Fit For Future Families - September 2011
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OMG Kim! I’m so exited for you!0
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Thank you for the warm welcome everyone!!
EmilyRanae22 - Isn't it a fantastic area? I *LOVE* it here! Are you planning on moving back to CA or being stationed here again? What branch? I'm literally walking distance from Port Hueneme Naval Base.
Congratulations on the wedding which seems fairly recent. Even though I don't have children yet I will throw in my 2 cents to your questions:
#1 - DH and I have discussed our roles at length because we have such opposite schedules. I work during the day from home most of the time and DH works nights as a bartender and does schooling online during the day. We've thought about waiting longer because of his schooling but I realized recently that this schedule would be best because he would be around during the day to watch babes if I have a conference call or need to concentrate and at night I'll be available while he works. Plus I ain't getting any younger!
#2 - Ohhhh yes, We had mucho debt. We bought a townhouse at the wrong time a few years ago which is a long story but we ended up so messed up that we finally recently decided it wasn't worth it because it was preventing us from getting his student loans. So we did a short sale and got the eff out. It was one of the most difficult decision we ever made but enede up being the best one we ever made because we found the coolest beach cottage to rent so we are in heaven now and it's way cheaper so we can have lives. During the short sale we didn't have to pay the mortgage so it gave us a chance to start paying down credit cards and paid off our cars (which would be awesome if we'd thought ahead 5 years and gotten kid friendly vehicles :grumble:). Now we're finishing up the last few debts (not including the 12k in taxes we'll be paying off for EVER) and once that's done DH can start working 4 nights a week and concentrate a little more on school... and me. :laugh:
Best thing to do is make a plan and stick to it, before you know it you'll be done making payments but it may be painful for awhile. It took us a long time to get it right but we're finally almost debtless (for the most part and until we have student loans, ugh) and we have a tiny but growing savings and even a travel fund. Good luck!!
KHaverstick - Nice job on the loss!
kcurtis05 - I Looooove your ticker, size of an appleseed *heart melts* Congrats!!!
sdavisneill - You are so sweet to take notes for your replies, haha! I love yoga! I started it last year, got seriously addicted but my yoga teacher (and acupuncturist and best friend in the entire world) is now training and working on her practice so no more time for yoga. :frown: But I moved this year and I found yoga classes on the beach :bigsmile: that I will be starting soon with DH. I can't wait, I miss it so much. And someday I'll touch my toes! Haha, I am so inflexible.
So I've been on MFP for 3 months now and I lost a pound at one point like a month ago (also gained a fair bit of muscle which I am working on getting back) but fell off the wagon and I'm just climbing back up now. I am having the hardest time losing weight this time around. Last year I was 10 lbs lighter which way less effort, I have no idea how to get back there again. I have been working hard on my diet this last week; cut out processed foods and refined sugars for the most part, cut way down on alcohol (I'm a lush!), started 30 Day Shred again and I plan to start yoga this week or next and also a dance class of sorts. I really want to do this so I can be healthy before TTC next year and be able to enjoy the pregnancy as much as possible. I'm so happy to have found this group, I need support so much and somewhere to just "be".0 -
Smores - welcome! We also had no problem with our first. It's shocking to all of a sudden have to deal with secondary infertility. I hope you get some answers with your upcoming appointment!
Kim - congratulations! What great news
To reply to the questions asked:
#1 - we had lived together for about 5 years before TTC. We always divided things equally in terms of household chores, finances, etc. (we had very similar incomes). I think this helped establish how it would be with kids. We also looked after our baby nephew about one weekend a month, for a year before TTC. I made sure to give SO lots of opporuntity to be in charge, let him figure things out for himself instead of always stepping in. With DS (3.5 years old) we really try to emphasize that we don't have specific roles as mom & dad, we have roles as parents. For example, I am as likely to go out and play ball with DS as SO, and SO is as likely to comfort DS if he falls as me IYKWIM.
