Swaying Pink with Questions :)

[kimberly687]

Hi all!

I'm new here and swaying pink! My husband and I have two handsome little guys, and we're both dreaming of a baby girl. We were initially planning to only focus on cut-off timing since I love boy foods too much, but my cycles are so crazy that I don't think timing it perfectly is possible. I recently stocked up on girl friendly foods & cranberry supplements, and had my first "diet day" yesterday. I honestly don't know how I'll survive it. I am a small girl with a big appetite!

Atomic, I've been reading through your posts & essays; I love all of the info! Thank you for investing so much time into this site and helping others! I have a question for you... With my boys, I didn't get pregnant right away (one took 6 months and the other took 3 months with A LOT of trying). I didn't fall pregnant with them until I took Mucinex, which a family member suggested. I had no idea that it sways blue until now and I just came to the realization that maybe I could have a girl without so much effort. I do want to mention, however, that I accidentally fell pregnant 5 months ago, when I ovulated right after my period, but it resulted in a chemical pregnancy. Given all of this, do you think it would be wise to try the girl diet? Or do you think it could possibly hinder us from getting pregnant at all by further reducing CM? At this stage in life, my ph is usually around 5.5. I have no idea what it was back when I got pregnant with my boys though. Any advice?

[atomic sagebrush]

HI and welcome!

Yes, I'd still absolutely recommend a sway diet. The diet we use on this site is not hard to stick with and is much less harsh to fertility than some diets are. Additionally we have even more fertility-friendly optional diets to use as well if we need to. But for now, can you tell me a little more about your previous conceptions?? Were you trying to sway with them?? It is not at all unusual for it to take a while with a first pregnancy, that is super common...some people, it's as if their body just needs to figure it out. And 3 months is right in totally normal range, nothing wrong with that at all! (and actually, 6 months is too - the average is 3-6 months!)

I would not have you do cran supps though. We found them to do nothing and they have risks and side effects that were actually very serious so we've moved on from them. you can give them to your husband if you'd like.

[kimberly687]

Thanks so much for your response! We were not trying to sway with our first; we just wanted to get pregnant ASAP, so we would BD a lot. Multiple times a day, almost every day for 6 months. Imagine our exhaustion!! Looks like the only day we didn't BD that cycle was on ovulation day. With our second, I was aware of swaying but I didn't have willpower to do any of it. We would BD every other day and just hope for a girl. Looks like we BD'ed 1 day before ovulation and 4 days before ovulation with him. I have it all charted-- looks like I had a lot of watery and EWCM those cycles, probably from the Mucinex.

I definitely had a diet consisting of high sodium and lots of red meat, pork & chicken. I believe I consumed a lot of dairy too.

In the last year, I have not been eating/drinking much dairy and have been taking magnesium supplements (for reasons unrelated to this). I've also been taking the same prenatal vitamin since 2010 (before first DS was born).

My DH is very impatient about having another baby and we did BD this cycle. As of right now, it appears that I ovulated yesterday. He had abstained for 4 days and we only BD'ed once, 2 days before ovulation. I saw your advice on that being a huge factor, so I tried to implement that above everything else for our short time frame. We also used missionary and no O for me. I used Rephresh about 9 hours beforehand, since my CM is usually 5.5-5.75-- and it brought it down to around 3.5-4. I have only been doing the girl diet for about 4-5 days now and didn't have much CM this cycle. Hoping that helps a little bit. I will continue on with the LE diet. Luckily I had stopped the cranberry, the day before ovulation. This cycle was a total mess and I'm not feeling good about it. I've had positive OPK's since CD 5 and as of right now it appears (according to my temp spike), that I ovulated on CD 11-- which is very unusual for me. We shall see!

[atomic sagebrush]

Can you post your chart Kimberly??? I may be able to decipher it.

Your boys are adorable!!!

[atomic sagebrush]

Agh yes as it sits now I don't think you've ovulated prior to now, but it may have just happened. Temp rise will tell the tale!!! That was a nicely timed BD, you're in with a chance of conception, sending you tons of pink dust!!!

