Arg...

My contractor is threatening to quit. He's "talking it over" with the other guys on the job as we speak.

I caught him in two fairly large mistakes, and asked him about not being charged. That apparently blew the lid off. He's "doing a lot for me" and has "no respect" for my architect's plans, or my architect, I couldn't tell which. And apparently if one goes they all go. Oh well, I just really don't need this drama.

Just got the call back. They're staying--different project manager--one of the guys on the project. Dude the original guy is just not cut out for this. Arg.

That's All Folks

For now--now its just the wait and see game. Last night was the last BD for this cycle!!!! Yay! I'm sooooo excited to see if it worked--of course, with all that fretting, I'll end up with a boy anyway--oh well! :~D But yes, last night until next cycle. Greg works tonight, and I'm ovulating tomorrow I think, so, no BD until we see if AF comes or not....

I'm so excited, but also so freaked! I just realized, I haven't done anything I am supposed to be doing to help this out! No folic, no exercise, not the right diet. Ack!@ I've got to get in gear, and get my butt kicked! So--diet, aspartame, vitamins, exercise. My biggies. Do it. Today.

Book Reviews

Have read two pregnancy books so far, Knocked Up and Girlfriend's Guide. Yes, neither really very "meaty", but quite fun nonetheless. Having the DH read them now--they give a pretty accurate description at least of what the mind of a pregnant person is like. Oh boy is he in for a rough time! :)

Funny part of Knocked Up (besides that she was obviously reading Girlfriend's Guide while writing it)--she always refers to "down there". Where is she meaning--Australia? Apparently she has a hard time saying vagnia. Yes, Vagina. C'mon, everybody say it with me, ready? Vagina. See, not that hard. I mean, really, wasn't it just a few years ago we were all running around saying Vagina? As in Vagina Monologues?

So, as Girlfriend's Guide says--the pregnancy police are already out, and I'm not even pregnant yet!! Oh well. I'll do/believe/act/feel what works for me. (With my MDs guidance of course! :) )

Net/net--yes, liked the books--nice for a good diversion from everything that is sure to be very clinical and possibly overwhelming. Next on the list is Fearless Pregnancy. I'll tell you how it goes.

Status

Haven't done the BD in three days--day one, DH wasn't interested, which totally shocked me, day two, DH worked, day three, huge fight. And I think I might be ovulating--based on discharge, which can be weird b/c of BD, but its been three days, so.....

So its on tonight, like it or not.

Neat Trick

Recently a friend's friend's scare alerted me to the fact that there are ovulation calculators out there on the web. Jeeze, just type in "ovulation calculator" in Google, holy moley! So, as we're in the planning stages, I decided to go out and try for myself. I love the one I found, its seemed the most accurate/detailed/customizable. Here's what I got (courtesy of babyhopes):

4/17/05 - First day of your cycle
4/26/05 - A little bit fertile
4/27/05 - Fertile
4/28/05 - VERY fertile
4/29/05 - time to ovulate
5/13/05 - End of cycle
5/12/05 - A home pregnancy test may work now.
5/16/05 - No period? Maybe you're pregnant!
1/22/06 - If you are, this is your approximate due date.

MONTH 3:
5/13/05 - First day of your cycle
5/22/05 - A little bit fertile
5/23/05 - Fertile
5/24/05 - VERY fertile
5/25/05 - time to ovulate
6/08/05 - End of cycle
6/07/05 - A home pregnancy test may work now.
6/11/05 - No period? Maybe you're pregnant!
2/17/06 - If you are, this is your approximate due date.

MONTH 4:
6/08/05 - First day of your cycle
6/17/05 - A little bit fertile
6/18/05 - Fertile
6/19/05 - VERY fertile
6/20/05 - time to ovulate
7/04/05 - End of cycle
7/03/05 - A home pregnancy test may work now.
7/07/05 - No period? Maybe you're pregnant!
3/15/06 - If you are, this is your approximate due date.

MONTH 5:
7/04/05 - First day of your cycle
7/13/05 - A little bit fertile
7/14/05 - Fertile
7/15/05 - VERY fertile
7/16/05 - time to ovulate
7/30/05 - End of cycle
7/29/05 - A home pregnancy test may work now.
8/02/05 - No period? Maybe you're pregnant!
4/10/06 - If you are, this is your approximate due date.

MONTH 6:
7/30/05 - First day of your cycle
8/08/05 - A little bit fertile
8/09/05 - Fertile
8/10/05 - VERY fertile
8/11/05 - time to ovulate
8/25/05 - End of cycle
8/24/05 - A home pregnancy test may work now.
8/28/05 - No period? Maybe you're pregnant!
5/06/06 - If you are, this is your approximate due date.

