First time IVF - Started Lupron last Thurs - Would Love some Buddies

[terripeachy]

How long is he going to be gone this time around, beagle?
Do you like soup? I bought a couple cans so I can heat those up for lunch, and also those frozen vegetable/pasta in sauce things are good and quick. Do you have a crockpot? That is also really helpful if you don't feel like cooking because it can just cook while you're at work and when you get home, everything's ready.

Hope he comes home soon! You can drink soda if I can ride my motorcycle. hee hee. I went for a ride today. If it's going to be my first or second to last, it might as well be a good one. The new, spring flowers smell so good along the roads. It was only 63 today and overcast, so I had to bundle up with my heated gear, but it was a great 150 mile day. I may go on ONE more next weekend, but we'll see how the weather is looking and how I'm feeling.

 

[JCM]

Hey all!

Kfs- the crib is so cute! Hope it was simple to put together! I did the pack n play and I got so frustrated. Now that I think about it I bet I was pretty funny yelling and cursing at it.
Love the ticker, Terri!
I really hope this nausea goes away soon for you booger. It can really ruin a good day!
Welcome MrsL! Hope your iui works for you!
Lady, how was your baseline?

Hi to everyone else! Hope everyone is feeling good! I'm floating around on fb too!

I'm continuing to do my bed rest. I've cheated a little...I went to my stepdaughters gym meet and also to my moms house. I needed out! DH also took me to lunch and costco today. Now I'm exhausted cuddling my dogs. DH has been doing so much around the house. I love it when he switches the laundry without me asking and I come into the room and my stuff is neatly folded.
I had a major fit about my cousin. She just drives me nuts and she's so rude and I think pregnancy makes me dislike her more. Does anyone else have someone that they really can't stand during pregnancy or is it just me? She's just so opinionated and cuts me down and I want to hurt her stupid face. I told DH to keep me away from functions with her cause I'll shove her, I just know it! Haha!
In other news I thought game of thrones last week wasn't impressive. I hope they step it up tonight! DH bought a fancy new camera so I'm learning to use it. Cannon D mark 3 something or other. He says he wants to take good pics of the baby. This thing is crazy. Best pictures I've ever seen! He took one of my belly today. She looks really low...I'm hoping that's a good thing. Although she doesn't feel low cause I can hardly breathe! I get winded just walking. Seriously.

 

[beaglemom]

Gone a week again. I do take soups cause it is easy but not as filling since being pregnant. I do like the crock pot too... But just getting to the point of preparing something is hard for me. I will def try harder this week.

 

[terripeachy]

beagle-Yeah, I guess soup isn't really that filling. hee hee. If I eat it for lunch, I am STARVING by the time I get home. It just keeps me full enough to not eat junk in our cafeteria or go out to eat, but once I get home, game on! Hopefully the week will fly by.

Jen-How many more weeks do you have bedrest? Didn't you say that you weren't going to go to 39 weeks or something like that? I can't really remember, but I hope you enjoyed your time away from your couch. It seriously won't be long now! Sorry to hear about your cousin. She sounds like she's jealous/insecure if she's putting you down. That's 7th-12th grade stuff. Grow up. hee hee. Hopefully you can avoid her for a while.

booger-Hopefully this is a good week for your subsiding nausea.

jkb-Yay for a doppler. Enjoy.

Not much going on here...I think I'm losing weight. I guess my insides are just working and working and I'm not eating enough to keep up. I brought tons of snacks to work today (cottage cheese, fruit cups, applesauce, string cheese), and already had oatmeal, so I'll try to keep eating small snacks. My fruit is still at home waiting for ripening. I bet my pears and bananas will all be ripe on the same day.

Hope you all had a nice weekend.

 

[beaglemom]

Terri - the hunger may start pretty quickly. I was shocked. I am not a huge eater most of the time...but very quickly after the positive, I started starving...I've been starving ever since! I brought some Campbell's Chunky to work...or Progressive...I don't know but it is supposed to be more filling. And I usually eat crackers with it. But I stuffed my bag this morning with all kinds fo good stuff to eat. And I have leftover lasagna at home & thawing out some chicken. Hopefully I will feel up to cooking.

 

[KrissyB]

:wave: Hi - I see this is quite an old thread, but do you guys still take on new IVF first timers?
Or if not - can I ask all of you with more experiences (and a lot of successes I see) a question? Did any of you make any dietary changes during your stim or FET cycles? Like trying to avoid caffeine, alcohol, gluten, dairy, etc? My RE didn't mention any of that but I see a lot of references online. Just curious what worked first hand

 

[booger76]

Good morning, ladies!

