Category: planning

musings, planning, pregnancy

Stuff.

Keeping up with the Hoffmans

One of the greatest things about having another boy is that we really don’t need much “stuff” this time around. We saved all the big items from T, like his car seat, swing, and bouncer. And we saved most of his clothes too, so we are pretty well set! Fortunately, the weather here in the PNW is pretty mild most of the year, so we shouldn’t even have to worry too much about the boys being born in different seasons, though we’ll evaluate as baby #2 grows and we see what fits and what we need. Poor kid is going to be dressed 99% in brother’s hand-me-downs (such is the life of a second child!). Fortunately, big brother has pretty good taste in clothes (*ahem).

There are a few items we’ll need, so I did start a registry on Amazon. It’s mostly my own shopping list — plus Amazon gives registrants a 15% off “completion discount” where you can buy anything off your registry yourself in a single purchase to snatch up any last-minute stuff, up to 60 days prior to your due date. And we’ve also had a few people ask us for ideas. Even though we aren’t anticipating a baby shower this time around, it’s nice to have somewhere to point people who would want to get the baby something regardless.

For this second baby, we’ve found we need stuff for generally one of four reasons:

  1. Duplicates of things T is still using (sound machine, second camera for our monitor, etc.)
  2. Replacements for things that have worn out over the years (e.g., bottle nipples, new crib mattress, new pump parts)
  3. Things that get used up (diapers, diaper cream, breast milk storage bags, etc.)
  4. And then a few “nice-to-haves” — things I wished we’d had the first time around (like a Rock n Play or a snuggle nest), or things that might make life with two easier, like a nice baby carrier, a sit and stand stroller, or a bigger diaper bag.

For anyone reading who may be preparing for the birth of a second baby, here’s what’s on our list, broken down by category:

  • Diapering:
    • newborn diapers (we’ll reuse most of T’s cloth diapers once baby fits in them around 2 months)
    • diaper rash cream
    • new diaper bag (the one we used for T was a little on the small side)
  • Feeding:
    • bottle brush
    • Soothies gel pads
    • bottle nipples
    • pump replacement parts (new membranes, tubing, etc.)
    • Medela quick clean micro steam bags
    • lanolin
    • breastmilk storage bags
  • Bathing:
    • hooded towel
    • washcloths
    • bath sponge (the kind they lay on in the sink)
  • Sleeping:
    • new crib mattress
    • new PNP mattress
    • snuggle nest
    • a couple of Woombies
  • Gear:
    • Tula carrier
    • Rock n Play
    • Sit and stand stroller
  • Misc:
    • new nail clippers
    • sound machine
    • humidifier
    • second camera for our monitor

It’s a pretty small list, compared to all we needed to get ready for T! Definitely not feeling as stressed about being ready this time around. The biggest thing we need to do now, though, is get T’s big boy room ready since baby will be taking over the nursery. But that’s a post for another day…

health & body, house, planning, pregnancy, pregnancy, week-by-week

26 weeks.

Keeping up with the Hoffmans

This week I made quite a bit of progress on the nursery. I painted a dresser, spray painted two lamps, and started making a mobile for above the crib. Also, somewhat non-baby related, we bought a new mattress set! It will be delivered on Thursday and I am beyond excited. Here’s hoping a nice new mattress helps my achy back. But if nothing else, it will be nice to have more room to spread out (we are upgrading from a queen to a king size), especially since my body pillow takes up quite a bit of space!

Oh, and in other exciting news, I think we may have found our daycare! I mentioned last week that the search was stressing me out, and that we weren’t crazy about the Kindercare we had toured. Well, we went and saw the home daycare I mentioned last week, and we really liked it a lot. We spent a little over an hour talking to the owner/primary caregiver, and we both felt really at ease with her. She seemed very thorough and experienced, and I liked that she talked our ears off while we were there. Made me feel like she’d be very good about communicating what was going on with our son all day while he’s in her care. He’d be the only infant there, which has its pros and cons, but I think is mostly a plus. It’s too bad he won’t have any other little “friends” to play with, but he’ll also get to be held a lot, as she likes to integrate the infants with the older kids whenever possible. So whatever the other kids are doing, she’ll basically be holding him so he’s around them. There is also a secondary caregiver (her husband), so one of them can stay with the baby while he naps, and the other is attending to the other kids. I think a lot of the daycare search is about a gut feeling, and we both just had a good gut feeling about this. I’m going in tomorrow morning to observe what a typical morning looks like (we spoke with her at the end of the day so she could devote her full attention to us). Barring any strange practices or unforeseen circumstances, I think we’ll be ready to make an official decision and put down our deposit. She only has one space left and has another family coming to look later this week, so we’ll probably cancel our other two tours we have set up for next week and call our search done. It’s too bad we have to make a decision so quickly, but like I said, I feel good about this place. The only downside is the location, as it’ll add about a half our to our commutes, but we have our eye on a super conveniently-located preschool that takes kids at 1 year and up, so we’ll probably make the switch after he turns a year anyway.

