sweetpea TTC a GIRL Sway Attempt *UPDATE: It's B/G TWINS!!!

[sweetpea]

***10/15/12 UPDATE***
Had a transvaginal u/s at what I thought was 6 weeks on the nose, due to sharp pains on my left side. It turns out I had a ruptured cyst on my left ovary, and that was causing the pain, but all is fine. However, I also found out that we are expecting TWINS! I saw two sacs, two little blobs, and two heartbeats each beating at about 144 bpm. One baby was measuring at 6w3d and the other was measuring 6w1d. I am in SHOCK! I haven't even told DH yet, and I'm not sure how to tell him. I'm not even sure how to process this, I've been shaking all day (I'm even shaking as I type this right now!)

***12/6/12 UPDATE****
I went for an elective early gender determination u/s today at 13w4d. Both babies were measuring 14w1d, and it was confirmed that I'm having BOY/GIRL twins!! I am on cloud nine! Thank you, Jesus! And a HUGE thanks to Atomic, who has helped me plan my sway for most of this year (thank you from the bottom of my heart!) and thanks to all you lovely ladies here at Gender Dreaming! I love you all!!

TTC a Girl Sway Attempt

Gender Result:

BOY/GIRL twins!!

DW Age:

30

DH Age:

34

Current Children's Gender(s)

DS1: Almost 4
DS2: 2

Number of Months TTC

1

Did you purchase and follow a GD Personalized Plan?

Yes

DIET
Did you follow a diet plan?

Yes

If yes to diet, which one did you most follow?

• LE(Low Everything)

Comments regarding DW's diet changes-

I started out this year at 187 lbs (I'm 5'2") with an obese BMI (34.2). I went on a 30-day juice fast in January and lost 20 pounds. At the very end of January, I found this site and started doing LE-diet-friendly things, but didn't quite do the LE diet right away (still had breakfast and some cheats). I've eaten red meat, I think, once this entire year. I can only remember one time in February I ate a steak, and DH and I used to be BIG meat eaters (I'm talking some kind of meat at every single dinner, and red meat usually at least 1-2x a week, if not more). I've stayed mostly vegetarian for the most part of this year, but had some chicken or seafood or pulled pork cheats (less times than I can count on both hands for the entire 9.5 months I’ve been dieting), and that was months before we started TTC. My last MEAT cheat was at the end of May. I've literally only had a bite of a tiny piece of shrimp (like from my kids' shrimp lo mein) or a tiny bite of BIL's fish fry only 2-3 times from May until early August. I became strictly vegetarian (100% no meat of any kind) for the last several weeks. Also, I NEVER snacked, ever. And never had breakfast. No snacking/eating close to bedtime, either.

When I started doing the LE Diet months ago, I was doing the empty carbs that a lot of the women were doing, but I was struggling with losing weight that way. I changed three things to try and help encourage weight loss: 1) I dropped from 3 meals per day to two meals per day (2pm and 7pm), 2) I dropped my calorie intake (from 1100-1200 to around 1000), and 3) I switched from empty carbs to "real" foods (this is when I adopted a diet of mainly eggwhite omelettes, strawberry & pear smoothies, hummus and peeled cucumbers, apples, pears, green grapes, some bananas, lots of salads, etc). I ate no bread, sweets, candy, white rice, etc. because I just wasn't losing weight eating those things. I did eat 1 Yoplait Light yogurt daily, some lowfat sour cream (on my salads), Crystal Light (in moderate amounts), and Cherry Coke Zero (in moderate amounts). I've *never* had caffeine while TTC before (I'm hoping this helped to lower fertility!) and I have NEVER been a real big pop drinker.

The 2 weeks or so before our attempt, I was REALLY strict with my diet (no cheats at ALL), and was steadily dropping weight (slowly, but at least a little bit was coming off every day from AF-O). The week before O (and I know this is bad, but it was such a short time, so hopefully it didn't effect egg quality or anything), I dropped my calories to around 750-800 cals per day (I know, I know, really bad, but I really wanted to keep losing weight, and surprisingly, with all the filling foods I was eating and the bubbly pop I was drinking, I was honest-to-God not hungry, even with eating so few calories). Hopefully, since I was eating "real" foods and not junky foods, this was okay just for the 5-7 days that I did that.

If diet was used, length of time before attempt?

I've been dieting for a total of 9.5 months (since January 2nd of this year). I've been mostly vegetarian the whole time (some meat cheats months before our attempt), and strictly vegetarian for the last couple of months. I've been following the LE diet guidelines since about....end of February, I think? Or maybe March. So, at least a solid 6 months on the LE diet before our attempt (loosely in the beginning, then fine-tuning it in the last 2-3 months).

Did you skip breakfast regularly?

Yes

Did DH change his diet with you?

