Results are in! Pt 1.

This won’t be a long post. I just wanted to keep you updated on what’s happening with the investigations into “The Case of the Disappearing Periods”.

My GP ordered a slew of blood tests following my ultrasound scans that indicated anovulation (no ovulation). I went for a progesterone blood test 7 days after ovulation was supposed to have occured, since a progesterone test can be used to confirm whether ovulation did/did not occur. Continue reading

Everything is brown…

So Monday morning I started the second part of my health-kick healthy lifestyle change – eating more healthily.

In the past I have tried Weight Watchers at least 5 times, and in 2014 I managed to drop 26lbs (nearly 2 stone) on Atkins. I found that the no carbs thing worked better for me than trying to limit calories; I’m just not good at moderation and it was great to be on a diet where I could eat “as much as I want” and still have yummy fatty foods (Burgers? Yep. Foods cooked with oils/butter? Yep. Salad dressings? Yep). Why is everything nice either full of sugar or fat?. Once I taste something yummy I don’t want to limit myself to a tiny portion; it’s much easier for me to just set certain things as off limits and let them nowhere near my taste buds.
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Getting healthy for Operation Baby – supplements

When I saw my GP to green light Operation Baby we discussed my being in optimum health as the most important thing to focus on before TTC. In my mind there are 3 parts to that:

  1. Lose weight via. a healthy balanced diet (current BMI 31 – need to get to 25)
  2. Make sure I’m getting all the vitamins & minerals I need up to optimal baby-making levels
  3. Relax! Try to keep stress levels down

Vitamin containers.jpgPoint 1 is going to be discussed on this blog at length since losing weight is going to be the hardest and take the longest, so I thought I’d start off with a post about the first active (and quickest!) step I’ve taken… choosing my vitamin supplements…
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Watching and waiting – late ovulation?

Is she coming?
Is she coming?

I have spent my weekend on tenderhooks waiting and wondering whether Aunt Flo is going to grace me with her presence this cycle (well technically to start a new cycle).

She was officially due on Sunday, but since my cycles range from 24-26 days I was looking out for her any day from Friday. I know when you’re waiting for something and watching for it like a hawk it takes ages (“a watched kettle never  boils”), but following my appointment with the doc a week ago I have forms here for 6 blood tests to be done on CD2. I’m not a massive fan of walk-in clinics so I tried to be pro-active by booking appoints for Saturday and this morning (if Sunday had been CD2 I’d just have to have tested CD3). So of course…nothing!
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So apparently I’m a cold person…

I know you couldn't build a snowman at 36.2°C
I know… you couldn’t build a snowman at 36.2°C

The day I went to TBMP (The Baby Making Place) for my  AMH blood test I travelled all the way up into central London early on a Saturday morning plagued with weekend engineering works messing up the trains… only to be there for 15 minutes! So as I mosied on back down Regent Street towards Charing Cross I reached Piccadilly, and there welcoming me like the prodigal daughter was my spiritual home – the giant Waterstones.

This shop and I have spent so many hours together when I attended university and then worked in the area. I love it (because I love books) and it’s impossible to go in for just a few minutes because they have masses and masses of books about everything! So you know what’s coming next…

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Operation Baby

Keen to get started!

Last week I had my NHS ultrasound  (still no signs of ovulation) and then went to see my GP to discuss the results of the consultation at the private fertility clinic. In the 5 days between the fertility clinic consultation and seeing my GP I’d been doing some serious thinking about whether this really is the time to go ahead with “Operation Baby”.

I’d always said that I wanted to TTC before I got to an age where I’d be likely to need medical intervention, whether that be conceiving with a partner or through donor insemination, hence I’d had age 35 in mind as the “cut off”. Having just turned 33 I’d been thinking I’d probably try to get a deposit together to buy a house/flat next year, spend a few months settling in, and then TTC just before or just after 35. I’d never imagined that medical intervention, actual fertility treatment, would be required at age 33. But here I am faced with that exact situation.

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