With that long intro out of the way, here’s what’s happening with baby and me at 26 weeks…

Baby is now about 14 inches long and almost two pounds. Wow! His hearing should be developing more this week, and he’s both inhaling and exhaling amniotic fluid in order to prep his lungs for breathing on the outside. It’s such a strange thought that they breathe in fluid but don’t drown. Little things like that make you realize what a miracle this process really is. He’s kicking like crazy, and the other night I got to watch him put on quite a show. My belly was bouncing all around like it had a mind of its own… and I guess technically it does. Funny, one of the blogs/pregnancy calendars I follow notes that the earlier butterfly kicks have been “replaced by something akin to a rabid mongoose flippin’ out inside a burlap sack.” Hahaha… I’m not sure if mine are that bad (maybe thanks to the anterior placenta?) but it’s a funny visual, and some days it does feel like he is in there doing gangnam style or something.

Mama is still dealing with the sciatic pain. It seems to be worse after I’ve been really active during the day (you know, doing things like painting dressers and spray painting lamps??). My mom offered to loan me her exercise ball to sit on at work, and I think I may need to book myself a massage sooner than later. D and I went to a movie last night and I just could not get comfortable, and spent the whole movie squirming and readjusting, trying to alleviate the sciatia. (On a side note, go see Silver Linings Playbook if you haven’t already. Jennifer Lawrence certainly earned her Oscar nomination, and Bradley Cooper is always nice to look at too.) But other than the sciatic pain, I’m feeling pretty good… that is, if you don’t count barfing this morning after I fed the dogs. It’s strange how the morning sickness creeps back in every now and then briefly, even at almost 6 months pregnant. Weight gain this week was .6 lbs. for a total now of 13.2 lbs.

I snapped a picture yesterday just before yoga class and can’t believe how big I’m getting. Crazy to compare the same outfit at 19 weeks and 13 weeks. The funniest part is, at the time I took each of those pictures, I remember thinking how huge I looked then. I find that laughable now, which makes me wonder if I’ll be looking back at this picture in 6-7 weeks thinking about how tiny I looked?? Yikes!

25w6d

health & body, planning, pregnancy, pregnancy, week-by-week

25 weeks.

Keeping up with the Hoffmans

Wow, I think pregnancy brain is getting the best of me. I just realized today that I haven’t done my 25 week update yet… and then I thought, wait, or have I? I actually had to check. You’d think I’d remember writing it or not. But then again, I’ve been spacing on a lot of stuff lately. Like on Saturday we were invited to our friends’ baby’s first birthday party, and I swore it started at 2 p.m. I went about my Saturday morning like I usually do, left for yoga class at 10, and told D I’d be home around 12:30. Got out of yoga at noon and looked at my phone only to see I had 4 missed calls and 2 text messages from D letting me know the birthday party started at 11. Whoops. So I rushed home as fast as I could and we rushed off to the party, only to arrive a little after 1. Only two hours late… that’s just fashionable, right? Whoopsies.

So, here’s my 25 week update, 4 days late…

Baby is now about 13.5 inches from head to toe, and weighs about a pound and a half. Big developments this week include packing on the baby fat and growing more hair. Also this week, baby is learning to distinguish right side up from upside down, which seems to make sense, since he moves the most when I go from a standing position to laying down. I think throughout the day he probably gets used to me being upright, but when I lay down to go to bed he gets super squirmy – I picture him readjusting in there to orient himself and get comfortable again.

25w2dMama is feeling pretty good, aside from being a space cadet and still dealing with sciatic pain. I’m finding it a little hard to get comfortable at night, and even just finding a comfortable position on the couch at the end of the day is hard sometimes. Thankfully, sitting at my desk isn’t too bad, though I don’t have the greatest office chair, so even though it doesn’t feel terrible while I’m sitting, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s contributing to my back issues. I think I am definitely going to buy an exercise ball to sit on (I know I’ve said that before…). I have some spa gift certificates that I was going to save for later in the third trimester, but maybe I should use one now. Not sure if a massage would help the sciatic pain, but it might. Otherwise, I’m feeling pretty good. Not too tired yet, and the weight gain seems to be coming along at a slow and reasonable pace. In fact, at my last appointment my doctor even commented on how well I’m doing with my weight this pregnancy. I’m up .4 lbs this week for a total weight gain now of 12.6 lbs. Next doctor appointment is February 15, where I’ll get to take the lovely gestational diabetes test. Not looking forward to that!

