What are you (really) doing to get knocked up??

[Deleted User]

@50Wife giving up caffeine was like the first thing I did when we went from nynp to "officially" trying around 6 mos.  Cold turkey.
1. Do not recommend. 2. Did not get me ku lol

+50 for the BMI thing.  Granted the one time in my adult life I was down in the middle of the "healthy" bmi range, I felt amazing and couldn't believe the clothes I was fitting into!  0/2/4??? Okay, so how is a <b>size 0</b> pant supposed to correlate with middle-of-the-road "healthy" bmi? Answer: it doesn't.  Not for me anyway!  I had to work so freaking hard and restrict a LOT just to get down there, and I obviously didn't maintain it after IF had her nasty way with us this past year.... so.... I feel like I went on a tangent there.

But I fid have a friend tell me way earlier on, the reason I wasn't ku yet was I was too skinny and too stressed.  HA!  But that must've gotten in my head I think, cos I totally turned that into an excuse to let things go, cos hey - I mean if there's even a kernel of truth in there, maybe we try it? Hahaha. Hahaha.  Ha.  So ya.  We all know how that worked out.  Now I basically just let myself get fat again for no good reason. :/

@sunniegrly. You'll have to AW your fancy Belgian medal when it comes in!!! #swoon

lund

Right now I'm just doing my best to refrain from strangling MH. 

@vflux33 Ill take a spell if she's handing them out 

sunniegrly

@BusinessWife - I'm too embarrassed to even tell y'all how high my maximum bid was on that antique relic. Fortunately I got it for 1/3 of my max bid but omg I just cringed when I looked at how much I was willing to pay for that relic.


I'll post pics in a weekly thread when I get it but it won't get here until around May 31 because...Belgium...

tryingfor1st

@doxiemoxie212 - dang! Those are some expensive dust collectors. Our home came with the window accessories and out master bedroom has the blackout ones and I LOVE THEM!
@KariAnn323 - I'm so buying some pickles in the morning!
@sunniegrly & @eggplantface - that's what I'm saying. I also carry a lot in my butt and thighs but my thighs are all muscle. Depending on the store, sometimes I fit into a 4 (thank you old navy!) I feel like I could loose some weight. I was 155lbs two years ago so I want to go back to that but my love of ice cream is strong.
*TW* I sure hope my inability to loose weight is not what's keeping me from getting a bfp. It's one of my biggest fears. I see lots of very overweight ladies who are preggo or with little ones and wonder why if they can do it, why can't I (I also work near a Toysrus which is super hard to see)*end TW*

sunniegrly

@tryingfor1st - I'm kinda the opposite. This is the heaviest I've ever been so I really want to try to lose weight for vanity reasons. But 1) I counted calories for a full year last year while on a medicine that kept me from losing weight, so I'm a bit burned out on dieting; and 2) I'm afraid that if I lose weight my body won't like it and will refuse to ovulate because it feels like I'm too thin. I have this irrational idea that if I'm nice and "cushy" my body will be happy and ovulate. So add that to my list of crazy things I'm doing: letting myself eat candy and fries (occasionally)  because I want my body to feel "cushy."

tryingfor1st

@sunniegrly - I think I read somewhere that you do need to have enough fat to ovulate, something about the relationship between fat and estrogen but I can't fully remember. I'll have to google it

I think it should be healthy fats that we need to eat like almonds and avocados (which I hate, bleh the texture!!)
https://www.pcrm.org/health/cancer-resources/diet-cancer/nutrition/fat-and-hormonal-effects

justkeepswimming8

Found this scrolling twitter: https://www.runnersworld.com/health/runners-its-time-to-say-bye-bye-to-bmi?utm_source=t.co&amp;utm_medium=Social&amp;utm_term=892614408&amp;utm_campaign=Runner’s World

ramzlau

This is a great thread, sadly I think I have tried 80% of these things, I am sure I am forgetting some but here is the ones off the top of my head: 

- yoga
- stopping yoga because the heat
- meditating a "fertility" guided meditation
- CoQ10
- Vitamin D
- follate
- legs up in the air for an hour after hio
- not peeing for a few hours after hio
- pineapple core after O
- not working out for 5 days after O 
- maternity yoga during tww so to ensure no "wrong" movements
- sleeping only on left side (because if it is best during pregnancy maybe it is best while ttc too?)
- no alcohol (this only lasted a few months)
- no caffeine (this only lasted a few months too)
- green smoothies (magnesium)
- Whole 30 diet
- eating chocolate chip cookies for breakfast (okay maybe this was to cope with IF)
- not jumping or bouncing during TWW
- no scuba diving
- changing all facewash and bodywash to organic
- no hot baths
- wear a stress tracker to reduce stress (yeah didn't work)

I think that is enough for now...

pebbledam

Truthfully, the craziest thing I do is completely forfeit sleep during FW if it means MH can perform. I have basically given him the green light to wake me whenever. 

holli0801

Hi! I don't post much but I did intro a few months ago and have participated in a few WTO and TWW, I am not consistent, so I just wanted to note that before I get any comments about not reading rules... I actually like this thread bc I have been feeling crazy trying things and not sure where/when/how to ask (mostly bc I'm irregular and I don't know which to post on on any given day!)...

prenatal routinely
healthy diet involving way too many smoothies with flax seed, chia seed, pomegranate juice, all the greens and blueberries etc
yoga, meditation and exercise in general
macaharomy (anyone try this supplement???)
green tea (mostly a stress reducer for me)

This week I tried acupuncture for the first time and am trying hypnotherapy/life coaching. 

