~ Possible TMI ~
I started spotting on the 16th. AF officially showed up again on the 18th - this means the last cycle was 16 days. Four cycles in less than two months. 29 of the last 55 days spent in the company of everyone's favorite auntie (not including the spotting that has heralded her arrival each time). Now I'm starting to worry.
I have my annual appointment with Dr. K (the lady bits doctor) on the 25th. Hopefully AF will have mostly run its course and I will just be spotting by then because I really don't want to cancel the appointment. I need to know what is going on with my body. And I need to ask if the clinic does CD3 testing and whether they might recommend any other tests to figure this out.
One thing, though, that is different about this cycle - I was sick on the 15th with something akin to the flu. Nausea, chills and shaking, then fever, aches in my joints, pain in my head, neck and low back. I was not back to 100% on Monday the 16th but I made it through work. Then the spotting started Monday evening. Could being sick have brought it on? Or was it just weird timing and a coincidence of my now crazy cycles?
Friday, April 20, 2012
Saturday, April 7, 2012
BBT & TMI
Maybe I should title this post Should I Be Worried??
I started temping and charting with a BBT a year ago last May and at first it was great. I learned that sometimes I really do ovulate (at least the temps say I do). I also learned that my luteal phase is usually 11 or 12 (though once 14 and once 16) days long which made it a lot easier to predict when AF would come knocking - before temping it was always a guessing game.
Of course my temping isn't perfect, I tend to wake up too late on weekends. And some days I forget entirely, but for the most part it has worked.....at least it did until January of 2012.
My January to February cycle started on Jan. 12th. I didn't get another CD1 until Feb. 25th. That makes for a 44 day cycle. I have kept track of the arrival of AF (though not with charting) since at least 2007 and this makes the third 44 day cycle in that time period. Okay.....
AF showed up again on March 16th which makes for a 20 day cycle. According to my chart I didn't ovulate (not surprising). Then AF showed up again on April 2nd making this most recent cycle a 17 day one. (With, again, no ovulation).
I'm trying not to read too much into these short cycles. In 2010 I had a similar thing happen. AF came on August 16th, then September 3rd, then September 22nd, then October 13th.
I talked to a couple doctors (a family doctor and my gyno) a few months after the fact and they seemed to think it was caused by stress. (No testing was done.) Also, those cycles were much lighter than normal. (These recent cycles are full-on, minus the cramps I usually get).
Perhaps it is stress this time too. And it's not like my cycles have ever been regular anyway, they just usually don't come this close together.
All that just to ask you ladies this one question - Should I try to have some CD3 testing done? It's too late for this cycle of course, but maybe the next time I have a cycle where CD3 falls on a weekday??
I know Jendo mentioned these tests in a comment on one of my previous posts and I filed them away as something I should do when I turn 30. But perhaps I should do them now to get a lay of the land, so to speak? Or should I just chill and try to destress?
Here is a little more background and probably TMI:
AF usually lasts about 8-9 days. So for my most recent cycle AF started on Friday the 16th, lasted until about Saturday the 24th, I started spotting again on Saturday the 31st, then AF was officially back on Monday the 2nd. That's 14 of the last 22 days and it's not likely to be over until next Monday or Tuesday. Also, I haven't ovulated in four of the last 12 cycles.
To MN if you're reading: I saw that your blog is set to invitation only.....I hope things are going okay in your world. :(
I started temping and charting with a BBT a year ago last May and at first it was great. I learned that sometimes I really do ovulate (at least the temps say I do). I also learned that my luteal phase is usually 11 or 12 (though once 14 and once 16) days long which made it a lot easier to predict when AF would come knocking - before temping it was always a guessing game.
Of course my temping isn't perfect, I tend to wake up too late on weekends. And some days I forget entirely, but for the most part it has worked.....at least it did until January of 2012.
My January to February cycle started on Jan. 12th. I didn't get another CD1 until Feb. 25th. That makes for a 44 day cycle. I have kept track of the arrival of AF (though not with charting) since at least 2007 and this makes the third 44 day cycle in that time period. Okay.....
AF showed up again on March 16th which makes for a 20 day cycle. According to my chart I didn't ovulate (not surprising). Then AF showed up again on April 2nd making this most recent cycle a 17 day one. (With, again, no ovulation).
I'm trying not to read too much into these short cycles. In 2010 I had a similar thing happen. AF came on August 16th, then September 3rd, then September 22nd, then October 13th.
I talked to a couple doctors (a family doctor and my gyno) a few months after the fact and they seemed to think it was caused by stress. (No testing was done.) Also, those cycles were much lighter than normal. (These recent cycles are full-on, minus the cramps I usually get).
Perhaps it is stress this time too. And it's not like my cycles have ever been regular anyway, they just usually don't come this close together.
All that just to ask you ladies this one question - Should I try to have some CD3 testing done? It's too late for this cycle of course, but maybe the next time I have a cycle where CD3 falls on a weekday??
I know Jendo mentioned these tests in a comment on one of my previous posts and I filed them away as something I should do when I turn 30. But perhaps I should do them now to get a lay of the land, so to speak? Or should I just chill and try to destress?