Other stuff: I’m still working on the nursery, and I sanded and primed the dresser we want to use as a changing table last weekend. I’ll probably paint it this weekend. Next project is going to be a mobile I’m making for above the crib, and then I need to either buy or DIY some sort of artwork for above the changing table. I’m also thinking about painting the trim work in the room white (it’s currently wood-toned), and I’m on the lookout for a nice reasonably-priced rug to tie the whole room together.

We’re also up to our necks in our daycare search, which is turning out to be a bit stressful, as it seems everywhere we look is either full or only has one opening left. We toured a Kindercare facility on Tuesday and while it was “just okay,” it didn’t really make a great impression on us. It was pretty chaotic in there, and they may or may not even have an opening for us. The director was going to look at their availability and get back to me on that. We’re seeing a home daycare this evening which has potential except for the fact that it’s not super conveniently-located and they have a hard stop at 5 each day. D would most likely have pick-up duty, so we’ll have to talk about whether that will work with his schedule. It’s about $100 cheaper per week than the Kindercare, though, and I liked the daycare provider on the phone a lot when I spoke with her. We’re going to tour two more daycare centers next Tuesday, and I have one other home daycare provider I still need to call. Hopefully we can find something we like and get in before it’s completely full!

health & body, loss, musings, planning, TTC after loss

Today is June 15.

Keeping up with the Hoffmans

Today was supposed to be my due date for my angel baby. I’ve been dreading this day for a while now, but surprisingly, I think I’m doing okay so far. As I was getting ready for work this morning I felt a sudden pang of sadness when I realized what today was, but other than that, I’m all right. Actually, last week was much harder on me, as my coworker who was due around the same time as us had his baby (a couple weeks early). While I’m so happy for them and can’t wait for them to bring their baby girl into the office for a visit, it’s impossible not to think about the fact that we should be having a baby right now and I had myself a good long cry last week.

But, like I said, I think I’m doing okay. And while the day isn’t over yet, I think the anticipation of today was much worse than the day itself. I even found myself whimsically browsing baby names websites last night while in front of the TV and dreaming about our next baby. I think I’ve started to round a corner where I’m dreaming more about the future than mourning the past. And I think taking a step back from being obsessive has helped me out a lot. As I mentioned in my last post, I gave up ovulation tests, obsessive internetting, any special foods, drinks or herbs that are supposed to help with fertility, and only tracked my temperature until I could confirm ovulation and start my progesterone pills prescribed by my doc. I’m excited to say that I ovulated Monday and so I have put the thermometer away… hopefully for good this time. I’m going to try my very hardest not to think about how many “DPO” (days past ovulation) I am throughout this part of my cycle and to not allow myself to even think about peeing on a pregnancy test until Sunday, the 24th at the earliest. I even had a beer last night and am trying to just live my life without putting it on hold for what may or may not be right now.

Oh, and I got the results back from the bloodwork I had done with my regular doc (mentioned here) and everything is normal. No thyroid issues, no low Vitamin D and apparently I have “excellent” cholesterol. So, with a clean bill of health and our due date behind us, I feel both physically and emotionally ready – now more than ever. Bring on the baby.

health & body, loss, planning, TTC after loss

Taking charge.

Keeping up with the Hoffmans

I was soooo sure this month was it. But it’s not.

I’ll admit, I’m taking it pretty hard. Why was it so easy to get pregnant the first time, and now it’s not? I know 4 months isn’t that long in the grand scheme of things, and is still in the realm of normal, but we’ve had great timing each month, I know I’m ovulating, and I know since we’re capable of getting pregnant that there’s no reason to believe there’s anything wrong with D’s swimmers. So what’s the hold up?

I decided to give my doctor a call to see what she thinks. She pretty much confirmed what I suspected – that 4 months isn’t anything to worry about. But she did say she wants to see me if we aren’t pregnant in two more months, and to go ahead and make an appointment (I can always cancel if we get pregnant before then). This makes me feel a little better. At least I feel like we have a plan of action and we’re not just sitting around until September (a year from when we originally started trying) or November (when we had our loss). I know most doctors make you try for a year before they start doing any testing, and I’m not sure whether that year starts from when you originally started trying, or if the calendar resets after a loss. Either way, it’s not like I’m expecting my doctor to do extensive testing or anything after six months, but hopefully she can at least rule out any complications from the miscarriage or the D&C as culprits.

