{Infertility: How We Got Pregnant}

Bow Chicka Wow Wow...

How we got pregnant...no...I'm not going to share TOO much.

Well...I may share more than Wendel would like. 

In fact, I know that a lot of the parents of the kids I teach read my blog {hey Bluebird mamas} so it's a little strange to me for them to be reading about my sex life. 

This post isn't about sex. This post is all about the knowledge that we have gained throughout this process, which in the end, lead to a little bitty baby.

Before I start, I want to say that I really hope none of this offends or hurts anyone currently on the journey of infertility. Everyone's story is different. And this is our story. I pray that something that I  have said will give you insight, strength, or just a "at least she sort of understands" feeling.

Infertility is such a touchy subject, and I really want to be here to walk along side you, encourage you, hurt with you, and celebrate with you. 

It's been on my heart for quite a while to share all that we learned on our infertility journey. 

I mean heck...we shared all of our feelings here, here, and here. 

We look back on these days and laugh a little because we knew SO little! 

It's amazing how much this journey has molded and changed us, and while it was kind of terrifying to share this with the world, I'm so very thankful I have! 

I have met SO many incredible women from around the country and we've leaned on each other. We've cried together, laughed together, and shared good/hard news with each other! 

Now that we're pregnant {thank you Jesus} I kind of feel like it's my duty to share what we learned. 

Let me tell you something...getting pregnant was NOT easy for us! 

I can't tell you how many people said to us "the second you stop trying, you'll get pregnant"

Well in reality, the month in which we were the most proactive was the month we got pregnant. 

Was it just timing? Was it His timing? Was it really all the work we put into it? 

We have no clue. 

But we are happy to share what we learned...and hopefully you will gain some insight! 

So here are the main things that we learned on our journey to getting pregnant. 

1. Read Up People

Knowledge is power, and man oh man are we thankful for this book! 

Buy It Here

The title couldn't be more accurate. 

What this book does is explains very clearly how, in fact, you make a baby. 

Then if you are struggling with infertility, it helps you make a plan to be most effective in your fertility journey. If that plan doesn't work, it then gives you loads of knowledge about fertility treatments and your options for the next step. 

We didn't get to the "making a plan" part, but I learned so very much from reading their words, and translating that into our journey. 

It's worth the investment to get to book, read the beginning, and go from there! 

2. Track That Temperature Ladies

This was probably one of the things that I was most annoyed to do. I dragged my feet big time, but finally I decided to give this a shot, and this was the very first indication that I was pregnant! 

I found out about this app called Kindara from my sweet best friend {hey CK!} and gave a stab at it. This free app helps you to track your temperature and a few other things {like cervical fluid...TMI?} 

From what I learned from Making Babies, your temperature would peak when you were ovulating, and then it would stay high while you were ovulating. If your temperature stayed high after your ovulation cycle, you conceived. Well, low and behold, my temperature stayed high for about two weeks, so I thought mayyyyyybe I was pregnant. And sure enough....bam! Positive pregnancy test. 

The biggest thing this helped with, was showing me how MY body works. Everyone is different, so tracking your temperature for a few months will give you {and your doctor} a lot of insight! 

I had planned on showing this app to our infertility doctor so he could see how my body was reacting to ovulation, but didn't need it...because by our next appointment...we were pregnant! 

I would keep a digital thermometer next to my bed, and before I even got out of bed, take my temperature, and put it into Kindara. They send you reminders whenever you set it up, so mine would go off at 7:00am for a reminder no matter what.   

So yes...it's annoying...but ladies, it will show you so much about how your body works.

How long you ovulate, when you ovulate, if your temperature peeks, how long your temperature stays high, etc.  

So try it out for a month or two! 

Is it annoying? Yes. Is it worth it. 100%

3. Pee On That Stick

But It Here

This was definitely the most "realllllly?" thing I did. But I think that this was what got us pregnant. 

So here's the deal, like I mentioned, every woman's body is different. 

It's so hard to tell when you are ovulating, and there are SO many things you can do to track your ovulation cycle. 

Temperature, cervical fluid {again...TMI much?}, menstural cycles, and on and on. 

You can also buy ovulation tests...and ya'll...some of these are expensive! But these are cheap! 

$20.00 for like 60 ovulation tests and 30 pregnancy tests. 

Now I was surprised and a little bummed because they weren't the "typical" tests you buy at the grocery store.

These are the kind you need to pee in a cup and dip the strip into the cup. 

So yes...I totally had a pee cup. 

Then I would dip the strip in the cup for however many seconds it told me to {like 5 or something?} and then tape that to a piece of paper and date it. I taped them all in a line, so we could watch the line get darker. 

It may sound a little nuts, but it really did help us to see when in fact, I was ovulating and see that the line actually did get darker. 

Here's what mine looked like. 

You can't really tell, but on August 20th, I had the darkest line from these strips. 

The below ovulation test was taken about 1 minute later, which shows that I wasn't really ovulating. 

Confusion much?

All of this to say, don't take all of your information from one place. Try different tests. 

This may seem a bit extreme, but this knowledge, helped us to know when I was, in fact, ovulating. 

Which brings me to my next point...

4. The TMI Of The Post...

I'm about to get real with ya'll...but this was new news {hehe} for us and I wanted to be sure to share it in case it helped someone in the future! 

When we talked to doctors, they were telling us for the most optimal pregnancy opportunities {I can't think of a better more medical way of say that} to have sex every other day. 

This is exactly what everyone else around us was saying. 

The book told us something opposite. 

They said that unless you had a problem with your semen levels {I know I know...TMI big time...and Wendel is big time embarrassed!} to have sex everyday during your ovulation cycle. 

So we did. 

This was while Wendel was just starting his last semester of his masters and was busy. 

One night Wendel came home and was like "yeah...not tonight"...so I took a test just to be sure...and that was the night where the line was the darkest. 

{the same night that I took the expensive ovulation test and it showed I wasn't really ovulating...again...confusing}

BUT...if I hadn't taken that test, we probably would have skipped that night, and may not have conceived.

Like I said...we have no clue which of these things were THE thing. 

It may not have been any of these things 

God may have had that August 2014 in mind since we met in 2005. 

But all I know is, we're pregnant. 

And this is the knowledge that we gained...and wanted to share! 

If you have ANY questions, please please feel free to e-mail me! 

I'll be much more detailed in a private forum! 

Hopefully, this is my last infertility post. 

But who knows...little bit numero dos may be difficult too...only time will tell!