Guess who's back?

Hi again everyone!  I'm sorry I have been MIA for so long.  I was finally diagnosed with fibromyalgia and started a weight loss journey.  So far, we are trying to treat the fibro naturally and I have lost 50 pounds since January of this year.

The hubby and I have decided to start trying naturally and on payday (tomorrow!!!) I will be stocking up on several herbs.

MACA - I will be starting at 500mg three times per day (1500mg per day) and work up to 3000mg if I need to.

Vitex - 1000mg to 2000mg daily from the end of AF to the start of AF.

Rhodiola Rosea - 100 mg 2 times ber day for the first 2 weeks of the cycle or from day 1 to ovulation (I plan on doing it the first two weeks of my cycle).  Rhodiola, like Vitex and Maca, is an adoptogen and has been shown to be useful in treating infertility and menstrual irregularities.

Tribulus - 300 to 400 mg from days 5 to 14 of the cycle (You want to find tribulus with at least 40% furostanol saponins).  Tribulus also shows benefits in treating infertitliy, especially in women with PCOS.

I will be taking those in addition to the other stuff I already take, so we'll see how it goes.

I also plan to keep working on the weight loss and keeping up the exercise.  And I plan to write here once a week.

And The Winner Is....

Chelsea Spraberry!!!

Chelsea,
I have sent you a private message with further directions!

Thank you everyone for following our page. I hope we gain more followers as word of our blog spreads. We are always looking for more voices to add too!

Long time no chat...

So I never posted my official results from my IVF in May, mainly because I don't want to "jinx" it, but also because I still don't quite believe the results myself. My husband also finally gave me the green light to share with the blogosphere but....

It worked.

Praise God, it worked! We are due with our little bundle (singular) in January. I have some thoughts I've scribbled down since we found out, mostly about the fear and anxiety, I hope to share that with you across the coming week. But for right now I'm ending the suspense.

I'm finally pregnant :'-)

You Guys Are Awesome!

We have officially gotten over 25 followers!

That means.... A drawing for the PCOS bracelets!!!

We will draw a name tomorrow afternoon, at 3 pm, so be sure to check back to see who won!!!

You guys are awesome and if you know anybody else that wants to follow us, they have until tomorrow to do so and still be in the drawing!

Shannon's Basal Temp Chart May-July

Here is my basal temp chart from cycle 1 of clomid (Mid-May) until cycle 2 of clomid (Late-July)

My temps are all over the place. The first few, before the big gap in time, is with my first thermometer that broke on me. And as you can tell, I am horrible about charting on weekends, lol!

Any thoughts or opinions on my chart? Other than it would be a wicked-awesome roller coaster?? I never know what these would look like for a normal person.

Now to Wait!

AF finally arrived late Monday. Now I wish it was gone, LOL! It is so annoying to always be thinking about it to make sure you don't overload or remember to have a tampon in the bathroom, etc.

BUT this means I can start Clomid 100mg on Friday! My day 19 bloodwork (ovulation test) will be the Friday before my birthday, and the day 26 bloodwork (pregnancy test) will be the Friday after my birthday.

I hope I get good news this month. That would be an awesome birthday gift! And I know that I am relatively young to be concerned with my biological clock (but frankly, who isn't when they have fertility issues???), but every birthday just is SUCH a huge reminder. I will be 26 in August. I know most of my friends aren't even married, let alone have kids... But I'm ready!

Hope everyone has a good day!!!

2009

2009 was a particularly hard year for me. In march my grandfather (moms step dad but still) passed away. It was hard that he never got to have his own children but that never mattered to him, my mom n her brothers were his children and we were his grandchildren. Being the oldest grandchild I am expected to have the grand babies first you know, well when he passed away it hit me hard we still didn't have children to share with all our wonderful family.

