Our prayers have been answered and our Rainbow is here

I haven't posted in a long time but wanted to give the happy update. I had a successful pregnancy and our miracle is here. After 7 years of trying and 4 angels in Heaven. We feel so blessed and are beyond ecstatic.
With this pregnancy I ovulated on cycle day  14 when I normally don't ovulate until around day 21. I think that combined with the prenatal that contains methyl folate, methyl b12, and p5p are why this one was successful. Plenty of women have successful pregnancies that ovulate later than that but I think in my case that is why I would get pregnant and the baby would stop growing at a certain point. That my egg quality was not what it needed to be.

Heartbroken Again

I haven't updated in over a year, but I am experiencing my 4th loss. 

My heart is shattered and yet I know somehow I will get through this. 

I got a faint pink line on 11 DPO, a beautiful pink line on 12 DPO, a faint pink line on 13 DPO, and totally negative today. I have also started bleeding. The sad thing is I have no idea how many times this has happened and would not have even known I was pregnant if I hadn't tested early. I am not even late for my cycle. I only tested since I had some spotting and was feeling very strange. 

It has been a little over 3 years since the last time I got pregnant and I had started feeling strongly that I was never going to get pregnant again and that maybe we just were not meant to have children. 

AF started on Mother's Day

This last cycle ended up being 44 days, so not too bad all things considered. I don't know if I ovulated or not. AF ended up starting on Mother's Day, which in previous years would have been very depressing but did not bother me this year.

That cycle I was taking Vitex tincture hoping to get my cycle back on track. I was using 1 dropperful of the Herb Farm brand which is 607mg of Vitex, I started it on CD 1. 

I also made my own Vitex glycerite that will be ready in 2 weeks. I recently restarted the Myo-Inositol as well and have been taking about 6g per day. I ordered more Maca Root so I will be starting that again on Thursday when it gets here.

Giving it up to God and Officially Not Trying but Not Preventing

2015 has not been a very good year as far as menstrual cycles are concerned for me. My last 2 cycles were really crazy. My cycle starting January 30th was the first annovulary cycle I have had since I have been keeping track.

I ended up having spotting for 6 days before AF started. One the 7th day I did a fertility steam using basil and that finally got it to start. After that cycle I decided I might as well try Soy Isoflavones. I had been thinking about trying it for quite a while but did not want to mess up my cycle. That cycle ended up being crazy too.

That cycle was only 21 days long and the only time I got a positive opk was while I was taking the Soy Isoflavones. I ended up having quite a bit of ovary pain that cycle.

Near the end of that cycle I was really upset and depressed. It didn't help that, that was the cycle that would mark 5 years of trying. I basically cried all day. The next day I felt a sense of peace and decided that it was time to stop trying. I was going to give it up to God. I made a pledge that I was not going to bring up kids or babies or trying with my husband. That I was going to stop thinking about it and worrying about it. I was going to make an effort not to look for signs of ovulation and to not keep track of what cycle day I am on. 

Ever since then I have been feeling really positive and upbeat about everything. I have my joy back. Seeing kids and babies does not send me into a spiral of sadness and depression.

Cycle 42 - 10

I had a positive opk on January 14th. I went back and looked at my last few charts and AF started between 15 to 17 days after my positive opks. So AF is due between today and the 31st. We actually had really good timing this cycle in spite of not actively trying. 

This TWW has been strange, I had pain near my pubic bone near the middle of the tww to the point were I could not fall asleep and I have been having so much cm everyday that I have had to wear panty liners. I ended up testing 2 days ago but it was negative. I checked my cervix today but couldn't really tell anything, no pink yet and it is about medium high.

My husband and I have both been feeling sick the last few days. The strange thing is that we have different symptoms. I have been having digestive upset with nausea, stomach aches, and constipation and he has been feeling congested and having headaches. We both feel run down and tired. I hope we both get better soon. I haven't been having a fever so I don't know if I am technically sick but have been feeling terrible anyway.

