Long Overdue Update

So a friend of mine recently started blogging. I then realized I haven't blogged in quite a while. Mostly it's because we are stuck not trying for now, but we also recently moved so much of my time has been consumed by that.

So let's see. What has happened since my last post...

We moved. Thank goodness! We finally got a house on post and best of all, it's a brand new house, I mean brand.new. No one has lived in it since it was built so it was nice to come in and have to do generally deep cleaning rather than clean up previous tenant's mess deep cleaning.

We bought a new car! Well, an SUV crossover really. It's a 2013 Dodge Journey. It was a pain in the butt to get it due to the first dealership we went to trying to royally screw us over by only offering us $500 for my 2009 Cobalt sedan (among other things they tried to screw us over with) which is in perfect running condition and has general wear and tear for a 4 year old car that has traveled from Alaska to Louisiana to Buffalo (and back and forth between the 2 over 2 years) to Disney World to Oklahoma to Ft. Benning back to Oklahoma and back and forth to Buffalo a couple times. It had 80,000 miles on it. You get the picture lol. We ended up going to a different dealer who was MUCH more cooperative and instantly gave us $6500 for our trade in and a helluva better deal (no money down and still cheaper than the other guys where we were gonna put $2,000 down) We also got to save on taxes since hubby is still a resident of Alaska. Woot!

I've lost weight! At this point I'm 1.5 months-ish deep into weight loss pills. I have officially, as of today, lost 16.3 pounds. I'm hoping to squeeze out at the very least 5 more pounds. Initially my goal weight was 120 with my ultimate goal weight being 115. I only have to lose 1.7lbs to get to my original goal weight so I think that one is pretty doable. I'm fairly confident I can make it to 115 too.

And last, but certainly not least, we have an appointment set for our new RE!!! We go on April 26th for our first appointment. I've been researching her like crazy and I really like what I'm reading. She so far seems very accomplished, intelligent, and progressive. And every patient review I've read says she is very nice, will take the time to answer questions you may have (and not make you feel rushed) and more than 1 said she didn't make you feel like a statistic. I still worry about the 3 IUI limit before moving to IVF, but I really think just 1 IUI is all we will need. (I hope)

So that is what is going on with me right now. Some more waiting but at least this time we know an IUI is most certainly in our future. The money is there and waiting and so are the meds. Just gotta see if they are gonna have me do a month of birth control first (which I assume they will since I haven't had my period since 1/18).

Shit just got real.

Cycle Update And Future Plans

I realize I haven't updated the rest of my cycle but it really doesn't matter. I had a hefty temperature drop yesterday morning and then right before bed I started spotting. I woke up with quite the flow this morning.

So I'm not pregnant.

Now I could go straight into my birth control today, finish a month of that out and then do our IUI after that but I just can't do that without losing weight first. The main reasons we can't get pregnant on our own are because I don't ovulate on my own (well, normally) and my cervical fluid is too hostile. I know that. But another reason is my weight. PCOS has been unkind to me in that department and when we first started trying for a baby back in 2007, I stopped taking birth control and went from 95lbs to 135lbs in a year. I gained nearly 20lbs in the first 6 months alone. I've been skinny as a twig my whole life with no trying whatsoever and now I'm just huge*. And I hate it.

So here is the plan.

I have a doctor's appointment on the 4th to get weight loss pills from my doctor. She had offered them to me back in July but I really wanted to try on my own because I figured with some exercise and watching what I ate and reducing my caloric intake, I could lose the weight in no time. Yeah, that hasn't exactly worked. I actually weigh 7 pounds more now than when I first started working out. I know some could argue it's muscle, but it's not. And I know it's not because I am still fat. I did lose some inches on my waist and my hips but it is slowly coming back and it's really not helping to motivate me to exercise. I mean, who wants to kill themselves 7 days a week for no results? I spent at least 7 hours a week exercising for little to no change and I think these pills will help me out for sure.

