10 DPO

And the spotting has begun.

I generally have a short LP, so it isn't crazy to spot today and get AF tomorrow. I was hoping the B6 would have helped some with the LP.

Even though I have pretty much given up on this cycle due to the spotting, I can't help but feel like there is the tiniest, tiniest chance it could be implantation spotting due to the insane soreness of my boobs. But I'm not holding out much hope.

I have been trying to avoid everything ttc and baby related during the tww, so I haven't been keeping up on blogs but it sure did make the wait slightly more bearable. I found I didn't obsess over every little thing my body did and was actually able to make it to 7 or 8 DPO before I started fretting. So go me!

August is a busy month, with both of our birthdays and our wedding anniversary all squished into 9 days. We'll be in NYC the first weekend of August, so if this cycle does end up being a bust I'll be sure to enjoy myself with my wife.

I hope you are all safe and healthy and I'm looking forward to moving past this month, making some choices about our ttc future, and catching up on all of your lives!

Regroup

I've been trying to avoid TTC and baby related things lately. I wanted to give myself (and J) a little break. I do appreciate all the comments and advice on the last post. I'll be back to reading and commenting shortly.

But I wanted to pop in and give you all the address to the wife's brand new food blog! She is an amazingly talented cook and photographer! Please visit her at www.foodandale.com and feel free to comment away!

Another BFN

Woke up to AF at 5:40 am on Saturday. It was even more upsetting since I was with the pregnant best friend and went from "maybe being pregnant" to knowing that I wasn't. This month I had my shortest cycle and LP ever, 26 and 9. This has me slightly concerned about my progesterone levels and I think I'll try B6 this month.

After talking it over with the wife, we decided to try 2 IUIs this month with our same donor. This will exhaust what is left of my FSA. If that try doesn't work we will look at new donors and I'll also contact my insurance company regarding infertility coverage. The coverage begins after a year of being unsuccessful, but I don't know if they are going to require 12 IUIs since I am not partnered with a male. It seems that proof of ordered sperm should be good enough to be considered a failed cycle, but we all know insurance companies are in the business of being helpful. I certainly don't want to skip any IUIs if they will be necessary, but financially it would be nice to try to do a few home insems.

Now we prepare for another month of peeing on sticks, turning on monitors, ordering sperm and making appointments.

Vacation

In a little over an hour my best friend will be here and our vacation will officially begin! We will be getting up wicked early to try and beat the traffic. Then we will spend our weekend relaxing! I can't even wait to put my floppy hat and sunglasses on and sit my butt at the beach.

In TWW news, there are moments where my body feels completely foreign and I think I must be pregnant. Then at other moments I'm completely normal. I'm currently 8 DPO and if I don't get AF this weekend I'll be testing on Monday. I'm going to try to keep a positive attitude!

I hope everybody has a beautiful weekend!

Dear Self...

Stop eating things like fried chicken and ice cream sandwiches. Your wife is making a delicious meal consisting of patty pan squash and all you want to do is gorge yourself in trans fats. Stop sucking.

Well we'll float on, good news is on the way.

Hi, my name is J and it's been 61 days since my last post….

61 days?
Thats just insane.
How did 61 days go by this quickly?

The last time I posted was the evening S and I received our first BFN. Now here we are, 61 days later, and in the middle of our 3rd TWW -- hoping this time the outcome is more favorable. [duh, captain obvious over here]

Speaking of the TWW, this one has been quite interesting. S was extremely irritable over the weekend. The smallest and stupidest things were setting her off, which is the complete opposite of how she normally is. Just the way I put the dishes away was enough to send her into a murderous rampage. Ok well maybe not murderous, but lets just say I'll never make the mistake of putting the smaller juice glasses on the 3rd shelf again. Of course we're not trying to read too much into this type of stuff. Maybe she's always secretly hated the juice glasses on the 3rd shelf, it's just taken her 8 years to get around to telling me. I think I remember reading somewhere that the introduction of male hormones into a female body can increase hostility? Or I could be making that up.

But yeah, I'm trying to not think about it very much. S asked me today how I manage to not think about it 24/7. I suppose it's easier for me since I'm not over analyzing everything my body does. If I've got weird things going on in my tummy, it's probably just gas. Though with her it could be a million different things. Do other non-biological-moms-to-be have an easier time with the TWW than their partners do? Or am I alone on this one?

