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August 23rd, 2021, 02:20 PM
#21
Swaying Advice Coach
Oh interesting, see that's why I hesitate to recommend specific brands because they vary so much around the world. 1400 and 1600 IU is very much in the range I am fine with you guys taking.
Let's do 2x a week with that dose of iron, and have it with something containing Vitamin C. I would actually like you to get in for a followup, as most cases of anemia are "silent" and have no symptoms with it. Usually if you have symptoms it's pretty severe, but we need to be treating you even if it's a milder form.
Sea bass is very high in mercury and ALL women who are trying to conceive should avoid it when TTC. Especially in your case since you've been eating a lot of it (in 10 years I have never seen anyone eating anything close to the level you are eating!) I want you to drop it IMMEDIATELY because we need to give your body time to get rid of the excess mercury it may have collected.
You don't need to do every other day for blue. Hubby should RELEASE, whether that is on his own or with you, with protection, every 2-4 days. So this can end up being 2x a week-ish if you go with the 4 day pattern. If occasionally this goes an extra day that's ok, but what we are trying to avoid is long abstains of 6-7 days or more regularly, and also periods of many days in a row.
The diaphragm is ok for now but in the months you plan to try you will need to use something else that does not involve spermicide. Spermicide residue may sway somewhat pink, and some people were even investigating it for use as a pink sway tactic, but it cut odds of conception too much. So we don't want that residue in your system in the months you plan to attempt.
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August 23rd, 2021, 03:47 PM
#22
Wow how strange! I would have thought the brand would be the same everywhere too (I'm in London btw!). Just a few more little questions, hope you don't mind!
To clarify, I should take one iron tablet on two days of the week? I'll take it with juice
Right, sea bass will be dropped! Thank you for telling me that, I was actually pretty unaware and thought tuna was the only high-mercury culprit to avoid. Is there another kind of blue swaying fish I could have instead? No worries if not.
Thanks for clarifying the BD pattern. I think anything more may have destroyed him lol! I'll avoid spermacide in the month we start trying. Actually looking forward to not having to use the diaphragm then too, it's a bit of a faff...
I've been ordering some supplements online and am really excited to have a plan to work for, so thank you. Do you think Robitussen around O in the month we're trying is advisable? I'm not someone who gets lots of CM, so maybe it is... x
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August 24th, 2021, 02:41 PM
#23
Swaying Advice Coach
Yes that's right. Iron is one thing the body can save up, so we can take extra even just a couple times a week and have benefits from it without going overboard. I would def consider possibly a blood test to see how you're doing as iron can, like I said above, be a silent deficiency. (I REALLY struggle with this personally and yet I've only had symptoms a few times in my life, yet my levels hover right at the cutoff between normal/anemic.)
I don't recommend ANY kind of fish when TTC more than twice a week. In addition to the potential for mercury (even in low mercury fish, there can still be some mercury, just less) there can be pesticide runoff and naturally occurring biological toxins in fish as well. Most reputable sources recommend no more than 2 times per week for eating fish when TTC.
Guaifenesin (the active ingredient in some types of Robitussin) does seem to improve CM for some people. I don't think there's any strong evidence proving it's blue friendly, but most blue swayers do use it with my blessing (because it certainly doesn't seem pink friendly either.) Do be sure you're getting just guaifenesin as the active ingredient because some things sold under the brand name "Robitussin" have other things in there that may be active pink swayers or are harmful.
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August 24th, 2021, 03:40 PM
#24
Ok will do, very helpful - thank you.
I've been reading up on the HE diet today. The forums here makes so much more sense than a lot of the stuff out there! I've established that the best thing to do is eat protein and carbs together at all meals - does that count for snacks too, or can, say, a piece of fruit and some nuts be a snack?
I've always struggled a bit with carbs because bread, pasta and white potatoes have never really been part of my diet; I'm not really a fan. (But willing to eat just about anything to make this work!). When you say carbs, are you talking broadly to include things like vegetables (broccoli, spinach, yams...my mind has literally just drawn a blank now!) or are complex carbs important too? I'm going to introduce brown rice to my diet and try to up the veggies. I will even try to eat kale (yuck!) xx
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August 25th, 2021, 01:21 PM
#25
Swaying Advice Coach
I know, right?? Something that never made any sense to me at all is how Top Ramen and hot dogs could be good for conceiving a baby of ANY gender at all! :/
Yes, protein + carbs at every meal and snack within reason. Keep in the back of your mind, the goal we are trying to accomplish here is keeping blood sugar higher longer (or at the least preventing a full on blood sugar crash) so you can sometimes accomplish that without protein + carbs, as long as you're eating again pretty quick. Let's say you had a great big lunch, and truly aren't hungry till dinner. No worries, just roll with that. Another option would be to have a lighter lunch, but oh no, all there is to eat is a piece of fruit. That's ok, just eat dinner sooner rather than later, before your blood sugar can drop again after the fruit (or have another piece of fruit to keep blood sugar up longer)
A piece of fruit and some nuts (or cheese, or a hard boiled egg, or some yogurt) is ABSOLUTELY a snack. And one of the best ones! Nuts ALONE have protein + carbs in them, you don't even need the fruit. It can even be a meal depending on how many nuts you eat. When I conceived my 3rd son, for years I had 1/2 cup either almonds or walnuts plus tea for breakfast every single morning. I would often go all morning on that, sometimes I'd have some dates or an orange with the nuts, or some chocolate in the middle of the morning at work, particularly in the winter (I worked outside). And it worked really well, I rarely was hungry till lunchtime.