#2 - we didn't have any consumer debt when we had DS. We have a mortgage and at the time we had a vehicle payment which is now paid off. Having a baby in Canada is not as financially daunting as it is in the US. We have no medical expenses at all associated with having a baby and we have 50 weeks paid leave (at 55% of your regular income) after the baby's born plus up to 13 weeks medical leave before the baby's born if needed. However, this time around we have spent about $4000 on TTC (diagnosis of IF is covered by our healthcare system but treatment is not), and may spend up to another $3000 before the end of the year. This has all had to go on a line of credit and if we do get pregnant there will be no money to pay it off. It is hard but we just have to accept that we will be paying interest on the balance until I go back to work when #2 is a year old. I guess the plus side is if we never get our #2 we'll have lots of money to pay off the debt, lol!
I don't have any goals to update, I am doing my weigh in's every Thursday so I'll post again Friday with where I'm at. I am having a much easier time staying on track with my cal limit, I don't feel hungry all the time any more and today my muscles are killing me since I spend over an hour swimming with DS, 3yo niece and 5 yo nephew on Sunday then did 45 minutes on the Wii Fit last night!0 -
Okay so, this is my first group. I have been debating joining it for two reasons 1. I'm not exactly sure how these things work and 2. I am trying to lose weight so I can ttc and I wasn't sure if this is the right place since I haven't started TTC yet , but I think that I am in the right place because I do want to start trying in May 2012. I wanted to start earlier but I'm going on Vacation In April and I was really trying to be married first. However, we are 99% (1% for the actual paper) stable for those who are old fashion
Age: 30
Where you live: Oceanside, California
Job: Temp worker, Nursing Student
Length of time on the board: New to boards
Marital Status: Life partner, 8 years... I'm hoping to get that ring soon (LIKE SOON) and the wedding will come and go fast!
Length of time you've been with SO: 8 years, on our 9th
Do you have kids: We are fur parents to one dog and two kittes
Length of time TTC: Haven't started yet... May 2012
Diagnosis: n/a
Do you chart your BBT: No
Do you use OPKs: No need
Are you on any meds for TTC: Prenatal vitamins, nutrition
Height: 5'6
Weight: 185
Goal Weight: 130lbs
Strange fact about yourself: I like the smell of my dogs stinky ears
Hehehe, stinky dog ears. I don't really enjoy my pup's stinky ears but I don't hate it. I do however love the smell of my kitties fur. They always smell like clean laundry or DH's cologne from when he kissed them on the way out the door. I could kiss/sniff them all day!
Where's your April vacay to?0 -
bump
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Hi - I'm Corinne
Age: 39
Where you live: Cherry Hill, NJ
Job: HR
Length of time on the board: a few months
Marital Status: technically single but I share my life with one very special man.
Length of time you've been with SO: 6 years
Do you have kids: Yes, 1
Length of time TTC:
Diagnosis: n/a
Do you chart your BBT: nope
Do you use OPKs: nope
Are you on any meds for TTC: prenatal vitamins
Height: 5'6"
Weight: 185
Goal Weight: 140
Strange fact about yourself: right now i'm completely addicted to wheat thins and cottage cheese...0 -
Hi! I'm Heather. I'd like to join your group if that is ok.
Age: 29
Where you live: 19th century circus capital of the world, Wisconsin
Job: SAHM
Length of time on the board: I've been on MFT a month or 2.
Marital Status:Married
Length of time you've been with SO: 3 years
Do you have kids: 2 girls.
Length of time TTC: about a month.
Diagnosis: none
Do you chart your BBT: nope
Do you use OPKs:nope
Are you on any meds for TTC: nope
Height: 5'7''
Weight: 157
Goal Weight: 130ish
Strange fact about yourself: I color in coloring books even when my kids are not around.0 -
Strange fact about yourself: I like the smell of my dogs stinky ears
may sound very strange but have you ever given your pup's paws a sniff. bet they smell like fritos... for some reason lots of dogs paws smell like corn chips - go figure...