Cycle 41 - 9th since last Miscarriage

I haven't posted in quite a while. I was busy with school and we haven't been actively trying so I didn't have much to post about. Today is 14 or 15 DPO so I am just waiting on AF to get here. 


I also did some more research on the genes related to PCOS. I have many of those as well. For some of those N-Acetyl Cysteine is recommended so I started taking that again. I don't remember how much I was taking before but I don't think it was a high enough dose. So hopefully I will see better results this time. 

DCI aka D-Chiro-Inositol

I finally made the switch to DCI from Myo-Inositol. I had been feeling like my PCOS was getting worse and I had given the Myo-Inositol plenty of time to work if it was going to. 

This handy little chart explains why myo-inositol may not have been working for me. Some women have a hard time converting myo-inositol into d-chiro-inositol. Which would explain why I only had a little improvement, even though I was taking 5.5 grams per day when other women have a drastic improvement in symptoms of PCOS on just 2 grams per day.

 

 I started taking 600mg DCI per day and 5000IU of Vitamin D per day on September 15th. At first I was a little disappointed since it didn't seem like it was doing anything for me but I ended up ovulating on CD17. On average I had been ovulating on  CD 20 since my last miscarriage, so that is a 3 day improvement. Hopefully that is not a fluke. 

The brand I am taking is Chiral Balance and I am taking 1 pill per day about an hour before I eat with plenty of water.

CD1 of Cycle 39

AF arrived this morning when I woke up. I tested yesterday FMU and it was negative. I used one of the clinical guard tests I ordered. According to the manufacturer the sensitivity is 25miU which is the same as the Walmart 88cent test.

I did the qtip test later that day and saw brown cm. I also had some spotting in the afternoon and thought it would start yesterday evening. This cycle was crazy and I am so glad it is finally over. 

I have done another complete supplement overhaul so hopefully this will be the cycle we will get our Rainbow Baby. 

Another Negative 11DPO

I ended up testing again yesterday afternoon. I did a 6 hour hold and tested with the 88 cent tests from Walmart. It was totally negative. A few hours later I felt a sharp stabbing sensation in my uterus area. I am still really tired and seem to be constantly hungry. 

I ordered some more tests from Amazon, since I used all my pregnancy & OPK tests this cycle. They should be getting here today. I bought the Clinical Guard brand, the pregnancy tests are listed as 25mIU. Hopefully they are ok.

Tested Yesterday 10 DPO

I tested yesterday morning with FMU, which ended up being negative. 

I was feeling really bad yesterday too. I was so nauseous all day and nearly threw up after I first woke up. I was having to burp like crazy and just felt awful. I felt exactly like I did when I was pregnant, which was exciting thinking I might actually be pregnant. I am not nauseous at all today :( so my hope is pretty low. I have been really tired today and the last 3 days but I think I always feel that way the second half of the TWW. I am temped to do an afternoon hold and test again today, since some women test better in the afternoon, but I might just wait until 12 or 13 DPO.

Still on cycle 38

This has been a really crazy cycle.I am already on CD55 and its not even over yet. I am hoping it is just from stress. I ended up getting a nearly positive OPK with my last one! the morning of CD 49 so I went and marked CD 48 as positive. I had 3 high temps after that so hopefully I actually ovulated.

I have been really tired mentally and physically the last few days. My breasts have also been sore but my nipples actually really hurt. I should be 6 or 7 dpo today.

Start of a new cycle...38

I haven't posted in quite a while. I have been busy with a move and some family stuff and haven't had time or felt up to posting.

AF started last night. This is the worst cycle I have had since I was a teenager. It is very heavy and very painful. I am actually starting to become worried that I may have endometriosis. I had thought about it in the past because I have an Aunt that has it really bad but my cycles have not been painful or heavy since I was a teenager so I didn't worry too much about it. But this last cycle and the one before I had ovary pain a few days before AF arrived. I had thought that maybe it was a digestive issue since I have IBS and I had never had pain like that before a cycle but I had it again this cycle. Add into that the strangeness with this last cycle around ovulation and I start to worry.

