Grizzy's Experiments in Creating Life

[Grizzy]

Sooo yup. I'm trying to make a baby.

 

And I'm not really setting up all the ideal conditions to do so. We started trying officially this month, and after a few months of great weight loss and good habits, my exercise and diet all fell completely apart this month, between my husband's birthday, Thanksgiving, and general seasonal depression. On Thanksgiving day I got definitive evidence that we didn't succeed in cycle 1, drank a lot...

 

 

and resolved to do what I could to better my chances. Once Thanksgiving was over, of course.

 

So this journal is gonna be all about trying to get healthier to encourage that to happen. We're talking diet, exercise, hydration, sleep, oral hygiene, and weight.

 

We're talking things that may or may not make a difference, like raspberry leaf tea, supplements, eating pineapple, seed cycling, and wearing fuzzy socks.

 

We're also talking temperature tracking, peeing on things, various things that come out of a vagina, and fuckin'.

 

 

I may or may not do the challenges along with this. We'll see how I feel. I haven't lasted a whole challenge in AGES, so I'm not super optimistic about them. An ongoing journal might be better - I have one on another forum, but that forum has a culture of anti-fatphobia in some ways to the exclusion of weight loss talk, so I'm coming back to the first forum I ever joined for this very important quest.

 

Stats

• Female
• 30 years old
• 5'5"
• 210 lbs, BMI 34.9
• Was on the pill for like 6 years, on nexplanon for 3, on a copper IUD for 3.
• Slightly short luteal phase. Was like 9 days, got it up to 11-12 with a vitamin C & B12 regimen. Though this could have been caused by the IUD.
• Usually ovulate cycle day 15-17.

 

What's the plan?

 

I'm integrating a lot of things that may make a difference into my plan - from the scientifically proven to the reasonable evidence that it won't hurt you and could help.

 

I've been pretty successfully using intermittent fasting or IF (specifically alternate-day fasting or ADF) for weight loss. Lost about 25 lbs in 3 months, but gained 5 back this month.

 

A lot of these things, what you do is dependent on where you are in your cycle.

 

Phase 0-1: Menstrual & Follicular Phase - body is bleedin' and preppin' the egg machine

It seems you likely can fast during intensively up until ovulation, so I'll stay on ADF. I'll also try to eat in a more paleo/ketoish way, as ADF is super hard when you're hopped up on carbs from the day before.

During this time I'm going to drink raspberry leaf tea daily. I'm going to eat pumpkin seeds and flax seeds. It's a little woo-woo, but it's easy.

 

I tend to ovulate between day 15 and 17, but I can test this coming up with the almighty PEE ON ALL THE THINGS method. I'll stop fasting to this intensity and treat things as if I'm ovulating when I notice my LH test strips (which predict ovulation) start to get reasonably darker.

 

Phase 2: Ovulation - body releases an egg

So here I'll want to slow up a bit on the fasting. Do more of a 15 hours of fasting regimen. Basically just skip breakfast, which is fine because I don't really do breakfast.

When I'm approaching and in this phase the focus is going to be having sex.

I'll know this phase is over when my basal body temperature rises.

 

Phase 3: Luteal phase - body waits to see if baby?

While waiting for possible implantation and pregnancy, the goal is not to fast. Eat regularly, but still healthy. Eat to avoid spiking blood sugar. Lots of fruits and vegetables. 

Woo-woo stuff specific to this phase is eating sesame seeds and sunflower seeds.

 

Things to do all the time:

• Get enough water to drink. I've been feeling constantly dehydrated and even if the 8 glasses of water a day is false, I at least shouldn't be not drinking water when I feel thirsty.
• Avoid sugar, alcohol, caffeine. I'm a fiend for these things but they can hurt fertility and at least sugar & alcohol are strictly not good for you besides.
• Exercise daily. A good bare minimum is fertility yoga, which again, a bit woo-woo but will at least be of benefit in moving. Would like to get back into the habit of fun stuff like swimming, lifting, and rollerblading as well.
• Take my medicines. Prenatal, supplements for my deficiencies, allergy drugs, brain drugs, etc.
• Brush my teeth. I guess good oral hygiene is linked to fertility? I have ADHD and just forget a lot of the time. This is also good because if my mouth doesn't smell terrible, my husband might actually want to do the activities that cause babies.
• Wear warm socks. More woo, but who cares? My feet are cold anyway.

[AngieSTI]

A friend of mine has a similar experience, and even when she succeeded and was healthy & in shape, she couldn't so she gave up.

After that, she stops trying and became sad, etc. 

Fun Part:  She had a urine infection and didn't have insurance because was switching jobs and had to wait for the probation time. So she went to a licensed naturopathic doctor that someone recommend her. The Dr discovered that she was having PH issues down there and suggested her topping stop using vaginal showers etc, no more pantiliner with fancy odors, etc, a diet to follow with no acid stuff. 

