Getting Fit Before Baby

[Fern81]

Hi ladies, reading along and loving everyone's goals weight loss and renovating, etc!

Missdoc I'm especially stalking for your tests in the next few days .

And IRYM to hear what your endocrinologist says.

I had a tummy bug on the weekend and ever since I've totally gone off sweets & junk food. Not that I was eating those every day, but I felt I was eating too many empty calories. So this week has been really good so far, only healthy foods. And I've done some exercise daily. Schools start again next week then I'll have to adapt my workout routine again and try not to get too lazy!

 

[MissDoc]

Bronte, thanks for the info! It's interesting to hear how that works and so depressing to hear the half of eggs are bad part, bleh! I hope you get good news about how many developed well!! Fingers crossed for you.

IRYM, I'm looking forward to hearing what the low estrogen will mean for you and what their plan will be for helping you address it. Hope you hear soon!

Fern, way to go on making this a better week! Sorry to hear about the stomach bug though, those really are the worst.


I have been a mess these past couple of days with health stuff. Starting to feel better but premenstrual cramps are getting worse, suggesting period rather than a BFP is coming. And I'm feel more sad than usual about that. I really, really wanted this to be our month. I have an appt with my obgyn tomorrow and I'll start talking to her about this fertility stuff. We ditched the protection back in 2015, but have only been having consistently well timed intercourse in the more recent past, so I don't know if they'll take me seriously yet but I hope they will. I'm 32, and no one in my family conceived past 24, which feels pretty dooming. Granted, there were lifestyle factors that likely affected them too, but still. Feeling a little pity party today over doing everything in the "right" order and getting my life together before TTC in earnest, and now that we are so very ready nothing is happening. Sorry for my whining, ladies! Tomorrow will be a better day!

 

[ireadyermind]

MissDoc - I can totally relate to your feelings! DH and I also waited to get our finances in order, get good jobs, buy a house, etc. before we started trying to conceive, and now we find out my body's so screwed up, I may have to resort to IVF... whereas my sisters both accidentally got pregnant before age 20, have lived off of government aid ever since, and never thought twice about it.

The only thing keeping me going is seeing that we now have a diagnosis of "low estrogen" and I'm going to be talking to someone about that soon!


Don't give up! If you're going to be talking to someone about infertility soon, you might discover that there was just one small thing that was throwing everything off. With any luck, it'll be an easy fix!


I had a dream last night that I was picking up medication from the pharmacy and was told by the pharmacist, "All it takes is one TINY little thing to be just a little bit off, and you won't conceive. I hope this medication helps you!" lol

My subconscious cheering me on, I guess.


Fern - Blech. Stomach flu is never fun! I'm glad you're through with it and able to get back to eating healthy stuff!


AFM - More house prep stuff lined up this week. Yesterday we had someone come and take some of the excess firewood in my back yard off our hands. Today we're having someone over to tune up the AC system. I've been trying to get a quote for someone to come out and pour concrete but haven't had much luck. It seems like a lot of businessmen around here won't work with a female customer. I might have to resort to having my husband call and make the appointment. Grr.

 

[MissDoc]

Thanks for the reassurance, IRYM. It's so annoying how easy it is for people who shouldn't procreate to get pregnant.

I love that your subconscious is cheering you on, haha! Hopefully it's right!

So I visited my obgyn yesterday and she agreed to do bloodwork and an ovarian reserve test (AMH test) and a sonogram of my uterine area. I'm spotting now, so hopefully I start my period soon. If I start today or tomorrow, then I do the labwork on Monday, and the sono is scheduled for two weeks. I feel good about doing this first line of testing.

Healthwise, I have not done well this week. Starting today, I am going to log all of my food and count calories again. I'm exercising 4x a week, but I think on my 3 non-workout days I'll add in some light cardio (like a 30 minute brisk walk outside or on the treadmill). I think I'm going to go back to good old fashioned counting of calories in-calories out. I know I don't do well with a very low calorie diet (I get headaches, mood swings, etc. if I eat less than 1600 consistently), so I'll be aiming to eat between 1600-1900 calories, which would generally give me a 500 calorie deficit depending on my activity level each day. I feel like my weight is just creeping up and up and up and I need to get more serious about it.

