I wish I would have known about this earlier on!
First off, plan to use a lot of these over the next few cycles. Make Dave Ramsey proud and find a great deal online. I bought 50 for $10 by googling "opk strips."
You're now ready to track your ovulation.
*Start on CD 12 (CD 1 is the first day of your period).
*Use your SECOND urine of the day. First urine is too concentrated.
*If you bought the cheap dip sticks, collect some of your urine in a small clean cup. Dip the end of the stick into your urine and hold it there for at least 10 seconds. If you bought the sticks you pee on instead, hold the end of the stick in your urine stream for 10 seconds (or as long as you can if you can't make it to 10 seconds). Lay the strip down flat.
*Follow the instructions that came with your kit on how long to wait (usually 3 minutes).
*If the test line is as dark as or darker than the control line, you have a positive test and will be ovulating within the next 24-36 hours. BD like crazy through the next 2-3 days.
*Continue testing everyday until you get a positive test result. You'll only get one. Promise.
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Infertility: a Four-Letter Word
In the beginning, I was a google-addict. I followed blogs on conception and watched birthing videos. I must have visited the youtube video of the giggling twins a couple hundred times at least. Just about any early pregnancy symptom google can produce, I have experienced: late period, sore breasts, insatiable hunger, nausea, diarrhea, consipation, burping...you name it.
Every once in a while someone asks why Tony and I don't have kids yet.
"We're trying," I tell them, "and believe me. Trying is fun." They laugh. I laugh. And we try again. Twenty-one months, 4 IUI's, 1 ultrasound, and a couple handfuls of heart shards later, we're still trying.
Here's the thing. Most of the time I am indifferent. After such a rocky journey of getting our hopes up, being let down, getting our hopes up, being let down, I've disconnected myself. I don't google would-be symptoms anymore. I don't blog on this site. I don't seek out readers. I don't share my story. The trade-off is I get to move on month after month with little more than a, "well, that sucks," response to af's timely arrival.
But...
Occasionally I can't help but feel my m&m shell crack a little bit letting melty mommy feelings out. My heartbeat drums a steady rhythm into my mind, "what-if, what-if, what-if." I can't fight it. I start to wonder what if. Starting my period after that comforting mantra has saturated me is a pain as real and as physical as my chest being hollowed out by a parasite. You'd think I would have learned by now.
When we tried an IUI the first time, when we added an ultrasound and a trigger to our treatment, when we really took full advantage of bding every opportunity we could during my fertile days...bfn, bfn, bfn.
This month I've taken Clomid, 50mg days 3-7. How do I keep from hoping? My heart hurts already in anticipation of a let down. Either the Clomid is really messing with my emotions or I am just subconsiously setting myself up for another emotional battering.
Thank God my husband is wonderful. I couldn't do this alone.
Every once in a while someone asks why Tony and I don't have kids yet.
"We're trying," I tell them, "and believe me. Trying is fun." They laugh. I laugh. And we try again. Twenty-one months, 4 IUI's, 1 ultrasound, and a couple handfuls of heart shards later, we're still trying.
Here's the thing. Most of the time I am indifferent. After such a rocky journey of getting our hopes up, being let down, getting our hopes up, being let down, I've disconnected myself. I don't google would-be symptoms anymore. I don't blog on this site. I don't seek out readers. I don't share my story. The trade-off is I get to move on month after month with little more than a, "well, that sucks," response to af's timely arrival.
But...
Occasionally I can't help but feel my m&m shell crack a little bit letting melty mommy feelings out. My heartbeat drums a steady rhythm into my mind, "what-if, what-if, what-if." I can't fight it. I start to wonder what if. Starting my period after that comforting mantra has saturated me is a pain as real and as physical as my chest being hollowed out by a parasite. You'd think I would have learned by now.
When we tried an IUI the first time, when we added an ultrasound and a trigger to our treatment, when we really took full advantage of bding every opportunity we could during my fertile days...bfn, bfn, bfn.
This month I've taken Clomid, 50mg days 3-7. How do I keep from hoping? My heart hurts already in anticipation of a let down. Either the Clomid is really messing with my emotions or I am just subconsiously setting myself up for another emotional battering.
Thank God my husband is wonderful. I couldn't do this alone.
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