Round 2 here we go!

Ok so i officialy flaked on blogging! I got to my TTC month and became nervous about posting each month and maybe only seeing disappointment. So i told myself i would limit posting to once a month and then i never showed back up.

So let me highlight you:

Cycle One- My cycles are normally 24-26 days, and i usually ovulate around day 14. We did the deed (DTD) every other day from day 6 till day 16. I also tried the Pinapple Core Method, because i figured what could it hurt. I  continued prenatal yoga, fertility tea,  and a healthy work out routine. On day 20 i received Aunt Flow (AF) early,  much to my disappointment.

Cycle Two- we DTD every other day from day 6-14. I continued doing the Pineapple core method, fertility yoga, my fertility tea, and also trying to incline my body DTD.

Then...

at 14/15 dpo I got a super super faint positive,  which led me led to me buying multiple tests and continuing to pee on them. I have so many more then what is in this photo, but this shows it getting nice and dark.

 

 My symptoms were actually the lack of premenstrual symptoms, super over tired, and changes in my breast. I couldn't wait to tell my husband, and luckily I had already ordered these fabulous labels! So i popped them on, took him out to lunch and handed him the liquor bottle in a beautifully wrapped silver bag tied with a tinsel bow. To my disappointment he wasn't as over the moon as me, he was calm and collected, and said he knew it was going to be soon. The jerk!

 

Last but not least is my 4 week pregnancy photo. I will slide the next few weeks in in the next few days, and then try to keep on top of it. 

 

(Pre) Conception Files, fertility yoga

My life has entered a bit of a whirlwind.  We were all set on starting for a baby next, saving money up to pay for birth, looking into minivans, about to let my bosses know our plans, meeting the local midwives groups and so on. Just as we are about to hit the conception months a bomb gets tossed into our laps, and I am out of a job. I work as a nanny for a AMAZING family, but they were both let go from their positions and in essence so was I. They are going to continue paying me for a while because they are wonderful loyal people, but this messes with "the plan". We have a very harmonious life around our schedules for both our jobs, and I honestly don't think I will be finding work that starts at 3am and is over by noon like I have now. I am not overly stressed, everything is meant to be and has a reason, I am just waiting to see what will come of this. 

My husband says for right now we can continue on as usual, and we don't have to put off trying just yet, we just wont put a date on it. First we have to see where the chips fall.

So to get back to business I have been doing fertility yoga for about 2 months now. I have watched almost every video on youtube, and now have a favorite or two.

Fertility Yoga; Pulling Down the Moon  Is by far my favorite! Not chatting just straight up yoga posses flowing from one to the next.I love this one to start my day

Yoga for Fertlity with Yoga Yin part 1  and Part 2  Is more relaxing, so I do this one before bed.

Every few days Honey likes to do yoga too. I have done so many kid yoga video's and Radiant Child Yoga  is by far the best. These ladies take the cake, no cartoons or animation just straight up Yoga. Honey has been doing this video with me since he was about 18 months.

                                         and there is my little Honey being love

(Pre)Conception File: Fertility Tea

There are many different recipes for fertility boosting tea, but this is the one a midwife recommend I try. It uses 3 ingredients, red raspberry leaves, red clover, and mint leaves.

A caution before I begin, this tea is for boosting fertility and should not be drunk for the 2 weeks after you ovulate and before you get your period (or positive!). Some studies have shown that women who are prone to miscarriages or who know they have a weak uterus should not use red raspberry leaves in early pregnancy because is may cause miscarriage. There are also some benefits to drinking it in early pregnancy, BUT you need to speak with your doctor or midwife before you do!

Red Raspberry Leaves- I was very excited for this one, because i knew I would be able to harvest and prepare my own leaves! But for those of you who don't know some one with a bush, you can buy the leaves at a herb shop, online, or even in tea bag form at your local health food store.

"According to Jennifer Brett, N.D., on MotherNature.com, the relaxation effect of red raspberry leaves on the uterine muscles may work to help prevent early miscarriage and to assist early embryos in attaching to the uterine wall. She adds that the tea's phyto-progesterone quality can increase progesterone levels."

Read more about red raspberry benefits here

Red Clover- While you can harvest your own red clover you need to make sure the field has no pesticides or any other chemicals on it. The season right now if fall so I was  not able to gather any up, but went to my local Herb shop and bought a large ziplock bag of red clover for $5. You can also find it online or in your local health food store. 

Susan S. Weed, author of the Wise Woman Herbal for the Childbearing Year calls red clover blossoms “the single most useful herb for establishing fertility.”

Read more about the benefits of  red clover here

Mint Leaves- You can easily harvest and dry you own mint leaves or buy mint tea in any grocery store. 

Mint leaves don't really boost fertility, although they are said to help relieve stress. Mint is used more for flavor in this tea then anything else.

