable environment for implantation. Plus it’s just good for you.

My luteal phase tends to be on the shorter side, so I was afraid that was causing our lack of success. I had drunk the juice in some of the other cycles too with no luck, though, so I can’t put all the credit on that. But maybe it did help?

I’ve really had no symptoms that would clue me in, mainly just a lack of my little monthly friend. I did read back to my journal entry from the day I found out I was pregnant with D (yes, an actual pen-to-paper journal!) to see if there was something I could be watching out for, but I didn’t have much to report then either. Just really sore boobs, which I don’t have this time.

Here’s what I can report:

• Light cramping on 8dpo, then more crampage around 10-12dpo, which was when I totally thought the jig was up. The 10-12dpo cramping didn’t really feel like menstrual cramps though – they were more like a gas/bloated feeling, so that’s kind of when I started thinking ok, if it hasn’t shown by 11dpo (which was when it usually did before) then I may just stand a chance.
• Pretty hungry and peeing a lot, but that also could have simply been because we went on a couple of long walks in Tucson and I was trying to drink a lot of water after the flights out, since they always seem to dehydrate me more than usual.
• Very tiny, fleeting waves of nausea and barely heartburn over the weekend. Like if I weren’t on high alert hoping I was pregnant, they wouldn’t even have registered on my radar. Maybe just a “hmm, that was a weird feeling”.
• Temp was up higher than the rest of my luteal phase this morning. I didn’t take the thermometer to Tucson (temping on vaca? no thanks), so I was just curious to see what it would read today even though I really didn’t need it.
• Super emotional today. Actually, that’s just really about 1 thing – this morning I found out I’m being inducted into my high school’s Athletic Hall of Fame, and the wonderful comments I’m getting from all my friends on my Facebook page are practically making me cry. Maybe I’d be doing that even if I wasn’t pregnant.

Other than those very minor symptoms (which can hardly be counted as symptoms), I’ve really felt zero difference so far. That was another reason why I was still pretty skeptical until yesterday and today (14-15dpo). I assumed that since my body’s been through this once already maybe the 2nd time around it would get more of a head start feeling stuff. Dumb idea? Maybe.

I did weigh myself this morning in anticipation of a positive test this afternoon. Starting weight this time = 149.5. That’s exactly 5 pounds lighter than my starting weight last time. I actually did weigh myself last Friday morning before we went to Tucson thinking maybe if I was pregnant this time I’d take a 10dpo reading, and I weighed 151. Why I now weigh less after eating a ton over the weekend (In-N-Out = YUM!!), I have no idea. But that’s where I’ll call my starting weight, 149.5.

Whatever’s going on in there I’m just praying that the pregnancy sticks, and I hope this feeling great continues the whole time! I really shouldn’t get ahead of myself until I take that test this afternoon, but now I finally have a pretty sure feeling that I will see those 2 pink lines this time. And I have a really cute way to break the news to R if I do see them.

 

**Edited on 2-23-12: I was right – I’m pregnant!! I bought some pregnancy tests after work yesterday and took one right when I got home, and there were those 2 pink lines, bright as can be! I took D into her bedroom and put an adorable little “Big Sister” t-shirt on her that I’d gotten a few months ago, then sent her out to show Daddy. Needless to say, R was very surprised, since I’d told him last week I thought we were out again this time. I took another test this morning just because I had 3 and I could, and there were the lines again, even brighter than last night. Here we go again!