 

[ireadyermind]

MissDoc - So glad your doctor agreed to get you started on tests right away! I hope you have an answer soon!

Calorie counting sounds like a good idea. I try to do that with MyFitnessPal, but I'm not very consistent at entering everything in like I ought. Swimmy added me as a friend on there, and I like being able to "like" her status updates and whatnot.

If you happen to set up an account there, let me know and I'll add you as a friend too!

 

[ireadyermind]

Good morning, happy Monday everyone!

New weigh-in today, and maybe a new challenge this week?

Who is up for a weekly challenge? For a while it was just me and Ursaula, and now that she's taking a break I only have myself to challenge! lol. So if anyone else is up for a challenge, let me know and we can start one.

 

[MissDoc]

I could be a little flaky with a challenge, I'll be honest. Lol. My current self challenge for this week is to hit 10k steps daily, stick to 4x week programmed exercise, and not have any days where I don't eat veggies.

Any self challenges you're working through right now?

Oh, adding that stupid AF came, as I knew she would. Since it was late Saturday when it came, Sunday is counted as CD 1, so my labs were bumped to tomorrow instead of today (as it has to be at least CD 3 when they do them). So tomorrow morning I go for them.

 

[Mrs. Tigger]

Hey guys. I can't believe my eyes.

This is at 10 DPO.

 

[BronteForever]

Congrats Mrs Tigger. Wonderful news.

IRYM - I wouldn't mind doing challenges. I'm trying to go back to losing some weight now that this IVF cycle failed. I'd like to lose more before the next one.

 

[drjo718]

Tigger- oh my goodness, huge congrats!

Bronte- I'm so sorry to see that you need another ivf cycle. How are you handling it?

 

[ireadyermind]

MissDoc - Mostly, I'm challenging myself to make better food choices. The past week wasn't that great. I had ZERO motivation to cook anything! It's so darned hot, I just wanted to lay around in shorts and tank top and eat ice cream. Rofl.

MrsTigger - Omg! Those lines are wonderful at 10dpo! Congrats!


Bronte - Aww, so sorry to hear that IVF failed!


AFM - Appointment with the endocrinologist today. I hope I get some sort of medication or something! I'm due to O any day now and I feel like if I got a treatment started this cycle I might have a chance at a sticky bfp? I don't know.

 

[swimmyj1]

IRYM - i have been seriously slacking on calorie counting. i had the week off work and just ate when and what I felt like (bad me!!) but for whatever reason I didn't have one bad blood sugar so go figure lol. Dreading getting on a scale on monday though let us know what your doc says about getting your hormones fixed!!

A friend of mine just put her house up for sale they did a lot of remodeling and updating. they asked 40,000$ more than they bought it for. It entered a bidding war on the 2nd day and they ended up selling it for 65,000$ more than they had bought it! i really need to look into home reno haha

Bronte - I am so sorry that IVF didn't work this cycle sending you lots of hugs and thoughts.

Tigger - those are amazing lines for 10dpo!! holy cow I didn't get a + on a digital until like 15dpo i think!. Fingers crossed this is a sticky bean!

AFM - It sounds horrible but I'm to the point were I would rather have some high sugars but eat fruit, than be eating not as good for you food and have good sugars. Does that sound bad? I just cant take not eating fruit in this heat but its totally ok to eat a burger or hotdogs at a bbq and feel yucky from all the meat.

 

[ireadyermind]

Swimmy - That doesn't sound crazy at all. Lately all I've wanted is salads and fruit - or fruit salads! - and it really sucks that those are off my list now!


As for the meeting with the Endocrinologist:

1. She took the time to ask me about my concerns and symptoms, and why I thought I might have PCOS.

2. She discussed PCOS with me and some of the possible treatments aside from Metformin, but we ruled those out because 1 was birth control, 1 was a med that can cause birth defects if you're on it and you get pregnant, and the other one was just clomid and all it's for is getting pregnant if you're not ovulating.