After she recovers from her urine infection and had her Vaginal PH like supposed to, she got pregnant without expecting.

Now she is happy, finally has medical insurance but of course, stay loyal to the naturopathic dr and tell the Anecdote to everyone.

Just a story to share. 😊

 

 

[Grizzy]

Yeah, I mean sometimes there is a specific problem that needs medical intervention to be solved. But a lot of the time, doctors won't really check much until you've been trying for 6 months to a year without success! So I don't think trying to be as healthy as possible will be a bad thing.

 

Slowly trying to work through the leftover desserts and wine from Thanksgiving before we get serious about dieting. Did some yoga yesterday and a shorter fast (20h). Had my raspberry leaf tea and today I got my pumpkin seeds and flax seeds in my salad. The pumpkin seeds are much tastier than I expected!

[Alanna]

 

Best of luck with the experiments! 

 

Congratulations on the progress, too - a net loss of 20 lbs in four months is a lot!

[Grizzy]

5 hours ago, Alanna said:

Best of luck with the experiments! 

 

Congratulations on the progress, too - a net loss of 20 lbs in four months is a lot!

Thank you! I'm pretty pleased even though I'm above my target TTC weight. I didn't really start trying to lose weight again until I realized we were close enough to trying to conceive that I needed to start prenatals.

 

Realized I never exercised yesterday. Oops. Habits are hard to start again. I did take my meds and had raspberry leaf tea in the evening. My anxiety brain is latching on to all the things that could be wrong with me that prevents all this from working. For example I have much lighter periods than I used to, and I was worried that meant something bad for fertility, because it can be. But I also think I'm within normal ranges.

 

Also still trying to work on drinking enough water. I'm usually good for a lot of the day and then I get caught up in something and don't remember to get any water for hours at a time.

 

I'm going to continue trying to lose weight until I get a positive. We're going to do meal planning and minimal sugar in December, and I'm going to try to work out an exercise schedule that excites me.

[Grizzy]

I've been doing pretty well the last few days. We're on our first day back to fasting, which is tough but not as bad as some days have been.

 

Done with all the wine in the house so that's out now.

 

Trying to convince myself to go back to decaf coffee but I don't wanna.

 

Been doing well with the seed cycling and eating fruits and vegetables. Have mostly gotten off the sugar. That one's a process.

 

We've gone for a bunch of long walks.

 

I need to take my vitamins for the day.

[KB Girl]

Ahhh baby making! 
 

On 11/27/2021 at 9:00 PM, Grizzy said:

But a lot of the time, doctors won't really check much until you've been trying for 6 months to a year without success!

Unfortunately.. but on the bright side, maybe you’re in the category of people who will never need to see a doctor  and if you do, it’s 99% likely they will tell you to lose weight first, so you can say you’ve got that part covered. 

[Grizzy]

Jeez, I have been checked out of the forum, and out of healthy habits, for most of the month.

 

So I think I'm abandoning stuff like seed cycling in favor of "actually just use your energies on basic healthy things and losing weight, ya dummy." Focusing this month on sugar reduction, light exercise, and drinking water. Got myself a big 32 oz bottle that I've been drinking at least 2 of a day.

 

About to go into the fertile window of cycle 3.

[Grizzy]

It's been a minute.

 

I got pregnant in February, cycle 4. I lost the pregnancy in March. And I've been trying since with no luck, and with some missed cycles actually trying.

 

So officially we've been trying a year, unofficially we're only sure we got the timing right on 7 cycles, with 2 cycles of no trying, 1 cycle where I didn't track and so I don't know (I thought this would make me less stressed. It did not.), and 2 with objectively bad timing despite trying to try.

 

If you're keeping up, yes, that's 12 cycles despite approximately 2 months of pregnancy. I have short cycles.

 

I'm looking back on my records to figure out what might have helped in the month I conceived.

 

I was about 10 pounds lighter than I am right now. I was slightly more active. I have some medications I'm taking now that I wasn't taking then and vice versa.

 

We tentatively have an appointment in late January with a fertility clinic, but have a solid 3 cycles left to try on our own before then. The goal for this month is to make some adjustments to be closer to what I was doing when I conceived.

* Add B12 back into my vitamin regimen

* Remove low dose aspirin

* Try to reduce allergy meds to as-needed since we're heading out of pollen season

 

I also want to return to half-caf coffee in the morning WITHOUT the sugar bomb of 2 oz chocolate syrup, up my water intake once again, and add in a 40 minute walk in the morning.

 

Bonus points if I don't cry more than once a month over not being pregnant.

[KB Girl]

Hey! Sorry for your struggle and your loss.

 

I hope you remember through all this not to blame yourself for something you are or are not doing. 
 

Fingers crossed you’ll be one of those couples that go to a clinic only to find out they’re already pregnant. And if not that best case scenario, hopefully they’ll easily be able to help out! 