And before anyone starts thinking, 'oh you're just looking for a quick fix', well, I'm not. I know I am still going to have to exercise and watch what I eat. That is not an issue for me. The issue is doing everything right and getting no results. I need a little booster to help me along. I've read countless stories of women who use weight loss pills and rave about how they lost X amount of weight in X amount of time and 'I didn't have to workout once'!

That's not realistic.

And trust me, I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't actually need it. I'm no fan of taking medicine for anything unless I really need to. And right now I'm desperate.

And I should add this isn't a completely vain thing either. Do I want to look good and get skinny again? Yes, but that is not the only reason I am doing this (especially since if I lose the weight and then get pregnant, I'll gain about 20lbs back). The number 1 right now is to conceive. It's just not gonna happen at this weight and I can't spend all that money on an IUI for it to not work because I'm overweight. I got pregnant with Charlie when I was around 124lbs and I need to lose 13lbs to get to that weight. I'd like to lose 20lbs total but I think 15lbs will be just enough. I don't want to lose too much at this point because I know that won't help either. Another reason is health. Between my PCOS and my mom having diabetes, I am at double the risk of most people for getting it. Not to mention I ended up with gestational diabetes while I was pregnant cuz I stopped taking Metformin (I literally failed by 1 point). And I don't need any heart disease issues that are already elevated from PCOS too.

And I want to be fit enough to play with my daughter for extended periods of time and if by chance I do end up pregnant, I don't want to have to stop playing with her because I'm pregnant and too tired. I want to keep my energy levels up and being heavy doesn't exactly give you much energy.

Ok, and I'd also love to look pregnant next time around, not just fat.

I just hope she doesn't change her mind about giving me these pills because I really have tried to lose weight on my own and I just need help.

So there's the plan. Lose this weight, do a month of birth control to get any residual weight loss pills out of my system (and get rid of any potential cysts on my ovaries), and then do the IUI. I'm figuring this will take anywhere from 2-4 months.

*I should probably mention that I'm not morbidly obese or anything like that. I'm 5'1" and 137.1lbs. I'm just overweight. I didn't hit the 100lb mark until I went off birth control so we could start TTC 6 years ago. Up until then my weight was a near constant 95lbs. So while some people may be like omg get over it you're not that huge, to me, I am. I'm at my heaviest and I am now nearly 50lbs heavier than I was before TTC. Not. Cool.

You'd Think I'd Be Used To Waiting By Now

Between TTC and deployments, you'd think I'd be totally used to waiting for things. Waiting for ovulation, waiting for a birth control cycle to end, waiting for even a chance at having a baby, waiting for Hubby to come home etc.

I should be all cool, calm, and collected.

But really, I'm all like this...

Just confirm the damn ovulation already!!!!!

I think some of the worst of waiting during TTC is the waiting for ovulation confirmation. As if it's not bad enough that it usually takes me 149459397845 days to ovulate, I then have to wait an extra 3-4 days for a thermal shift to register on my chart.

I know, I know, 3 days is not that much.

Normally. 

But 3 days in TTC time is worse than 5 minutes in football time. It. Goes On. For-ev-er.

And then, once you finally do get those elusive crosshairs, you get to spend the next 2 weeks waiting to find out if your uterus will turn into a temporary house for your precious little baby, or if it will go apeshit and throw a huge temper tantrum.

I just couldn't NOT post this bit of hilarity

So that's where I'm at right now. Waiting to see if my surge was real and that I did indeed ovulate. My head is leaning towards no because my only "symptoms" of ovulation I've had this time around are my boobs got a bit bigger/fuller (of course) and the nips seem to be a tad more sensitive. 

But my chart looks pretty good. I had a temp rise yesterday morning but I can't count on that one because I took it way later than normal since the wee one was up for some unknown reason til nearly 5am but today's went up pretty good and I actually got the 3 hours of sleep I needed before-hand and I even temped at the proper time. (Ok, actually I temped 15 minutes earlier cuz that's when Hubby got up but it still counts as on time by FF standards).

So now, I WAIT.