hmmm, I wonder.

Before my M/C my cycles were between 26 & 28days and regular. After my M/C in Jan this is how my cycles went.

1 - 44 days
2 - 41
3 - 38
4 - 34

My current cycle has gone up. I'm currently on CD 39. Not sure when I ovulated this cycle b/c I stopped taking my temp when I was on vacation - jet lag and all. I also took a 6 day dosage of prednisone for some illness, so maybe that's why my cycle is long. I had a day of spotting. Was it implantation or was that my period for this cycle? I POS twice and it came out negative, maybe it's too early to test or maybe I'm not pregnant. I have had slight cramping for the past 2 weeks and my boobs are starting to get bigger. It's similar to what happened the last time I was pregnant. Been very tired lately which I attribute to recovering from jet-lag. I guess I just have to keep on waiting to find out.

la-de-dah

He thinks we are...

I'm thinking no though.
Its cycle day 34 and no period yet. I had some slight spotting a few days ago. Not enough to require any panty protection. He's learning things and thinks that might be a sign of implantation.

I'm not getting my hopes up bc this time, I truly feel we aren't pregnant. I'm leaving my lack of a 'riod excuse to the fact that my schedule is off due to major jetlagging (6hr dif btwn NJ and HI) and also bc I was on prednisone steroids for 5 days recently. That shiat can screw hormones up.

Anyway. Today is the last day we will be in Maui. Had a wondeful family reuinion 2 nights ago and yesterday we all met again on the beach for a picnic. (Photo coming soon)

Its so great to get in touch with the Japanese side of the family...I rarely get to see them. We are the only part of the family living on the East Coast.

Ah well...5 more yrs till our next reunion (prob in SF Bay area) then 5 yrs after that might be in Jersey :-)
It won't come close to being as beautiful as HI.

Looking forward to going home to see my pups and sleep in my own bed.

--
Sent from my Android phone with K-9. Please excuse my brevity.

Right Now...

I'm in Honolulu -- at the hotel - it's 8:45pm and Mike and I are beat.
Here until Tuesday and then off to Maui for 6d/5n and going to have the family reunion there. Then back home. We're jet lagged.

Started realizing how trying to get pregnant really takes over your life. It becomes what you think about all day until you are actually pregnant, at which time you think about the pregnancy itself and on and on it goes.

We wanted to try and get pregnant this month, but have only dtd a handful of times. From my charting, I was unable to determine when/if I even ovulated. I stopped charting my temp b/c of the jetlag and only getting a few hours of real sleep. 2 here, 1 there etc...

Anyway -- I don't think we will get preg this month, hopefully next month.

My desire to dtd isn't really all that high lately - we've both been super sick and just the energy is not there. We avoided each other for a few days when he was sick, and I still managed to pick up his illness. Flying made it worse :-(
The pressure built up so bad on the descent/landings that I had piercing pains in my ears. The pressure had no where to go. I was on prescription strength antihistamines 3 days before my flight, b/c I was warned this might happen. Doc said to go ahead and try them but even with all the antihistamine's I had the pain. Called the doc (b/c while on this reunion/vaca I will have to take 6 flights total) and she put me on steroids and some other crap to get over it. Hoping the steroids will help reduce the inflammation. Day 5 and my ears are still 'popping' and the pressure is slowly reducing.

In a way, i guess it's good we aren't pg, b/c I can't imagine taking prednisone, zyrtec and other antihistimine's can be any good.

On the positive side - I'm having an awesome time in Hawaii - so glad there's more to come!!!

Photos to come.

ladies and gentlemen -- we have a diagnosis...

I am sad to say, I got the diagnosis today. It's just horrible. I'm so upset.

I have a damned massive cyst due to an INGROWN HAIR!!!!

What the hell!?

I don't even grow hair (that I can see) in that area.

Well, though I'm upset that something so stupid is causing me stress, I'm happy to say, it was a quick positive diagnosis all in all. No worries. phew!

