Need Diet Help - specifically lowering sodium

[fourunderfour]

You know, that really does make a lot of sense to me.
Okay, so diet (possibly exercise - I PMed you some thoughts I was having...)
Vitex and SP for 1-2 months prior to TTC months (initially starting for 2 weeks then seeing what happens, right?)
Baby Aspirin between 2-4 a week
Metformin
Abstain, then DTD the night of trigger
DH- LR the month of TTC (from AF-O)
Cetirizine on day before attempt
(i think this could be a bit tricky - I'm can't be sure when they are going to say "yes, go ahead and trigger tonight" - maybe I'll just do it when my eggs are almost mature to the best of my estimate? Last time I went in for an u/s and my eggs were 16.9 and 17.2 - the next morning they were 17.9 and 18.2 - both mature and both released...thoughts?)
Sylk as a lube
[/B]DTD -lay for 5 min, then J&D
Maybe rePhresh after attempt? - or would I take it before? If I was just going to use it once, about when would you suggest using it?

Does this sound like a 'full' but relaxed sway?
I'm certainly not a type A person, but I just would love to give it my best shot!

Would you suggest anything else?
Thanks in advance.

[fourunderfour]

"We did happen to have a lot of stress, high caffeine intake, and lack of sleep working for us"

Is alot of stress good for swaying pink?
I thought stress raised testosterone.... I do remember reading something about a death in the family, or losing a miss america pagent ...but these things don't happen very often, right?
Lack of sleep? I feel like I read someone stating that as part of their sway, but I never got to finding the explanation of why that helps. I am a terrible sleeper, but TRY my best to get sleep all the time because I covet it!
I'd say I average about 7 hrs (though broken) a night.
How much is "high" for caffeine intake?

[atomic sagebrush]

Everything looks great!!

since you're not sure when they'll tell you to trigger and it may be hard to time the Cetirizine, you can do Benadryl instead. It works within 1-2 hours after taking it and keeps working for 4-6 hours (cetirizine takes about 6 hours to kick in and then works for 24-48 hours). So if you go with Benadryl, you can time it closer to when they trigger you.

I don't like people using anything after BD. It's pointless because the sperm flee the VJ almost right away and are soon out of reach of anything you put in your vagina, and if you use it immediately after BD you also risk killing off a lot of swimmers (and not doing any good anyway because the sperm don't have to pass thru the RepHresh on the way to the cervix. Use RepHresh 8-12 hours before your attempt - this allows time for it to spread into all the nooks and crannies, but also lets it mellow so it won't kill off everything it touches.

[atomic sagebrush]

"We did happen to have a lot of stress, high caffeine intake, and lack of sleep working for us"

Is alot of stress good for swaying pink?
I thought stress raised testosterone.... I do remember reading something about a death in the family, or losing a miss america pagent ...but these things don't happen very often, right?
Lack of sleep? I feel like I read someone stating that as part of their sway, but I never got to finding the explanation of why that helps. I am a terrible sleeper, but TRY my best to get sleep all the time because I covet it!
I'd say I average about 7 hrs (though broken) a night.
How much is "high" for caffeine intake?

Stress is a funny thing and one of the hardest things for me to explain to people. There is more than one type of stress. There's a kind of positive stress that you get from tackling projects you're excited about, and overcoming challenges successfully; it's usually somewhat short-lived in nature and you feel like you're in control, even when things don't always go according to plan. You feel good about yourself for taking it on and it doesn't make you unhappy deep down inside, and generally, it's NOT a matter of life and death. (Miss America pageant, Pillsbury Bake-Off, playing sports, and swaying all fit into this category.) Even if things aren't good (even if it IS a matter of life or death), you're confident that you can improve the situation somehow, by wits or by strength. This kind of stress can raise testosterone because testosterone is a kind of tool or fuel that you use to stay strong, in control, and even competitive in challenging circumstances. If you can WIN at a situation by being tougher or more competitive than the other guy, then it pays genetically speaking, to be more mentally "set" to take such a challenge on.

Then there's a kind of insidious, chronic, stress that comes from being stuck in a situation that's really, really not good and totally out of your control. Feeling hopeless and discouraged about things and that there is little or nothing you can do to make things better. This sort of stress lowers testosterone, because in nature, if your T levels stayed high in the face of circumstances out of your control (as in, your tribe was just conquered by the Visigoths) a person who stayed high in T while that was happening might be more likely to seek out confrontation. When in reality, the best survival strategy in that case would be to keep your head down and fly under the radar. Suffering losses, failures, repeated setbacks etc. can lower T in and of themselves, and also just long term chronic stress without any reprieve for months on end can kind of wear out your body and it just doesn't respond as strongly to stimuli any more. It literally can't make T because it no longer is quite sure what stimuli are worthy of response and what needs to be ignored.

Extrapolating to gender ratio, in nature, boys are much more likely to survive to reproduce when their parents are dominant in society. So cues your body receives that you are a dominant member of society (the type of stress that raises T) tends to sway blue because your genes "think" a boy has a better chance to hand down lots of genes (they may grow up bigger, stronger, richer, and better able to compete for mates). In situations where parents are NOT dominant members of society, girls are more likely to survive to reproduce because most females have at least one offspring regardless of size/dominance/social standing (even smaller, sickly females of all species, can find someone to mate with, and in all human cultures, it's easier for women to "marry up" than it is for men). This does NOT mean that girl moms are "losers" and boy moms are "winners", just that certain sets of circumstances can lower/raise testosterone accordingly because of certain factors that have been universally true for milennia.

