Trying to Conceive? Some tidbits.
A friend of mine is trying to conceive, and I thought I’d share with y’all the email I sent her:
I’m about to get all up in your trying-to-conceive business, so feel free to ignore these :rolleyes:
Are your cycles irregular? If so, “vitex” can help your cycles level out. If you’re already regular, it can skew your cycle too.
Evening primrose oil (supplements in capsule form, can be found in organic section of Freddies or at Sunshine) can help increase fertile cervical fluid. 1000mg/day until you ovulate. It should be stopped as soon as you ovulate, so if you’re taking your basal temperature every day that would tell you for sure when you ovulate (you’ll get the whole thermal shift goin on). A dark positive ovulation strip should be a good indicator that you’ll ovulate within 24 hours or so, so that would work too.
If your luteal phase (the time between ovulation and your period) is less than ten days or so, there are progesterone creams/etc that can potentially help you get a sticky implantation. A B6 supplement is useful if you ingest a lot of protein through the day, and it helps lengthen luteal phases too.
Garlic is supposed to increase fertile cervical fluid too — but only crushed raw garlic, as it loses all it’s nutritional value (conception-wise) once cooked. You can peel & crush 1-4 cloves a day, and chug them down with water like vitamins.
Avoid soy products! They have natural phyto-estrogens that can do wacky things with your hormone levels.
Also, maca can be used by both you and (insert male partner’s name):
“We have demonstrated in women that oral administration of Maca for 2 weeks resulted in an increase in the size of the dominant follicles”
and
“The answer is clearest for men: At dosages of 1500 or 3000 mg/day given over a period of 4 months, Maca did great things for their semen:
Treatment with Maca resulted in increased seminal volume, sperm count per ejaculum, motile sperm count, and sperm motility. Serum hormone levels were not modified with Maca treatment. Increase of sperm count was not related to dose of Maca. CONCLUSION: Maca improved sperm production and sperm motility.”
Source: Asian Journal of Andrology. 3(4):301-3, 2001 Dec.Both acupuncture and hand/foot reflexology can have great benefits to your endocrine system too!
First U/S
I’m measuring ahead of what I thought I was — so my new EDD is 2/15, which just happens to be my birthday!!!
Yay!
I got my hubby to get me a juicer this weekend! It’s far and away not a fancy model, but I love it. I’ve now got a fridge full of beautiful produce ready to juice! I think this will be so beneficial to my pregnancy. I’m already finding that I have fewer cravings for crap (not to say they don’t exist, but are fewer). I’ve discovered that I’m not crazy about cucumber juice, but will drink it since I hear it has great benefits. Off to learn about great new juicer/smoothie recipes!
Whole, Once More
And my blog is my blog again. Finally.
After I had to dismantle my previous blog (due to manipulative skanks stalking it and using its info for badness), I lamented over the loss of some really great posts.
Well, this afternoon I finally figured out what to do — I just imported them. Wasn’t that hard, just a little time consuming. And now, my blog is my blog again.
I incorporated forty or fifty old blog posts into this blog, all dated their original post date. It was kind of nice going back over some of them. It was harder, reading some of the ones about my mom. Actually, anything to do with mama is still extremely hard. JR wanted to talk about her and look at her pictures yesterday, and I couldn’t. I just couldn’t.
Anyway, if you feel like browsing, go through my blog; you might find something you haven’t read before.
Satellite, Schmatellite
Someone tell me why satellite dishes cost so freakin’ much?
I’m trying to price dishes and installation costs for our new place. The quote I got this morning: $1500. Is it just me, or is that ridiculous?
I’m very partial to PBS, CNN, ESPN, and a couple of regular shows like Grey’s, House, and reruns of Charmed. But if I can’t find a company to either provide the dishes or install them for a whole lot less than what I was quoted by Lou’s TV, then we’re going to have to seriously reevaluate whether having satellite/cable/tv is worth it.
What would y’all do?
Sprout!
We are expecting baby #2!
Sprout is set to debut 2/20/09. It is a bittersweet blessing — mom passed away just days before my last cycle, and I wish I could share this with her. I consider this pregnancy a gift from her though, and I know she’s proud of us.