Cycle 37 I had brown spotting all day, a heavy full feeling in my uterus and felt like my period was getting ready to start all day on CD 12.  I ended up ovulating on CD15 which was the earliest ever. I had thought maybe that was a good sign but it ended up not mattering after all.

I am still having pain all across my abdomen from ovary to ovary which has never happened before. I am going to start taking Pycnogenol soon. The research on it seems pretty great so I figure it is worth a try. I also restarted Evening Primrose Oil last cycle.

B12 Deficiency and Supplementation

I wanted to start taking Methyl B12 right away after seeing the results of my dna test. So I ordered some and started taking the Jarrow brand on March 18th. I started off taking 1000mg 5 times per day. 

I was chewing them, which I later found out it is better to just let them dissolve in your mouth. That takes quite a while so I switched to the 5000 mg lozenges and take that first thing in the morning.  

I didn't feel any difference at first, then on day 3 I started having detox symptoms. I had those for about 3 days then went back to normal. I was excited because this showed that it was working and making a difference. 

When I started the 5000mg morning dose I started having really vivid dreams that I remembered when I woke up. That was another great sign that my serotonin was going up. 

Positive OPK and Weight Loss Update

I finally got a positive OPK yesterday. I tested in the morning and the test line was half as dark as the control line. I had a feeling it was going to be positive so I tested again in the afternoon and it was. I should be ovulating tomorrow if the pattern holds true.

I have lost 10lbs since February 24th. I am down to 165.4 lbs, which means I need to lose 15 more to reach my goal. I am actually starting to be able to tell a difference in my body and am down one pant size.

I was thinking about babies and pregnancy yesterday and ended up dreaming about having a baby last night. The due date for the 3rd baby we lost is in 10 days. I was hoping we would have already been pregnant by then but this AF won't be due until after that. I should be about 9 dpo on that day which is too early to test anyway. I am trying not to think about it and dwell on it but that doesn't seem to be working.

23andme Results and Possible Cause of My Miscarriages

When you get the 23andme Results it is your raw genetic info. You have to put it into a program to interpret it. I used http://geneticgenie.org/ it is free but run on donations. I hate the way the 23andme website is set up. It took me quite a while to figure out how to get my genetic info and their help page is almost useless. 

Once I figured it out I put it into genetic genie and waited for my results. When I saw them I just stared in shock at my computer screen for a few minutes. It shows green for homozygous genes with no defects, yellow for genes with a heterozygous defect, and red for homozygous genes were both are defective, meaning you received a copy from each of your parents. It gives a brief explanation of what homozygous and heterozygous mean. All of the genes analyzed relate to the methylation cycle.

Most of my defects relate to vitamin B12 and I have homozygous MTHFR genes. Then I started doing research and there are tons of websites that talk about it. It was pretty overwhelming at first. I found out that being deficient in B12 can cause infertility and miscarriage and MTHFR does as well. It also causes high homo-cysteine, which explains why I had spotting while taking Metformin. Metformin also causes increased homo-cysteine so it was not a good thing to be taking with the defects I have. 

This is a website that gives a good explanation of each gene, the methylation cycle, and includes some recommendations for supplementation.  There are so many diseases and symptoms that having these defects cause that it is mind boggling. For years I have suffered from chronic fatigue symptoms and now I finally know why.

Useful Tool for Uncovering Reason Behind Repeat Miscarriages and Infertility

I was searching you tube for videos about repeat pregnancy loss and came across a woman who's username is WaitingforBabyTeeter. She talks about using a DNA test from the company 23andme as a way to uncover possible reasons for repeat losses. The is the first video and this is when she talks about her results.  It had never occurred to me to use the 23andme test in that way.