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I've been thinking a lot about my goals and how to achieve them and I think I've come up with a pretty good plan. This is kind of a loose plan because I am actively TTC so of course a pregnancy would put any weight loss on hold. But until that happens... I'm hoping to get down to 145 by then end of the September Tribal Challenge, which is 4 lbs away. Then I'm going to take a couple weeks from any sort of "regulated" exercise and just do what I feel like doing. THEN on October 17th I'll be starting P90X so that I'll finish the 90 days on January 17th, my one year anniversary with MFP! And so hopefully I'll be at my goal weight at that time!....... Or be pregnant. AF finally showed up this weekend and I looked back on my calendar to see what my other cycles were like, and I guess July was just a weird one. It was only 28 days, but from the beginning of the year they've been about 38 days. I decided that I want to buy some OPKs to give me a better idea of when to BD. I'm sure it sounds weird to be trying to lose weight AND get pregnant. But I think the best thing for my body would be to keep doing what I'm doing until I see a BFP. Thoughts?0
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I have tried to write this post 3 times now.... WORK keeps getting in the way! haha
Anyways, to address the debt questions, I can only voice my opinion since we don't have kids yet... But all of my friends tell me that kids are WAY more expensive than you originally think (diapers, formula, wipes, clothes, etc)... So I think it's VERY smart to get on a budget and the like. My DH and I use mint.com, and it's FREE (YAY) and easy and does a category thing so you can see where your money is going... for better or worse.
Some money saving ideas-- Take your lunch to work, buy coke zero/diet coke by the multi paks -- DH refuses to give these up, and we can generally get them for about 35 cents a can versus the 75 cents + from vending machines. Also, we owe for nothing besides our house! WOOHOO!! no credit cards or anything. If you struggle with CC debt, i suggest freezing them in a bag of ice, that way if you want/impulse spend by the time you thaw it out hopefully the "buying" urge has passed
Also, www.daveramsey.com (he has lots of good advice) and lastly, DH and I make a game of it, and we have nicknames for ourselves-- Frugal Freddie is his, mine is Freda Frugality.... Also, we don't not have blow money -- you'd totally go crazy without it IMO. Just like dieting budgeting is in moderation
However, if we go to a nice dinner or the movies, we do it with a money savings way-- We subscribe to groupon, day deals, and the like, and we use restaraunt.com (usually buying a $25 off $50 gift certificate for $4) Lastly, we usually ALWAYS go to the movies before 6 pm, it's cheaper, for the same movie Mostly we wait and get it from redbox or netflix... oh and one last money saving thing we do...
This is going to be a shocker. We don't have cable! Seriously-- we have a digital box, and we get like 8 channels for free. Of course we stream netflix, (we have internet at home -- DH job and Mine require it).
Good Luck to all of you reducing your debt. I can say it's a process. We too have savings, and though I don't want to use most all of it for IVF we will......
Happy day everyone :flowerforyou:
Sorry I forgot to add my goals for the week: To post a loss on Friday, to avoid fast food this week (one splurge will be Saturday-- Free breakfast from Chikfila), and drink H20!0 -
have any of you gals had an HSG test done? if so how much did it cost? did your insurance cover it? thanks ;0)0
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:flowerforyou: Welcome to all the newbies! We are getting so many, that's great!
CONGRATS KIM! We love seeing people "retire" from our group. :happy:
I like everyone's ideas on saving/getting out of debt. It's funny you brought that up because husband and I have just been having that conversation on what things we could cut out of our lives and probably save us around $200 a month! But you (or rather, I) have gotten so attached to stupid things I used to never have: smart phone, cable, DVR....once you have them, it's hard to let go. I really want to get into a house ( we have a tiny condo right now). But I realized I don't NEED that. What we have is FINE. Plus, what if this TTC-business doesn't work and we have to put out a bunch of money like some of you have on drugs, procedures...adoption? We just don't know.