So with less than a week left in our wait, S will be heading off to the Cape with her newly pregnant BFF and I'll be staying behind for the maternity photo shoot I have scheduled. Since we'll both be surrounded by other pregnant people, it would be great to test next Monday and see a BFP!

We'll see….

Love Weekends...

And I'm always so sad to see them go...

One of the weekend highlights is that FF said I ovulated exactly when I thought I did. Which means spot on timing. I know there is nothing more we could have done this month, so now I just let go, wait, and see. Today is 4 DPO and I am trying not to over analyze. Although yesterday I was ridiculously irritable and felt sick after dinner.

J brought me out this morning to get a breakfast sandwich from Panera (yum!) and we spent the morning making a chocolate mint ice cream, using the chocolate mint we received from our CSA. It's currently chilling in the fridge and should be ready in plenty of time for 'True Blood'.

Other than that we are trying to clean up and get my stuff together for my trip to the Cape this weekend. I am so looking forward to it! The best part is FF said I can test on Monday. Since I won't be with J we are going to wait until Tuesday am if AF doesn't come before that.

I hope everybody's Sunday is as glorious as ours.

Surprised Again!

But this time it wasn't so bad. True story.

I generally make my IUI appointments for CD 18-22, since history has told me those days usually work. So, my first appointment for this month was tomorrow. The procedure is I call and confirm if I'm ready, or call to cancel if I'm not.

Like the good little TTC'er that I am, I was peeing on a monitor stick every day, seeing low after low after low. Generally I get a few highs and then peak. On Monday I got a low. Normal. On Tuesday I get out of the shower, take the stick out of the monitor and see peak!

Panicked, I run up to the bedroom and ask J what we should do. Seeing as we inseminated too early last month, we were really anxious about our timing. I hurry and leave a voicemail for the clinic to see if they can squeeze me in on Tuesday and Wednesday (you know, since I didn't have any appointments!) and take my very last OPK (digital) and stick it my work bag. Around noon I mosey into the bathroom, POAS, and wait. After 3 minutes, a big smiley face greets me and I start to relax about the timing.

J wasn't able to make the appointment yesterday and it wasn't the most comfortable. Some painful cramping afterward and it didn't help that I had to walk to the train to get home. Luckily she was able to meet me today and it was great!

I'm hoping for a temp spike tomorrow to confirm the big O and then the dreaded TWW. Luckily I'll be spending a few days with my newly pregnant best friend on the Cape, so that should make the time go faster.

Our timing was as perfect as it could be this month and I'm hoping to ride the wave of all the recent BFP. So send that baby dust my way!

Yummy!

What a great weekend! Besides being relaxing, it was full of yumminess. Yesterday we hit up the outdoor farmer's market for the first time this season and picked up lots of treats including strawberries, mint, some tasty grass fed meats and to die for lemon basil pesto. It was a gorgeous day so we sat out on the deck, munched on pesto and bread and enjoyed the sunshine. We then had a last minute invite from friends for dinner, so we headed out and spent the rest of the evening with them.

Today we skipped the gym (oops!) and ran to Whole Foods to pick up the things we needed that we couldn't get at the farmer's market. When got home J. wanted to try making some scones so we could use the scallions we received in our CSA. J. is an amazing cook, but baking isn't her bag. And I should just stay far away from kitchens in general. But we gave it a try and made a scallion and cheese scone. After 20 minutes in the oven we had success! They are so good! Now that we know how easy it is to make scones, we are going to make so many kinds! We followed it up by making some strawberry basil lemonade using the recipe I found here. Everybody should run and make it right now!! This is going to be one of our summer staples from now on.

Now we're relaxing, I'm doing some laundry while J. is watching baseball. Looking forward to another episode of True Blood tonight!

What? Do I only update this when I'm sick? Not sure what is going on today, mini crud I suppose. Since I take the train to work I didn't want to chance getting stuck up there feeling like garbage.

I just found out the other day that my best friend is pregnant, after trying for years. I'm so happy for her and I really hope this month is our month so our babies can be almost exactly the same age!