[kimberly687]

Thanks for your input! :) Hopefully I will report back with good news in a few weeks!

[kimberly687]

Atomic... My temp stayed up this morning, 97.8 (yay!).. So my chart looks exactly like I projected. I have been confused about something though. I had lots of saliva ferning earlier in my cycle (along with the positive opks), but no clear temp rise. I didn't have any ferning around when FF says I ovulated though... Like none what so ever. I do have to admit that I don't wake up at the same time every day and haven't been sleeping well. Do you have any knowledge on why I wouldn't have gotten a ferning pattern? That way I can apply it to my next cycle, if this one isn't successful. Thanks!! ��

[atomic sagebrush]

The ferning has been hit and miss for us. What can happen is that whenever your body kinda thinks about ovulating, you can get the ferning, but then sometimes your body changes its mind and decides "eh, not quite yet" and then backs off. So the ferning goes away. And then sometimes the ferning isn't detected even around O.

BUT that having been said, it is actually still possible that the opposite is true - that it's your temps that are misleading us somehow (possibly thrown off by those high temps early in the cycle) and that the ferning and first OPK was actually the correct one.

I know that is a really lame and unsatisfying answer but unfortunately, all these things can be wrong...OPK, temps, ferning...they can all mislead us especially given that your body can gear up to O (and have OPK/ferning) and then not complete the process.

[kimberly687]

Atomic! I got a faint positive pregnancy test tonight!! :running: My chart was a HOT MESS this cycle, but I think I finally have it figured out now that I have a +. I had a small dip in my chart 2 days ago, which would line up with implantation.

I'm wondering if you can look things over to see if I have a decent shot at a girl..? I'll attach my chart and a few more details! One hour before we DTD, I used a store bought vinegar/water douche. I had been using Rephresh every 3 days, but my last use was 4 days prior (this was a last minute attempt so that's why I went for the vinegar). Missionary position (very, very shallow). No O for me. Jump & dump. I had been doing the girl diet for a few weeks, which was a drastic change for me. There was only one attempt. Whatcha think!? I still can't believe it's positive after all this crazy stuff! Thanks for the support! :highfive:37711

[kimberly687]

Hello kimberly687, I'm really sorry about your situation. But you have two wonderful kids. I hope you will get a princess soon.

Hi there! Not sure if you read my most recent reply to Atomic, but I found out that I am pregnant (last night)! Whether it's our 3rd boy or our first girl, we will be happy to add him or her to our family!! :wink:

[atomic sagebrush]

Agh that person was a spammer, had to delete their account. Sometimes they will post a few nice messages before starting up with their spam. :/

[atomic sagebrush]

Yes that is one for the books!!!

Good luck and pink dust!! :agree: on one attempt, that's the most important part!!

[kimberly687]

Hi Atomic. It's looking like I may have lost my nugget.... I started bleeding then cramping on Sunday morning. It was heavy with clots (but only when I used the bathroom). I passed a flesh colored blob later in the afternoon and then my bleeding and cramps really subsided at that point. I bled a bit Monday (no cramps) and the blood turned brown and now it's basically gone. My HCG level yesterday was 98 and I need another draw on Wed. Boobs still hurt, BBT had dropped a little bit during the bleed (not below the cover line) and has now gone back up. I'm still getting a ferning pattern on the microscope this AM. I'm sure you've heard and seen it all... does this sound normal to you for a MC? I would have been just shy of 5 weeks when the bleeding started. My hubby is convinced that I had multiples and lost one. We were kind of warned at my last annual, that with my hormone levels being so high, that we may have multiples. I also had multiple stretches of positive OPK's this last cycle, which tells me that my hormones weren't exactly stable when we conceived. Any thoughts while I wait for my next draw?

