Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Checking In

It's been a few weeks since updated and I have to admit, things are just chugging along at a nice pace.

I'm still doing acupuncture and incorporating some additional herbs along with my healthy eating.  It has really been great, doing all of these proactive things that are really making me feel better.  Physically I have more energy and emotionally I'm not as all over the place as I was before.  Although, part of that could be because we aren't really in the middle of anything that can cause stress.  If I'm still this even keeled when IVF comes around in April I will be truly pleased!

I've been working on creating more "me" time and focusing on how many things in my life I am incredibly thankful for...it's funny how many of those things were hidden when I was overwhelming myself with IF.  The only thing that sucks is that my acupuncturist told me that I should not be running for more than 30 minutes.  I'm sure that this wouldn't be that big of a deal to some, but to me it is no fun.  I use running as a form of therapy and have come to love my time with just my dogs and the pavement.  I would love to do an 8k at the end of March in the city and I am going to bring this up to him tonight at my appt.  If he makes it clear that it would definitely not be in my best interest, then I will definitely follow his suggestion.

Even if I can't do the race, just knowing that the weather is improving and gradually getting warmer is plenty of excitement for me!  I can't wait for summer!

Thursday, February 2, 2012

And....We're Changing It Up Again

Okay, so our original plan for the last few weeks has been to pursue the next IVF cycle that was available to us in March.  We have never taken our foot off the gas pedal (so to speak) since we started TTC some 21 months ago.  March just seemed the obvious (and only) decision we had.

That all changed after talking to my acupuncturist and the IVF nurse at our RE's office.  During my initial consult last week, my acupuncturist had mentioned that since it seems like we are dealing with a possible egg quality issue, we would be focusing on getting my body in a better/more healthy place to create good quality eggs.  He also told me that it takes the body 3-4 months to grow a follicle that will become an egg to be released.  We were not pushed in one direction or another, because he said that we should do what feels right for our situation.  However, at that point the seed was already planted that maybe we were pushing this thing just too fast and putting more strain on my body than needed....After all, that would be 3 back to back IVF cycles with some form of constant medication pumping through me.  Not only that but we had been on some form of a medicated cycle since last year in May. 

Fast forward to this week when I called my IVF nurse so that we could get things arranged for our next cycle and start bcp's again.  She asked about our plans and then suggested (very politely might I add) that it might be a good idea to give my body a rest.  As much as I feel like it's totally not my personality to let up on the pressure, I need to start listening to all the people in my life that have more information than I do.

After talking it through with Brad yesterday, we decided to wait until the April cycle.  I realize that it is only a month longer and that some people may be rolling their eyes at "the big decision" this was, but hey...this was a big deal for us (more so for me with my type A, OCD personality).

So there it is.  We are going to hopefully be going through with another cycle in April.  And you know what?  I'm totally at peace and happy with that decision.  :)