Complex carbs will keep your blood sugar up longer, though I do allow people to choose from the various options as long as they're having protein with them. No need to eat white bread, pasta, or potatoes, you can have whole grains, fruit, or higher carb veg instead (corn, beets, winter squash/marrows, yams, potatoes - anything that tastes sweet and starchy) The lower carb veg - broccoli, spinach - the things that don't taste sweet/starchy don't count for carbs though they're good in other ways. And even a small amount of sugar in say a salad dressing or some other sauce works. Feel free to have a spinach/broc salad, with a hardboiled egg or two on top, and then a sweet tasting salad dressing (1000 Island, honey mustard, Russian) and that would be protein + carbs.
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August 26th, 2021, 10:42 AM
#26
Ok thank you Atomic. I'm feeling a little worried as I still haven't started my period yet.. I'm guessing it will be even later than normal now, after all that's happened. I'm keen to get started but realise how difficult it's going to be with incredibly long cycles and ovulation windows which are very hard to pinpoint! I've bought lots of tests to help though, which I plan to start using in Dec... although at this rate, I may not even ovulate in that month
Thanks for the food examples, I don't have a very varied diet right now, I tend to stick to the same things (like sea bass, lol) so these are helpful
Are there certain drinks which can really help? I've read about V8 and grapefruit juice... I used to love herbal teas and green tea but only when they were artificially sweetened! Can't bear them without so am mainly sticking with fizzy water / lemon water for now.
Fingers crossed that things start moving soon and I can get started xx
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August 27th, 2021, 07:19 AM
#27
p.s. please ignore the first paragraph of my last post - things have got moving now on that front, which is some relief! It means that, looking ahead to my first month of trying, I won't ovulate until around 28-30th December. Is it still worth starting my sway on 1st September, or should I hold off on taking the supps (and getting DH to take his!) until late September, as that would still give me the full 12 weeks?
I've already shifted my diet towards the blue sway, e.g. fish 2x a week, full fat dairy, snacks etc. Just wondering when I should start properly in your view. Thank you xxx
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August 28th, 2021, 03:45 PM
#28
Swaying Advice Coach
No, I want you to start your sway supps right away and start avoiding that sea bass as well. The HE Diet and supps can be done as far in advance as possible, you can take the supps indefinitely and they'll only help your overall health and fertility. Just take care with the diet not to gain weight with super rapidity, pace yourself in terms of cal intake and snacking too much, don't go nutty with carbs either (just enough carbs to satisfy the "protein + carbs" adage) till you're closer in.
People see big changes in cycles with swaying. Let's not look ahead too far and assume the days you'll ovulate all the way in December. That may very well change.
Personally I don't put ~much~ stock into any one thing being magically delicious, LOL, but V8 and grapefruit juice (indeed, all citrus juices) certainly are chock full of nutrients. I was drinking a lot of V8 and orange juice (and green tea) with my 3rd son. I didn't know about swaying with hiim, but I may as well have been swaying blue! What about black tea, can you stand that without artificial sweetener?
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August 29th, 2021, 07:27 AM
#29
Ok we're starting today! Not off to the best start as I just realised by Vit D tablets are a few months out of date - I'm guessing they're useless now?! I'll get new ones anyway...
I've definitely put on a little weight already but I'm ok with that. And yeah, I spend way too much time on these apps trying to figure out when things will happen! I'm also trying to plan a little trip away in Dec for when I may ovulate, so DH and I can relax a little (very hard for us to do here!). I do seem to have period around every 45 days, but maybe the sway will change that! Sod's law I book a trip for the dates just before / after!
I wasn't mad keen on the V8, but happy to drink it sometimes. Otherwise can I mix orange / grapefruit juice with fizzy water? I'm not a fan of tea or coffee to be honest, but if it would help my sway then I could introduce it? I would probably prefer it with milk, but I'll drink it however is most effective (e.g. I was making myself drink raspberry leaf tea every day a few months ago when I thought that would help, and it tastes like pond water!) Just let me know how much would be good.
Also I've set timers on my phone for the folate tablets... I'll be taking Centrum in the morning with all the other pills (around 8/8.30am) then folate 1000 at 12 noon, folate 400 at 3pm and another folate 400 at 7pm. Also iron mid-morning twice a week with orange juice. Does that sound like good spacing? xx
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August 29th, 2021, 07:35 AM
#30
p.s. something I forgot to ask - sorry! - does it matter if DH drinks milk replacers (i.e. unsweetened almond milk)? xx
So happy for you Treens, congratulations Sent from my SM-A225F using Tapatalk
Healthy baby girl :)