KrissyB - Welcome! The only change I made during stims was to avoid alcohol. That was because my RE says to act like you're pregnant during the retrieval cycle. I did then and still have one cup of coffee in the morning but avoid caffeine otherwise. I'd just ask your nurse what they recommend. I don't (and this is a personal opinion) think that avoiding dairy or gluten makes a difference unless you have a known intolerance. Any supplements or dietary changes that you'd make to try and improve egg quality would need to be done at least 3 months prior to retrieval to make a difference and it looks like you're closer to retrieval than that. Anyway, again, I'd ask your nurse what they recommend. Good luck!!

Beagle - Sorry DH is out of town again already. That's one of the things I love about when my DH leaves is that I don't have to cook a full meal and can just eat what I like - so I tend to go with salads, cereals, and smoothies during that time. I think I actually eat better when he is gone because I end up eating less. It's strange. But I feel you on not wanting to cook so I think you have a good plan.

Terri - I was pretty much symptom free until 6 weeks dead on.....Beagle was right about that. My nausea kicked in right then. I hope you can avoid it! I'm weird in that even with the nausea, I've had a good appetite. I just have to avoid certain things. My sense of smell is super strong right now too and certain smells are more than I can take. I had to go buy new shampoo, conditioner and body wash because the ones I had were too sweet smelling. Plus, I wanted to switch to the paraben/phalate-free kind anyway. Also, I lost weight pretty much up until 6 weeks. Then I started gaining it back. I was almost to my goal weight, too. It's driving me crazy to be gaining some back. I'm pretty sure a lot of it is in my boobs! I had to go buy some new bras this weekend too. Ugh. Bra shopping is the worst.

Jen - I would have to get out of the house too. I'm sorry you've been on bed rest. I hope the contractions have subsided a bit. And sorry your cousin is driving you crazy! I agree it's best you stay away from her!

jkb - Glad you go the doppler and can track baby girl at home now!! That has to provide some reassurance that everything is okay.

Hello to everyone else! I hope you all had nice weekends!

My weekend was pretty good. I do seem to be feeling better so I was able to be pretty productive all weekend. I mowed the yard on Saturday and did some other stuff around this house. Yesterday, involved some bra shopping and then more yard work. I also got the dog out for a couple of nice walks. Which is good because I need to move more!! I am freaking out about weight gain. I think I've gained around 6-7 pounds already. I am sure some of it is in my boobs as they seem to have doubled in size already but I know most of it is not. I think it's because I have been eating how I normally do but not exercising as much. I hope that most of the nausea is now at bay and I can start running more. I really, really don't want to pack on too many pounds - I'll be honest, it terrifies me. I know that probably sounds awful. So, now that I'm feeling better (most of the time anyway) it's back to more fruits and veggies and less starchy carbs!!

This week is going to be crazy for me at work as I have to travel everyday for meetings so I might not be posting too much - but I'll be reading! I'll try my best to keep up.

 

[LadySosa]

Good morning all,
Welcome Mrs. L and KrissyB!

Mrs. L - I am about the same age as you, but opted to do PGS. I had one failed FET. I have three frosties, and all three came back normal. For that reason, I'm not sure if I would go through it again, if I had the choice. Since we are young, the embryos will more than likely be A-Ok. But also it is nice to have that peace of mind! My next FET will probably be in June some time, I am now just waiting for the start of my next cycle to begin meds. Oh, and that is really funny that your doc is pregnant from IVF! That's so nice that she knows what you're going through!

Krissy - Welcome!! The only dietary change I made when stimming was to reduce alcohol intake. My doc said after FET to make more changes - cut out alcohol altogether, reduce caffeine, and then all the other changes as if you were pregnant. But then again, I am not a success story, so take my advice with a grain of salt. Are you in the process of stimming? How are you feeling?

Jen - Good for you for getting out of bed for a bit! I bet that felt good to get out of the house. I LOVE the pics that those fancy cameras take. I've been thinking about getting one, and I think when we have a baby that is a perfect time. You want high quality photos!

Beagle - sorry about your hubs being gone for another week. Good for you for trying to cook!

Terri - Yeah! Get in those rides while you can. We won't tell. I think I'm ok for now with the cheapies - I've got a few still and I am not even close to using them yet....

Amy - how are you doing hun?

Booger - are you feeling any better?