In the meantime, I’ve set up an appointment with my general doctor for a regular whole body physical, just to make sure I’m healthy otherwise. I know I tested low for Vitamin D a couple years ago and never got my levels re-checked after starting treatment. There has been some research linking low levels of Vitamin D to miscarriage, so this is definitely something I want to rule out. I’m also a little concerned about hypothyroidism after reading something about low temperatures being linked to it. Not that I’m looking for problems (though I’ll be the first to admit I can be a bit of a hypochondriac), but I think if nothing else, it would be good for my peace of mind to know that I’m healthy and that there’s nothing going on with my body that’s keeping me from getting or staying pregnant.

So I have my general physical scheduled for June 4 – a little over a week away, and then a little over two months until my OB appointment on August 2. With any luck, I don’t even end up needing my appointment with my OB. But at least I feel like I’m being proactive and taking charge in the meantime.

house, planning, TTC after loss

Obsession.

Keeping up with the Hoffmans

We’re officially in our “two week wait” our first cycle trying again. As anyone who has TTC’d will tell you, these two weeks can feel like an eternity. While I know it’s too early to be feeling any symptoms, I also know it’s only a matter of days before the “mind fetus” starts messing with me. What’s a mind fetus? It’s all the crazy symptoms you swear you are having (nausea, food aversions/cravings, sore boobs, etc.), whether you are actually pregnant or not. The mind is a powerful thing. And it likes to eff with you whenever it gets a chance.

So, what’s the best way to try and avoid becoming obsessed over every symptom I may or may not be having these next two weeks? Find a new obsession, of course! And what’s my latest obsession? Oh, just a new house.

Whaa..?!

Now, anyone who knows all the work we’ve been doing on our current house right now is probably thinking I’ve lost my damn mind. In fact, as we “speak,” our entire upstairs is a construction site, our roof is partially opened up, we have giant holes in our kitchen ceiling with pipes poking through, and we have shower doors in our dining room. Yep, we’re in the middle of the bathroom addition that we’ve talking about forever now. We finally took the plunge. So far we’ve gotten the demolition, framing and plumbing done. We’re hoping to get the electrical done this weekend, drywall the next, an then we can start doing finish work like tiling and painting. With any luck we’ll be done by early March.

Don't mess with a chick with a sledge hammer.

But back to the new house… For a couple years now, I’ve had Redfin sending me listings of homes in the area we want to eventually move to. You know, just to keep an eye on the market. Not surprisingly, most of the stuff in our price range is just not quite right, and most of the stuff we love is out of our price range.

But then, a few days ago, a house popped onto the market as a short sale that is right in our price range and pretty much perfect. I remember seeing this house for sale by traditional means several months ago for WAY out of our price range. So, despite the fact that we’re up to our necks in home renovations on our current house, we’re actually entertaining the idea of making a move. Short sales take a long time to close, so we’ve got some time to wrap up our remodel and get our house ready to either sell or rent out. While we’re definitely dumping a lot of money into this bathroom remodel, we’re undoubtedly adding more value than we’re putting in, especially since we’re saving a lot of money by doing most of it ourselves. But even if we couldn’t sell this house for a profit in this market, to be honest, we’d be willing to price our current house on the low end for a quick sale, if it meant being able to get into this new house. Or, we might explore the possibility of renting out our house for a few years until the market improves, and then unloading it.

So here’s the new house. Isn’t it pretty? And look at that yard! The dogs will love it. I typically do not go for newer homes. I think they always look too cookie-cutter, and much prefer older homes with lots of character. D, on the other hand, prefers new homes. I think this just may be the perfect compromise, because it’s only six years old, but still has lots of character. Just look at that balcony, the shutters, the wood detailing and the stone entryway! There aren’t any photos available of the inside since it’s a short sale, but I distinctly remember seeing interior photos when it was traditionally listed before, and the inside is just as lovely. Hardwoods, French doors, undermount sink… it even has a dumbwaiter from the garage to the butler’s pantry for groceries! How cool is that? Plus, it’s huge. It’s twice the size of our current home, which means we have room to grow our family.

