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2005-06-17 - 10.23am��previous entry��next entry
Charting and temping and ovulation! :)
Hello! Just a short entry as Arthur is napping and I don't have much time, but I wanted to do the odd entry here until it's a pregnancy journal again - stuff related to trying again if possible.
This is my third proper cycle since having Arthur. This cycle I have been charting and temping again. I did chart the other two, but no temps or stats really. Just to see when one cycle ended and another began. My luteal phase is toooo short, way too short to support another pregnancy, but I am biding my time because I read that it's normal to have a very short luteal phase whilst breastfeeding. I hope it will lengthen. I get good signs of ovulation, but I wanted to be 100% sure that I AM ovulating, and be sure of my luteal phase length too, by temping this cycle. So I'm temping! Most mornings, but not every one. It's so much FUN!!! Hehe! I am such a TTC freak! ;)
I'm excited because I have EWCM these days. And lots of it. Which if you used to read my diary when we were TTC Arthur, I never used to get at ALL. I remember one cycle I drank gallons of green tea (renowned for increasing amount and quality of EWCM), and rejoicing because I had one measly day of so-so EWCM! Now I don't do anything, and I get 4-6 days of the stuff, fabbo quality, all yelling at me - "Gimme some sperm to ferry!!!!" ;) I guess having a baby has kick started what should have been happening in the first place, and I hope my fertility will show this, and that it won't take long to conceive again when we start trying.
I keep reading things that worry me. Like, luteal phases shorter than 10 days rarely result in a pregnancy - the lil blastocyte does not have chance to embed itself in the womb before a period happens. That is so sad because of how it would have worked fine (probably) if only it had the time to get settled. No problems with fertilisation, just the sticking around. My luteal phase will have to get like FIVE days longer than it currently is, to be at the 10-day cutoff. Yikes. I'm waiting for some encouragement to show me it's lengthening.
Also I read that breastfeeding mamas have a higher chance of miscarriage, because of the fluctuating hormone levels or something. Scary. I plan to be breastfeeding Arthur till he's 2 or 3 if he wants, and I definitely would like to have another baby WELL within that time if possible. It's scary to think that my risk is higher. Reading Jenn's diary makes me feel so heartbroken for her right now, and more scared at even the thought that something so crushing and terrible could happen to me. I hope it doesn't. I wish Jenn still had her bean. I wish she wasn't going through what she's going through.
Also Neil and I were chatting again last night about timings for TTC again. He needs to get in touch with the Uni about picking up his Masters degree where he left off (he deferred for a year when Arthur was due). He has a year left and it will be a busy one. He would start work and lectures, etc, in late September. He would have a zillion field trips and coursework assignments throughout the year, then exams in May-ish, and then a final dissertation to write. We both keep saying how we would like there to be a smaller gap between Arthur and the next baby, but the course is just in the way. The very very earliest we could have another baby would be maybe this time next year - June. But Neil would still have his dissertation to write, and we'd have an active toddler and a newborn. Yikes. After June we probably wouldn't try anyway over the July/August due dates. We'd rather give them a wide berth for school issues and stuff. That takes us to trying for a September baby, which is our original plan anyway.
I'm worried about the breastfeeding. Arthur is still exclusively breastfed (at 7 months and 1 week old! :D), and nursing is going wonderfully. I want breastmilk to be 95% of his nutrition till after he's a year old anyway, and have decided to pursue baby-led weaning fully (haven't mentioned this in my regular diary yet), so he could be mostly breastfed up to a year or more depending on what he wants to do re. eating. I don't want to have cause to restrict his breastmilk intake, and pregnancy is likely to do that. If I wait till December before we TTC then he'll be 13 months old, so that would be okay. But already I'm starting to worry about him even at that older age. Because even then, I don't want him having less breastmilk than he desires. I desperately don't want him to end up weaning due to pregnancy. And people keep telling me that I can't predict how I will feel about breastfeeding once I'm pregnant. I should apparently be open to the fact that I might find it too painful/irritating/difficult to continue, and want to stop. I don't even want to find myself in that situation!
Urgh.
So I'm not sure what to do about timing. And it would seem to suggest that trying earlier than December wouldn't be a great idea, since Arthur would be 10 months old when we TTC and maybe my milk could dry up before he's even a year old?? Not good. I have thought of making a mammoth freezer stash of expressed breast milk, and then he could continue having plenty of my milk for like 3 months or something? It's a shame breastmilk can't be stored longer than that in the freezer! I could have a whole pregnancy-worth if I start pumping now! ;)
Anyway. Not much more to say on the subject, except that I'm asking around at various breastfeeding boards to see what other people's experiences are.
And I'm excited because this cycle I had 4 days of EWCM, which cleared up yesterday, and then today, right on time, a HUGE temp jump!! Yay! I need two more days of raised temperatures to confirm ovulation, but basically I have been temping so long that I know ovulation when I see it on a chart. I'm excited to have confirmation that I have ovulated!!! Yay! Now to wait and see how long it is before my period shows up. I hope it takes its sweet time. I want a longer luteal phase. I updated my profile at Fertility Friend, which is still at the link to my FF chart on the left there.
Well that's all I guess. I have a couple more issues about baby spacing that are on my mind, but I want to think about them and maybe ask at places where people don't know who I am before I write about them here.
Also. I love Arthur :) He's the cutest boy. My brain boggles at the concept of having another person so precious in my life, like him. Also it's scary! Will I cope with two? I hope so. But anyway, this is still stuff way in the future for now. Will probably update again sometime soonish :)
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