Here is a little more background and probably TMI:
AF usually lasts about 8-9 days. So for my most recent cycle AF started on Friday the 16th, lasted until about Saturday the 24th, I started spotting again on Saturday the 31st, then AF was officially back on Monday the 2nd. That's 14 of the last 22 days and it's not likely to be over until next Monday or Tuesday. Also, I haven't ovulated in four of the last 12 cycles.
To MN if you're reading: I saw that your blog is set to invitation only.....I hope things are going okay in your world. :(
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Free To Be Me
I've been thinking a lot about the things I want to do before I have a baby and I have to say the list I've come up with is pretty boring.
Besides traveling and the remote possibility of graduate school the only thing I really want before becoming a parent is a little freedom.
The kind of freedom that comes from living on your own and not with your parents.
And I'm not talking about throwing wild parties or bringing random men home from bars. Those don't appeal to me at all. No, I am talking about the little things.
Like the freedom to do an exercise DVD in the living room where there is actual room to move without interrupting my parents' tv schedule. Or the freedom to have my bathroom be the one that is NOT right off the dining room. Or the freedom to watch HBO tv shows without worrying about my prudish parents coming into my room at the wrong moment. Or the freedom to visit a sperm bank website or to blog on here without having to make sure they can't see my computer screen.
I could go on and on with these "little" freedoms (I once made a list of them in my head and when it got over forty I lost count), but perhaps you get the point.
I want the freedom to grow and change, to get to know myself better without feeling the need to censor myself in my own home.
I want some time to truly feel like an adult before trying to raise a kid.
Besides traveling and the remote possibility of graduate school the only thing I really want before becoming a parent is a little freedom.
The kind of freedom that comes from living on your own and not with your parents.
And I'm not talking about throwing wild parties or bringing random men home from bars. Those don't appeal to me at all. No, I am talking about the little things.
Like the freedom to do an exercise DVD in the living room where there is actual room to move without interrupting my parents' tv schedule. Or the freedom to have my bathroom be the one that is NOT right off the dining room. Or the freedom to watch HBO tv shows without worrying about my prudish parents coming into my room at the wrong moment. Or the freedom to visit a sperm bank website or to blog on here without having to make sure they can't see my computer screen.
I could go on and on with these "little" freedoms (I once made a list of them in my head and when it got over forty I lost count), but perhaps you get the point.
I want the freedom to grow and change, to get to know myself better without feeling the need to censor myself in my own home.
I want some time to truly feel like an adult before trying to raise a kid.
Friday, March 9, 2012
A Compromise
First of all, thank you to those who commented on my last post - you gave me a lot of food for thought.
In fact I'm still mulling over your comments and will probably post more on them in other posts, but for now I think I have come up with a plan. I want to feel truly ready for a baby, but I don't want to wait too long so I have come up with a tentative compromise on when to start.
First I am going to try my hardest to complete the goals I call the Big Three (more on them later). If those are completed by age 30 then I will sit back and assess my emotional readiness. If I feel ready I will go for it. If I don't then I will give myself the time I need to get ready - with the idea that I will start no later than age 33. It's sort of a floating plan I guess, and it could easily change depending on a lot of things but I work best with a goal in mind.
So, the three goals I would like to accomplish by the time I turn 30:
In fact I'm still mulling over your comments and will probably post more on them in other posts, but for now I think I have come up with a plan. I want to feel truly ready for a baby, but I don't want to wait too long so I have come up with a tentative compromise on when to start.
First I am going to try my hardest to complete the goals I call the Big Three (more on them later). If those are completed by age 30 then I will sit back and assess my emotional readiness. If I feel ready I will go for it. If I don't then I will give myself the time I need to get ready - with the idea that I will start no later than age 33. It's sort of a floating plan I guess, and it could easily change depending on a lot of things but I work best with a goal in mind.
So, the three goals I would like to accomplish by the time I turn 30:
- Pay off my student loan
- Get a different job or an extra job
- Get a place of my own - whether it be a house, condo, or apartment
Thursday, March 8, 2012
A Question of Age
When the SMC idea began to form in my mind I arbitrarily chose age 33 as my target age to start trying. But after more research, and a heaping quantity of excitement, I convinced myself to move my target age up to 30. Now I'm not so sure. I have a lot left to do between now and then and just a little over two years to do it. So I made some lists of the pros of trying at 30 versus waiting.
The pros of Trying young:
The pros of waiting:
If anyone can think of any other pros for either list please let me know!
The pros of Trying young:
- My eggs will be younger, and may be healthier and more viable
- I will have more time to try
- I should have more energy
- There's a higher chance of being able to have a second child
- My parents will be younger
- My child(ren) will be closer in age to cousins
- My grandparents might still be around
The pros of waiting:
- More time to save money
- More time to carve out my independence as an adult before focusing on someone else
- More time to possibly find Mr. Right
- Friends and family are more likely to be supportive
- More established in a career
- More time for travel
If anyone can think of any other pros for either list please let me know!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)