Health Activist Writer's Month Challenge - Day 4

Dealing with Infertility for three years gave me plenty of time to find resources all over the Internet.  People were always amazed by the amount of knowledge I had regarding Infertility but it definitely helped me.  It helped me to understand what was going on with my body, it gave me the power to tell my OB/GYN that I didn’t want to use them anymore, I wanted to be seen by a specialist who dealt with true Infertility and it gave me something to do.

I was pretty much attached to the IF Board on The Bump.  There’s so many acronyms, different hormones that could be affecting your fertility, medications to take, etc. that I learned a lot from these ladies.

Fertility Friend has a great tutorial that every woman who is struggling to get pregnant should read and help understand their bodies better.  I don’t think that as soon as a couple decides to have children that they should be charting and stress themselves out with all of this BUT if you’re curious about it, it explains everything and has an easy to use chart to chart your monthly cycle.

My RE has a Facebook page, which was great to see so many success stories and to commiserate with other women who were struggling.

There's so many places on the Internet to help those who are struggling with IF get support or learn more about what their options are.

Health Activist Writer's Month Challenge - Day 3

Wordless Wednesday

The moment I felt "healed"

Health Activist Writer's Month Challenge - Day 2

I suffer from Infertility.  Infertility is defined as not being able to get pregnant despite having frequent, unprotected sex for at least a year — or for at least six months if the woman is age 35 or older.

Specifically I suffer from amenorrhea, the absence of my period.  I get a period maybe every 6 months, if that.  Since I successfully had a pregnancy and birth, I've only had two spotty periods and they were induced with progesterone supplements.  I've done all testing for Infertility and there is no explanation for it.  My Fallopian tubes are clear, all my blood levels are normal, I have eggs in my ovaries, I just don't ovulate and get a period each month like other women.  I also needed some pretty strong drugs to achieve a strong enough ovulation and the RE had determined I needed a progesterone supplement to sustain a pregnancy for me to carry to full term.

1. Infertility is a common problem.  10% of women in the U.S. will experience problems with getting pregnant.
2. Infertility is not something to be ashamed of.  I felt best when I shared my struggles with others and had shoulders to cry on.  I could not have gotten through my two pregnancy losses and the failed medical cycles we went through for over 2 1/2 years without the help of friends and family.  There is no reason to fight it alone.
3. Go to a Reproductive Endocrinologist (RE), don't just stay with your OB if you are struggling. An RE does much more monitoring for you.  I went through 7 cycles of Clomid with my OB before I moved onto the RE and realized the OB was not even monitoring me properly.  They were giving me doses of Clomid each month with no monitoring and I wasn't even ovulating on it.  Those were wasted months and took their toll on my body, my mental well-being and my marriage.
4. Yes, it will seem like everyone else is pregnant and most likely they are.  It sucks, there's no getting past that suck ass feeling either.  Wine helps.
5. Look into resources, there's the Compassionate Care program, I did NOT qualify, but know that others have.  I know my RE works with a foundation that donates money to families in need of money to help pay for treatments.  So don't just assume that you can't afford it.  I was lucky enough that my RE gave me medicine donated from other patients who no longer needed it.  I had over $2,000 in injections my cycle I got pregnant with Hayden and I didn't have to pay for any of the medicine that month, just treatments.

Some posts from the past:

http://wifeyadventures.blogspot.com/2011/01/plan-and-my-upcoming-weekend.html

http://wifeyadventures.blogspot.com/2011/01/blanket-thank-you.html

http://wifeyadventures.blogspot.com/2011/01/hello-again.html

http://wifeyadventures.blogspot.com/2010/09/latest-for-project-baby-making.html

Health Activist Writer's Month Challenge - Day 1

I'm going to try the Health Activist Writer's Challenge for 2013 again.  I didn't do so well last year but I'm trying to do more for myself and one of those things is writing, using a creative outlet.

I thought by engaging myself in the challenge, it would kick start my activity on the blog again and help me carve out a space of "me time" each day.

I've always struggled with my Infertility, even as a teenager when I didn't realize that I did have Infertility issues.  When Hubby and I first started dating my period would not show and I'd worry I was pregnant, silly me didn't realize at the time how hard it would be for me to get pregnant and I'd take tests all the time just in case.  I mean I'd been used to it in high school when my period was sporadic to say the least, but as an adult who was sexually active, it was more of a risk and as I gained more weight, my period became non-existent. I started researching IF online.  It became more important to figure this out when Hubby and I decided to marry.  I had joined The Knot to help plan our wedding and the next obvious step was to go to The Nest and The Bump so we could start trying for a baby.  From there I found lots of resources and blogs dedicated to other women suffering from IF.  Hopefully by sharing my stories about IF and using a specialist to finally achieve my dream of becoming a mother, I can educate other women about their bodies and answer questions for them.

Easter Baskets

We don't go crazy on Easter baskets but I like to get the boys something small.  Hubby already told me that boys in college don't get "Easter baskets with all that grass and crap."  Well sorry Hubby but our college boy is getting just that! I put together a basket for him this week with his favorite candies (did you see the Twix Easter Eggs they have this year????) a plastic egg with some cash in it, pens and pencils for school, packs of gum and his favorite movie right now, Anchorman.  I'm sure he won't mind it one bit!

