Ambrya found the well...Follow

I thought Ambrya was a dood :P Congrats on the updated release Ambrya! So what's the count up to now is it 3 or 4 Asylum babies?

That's how you got into this trouble in the first place.

I think I'm getting past the vertigo induced by the 3D animation, unfortunately the thing that almost always happens when I take a sabbatical from a game has kicked in--I can't seem to find a reason to motivate myself to resume playing once I'm finally able to do so. Every time I log in to check my sales on consignment or to pay my rent, no one I know is ever on, and nothing looks interesting.

The past couple days I've been dabbling in WoW for some brain-candy, maybe eventually I'll start feeling motivated for EQ2 again, since I seem to be downright cursed where various betas are concerned.

Still could be, one of the many things brought to the great state of Kahleefonia by our Guvehnor.

Nexa, and on the flip side Wint and Neph and a couple of other recent Asylum dads.

I have 12 more weeks to go.

I think it only counts if you're the daddy. And, well...ewww.

Grats there Ambrya...

Now PM me with the map to said AllaFemme's Sooper-Sekret Water Reservoir so I can send my wife over there.

It's been allmost a year of trying and STILL no dice. I dont mind the attempting part but damnit, I want an Aadynn Jr...

You have to have her post here I think.

According to my mother, if you sit in a chair and have her facing you on top, it makes teh babies. Strangely enough, this is how all my cousins finally got preggo, and how my mom scheduled her own.

Thank you very much.

Warning: Frank talk of girl-stuff and issues sensitive people might find squicky ahead

Has Mrs. Aadynn been doing fertility charting? I used Fertility Friend which I found to be a wonderful resource. I started charting to get a basic feel for my cycles a few months before we started actively trying to conceive. FF has both really great resources to help you get the feel for charting, as well as a message board where you can ask for advice from professional charting experts. The one thing they DON'T have (I really wish they did) is resources for trying-to-conceive dads who don't understand all this stuff their wives are doing, and thus keep plaguing the poor lady with questions about how all this works.

Basically, charting primarily involves taking your (meaning Mrs. Aadynn, of course, not you personally) basal body temperature--that is, your temperature the moment you wake up, before you move or get out of bed or eat or anything--each day as the primary fertility indicator. Before you ovulate, the basal temp tends to be lower, and after you ovulate, progesterone makes your basal temp higher. When you see the temp "shift" upward and remain up, you know you ovulated the day before the temp shift took place (because the corpus luteum--the ruptured follicle the released the oocyte/egg--doesn't start producing progesterone until after ovulation.) Knowing approximately when you ovulated last month can help you get an idea of what your most fertile days will be next month, assuming the cycles are regular and there are no intervening factors like PCOS, etc. FF also gives the option of tracking secondary fertility symptoms, like the texture of one's cervical mucus and the position of the cervix, but the basal temp is the big one.

I also began using Ovulation Predictor Kits the last couple months we were trying to conceive. Once you know the approximate 7 day "fertile window" for the average cycle, the woman pees on a stick each day as she begins to approach the time when charting has shown her she typically ovulates (eg, in a normal 28-day cycle, where one would ovulate around day 14, start testing around day 9 or 10.) The test checks for Luteinizing Hormone, of which a woman gets a brief shot a day or two BEFORE she ovulates. That hormone tells the ovary to stop developing the follicle and release the oocyte. One she gets a positive test that has detected her LH "surge" she's going to ovulate within 24-48 hours so the next couple days are time times when you really want to have intercourse, as the primary fertile days (due to the life expectancy of sperm and the life expectancy of the oocyte) are the two days before ovulation and the day OF ovulation...if you have intercourse more than 1 day after ovulation it's too late.

Hint: Dollar stores (like Dollar Tree) have perfectly good, reliable OPKs and home pregnancy tests for a buck each. At the pharmacy, OPKs will run you at least $15 for 7 tests, and HPTs will be $15 for 2-3 tests. The only downfall is, she has to pee in a cup and use a little dropper that comes with the test, instead of using a convenient stick she just holds in the urine stream. You can also try HERE for inexpensive tests of both the cup and stick variety, and also OPKs and combo kits containing both kinds of tests.

Another thing Mr. Ambrya and I used was PreSeed which is a "sperm-friendly" lubricant. Most lubricants have a pH and/or osmolarity that can be quite harmful to sperm. PreSeed can also supplement cervical mucus, which can sometimes be inadequate to help sperm survive and make it to the end of the uterine tube. See, CM is at most points in the cycle quite acidic and harmful to sperm. But during the fertile window, it tends to be more alkaline and have an osmolarity that is quite similar to *****, and thus is a good medium for transporting and nourishing sperm. If a woman's CM doesn't have the right composition or an adequate supply, it can hinder conception. PreSeed is ungodly expensive for the amount you get (6 single-use vials for over $15) but if money isn't an issue, it might end up helping.

Lastly--I haven't tried this myself, but one of my fellow students at midwifery school (whose son was delivered by the same midwife who is overseeing my care) did and had success. Her story is that she tried for a year and a half to get pregnant and was having such trouble with endometriosis that her OB/GYN was telling her to give up attempting to conceive and just have a hysterectomy. She went to our midwife who told her to drink raspberry leaf tea, and the very next month she conceived. Might be coincidence, but anything helps, right?

Good luck and PM me if you have any more questions.



Edited, Nov 17th 2006 at 11:24pm PST by Ambrya

I have 2. The oldest is 16 and the youngest is 4. I didn't post here when I was pregnant with the little guy though. I was too busy throwing up and having lower back pain.

meh, too complicated. Next time I want to get pregnant, I'll just demand that the father be prepared to put out two to three times daily.

Nexa