So my "baseline" appointment turned out not to be a "baseline" after all because apparently I am mid-cycle. Originally my doc told me "call us when your period starts. Or, if you haven't gotten it by April 15, then call us." So that's what I did. Then Friday I went in for the u/s and bw and my nurse said that my estrogen was high and that I have a few follicles, indicating that I am about to ovulate, and they can't start the meds mid-cycle. Argh! I could've told you that. That was why I wanted to start a few weeks ago. Blech. Oh well, I've gotta remind myself that my cycle is wonky and that it's not their fault. I just continuously feel like they don't know what they're doing and they're jerking me around. So frustrating, but at this stage, I'm not going to switch clinics.

Anyways, how was everyone's weekend?? Our weather here has been phenomenal! Today will be about 70 degrees and sunny!

 

[KrissyB]

Yay! Glad to see the thread is still active - Here's my backstory I have endometriosis (with two endometriomas on my left ovary) causing secondary infertility, no problems on DH's side (in fact his numbers are stellar). We've been TTC#2 for a little over a year and have gone through natural cycles, medicated cycles, 2 failed IUIs, No s to date. So now we're going the IVF route, stimming this cycle (Follistim and Menopur with Ganirelix later on), then taking a cycle off to recover, and if all goes according to plan - doing our first FET in ~early June. My AFC number isn't phenominal, but it's still at within the normal range. I'm anxious to see how things progress. Oh, and we'll be doing ICSI and PGS once the retrieval is done.

Booger - Thanks (and belated congratulations!). My RE is generally of the mindset that everything is fine in moderation at this point (although exercise will be limited closer to ER). I was just looking around to see if that was the norm or if other practices were significantly more strict.

Lady - Yep, just took my first meds last night! It's hard to say how I'm feeling because I can't tell if I'm still getting some endo-related issues from AF. When do the side effects from stim usually set in?

 

[LadySosa]

Hi Krissy- if I remember correctly, I started to feel side effects after just a few days of stimming - emotional, cramping, bloated. Your plan sounds very similar to mine. I did the Follistim, menopur then ganirelix. Then one cycle off before FET. It's hard to wait, but I think it's definitely worth it if you are at higher risk of OHSS.

 

[jkb11]

Lady- sorry for the hold up. Wonky cycles suck! Hang in there girlie.

Krispy b- welcome I personally chose to cut caffeine and eat healthy to try to lose some pounds prior to transfer. I have pcos and had a little extra weight. I managed to lose to my goal weight. I had Pgs done and eight embryos came back perfectly fine one was undetermined, where they just didn't get any results. If nothing else I think it helped me to be a step ahead. For example I was able to be past the caffeine withdrawal once I got preggo. Good luck to you! Btw- your daughter is precious!

Terri- yay for getting the ride in I was talking to a friend about losing weight in my first trimester and not really gaining yet and she said "that baby is just taking all the energy from every calorie to grow" you are doing great by taking the healthy snacks with you. As of this morning I am officially up 1 pound. I think as long as we monitor our calorie intake and don't try to lose we should be good.

Beagle - hope the week goes fast for you!

Booger- 5 lbs is a pretty average gain for where you are. Try not to worry too much. When we start breastfeeding these babies the weight will come right off!

Beside the only one pound weight gain, my bump is huge for 17 weeks! I tried uploading a pick and it said file was too big, I will try to get on the desktop and load it later. Hubby has been feeling her kick since last week! I love being able to feel her moving

 

[terripeachy]

Hi Krissy. I had been kind of winding down on my alcohol intake anyway, so I guess I cut back on that, and I tried to stop drinking coffee during stims, but really didn't stop until egg retrieval. I just had caffeine free hot tea and am still drinking that. the other stuff I don't know about. Oh, and my Vit. D was low so I started taking Vit. D, and always, if your nurse didn't tell you, you want to start taking prenatal vitamins.

booger-Yeah for running again and gaining weight. I'm sure you won't gain that much because you're active, but you are supposed to gain a little, they say. I wouldn't worry too much about it especially because you'll probably lose it quickly too. Have a great week!

LadySosa-Urghh on being mid cycle. What jerks! I guess this month you guys can try naturally. Hurry! hee hee. You're right about being too close to changing things now. One month won't make THAT much of a difference, it's just kind of sucky to have to wait when you're ready to go.