We are on track to do 2 IUI's this month, hopefully starting at the end of next week. Since I have such a wacky cycle last month I am going to be extra anal this month:)

I need to catch up on blogs (and start commenting!!!) but I love reading all the good news!

Crud

I had a hope that I would get to spend my entire weekend relaxing. Maybe laying on the couch enjoying movies. I should be more careful what I wish for. I spent the entire weekend laying on the couch fighting off a stomach bug that woke me from a sound sleep at 2:00 am on Saturday morning. I proceeded to spend the next 12 hours so sick I could barely tear myself away from the bathroom.

After sleeping through the night last night my stomach has been feeling better but I am still tired and achy. My hope is that J. doesn't pick it up since we have plans on Wednesday to head to Baltimore for a few days. She has a pretty good immune system, so I'm betting she'll be fine.

Onto the world of ttc, I started spotting today which means AF will be in full force tomorrow. I need to order some sperm and set up our appointments tomorrow for try #3. I sure hope it's a charm.

What a ridiculous cycle. It appears that I did ovulate almost a week late, making my cycle abnormally long. Still waiting for AF to appear, probably tomorrow or Saturday? Waiting for that to happen so we can start planning for #3. We plan on doing 2 IUI's this try, hopefully trapping that egg!!!

But we did have a wonderful holiday weekend and are looking forward to a relaxing weekend starting tomorrow!

What the bloody hell?!?

CBEFM decides to give me a peak today. CD 25. Which would put the big O on CD 26. I usually O on CD 18 or 19. I also received the darkest line on an OPK this evening then I have ever received! Although I have been having some crazy creamy and egg white CM, my cervix is not soft and squishy like it should be. Nor is it as open as it was.

My body is betraying me this month and I'm not very happy about it.

Lost

Tonight is the series finale of Lost! How crazy! I'm going to be so exhausted tomorrow...

In ttc news, it was an insane month. No highs on the monitor, no positive opk, temperatures all over the place. But lots of fertile cm. I have no idea if I actually ovulated. So this tww has been a little more bearable. We decided that if AF doesn't come by Friday we will test.

My parents are coming up on Friday and what wonderful news a BFP would be to share with them. I have already decided that although we don't plan on announcing our eventual pregnancy until around 12 weeks, I can't keep it from my mother! And if AF does show up, we have plans for a great Memorial Day weekend, so it's a win win for me!

I'm sorta rambly and all over the place, so this post should end. I've been reading about a lot of BFP out there and I'm so happy for everybody! I can't wait to follow in your footsteps!

And a photo!

Resting after the IUI for try # 2!

Wacky Month

So as of today I have yet to get a peak on my monitor or a positive (or close to a positive) on my OPK. Which is really unusual. And frustrating. The past few days have given me excellent CM and a wide open cervix, so I ignored the technology and we chose to do two ICI and one IUI.

The IUI today was not as great as last month. Last month all I felt was the annoyance of the speculum and then some mild pressure in my abdomen. We had a different PA today who went a lot faster than our last. When he inserted the catheter it was painful and caused me to gasp. Thank god J made it (she got out of work and almost didn't!) because I did not care for it AT ALL!

Here's hoping to my last IUI, because I don't wanna do no more!

And so it begins

After a relaxing week in Maine, try #2 starts tonight. Since we weren't able to coordinate the the pickup of our unwashed vial last month, we had two hanging out at the clinic. We decided to pick them both up today.

My plan for this month is ICI #1 in a few minutes. Followed by ICI #2 tomorrow afternoon. Followed by IUI on Monday evening. I'm pretty sure I will ovulate sometime on Monday. Right now my cm is not as abundant as I would like, but I think it's as good as I'm going to get.

This is our first time at home, so wish us luck:)

CD1

Well, J's post summed it up. A night of spotting, followed by some more spotting, followed by AF. Bummer.

I'm pretty sure our timing was spot on, but we only did one insemination this month. Also I may have some slight concerns regarding my luteal phase, but I'm not sure.

We allowed ourselves some time to wallow and feel sorry for ourselves. After all, I got ridiculous skin breakouts yesterday! I never break out! What a cruel joke to give me 7 zits but no baby. Jerks.