First gather up your ingridents. You will need;

1 mason jar ( i used a honey jar)

1/4 cup of tea leaves (divided into 1/2 clover and 1/2 red raspberry tea)

1 table spoon mint leaves

some honey to taste

Set a pan of water on to boil, and place your mason jar in a bowl of hot water, or under a running hot water in the sink to warm it up. Once your water is boiling take your mason jar out and add your tea leaves to it, then slowly pour your boiling water in. Let steep for 15 minutes, or for stronger tea let it steap for up to 4 hours. 

Next you strain your tea and have a cup with a little bit of honey. Refrigerate the remaining tea, and have 1-3 cups a day in preparation for you pregnancy.

I hope some one else out there is as excited to make this as I am! Till i get another free moment I am off to go on a bike ride with Honey and drink some tea when i get home. 

                                        Honey and his little girlfriend ready to go! 

Oven Drying Red Raspberry Leaves

Today I took a drive over to my parents house with one goal in mind, raiding their pesticide free raspberry bush! It wasn't juicy berries i was after, although i did eat a few handfuls. It was the lovely green leaves. Which a few other ingredients can be made into a tea that aids fertility (the tea will be my next post). So with a bag in hand i picked, and picked, and picked, until i was satisfied i had enough. Once I was home it was tea making time, and here is what i did.

First preheat the oven to 180. Make sure you wash the leaves, making sure they are free of dirt and debris.

After that spread them out on a cookie sheet and put them in the oven for 2 hours, taking them out once in the middle to shift them around








 Crush them in a large zip lock baggie to contain the mess.








Once they are all crushed put your leaves in a air tight container, you don't want pantry moths to get at them. Tada you are done!









In my next post I will tell you about the fertility tea I made, but if you are wondering about the uses of red raspberry leaves then click the link. Please be sure to read the descriptions carefully, and talk with your ob or midwife before you drink any in early pregnancy, it has been said to lead to miscarriages in momma's who have had multiple miscarriages or who have a weak uterus.

(Pre)Conception Files

Here I am one short month away from starting to try for a baby. I really like the idea of a August-Sept-Oct baby, but Mr B has convinced me to add July to my list. I am still a little iffy on July, but would love to start trying sooner, so i agreed (i am really hopping for august though)!!!

Some things I have been doing preconception wise are;
-Meet and greets with potential midwives/midwife groups
-Fertility Yoga (thank you youtube)
-Mapping my cycles
-Prenatal Vitamins
-Bumping up the leafy dark green (midwife suggested)
-Keeping up with my exercise and also keeping my husband active, I need his swimmers   healthy too!
Will any of these things help me conceive quicker? I'm not really sure. Add to healthier pregnancy? i think so.  Do they give me things to pass the hours between now and trying for a baby... Yes they sure do.

In the mail the other day i received 2 packages. The first my husband opened, because apparently I never get packages so he didn't check the name (likely story)

For those of you who can't guess that's a 25 pack of pregnancy strips that i didn't tell Mr B i ordered... Lets just say he laughed a lot. Sad part? Its that time of the month for me right now but i want to use one because they are sooo addicting!
The other package was the book "birthing from within" a book recommended to me by a potential midwife, which i am more then excited to start reading, and i will let you all no how it goes.

So till I have another free moment to spare with you all, I am off to play cooties with my little man.

Healthier me- baby maybe?

Well here we are on the road to trying for conceiving number 2. Not even trying yet, just on the road to trying. I have been obsessing over this since we agreed to go for baby number 2 a few months ago. Around April my husband and I had a maybe baby in the future talk, which made me take a look at myself (mostly my weight) and realize this is not how i wanted to start out new pregnancy. And so began my life style change.

I have always cooked all of our meals and tried to make them healthy, but bumped it up a notch by buying into a farm share and cooking with all sorts of fabulous organic vegetables and learned to cook most meals vegetarian style. I took out all pasta (save for homemade pasta every once in a while) and focused on adding a healthy variety of different grains to our diet. Watching my portion sizes made a huge difference for me, because while i was eating healthy before I was also really over eating. BUT i deny myself nothing, and have no problem whipping up a batch of zucchini chocolate chip cookies with my little man.

Once i had the food end down it was time to get active! I spent the summer learning to run and ride a bike, because honestly i had never really done either before. Combine that with youtube Pilates, yoga and kick boxing and i was a sweaty mess, but so happy with my progress. Now here I am almost 6 months later and 60lbs lighter with one 5k under my belt! HECK YEA! Ideally i would like to loose 15 more lbs before we start baby trying, getting me to my 3rd weight loss goal (a "healthy bmi" ), but if i don't I'm ok with that. My husband really seems anxious to start baby making(or is it mini van shopping that he is excited for?) and has me wanting to start sooner then i planned. So this is it until I find another free moment!

These photo's were taken almost a year apart, with a 50lbs difference