Did I mention I’m obsessed? Yeah, I’ve pretty much stalked this house from every public resource available (exhibit A: I snagged the bird’s eye photo above from Bing), including looking up public records and past sale history. D and I also drove by it last weekend. I even went as far as to look up school district information, and found out the elementary school our kids would attend is just around the corner. Walking distance! It makes me tear up to envision holding our little one’s hand and walking him/her to kindergarten. The high school is highly rated as well, and is part of the 4A KingCo athletic league, which means there would be lots of sports activities for our kids to get involved in when they’re older. Wow. I am really getting ahead of myself! But it’s really just about perfect. We’d never have any reason to move unless we decide to downsize some day after the kids are grown. Whoops, sorry. Getting ahead of myself again!

So the plan is to go see it this weekend. Since it’s a short sale, the real estate agent warned us it could be neglected or even abused, from a distressed owner. D and I are okay with some cosmetic issues since we’re used to doing home improvements and it might turn away competitive buyers who are looking for something more “easy.” After this weekend, if it’s everything we hope it is, we’ll sit down and crunch some numbers and see if there’s a way to make this happen.

So, while this whole two-week wait business isn’t totally off my mind, this house obsession is definitely overshadowing it for the time being. I really, really hope we can get this house, but even if we can’t, at least it was a nice distraction.

health & body, loss, planning, TTC after loss

Looking forward.

Keeping up with the Hoffmans

As much as our loss still hurts, I’m finding what helps me the most is looking forward to the prospect of trying again. I won’t lie, a huge part of me is terrified of miscarrying again. But I have to keep reminding myself of what my doctor said: that we have an 80% chance of going on to have a healthy pregnancy this next time. It’s also helpful to remind myself that our friends had a similar type of loss, and went on to have a beautiful, healthy baby this past September.

Since I’m an obsessive planner by nature, I even went as far as to figure out approximate milestone dates if we’re lucky enough to conceive on the first try again this time. With any luck, my period should arrive in about 4 weeks, after which point the doctor gave us the green light to start trying again. That means I could ovulate around Christmas, and have a positive test by D’s birthday in early January. That would give us a September baby – and there is certainly something to be said about September birthdays on my side of the family. I know it’s wishful thinking… who knows if my cycle will be regular, and who knows if getting pregnant will be as easy this time around? Even if it is, who’s to say this next one won’t end in heartbreak as well? But you know what? Thinking about the future makes me happy, and that’s something I haven’t felt in almost two weeks now.

health & body, house, planning, pre-pregnancy

Two of a kind, working on a full house…

Keeping up with the Hoffmans

It’s official. Today marks day one of the cycle we start “trying.” We sort of got a jump start on things by accident last month, and for a while I thought I might actually be pregnant. It wouldn’t have been the end of the world (and actually would have been exhilarating to be successful so fast!), but today I finally got my period and I must say, the relief of just knowing grossly overshadows any disappointment. Plus, with me being such a huge planner, I’m relishing in this opportunity to catch my breath, check some things off my list and really get ready for taking on the biggest change of our lives. So what’s on the agenda this month?

