BFN

Well, after a 4 day delay...."Aunt flo" came on Sunday afternoon on our way back from our beach vacation in Rehoboth, DE.  I have never been late so I was hopeful that the negative test on Sat am was wrong.
We are both really bummed and disappointed that the third time was not a "charm"   We are going  back to meet with our doc mid-Oct to see what the next step will be and what she recommends.  Until then, more eating healthy, exercise and continuing my acupuncture to keep my stress level down.  BFN suck!!!!  I sometimes think that it may be easier to become pregnant if I was a crack addict - I can't even begin to tell you how many babies I know of are born at our local hospital each week addicted to drugs - I am on the floor one day a week for a part of my job and knowing this just infuriates me.  Gosh, I guess I need to schedule that acupuncture sooner rather than later to de-stress and get recentered.  :( 

Fingers crossed that "third time is a charm"

We keep saying that the "third time is a charm" - I woke up at 5:30am and was at the doc's office for my follow up acupuncture treatment by 6:30am....we went for day #2 IUI  later this morning... much more cramping today than yesterday.... had spicy thai food for lunch....drinking more spicy fertili"tea" this evening.   About a month ago we read the book, "Making Babies: A Proven 3-Month Program for Maximum Fertility by Sami S. David " which identifies different characteristics about how we deal with life and stress and food and then gives a 3-month plan based on your "type" to achieve maximum fertility.   I am a combo between Stuck and Tired.  For what it's worth, this plan has helped to ease my craving for sugar, given me more energy and I feel less stressed.  Each type has a recipe for special fertili"tea" and bought all of the ingredients for both at our local health food store: 

Mint-Orange Fertili-tea for Stuck types
1 cup mint leaves                                1/2 cup red raspberry leaf tea leaves
1/4 cup oat straw tea leaves                2 teaspoons dried orange peel
Combine all ingredients in a small resealable container. Place 2 teaspoons of the mixture in a teacup. Pour boiling water over the tea and let steep for 10 minutes. Strain and serve.

Spicy Fertili-tea for Tired types
1 cup black tea leaves                        2 tablespoons ground cardamom
2 tablespoons ground allspice             Fresh ginger slices
Combine all the ingredients except the ginger in a small resealable container. Place 2 teaspoons of the mixture in a teacup. Add 2 slices of fresh ginger, pour boiling water over the tea and ginger and let steep for 10 minutes. Strain and serve. 

Enjoy!   I must say I was quite happy when we went to pay our bill today we saved around $50 by qualifying for the "shared help" program through our fertility clinic -I'll take a 10% discount any day since my insurance does not cover any treatment - woohoo! 

The plan for the holiday weekend is to be low key and rest and relax.....it feels so odd to be taking it easy considering we have both been working 2 jobs each for the past year....I finally turned in my 2-week notice at my part time job.  I am spent and just couldn't imagine another holiday season working in the retail industry...one full-time job is enough. I have learned I need to listen to my body more.....acupuncture has made an amazing difference with my stress and anxiety level.  I plan to go at least twice a month to maintain the energy balance that I have now. 

Thinking positive and happy thoughts and praying that this is our month.....  ~Finch

"Good and high in the uterus"

This was the quote from our doctor today who performed our IUI this morning. LMAO! 
Well, yesterday I went for acupuncture and by 5pm the ovulation test was positive with a big ole smiley face thanks to Clear..Blue..Easy testing. I don't know about you guys, but I am WAY over the "one line-two line" testing kits.   I strain my eyes every time trying to determine if their is a "faint" light pink line - this time we bought the expensive, "no-brainer" ovulation tests.  It's all about the little things, right?!  It even helped with my stress level this time.   I did about 15 minutes of meditation last night thanks to You tube and the guided meditation music posted on it.   I drank my raspberry leaf fertili"tea", ate more gogi berries packed into a smoothie with bananas and 2 large scoops of flax seed.  How much folic acid and energy boosting fertility food can one have over the past month?? We had our appointment mid-morning which went well (even with the new doc) - I must say it amazes me how they spend less than 5 minutes in the room doing the procedure and then we end up paying hundreds of dollars....crazy!!! Anyway, Finch drove us to the appointment and then we went to lunch at Panera.  I read this book about fertility foods and it said that after the procedure to drink warm liquids, hot soup, and use a heating compress for 20 minutes a day which will help with implantation, etc......so I ordered warm soup...hot tea and a yummy sandwich.....who knows if it their tips will work or not, but we are willing to try anything for success at this point.   Tomorrow at 7am is round 2 fertility acupuncture followed by our round 2 IUI late morning.   We are off to have a relaxing evening with Red box movies and more hot soup.....did I mention what an amazing chef Finch is?  She is so good and makes us healthy, delicious meals!  We now begin the TWW (two-week-wait.....)  ~Wren