Saturday, August 27, 2011
Three cheers for menstration!
Well, I drank two cups of parsley tea last night and started feeling a little crampy. I kept checking, but no period. As I was working on my first cup this morning, there it was. Yay!
Friday, August 26, 2011
Parsley Tea
Hmmmm...I think I may try drinking some parsley tea. Apparently that helps
to bring on a late period. It's an emmenagogue (an herb which stimulates
menstruation) and definitely worth a try. Of course, if I haven't ovulated
yet and am stuck in amenorrhea where your pituitary gland isn't producing
the hormones to spur ovulation, then I'll go in to see my midwife to see if
she can prescribe something to give it a kick start. I'm really not
interested in waiting for several more months to start trying to get
pregnant. I want to get this show on the road.
to bring on a late period. It's an emmenagogue (an herb which stimulates
menstruation) and definitely worth a try. Of course, if I haven't ovulated
yet and am stuck in amenorrhea where your pituitary gland isn't producing
the hormones to spur ovulation, then I'll go in to see my midwife to see if
she can prescribe something to give it a kick start. I'm really not
interested in waiting for several more months to start trying to get
pregnant. I want to get this show on the road.
****
Waiting some more
So, I was due to have my period on Wednesday and was all excited to ditch
the condoms as soon as possible, but alas my period is three days late and
no signs of showing up anytime soon. The book "What to Expect Before You're
Expecting" advises going off of the pill and using a barrier method for
three months before you actually want to start trying to conceive so that
your cycles have time to normalize, but my midwife said one month. After
reading some chat boards, I should have listened to the book. There are
reports of women not getting their period for months after going off of the
pill. Now, I'm assuming that these are women who have been on the pill
long-term, and I've only been on it for about two years, so I thought I'd
have more luck. I guess not. I'm trying not to get too stressed about it,
but I really hope it comes soon. I'm all stocked up on pregnancy tests and
ready to go. I guess to be double sure, I really should take a pregnancy
test, but there's really no way that is even possible and I have no other
symptoms AND I drank a few glasses of wine just the other night as kind of a
"farewell" to alcohol. I've been enjoying my coffee breaks at work, too,
knowing that after my period ends (if it ever comes, grr) I'll be bidding
farewell to that afternoon ritual as well. And I keep saying I will start
taking walks in the mornings before work to get some exercise and stay
limber, but I haven't started doing it yet.
the condoms as soon as possible, but alas my period is three days late and
no signs of showing up anytime soon. The book "What to Expect Before You're
Expecting" advises going off of the pill and using a barrier method for
three months before you actually want to start trying to conceive so that
your cycles have time to normalize, but my midwife said one month. After
reading some chat boards, I should have listened to the book. There are
reports of women not getting their period for months after going off of the
pill. Now, I'm assuming that these are women who have been on the pill
long-term, and I've only been on it for about two years, so I thought I'd
have more luck. I guess not. I'm trying not to get too stressed about it,
but I really hope it comes soon. I'm all stocked up on pregnancy tests and
ready to go. I guess to be double sure, I really should take a pregnancy
test, but there's really no way that is even possible and I have no other
symptoms AND I drank a few glasses of wine just the other night as kind of a
"farewell" to alcohol. I've been enjoying my coffee breaks at work, too,
knowing that after my period ends (if it ever comes, grr) I'll be bidding
farewell to that afternoon ritual as well. And I keep saying I will start
taking walks in the mornings before work to get some exercise and stay
limber, but I haven't started doing it yet.
I joked about an Angry Birds themed nursery with my husband last night, and
he wasn't amused. He has been thinking about a coral reef room. We'll see
what we come up with.
****
Monday, August 8, 2011
The Pill
I've been meaning to post the very exciting news that I took my last birth control pill two Sundays ago, but haven't gotten around to it since my husband and I have undertaken to remodel our master bathroom and my spare time has been spent laying tile and painting and taking endless trips to the hardware store. I did a little happy dance when I popped that last pill out of the pack.
I didn't start taking the pill until I was 28 and I was annoyed at the monthly expense, not having been accustomed to having to fill a prescription every month. I'm glad now to hear that the copay for contraceptives will soon be a thing of the past, so that will be something to be thankful for when I go back on it sometime in the future. I found the experience of being on the pill to be interesting. The utter predictability of cycles was reassuring. I hadn't paid too much attention to my cycles before going on the pill, but I seem to recall them being sometimes a bit long and sometimes a bit short, though I didn't track them well enough to say for sure. It'll be intriguing to see how they normalize without the influence of synthetic hormones. I do remember that I was always sure when I was ovulating before I went on the pill due to the changes in discharge my body produces, so if that resumes now that I'm off of it, that should be a help in our quest to conceive. I may miss the shortened menstrations that the pill provides, but so it is.