  1. Get healthy. Yes, part of this is motivated by my desire to use up my hot yoga Groupons while I can, but I also want to establish a habit of exercising regularly now, to make it easier to continue throughout pregnancy. In addition to cramming in as many hot yoga sessions as I can, while I can, I’m also vowing to eat better. Since the weather is still nice but it’s not too hot, it’s the perfect time of year for grilling chicken and veggies – delicious, easy and healthy. I’m also planning to cut out alcohol except for special occasions, and I’ve  weaned myself to just one cup of coffee each morning. Once I’m pregnant I’ll obviously cut out alcohol altogether and will probably reduce my caffeine intake even further – maybe go half caf. or attempt quitting coffee altogether? Now there’s a frightening thought!
  2. Spend more time with D. Obviously, this is sort of a necessary step, technically speaking! But besides the obvious, I just really want to make sure we’re connected and in a good place going into all this. Our crazy summer schedules mean we’ve been spending a lot of time apart lately, and the time we do spend together is usually spent zoning out in front of the TV after an exhausting day. We have a limited time left of just being the two of us – not to mention the “trying” process can start to get stressful if things don’t happen right away. I want to make sure our relationship stays strong as we go through this, as we’ll need each other.
  3. Step up the dog training. This is something that admittedly, we have not been as diligent about as we should. I love our dogs, but I will be the first to admit, they are not the most well-mannered creatures in the world, especially when it comes to people at the door. They usually settle down after our guests have been in the house for a few minutes, but they just get so excited when people come over, and they and jump all over them. It’s very obnoxious and something we’ve attempted to fix, but haven’t been very successful to date. To be fair, we’ve trained them not to jump on us, but we’ve had a hard time teaching them that those same rules apply to guests (dogs don’t generalize well). Lately we’ve just resorted to putting them outside when people come over and then letting them in after they’ve had a chance to calm down, but that’s not a good permanent solution and doesn’t really teach them anything. Ideally I’d like to train them to sit and wait and not rush the door when people come over, but I think the only way to do that will be to talk a friend into being a guinnea pig for us and coming over to practice. This is something I want to get under control before I’m as big as a house, and definitely before there are little ones in the picture. I also want to get them better about walking on a leash and not pulling (and helping Stewie to not be so reactive to other dogs) so I can one day walk dogs and baby together.
  4. Check some stuff off our house projects list. Starting this weekend, we’ll be getting new hardwoods in the entryway, back bedroom, stairs and upstairs hallway. Those stairs will be pretty slippery when done, though, so we’ll want to get a runner down soon for those midnight bathroom trips. In early October, we’ll add a bathroom upstairs, therefore eliminating midnight trips up and down the stairs altogether. In the meantime, another project includes repairing the ceiling in our kitchen. A few months ago, we (well, I) ripped down some ugly ceiling tiles only to find the condition of the ceiling underneath to be even worse than the tiles (probably why the tiles were there…). I’m also in the process of turning our downstairs bedroom (that we use for an office) into a combination office/guest room, since the guest room upstairs will have to become the nursery eventually. Plus, with the new floors going in this weekend, now was as good of a time as any to get rid of the big corner desk and convert our closet into a more space-efficient office nook. The other big project I want to take care of before winter is repaving our driveway, as it’s in pretty poor shape – a sprained ankle waiting to happen.

It should be a pretty busy month, but as busy as it is, I am hoping to stop and and savor this time in our lives and not take anything for granted. Things are about to change forever, and while I’m very much looking forward to this next step, I am so glad we took the time to be just us two (well, plus the dogs) for 7 and a half years. At least no one can accuse us of rushing things!

health & body, musings, planning, pre-pregnancy

I feel like a defective typewriter.

Keeping up with the Hoffmans

One of my favorite lines from Grease… and unfortunately, exactly how I’m feeling these days. And although my reasons are different, I’m just as disappointed in my body as Rizzo was.

Last month, I decided to start charting my cycles just to make sure things were working the way they should be. Theoretically, getting more familiar with what my body was doing should make conception easier once the time came, right? And in the off-chance something wasn’t right, I’d know sooner, rather than later. Well, something isn’t right.

I have always had pretty regular cycles so I had no reason to think things were amiss. However, when you chart by taking your temperatures every day, you are able to actually pinpoint when ovulation occurs. For most women, it happens roughly smack dab in the middle of their cycle, The second half of your cycle is called the luteal phase and it’s supposed to be 12-17 days long. Unfortunately I’ve discovered that I ovulate very late in my cycle, and the second half of my cycle is disproportionately shorter than the first half (just 10 days). It’s borderline what they call a luteal phase defect (LPD), and it’s one of the more common causes of infertility.

Ugh, just typing out that word makes me want to cry.

The problem with a luteal phase defect is that it’s often a symptom of low progesterone – one of the hormones required to sustain a pregnancy. Women with a luteal phase defect usually have difficulty getting pregnant, and if they do, often have early miscarriages. So I’m freaking out a little bit. D thinks there’s nothing to worry about until I talk to a doctor, but most doctors don’t even consider fertility issues a problem until you’ve been trying for a year. Facing a year full of failed attempts or worse – failed pregnancies – just seems like the worst emotional roller coaster ever. I know miscarriage is always a possibility in any pregnancy, but when the odds are stacked against you, how to you even get excited about that first positive test, knowing it probably won’t end well?

I’ve been doing a lot of research on the issue, and the good news is that LPD is usually treatable. Sometimes it can be corrected simply by getting more Vitamin B6. Sometimes over-the-counter progesterone creams will balance things out. Often, doctors will prescribe progesterone pills. If that fails, doctors usually turn to fertility-enhancing drugs such as Clomid. Clomid comes with a whole host of nasty side effects, so I’m hoping to avoid that route if possible. I have an appointment to talk to my doctor coming up, and I’m hoping she won’t just dismiss this or make us “try” for a year before doing anything, but in the meantime, I’ve started taking Vitamin B6 in the hopes that I can correct this issue in as natural a way as possible, as soon as possible. Fingers crossed.