[atomic sagebrush]

It's obviously not what anyone wants to see but you can have all those things happen and then continue on with the pregnancy (like losing a twin, just as you're saying, but even without that, you can lose a little lining or have a SCH bleed and then everything just keeps right on trucking) The thing that will let us know is the HCG level - if it's rising appropriately then the pregnancy is still hanging on and if it stays the same or drops we may have trouble. But I do want to mention that there is some speculation that if you were to lose a twin, the number may stay the same and then start climbing again (because we've lost the HCG the one bean was making) so don't be in a rush to schedule a D and C - you will want to be tested a few more times to see if it rebounds. This is not something set in stone and some doctors will pooh-pooh you if you want to wait, but I've seen it several times where there is bleeding and then the HCG isn't right but then it rebounds and they end up with a baby at the end.

My personal experience with losing a twin at about that stage of pregnancy was 5 days of heavy bleeding (it was my first PPAF so I wasn't surprised that it seemed heavier than normal). Somehow both placentas stayed and grew but only one had a baby attached to it. So I know firsthand that it is possible to have a crazy event at the beginning of pregnancy that ends up with a healthy baby at the end of the process. FX and TX for good news.

[kimberly687]

Thank you so much for the support! I had my second draw yesterday morning and they were supposed to call me back in the afternoon, but no one returned my call. UGH! I will report back later today!! :)

[kimberly687]

It went up from 98 to 268 in 2 days!! :) :)

[atomic sagebrush]

That's a great sign Kimberly!! :pray: and positive thoughts coming your way!!

[kimberly687]

Not great news on my end. The doctors were thinking that I had an ectopic pregnancy due to a mysterious "2 cm complex mass" near my left ovary (found in the ER on Saturday). After another ultrasound on Monday, the mass was gone and I had blood pooling in my uterus. HCG numbers also started to drop that day and I began bleeding again yesterday. Although I'm heart broken, I'm thankful that it took care of itself, if I was having an ectopic. I can't even imagine if it had progressed... :(

Time to get back at that diet and try again. Atomic, have you noticed if TTC directly after a miscarriage has any sort of sway factor? My diet pretty much stayed girl friendly-- I didn't want to eat much.

[atomic sagebrush]

Oh no I'm so terribly sorry to read this. But yes it is good that it resolved itself. :heart:

yes, we believe that conceiving after a loss does sway pink. If you get your doc's ok, I would proceed provided you feel emotionally and physically ready to try again.

[kimberly687]

Hi Atomic! I'm back on the baby making band wagon again and have a question for you. Under normal circumstances, I go for a brisk 40 minute walk (up a steep hill) almost every day. I had been reading your advice on exercise and decided to kick my routine up to 65 minutes for the last two weeks. I also cut my calories quite a bit, but for the life of me, I couldn't lose a pound. I'm 5'2" and 120lbs; it's always been hard for me to gain or lose weight. We made our attempt anyways last week and after that, I went back down to 40 minutes and ate an excessive amount of food. The next day I dropped a pound. I'm not sure if I was in starvation mode or what. So my question is, do you think it would have mattered that I didn't lose weight with my sway, even though I cut the calories and excessively exercised? Just curious what your thoughts are! Thanks!!

[atomic sagebrush]

No it doesn't matter, that is something many of us have noted along the way (myself included) is that we get stuck in plateaus (and for many of us, the plateau is just where our bodies like to be!) and then after we finally give up and say "oh heck with it" and have a cheat day, the weight comes off. just seems to be how the body works.

At your height and weight, your BMI is already in the pink range where I like you guys to stop losing weight and just hang out where you are. Do diet, do exercise, but you don't need to lose any weight anyway so all is good!

[kimberly687]

Thanks a bunch!

[kimberly687]

Atomic!! I found out I was pregnant in March ....and.... drum roll please.... it's a girl!!!!!!! (Results from NIPT) :running: I followed all of your tips and advice. What a wonderful Mother's Day gift!

[atomic sagebrush]

Oh kimberly I'm so happy for you! Thank you for coming by to update us! :cheer: :cheer: :cheer:

Wishing you the best for a happy healthy pregnancy and birth!

[atomic sagebrush]

If you wanted to do an add your sway here: http://genderdreaming.com/forum/add-your-girl-sway-/ they are really helpful to us! Enjoy every moment!