Yes

Comments regarding DH's diet-

DH drastically changed his diet. He used to be BIG into meat - always ate burgers, steak hoagies, roasts, pulled pork, chicken, and lunchmeat. I honestly think meat used to be the biggest part of his diet. But that all changed at the beginning of this year. DH is overweight, and had gone on the 30-day juice fast with me in January. He lost about 18 pounds, then continued on dieting to lose another 10 pounds or so. He ended up keeping his weight pretty stable from that point on, and he didn’t continue “dieting,” per say, but he kept about 98% vegetarian all this year. He had NO red meat at all, and only a few chicken, pork, or seafood cheats very sparingly over the past 9.5 months. He was 100% vegetarian for the last several weeks before we conceived. He drank a moderate-to-high level of caffeine daily, didn’t drink any milk, had a good amount of full-sugar pop, and drank 8 oz of chocolate soy milk daily.

DId you consume alcohol?

• No

DId you try to limit caffeine?

No, I drink caffeine regularly

Any Diet Details?

I had about 12-24 oz Cherry Coke Zero per day, and 2 packets of Crystal Light per day. Also used Equal sprinkled in my smoothies and on my bowls of strawberries.

I also wanted to mention that DH and I both cut way back on our dairy consumption. We used to be BIG milk drinkers, and ate LOADS of cheese. While we both still had *some* cheese in our diets, and while I had 1 yogurt daily and a bit of sour cream, neither of us drank any milk for months before conceiving. It was probably the lowest we’ve ever been with dairy and calcium, ever.

Any Diet Comments/Additional Info?

If it helps, I'd like to share what my typical day's meals looked like for the last several weeks. Here is one example (although it didn't vary much):

Breakfast: Nothing. Just drank a huge glass of water with Benefiber Orange mixed in. Would also drink about 12-24 oz of Cherry Diet Coke all day long, until my first meal of the day.

Lunch: Eggwhite omelette made with 3 egg whites, a tiny sprinkle of grated lowfat mozzarella cheese, some diced red bell pepper, a sprinkle of hot sauce, and a tsp of lowfat sour cream spread on top. I'd eat this with a cup of grapes or a peeled apple, or sometimes a small banana. I'd also make a smoothie with frozen strawberries, peeled chopped pear, water, and Equal. Sometimes I'd add a plain mini bagel with a tiny pat of butter.

Dinner: Huge iceberg lettuce salad with 2 tbsp of lowfat sour cream and a sprinkle of hot sauce. Peeled sliced cucumbers with 2 tbsp of hummus. Peeled apple. Yoplait Light yogurt poured over a bowl of strawberries. Sometimes I'd have a small baked potato with a pat of butter and a bit of lowfat sour cream.

WEIGHT AND EXERCISE
What did you weigh/BMI do leading up to O?

I was about 133 or 134 pounds (with a BMI of about 24.4) leading up to O.

Any Weight/Exercise related additional info/comments?

I've steadily lost weight from January until September, losing a grand total of 54 pounds before we conceived. I was down to 133 or 134 by the time we had our attempts (BMI of around 24.4). For the record, I was 135 with DS1 and 125 with DS2 (I still feel really nervous about this - I still wonder if I should have gotten my weight lower before trying). Anyway, even with the 54-pound weight loss this year, there were a lot of times I'd get frustrated with all of this, and I'd have big cheat weekends (even a really, really stupid cheat MONTH in May when I turned 30 and decided to live it up that month, ugh), and I've gained weight at times (a whopping 10-lb weight gain in May, ugh!). So, while the scale would go down-up-down-up-down over the past 9.5 months, it was still an overall trend of going down (just never a straight line of down-down-down while losing weight...if that makes sense). I'm happy about the weight loss, but I'm worried about the little mini-gains along the way.

THINGS in VG and CONCEPTION DATE(CD) INFO
pH Before Starting a Sway Program, if known

no idea

Any VG potions used?

• RePhresh
• Sylk

CM pH at attempt

no idea

DH pH

no idea

How many BD attempts did you make for the BFP cycle?

5-6

BD Dates according to Ovulation

• 4 Days Before O
• 3 Days Before O
• 2 Days Before O
• 1 Day Before O
• O Day

Any additional comments?

DTD on O-4, O-3, O-2, O-1, and O day. The reason why I say we did 5-6 attempts is because the day before O, we DTD twice – once in the afternoon and once at night. DH had a very weak orgasm during the one in the afternoon (he wasn’t even sure if anything came out), so we DTD again at night, and he definitely had the big O then. So, if you count the afternoon attempt where DH had a weak orgasm (and possibly no semen output), then it was a total of 6 attempts. Otherwise, 5 good solid attempts.

THE DEED INFO
DH Info about Swimmers

• Frequent Release
• DTD through Ovulation

BD Position

Missionary

Did you Jump and Dump?

• For some attempts

Any relevant attempt details?

DH released daily, 9 days prior to our first attempt. We then went on to have the 5-6 attempts, as described above. No big O for me for WEEKS leading up to our attempts. No big O for me during most of our attempts, except for one of our attempts (I think it was the day of O). We tried DTD in the afternoon, but DH couldn’t finish. However, I had not one but TWO big O’s, one right after another (OMG, so embarrassing). DH didn’t finish at all that attempt, though. Hours later, at night, we tried again and DH then finished. I really hope the big O from earlier in the day didn’t do anything to hurt our sway.

