And We Have Lift Off!

I'm pretty sure my ovaries heard me whining yesterday and decided to get off their lazy butts and DO SOMETHING! Today's OPK definitely shows that I'm getting close to the big "O"! I almost didn't test today because yesterday's was so discouraging. I'm happy that I did! Perhaps I will be ovulating tomorrow: My BIRTHDAY! That'd be cool. Anyway, here she is:

I'll be back tomorrow with an update! 

My Lazy Ovaries

So, after much deliberation, I have decided that ovaries really have it made. First of all, there are two of them, so they have someone to share the work load with. Secondly, did you know you only actually ovulate for no more than a 24 hour period? It's true. That means the other 27 days of your cycle, your ovaries are just acting as two really ugly purses, just cradling your potential offspring's genetic code. The proof is in the pudding folks. Most of the times your ovaries are doing a whole lot of nothing!

Summoning my inner Chandler Bing here: Could these tests BE any more negative?

They sure as hell aren't changing much. That's okay. Ovia (my fertility tracker app) tells me that my fertile window begins tomorrow and peaks from August 21-23. Let's cross our fingers for some positive OPK's soon!

An Inconvenient Truth

Guys. I have for you today... An inconvenient truth. Can you guess what it is? It isn't about hail the size of golf balls. It isn't about monstrous tsunami's. It's not about climate change at all. In fact... Shit is about to get real here.

It's about...

Pee.

Any good TTCer (trying-to-concieve-er) knows the acronym FMU. It's not a weird(er) cousin to the bird called EMU. It's not a typo for "FU". It's First. Morning. Urine.

Early on in my pregnancy with my oldest daughter I was informed that when you take a pregnancy test with anything other than your first morning urine (the first time you pee after waking up), a thousand angel babies cry. No, not really. But supposedly it isn't as accurate to take a urine test mid-day as it is in the morning. The theory is that because you haven't been drinking all night, your urine is less diluted and will be more likely to pick up any baby-hormones lurking in your pee. Yum. I warned you it was getting real.

Well because I am an EXPERT at trying to get pregnant (which, you know, I still haven't actually tried to do. Ever.) I know better. FMU ShmeFMU. I can pee on any old stick whenever I want and it will be fiiiiine. I say this because I am a night shift worker and last night, I happened to work. Last night I also happened to drink copious portions of coffee in order to not become comatose. I figure, eh, how big of a difference can it make? It's better to take the test the same time every day than to wait until my urine is all dehydrated and whatnot.

However, by the looks of these tests, I am getting farther away from ovulation, not closer to it. So there you have it folks. Inconvenient? Yep. True? You betcha. The proof:

See you lovely folks tomorrow!

Another Day, Another Negative OPK

I imagine that this will be how it goes for quite a while. In fact, I was willing to bet yesterday's OPK was going to be negative since I'm still so early in my cycle, so I skipped it. Today I figured I would take one (even though I suspect they will continue to be negative through out the weekend. Should become positive the beginning of next week). I figured that it would at least be of interest to see if the line is getting darker. The answer is: YES! Maybe. Is that just the light?

Regardless, it's still negative. Also, I now know why TTC-ers say TTC is "stressful". I always thought this was a preposterous proclamation. I mean... You know what you have to do to get pregnant, right? Isn't there like, a million and one studies that verify having sex is among the top stress-leavers? Yes, yes it is. But peeing on a stick every.damn.day and scrutinizing just how negative it is, might still be enough to drive a person mad. And I've only done it twice. And I'm not even hoping to get pregnant this month. I mean!

Anyway, here is today's OPK:

And since I thought it would be fun to do a comparison, (my new idea of 'FUN' you guys), I decided to do a pic stitch. 

And there you have it. I think it's just the light. But it might look a little darker. Guys, do you think it looks a little darker!?!

This is my life now. Obsessing over pee sticks. The craziest part is: I can't wait to do it again tomorrow. 

Until then... Peace, Love and Happy Things 

And So It Begins

Hello there!

Theresa here, happily reporting for duty. The first blog post is always the most awkward, so let's be straight forward, shall we?

This is not my first blog, and I have come to terms with the fact that it will most likely not be my last. That's okay. This particular blog has a very special purpose: To log mine and Scot's journey to creating another human being. This is the first blog that I have created that is entirely for me and not at all anyone else.

I've been around the baby-makin' block before. Scot and I have two awesome daughters, Scarlett (7) and Cecilia (5). However, this is the first time in the history of our lives that we are intentionally trying to conceive. Let me tell you what: This is a whole different ball park. I would say that just -whoops!- finding out you are pregnant is infinitely easier than trying to get pregnant. The leg work has all been done for you. You pretty much just hunker down into acceptance that WOOHOO! We have another little person coming into the family.

But choosing to bring a person into this world? It's a hefty decision. One that we have not taken lightly and regularly get cold feet about. I mean, there's the obvious concerns like being financially ready, emotionally ready, considering how existing children will handle a new little one (most kids beg for dogs, my kids beg for babies). But there's even more to it than that. We are a nation that has only very recently left a decade-long war and still has its hands in some very risky business. I've even considered my carbon footprint and how Scot and I are two people who have produced two people and that doesn't seem so bad. But once we have produced three, our carbon foot print in the world will be much greater. This is the crazy shit I think about while falling asleep not falling asleep at night.

These things are all valid. Then there is also the fact that I'm in school and we are in the process of trying to rent our home out and move to another state. Yeah. So is the timing ideal? Nope. But will it ever be? Probably not. We have decided to throw caution to the wind and do it anyway. We certainly were no better suited to become parents when our daughters were born, but they have turned out marvelously.

I realize what a big deal this is. And so I want to track every little bit of this journey. Starting today.

I have never had any trouble getting pregnant, so I don't imagine this will be a "trying to conceive" blog for very long. However, since I am in school, Scot and I are working to get pregnant in a very confined window of time: September or October. This is because I tend to deliver a month early and getting pregnant in these months would set us up to have a baby sometime between May-July. This would be ideal as I won't be in school over the summer and can still go back part time in the fall. Because we are working toward this specific goal, I've decided to be proactive about conceiving. Today I am on cycle day 5 and took my very first OPK (ovulation predictor kit).

At first I was excited: TWO LINES! In the pregnancy test world that means "You are totally having a baby!" However, in the OPK world it means... Negative. Absolutely nothing. I am told, however, that the magical faint little line will get darker... and darker... and darker... Until it is finally darker than the bold line underneath the "C". THAT is when you want to get to the baby-making. So even though we aren't planning to try this month, I still want to see around when I ovulate in my cycle. Then next month... We will be ready!

I will be back tomorrow with another OPK update :)