Fit For Future Families - July 2011

Hello, everyone!

I just found this group and I'm curious. My husband and I are going to start trying for baby #2 next month (I have a beautiful, vivacious 2-year old daughter, and we got her on our first try and I'm interested in joining here—but would you hate me if it happened again? Quickly, I mean? I'm honestly hoping that it does—I have a short time-frame because of my career—but I also know I'm facing a lot more pressure and have changed my physical habits a lot since the last time. I'm not sure, exactly, what that will mean for my body when TTC.

I'm 36 (37 in May), writing a dissertation, teaching three courses and working in the writing center at a local university this fall, and going on the job market for a tenure-track assistant professor position (vs. part-time lecturer, what I am now). The dissertation/job search are both under time constraints, meaning stress and pressure (have to finish dissertation within a few months, and I can't really start off a new job pregnant, so that means I'd have to give birth between May and August of 2012—during the summer off of school—or wait another year). The last time I got pregnant, I was pretty overweight (between 200-210, and I'm only 5'6") and gained 40-50 lbs (ended at 250). I also had an uncomfortable pregnancy: severe carpal tunnel and hip bursitis (both of which I now attribute to being so overweight) and a lot of painful pressure on my inner thigh muscles toward the end—my daughter was sitting pretty low and was a big girl (10lbs, 8ozs!)—so much so that they still hurt afterward and the nurses asked me if I had a hernia because of the way I was walking. I did NOT want to go through that much discomfort the second time around, so I've been working on losing extra weight before I got pregnant again. I lost all of the pregnancy weight within six weeks—must have just been breastfeeding, because I didn't try back then—and since joining MFP a year ago and taking it as a slow lifestyle change, I've lost 40-some pounds. I'm now about 168.5. Still in the overweight BMI range—kind-of a bummer because I won't reach healthy if we get pregnant right away—but much better than where I was the last time. One thing that I think may affect TTC is that I've been training to run a 10K in September and increasing my exercise every week. That tends to throw off my already erratic cycle.

Enough about me, though. As for this thread, how do your goals/check-ins work? I tried reading through the posts, but there are so many and a lot of people seem to have been on this for a while and already know what's going on. I'm a little hesitant to try to break into what seems like an already tight group, but I'd also like to be in touch with others who are trying to be fit while TTC, thru pregnancy, and beyond.

Thanks!

I hear you GBOH! DH and i just heard of another of my cousins that is expecting, as well as multile FB friends from college and HS in the past few weeks. UGH! I think it gets harder to hear every time... :ohwell:

One of my BF's had a little girl on the 12th this month (and they were slightly (SLIGHTLY) disappointed b/c they wanted a boy!) and then this weekend if have another BF's baby shower- her first child (oh and this couple, they didnt even tell ppl she was preggers until she started to show at like 5 months b/c they "weren't planning for it" and "weren't really excited at first"!!!) Some people just upset me more than others... And then those friends that are pregnant, they just complain and complains about how they can't stand being pregnant, and they just want this over already... let me tell ya, DH finally said enough is enough, he said something to them about how upset they make me, esp knowning the TTC part for us, thankfully that helped a little, they don't complain at least around me anymore :ohwell:

I want you to know that I have you in my prayers and i know that the Lord does have a plan for both of us (to include babies)! It's just "all in God's timing" as DH likes to say... Thinking of you and praying for the BFP soon!!!

thanks elizabeth. i am praying for you too.

don't you just want to smack people sometimes? there is a thread on here that i responded to and said i was desperate for another child and someone responded that 'i should rethink that' and another person responded that 'people that want more kids are selfish considering the overpopulation of the world already'. grrrrr. i am glad your husband asked your friends to be more thoughtful around you. yay for husbands.

One thing that I think may affect TTC is that I've been training to run a 10K in September and increasing my exercise every week. That tends to throw off my already erratic cycle.

i understand that worry. i am training for a half-marathon in october.

another negative. i am glad i am going out of town this weekend and won't be bringing any pregnancy tests with me. two days and i am already a wreck.

p.s. my weigh in day is wednesday and it was 121.0. officially only need 6 more pounds until i am in a 'normal' weight range for my height (although my goal is a few pounds lower than that). c'mon 120!!!

AlisaToth - I don't really remember many side effects from the Clomid (it was a few years ago) for me except it screwed up my cycle. I'm sorry to say that but my normally 28-29 day cycles turned into one LONG 3 month cycle with no pregnancy. It was very exasperating for me because we couldn't move on to anything else. They eventually had to 'jump start' me. :frown: Of course, that was me. These things react differently with everyone I believe.

