Time Flies

Obviously the last time didn't "take." No March baby for us!

 To be honest, this last time when we covered my ENTIRE fertile window and it didn't take, I had an entire day of high emotions. Sad, mad, frustrated, you name it. Call it PMS, but still. I was crying and feeling on edge, which is very unlike me.

This is starting to get to me. In fact, this is the longest we've gone "trying" so far. We got it on maybe the fourth try with Andrew (in 2005), the first with the miscarriage (in 2008) and the first with Ethan (in 2008! We've been incredibly fortunate, I know, but that record only fuels my impatience now!

I honestly and truly don't know how women go through this for years and years.

So here we are, "trying" again!!  We're looking at an April 6th due date now.

I thought yesterday was "peak" and even had some fertile fluid mixed with a tiny bit of spotting--which is considered VERY fertile, and usually indicates that estrogen levels are dropping off just prior to ovulation. I had that with my first pregnancy.

Then, later today, I discovered more fertile fluid and a VERY high/soft/open cervix...so we baby danced again. We definitely gave it our best shot--AGAIN.

We are entering the Two Week Wait any day now. I just want to get on with it! Every day that goes by means another day before I can take a test!

In other news, I was looking at the scrapbook I made for Andrew's pregnancy (I barely got to five months along and have barely scrapbooked since!) and gasped when I saw the record the midwives kept at my appointments When I started going to them (March 2005), I was 27 years old.

Twenty seven!! So young!!

I am now 35 and will be 36 when this baby is born!

That was a bit of a shocker. I'm an..."old mom" this time!! AAACCCKKK!!

So...yeah, this may take a little longer.

But as always, we are trusting in God's perfect timing. We know that He has a better plan than we could plan for ourselves, so we wait and trust and wait some more.

In the meantime, I'm just pinning maternity clothes and baby ideas, staying distracted with work and enjoying my boys. It'll be testing time (or Aunt Flow time) before we know it!

 

We Gave It Our Best Shot

We certainly made an effort to cover my fertile phase on this round!

I am counting yesterday, cycle day 18, as ovulation day. That means we can test on July 3rd. My new EDD (Estimated Due Date) is March 12. I like it! I have been six days overdue both times before, so realistically we're looking at March 18, right around St. Patrick's Day, and my FIL's birthday. Wouldn't Ryanne be such a cute name if it is?!?

I had an interesting moment yesterday, I actually envisioned Ethan holding the new baby. That was a first!I am preparing my heart for a new baby...maybe that will help my body prepare, too!

Now the Two Week Wait has begun.

 

Vacation Wrap-Up

We just returned from an 11-day road trip and vacation back to my home state of Florida. Being back on the beach was VERY good for me. There's nothing more relaxing than splashing in the waves, collecting shells and watching the sun set over the ocean. Aaahhhh.

Me on Jacksonville Beach, Florida. June 2013.

Me and the boys on my home turf!

So the news.

We left for our vacation with high hopes that we could announce our pregnancy news to the family when we renewed our vows on the beach. Instead, I was met with the start of a new cycle the day we arrived into town.

Good news? I didn't have to spend the entire trip wondering if I was pregnant. 

Bad news? We're not pregnant. 

Turns out I HAD ovulated earlier than normal, on about day 14, so my cycle ended up being 27 days long. We put most of our "trying" efforts in from about day 16-21, assuming a day 19 ovulation day. Oops. Naturally, my body would decide to be "normal" when we are trying to get pregnant!

I was sad for a day or so but mostly because we didn't get the drama of a "big announcement." That, and my vacation weight-gain can't be blamed on pregnancy. Dang.

Funny story...Andrew, our seven-year-old, spilled the beans during the dinner-time prayer at my grandmother's house when he prayed for "Mommy to have a baby girl." That got quite a reaction. So the fam knows we are "trying." That's actually a relief. I don't do well with secrets.

So....we'll try again. In the meantime, my nerves were definitely a little frayed on the trip, so I felt somewhat "on edge." That makes me think I could still use a blood work-up and that I'm probably a bit too stressed and my system is still on overload. I'm working on that. Again.