I'm really just ready for Thursday. I'm happy my doctor said I didn't have to return for a third bloodwork check, so I'm assuming he feels super confident about things.
My hubs told his mom over the weekend. I guess she's happy. He always call her late at night, so I don't talk to her much. I'm ok with that. I'll call her after we go to the doctor's office. I still haven't heard back from the nurse about doctors in the area. I hope she didn't forget who I am! hee hee.

jkb-regarding the picture, I had to email it to my work and then shrink it down. It's too big from my phone I guess. It's pretty irritating.

 

[beaglemom]

booger - good for you trying to keep up on working out. My one regret was not getting in shape before IVF so I was on a good plan to begin with. I kept my appetite as well only a few aversions. But I was in Walmart...a neighborhood market which is smaller...& they were cooking those chickens...I love those chickens...but that smell had me queasy the whole time! Did stop me from filling my cart though. I remember going in once on my lunch needing several things but only got the necessities I needed for a pot luck...because I almost threw up just being in the aisles...no smells even!

Like I said above, my one regret was not getting in to an exercise routine before IVF. Now I start my pregnancy with 10-15 pounds I know I don't need. It also always made me paranoid about working out since it would be an excerssion on my body. I also began almost elliminating caffeine about 3-4 months into the infertility journey...so by the time IVF came I was done to maybe 1 - 2 drinks a week. As far as alcohol, we are not big drinkers anyways. My dr said everything in moderation. And I think no alcohol after transfer. I was in treatments for 12 months. I basically decided in that process to limit caffeine because that is how I wanted my pregnancy to go. Saying that...my OB said caffeine once a day is fine. I believe that...just a decision of my own.

So as far as bra sizes go...for anyone who is smaller like I was...I really advise looking in to a genie bra. My mom had a ton...she didn't like them...but I started wearing them & I LOVE them. They wear sort of like a sports bra. So comfortable...my only complaint is the size of the straps & there is more coverage going up to my neck so I can't wear them with every shirt...but I can with most shirts.

 

[beaglemom]

jkb - exciting on baby movement! I can't wait. Right now I don't feel very pregnant...symptoms have subsided except hunger. So I am ready to start feeling him. I am trying not to use my doppler much but it is so HARD. I found him the other day & he kept swimming away! It was so funny.

I am at about 5 lbs in gain as well. I had a little gut weight already so I think my bump is more noticeable. I am a bit insecure about it...because you just feel fat at this stage & not really pregnant. I just hope it becomes more firm & I am not just a blob bump!

 

[Babywhisperer]

Hey all!

Kfs- the crib is so cute! Hope it was simple to put together! I did the pack n play and I got so frustrated. Now that I think about it I bet I was pretty funny yelling and cursing at it.
Love the ticker, Terri!
I really hope this nausea goes away soon for you booger. It can really ruin a good day!
Welcome MrsL! Hope your iui works for you!
Lady, how was your baseline?

Hi to everyone else! Hope everyone is feeling good! I'm floating around on fb too!

I'm continuing to do my bed rest. I've cheated a little...I went to my stepdaughters gym meet and also to my moms house. I needed out! DH also took me to lunch and costco today. Now I'm exhausted cuddling my dogs. DH has been doing so much around the house. I love it when he switches the laundry without me asking and I come into the room and my stuff is neatly folded.
I had a major fit about my cousin. She just drives me nuts and she's so rude and I think pregnancy makes me dislike her more. Does anyone else have someone that they really can't stand during pregnancy or is it just me? She's just so opinionated and cuts me down and I want to hurt her stupid face. I told DH to keep me away from functions with her cause I'll shove her, I just know it! Haha!
In other news I thought game of thrones last week wasn't impressive. I hope they step it up tonight! DH bought a fancy new camera so I'm learning to use it. Cannon D mark 3 something or other. He says he wants to take good pics of the baby. This thing is crazy. Best pictures I've ever seen! He took one of my belly today. She looks really low...I'm hoping that's a good thing. Although she doesn't feel low cause I can hardly breathe! I get winded just walking. Seriously.

