Okay, I have been temping and charting, and I do appear to have ovulated! I wasn't sure at first as my temps rose gradually rather than one big spike the day after ovulation, but I got my coverline today and I am 3 days past ovulation. The parsnips was the night before I ovulated! If my luteal phase is anywhere near 10 days then I think we might have a very good chance of actually (pause to breathe!) being pregnant this cycle! Two things though - my LP is actually very UNlikely to be near 10 days yet, but I honestly have no idea (frustrating!) as I haven't been charting! I wish I had been now! Last cycle, the one that was really long, my last patch of EWCM indicates that if I DID ovulate (I may not have in the end), I could have had an 8-day luteal phase. That's one of the reasons why I am not convinced I really did ovulate, because 8 days seems longer than I would expect for my 2nd/3rd cycle postpartum. I'm usually 4 days for a couple of cycles and then maybe 6 at best on the 3rd. But then, who knows! Things are rather different already this time, compared with the other three times!
The other thing is that I typically have a chemical pregnancy before a normal one, so I am a bit apprehensive about that. I should not not not be thinking of a little bundle of cells dividing rapidly as it rolls along! But sometimes I confess I wonder... Anyway, we'll see. I just wanted to update that I have ovulated and now it depends on my LP as to whether I could have a chance of being pregnant again or not.
Other weird things of note (weird because it's WAY too early, and when they started I didn't even think I had ovulated yet) are that I am abnormally hungry all the time, today, yesterday and the day before. So literally since the day after I ovulated really. I wonder if Benjamin is having a growth spurt, although he isn't feeding more than usual at the moment. My tummy is scrunching with hunger a good hour before all my meals, and when I do eat my meals they feel like starters in my tummy and I feel like I could eat a whole 'nother meal!
Last night and the night before I have woken in the morning from crazy vivid dreams, which I know are hormone-related. Usually they are pregnancy related (later on than this, obviously!) but occasionally can be just cycle-related in my LP for me too, so I think it's that my hormones have changed after ovulating. I have some spots on my face too, which for me is hormone-related. When my period is about to arrive (in a couple of days) I get them on my neck, but I don't have any of those, just these ones on my face. So I know they are hormone-related but not my usual. I'm not sure what to make of those this early in my LP.
I am on the lookout for signs that my period is about to start - even this early. If I have a 4-day LP for example, I'll get my period the day after tomorrow, so pre-period signs could well be starting today. These weird signs have been here a few days since I ovulated though, so I think they're just an indication of my hormones changing after ovulation.
I'm fairly excited, though also disbelieving and not REALLY expecting pregnancy as a result. I love the chart-stalking and symptom-spotting stage though, so I'm excited, and it IS a definite possibility with the parsnips. Just have no idea about the LP though. I will update again soon! Maybe my temp will drop soon to indicate that my period will come? I will have to wait and see! I added a link to my chart at the side after requests! ;) Thanks for the comments last entry! I will keep you posted!
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Temping
Just wanted to note here that I have decided to temp this cycle, but only once I notice the first fertile signs, so that I can see if I ovulate after EWCM. Last cycle was so long and drawn out, and I had various patches of EWCM throughout the cycle, most (or all?!) of which never did end up resulting in ovulation! So I think I would prefer to know one way or the other this cycle. I just like to know what is going on with my body.
So I'm on CD21 today and already day 4 of EWCM! Much more like my norm - well, as normal as it ever gets postpartum for me! It's also much more "definite" than some of the EWCM last cycle. I just mean that it's looking to me like what I usually get in the run-up to ovulation, so perhaps I will?
Sooo with that in mind, I have just started temping again! I find it so much fun, and it's really NOT that exciting, so I have no idea why it just IS for me, lol! But it is :) Maybe it's remnant of "the chase" from previous times hoping or trying for a baby?! I am doing what I did after my other babies - I wake several/many times a night with the baby to feed him, and he ends up staying in bed with me from somewhere or other in the middle of the night, so I don't have to really wake up all that much when he feeds. Around 6am he is more persistantly fidgetty and usually I wake up enough to realise he's not taking the 7th or 8th breast I'm pushing towards him about 10 minutes later! ;) So that's when I temp. Once I know it's the "up for the day" feed, that's when I do it. Even if I was also up at 5am. For me, it doesn't appear to skew my chart, it has always given me a clear biphasic ovulatory pattern even with the night wakings or less than an hour's sleep before temping, etc - all those rules that you're not meant to break! ;) Thankfully it works for me to do it anyway.