TIPS:
· For the average couple, having sex once per day provides the best chance of getting pregnant.
· To optimize your chances of getting pregnant, after your partner ejaculates, remain on your back with your hips elevated for 20-30
minutes.
· The woman-on-top position isn't great for pregnancy, since ejaculate may flow out.

FACTS:
· Most women have a 15 to 25 percent chance of getting pregnant during their cycle.
· Nearly 50 percent of couples conceive during the first 3 months.
· About 75 percent of couples conceive during the first 6 months.
· Up to 90 percent of couples conceive during the first year.
· On the average, there are 280 days from the first day of your last period to your due date.

Frequency and Timing of Intercourse:
Shettles says in order to increase the chances of having a girl, you should have sex everyday from the end of your period up to 2 1/2 to 3 days before ovulation. After this point, do not have unprotected sex until several days past ovulation.

Intercourse further away from ovulation favors the larger slower moving X (girl) sperm. The weaker Y (boy) sperm will die more quickly in the more acidic preovulatory vaginal / cervical secretions and by the time of ovulation there will be a much larger concentration of X (girl) sperm
available to fertilize the egg.

Sexual Position:
Shettles suggests that if you are trying to conceive a girl, shallow
penetration from your partner, preferably with the missionary position, will deposit the sperm closer to the entrance to the vagina. This area is more acidic than closer to the cervix and acidity will work against the weaker "boy" sperm leaving more "girl" sperm available to fertilize your egg.

Sex and Orgasms:
When trying to conceive a girl, Shettles recommends that you don't
orgasm during sex as the body produces substances after orgasm that makes the vaginal environment more alkaline, which favors the "boy" sperm.

The contractions which accompany an orgasm help move the sperm up and into the cervix, giving the "boy" sperm an extra chance at being available when your egg is available for fertilization.

Fascinating stuff, huh? It was so cute, I sent this to the DH, and he printed it out and posted it on the refrigerator! How adorable! He's so excited.

But, that's not the neat trick. No, see, the neat trick comes in that, we have a house guest coming to stay with us. For six weeks. Starting 4/29. Okay, so go back and reference the ovulation calendar above. Yes, you got it, we'll be doing the BD the whole time he is here! Ack! Poor guy! And according to my sister, who lived upstairs in the guest room for 6 mos, the ceiling/floor is quite thin. Think I'll be investing in a radio, and a blanket for the floor!

Ahyhoo, now you can all play along with me. We're trying for the girl this cycle around--I'm really more interested in timing of the birth than gender of the baby. So didn't want to waste the prime three target months (May, June, July) on trying for a girl, since you only get 1/2 the time to "try". Timing is important for me, since I have pretty significant depression, I'm more prone to postpartum, so I think the timing/being able to get outside, will definitely help post-baby. So trying for delivery in early spring vs. say November. Have you been in Seattle in November? It would depress a high school cheerleader. Of course, they're all on drugs anyway according to Uncle Bonsai. :)

Audience

I mean really--I'm kind of bummed--no comments??? :~( (sniff) I feel so, so....

Which makes me realize: I have already violated rule #1 in writing--consider your audience. I guess I've "considered" them. I think that I'm assuming in some deluded way that this will be a world-renowned blog. It will be referenced in Newsweek, anyone who is anyone will have it in their favorites. Better yet, the RSS feeds will be rampant.

Yeah, right. Let's be realistic. There are enough blogs out there to choke all the horses of Arabia (as the personal trainer says "Why would you want to feed a horse a blog?? And why would anyone want to choke a poor innocent horse? Jerks.")

So, the potential of anyone besides friends and family reading this???
-100% Yes, that's a negative sign.

So, I come back to considering my audience. I'll continue to write in the style I am--this is definitely not how I write in my "diary" or whatever journal I vaguely and randomly keep on scraps of paper scattered throughout piles around the house. However, I'll need to remember to behave myself--'nough said.

Revelation

Duh. Just realized--Britney was trying to get pregnant. Evidenced by the return to her "natural" hair color. You can't (or it isn't advocated) dye your hair while pregnant--thus the root touch-ups to avoid the skunk-look (no, not punk) can't be done. No blonde = no touch-ups! Genius!

Yes, I needed to blog this at 4am. Even more important to wake up the DH and inform him of my amazing powers of deduction as well. He was thrilled. Really.

Had my first "non-alcoholic" beer tonight. I guess I could see it doing if you're really desperate. I think I'll allow myself one drink per month, then maybe I won't have to have that nasty a** crap. Somehow, even without alcohol, I still have the worst heartburn. Go figure.

