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mrslong2010

It only seems easy because no one talks about how hard it is. (Pt 1)

I thought it might be nice to let ya'll in on a little bit of the history behind this blog. My husband and I have been married for almost two years now and we have been trying for the last eight cycles to get pregnant.

I went off the birth control pills at the end of June 2011 after completing my last pack. My cycles were instantly back on regular 30 day cycles just like before I went on the pill in February 2010. (While I understand that this may not be believable for most reading this, neither my husband nor I were sexually active before marriage with anyone else or each other, and therefore there was no need for me to be on any type of birth control.) So, I had only been on BCPs for a little over a year when I went off. Anyway....

Fast-forward to the end of the next month and due to a horrible mix up with our apartment in the middle of the move we ended up staying with my parents while the previous tenant was evicted....NOT the most baby making conducive environment (but not a bad situation it actually could have been a LOT worse - they were pretty great about the whole thing). I downloaded a really nice iPod Touch App PinkPad during that time. It is a great resource and has some wonderfully informative communities on there. It allows you to chart your BBT and various Fertility Signs as well as Moods, Feelings, Weight, Symptoms (including custom ones), as well as miscellaneous notes for the day. It also keeps a record of all of your cycles and uses them to predict the 6 day stretch when you are most fertile which you can alter depending on when you know you typically ovulate or can change the day you know you ovulated. (Did I mention that it is cheap too??) I also purchased my first batch of internet OPKs and HPT from Ebay. I was incredibly fed up because they were all negative - there wouldn't even be a second line. I used them all up and then declared OPKs ineffective and not worth my time or money. Stupid things may work for other people but not me. (Side point: IF SOMEONE HAD TOLD ME A FEW THINGS ABOUT OPKs I WOULDN'T HAVE WASTED A WHOLE MONTH AND I WOULD HAVE BEEN ABLE TO BE A MORE INFORMED CONSUMER!) Turns out I was wrong...only found out over half a year later!!

Fast-forward to the next month and we were mostly settled in our new apartment (previous-tenant-free) and starting to settle into life. My husband started his new job, I was readjusting to living around family again and finding out where I fit in with my friends again. :) Not always the easiest task after a year away. We weren't trying but we weren't preventing. Mainly because we couldn't figure out where to start trying aside from you know the obvious....uhmmm...yeah THAT!

The next few months are kind of exactly the same. As I learned a few more things on the internet about TTC I would get more and more worked up and then the added stress would compound the issue, then some well meaning friends would start to ask "Aren't you pregnant yet?" And proceed to tell their well meaning and often times NOT helpful stories. (READ: preggo after one slip of the usually so vigilant condom supplier) One friend in particular was very helpful as a sounding board. She and her husband had been trying for their second child for the last three years and was able to relate to the feelings of frustration, confusion, fear, anticipation, agony, wondering if the problem is you, feeling horrible every time your husband asks could it be him, the guilt of thinking maybe it could be him, etc.

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My Ovulation Chart or ?