So I started temping! And, um, something else...! ;) Now, it LOOKS like we timed that, I know, but we really did not think about babies at all, honestly! It's good to get back to parsnips, and I really think we should have a lot sooner than this! Now, God has made my hormones so that it's precisely when I'm fertile that I will be likely to partake of the aforementioned root vegetables, and we have no intention of even thinking about birth control this time. I mean, I didn't last time (before Benjamin), but Neil did. This time it's not even in our thoughts, which is lovely lovely lovely! :) So, I'm pretty sure that my luteal phase is still very short. I'm only 6 months postpartum, and that is when (all the other times!) I usually get my FIRST postpartum period! This is my third cycle now. I'm not particularly planning to "chart watch" (Oh who am I kidding??!?! You know me! (lots of you do, anyway, lol!)) but I will be interested to see a) when I ovulate this cycle, and b) how long my luteal phase is. I'm looking forward to temping to see for sure too! :)
I can't think of anything else of relevance right now... Oh except my mum said on the phone the other night that if I DO ever get pregnant again, it will of course be an ACCIDENT. Because after 4 babies, a fifth time would HAVE to be an accident. Even though she knows that isn't how we feel! *sigh*
And I am waiting to be an auntie again! :) Bennie (my brother) and Sarah are expecting their second little one around Feb 4th!! Excitement! She was almost 2 weeks past her due date last time, so it may be a while yet, but yay how exciting!!!! I can't wait for newwwws, and gender and name (they're keeping it a surprise!), and newborn snuggles! They came over here last weekend to pick up an infant carseat and my TENS machine and some Moses basket sheets. And my Hugabub (and Shannon's homemade baby sling, by the way - thanks Shannon, it'll be put to good use!!) too! Sarah looks really well. Soooo much smaller than I ever am at the end of pregnancy, but she carries so much more neatly than I do! Thea is their first, and she's 2 and a half now. She is as tall as Matthew (3.5 and very petite!) and talks more clearly than he does too. She seems closer in age to Arthur than Matthew, in many ways, but she's actually in between Matthew and Nathan. She is potty trained too. Arthur amused me after they went, commenting that Thea will be getting a baby brother or sister "at last", haha! I guess for him, it isn't normal to "have to wait" till you're two-and-a-half before you become a big brother or sister! ;) He doesn't know it's the average normal age-gap, hehe!
Okay, must go to bed now. But I wanted to update about the temping and chart-related stuff tonight. I'll post again another time probably!
So I'm on CD21 today and already day 4 of EWCM! Much more like my norm - well, as normal as it ever gets postpartum for me! It's also much more "definite" than some of the EWCM last cycle. I just mean that it's looking to me like what I usually get in the run-up to ovulation, so perhaps I will?
Sooo with that in mind, I have just started temping again! I find it so much fun, and it's really NOT that exciting, so I have no idea why it just IS for me, lol! But it is :) Maybe it's remnant of "the chase" from previous times hoping or trying for a baby?! I am doing what I did after my other babies - I wake several/many times a night with the baby to feed him, and he ends up staying in bed with me from somewhere or other in the middle of the night, so I don't have to really wake up all that much when he feeds. Around 6am he is more persistantly fidgetty and usually I wake up enough to realise he's not taking the 7th or 8th breast I'm pushing towards him about 10 minutes later! ;) So that's when I temp. Once I know it's the "up for the day" feed, that's when I do it. Even if I was also up at 5am. For me, it doesn't appear to skew my chart, it has always given me a clear biphasic ovulatory pattern even with the night wakings or less than an hour's sleep before temping, etc - all those rules that you're not meant to break! ;) Thankfully it works for me to do it anyway.