For just this short month, we're using a barrier method on the advice of my midwife who says that if I conceive without first having a natural cycle, it would be more difficult to judge the due date. My husband has been fanatical about condom usage in the past weeks. Even the day after my period ended, he encouraged me to hunt one down even though I assured him I wasn't fertile at that point in my cycle. I tried to get him to "read up" on things about fertility he ought to already know, but I haven't followed up with him to see if he actually has or not. Perhaps if I posted the pertinent information to a thread on Reddit...LOL!
If my cycle remains the same as it has been, my upcoming girls' weekend in Las Vegas will be somewhat diminished as it falls precisely within the range of days in which I could be pregnant and have no way of knowing for sure, so I guess I'll have to be a teetotaler that weekend in which I'm sure there will be much indulgence on the part of my peers.
I've been enjoying afternoon coffee breaks at work lately, knowing full well that I should be cutting back since next month I intend to severely limit my caffeine intake on the off chance that we hit the jackpot during our first month of trying. My boss is well acquainted with my afternoon coffee habit and will stop by my desk to announce when she's put a pot on to brew so she and I have first crack at it. I'll have to come up with some excuse as to why I don't rush to grab my mug.
I have high hopes that we don't have long to wait before we're assured of our success in our endeavor. It's been a long wait already, and lack of patience is a character flaw of mine. For all that I worry about the few plans we've made for the fall, winter and spring - that being stuck on a 10-hour flight to Hawaii in my first trimester is a recipe for misery, that having to swear off alcohol during a weekend-long birthday celebration in Vegas with friends who will likely spend three days on end stumbling drunkenly through the casino and sleeping in with massive hangovers, and that my newly retired in-laws will be several states away on an RV vacation when I might have some big news to share with them - I still hope that we conceive quickly.
I didn't start taking the pill until I was 28 and I was annoyed at the monthly expense, not having been accustomed to having to fill a prescription every month. I'm glad now to hear that the copay for contraceptives will soon be a thing of the past, so that will be something to be thankful for when I go back on it sometime in the future. I found the experience of being on the pill to be interesting. The utter predictability of cycles was reassuring. I hadn't paid too much attention to my cycles before going on the pill, but I seem to recall them being sometimes a bit long and sometimes a bit short, though I didn't track them well enough to say for sure. It'll be intriguing to see how they normalize without the influence of synthetic hormones. I do remember that I was always sure when I was ovulating before I went on the pill due to the changes in discharge my body produces, so if that resumes now that I'm off of it, that should be a help in our quest to conceive. I may miss the shortened menstrations that the pill provides, but so it is.
For just this short month, we're using a barrier method on the advice of my midwife who says that if I conceive without first having a natural cycle, it would be more difficult to judge the due date. My husband has been fanatical about condom usage in the past weeks. Even the day after my period ended, he encouraged me to hunt one down even though I assured him I wasn't fertile at that point in my cycle. I tried to get him to "read up" on things about fertility he ought to already know, but I haven't followed up with him to see if he actually has or not. Perhaps if I posted the pertinent information to a thread on Reddit...LOL!
If my cycle remains the same as it has been, my upcoming girls' weekend in Las Vegas will be somewhat diminished as it falls precisely within the range of days in which I could be pregnant and have no way of knowing for sure, so I guess I'll have to be a teetotaler that weekend in which I'm sure there will be much indulgence on the part of my peers.
I've been enjoying afternoon coffee breaks at work lately, knowing full well that I should be cutting back since next month I intend to severely limit my caffeine intake on the off chance that we hit the jackpot during our first month of trying. My boss is well acquainted with my afternoon coffee habit and will stop by my desk to announce when she's put a pot on to brew so she and I have first crack at it. I'll have to come up with some excuse as to why I don't rush to grab my mug.
I have high hopes that we don't have long to wait before we're assured of our success in our endeavor. It's been a long wait already, and lack of patience is a character flaw of mine. For all that I worry about the few plans we've made for the fall, winter and spring - that being stuck on a 10-hour flight to Hawaii in my first trimester is a recipe for misery, that having to swear off alcohol during a weekend-long birthday celebration in Vegas with friends who will likely spend three days on end stumbling drunkenly through the casino and sleeping in with massive hangovers, and that my newly retired in-laws will be several states away on an RV vacation when I might have some big news to share with them - I still hope that we conceive quickly.
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