We're still trusting in God's perfect plan and we will continue to ask and keep asking.

 

The 51/49 boy/girl issue

Most of us have heard the statistic that having a boy vs. a girl isn't exactly 50/50 but is actually 51% boy and 49% girl for any given pregnancy.

I have conversations fairly often on this topic and I always give them the synopsis of my own research (the Shettles method, adjusting the woman's pH balance, positions to use during intercourse, etc.) then end with, "It's probably just a 50/50 chance no matter what."

That goes for families with two or three of the same gender, too!

Turns out that I was probably right.

This is one of the more interesting studies I have seen about this topic from:

InGender.com

Some tidbits from the research:

• The odds of having a girl seem to decrease after having each boy, but only very slightly. Even after 3 boys, you are only 6.4% more likely to have a 4th boy than a girl.

• The odds of having a boy seem to increase after having girls, except after 2 girls, when a 3rd girl is more likely.

It looks like you are slightly more likely to have a boy, regardless of previous children. This is probably due to the overall 51/49 boy/girl birth ratio. This ratio, interestingly, varies slightly with birth order; it isn't consistent among first-borns, second-borns, etc.

Their conclusion:

The truth is, your odds stay pretty close to 50% for each child and only vary slightly. 

If you have had 2 or 3 boys, you are only about 2% to 6% more likely to have another boy. If you have had girls, you are slightly more likely to have a boy next.

ABOUT THAT GIRL

For me, this means that, yes, there is a slightly (VERY slightly) higher chance of us having another boy this time around (just like ANY time around!)...but there IS a 73-75% chance that we will have a girl in our three-child mix! :) 

Are we "trying....?"

ARE we "trying" this cycle??

Shrug.

It's day 12 and I'd call my fluid "lotiony but on the rise." Historically, I've ovulated between day 16 and 19 so far this year. That's four to seven days from now so we're definitely "in range."

Fooling around this morning could do the trick! Whether we KEEP trying is a different question.

I've been reading pregnancy blogs this week, including my own. I definitely want to have another baby. I'd love to have a girl. So we're praying in that direction. The rest will be up to Drew!

 

Still Believing

Remember me mentioning "Don't Stop Believing" the last time around? First on December 9th and again on February 7th. Well, we're still deciding whether to "try" this cycle...or EVER!

And we're sitting at a local Chinese restaurant right by our neighborhood ON Mother's Day (my family along my parents) and it came on the radio in the restaurant.

 What?!?!

 I just had to smile. I elbowed Drew and said, "That's The Song."

I don't think he gets it.

I guess we'll keep on believing--for whatever God has in store for us!

 

It's Never Too Early...

...to start praying for a healthy baby!

I should be starting a new cycle at any moment--possibly the LAST cycle I have for the next two years!

No, Drew is not 100% sold on having another baby...but he knows I am not feeling "done" and he knows that time is ticking away!

The boys are both on board and will be AMAZING big brothers.

The cool thing is, if we "try" this cycle, we'd be
:: "trying" a good week before we leave for our 10-day trip to Florida
:: due in mid-February (a perfect month for us AND that would give us four months with the baby before Ethan started kindergarten)!
:: and we'd actually--get this--be taking the pregnancy test right smack dab in the middle of our trip!

We could TELL the whole family IN PERSON!!

I am considering Drew and I renewing our vows on the beach while we're there--just a short ceremony with the boys involved and cake afterward. But how fun would it be to add the "surprise" of a new baby to the occasion?!?!

I thought it would have been cool to have announced over Chistmas and that didn't work out, so...maybe this is the "better plan" I trusted God to have. 

I'm trusting in God's perfect timing!

Obviously I'm pretty excited.

I have cut back. I reconfigured my websites and my "offerings" to give me more flexibility, less pressure and more time to devote to the boys and the house. I'm telling people I'm cutting back and can't take on extra projects.

I'm already praying that God would allow this cycle to "clean me out" and prepare my body to conceive a healthy baby--and a girl if He's taking requests.

My main task is getting Drew completely on board.

As for me, I'm ready to get this party started!