Today is all about moving forward. April was such an incredibly stressful month, not all of it ttc related. I'm looking forward to unwinding, going on our vacation, and starting new. I'll be drinking my fertilitea, exercising, starting yoga and possibly trying some acupuncture.

On the plus side, forcing myself to eat right and not drinking alcohol has done amazing things for my energy levels and all around well being.

And now off to not think about work or babies for a blissful two days!

Access Denied.

C:\>BABY.EXE
File not found
Abort, Retry, Fail? R
. . .

It's official, S got her period tonight. Even when she had a touch of spotting last night we tried to remain positive since there was no dip in her temp. However, it seems the spotting has turned into more of a constant flow and into what we now believe is the start of her period.

The both of us have had such stressful weeks at work, we were really looking forward to taking our first pregnancy test Saturday morning. Instead we'll hit the gym and the farmers market in the morning then spend the rest of the day relaxing on the deck in the sunshine. It's not the BFP we were hoping for, but it's not a bad way to spend a Saturday either.

So I'm a little disappointed.
And this week just got a bit more sucky.
BUT
We're heading up to Maine next Friday for the week and we'll be able to relax and recoup before our next insemination.
Lets hope some good ol' R&R will help those swimmers stick! :)

Bleh.

6 DPO

Ok.

How do people get through the tww? How do people do it more than once? Here we are, 6 days in, and I think I am losing my mind. I told myself I wasn't go to analyze every tiny little thing my body does. I totally lied.

My only saving grace is that AF generally comes anywhere between 10-12 DPO, so hopefully I won't have much longer to wait. If it doesn't appear by Saturday we will test.

Possible signs, slight lower abdominal cramping, achy back and today a bout of gross vomit feeling and feeling lightheaded. But I am can attribute that all to other things. Obviously.

J has been super great making sure I rest and eat well. And drink plenty of water because I am very bad at that. Oh and putting up with my neurotic nature.

I'll update as I see fit. Hopefully with a BFP!!!

Wishing baby dust for all the others out there currently waiting.

Keeping Busy

Tagged by Defining Family

Hair: longish

Your Mother: talkative

Your Father: quiet

Fav Food: everthing

Dream Last Night: shrug

Fav Drink: pina colada

What room are you in?: living

Hobby: obsessing

Fear: losing

Where were you last night?: home

Something that you aren’t: relaxed

Muffins: pumpkin

Wish List Item: baby!

Where you grew up: NJ

What you are wearing: sweatpants

Your Pet: fluffy

Friends: loyal

Something you’re not wearing: contacts

Fav Store: target

Fav Color: purple

Last time you laughed: earlier

Your Best Friend: J.

Best place you go over and over: market

Person who you email regularly: work

Fav Place to Eat: mexican

Tagging anybody else who is interested!

Stick it in!

It would only make sense that our first IUI happened on Marathon Monday and during an afternoon Red Sox home game. Our clinic is right across from Fenway Park so needless to say things were quite busy. Parking by the clinic is difficult on a normal day, but throw these two events into the mix and it becomes downright impossible. The last resort garage we would normally pay to park in was charging $50 today. Fifty dollars! For that price, I hope the spot comes with a little slap and tickle! We ending up finding the one lot that was only charging $30, and just took it on the chin.

Did I mention I'm a huge Yankee's fan? So knowing the entire Red Sox nation would be out in full force right outside the clinic, S wore one of my Yankee's sweatshirts during insemination.

We made our way into the office and S assumed the position on the crinkly paper, feet in stirrups and me beside her side. Once everything was in it's proper place, I was asked if I'd like to pull the plunger. Sure why not. As the nurse held the syringe in place I put my finger on the trigger and had at it. Too fast the nurse said. Then too slow. Stop. Slowly.... slowly.... keep going... and stop. The whole thing must have lasted only 30 seconds, but it felt like I was down there forever. I was so afraid to do something wrong, I had visions of pushing the little guys threw with so much force they'd come shooting out of S's eyeballs! But alas the syringe was emptied and we were on our way.