Those things actually DO happen to us every day more than we even realize. Read my sway in the sway section if you want to see the kind of stress I was under when I conceived DD. It was not outside the norm.

Lack of sleep can sway pink because your body doesn't have time to rest and build muscle and heal. Declining maternal condition sways pink, lower fertility sways pink, and less muscle mass sways pink.

High caffeine intake is more than you normally drink.

[ThroughWithBlue]

No, you're not starting too soon - I answered this in depth on your other thread but I think it's best to get the weight off and maintain rather than trying to time weight loss, that's backfired on several people.

Hope it's ok to ask a question here for atomic.. could you clarify something for me? Is it best to not lose any weight at all before you officially start swaying? I've been trying to lose a few pounds as I've been feeling really bloated lately. I've been running a lot and my legs are getting much more toned than I like so I've been trying to get rid of that also. Is it better not to do this before starting a sway? We may be starting soon, I just need to man up at get at it lol I've been eating loosely the LE diet for a month now, like not snacking no breakfast and that has made me lose some weight I think (haven't weighed yet)

[atomic sagebrush]

It's best to lose weight when and how you can rather than trying to time weight loss. Trying to time weight loss has backfired for several people firstly because you may not have time to take the weight off before you sway, and secondly because trying to gain weight to lose, you always risk an accidental pregancy right at the worst possible moment.

Just lose the weight whenever it comes off, and then don't worry about it beyond that.

[fourunderfour]

Actually, I think I could still keep with the Cetirizine...I go in the mornings to get blood work & u/s - so they would tell me then what day to trigger - if it was that night, I could take it when I got home and there would certainly be 6 hours to spare. nice that it works for so long! How many doses do you take with it...I mean, how long would you continue it - just that once, or again in 24-48 hrs?
Same thing with the rePhresh - if I do it the morning of the day they tell me to trigger that may work perfectly!
What sort of "dosage" would you recommend? I've seen people take as little as a fingertip and as much as a half a tube!
Same question as before - should I repeat in 3 days, or would the one time be enough?

does broken sleep have sorta the same effect as little sleep -meaning less time for the body to "heal" itself. in that case I'd be swaying girl since I was a teen w/o knowing it! haha.

i usually have some caffeine each day - about 8 -12 oz. would you suggest more or to cut it completely?

...I'm not sure I'm gonna stress about the stress stuff. lol.
I'll just go about my hectic days and take on whatever challenges await.
Can't worry about ever little factor can I?!
Thanks again Atomic!

[atomic sagebrush]

I don't want you to take Benadryl because it acts faster, I want you to take Benadryl because it doesn't last as long. Benadryl only lasts 4-6 hours after use so if you take it before your trigger, it will dry you up when you need to be dried up (drying up CM and somewhat reducing numbers of sperm that can make it to the egg) but then wear off hopefully around the time the egg has been fertilized.

The sperm needs some fluid in the uterus and Fallopian tubes, to make it to the egg, but more importantly, the egg needs fluid to move through on the way to implant in the uterus. An egg is a cell like any other and needs to be bathed in nutrient-rich fluids because that's how it's designed to be.

Use 1/2-1 tube of RepHresh 8-12 hours before ovulation. Some will come back out again and that's ok. Using a lot and then allowing the excess to come out, ensures that it gets into all the little nooks and crannies and yet is not so highly concentrated that it will kill off everything.

With both the antihistimine and RepHresh, in your circumstance, once is enough and you do not need to take either again.

Yes, broken sleep also lowers testosterone. Don't cut caff out completely, you can increase it if you want to or just hold steady. Your choice.

Good job on not stressing over stress!!

[fourunderfour]

Okay.
I actually feel "ready" even though it's not yet time.
My husband asked me the other day if I knew 100% that I would have a boy, would we still go ahead and try.
Initially I thought...well...No, I dont know. But I think it's because I have challenging pregnancies... But b/c there are no certainties with this, I'd like to just give it my best shot... If we end up with a 5th son, I would just take it as a confirmation that God has a little girl out there for us somewhere. And maybe Megersa would have another "brown" sibling!

Question:
I have an appt with the RE on Tuesday. What are your thoughts about taking progesterone? I know I was taking it when we attempted ttc with the twins...and took it for awhile after BFP. I did stop abruptly as with Metformin (though I understand this is a no-no), but what do you think? Does it sway...or just help - maybe specific to PCOS?
Know of anyone HT who has used it? or skipped it?

Thanks again!

[atomic sagebrush]

Okay.
I actually feel "ready" even though it's not yet time.
My husband asked me the other day if I knew 100% that I would have a boy, would we still go ahead and try.
Initially I thought...well...No, I dont know. But I think it's because I have challenging pregnancies... But b/c there are no certainties with this, I'd like to just give it my best shot... If we end up with a 5th son, I would just take it as a confirmation that God has a little girl out there for us somewhere. And maybe Megersa would have another "brown" sibling!

Question:
I have an appt with the RE on Tuesday. What are your thoughts about taking progesterone? I know I was taking it when we attempted ttc with the twins...and took it for awhile after BFP. I did stop abruptly as with Metformin (though I understand this is a no-no), but what do you think? Does it sway...or just help - maybe specific to PCOS?
Know of anyone HT who has used it? or skipped it?

Thanks again!

Just wanted to let people know, I never answered this thread because the poster ended up with a surprise pg.