3. She checked my thyroid gland and test results, and while she was checking my neck, she noticed I have a large hump on the back of my neck. Well, that's a symptom of Cushing's Syndrome, and apparently that syndrome has a lot of similar symptoms as PCOS, so I have to get tests done to check for THAT now, too. Eesh!

4. Lastly, and perhaps the biggest part of the whole thing... After I left, she dug into my medical file and saw that I'd had a diagnostic ultrasound done last July. Lo and Behold, there were cysts all over my ovaries in the ultrasound! And my OB/GYN saw them in that ultrasound and STILL told me I didn't have PCOS, I just needed to eat better. I was pissed that the GYN still ignored me after all my complaints about ovary pain, long cycles, facial hair, etc.!

Definitely switching to a different GYN for my next visit!

Now I have an official diagnosis of PCOS, for which I am already being treated. If I want to dig into the hormone issues further, I have to go back to the fertility clinic to talk to them.

In the meantime, there's the midnight saliva collection test I have to do for the Cushing's Syndrome. I could have BOTH of these syndromes and that'd be why it's so so so hard for me to lose weight, even when I'm doing everything right!

 

[Mrs. Tigger]

Hi Ladies

BronteForever - I'm so sorry your IVF failed! Is there an explanation as for why, or it just happened? Will you be undergoing an identical protocol, or will something change the second time around?

swimmyj1 - Good luck keeping those sugars under control! I can definitely understand the fruit craving!

ireadyermind - So glad you're getting answers. How long will it be before you know about the Cushings Syndrome test results?

MissDoc - I may have missed it -- what are you being tested for? Just the standard CD3 hormone checks?

drjo718 - Thanks!

Thanks everyone for the congratulations -- it still hasn't completely sunk in yet! I'm so used to never seeing anything but a that I'm just shocked. I keep staring at my test thinking, "Is that really mine?" And I'm so terrified of something going wrong that I am scared to get excited. I thought there was no chance this cycle as it was just such a weird cycle (I ovulated 5 days later than normal). I tested again today at 12DPO and on the blue dye test, the test line is now as dark as the control line. I also tested on a FRER and the test line is a bit lighter than the control line, but not much. I'm currently traveling and I'm 6 hours behind DH, so when I found out it was about 10:30 PM where I am and 4:30 AM where DH was, but I called him IMMEDIATELY. He was a little confused at first because he just woke up but is happy and sad that I'm away for another week and a half. When I get back home I'll be 5w2d (by my estimation), and I'll be in touch with my specialist. She wanted me to come in for an early scan and also get me in touch with a specialist to monitor my thyroid, but I've done as she instructed and started taking an extra half dose of my thyroid medication as soon as I got my

I'm starting to get used to the idea, though, and I keep telling myself that 80% of pregnancies result in perfectly healthy babies. I'm going to cautiously make my way over to first tri, but I will still check in here as I want to not gain too much weight during my pregnancy and I want to see how all you lovely ladies are getting on.

 

[BronteForever]

IRYM - wow even more tests? Hopefully when they are all done you will have more answers. How incredibly frustrating that you had cysts before that could have been a big clue and your OB glazed over them. Super frustrating and I agree it's probably time to look for a new OB.

Mrs. Tigger - I'm sure it has to be a shock. A very good one, but a shock still the same. I think being scared is perfectly natural especially after suffering a loss or taking long to TTC. But you are right in that the majority of pregnancies progress fine. Really hope you have a healthy one.

AFM - I haven't had a follow up with the doctor that was subbing for my cycle or my doctor. Both are still on vacation this week. I meet with the sub doctor next week to hopefully get some answers. I really feel they stimmed me too long and it messed up my eggs. But we'll see what they say. I won't know what's changed for the next time until I talk to my doctor on August 10. For sure I'd hope they won't go two days at the end for an ultrasound and risk over stimming me again. Apart from that I have a ton of questions to ask about things to change. Again we'll see what they say.

 

[ireadyermind]

Mrs Tigger - I'll take the test overnight from Friday into Saturday morning, and drop the test off at the lab first thing Saturday. That way me taking the car doesn't cause my husband to be late for work. And who knows? He may even come with me and we can go out to breakfast or something, after!

