Then Comes the Baby in the Baby Carriage

I would like to start off by thanking those ladies who gave me their advice and insight on clomid. I have finally come to a decision and I feel really good about it.

I have chosen to not take clomid. Instead I've opted to go for a more natural approach for the time being. My husband and I are seeing a Traditional Chinese Medicine doctor and acupuncturist who we shall call Dr. J. I have previously seen Dr. J for other ailments that other doctors where not able to cure such as my IBS and random foot swelling. I completely trust this guy, in fact I consider him a friend.

He also has a track record for helping couples conceive. His most recent couple became pregnant this past Thursday after 3 1/2 months of seeing him. He told us their case was identical to ours and that they had been trying to conceive for two years. He didn't have to do much to convince. I much rather take herbs and do acupuncture then take hormones with horrendous possible side effects.

Dr. J shared the same concern as many of you did regarding the fact that my doctor was not going to monitor me while on clomid. The more and more I think about it I think I may want to move on from Dr. G and find another OBGYN. I've always seen female doctors because that's what I was comfortable with but I may be limiting the quality of doctors I could be seeing because of this "preference". Anyway that's my thought for now on my OB.

Dr. J said it usually takes about three months for your body to condition itself and accept changes (such as the herbs, change in diet, and building stress tolerance).  I told Dr. J. I would give him six months of my time. He feels pretty confident about this and his confidence makes me feel good.

Choosing to do this is a huge step because it's truly a commitment. It's a commitment to take herbs twice a day at the same time, do acupuncture twice a month, exercise 30 minutes a day for 5 days a week, cut out my caffeine intake completely stay clear of certain foods and eat an abundance of other foods. Take prenatal vitamins, fish oil, multivitamins, vitamin D, and coconut oil. I have to have a strict regimen if I don't I'm only cheating myself, my husband and my baby. 

Now this treatment is not only for me but it's for the hubby too. He will also be taking herbs, vitamins and acupuncture. His SA is fine but he also has a lot of stress, and from an Eastern medicine school of thought stress is a huge factor.

So I guess in a way I feel like I'm conditioning for the Olympics or something. This is huge for me. I have no problem with taking on a lot and being dedicated my problem is seeing it through. I can't miss a vitamin here, skip a day of exercise here or miss a dose of herbs here. If I do and this doesn't work I know I will blame myself. So I want to do this 100%

Our first appointment is on Friday to pick up our herbs, vitamins, oils and have our first acupuncture session together. I'm really looking forward to it.

I'm hoping AF shows up sometime this week so I can track a full cycle and note changes. I'm on CD 32 now and still no AF. I've tested twice and both BFN. So I don't think I'm pregnant. I'm just waiting. I'm ready to get this show on the road.

Plan B? Well I figure I have six months to think about it. I'll figure something out but I'm hoping I don't have to.

I had some interesting conversations with Dr. J about food and fertility. He's recommended a lot of black foods such as black beans, olives because black foods nourish the kidney which therefore nourishes our blood. He told me to stay away from peas. I hadn't heard that one before. I started to wonder how many foods are out there that are actually hurting my fertility so I did some research.

I found this interesting article The Fertility Diet by Lisa Turner which discusses food we should be eating and some foods we should be staying away from. I plan to do more research on this. I find it pretty interesting.

The whole downer to this what to eat what not to eat is knowing I have to cut out coffee, and caffeine. I have a pretty bad coffee addiction. I knew eventually I had to give it up once I became pregnant but before? Boo, sometimes it's the only thing that gets me through the day. I know nothing should have that much control over you but coffee sure does for me. I was shocked to read the following:

         "A joint US/Swedish study of 562 women found that 1-3 cups of coffee increased the miscarriage rate by 30% and more than 5 cups increased it by 40%.(1)  In another study that monitored 1,063 women, the results showed that those subjects who consumed 200 mg or more of caffeine per day (two or more cups of regular coffee) had twice the miscarriage risk as women who consumed no caffeine."

Here is a link to the article: Five easy steps to enhance your fertility

So although not the sole contributing factor I am beginning to think that my coffee intake may be a big reason why I'm going through this difficulty.  I'm the that person that has 2-6 cups a day depending on the stress level for the day. I'm so fired! Yikes!

So we'll see in a couple of months where this decision leads us.