More Info

....than you ever wanted to know. But this is a TTC and pregnancy blog. More about that later.

So peeved--I already wrote this once, and it didn't post, the server froze. >:( oh well. I'll try to recreate my earlier brilliance! :~D

OH (gasp) MY (gasp) GOD!!!!!!!!!!!! According to the DH, this is apparently what I screamed last night. According to him, he hasn't gotten that kind of response from me ever, in 7+ years of togetherness. It was definitely good, its been a while (more on that later). But more importantly, oh so needed.

See, we're having our front porch redone. And the contractor is driving me nuts. More specifically the contractor and the DH. Miscommunication has been rampant--its like we're all speaking Chinese, and no one knows what the other is saying. And its taking forever. I'm seriously about to throttle someone. Last night it really came to a head.

So, I desperately needed a drink. But, you're not supposed to drink when TTC, not only to just be on the safe side, but how it actually affects fertility, etc. So, therefore, the big O was so totally deserved. I really needed it.

Here's the thing unfortunately. We're trying for the girl this cycle. But orgasms apparently help the boy sperm, which we're trying to avoid (helping boy sperm).

But oh well, it was so totally worth it.

It works!

Yipee! This is great! So, I'm wanting to catalog this trip called having a baby....yikes.

So, we officially started TTC last night. I forgot to think that, over at least the next few months, (sorry to be crass, but....) I will feel like I'm constantly draining! Arg! NOW I remember why I liked condoms--uck.

Its been amazing, the research I've done in the last few weeks--its a whole world out there! There's discussion boards for everything. Phenomenal. The whole trying to get pregnant thing comes with its completely own vocabulary. I'm married to a DH, we do the BD while we are TTC, and always hoping AF doesn't show up. If she doesn't, I hope to get a BFP, but might get a BFN, which would of course mean, back to the BD. And I thought the military was bad for TLAs.

Didn't get to sleep until about 3am last night. This is b/c I decided to read the Newsweek article related to family health, and specifically, the part about kids and fitness. The DH and I've decided, since he's a Firefighter, that he'll be the "Nanny". So after reading the article, I start to obsess about what activities my child will be involved in. I don't think he realizes, once the kid is here, there's no more xbox, no more Union, no more fantasy baseball/football/basketball/kickball. I refuse to have my kid plopped in front of a TV as its babysitter.

So what do I do--well I wake the DH up of course! Duh! And immediately proceed to lovingly share my fears. "Dear, you're going to make an awful father" Yeah, that went over great.

Truthfully, as the wonderful man he is, we talked. He's so amazing. 1am and he's giving me complete attention, helping me work through my anxieties and fears. Like it was the middle of the afternoon. What a great guy. He'll make a great father.

Fear #1--what do you mean I'm supposed to gain weight? Dude, I'm already 205 on a 5'5" frame. Yeah right! I already need to lose 50lbs, and I'm supposed to gain and lose an additional 50?!?!? Are you people kidding me?!?! Jesus, I'm going to be the biggest, ugliest, fattest pregnant person ever. Sure, all the books say average is 25--not the people I've talked to! (People always say I don't look 205, "I carry it well". Yeah, they haven't seen me au naturel--nobody wants to see that!)

Fear #2--I haven't achieved what I want to achieve professionally. And once I have a kid, that's all over. Done. Game over. No more chances. I had my time, and I blew it. This one is still up for debate.

Fear #3--EVERYTHING. Made the mistake of buying a couple of pregnancy books. Dude, my body will never be mine again. I had my chance to enjoy it, and it will never be the same again, and I will never get to enjoy it again. There's alot of nevers in there.....

Truthfully, I feel immensely better after talking to the DH--I think we can really do this. Lunch with a good friend, along with some retail therapy, helped too. How is it, I pay $100/hr for a therapist, and yet a $5 lunch w/my friend does me ages more good? Hmm, note to self, rethink the therapist, pay friend $50 to listen to me whine.

I'm excited, I really really am. Finding awesome resources out there. Read somewhere that stroller manufacturers are marketing to dads with what got them in the situation in the first place, sex. Funny. Love the new Quinny, but out of my price range. Considering Mac 3, though it is discontinued for 05. Interested to see what they come out with.

A note on this blogging thing--I'm not nearly as witty as I had hoped. And blogging is definitely not for the spelling or grammar challenged. I'll try to not a) bore you or b) frustrate you. I'll try.

PS--shout out to daddytypes, check out the link. Awesome, love it, love the writing, love the product reviews, love the pop culture, love the links, love everything. Love it.

So it starts....

Wow, okay, so my first ever blog post, and the blog is all about starting the baby. Let's post this puppy and see how it works....