Hayden's is bigger, but I spent about the same on them, which I always try and do but I always feel bad because Hayden's stuff is cheaper, so he gets more "stuff."  Hayden got three books (The Story of Easter, Spongebob Squarepants Easter and Happy Easter Mouse!)...oh wait, he got four books..wow, that boy likes to read.  We also got him Snuggle Puppy.  I read it today while putting the basket together and started sobbing.  I'm so emotional these days and I'm not sure why.  We also got him a Melissa & Doug puzzle, the fishy one with all the colors to learn, a foam football from Little Tikes (on clearance for $1.48 at Target baby!), some plastic eggs to play with, a small stuffed chick and the best gift of all, a Bubble Guppies DVD! He loves his Bubble Guppies and we don't mind it much either, it's a cute show that teaches him all the important little things in life.

Here are some pictures of Steven's basket.  I have to remember to take a picture of Hayden's basket at some point!

Where did my weekend go...for that matter, where has the week gone?

As per usual the weekend is gone and here we are, it’s already Wednesday and I’m looking forward to the next weekend.  It’s been snowing all week.  Come on mother nature!  You had all winter!

Friday night was a blur.  It usually is, we get home, eat dinner, do some clean up, etc. and crash from the long week.  I tried this recipe on Pinterest for Friday night, a whole chicken, BBQ sauce, lemons, onion and coke.  It was okay.  We let it cook on low from about 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and it was falling off the bones, but it wasn’t this great recipe I’d been led to believe by others on Pinterest.  I’d much rather just cook chicken in the oven with our favorite barbecue sauce, which is my own.  I mix together organic ketchup, real maple syrup, brown sugar, apple cider vinegar, a couple shots of worcestershire sauce, and the McCormick’s BBQ seasoning.  Every brand of BBQ sauce I look at has high fructose syrup as one of the main ingredients and I just figured I could make something that tasted better, which I have and we all enjoy it.

Saturday I spent a lot of time catching up on laundry and playing with my sweet baby boy.  He had a cold so he was not his normal happy self this weekend, but I did get some smiles out of him.  He’s so ornery, as soon as he has something he knows he’s not allowed to have he takes off running from wherever you are and giggles uncontrollably.  I love that freaking kid so much.  When Hubby got home from work we all cleaned up and went out.  We’re in the market for new Tupperware.  I decided I wanted the Rubbermaid Premier set in red, but I wanted the big set.  We’d found it on Amazon but wanted to see if we could buy it in the stores this weekend and nope, no one had it.   We did get Hayden an Adirondack chair in green that matches the ones we already have on our porch.  It’s just as cute as can be!  We also mosied around Target, but did good. We only bought detergent, lots of baby socks that were on clearance and some bath crayons.  After gift cards we only spent like $17.  We then went to dinner at Applebee’s.  We eat there way too much.  I got a steak with shrimp and Parmesan garlic sauce on it.  Yum.  We also got the pub pretzel sticks with beer cheese and honey mustard sauce.  So good.  After we got home we put the babe down for bed and watched This is 40.  I loved it.  Leslie Mann and Paul Rudd are some of my favorite people and though some parts were over the top (like their older daughter screaming “fuck” at them) a lot of it seemed like real life situations that play out in a marriage and family.

Sunday was family day.  We had a big breakfast of homemade pancakes with fresh blueberries and bacon, then got cleaned up and headed up to Cleveland to go back to the Children’s Museum, Hubby tagged along this time.  Hayden had a blast, again.  Of course I couldn't waste a trip going north without going to Trader Joe’s, even if it was completely out of the way!  I had to stock up on more cookie butter and wine.  Afterwards we tried to go to Golf Galaxy so Hubby could try out a new driver there but the line was ridiculous and Hayden and I were in the car while he snoozed, so we just ended up going home.

I’ve been working out in the mornings and it is working out so well!  By the time I get off work, or after Hayden goes to bed, I’m too exhausted to go do anything that strenuous.  It’s kind of like those pins I keep seeing on healthy boards that say “If you started running when you first thought about it, you’d be done already.”  So I get my workout in before I’d even normally be up and awake for the day.  The only drawback to this plan is I need to go to bed at a decent time, which is so hard!  After Hayden goes to bed I can lose myself in Pinterest or in a book for hours and not realize it, so I have to be so much more aware of what activities I do after he goes to bed.  One of us puts him to bed while the other cleans up toys for the 135,246,146^th time that day, then I come downstairs, make sure the dishes are done, things are set to go to either get lunches ready in the morning or pack them that night (it all depends on what we’re having, leftovers, something new, berries that I don’t like to wash the night before, etc.), wash my face, brush my teeth, then curl up in bed with the iPad for a half an hour or so before I’m so exhausted I just crash.

The rest of this week will be spent prepping for our overnight trip this weekend.  I need to get some junk out of the van (mainly that Adirondack chair in my backseat), get the seats folded down and get Hayden’s big stroller and pack’n’play situated in there.  Then pack a bag of toys for him, finish up the Easter baskets, get us packed, make sure there’s room for golf clubs…sigh and type up my plan for the dogs while we’re gone for the dog sitter.

I can’t wait to get down to Athens and enjoy the almost 60 degree weather!

We didn't take too many pictures this weekend.

At Applebee's, my husband cannot take a decent picture to save my life!

Goofing around in the tub.  He's got this new thing where he looooooves laying back in the water, where before he would freak if he got his hair wet even!

Just loving on his daddy!  He is definitely a daddy's boy.

Hayden's 1 year old pictures - Photo Book

Shutterfly had an awesome deal where they offered a free 8x8 photobook.  I couldn't pass it up, especially since I have had one sitting in my saved projects for Hayden's 1 year pictures.  I put it together and ordered it last night.  Now I just sit and wait!

Click here to view this photo book larger

Build your own high-quality photo books at Shutterfly.com.