Thanks bhurley - unfortunately I already have 60-75 day anovulatory cycles and bc of our time restraints my doc is okay w "jump starting" my cycle if I go longer than 30 days

jalara I'm glad you have a plan. I know that helped me so much! After we went and had our theory about infertility confirmed, I was stressing out! My DH and I hadn't really discussed a plan yet because we really were just gathering info so we could start thinking about it. But the whole thing made me feel so rushed and anxious for some reason and I felt like he was dragging his feet. I finally told him (again) the plan I had had in my mind forever about kids and timing, etc. and after I let him process that a bit we were able to come to an agreeance on our little plan. So I hope it works for you! And for everyone who is trying so hard!

I know my DH obviously isn't going to read this, but I'm feeling all squooshy inside today because he's been such a good sport about all this BDing! He gets up so early for work and then yesterday went and played basketball until late and even though I told him this is my fertile week I didn't think he'd be up for anything, and he totally was and I just appreciated that so much!

And welcome to all the newbs!

Ok, so here’s the story of my first acupuncture appointment. (It’s along one, sorry)
First off I was slightly late, taking a city but on a busy street during a heat wave to get to an appointment is not recommended! I thought I’d never get there, but I did. They had me fill out a long form asking me everything from my health background, fertility background, menses, and then the weird things like “what type of foods I like to eat”. After filling out the form I sat with one man to go over it all, he was really nice and answered all the questions I had about acupuncture, and was the first one to admit that the concept of how acupuncture works can feel completely strange and overwhelming to a westerner. He explained to me that they look at the energy of things and that two people can have the same “problem” such as PCOS or Endo, but that they are possibly caused for different reasons, and that is what they treat, the reason and not the disease. Now this is what I got from my conversation with him, please don’t take what I’m saying at face value because there very well been parts that I misunderstood.
So after going over the form with him, and him re-writing key notes down for the main acupuncturist, I then met her. After going over the notes and form (they were very thorough!) she looked at my tongue (still not sure why) and listened to my pulse for quite a while. She then told me that she believed I had an under active liver (not in the western sense, but that the energy my liver was producing is low) and that I had too much humidity/dampness in the body (I’m still trying to understand that one). She seemed more concerned about the humidity, and told me that my weight was affected by it too. She gave me some suggestions on my eating habits, some of which made sense, others were a bit weird to me. First off she told me to eliminate all refined sugar and watch how many natural sugars and carbs I was eating, she said that for everyone she always recommends the usual of low fats, no caffeine, and alcohol, but in addition to those I need to watch my sugar too. She told me to not eat/drink anything cold, that my water should be room temperature at the coolest (between that and the no sugar, there went the frozen yogurt I wanted during the heat!). I should also avoid raw foods, to steam all my veggies even if it was for a couple seconds. So far all of this seemed not to strange, but then I was told to not eat starch and protein in the same meal! I should have protein in one and starches in the next. I like to mix my foods (salads, stir fry’s, casseroles, etc..) so this one will be difficult. So after all this talk, she wrote down a few notes and sent me off to another acupuncturist.
The needles don’t hurt! I had maybe 20 or so in and only one pinched a bit going in, actually when he took them out I felt nothing, I was shocked that they were out! It did feel strange to have one between the eyes, and the knowledge that two were inside each ear was a strange concept too, but I couldn’t feel them at all. I had to lie there for 25minutes and quickly realized that the lamp looking thing he put over me was producing heat, my stomach was soooooo warm! I sadly don’t have much to say about the actual acupuncture part, some people say its relaxing and maybe it will be once the newness wears off, but I was so curious and anxious about everything that I didn’t really find it relaxing perse. Well maybe next time, yup I’m going back, they have me on a weekly schedule, and will do this for the next three months or longer if I have to start IVF. It seems like a long time but I get that this isn’t a miracle drug that I just pop and instantaneously I’m cured.
So I’ll keep you all updated on the process!

For those that have been/are on clomid now...what advice can u give me? Are the side effects only prevalent when u are actually taking the meds or does it last the whole cycle? Should I expect to be a lunitic while I'm in Hawaii even though I'll be done w the dosage? I've also heard it dries u out so preseed has been recommended for me to take....should I take robitesson with the clomid and the preseed...I need ALL the help I can get!

clomid made me crazy, like marriage-breaking crazy. it was bad. i was super emotional and angry about everything. i could not talk with my husband without ending up yelling or in tears. i also had a headache each day. i become 'normal-crazy' around the day of ovulation. but hopefully you won't react the way it did.