The cyst I have has gotten bigger...yes, my friends, it measures about 1/2 inch round. I think that is pretty big for a damned ingrown hair. I've had ingrowns before, but nothing that big. So, I just have to put hot compresses on it and wait for it to heal itself. Was warned that it could get bigger or that it might even just disappear only to reappear at a later time. Ha..but really, it's not a big deal.

On to the next topic - I went to see the first available female OBGYN to get this checked out. I have to say, I hated her!

I told her my concern for thyroid issues b/c of my mom and aunt having problems and also from my low BBTemp. She told me not to take my temp. It's a bad thing to do. HOW RUDE!! She must know that there are all different things that people do to help them determine their fertility. I know there are other things I can try too, but temping worked for me last time. Anyway...she also told me, that according to my chart, it looks like I could already be pregnant. What?! Are you kidding me!? I don't see that at all.

What am I missing? Or is she just trying to prove me wrong for temping?

I told her I was charting since after my D&C and she asked me why would I want to do that. I told her I wanted to see when I would get back to normal so we can try again. She said that was not a good idea.

Whatever.!!

Okay, that's all. She is weird. She also mentioned -- "don't tell me you look things up online too". Uh, hello. How else am I supposed to find anything out. I can read a book written by 1 person. Or speak to a world of people with different experiences with more of a chance to relate my own experience to. Or maybe I should get her home phone number and call her everyday to tell her what kind of cervical mucus I'm getting so she can tell me what's going on and what I should do and when.

Argh -- frustrated.

Then, I told her I would just talk to my general practitioner about the thyroid issue, b/c she said I shouldn't be temping anyway and why would I think that I have an issue from my temp, b/c everyone's schedules are different. What does that mean anyway?

Anyway, she wrote me up for bloodwork at the end of it all. Unfortunately, I got stuck with the needle 4 times to draw blood and by 2 women, both of which were unable to get any blood out of me. AHHH

I gave up after 4 pricks...I'll go back another day. I have to admit, generally they are pretty good with getting blood from me. (I have very small deep veins) It's hard to get blood typically. So I can't say that they are bad. It's just a bad day. Maybe I was just so agitated with the OBGYN that everything shrunk up. My blood pressure was also 130/70 which is high for me. i'm normally around 107/60.

ARGH -- okay done venting.

Off to go play with my ingrown hair. WOOOOOOOO (just kiddin)

O-ing and other concerns

Ugh, waiting to ovulate, what fun. I'm cramping these past 2 days, so I'm hoping that it will happen any day yet. According to my Basal Body temp,it hasn't happened yet. I want those crosshairs already!!!



As you can see by the 'hearts', we've DTD only 3 times. I have been having some issues breathing lately, to the point of nearly passing out. I'm trying to save my breath for the 'fertile' window. LOL... In the meantime, I'm managing my asthma with tons of meds. My asthma/allergist has me on some natural remedies and nasal washes etc, hoping that once I deal with my allergy issues, it will take care of my asthma issues as well. I'm all about natural, especially when trying to get pregnant.

I don't think I've had a cycle with temps this flat before. Will I ovulate? I want to get some OPK's, but last time I took them they were all negative, yet I still managed to get pregnant, however, during that cycle, I had crosshairs on day 15.

I'm also going to talk to my OB tonight about the lump I found and about my temps being in the 96 degree range. I have had my thyroid tested before, and I know it's like 3 tests they compare. Supposedly I've had 1 of the 3 slightly off, but not cause for concern. My mom has hypothyroid and her sister has hyperthyroid. What are the risks with thyroid disease and pregnancy anyway?

Cancer is running rampid in my family. My aunt who has hyperthyroid had breast cancer in her early 30's. Had lots of problems getting pregnant. Cancer went away and came back, then went away and came back again, and then it went away and now is in her spine and has spread to other places as well. It's not looking good. My mom's cousin (who is in her 30's) was just diagnosed with breast cancer and is having a double mastectomy. My paternal grandmother died of ovarian cancer and my maternal grandfather died of prostate cancer.