Later that year I found out I was pregnant but I didn't know it until I was already losing the baby. I had taken Clomid in September and my 21 day progesterone check showed I didn't ovulate, on schedule at least... I'm guessing I ovulated sometime in late October because I had been sick all through November with weird spotting. No period between September and November so I figured the spotting was just my period coming. My mom kept telling me to get checked but I didn't believe her. Well I finally checked the week after thanksgiving and it was positive, only thing was I knew something was wrong because I started bleeding worse and within that day I started having bad cramping. I went to the bathroom and it was like a scene from Carrie. I felt what I can only describe as contractions and then I passed it. I undoubtably knew what had just happened. I knew it was happening the whole time but I didn't want to face it. I told my hubby when he got home from work.
We told my in laws but they were having family issues so no one seemed to care. My cyster SIL was pregnant and on bed rest and when I went to visit she questioned me like I was lying. That hurt. I don't talk about it but it was real and it happened. I wasn't angry at God because I asked him for a sign that one day I would be pregnant even if it meant a miscarriage now, I just needed a sign. Be careful what you pray for because sometimes you get what you really don't want but ask for anyways.

To make the year worse, my brother's (now ex) girlfriend got pregnant and aborted the baby not even a few weeks after my miscarriage. My brother was ready to get married and join the military but she didn't want to give up her party lifestyle of getting high and drunk. He broke up with her and I'm glad he did.
A month after that my dog of 8 years died. It really was a hard year for me...

-Mrs Red

This is Amazing!

Where's the Baby Carriage??
The link above is a donation site a couple set up to work towards saving up for IVF.

I know through this battle we all don't have a lot of money to spare because of our own treatments. The amazing thing is you can donate as little as $1 or more, depending on your situation. She is shy by just under $2000 and her goal is Aug 3rd.

If you have a dollar, or more, to spare, please stop by their page and make a donation!

Waiting... and Waiting...

I don't know if any of yal have had this kind of problem with Provera...

I finished the dose on Tuesday evenings and as of today, Saturday evening, I am STILL waiting for my period. Normally AF starts within 1-2 days after I finish the pills.

I want it to hurry up and come (rare for a girl to say that, I know!) so I can start my Clomid 100.

The worse thing is, I stay paranoid about my period hitting since I don't cramp a lot during AF. Thus it can hit me unexpectedly. UGH.

Have any of you had this type of problem before??

Wanted: More Writers!

We are looking for more writers to join us in our blogging adventures!!

Please comment below if you would like to contribute your journey to this blog!

Hope to hear from a lot of you!!!

AF Only Arrives With an Invitation

Yesterday was officially the end of Cycle 1 of Clomid as I started Provera again.

Doctor had called and confirmed on July 5th that the pregnancy blood draw came back negative so she went ahead and sent the increase dose of Clomid (100) and the provera to my pharmacy.

When I start taking Clomid I will begin to track my LH with the ovulation strips again.

I hope you guys are having some good luck out there!!!

Vitamins, Vitamins, Vitamins

I wanted to show you the new vitamin regimen I started about 2 weeks ago... It is a lot!

Here are alllll the vitamins:

ALL my vitamins plus a prenatal sample

AM vitamins:
Super B-Complex (1) - Walmart
D3 2000 IU (1) (had a deficiency in January) - CVS
Maca 500 mg (1) - Vitamin Shoppe
Black Cohosh Extract (1) - Walmart
Licorice Root 450 mg (1) - Vitamin Shoppe
Vitex Fruit 400 mg (1) - online
Metformin (1) - Script
Cinnamon 500 mg (2) - Walmart

AM Vitamins

PM Vitamins:
D3 2000 IU (1)
Black Cohosh Extract (1)
Licorice Root 450 mg (1)
Vitex Fruit 400 mg (1)
Metformin (1)
Cinnamon 500 mg (2)

PM Vitamins (Big brown one is a sample Prenatal)

Prenatals:
Dr gave me samples and if they DON'T have B12, I take them at night. If prenatal DOES have B12, I take it in the morning. But I only take 1 a day.

The Black Cohosh, Maca, Licorice Root, and Vitex fruit were all recommended for PCOS. When I started taking this cocktail, my basal temp didn't move more than 0.20* until I missed a dose then it fluctuated a little bit.