Here we go again...

Alright, so in my first entries I mentioned (or perhaps droned on and on about) my questionable fertility issues, and by the end of 2009 that was a big stressor for me.  Then Mike and I took a break for these last few months, which I knew was neccessary to keep me sane.  I feel soooo much better about the whole thing now than I did then, and we are at a place where we are going to start trying again.  I didn't want to be pregnant and due right around my sister's wedding, so we decided to take the winter "off" from trying.  Well, now spring has sprung... 

I had an appointment with a new ob/gyn today, which I booked as my yearly exam.  Well, it hasn't been a year since my last one, so insurance wouldn't cover that.  Therefore we changed the name of the appointment to...fertility consult.  Scary.  I thought I would just pop in for my appointment and then casually mention that we were trying to get pregnant and see if the doc had any tips.  Not so much.  No exam...just a "fertility consult".  For some reason those words made me so nervous as I was sitting in the exam room waiting for the doctor.  But it all worked out fine.  I really liked this doctor because she was so easy to talk to.  I told her that we had tried for about 7 months without success and she gave me some valuable advice and info.

Number one goal for me is: don't stress!  That was a big problem last time, which I know.  She recommended not taking ovulation tests and making it such a chore.  Just relax, listen to your body and enjoy the process.  So that is what I'm going to do.  No, really, I am.  Also, after this next half marathon, I'm gonna cut back on my running mileage, because that may be affecting my ovulation.  My frequent switching between night and day shift at work probably affects it too, but there is not a whole lot that I can do about that except try to sign up for more day shifts.  Before I left the office I also got blood drawn for rubella titers, thyroid levels, and prolactin levels.  My cycle isn't entirely regular (anywhere from 25-36 days), so they wanted to check my levels to see if there is a reason for my slight irregularity.  She also mentioned that with my longer cycles of 35 days I probably didn't ovulate at all those months, which I didn't know.   She then said that even if I did ovulate on some of those months, the egg was probably pretty puny and not likely to get fertilized.  Probably 1/3 of my cycles are about 35 days, and if I don't ovulate in those cycles, then my chances of getting pregnant were smaller than I thought.   Sounds scary when I write that, but oddly this info comforts me.  Because I know what I can do to try to fix it.  Decrease stress, decrease running mileage, more consistent schedule...  So I am excited to try all of these things and see where we end up. 

So we'll see.  But all in all I truly feel a lot better about the whole thing now than I did three months ago.  My doc told me to just relax for the next six months while trying and if I'm still not pregnant, then I'll go back and talk to her again and go from there.  We have every reason to believe there is no problem though.  Mike and I are both healthy and young, and we have no family history of infertility or disease.  So, here we go again... but this time I'm determined to enjoy the ride!