So I started temping! And, um, something else...! ;) Now, it LOOKS like we timed that, I know, but we really did not think about babies at all, honestly! It's good to get back to parsnips, and I really think we should have a lot sooner than this! Now, God has made my hormones so that it's precisely when I'm fertile that I will be likely to partake of the aforementioned root vegetables, and we have no intention of even thinking about birth control this time. I mean, I didn't last time (before Benjamin), but Neil did. This time it's not even in our thoughts, which is lovely lovely lovely! :) So, I'm pretty sure that my luteal phase is still very short. I'm only 6 months postpartum, and that is when (all the other times!) I usually get my FIRST postpartum period! This is my third cycle now. I'm not particularly planning to "chart watch" (Oh who am I kidding??!?! You know me! (lots of you do, anyway, lol!)) but I will be interested to see a) when I ovulate this cycle, and b) how long my luteal phase is. I'm looking forward to temping to see for sure too! :)
I can't think of anything else of relevance right now... Oh except my mum said on the phone the other night that if I DO ever get pregnant again, it will of course be an ACCIDENT. Because after 4 babies, a fifth time would HAVE to be an accident. Even though she knows that isn't how we feel! *sigh*
And I am waiting to be an auntie again! :) Bennie (my brother) and Sarah are expecting their second little one around Feb 4th!! Excitement! She was almost 2 weeks past her due date last time, so it may be a while yet, but yay how exciting!!!! I can't wait for newwwws, and gender and name (they're keeping it a surprise!), and newborn snuggles! They came over here last weekend to pick up an infant carseat and my TENS machine and some Moses basket sheets. And my Hugabub (and Shannon's homemade baby sling, by the way - thanks Shannon, it'll be put to good use!!) too! Sarah looks really well. Soooo much smaller than I ever am at the end of pregnancy, but she carries so much more neatly than I do! Thea is their first, and she's 2 and a half now. She is as tall as Matthew (3.5 and very petite!) and talks more clearly than he does too. She seems closer in age to Arthur than Matthew, in many ways, but she's actually in between Matthew and Nathan. She is potty trained too. Arthur amused me after they went, commenting that Thea will be getting a baby brother or sister "at last", haha! I guess for him, it isn't normal to "have to wait" till you're two-and-a-half before you become a big brother or sister! ;) He doesn't know it's the average normal age-gap, hehe!
Okay, must go to bed now. But I wanted to update about the temping and chart-related stuff tonight. I'll post again another time probably!
Friday, January 22, 2010
Wacky cycle!
Well my endless cycle finally came to an end! ;) My last cycle was a crazy 63 days long! I have never had a cycle like that before, even after having a baby. I am not sure if I ovulated at all, but I did have EWCM vaguely in a window before getting my period, so I could have ovulated at that time. I think if I did, it would have given me roughly an 8-day luteal phase, so that could be about right for me? Maybe.
Anyway, I am currently already on CD17 of this current cycle, and hoping this one is less wacky and long! By the end of last cycle, I was tempted to start taking my temperature again in the mornings, just so I would have a better understanding of what my cycle was doing as it went along, but I'm not sure if I want to get back to that yet. I guess I could do if I start to get fertile signs, just to see if I do ovulate or not after those signs disappear again. Then at least I'd know if I was waiting for my period to show or just waiting for ovulation still! Now, there's no real point getting too interested in my chart (and I'm talking to myself here) because with Neil's extra hours and stress at work (LOTS of stress, ugh), and me just being tiiiired and busy and tending to wakeful littlies through the evenings, there is still no PP parsnips (still!). Need to fix that, but yeah, no chance of another pregnancy yet in any case! ;)
Lately I have wondered about how fertile my body might be - as in, whether my luteal phase is starting to lengthen, how many more cycles it might be before it is back to normal, etc. And the thought of getting pregnant again RIGHT NOW was unexpectedly scary! It just feels so soon! I mean, it IS so soon, and there's is no chance right now anyway, but still. I'm reassured by the (hopefully accurate?!) memory that I had this same feeling at this stage postpartum after the others, but by 9 months postpartum was not feeling so scared any more. I get nervous about my milk supply, but last pregnancy gave us our shortest age gap (just under 18 months) and Nathan was only just 9 months old when I got pregnant. My milk tends to dry up in the first few months so I was anxious about Nathan getting enough breastmilk so as not to need to supplement before he could start cows' milk at 12 months. I prayed that God would let my milk supply be enough until then, and God is so faithful - it was plentiful, more than usually at that stage of pregnancy until the day of his first birthday! The very next day it seemed to dry up, almost overnight. I was so amazed about that, and so thankful to God! So I guess I would do the same thing, and I should have no fear about it especially with that experience, but I do still worry about the milk supply issue, if I get pregnant more than a couple of months before my baby's first birthday.
