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2003-10-08 - 11.50pm��previous entry��next entry
Shorter and shorter....
Wellll it�s Cycle Day 26 and my period just turned up 10 minutes ago, so that makes it Cycle Day 1 instead, and I just had another unusually short cycle of 25 days. Except it�s not so unusual any more because lately I�ve had quite a few this short, which is weird. I think it�s fine though, because it just means I get more periods per year and that means more chances to get pregnant per year I guess.
So now I we are into our fifth month of trying for a baby, and we just passed our �window� of June-September which we had fully hoped (and planned) to fall pregnant in. That feels weird but oh well. Today before my period turned up, we discussed the next few cycles, which was an odd conversation because we never thought we�d be talking about trying to get pregnant in the autumn or winter. I wanted to see if either of us had any feelings about trying or not trying in any particular months that are coming up. Like we discussed whether or not we wanted to try for a baby that would be born in July or August, since it�s a complete and utter nightmare to start these kids in school (apparently), in fact one of the ladies on my TTC board who is a teacher and her husband is too, has decided to quit trying until Christmas, just to avoid having a child in that window so as to miss the problems with schooling. So hmmm. But I think we�ll carry on anyway. We don�t want to miss any opportunity, and I reckon that if God blesses us with a baby then he�s got everything in hand so stuff like that can be dealt with okay. Plus there are some people at church who have kids all born in July or August, and their oldest two are 6 and 4, so they will surely be able to advise or warn us!
It�s less great in that I might be feeling grim at Christmas, and if we take another couple of months then also at all the family birthdays including our own, so that�s not so great, but I care a bit less now than I used to. The prize is worth anything, surely? The only thing I am still not happy about is the potential of being hugely pregnant and it being horribly hot and humid. If we have another record summer like this year it will be absolutely unbearable to be pregnant at the same time, and I still want to have a homebirth so I don�t know how that will work in the heat! But anyway, those bridges can get crossed when we come to them, if we come to them.
I have filled in all my temps for this cycle, now that I�ve looked at Neil�s little list of them! He�s been so sweet doing my temping for me so I haven�t had to stress about it. I was really surprised when I saw them. I have never had a cycle like this before, temperature-wise! All of my temps for the whole of my luteal phase (from when I ovulated till today) were either 36.5 or 36.6. That�s it! They just fluctuated between 0.1 of a degree the whole time!!! That�s almost flatline, which is weird for me. Also it�s weird because I rarely have temps so low after ovulation. I usually peak and trough a lot more, and my peaks are much higher than 36.6. My lows are usually no lower than 36.5 anyway. Maybe it was because this is the first cycle where I took all of my temps at the same time each day (except for 2 days in the whole cycle), or maybe because somehow it was different because I wasn�t stressing or looking to see what they were. I don�t think that can make a difference though. Or maybe it�s something else that I don�t understand. Oh well, it makes no difference, I still have my period and I�m still not pregnant :( Anyway you can see it on my chart, except it�s in farenheit not celsius.
I knew I would get my period today because my temp dropped to 36.3. I asked Neil if I could read my temp this morning instead of him, because I wanted to know if my period was about to arrive today (which a drop would confirm). 36.3 is low for me regardless of what my other temps had been so I knew it was coming. I haven�t been too crampy though. My breasts are still sore but they�ll soon ease off, and I think I have been less wildly hormonal this cycle in general � hooray! I have felt less hormonal mood-wise this cycle, even though I have had some serious emotions going on with Cameron�s death and subsequent events. It isn�t the same as hormonal emotions though, which I�m glad to say have been almost non-existent this cycle.
So that�s all I have to say I think. Bye bye cycle four, hello cycle five, and hopefully this cycle will be the one. It would mean a July baby, but Cameron was a July baby so it would thrill me no end for that part :) Not really thinking ahead about this cycle. I guess we try the same frequency plan as last cycle, which has rather gone out of the window lately with Cam and all. But yep, we just keep trying. We were going to get a home test for checking Neil�s sperm count but hmmm, not sure about that anymore. I know it�s still early days but we know we are almost halfway to the point where we can officially go to the doctor for a referral to a fertility specialist, so at least the ball can get rolling eventually if we can�t seem to manage it ourselves. But hopefully we won�t need to do that, and I�m just being over-paranoid or something. And it�s definitely still very early to think like that. I read some more stats, which say that 85% of healthy fertile couples conceive within the first 12 months, and 70% conceive within the first 6 months, so that gives us pretty good odds for the next two cycles doesn�t it? I hope so. Unless our odds are bad anyway because we actually have some fertility problem. But I�m not going there (she says, sitting �there� and saying it!).
In other news, I made a nappy for the first time in ages yesterday! I have new fabrics so it�s long overdue. I made a type that I haven�t made before. I checked all my patterns to see about sizing changes for making a normal nappy into an AIO (all-in-one) with a sewn in cover, and then I made something I�m really pleased with myself over! I made a pocket AIO!!! Okay now I�ll explain for those of you sitting there saying, �Huh?!� that a pocket AIO means a nappy that is made of a waterproof outer, a soft inner that touches the baby�s skin, and a gap in the inner layer so that an insert of absorbent material can be stuffed inbetween the two layers, making a complete nappy system which can be stuffed to any level depending on how absorbent you need your nappy to be. This is great because it can be made more absorbent at night and less absorbent (and less bulky) in the day. Plus the absorbent material washes and dries quick on it�s own, as does the �shell� of the pocket AIO. Fab huh?! So I made one. I used a navy fleece with white stars and yellow moons on it, and because I don�t think it�s a very water-resistant fleece, I sewed a layer of PUL (waterproof) inside it, and then a layer of sofffft yellow microfleece for the inner layer with a slit in it for the absorbent stuff! It seems to have worked really well. I reckon it�s a size newborn-small, because it�s tinier than I�d expected it to come out! I used my new navy touchtape (Velcro stuff) to fasten it, and then I stuffed it with a tiny terry (waaay too bulky so I think I�m gonna have to sew a special insert that�s the right size for it) and it looked great! :) So I�m pleased with my new project. I have LOADS of new possibilities with nappy-making at the moment, I have soooo much new fabric!!! It�s very exciting to me!
Anyway, that�s definitely it now. Back when I have more news! :)
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