[Grizzy]

15 minutes ago, KB Girl said:

Fingers crossed you’ll be one of those couples that go to a clinic only to find out they’re already pregnant.

Thank you! This actually just happened to a friend of mine - they had the consult but was waiting for the next cycle to start before anything and... Boom, pregnant, after 2 years!

[KB Girl]

Just now, Grizzy said:

Thank you! This actually just happened to a friend of mine - they had the consult but was waiting for the next cycle to start before anything and... Boom, pregnant, after 2 years!

I know two couples this happened too, I really think it happens quite a lot! Who knows why, maybe a relief of stress? 

[Grizzy]

2 minutes ago, KB Girl said:

I know two couples this happened too, I really think it happens quite a lot! Who knows why, maybe a relief of stress? 

I just figure with enough people in the world having enough sex, almost all coincidences of timing are bound to happen to some and any success will be attributed to those coincidences by the people involved!

 

What can I say, I'm a skeptic.

[Grizzy]

5 hours ago, KB Girl said:

I don't know how to get rid of the quote thing on mobile

 

While I hate the advice to just relax, the month I got pregnant was also the most relaxed month. So maybe there's something to your reasoning.

[Grizzy]

Ok, so I've been doing reasonably well with nudging my diet over in the right direction.

 

I switched from full-caf mochas to half-caf lattes. Sometimes I end up having two, but that's better than two full -caf mochas which I used to end up having.

 

Shuffled my supplements a little. Zinc, B12 and E added in. Baby aspirin taken out. Just have had spotting since adding it in and don't know if it's related.

 

I've been less consistent about taking my fiber and magnesium because they mix into drinks and do not taste good. I think maybe it would be easier to have them before my first meal?

 

My sleep has been better. I have been meditating before bed and then listening to an audiobook if I need more winding down.

 

I'm still in the contemplative stage about movement. I want to walk for 40 minutes each morning, but with prioritizing getting enough sleep, followed by getting my fortunately flexible hours in at work, followed by prioritizing time with my husband, when I wake up naturally it just feels so late to postpone work by another 40 minutes. I've been trying to figure out if there's anything I can do while walking that counts as work to try and kind of multi task and not sacrifice one of these. I would also love to go climbing and lift again, in theory, but it practice I have not been.

[KB Girl]

Is there any chance your husband would want to spend time with you doing some movement? Walking together can be nice  

 

[Grizzy]

On 11/18/2022 at 1:29 PM, KB Girl said:

Is there any chance your husband would want to spend time with you doing some movement? Walking together can be nice  

 

He wants to do Kali together! Which, I'm trying to get on board with but I hate the idea of getting bonked by a stick. I prefer my martial arts to be art focused and not combat focused.

[KB Girl]

On 11/27/2022 at 5:43 AM, Grizzy said:

He wants to do Kali together! Which, I'm trying to get on board with but I hate the idea of getting bonked by a stick. I prefer my martial arts to be art focused and not combat focused.

Kali? Well, at least it's something you can do together I suppose... worth a try at least! and then if you absolutely hate it you can always bail. 

[Grizzy]

So for all 3 of you following along, I have successfully created at least the very initial glimmers of life! Pics of most recent tests in the spoiler below.

 

Spoiler

 

Now, I have had a pregnancy before, but never had an ultrasound where I saw a heartbeat, so that's the milestone I've got my eye on now.

 

For my reference in case this goes sideways and I need it again, OR this goes well but I want to do it again, based on the similarities of the 2 times I've now gotten pregnant, these have been common between both:

* More water, produce, exercise 

* Less sugar, caffeine

* I think both times I had shifted from our breakfast sandwiches to more high protein, low carb breakfast?

* Vitamins B12, C, D, choline, zinc, prenatal

* Medications metformin, progesterone, Fluoxetine

* Not taking allergy medicine or aspirin 

 

And new this time around compared to last time:

* Inositol

* Letrozole 5 CD 3-7

* Vitamin E

 

What to do with this epic quest now? Well, I'll probably talk about symptoms if I have them and want to whine, any clinical updates I get, and of course if anything unfortunate happens and I have to start over. So it could be quiet or it could be loud. I don't know yet!

[Elastigirl]

Congratulations!!

[Grizzy]

10 hours ago, Elastigirl said:

Congratulations!!

Thank you!

[Everstorm]

On 11/2/2022 at 6:09 PM, Grizzy said:

This actually just happened to a friend of mine - they had the consult but was waiting for the next cycle to start before anything and... Boom, pregnant, after 2 years!

This was my story for both pregnancies.  Couldn't get pregnant for 2 years, made an appointment to get checked out, got pregnant.  🤷‍♀️

[Grizzy]

Okay, got blood draws for hcg, progesterone and thyroid today. Second hcg for beta Thursday. Then in two weeks plus one day they'll give me an early scan. They think I'm like, a week earlier than I think I am. But whatever. If everything is good to go at the scan they should give me a date based on a measurement.