We stopped for some good luck lunch on the way home then got S all situated on the couch for an afternoon of relaxation. I cut her up some pineapple and threw in Baby's Momma. Now she's soundly sleeping beside me... I'm guessing it's safe to turn the movie off now and put on Spartacus.

Oh yeah.... the Red Sox lost today's game. Hopefully thats good mojo that a new Yankee's fan will have been conceived today! :)

And Now We Wait...

Thank you for the comments! We are now home safe and sound. After battling traffic (two huge events in the city) and paying $30 for parking, I am inseminated, fed and resting on the couch. Everything went well, I felt a little discomfort, mostly from the speculum, but the IUI itself went smoothly. J. even got to push the plunger.

We are officially in our first TWW and I wonder how I'll keep my sanity. I just ate some pineapple and have lots of other 'implantation friendly' snacks around the house.

I'm going to do my best to not obsess the next two weeks, but no promises...Time for me to catch up on everybody elses blogs!

Just Got the Call

Appointment at 10:15.

Wish us luck!

The First Day of the Rest of Our Lives

15 minutes ago I called and left a message to schedule our very first IUI today. The nurse on call should call me back by 9 am to confirm a time to come in. At that point our first insemination will commence!

Things didn't go exactly as planned this month. We didn't get to do our home insemination since I got my first OPK yesterday and the clinic was closed for sperm pickup. But I think we are hitting the nail on the head for our IUI timing. My cervix feels nice and open. I am lacking on the CM but since the little guys are being directly deposited into my uterus I think we'll be ok. Also my temp was low today, which is my pattern. Tomorrow I should get a spike and hopefully it will stay that way!

I know our our chances of this working are some ridiculous low percent, but I feel good about where we are. And I know that no matter what happens I need to accept it and move on if need be. There are many other months out there.

But let's just make it be this one, ok?

Annoyance

What a week!

After traveling for work and coming home to a very flooded basement, I am currently stressing that my doctor has not sent me my final test results, I am due to ovulate in 2 weeks and I still don't have medical clearance to order the sperms.

So, yeah.

Oh and J. is out of work indefinitely until her office cleans up from the floods.

But hopefully that means she can run to the doctor's office on Monday and pick up my results, she can easily have the time off to go to our first IUI. And we can spend our entire weeklong vacation together.

So, looking at the bright side.

How did we get here?

Holy crap!
We are just about a month away from our first insemination.
A MONTH?!?!?
What?
How the heck did that happen?

Now don't get me wrong, I'm wicked excited about getting this party started.
I am.
It's just… S and I have been talking about this for years. Even when she started charting and going through the whole medical clearance process, it still seemed like something that was happening in some far off land we hadn't discovered yet.
But thats no longer the case. It's practically happening now!
We're disembarking the vessel and heading out onto the shores of some strange foreign territory.

It's weird.
It's exciting.
And admittedly, it's a little scary.
I have NO IDEA what to expect. None.
I know what other couples have gone though. I've read about the good, the bad and the ugly. The only constant I can find is there is no constant. Everyone is so different.
Will it take us 100 tries before our little Sea-Monkey hatches? Or will we get a big fat positive first time around?
How will S's mood change?
How will mine?
Do I have to strictly abide by the three golden rules:
1. Keep S away from water.
2. S hates bright light.
3. The most important rule. No matter how much she cries, no matter how much she begs, never, never feed S after midnight.
Can we keep level headed and relatively stress free?
Is this process going to consume us and turn us into pod people?
And when the day finally comes and we get that positive, will we be able to keep it under wraps for as long as we plan to? Or will I buy a billboard on 95 and advertise it to the entire state?

Wait… some of those may be gremlin rules, not TTC rules… never mind.

None the less. We're here.
Now who do I see about getting my passport stamped??

Bah!

Looks like the test wasn't done. The earliest I can get into the lab is Thursday.

Annoyed that I need to go through this extra step. But we have plenty of time.

Also not pleased that my CBEFM gave me a high reading today?! Way too early. Like super way too early. It's not time for my body to go pulling any surprises on me.

Off to enjoy my glass of wine and finish watching Bride Wars. Totally not my kind of movie, but sucking me in nonetheless.