It's so exciting to hear about your BFP! Is this the first one you've EVER gotten? How awesome you must feel! I can completely understand about the nerves, though. With my BFP, I refused to tell anyone but DH and my mom about it because I was so nervous about complications and MCs. But try to stay positive!


Bronte - I always feel a little offended when physicians go on vacation in the middle of something important. Like, how dare they leave me!? lol


AFM - My elderly kitty hasn't been doing well the past couple of days. She's still eating regularly, but is super weak and wobbly, has trouble standing and getting around, and just this morning has started hiding in the bathroom in the dark... I'm so sad. I've owned her since she was a baby, and she was my BFF all through high school. She slept with me every night and rode around the house on my shoulder!

She's 16 - 17 years old, though, so I've been suspecting this for some time. It's just hard. I'm almost afraid to go in and check on her throughout the day.

 

[BronteForever]

I'm not offended the physician left, but I'm pissed i wasn't properly looked after in his absence. This cycle cost me $17,000 or slightly more (none of it paid by insurance). That's a ton of money for me not to be looked at properly. And I wasn't told my physician was going on a month-long vacation. The physician I did have made two very poor calls that now have set me up worse for a next cycle. That's a huge deal.

IRYM - so sorry about your cat. How sad. Even when it's expected, it's not easy.

 

[Mrs. Tigger]

Yes, this is my first ever! I currently need to break my POAS addiction! It's too early for major symptoms so I keep POAS to prove to myself I'm still pregnant. I need help But I've got even nicer dark lines now at 13DPO and my cervix is now soft but very tightly closed (unlike right before when comes).

So far not much in the way of symptoms -- just pulling/tugging around my uterus area and tension headaches the last 2 days. And this evening I suddenly noticed my boobs are sore and tender and feel "full" (if that makes sense).

ireadyermind So sorry about your kitty! I have two furry girls (sisters) at home and I can't imagine how hard it must be for you!

BronteForever That sounds terrible! Is there any possibility at all at getting some of your money back? In Denmark everyone disappears for a month or so in the summer. It's super frustrating.

 

[swimmyj1]

IRYM - I would be so mad that your obgyn didn't tell you about the cysts! for sure you need a different one! PCOS + cushings would make it very hard for you to lose weight I hope that isn't the case. But at least now you have an offical diagnosis of PCOS and can hopefully with some meds regulate those hormones out I'm so sorry about you cat even when they are older it is so heart breaking to see them decline. Both my boys (dogs) are 13+ and even just going for little walks around the block are becoming too much for them. Yesterday I had to carry my pug home on our walk (heart breaking)

Tigger - I swear I was POAS every day haha, I still found test when cleaning out my bathroom that i had written 9weeks on jeze i was crazy. Also don't put too much focus on your cervix I made myself panic all the time checking mine. I had to do vaginal progesterone so would notice that sometimes it felt very open. It would scare the hell out of me that I was gonna start mc. My fingers are very crossed!!!

Bronte - I would be really ticked that your doctor didn't tell you they were going out of town before starting the protocol. that is a ton of money to feel like you didn't get the correct amount of attention to your case. I would say something to him, even if you don't get any money back or a discount at least hopefully he would not to do the same thing to someone else.

 

[Fern81]

Well congrats mrstigger!!! Woohoo that is SO exciting!

Swimmy- just a month left, time is flying by xx

Irym- as difficult as it must be to get the diagnosis and hear about the possibility of cushings, I'm happy for your sake that you have a new dr who is taking your issues seriously and will hopefully improve your quality of life. And massive sympathy with your kitty my animals are so precious to me & of course in my life I've lost quite a few... I understand exactly what you're going through. Huge hugs. Hope she passes quickly without suffering, when the time comes. Xx

Bronte- that is just such an unfair situation. I hope everything gets sorted out and you get your bfp soon.

Missdoc- just keep up the good work and don't let a little backsliding get to you. X

Afm- trying my best to fill up with nutrients daily. I'm still ravenous every day, the whole day lol. Still doing well with not eating sweets/junk food often at all. My 1st trimester weight gain seems to have stabilized at 3kg. Also walking/doing weights/ core exercises as much as possible. I don't want to struggle with labour or losing weight after baby just because of laziness now.