Anyway! I am currently blissfully (for the most part, lol!) enjoying my four little children, squeeeezing and snuggling my squidgy little baby boy as often and as long as I can, and cherishing pretty much every moment I can. Nursing Benjamin during the night, waking up next to him in the morning, holding his limp little body against my chest trying to burp him when he's too unconscious to care about having wind! Smoothing sleepy little ones' hair away from their faces at bedtime, kissing soft soft little cheeks, seeing my children sleeping peacefully at night time, some of them snuggling a beloved soft toy.... it just warms me to the very tenderest part of my heart, and I don't focus on desiring to do it all over again and feeling eager for another baby soon. I'm too busy loving my children with everything I have! But I know if I had a moment to stop and think about more babies, underneath the busy love-filled stuff, I know I am eager and longing for more of this bliss! It passes so fast, and I wouldn't wish it away for anything! I told my mum on the phone the other day that I am loving my 30s (I'll be 34 next month) and have looked forward to them from a young age, simply because I knew they would be about raising and having children. I told her that I hoped I would still have little tiny ones around me when I start my 40s, and she did a sort of horrified gasp (*sigh*) but it's TRUE. I hope I do. Only God knows what is best for us, so I will have to wait and see how God will bless us. Right now I am working on loving my children and learning to manage and discipline them better. And school and house stuff, and so on! There's plenty to keep me busy! I don't NEED another baby. But I really do hope God will give me one, when the time is right, according to His wisdom and love!
Anyway, I am currently already on CD17 of this current cycle, and hoping this one is less wacky and long! By the end of last cycle, I was tempted to start taking my temperature again in the mornings, just so I would have a better understanding of what my cycle was doing as it went along, but I'm not sure if I want to get back to that yet. I guess I could do if I start to get fertile signs, just to see if I do ovulate or not after those signs disappear again. Then at least I'd know if I was waiting for my period to show or just waiting for ovulation still! Now, there's no real point getting too interested in my chart (and I'm talking to myself here) because with Neil's extra hours and stress at work (LOTS of stress, ugh), and me just being tiiiired and busy and tending to wakeful littlies through the evenings, there is still no PP parsnips (still!). Need to fix that, but yeah, no chance of another pregnancy yet in any case! ;)
Lately I have wondered about how fertile my body might be - as in, whether my luteal phase is starting to lengthen, how many more cycles it might be before it is back to normal, etc. And the thought of getting pregnant again RIGHT NOW was unexpectedly scary! It just feels so soon! I mean, it IS so soon, and there's is no chance right now anyway, but still. I'm reassured by the (hopefully accurate?!) memory that I had this same feeling at this stage postpartum after the others, but by 9 months postpartum was not feeling so scared any more. I get nervous about my milk supply, but last pregnancy gave us our shortest age gap (just under 18 months) and Nathan was only just 9 months old when I got pregnant. My milk tends to dry up in the first few months so I was anxious about Nathan getting enough breastmilk so as not to need to supplement before he could start cows' milk at 12 months. I prayed that God would let my milk supply be enough until then, and God is so faithful - it was plentiful, more than usually at that stage of pregnancy until the day of his first birthday! The very next day it seemed to dry up, almost overnight. I was so amazed about that, and so thankful to God! So I guess I would do the same thing, and I should have no fear about it especially with that experience, but I do still worry about the milk supply issue, if I get pregnant more than a couple of months before my baby's first birthday.
Anyway! I am currently blissfully (for the most part, lol!) enjoying my four little children, squeeeezing and snuggling my squidgy little baby boy as often and as long as I can, and cherishing pretty much every moment I can. Nursing Benjamin during the night, waking up next to him in the morning, holding his limp little body against my chest trying to burp him when he's too unconscious to care about having wind! Smoothing sleepy little ones' hair away from their faces at bedtime, kissing soft soft little cheeks, seeing my children sleeping peacefully at night time, some of them snuggling a beloved soft toy.... it just warms me to the very tenderest part of my heart, and I don't focus on desiring to do it all over again and feeling eager for another baby soon. I'm too busy loving my children with everything I have! But I know if I had a moment to stop and think about more babies, underneath the busy love-filled stuff, I know I am eager and longing for more of this bliss! It passes so fast, and I wouldn't wish it away for anything! I told my mum on the phone the other day that I am loving my 30s (I'll be 34 next month) and have looked forward to them from a young age, simply because I knew they would be about raising and having children. I told her that I hoped I would still have little tiny ones around me when I start my 40s, and she did a sort of horrified gasp (*sigh*) but it's TRUE. I hope I do. Only God knows what is best for us, so I will have to wait and see how God will bless us. Right now I am working on loving my children and learning to manage and discipline them better. And school and house stuff, and so on! There's plenty to keep me busy! I don't NEED another baby. But I really do hope God will give me one, when the time is right, according to His wisdom and love!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)