Waiting

Finished up our final counseling and medical evaluation yesterday! Except one test was missing from my records, so I am currently awaiting a call back from a nurse to find out if the test was done and just omitted from the records or if I have to go back in and get more blood drawn. Once I get that to the Nurse we are cleared to order sperm!

Which now means we need to narrow down our donor list and place our order. Our final decision will be deciding on timing for insemination. Perhaps some of our readers can give us some advice.

Based on my charting I generally get a positive OPK, the next day a normal temp and the day after a spike. Between that and my other fertility signs it seems that I am O'ing the day after my positive OPK.

Since we plan on doing one home insemination and one IUI, both with frozen sperm, we are trying to get our timing right. Originally my plan was to do the home insemination the evening i get the positive OPK and the IUI the following morning (my potential O day).

A woman at the clinic recommended doing the IUI in the morning after my positive OPK and then the home insemination around 12 hours later.

Sooo.....any thoughts?

Another great 2010 weekend

So far 2010 has been exactly what I imagined. This weekend was no exception, amazing weather, delicious food, and plenty of time with J.! Yesterday we hit up the farmers' market and picked up some delicious local food. Today we signed up for a gym membership and did chores around the house. Now I'm enjoying a glass of wine while J. whips up some eggplant parm. Does it get any better?

On Wednesday we have our final appointment at the clinic before we get our medical clearance to order our swimmers. We have picked out a few potential choices only to find out our top 2 have had no reported pregnancies, which kind of grosses me out. We have another list to check out and luckily we can look at long profiles for free at the clinic, which we plan to do on Wednesday.

The last decision to make is when do we do our first insemination? Initially the plan was April since I was going to be out of town around ovulation time in March. It seems now that I will be home still during ovulation. Do we start early? I haven't been terribly good about not drinking alcohol and caffeine this month, but the idea of starting a month early is really exciting. Although J. thinks we should stick to our original plan. I think maybe we'll see how it goes on Wednesday and if we are able to pick a donor right away perhaps we will order and see how it goes! Of course that means no drinks during my business trip, but I'll live. :)

Off to watch more Baby Story and finish my wine! Enjoy the upcoming week! It's supposed to be beautiful here!

Life Gets in the Way

It sure is hard keeping up with a blog nowadays! Spent last weekend away visiting family and had to work super late this past week. But luckily this weekend has been spent relaxing and enjoying ourselves!

Working my first month with my fertility monitory and all is going well. Also got my medical records in the mail and it turns that I am CMV negative! This severely limits our donor choice because the clinic we go to requires a CMV negative donor. Oh bother! Also I have confirmed my bloodtype of A negative. But a positive donor should be fine right, I just might have to get the antibody shots? If we need to limit our donor selection any further we'll have one to pick from!

I hope to catch up on reading blogs today and seeing what the rest of your are up to. Your thoughts and words are always so inspirational and informative, so thank you!

Off to enjoy some chocolate bock french toast with the wife. Happy Sunday!

9-15 inches is entirely too many inches. *giggle*

And I with my beer and S with her wine. We've settled in for the snow storm and are feeling just fine.

With the promise of an impending snow storm today, S was out of work by noon. Being that I'm her ride home from the train station, I too was able to sneak out of the office early. An afternoon of working from home with a tasty craft brew and my wonderful wife by my side is leaps and bounds better than rotting away in my office. And while I loath snow, it's little things like this that make everything OK.
[Even if I do have to shovel our impossibly long driveway.]

There has been talks of S going away for a work conference in March, which of course would be while she's ovulating. So the plan was to have our first insemination in April. Now there seems there's a chance she wont have to go. So do we stick with our original plan of starting in April? or push it up a month if we can?

Things that make you go hmmmmm.........

Friday night

There is nothing quite like a Friday night....

Went to my doctor on Monday and had to get my second pap (my first one was short on tissue). Also brought all the medical forms I needed signed. She ordered up my bloodwork and I went and took care of that today. In about a week I should have all the medical records that I need to bring with me to our appointment on March 10th!

Once I find out my CMV status we can start picking out some swimmers. The clinic we are using requires a CMV negative donor if you test negative. Obviously if I am negative this greatly reduces our selection, so we are waiting to choose a bank after we know what kind of selection we will need.

