Finally... ovulation, whew!

Crazy cycle finally balanced out and I ovulated last week. I am glad that's finally done with and I can relax and look forward to the next cycle. I feel good and temps seem to be nice and high, so hopefully progesterone and my body's response to it is improving. Time will tell. Here's to 12 days of rest...

Calling fertility journal testers!

I had a couple ladies comment a few posts back about wanting to be a tester for my fertility journal. I have used it for a full cycle now and have a few adjustments to make and then was going to have some printed. If you are still interested, please send me your address so I can mail one to you. There are 100 pages, enough for 3 "normal-length" cycles (ha for us PCOSers!). I will send a questionnaire to you every 30 days for 3 months, so I can find out how you like it and what suggestions you may have. Thanks for being willing - and if you are reading this for the first time - I could use 1-2 more testers, so comment below and INCLUDE your e-mail addy so that I can contact you.

A name

So hubby and I agreed on a name last night. In the past, we have not been able to do that until a few weeks from birth. I couldn't believe that we both liked a name and settled on it so easily! It's a girl name, and we are hoping for a boy, but I really like it. :-) Not going to share, we don't do that until baby is born and this one isn't even conceived yet! BUT, I did look up the meaning this morning and I will tell you that it means "Purely Desired Life"... how awesome is that!!!?

Update: We have also agreed on a boy name now. They both would work really well together also, if anyone else out there is praying for twins for us. We would LOVE that! The boy name means "Jehovah God is my Lord and Helper".

Not saying that they won't change. Who knows? We'll have 9 months to think about it. But, it's fun to think we've got that down already! :-)

Cycle update

Okay, so haven't updated here this cycle yet - in short, it's been disastrous!

I upped my dose of soy iso like I had planned and I have been spotting continually, estrogen has been spiking and plummeting making my bbt chart look like the rocky mountains. I so rarely have mid-cycle spotting that this has been very strange for me and discouraging. I literally have spotted 20 days out of the 26 days so far in this cycle, and am annovulatory so far.

I now feel guilty for taking the soy against my better judgement, it was a "compromise" to hopefully avoid the clomid or femara. It has really messed me up this cycle and I pray it clears quickly and we can move on. This has likely set me back with the Dr. at least 2 months as far as getting labs done and moving on... :-( He knew I was taking it and even said last month that it seemed to be helping along with the metformin, but it wasn't prescribed.

Today, I am very crampy and have leg aches and twinges in my R sciatica, I am very hopeful that this is the end of the cycle coming... but hard to say. I'll let you all know how next cycle works out.

Thanks for your prayers and hanging in here with me.

GF pizza crust

Got this recipe from this site and made a few alterations. Here is how I prepared it. I am SO excited to finally have an easy, very yummy pizza crust that holds together well and has the right consistency. Everyone liked it and we look forward to pizza/movie nights again!

4 cups almond flour
2 cups brown rice flour
2 cups plain whole milk yogurt
1 cup finely grated white cheddar (didn't have parmesan, but think it would be good with it!)
2 pinches salt
2 eggs
1 tsp baking soda
garlic salt, parsley, oregano to taste (opt)

Mix dry ingredients. Beat eggs into yogurt and slowly add to dry mixture. Beat until well blended. Mixture will be batter-like and not dough-like, spread with a spatula or back of a spoon onto sheets of parchment paper on a cookie sheet, about 1/4" thick.

Bake at 350 for 30 min. Top with whatever you desire, and stick back in oven until cheese melts.

Makes 7 mini pizzas or 2 reg round pizzas or 1 large rectangle pizza.

Sciatica

Really struggling with this again the past 2 weeks. I actually had to take Ibuprofen and spend a day in bed on Wed with ice packs and just trying to reduce inflammation and tightness so that it could relax and stop being stretched/pinched, etc... I am doing some better and on Monday and Thursday this week actually was able to be pretty active and not notice much, but the next days were a bit more painful. I guess I am able to push myself, but not sure that's the best long-term. It is a throbbing/aching/pulling pain from below my hip bone in back and down through the buttocks and into my leg. I also at the same time get pain and a deep internal itch in my right hip where the hip bone sticks out the furthest - which can drive me crazy and the pain can get pretty intense especially at night when I try to sleep. I cannot lay on my right side for long which is annoying. I have noticed this time that I am also very constipated these last 2 weeks and that can make the pain and pressure much worse (enemas relieve it a bit). I can imagine everything in there inflamed and rubbing/pinching/constricting, not a good combination. It really makes me wonder about endometriosis on the sciatic nerve, uggh... I know I likely need some exploratory surgery, but uggh..... :-(

34 days!

That's how long this past cycle was (starting tonight). An improvement over 42 days for sure! I am encouraged by that and plan to up my soy isoflavones to 200mg and add royal jelly supplement this cycle to improve egg quality. Thankful for a fresh start! :-)