Hey Mama! To answer your question, I get a lower tolerance for people and their behavior when I'm prego. I can go from zero to full on biatch if pressed and I am no shrinking violet. If someone pushes me on the subway (like on Friday) I get in their face. And as far as friends, when they can be flakey it really rubs me the wrong way...it's all hormones and just feeling irritable from gee I don't know, making another human being!!! It's all normal and it will go away. That being said, I have friends who have told me they got the baby blues really bad and either hated themselves, the baby or their dh's. I tend to get upset with dh (shocker). I was bringing in groceries this weekend for his friends since we invited them over for a bbq. He sees me walking into the house, my trunk still open with bags inside and he proceeds to get into his car and drive to the stores to do errands. I stood there dumbfounded. It's not malicious, it just don't dawn on him to offer help. I pushed myself too hard this weekend and I m only 26 weeks. You should rest up while you can! As far as baby being low, if you can fit your 4 fingers flat against your chest underneath your boobs and not touch the belly and that wasn't the case before, you are dropping my friend. I dropped a lot at 37 weeks from standing all day to prepare and cook for a dinner party. You might also start to feel (if you haven't yet) little surges of pains in your pelvis when you stand. That's baby's head settling into your pelvis lower and lower. I had them and was not dilated or effaced at all...then all of a sudden one day I was a finger tip dilated and boom 3 days later my water broke. I'm thinking of you and can't wait for you to deliver!!

How was everyone's weekend?

We watched Interstellar on Fri night and I was a human puddle, crying more than half the movie. I assembled a water activity table for Jack since it was 75 degrees and he is now obsessed with it. I stripped him down to a Little Swimmer's diaper then butt naked and sprayed him with water as he ran around screeching with delight. Dh's friends came over with their son who is the same age and they played all day, we bbq and watched The Theory of Everything...He so deserved the Best Actor Oscar for that performance. Sunday was my usual nest and freak out day. While dh kept Jack outside to play I vacuumed, mopped, and put away all his winter clothes and stuff he has outgrown and replaced them with bigger clothes and short sleeved shirts! I put away his hats and gloves which felt so good to do. I still keep his sleeping bag type thing on his stroller in case he goes for walks and it's chilly. Dh went to hit balls at the range and Jack slept 3 hrs again!! All of this playing outside makes for looong naps. When he got up we went for Crocs for him since he's going to be playing in water more, and he got a haircut. I wish I could find a barber that knows how to cut his hair...they all go too short and make his cowlick bigger by cutting top sections too short...I watched closely and see how they cut now so I am going to buy some shears and do trims myself this Summer. I don't want him looking older yet!

I took him for pizza afterwards and have officially become one of those parents that get embarrassed by something their child says. For the bbq I got a handle of Tito's vodka and Jack was obsessed with the bottle wanting to play with it thinking it was plastic. I told him it wasn't water, but vodka. Well as I grab the slice of pizza we are going to split, he sees a big bottle on the counter, points to it and says , you guessed it 'vodka'. The guy behind the counter looked at him, then me, then my belly and I got so red in the face. Yes, my son is struggling with saying his own name, but vodka...he's got that one down pat! Then we went food shopping for meat for the week at a market I only shop at for meat and we go thru the produce aisle and he starts pointing to fruit saying apple! I was so proud! He is getting so much better as repeating the words we say, we have to be careful now!!! So no real closet organizing this weekend other than Jack's which is fine. I vacuumed and mopped the entire house which dh says isn't necessary, but the first floor is so high traffic....I will be waiting forever for him to offer to do it so I am going to look for a cleaning woman this week...we'll see how he likes paying for it

Dh also told me to research a baby moon for a long weekend that we will bring Jack. I am thinking of Bermuda...or PR...need an easy flight with resort close to airport.

 

[terripeachy]

I can't blame Jack...vodka. HA!!HA!!

 

[JCM]

Hahaha vodka! I love it! Smart baby... DH really wants to watch interstellar and I've been putting it off because I'm emotional. We started watching the bible show AD this week and that's tough to get through. I did the finger trick and she definitely dropped down! I still have a tough time breathing but there's more room up top. I never really got a lot of the round ligament pain but I'm starting to feel aches when I go to get up down there.
Terri, I'm supposed to keep her in the womb til the 28th at my appt (I'll be 35 weeks) then dr will check my cervix and do a couple of tests and if things look good she said I'm off bed rest and if contractions keep going and getting stronger we let her come out! I'm so ready.
Welcome Krissy, my RE didn't let me have any caffeine or alcohol and have me on a ton of vitamins and medications. He was intense though. Good luck with your Stims! I got cranky on day 7

 

[ERosePW]

Ok, I've been keeping up, but just now getting a chance to post!

First off, Amy.... Hun, I wanted to extend my condolences. I was so surprised when I read your post. Just really wasn't expecting that at all. I know this is probably some of the most difficult times you've ever gone through, and I wanted you to know I've been thinking about you. Let us know how the fetal testing goes. I hope they are able to give you some answers. It could be that PGS would be a good option for you. I can't recall if you have any frosties left...?