January was a great charting month and I can only help that future months are as clear cut!

We are going to visit my family next weekend and I'm looking forward to spending some time with them. It is my hope that when we finally figure out we're preggers that we can go tell them in person, but we'll see.

I'm off to putz around on the internet while the wife sleeps soundly beside me. G'night!

It's All Good.

Wow, I haven't been on here in months. I'm a horrible blogger!

Lets see...
We went to our AI Orientation two weeks ago and looks like we will be doing our IUI at the clinic there starting in April. The place seems really nice but with one MAJOR draw back, it's right across the street from Fenway Park! I told S if we are going to do the insemination there, she's going to have to wear a pair of Yankee's socks or a hat or something. We need something to counteract the Sox Nation just a few feet away! :)

S finally had a positive OPK. She wouldn't listen to me when I told her her test strip was positive. Instead she went out and bought the $40 digital kit, which told her the same thing I did. Positive. Next time she should just give me the $40 and test stick, I'll look at it and smile at her if it's positive.

Tonight is all the medical testing and what have you. Fun fun. So looks like things are underway! Woo!

*insert smiley face here*

After months of what I thought were non positive OPK, I finally decided to pick up a digital. J. looked at my non-digital test this morning and was convinced it was positive. I was not convinced.

After work we stopped by CVS where I paid almost $40 (thank goodness for the FSA Visa card!) for a kit of 7 digital OPK. Came home, did both the digital and the cheapie.

3 minutes later...A BIG HAPPY SMILEY FACE! The cheapie still looked slightly off to me. But all my signs are in alignment and there was just no way I wasn't getting ready to O.

Last night was AI Orientation. It's looking like things are going to work out. Right now our plan is to have our first insemination in April and do one at home and one IUI at the clinic. Now I need to get my medical tests done so that I can get medical clearance. Once that happens we can order the sperm!

It feels like a huge weight has been lifted now that I know I can really truly get a positive!!!

Oh and FF was like heck no you didn't ovulate on day 11. Our bad.

Relax

There is nothing like a glorious Monday where I don't have to go to work. Luckily J. doesn't have to either! Our plans to relax the day away are underway!

A little frustrated with FF today who thinks I may have ovulated on the 11th, well before any time I have ovulated in the past! I have a feeling my temps are up because I slept in until 6 the past three days, taking my temperature later than normal. I'm looking forward to next month and using my new fertility monitory to help pinpoint ovulation. We have our orientation this week and I hope to do our first insemination in March! Hopefully our finances will be able to support two inseminations a month, one vaginally and one IUI.

I'm waiting for J. to get back from Best Buy (because she just has to have a new game). Afterwards we'll have some breakfast and enjoy this lazy day together.

Spending $$

Right before January 1 I received my bright shiny new FSA Visa card in the mail! I had a tough time trying to determine how much I wanted to put aside and ended up choosing $2,000. I'm sure I'll be spending more in FSA eligible purchases over the course of the year, but hey, at least it's $2000 pre-tax that I'm spending.

Soooo...I decided to make my first purchase! I bought the Clearview Easy Fertility Monitor, some test strips and some prenatal vitamins, all on drugstore.com. Good prices, free shipping, plus they keep all my FSA eligible purchases tracked!

I have read nothing but good things about the CEFM and I figured if I'm doing this then I'm going to do it right. I just started my cycle so I won't get a chance to try it until the beginning of February. I was hoping to have our first insemination February or March so I won't have a lot of time to work with it.

Other than that 2010 has been pretty great so far. J. and I are living our life just the way we want to, low stress. I'm going to do my best to carry this through the adventure coming up!

New Year

Here we are, the first day of another new year. Like many other people I have already thought about the changes I am going to make this year. 2010 is going to be a simpler year and I'm looking forward to it.

Last night at a NYE party I was talking with a friend of mine who will start trying to get pregnant this month. I felt a little freakish for knowing so much and offering so much advice, but she has the benefit of a readily available supply of sperm so all my advice isn't terribly important. I hope I didn't stress her out more than she already was with all my doom and gloom. But not doom and gloom in 2010! I am going to surround myself with positivity and love. As J. said, if 2009 was the year of us 2010 will be the year of friends. Can't wait.