And we're off...
Yesterday, friends, was CD1 of my first full cycle in 2011. *gringrin* Welcome to the blog of an entirely-too-type-A-pregnancy planner!
I wrote up a little timeline ages ago setting up things I wanted to accomplish during each month of TTC preparation. On the list for January are some pretty big ones, including cutting caffeine and alcohol entirely from my diet. I’ve weaned myself off “real” coffee by spending the last couple weeks drinking half-caf, and am now making decaf only in the mornings. *sigh* And, though I spent the first part of the month enjoying as much wine, beer and other alcoholic beverages as I wanted, I had my last glass of wine Wednesday night; and it is the last drink I will have for a loooooooong time, at least until ttc/pregnancy/breastfeeding is over (with the possible exception of a drink or two on our honeymoon trip in May, because… well, it’s our honeymoon.)
Alas, the last bottle of wine I shall enjoy for a very long time!
I have also prepared an incredibly complicated, neatly organized and color coded Xcel spreadsheet schedule of supplements and yoga routines in order to keep track of which days I am supposed to do what, and mark down which days I did in fact do what I was supposed to. I am using the following list of items (though not all every day - some depend on the cycle phase.)
*Prenatal vitamin
*Calcium
*Magnesium
*Fish Oil
*Baby Aspirin
*Mucinex
*Grapefruit Juice
*Pineapple (with core)
*Progesterone (this one’s an Rx and I won’t start taking it until our first TTC cycle, but I did go get the prescripton filled so it's ready to go...)
*At least 8 glasses of water a day
*Fertility Yoga
I am debating adding royal jelly to this list, perhaps when we get into April or May’s cycles (it’s expensive!). Also, if the Mucinex/grapefruit juice don’t seem to be effective I may switch those over to a supplement called FertileCM instead, but I thought I’d try these first. If anybody really wants to know what a particular item on the list is for you’re welcome to ask… just keep in mind some of the answers may be a wee bit TMI. :P
If my math is right and my cycle remains steady I should have six cycles this year prior to our first TTC attempt. I am very sure by the time we hit that seventh one I am going to be sick and tired of this schedule - but today it just seems very exciting. In addition to the supplements, yoga and copious water-drinking, I’m also resuming taking my temperature at the crack of dawn every morning and charting it, and using the OPK sticks around ovulation time to try and get a sense of my body’s rhythm.
Also, thanks to my new phone and its handy-dandy TTC calendar, I have been remembering to take my prenatal pill daily for the past several weeks. This is a serious accomplishment, you understand, because I am awful at remembering to take pills. But thus far I have not missed a day in almost three weeks, which is very likely a personal record!
Wednesday was also my very last fast food lunch, as that’s another vice I’m dropping. (Much to Shasta’s delight, as she thinks it’s a nasty habit, hehe…)
All I can say is that our future baby had better just appreciate how much his/her future mommy is willing to give up in order to start their life off right... *grins*
I wrote up a little timeline ages ago setting up things I wanted to accomplish during each month of TTC preparation. On the list for January are some pretty big ones, including cutting caffeine and alcohol entirely from my diet. I’ve weaned myself off “real” coffee by spending the last couple weeks drinking half-caf, and am now making decaf only in the mornings. *sigh* And, though I spent the first part of the month enjoying as much wine, beer and other alcoholic beverages as I wanted, I had my last glass of wine Wednesday night; and it is the last drink I will have for a loooooooong time, at least until ttc/pregnancy/breastfeeding is over (with the possible exception of a drink or two on our honeymoon trip in May, because… well, it’s our honeymoon.)
Alas, the last bottle of wine I shall enjoy for a very long time!
I have also prepared an incredibly complicated, neatly organized and color coded Xcel spreadsheet schedule of supplements and yoga routines in order to keep track of which days I am supposed to do what, and mark down which days I did in fact do what I was supposed to. I am using the following list of items (though not all every day - some depend on the cycle phase.)
*Prenatal vitamin
*Calcium
*Magnesium
*Fish Oil
*Baby Aspirin
*Mucinex
*Grapefruit Juice
*Pineapple (with core)
*Progesterone (this one’s an Rx and I won’t start taking it until our first TTC cycle, but I did go get the prescripton filled so it's ready to go...)
*At least 8 glasses of water a day
*Fertility Yoga
I am debating adding royal jelly to this list, perhaps when we get into April or May’s cycles (it’s expensive!). Also, if the Mucinex/grapefruit juice don’t seem to be effective I may switch those over to a supplement called FertileCM instead, but I thought I’d try these first. If anybody really wants to know what a particular item on the list is for you’re welcome to ask… just keep in mind some of the answers may be a wee bit TMI. :P
If my math is right and my cycle remains steady I should have six cycles this year prior to our first TTC attempt. I am very sure by the time we hit that seventh one I am going to be sick and tired of this schedule - but today it just seems very exciting. In addition to the supplements, yoga and copious water-drinking, I’m also resuming taking my temperature at the crack of dawn every morning and charting it, and using the OPK sticks around ovulation time to try and get a sense of my body’s rhythm.
Also, thanks to my new phone and its handy-dandy TTC calendar, I have been remembering to take my prenatal pill daily for the past several weeks. This is a serious accomplishment, you understand, because I am awful at remembering to take pills. But thus far I have not missed a day in almost three weeks, which is very likely a personal record!
Wednesday was also my very last fast food lunch, as that’s another vice I’m dropping. (Much to Shasta’s delight, as she thinks it’s a nasty habit, hehe…)
All I can say is that our future baby had better just appreciate how much his/her future mommy is willing to give up in order to start their life off right... *grins*