Welcome to our new girls, MrsL and Krissy! MrsL, I hope your IUI went well, we'll all be anxiously awaiting news. FXd that it will work and you won't have to do IVF at all! If you do have to, I'll add you to the front page, but I think you probably have a good chance of it working. Krissy, glad you could join us as well. I've added your FET to the front page for June. GL with stims! This is a great group, happy to answer questions at any time.

Hello to everyone! Glad to see everyone is doing well. Although LadySosa, I'm so sorry you weren't able to get started. That would have me frustrated as well. But it will be here before you know it!

Anyway, just wanted to check in and make sure I said hello. I'm so enjoying feeling my little man moving all over the place. It's become much more obvious that it's definitely him over the past week, and wow once he gets started flipping around in there, he goes for a while! I love it right now, but I imagine when he's bigger, its going to be nice and uncomfortable, hehe! I have my anatomy scan on Wed, so I'm looking forward to seeing him again and making sure everything is looking good in there. We didn't do the materniT21 or Harmony testing since we did PGS and already know there are no chromosome issues. We did do some test that checks for neural tube disorders though... it was a simple blood test, so I figured why not. All is well there.

Can anyone remind me when the best time is to do the 3d/4d scans? We're def going to have it done, but now I can't recall at how many weeks is the best time? Is it between 28-32 weeks?

 

[beaglemom]

Hi Erin! My office has a sign & it says 28-32 weeks. I have not asked them what that includes. We have several private offices that do them...the kind that only do the 3d scans. So glad baby is moving around! I think mine will be a mover too based on when I look for the heartbeat...he swims away after only a second or 2.

 

[MrsL4]

Thank you ERose and LadySosa!

LadySosa - sounds like you had a great egg retrieval (I haven't read your whole story) - and thank you for telling me about the PGS. I have been thinking about that and split ICSI/regular IVF and how many embryos to transfer a lot! And sadly, haven't come to many conclusions!

Since we are paying out of pocket (minus some medication coverage), we are not looking at multiple cycles of IVF. Hopefully we will have frosties and will able to do that....but we can't do more than two fresh IVFs. With that in mind, I just want to make sure we do everything we can......so if something doesn't work out, I can at least tell myself we did everything we could!

PGS is pretty darn expensive (I am 99% sure my REI said 5k....it isn't listed on my cost sheet though)....so given we are under 30, I am not sure it is the most cost beneficial. I think it may make more sense for us to hope for frostie cycles. My REI did say that you could always do PGS after embryos are frozen, although there is a risk of freezing and unfreezing. Perhaps that may be a good option if we have some failures.

Regarding full ICSI vs split ICSI....I think I am pretty set on full ICSI for us (even though DH has tested perfect).....as our REI said that was one less variable in the equation. Although some people who have done split ICSI said their regular IVF embryos were the healthier ones!

I also still want to transfer two embryos but I know the risk of twins are high. (My REI said most likely recommend single embryo transfer) - LadySosa, how many did you transfer? (you mentioned you were in same age group) I may be swayed for single embryo if we have one with a great grade (even though many embryos take that are not rated highly!)....but otherwise, right now, I think I want to do two.

I think if we go through the IVF process, we will have stronger feelings once we see how stimulation goes, how many eggs are retrieved, etc.

Regarding lifestyle changes, starting on IUI#2, I really took a good look at myself and just realized I was not helping myself out at all! I had gained about 10 lbs over the past year with stress/depression over infertility. I truly had let it run my life. I didn't want to exercise because I was depressed, I didn't eat healthy because I wanted food that "made me feel better."

I am average build - but I started working out and going on walks, eating a bit healthier, taking a few more vitamins (it will probably be around 2 months of vitamins before IVF, but I can't imagine it will hurt anything), and we found a new church. I have felt much better emotionally since I started all of those things.

It is really important to take care of yourself in all realms - emotionally, spiritually, and physically.

And the best hope, is that I will get a BFP .....hopefully from this IUI, or if not, IVF....and I will be in good shape for pregnancy!

I still drink one to two coffees a day.....and I still drink a glass red wine 1-3 times a week. I rarely drink beer or hard liquor. In the beginning of TTC, I wasn't drinking in the TWW....but after a while, that got pretty old. Especially since I was never drinking that much.... I enjoy a margarita with the girls, or a glass of wine on the weekend. I think moderation is key.

I haven't restricted my diet (aside from eating healthier).....and I haven't read much on how that influences fertility, so I am not the best person to ask about that.


Glad to hear the rest of y'all are doing well!