Oh and on another note I love that some of you are remembering first names! I'm REALLY bad at that so hope you don't mind if I keep using usernames.
Have a great Monday...baby dust to all...0 -
I had an HSG done last fall. I can't comment on the cost / insurance as we're in Canada - all diagnostics for IF are covered by the healthcare system.
It was a pretty stressful experience for me as I have an anaphylactic seafood allergy which can cross-react with the dye used in the HSG. I had to take prednisone tablets ahead of the procedure and the nurse had my epi-pen ready to use. Thankfully, no reaction! Unfortunately it did show one tube blocked. Almost a year later we are still TTC, going for a laparoscopy next week to try and unblock it or see what else is going on. Honestly, I didn't find the HSG to be all that useful in my case. It wasn't painful during the test, just a bit of a pressure feeling that totally backed off right when I thought it was getting a bit intense. Afterwards I took a day off work and my DS stayed at daycare until SO was home from work. It does seem to be the first step in testing, I have also since had a hysteroscopy which again didn't show anything useful. My RE told me that you have to "earn" a laparoscopy but in the US I think you could request to skip right to a lap? Ask your doctor of the advantages of one over the other.0 -
Lots of new faces! Welcome- Kitty, Puggle, Corinne and Heather
Smores- Have you ever looked at one of the check lists for low progesterone online. I finally looked at one and was shocked at how many of the symptoms I have.
Emily- Good questions! 1. My husband and I have just talked about it in a dreaming sense. We pretty much plan on sharing everything. We’ve talked about what we want and our ideas of parenthood since we started dating 9 years ago. We are totally on the same page and I think that is very important! 2. Yes we have debt. My husband just paid off his car so we are rolling that payment over to our other bills. We hope to be done with everything besides our mortgage by next year. (Just have my car to finish and a credit card we put taxes on.) That way we can focus on saving for adoption fees and other things that pop up, but we’ll see. I think it is totally doable, but things come up and set us back. I'd love to say we wil be able to b debt free, but I doubt we will be able to pay our house off early so we'll have debt for 27 more years- oh well...
Thedestar- sounds like you have a great plan. I think most people think it sounds weird to try to get pregnant and focus on losing weight but I think you shouldn’t put it on hold. I mean the healthier you are when you get pregnant the better. As long as you are losing weight in a healthy manner, I think all of us on this board would say go for it!
Mrs.Savvy- I love your suggestions!
AFM- I’m up 2 pounds! OUCH!!! I’m hoping it is just water weight from high sodium intake over the weekend. At least that’s what I’m telling myself so I don’t freak out. The students first day back is tomorrow so I’m excited to finally meet my classes and get going.0 -
Hello to all the new people. For the few that are not currently TTC - I am right there with you and everyone has been very welcoming for me, so don't worry. I am also trying to get healthy before we TTC. Well....... basically. I would love to start right away, but my husband is fairly insistent that we get healthy first. Which I suppose is responsible. Blah. :grumble:
As for Emily's questions:
#1: My husband and I have discussed that a little bit. We are fairly adamant that we are going to share disciplinarian responsibilities... we both grew up in "Good Guy, Bad Guy" type homes (My dad was the disciplinarian, his mom was). We work opposite schedules, except on Fridays when I work all day, and the one day a week I double jobs, so thankfully we wouldn't have to do too much with daycare. Though, ideally, I will be working in a job that allows for me to only work ONE job by next year. That's as far as we've gotten at this point. We continue to though... I am kind of a planner (that's definitely an understatement), so its kind of in my nature.
#2: Well, my husband and I don't have a lot of debt that we can easily get rid of. We do have some credit card debt (very, very little) that we HAD been paying down, but well... with the vehicle situation, we don't know what's going to happen yet. Most of our debt is my student loans, and unfortunately, those cannot be easily paid off. We do pay a little more than the minimum on the biggest one and as soon as that one is paid down we will move to the others. Getting those paid off before babies is unrealistic though, because that is going to take 10 - 15 years, no matter what we do.