Ill let let you know how it goes -_-

icecubeinthedesert

@tryingfor1st, yes adipocytes (fat cells) express aromatase, which converts testosterone into estrogen. 

@ramzlau, not peeing after sex can actually increase the risk of UTIs, which can be problematic during pregnancy. So pee out all those germs that sneak up in there within an hour!

ramzlau

@icecubeinthedesert thanks, I don't always do that, just something I tried before. Either way it didn't get me KU. 

madspunk

@sailing_mama  I also have a tea schedule. RRL and green of course, and spearmint for PCOS.


Besides the tea schedule:
- healthy fats
- preseed
- hips in the air after sex (H asked "did the doctor tell you to do that?" no...)
- acupuncture
- meditation
- a dragon for fertility on his bedside table
- cleaned junk out of what would be the baby's room for good energy flow

madspunk

Oh, and no alcohol or caffeine...
 

Except for when GD AF shows up. Then it's:

mispanda

@sunniegrly I have two St. Gerard relics....maybe I should do something with them.  My doctors name is Gerard so I thought maybe it would be good luck..........

1. I feel great about this post because I'm not the only one who has done some weird ass things.
2. Should I feel weird about looking up and taking notes on the things I haven't tried yet? 

50Wife

@mispanda I'm adding a few things to my list bc of this thread lol

And if anyone can fill me in on their tea vs. vitamin schedule...that would be great 

[Deleted User]

RRL tea in WTO (or all cycle if you hve no rpl concerns)
I also took fertilitea during wto until I got CH
Add green tea - decaf if you can find it - closer to FW, but dont take it too close to your prenatalssss. So say tea in the AM is fine as long as you take your vitamins at bedtime, for example.
Can also add peppermint tea to encourage amourousness during fw ;)
Then switch to ginger and/or other "warming" teas during TWW.

So for me it was basically...
WTO=  fertilitea + RRL + green tea + peppermint
TWW = ginger + RRL + other decaf herbals ("woman" teas or moon tea etc.)

*some people are nervous about RRL through the whole cycle, but it never bothered me and I felt it helped me wuth menstrual symptoms, too.

50Wife

I never realized that green tea too close to your vitamin was a no no 
I usually take my vitamin at night and my tea in the early afternoon at work.  So they're not super close together, but I never thought to really pay attention to the timing of each. Maybe I'll bump up my tea earlier in the day. 

eggplantface

Is the tea-close-to-vitamins thing because of the caffeine? I've heard to wait 30 minutes after finishing caffeine to take vitamins, and vice versa, because caffeine has a diuretic effect that prevents absorption. Or is there something in green tea that's an issue?

[Deleted User]

@50Wife  yeah, you should be fine.  I'm not even sure if that's a &big deal, just something I heard mentioned in passing...  here's a little more detailed info for ya ;)

https://www.livestrong.com/article/542844-does-green-tea-block-iron-b12/

[Deleted User]

@eggplantface the livestrong article says it's more specifically the polyphenols in the tea, binding with iron???
ETA but apparently the vitanin C if you add lemon can help counteract?

I didnt know tho that green tea is a pregnancy no-no!  :o

adirat

There is some concern that tea blocks the absorption of vitamins including folic acid. However there is no evidence of increases in neural tube defects in high tea drinking cultures (quite the opposite -- lower rates in Japan and England in studies I saw that looked at this). So you may want to take them a couple hours apart just to be safe, but there's no proven risk at all, just a theoretical reduction in the vitamins' absorption. 

jsnakehole

mispanda said:

@sunniegrly I have two St. Gerard relics....maybe I should do something with them.  My doctors name is Gerard so I thought maybe it would be good luck..........

I'm a Jew so I don't know a lot about saints, but will thinking of Gerard Butler during sex help? Because I'm okay with that. I'll even tell DH to think of him too. 

Avrilmai

mispanda said:

*snip*

1. I feel great about this post because I'm not the only one who has done some weird ass things.
2. Should I feel weird about looking up and taking notes on the things I haven't tried yet? 