My aunt had the genetic blood testing done for cancer, and it was in her genes. Her daughter has a 50% chance of getting the cancer. My mom had the test done and she didn't have it in her genes. I do know that 80% of people with diagnosed with breast cancer have no family history. I'm not concerned with breast cancer as much as I am more concerned with just ANY type of cancer. Call me paranoid. Now that I found this lump, I'm just thinking the worst, but hoping for just a cyst.

So far to date, with all the medical issues I've had, I've been diagnosed with just a bunch of 'syndromes'. No diseases. That is good as nothing is thusfar degenerative.

It would help to get myself to a healthy point on my own. By eating the right foods and doing some exercising daily. Ever since I left my job and started the pet sitting thing, I've been lazing around sitting on my butt playing games on facebook all day. LOL!

The weather is nice for once, so begins the walking!

found a lump...

on the outside of my uterus. It was little at first, would play with it here and there b/c I was curious to whether or not I should be concerned.

It's under the skin, and it's hard, like a pebble. It feels to me like it's gotten bigger, but maybe not, i'm not sure. I'm just concerned now.

It's strange, b/c my skin is a darker color right where i feel the lump, like purplish-black. Started to freak me out today, so I scheduled an appt to see my obgyn this thursday.

Anyone had something like this before or have any ideas what it might be?

Can't seem to find anything online.

Maybe it's just a cyst. Could it be scarring from D&C? Do D&C's leave scars internally?

I have no clue.

shimai = sisters

My younger sister and I have been pretty close our whole lives. We shared a room, she was my maid of honor and I'm hers. We got matching family crest tattoos on our inner Achilles heals.

We decided we wanted another tattoo, something that represents both of us.
So, we decided on an ambigram (something that says 1 word right side up, and when you flip it upside down it says a different word).

We wanted one that sisters one way, and friends the other way. Instead of using the english version of sisters, we used the japanese word which is shimai. I know the Japanese language is pretty tricky and really, they don't have a word for sister or brother, but moreso older sister or younger sister etc... Shimai is the closest representation to sister in that language.

Anyway -- We got the tat's on our inner right wrists.

Hurt a bit and I'm a lot more swollen than my sister was. It's a bit hard to make out since I'm swollen and goey(lotiony), can't wait to see it fully healed.

This pic shows "shimai".


This pic shows "friends".


Tattoos are addicting. This is my third one. I think I want another ;-)

Both my sisters and almost all my cousins have tattoos and some with piercings too. Mike's fam, no one has tattoos, so he doesn't really 'get it'. Not that there is really anything to get. I find tattoos a form of self-expression. There are those out there that feel the need to tell people that they 'ruined' their body by getting tats, but hell, it's not THEIR body. To each their own...Personally, I love tattoos on people, male and female. LOVE IT!

I'm worried about Mike's family's reaction to this new addition I got. Back when we first started dating, his cousin asked (in front of his fam) if I had any tattoos. At the time I had 2, and Mike responded to his cousin saying 'No'. Wow, that was a slap in the face. We had a fight, blah blah blah, and he regrets saying it. Luckily my 2 tats were in hidden spots for the most part, but eventually his fam was going to see them, then what? Eventually his fam and I had some conversations about tattoos and I told them I had two and where they were, what they were and why I got them. I felt the need to explain myself, like trying to find a reason good enough for them to approve of me. They are not fond of tattoos, but then again, I think that is b/c they are stereotyping. I don't want to explain this one, I just want to have it, and let it be something between me and my sis. That I can look at and be happy about.

I'm not a very forward person, so telling people to mind their own business or be blunt enough to say I don't want to talk about it, is out of the question. Ugh. Anyway, this is the MAIN reason why I haven't gotten a tattoo earlier. I would've years ago. I was a wuss. Maybe someday, I'll get one on my own...

not much to report on at the moment.

baby-making is in the works.

no longer feeling nauseous due to prenatals.

prepping for upcoming family reunion! Can't wait!

I created a 70 page family scrapbook that is getting printed and will be handed out to all members at the reunion. It's been keeping me busy ;)

Thinking of getting a tattoo before getting PG - something on my wrist, hubby ain't to excited about that. My family - sisters, cousins etc, all have tattoos, his family - no one has tattoos.

Ah well.

bbs!