Signs & The Guessing Game

Aunt Flow has officially left, hooray! Now it's time to play the Signs & Guessing Game, which basically means waiting for the proper signal that indicates it's O-Day (ovulation day). It's been my experience that I'll think O-Day happened on one day, and then a couple days later I think it happened for sure then, and then Aunt Flo will show up in the time frame that adds a third potential O-Day. So basically, it's a huge guessing game.

This game really used to drive me crazy. I would obsessively check online ovulation calendars and guess how long this month's cycle would be, and then the hubby and I would Baby Dance (a.k.a. sex) everyday during the highlighted fertility window. Well, I don't recommend this route when planning your Baby Dances. When your cycle varies like mine, you just end up putting unnecessary stress on you both.

Our motto now is: "Relax and Just Give It Time." We make an effort to Baby Dance every other day during cycle days 10-20 (approximately) and I am always on the lookout for the optimal cervical stuff (abbreviated EWCM often times). I keep the hubby informed about what I think is happening and he's happy to partake in the Baby Dances.

Supposedly sperm can live in a woman's cervix for up to 5 days. So, since my cycles vary so much, we go with the every-other-day frequency so that we can hopefully hit O-day with a Baby Dance on a future month.

Here's the latest data on my cycles:

• All Cycles to Date (Started tracking a year and a half ago)
• Max = 39 days
• Min = 25 days
• Average = 30.3 days
• Median = 30 days
• Last 6 Cycles
• Max = 36 days
• Min = 27 days
• Average = 28.5 days
• Median = 29 days

I'm currently on cycle day #9. And based on recent data (last 6 months), I could expect O-day to be on cycle day 15 or 16. But again, going off of cycle length alone is not sufficient. So couple this knowledge with watching for the appropriate cervical stuff (and tracking temperature and cervical position if you do those as well) and then just hope it will end in success.

At the Beginning Again

I decided to start a blog about my journey trying to conceive because it helps to cope with all of the emotions I feel, and maybe it will help anyone else who is also on this journey.

A little about myself: I'm 26 and my husband will be 25 in May. We've been married for almost 4 years. In December, we both decided to "stop preventing" and thus began the journey of hoping for a baby. It's now the first day of a new cycle in the month of February, and still no sign of getting close to a baby.

I don't know about you, but I had some expectations about trying for a baby. I thought we would decide to pull the goalie one day, and then bam, it would just happen right away. I mean, you spend all this time in your life trying to prevent getting pregnant - surely it's as easy as 1, 2, 3 when you actually want to! Nope. Apparently a perfectly healthy couple has only a 20% chance (roughly) of getting pregnant in a given month, and it can take said couple 6-12 months on average to successfully conceive. Those are such discouraging odds!

I'm a believer in Jesus Christ, so my faith plays a large part in how I'm choosing to look at this journey. I've read a lot on the subject of pre-conception, and am no expert, but there are a lot of things you can do to help you in this journey. At first, I set out trying to do most of them, thinking that "Ok, this is in my control..." But after following the rules and tips and driving my husband a little nutso with all the scheduling of it, I realized that ultimately, none of this is in my control. God will bless us with a baby when HE chooses to, and not a moment before. Granted, it's a lot easier to say this to myself than to actually take it to heart and relax.

So here we are at the beginning of my cycle, Day 2 to be exact. This blog will likely contain detailed information about my cycle, including cervical "stuff" as my husband prefers I call it (actually called cervical mucus), and other details. If you don't want to know, then just skip over those parts.

I welcome any comments, especially encouragement because, well, who wouldn't want a little encouragement now and again?