@mispanda @50Wife same^^^

Avrilmai hangs head in shame...

doxiemoxie212

@jsnakehole DH's friend is Gerard Butler's like.... assistant's assistant when he's in NY? Gerard's apartment in Chelsea is weird AF. Friend gets paid sometimes like $500 to sit in Gerard's apt all day waiting for the cable guy, etc. 

elisek

@jsnakehole - I snorted. Please do this.

doula-mama

@50Wife Like @adirat mentioned, it's the possibility that the green tea may reduce the absorption of the folic acid. Since I take my PNV three times a day, my tea schedule (only in WTO, in TWW I just drink a ton of herbals as I feel like it) goes something like:

Coffee, breakfast + PNV, raspberry leaf tea/OPK, green tea (at least 2-3 hours after breakfast, and at least 2 hours before I take my after lunch vitamin), water, lunch + PNV, raspberry leaf tea (and maybe another OPK if I think I have a decent hold), green tea (again, at least a couple hours after PNV and before dinner), water, home from work and wine, dinner + PNV, herbal tea 

haylsbayls-2

I love this thread! I also have a tea schedule and recently started drinking the Herbal Traditionals Pregnancy Tea to help... but nope.... I need surgery to get KU

We have a mattress that can incline the head or feet so I made DH HIO with the foot of the bed fully inclined and then I laid there for 30 minutes after. Of course I discovered this the night before I was told to TTA 

I've pretty much done most of the above --- I may need to order some crystals though...

LoveInDC

I'm actually jealous about all the stuff you guys are doing. I look at my problems and what they recommend, and it's hard.

- 80% Paleo (absolutely no dairy, complex carbs okay, only healthy fats, lots of veggies and fruit, little to no added sugar, no processed foods, "life happens" leeway)
- Yoga 7 days per week
- Therapy every 3 weeks
- Meditation
- Only 1 cup of caffeine per month
- Only 1 glass of alcohol every other week when WTO (until an-O is confirmed)
- PNV + extra fiber and calcium supplement
- Yelling at my BBT thermometer to tell me I ovulated

Things I wish I had the stomach/will power/ability to do: (1) They say PCOS patients greatly improve when they lose 5-10% of their body weight. Doing that would lower my weight to an unhealthy level. (2) PCOS patients also were able to lower their testosterone (one of my issues) by drinking spearmint tea every day, but that stuff smells and tastes disgusting.

adirat

@loveindc Ugh that blows.

When I see recommendations around limiting or eliminating alcohol I am always infuriated, like "Okay then what is your substitute for dealing with my IF issues? going for walks? effing WALKS?" 

But I'm a drink til it's pink woman forever.

doula-mama

@adirat I also won't give up alcohol... notice the wine time slot in my tea schedule!

[Deleted User]

@adirat yesss.  One person who knows I'm doing IVF asked me if I could have wine and I told her I actually needed to have wine BECAUSE I was doing IVF.  That's real. I actually might limit or completely abstain from alcohol when I do the embryo transfer, but for right now I'm drinking alllll the wine.

LoveInDC

@adirat Thanks friend To be fair, as soon as I don't ovulate, it's all the wine. I may or may not have exercised that right when I was away earlier this week But once I actually do ovulate, I'm doing nothing that could even potentially mess that up.

And sometimes, I sound more like this:

adirat

@sailing_mama I love it!

I actually once asked my RE about alcohol in relation to egg quality, which is my issue. I asked about getting rid of bpa plastics (he strongly supported it). I asked about getting phthalate free cosmetics (he strongly supported it). I asked about reducing caffeine and he said that anecdotally it seems to increase some women's antral follicle count so it's worth trying to see if it works for you. I asked about alcohol and he said, "I don't see any evidence it has an impact so I wouldn't bother." So pass me a glass of wine any day.

jsnakehole

jsnakehole said:

mispanda said:

@sunniegrly I have two St. Gerard relics....maybe I should do something with them.  My doctors name is Gerard so I thought maybe it would be good luck..........

I'm a Jew so I don't know a lot about saints, but will thinking of Gerard Butler during sex help? Because I'm okay with that. I'll even tell DH to think of him too. 

Yeah, I'm going to quote myself to continue the joke.

I'm also going to have DH yell this when he O's.

adirat

@antoto  girl PREACH. You need it! 

@loveindc amazing gif find!

haylsbayls-2

@adirat Agreed.

eggplantface

@LoveInDC I admire your dedication to the O.

I've seen after embryo transfer you're considered "pregnant until proven otherwise" so it makes sense not to drink, but I'm also team drink-til-its-pink, so I'll have to ask my doctor what the prevailing medical opinion is about alcohol and FETs. H's cousin is getting married the weekend after transfer and lord knows I need alcohol to deal with some of his relatives.

doxiemoxie212

TW - when I MCed, my mom was connvviinncceedd it was at least partially related to how much wine we drank during the TWW (I def did not drink once I knew I was KU), and I worried about it briefly, but honestly if alcohol was such a hinderance to pregnancy, we would not have nearly the over population issue we have.  (Also before bashing my mom, I didn't have a particularly negative reaction to my MC and was pretty open to sleuthing, so she wasn't like a crazy person just shouting at me about what I'd done wrong, lol.) Now, I'm like, give me all the wine, because I swear to God if we still have 18 bottles of wine "too expensive to drink" if/when I get KU, I'm going to strangle DH. 

sunniegrly

So I just got really excited when I saw I had a small package with an "air mail" sticker on it, thinking that my antique Saint Gerard relic had somehow magically arrived. Nope, it was the hiking maps I'd ordered from Ireland a month ago and that I thought had been lost in the mail. Never thought I'd be so disappointed to get those maps.