It's What's Inside That Counts...

...and apparently what's inside me is a bit wonky so...

What I take ...
Morning: 100 mcg Synthroid
Afternoon (CD 3-7): 7 mg Letrozole (Generic Femara)
Dinner: PreNatal Multivitamin with DHA and Folic Acid & Fiber+Calcium Supplement
After Dinner: 2.5 mg Prednisone
Before Bed: 81 mg Aspirin ("low-dose")

Details & Reasonings....
The first thing I did last September, when G and I made the decision to start trying for a baby in October, was stop taking the daily birth control pill and start taking prenatal vitamins. I was excited to find GUMMY prenatal vitamins that tasted pretty good- I was worried after hearing horrible accounts of how they make some people sick! For this past year, I have been taking VitaFusion's PreNatal Multivitamin and their Fiber+Calcium PreNatal Support gummies but I recently discovered CVS has a version of the multivitamin so I am giving them a try.

After the MC, I began taking one low-dose aspirin at night, per my OBGYN. At a time when I was desperate to make whatever fixes I could to in order to make sure another one did not happen, she said that taking the low-dose aspirin was the only thing proven to help. Therefore, I take one of these each night.

Upon being diagnosed with hypothyroidism I started taking generic Synthroid (levothyroxine). I started out at 25 mcg with my original doctor and then when I went to the Endocrinologist he increased it to 50, then 75 mcg. My blood work throughout this time was showing improvement, and even got into the "normal" range, however, my doctor said that my TSH levels should be even better for pregnancy (from 0.4 to 2.5). When I started going to the Reproductive Endocrinologist he said I should take the brand name for this drug in particular because the generic version is known to have varying percentages of ingredients that make a noticeable impact. After my baseline blood work with him, he consulted with my regular Endocrinologist and increased my dosage to 100 mcg.

In addition to increasing my thyroid medication and changing it to brandname only, my Reproductive Endocrinologist had me start taking Prednisone because some of my blood work showed elevated levels of DHEA Sulfate. I don't have the finer details of the reasonings for this one, other than the Prednisone should help decrease the DHEA Sulfate so that I will have more DHEA in my system instead.

The last medication that my Reproductive Endocrinologist prescribed was Femara, or the generic which is Letrozole. Apparently, one's AMH levels in your blood work indicate if you should start with 2.5, 5, or 7 mg. I was in the higher end of the normal range and therefore he started me on 5mg for my first go-round. Femara is supposed to be a great alternative to Clomid for infertility issues because it has less side effects. I have never taken Clomid before, but I can attest to minimal side effects, possibly none. The first day that I took it, I already had a huge headache but it last for over a day so I am not sure if it had anything to do with the medicine.

Today is my last day of Letrozole! I am continuing my weekly acupuncture visits and will begin testing for ovulation with my Wondfo strips. I will share more about these aspects of TTC in my next post.

Take care!

P.S. Don't forget to leave a comment below or share! Also, check out our YouTube Channel here!

Lucky No. 14?

Today I start my day off with some delicious turbo coffee! AND it is fully-caffeinated.  This is an occasional treat I make for myself because on days like today it is my silver-lining.

Most of you may not know, but since October 2013 G and I have been TTC (trying to conceive for those unfamiliar with the TTC-world). We have told a few family members and close friends about this decision, but now we are making it more public. 

The reason for this is because over this past year I have spent a lot of time on blogs, forums, and YouTube channels, and found comfort, knowledge, and help from other people's experiences, so I want to share ours in a sense to pay-it-forward. Be forewarned: this is going to be an honest, open account of our journey toward parenthood- it is not for the prude and it is not for the heartless.

On days like today (CD 1) when it has become blatantly obvious that our efforts have once again proved fruitless (pun not intended?) I like to indulge in some of the things I have been limiting during the TTC portion of the month. Don't get me wrong though, the love and support of my husband, G, is the number one thing that helps on these days, but tangible items like caffeinated coffee, sushi, and wine have their own "healing effect".

Anyhow, today is CD 1 of our 14th cycle trying. This cycle is especially significant because it marks our first month using fertility medication in conjunction with the other medications that keep my body in balance. My next post will be about the medications specifically, today I am just here to lay the foundation.

Back in 2013, before the mark of the New Year, we were blessed with a BFP in our 3rd cycle. We were totally thrilled. I woke up G with the positive test and baby Toms shoes, we took secret 4-week belly shots and tons of pictures of the positive test. However, our happiness did not last long. I began to MC in January when I returned to work. I believe it is human nature to speculate many, many reasons for MC and there is so much that goes through the mind of a woman during this time but I just cannot articulate it in this post. Perhaps, that will be the topic of a future post. All I want to establish today is that it happened- and we made it through together.

In the several months post-MC, I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism and Hashimoto's disease and started taking medication (and eating more salt!) to help balance out the hormones associated with that. In these past several months we have had nothing but BFNs, but looking at the science of it, one should not be shocked- my body simply is not ready {enter RE}. As I mentioned before, this cycle (Lucky No. 14),  is when I will be taking fertility medication, under the supervision of my Reproductive Endocrinologist, Dr. L. Once I get the actual medication in my hands- be prepared for the next blog post and YouTube update!

To make things a little easier to follow, to the side is an acronym infographic from HelloBee that I found incredibly helpful when we first started this journey to parenthood. HelloBee is a great resource for information and connecting with other people who have gone through similar experiences.

To bring you up to speed in a different fashion you can watch my first video on my YouTube channel here (don't forget to like and subscribe!). This is actually a video I filmed back in June 2014. I have had the desire and intention to keep a record of my experiences but have been nervous about making it public- but here it goes!

Like I warned earlier, these posts (and videos) are going to be open, honest accounts- not for the prude or heartless. We are sharing our experiences in hopes that we may help others out (you are not alone) and also so that our friends and family can understand. So, please be kind. Be back soon!

<3 L