We’re trying to explain to JR that there is going to be another baby in the house, but I’m pretty certain that he doesn’t get it yet. He’ll make a great big brother though. John and I have thought of a few potential names. We’ve taken guesses about the gender, even though it will be at least 2 months before we find out for sure.
It’s been an interesting journey trying to establish prenatal care though. Ok, so I got DH on board to let me do a waterbirth in a birthing center. Woo! This is where I was looking at: http://www.akbirthcenter.org They won’t even consider me though because my first birth was a c-section.
Damn it.
Then the g*(*amn OB/GYN they referred me to is out too because she doesn’t keep office hours on Fridays. I can only go into Fairbanks on Fridays because of John’s work schedule. Then I got really upset because I’ve found out that I can’t labor in water at the hospital where I would be birthing. The hospital closest to me has a godawful uncomfortable bed, a shower stall, a dad’s chair, but that clinic-y sterile feel to it. Plus they didn’t want me to get up and walk around while I was laboring with JR. I felt required to lay prone on my back the whole time. I was not happy. (I think the pre-eclampsia may have contributed to the unhappiness though.)
I called one ob/gyn clinic after another, with more disappointment at every turn. I threatened to stay home and give birth on the bathroom floor. Then that got me thinking of how awesome it would be to have a homebirth. The idea totally and completely excites me, but it scares my husband. I got him to agree to at least let me look into it before he dismisses the notion out of hand. I was starting to look at birthing centers and hospitals further south from us, looking up midwives, looking at birthing tub rentals…
I’ve drawn up a birth plan, delineating the things I want, do not want, and will not allow for this labor and birth. I plan to make all medical staff aware of my hopes and expectations, and I’m really hoping that this next labor/birth goes more smoothly. The pre-eclampsia and 26+ hour labor and eventual c-section with JR are things I’m trying to not repeat. I’m looking into the Brewer Pregnancy Diet to prevent pre-eclampsia this time, since it is believed that it can be fully prevented with proper prenatal nutrition. Look it up.
I finally have an appointment set up with Dr. Peter Lawrason. I had a brief phone interview with him, outlining my hopes and expectations for this labor and birth, and he felt confident that he’d be able to accommodate me. So we’re going to give him a try. We also have our first prental ultrasound next Friday, and if we bring a blank vcr tape or dvd-r, they’ll record a portion of it for us!
I’m also going to interview a doula next week (hopefully, if our schedules work out) as I would love to have a professional labor coach there with me to help me, John, and JR make the transition from a family of three to a family of four. John thinks it would be a good idea too, so I’m hopeful that things work out for this.
I’ve been plagued with horrible morning sickness so far, and this eighth week has been brutal. I can barely keep anything down. However, I remember that this time last pregnancy the eighth and ninth weeks were awful, with some eventual relief around 12 or 13 weeks. So I’m crossing my fingers.
That’s the news! I imagine I’ll show you a picture of Sprout after next week’s ultrasound, so stay tuned!
Denali Natl Park Vacay
Last Friday, we took a train ride from Fairbanks to Denali National Park with my sister-in-law, brother-in-law, and nephews.
We stayed in a great hotel high up on the side of Sugarloaf Mountain.
Saturday, we took a bus shuttle 30 miles into the park. We got a rare cloudless view of McKinley, and saw some wildlife too. We saw a couple caribou, some moose, some dall sheep, and some bald eagles. I thought a saw a wolf, but couldn’t tell for sure. I had really wanted to see bears, but maybe it’s better we didn’t.
Then we hopped the train back to Fairbanks. It was such a beautiful trip!
JR & Daddy on the train to Denali
JR loved looking out the window on the train.
Mount McKinley
From the Teklanika platform
Male caribou
Twin baby moose
JR checking out the botany at Visitors’ Ctr
The hotel we stayed at
JR, worn out, waiting for our return train at the depot
Both of them, worn out on the train back home
Return to Me
Bound and binding
Binding bound
See the sight
Hear the sound
What was lost
Now is found
Bound and binding
Binding bound.