I also wanted to mention that I used a full applicator of RepHresh on CD 5, 8, and 11. I then used a little squirt of RepHresh right before our attempt on CD14 (the day before O). With every attempt, we also used a tiny bit of Sylk and/or saliva as lube. The *ONLY* attempt where we didn't use ANYTHING was the afternoon attempt on the day before O, where DH had a super weak O, and wasn't even sure if any semen came out.

Also, I went to get an hour-long massage the day before O.

SUPPLEMENTS USED
DW Supplements

• Vitex
• Clomid
• Baby asprin
• folic acid
• acidophiles
• Fiber
• Saw Palmetto

DH Supplements

• Licorice Root
• Cranberry
• acidophiles

Any additional supplement info?

DW:
- Took Vitex all cycle through, non-stop, since February. Stopped Vitex on CD1 of attempt cycle, since I was starting Clomid.
- Baby aspirin was every other day, all cycle long.
- Folic acid was 1600 mcg per day, split up into two doses (once in morning and once in evening).
- Acidophilus was two capsules per day.
- Fiber was 4 capsules before each meal.
- Took SP all cycle long, non-stop, since June. Stopped SP on CD1 of attempt cycle, since I was starting Clomid.
- Clomid was 50 mg CD's 4-8.

DH:
- Super low dose of LR (1 pill daily) from CD 1-14. Did this for two cycles, I think.
- Low dose cranberry daily for months (since March, maybe?)
- Acidophilus daily for months (started the same time as the cranberry pills, so since March?)

Did you do anything with Ions?

No. I use lavender essential oil bar soap in the shower, but only because I make my own soap and like the relaxing scent of it. But otherwise, no, I didn't do anything with ions for my sway.

Moon Phase during conception?

New Moon

Did you use any Old Wives Tales?

No

Things that make me feel great about my sway:

I feel great about the fact that both DH and I have completely changed our diet and lifestyle. We went from being huge meat eaters to pretty much completely vegetarian. I was always a snacker, which means my blood sugar was always stable. I changed that by eating only 2 meals a day and skipping breakfast, thus keep blood sugar levels low. I've never NOT snacked before. I also feel good about the fact that I've lost 54 pounds before we conceived.

Things that make me nervous about my sway:

I feel nervous about the fact that I wasn't at my lowest conception weight or my lowest adult weight for that matter. I also worry that I may have been eating too healthily, and may not have sent a signal to my body that "times are tough." I think we may have had too many attempts, too.

Things worth mentioning:

First and foremost, I want to give a BIG thanks to God for leading me to this site and to this weath of information! I had a horrible year in 2011, and was so depressed that I put on 50 lbs that year. That is so unlike me, and I was just miserable. Looking back, I’m wondering if God meant for all these things to happen how/when they happened. I worked hard this year to shed the weight and the depression from the previous year, and was forced to be patient and to lean on the Lord. I’m hoping that this bumpy road has led me to conceive our little girl, but if I am carrying a boy instead, it’s only because God wanted him here. Either way, I did the best I could with this sway, and I feel so blessed to be pregnant with this child.
Secondly, I want to thank Atomic from the bottom of my heart for putting up with me for almost a full year before my first attempt! She is nothing but kind, gracious, courteous, patient, uplifting, supportive, sweet, extremely knowledgeable, and even though I don’t know her in real life, I’d say she’s a wonderful “online friend.” I could not have gone on this journey without her, and no matter what the gender of my child turns out to be, I am utterly grateful for all she has done for me. Thank you, Atomic!
And lastly, a big shout-out of thanks to my precious hubby who, without him, I wouldn’t even be posting this! Ha! He went along with all my “demands,” even though he’s told me countless times that he thinks I’m crazy, LOL! And who can’t love a guy who willingly gets totally burnt out after FR'ing/DTD 16 times in a row?!?! He has told me that he’s so relieved I’m pregnant, because he couldn’t have done another month of that, LOL! Thanks, hubby! I love you!

[NCBeachyGrl]

Congratulations and such a great job with weight loss!!!!

[myGirl]

Your sway was so enjoyable to read, very clear and detailed. What a journey you've been on! It was such a great sway and I really think you have a pink bean cooking!

Congrats


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[Navywife620]

wonderful sway sweetpea!!!!!!!!

[HopingForPigtails]

I just wanted to congratulate you on your sway. It sounds fabulous and on top of that, it sounds like such a benefit for your health overall. Losing weight is so hard and I commend you for being so dedicated!! It will keep you healthier in the long run! So hopefully you'll get your DD and you can thank her for getting you tip top again!! :-)

[sweetpea]

Thank you for all the sweet replies, everyone!

[prayforprincess]

Great sway! Great job on the LE -- its so hard to stick to for so long and you did it!

[Dannicka1]

Wow a BFP already??? Congrats and hope to follow you soon and don't be nervous, you had a good sway!

[auroara78]

great sway...congratulations!! so excited to see this!! whoooooo hoooo!

[sweetpea]

Thanks so much, girls! I'm excited and nervous at the same time! The gender scan can't come fast enough!