Oh!! And I lost 2 lbs this last week! 0 -
Hi! I'm Heather. I'd like to join your group if that is ok.
Age: 29
Where you live: 19th century circus capital of the world, Wisconsin
Job: SAHM
Length of time on the board: I've been on MFT a month or 2.
Marital Status:Married
Length of time you've been with SO: 3 years
Do you have kids: 2 girls.
Length of time TTC: about a month.
Diagnosis: none
Do you chart your BBT: nope
Do you use OPKs:nope
Are you on any meds for TTC: nope
Height: 5'7''
Weight: 157
Goal Weight: 130ish
Strange fact about yourself: I color in coloring books even when my kids are not around.
I don't even have kids and I color in coloring books. I think it's relaxing. 0 -
Beth- Whoohoo on the weight loss!0
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Hello everyone and welcome to Corrine and Heather! Thank you all for your input on the debt and child rearing! It's good to hear other peoples stories about getting debt free (or close too it) it makes it not seem so insurmountable!
Kitty- When I am out of the Coast Guard (I have 1 or 2 years left) we definitely want to move back to CA. All of my family lives in Sacramento but I think we want to go back to the San Francisco Bay area. I love southern CA but Nor Cal is more my style
Heather-you mentioning the 19th century Circus capitol is very interesting. I am currently reading Water for Elephants and I think if I was born back in the day I totally would have joined the circus! Ever since I was a kid I wanted to to a tour with the Circus
MrsSavvy- I had to laugh at freezing our credit cards, that's hillarious! (not a bad idea though) We haven't used our cards all year so our debt is going down if ever so slowly! Thanks for the input about the blow money. Hubby and I just cut that out but I think we are going to bring it back just on a lower scale (just for dates rather than individual blow money) We also don't have calbe or the internet (we pirate it from a neighbor but it's very unreliable) The one thing i think we could possible cut now is to get rid of one of our cell phones and go down to just one phone. It would mean no texting at work but that's ok. We are currently using Dave Ramsey's debt reduction plan and it seems to be working well, we're just getting stressed because my enlistment is almost up and I really want out of the guard so we want to be out of debt within the year. I guess God has a plan so we'll see how it goes
Beth-Great job on the weight loss! I understand now wanting to wait to TTC but your hubby is probably right. Though, I know that I would probably be pushing to just "not prevent" for a while and then start to really TTC after losing a little more weight. But tha's just me
Thanks again to everyone with your wonderful input about childrearing and debt. Hubby and I have talked a bit about child rearing but we do need to sit down and talk some more so that when the times does come we're not just like "um, it's your turn to change the diaper"0 -
bump for later0
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As of right now, my family doctor and my OB/GYN are two separate doctors. I'm am comfortable going to my OB/GYN for PAPs, but I am not sure I want to stay with him when I get pregnant. See, I work for the hospital (in the lab) that is near his practice...actually, my family doctor is on the hospital campus as well.
Before I thought about having kids, I thought my OB/GYN was great. My PAP appointments were quick...in. out, done. He is great at his work, but I see little things that annoy me (as a coworker)...like the way he orders B/W and such. Those things wouldn't apply to me,and if I didn't work in my particular field, I wouldn't have the understanding for those things to annoy me.
My family doc, on the other hand, I see a lot more and am not sure I am comfortable with him looking "down there", but he is more compassionate, understanding, and I like the way he does things. He was the first doctor that I have had listen to me. When I told him I was worried about something, he checked it out. My friend goes to him for everything...her kids, herself, when she was pregnant...everything. And she loves him.
I just can't decide on who to pick...not that I need to worry about it RIGHT now...but I want to have some idea before we start TTC, Any suggestions on how to pick?0
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