I had a 23andMe DNA test done to see if there is something that was missed that could be causing my repeat miscarriages. I had blood work and an HSG but we did not undergo DNA testing yet. I also could not get my previous doctor to test MTHFR. I debated on getting the MTHFR test from directlabs.com, which I have used in the past. That test is $219 and the 23andme test was about $110. I went with the 23andme since it would be able to reveal not only issues with MTHFR genes but other genes as well, and I am so glad I did.

 I ordered the test on February 18th and I got the results one month after I ordered it. I was somewhat nervous because I had read people complaining that it took a very long time to get their results. I also wasn't sure what the results would be like because of all the controversy and the FDA s ruling. 

I am still processing the results and hope to have time to do another post about what I found out soon. I will say that I highly recommend it for anyone who has unexplained repeat miscarriages or unexplained infertility. I wish I would have known about this years ago and gotten it done then.

AF arrived today and weight loss update

AF decided to show up today so that is the end of the 34th cycle. Now we are on to cycle 35. I am not sure how actively we will be trying this cycle. I think we may just not try and not prevent and try to focus on losing weight. I will still use OPKs just in case my cycle is delayed again. This cycle ended up being 5 days longer than normal.

I have lost almost 8 lbs so far which is great but I still need to lose almost 18 more. I finally got a new pair of tennis shoes so I am excited to try them out when my back finally heals. I really needed a new pair, I could not jog at all in my other ones without having really bad knee pain as soon as I started and even walking was starting to cause knee pain.

Tested Yesterday ... BFN

I went ahead and took a pregnancy test yesterday morning. I should have been about 10 or 11 DPO. The test was negative but I saw what I thought was a hint of a line. I am guessing that must be an indent, I have never seen one before in person. I tried to get a picture of it and it wouldn't even show up on my camera.

So now I am just waiting for AF to arrive. Should be here on the 15th or 16. I had some sharp cramping pains this morning but who knows what that is about. 

I hurt my back about a week ago so I haven't been working out. It is driving me crazy not being able to. My back was starting to feel much better so we decided to go for a walk. Even though I walked very slowly and only for about 40 minutes my back is hurting even more today.

Postive OPK.... finally

I was out of town for 2 days and did not take my OPKs with me. I got back on the first and decided to take one. It was finally positive on Cycle Day 23, April 1st. I took another OPK on April 2nd because I always have positives for 2 days, that one was negative so I believe if I had tested on March 31st it would have been positive. 

I normally ovulate on the 2nd or 3rd day after the first positive OPK. The only time we BD around ovulation was on March 29th so that would be 3 or 4 days before. We were not going to try this cycle and try to focus on losing weight and getting healthier, so there is really only a small chance that I got pregnant this cycle.

AF should be due on April 15th or 16th, which means exercise and losing weight delayed my cycle by 4 or 5 days.

Weight loss Update

I have been using Fitness Pal to limit my calories and track my workouts for 33 days so far. I really like it and it is easy to use. I broke the 170 barrier today. I started out at 175.6 and am down to 169.8 today. So I have lost 5.8 lbs so far. I have lost 1/2 an inch off my waist and 1 inch off my hips so far but when I look at myself I can't really tell a difference yet. My husband has lost 10lbs and is already down a size in jeans.

I was 190 at my heaviest, in the summer of 2012 I lost 20 lbs just by limiting calories. I have been pregnant twice since then and gained a little bit back each time. My goal weight is 150, which is what I weighed in high school when I was very active and fit.

I have mostly been walking for exercise. My husband and I try to walk 3 miles everyday but the weather has not been that great so we have only worked out 11 of those days. The weather is starting to get nicer so we should be able to work out just about every day from now on.

The only bad thing is that my cycle decided to get crazy. I am already on Cycle Day 20 and have not had any fertile mucus, just glue-like so far and no positive OPKs. I will either be really late ovulating this cycle or annovulary. I have not had an annovulary cycle since I have been tracking it, which I started in 2012. Last time I lost weight my cycle was still regular so I thought it would do the same this time. From what I have read it seems pretty common. Maybe it is because I am actually working out this time.