Summary of this Cycle... What was done...

Well, CD 1 started on 7 Aug 12, Tuesday late afternoon, dashing hopes for last cycle.

For this cycle, what we did different or what we added on to what was done previously

- Drinking of the Ba Zhen Soup （八珍汤） on 11 Aug 12 and 18 Aug 12

- Drinking of the 益母草on 21 Aug 12 and planning to drink again on 23 Aug 12 when Ovulation was observed on 23 Aug 12 itself.

- Went for accupuncture on 11 Aug 12 and 18 Aug 12

- Took TCM from 11 Aug 12 onwards till Ovulation Day

- Monitored on the Clearblue Fertility Monitor (prompted for test sticks from CD 10 till CD 18)

- Monitored daily on the normal OPKs from CD 12 onwards (standard twice daily and upping to 4 times after sighting the watery CM)

- Drinking the chia seed concoction (basically it is white and black chia seeds added to water) daily

- Drinking anti -oxidant tea during working days

- Took cereals and orange juice sporadically from 21 Aug 12

- Took lots of eggs in meals, e.g fried egg for dinner if your Daddy cooks, added boiled eggs to the 2nd round of Ba Zhen Soup （八珍汤）and diligently finishing the egg as it was noted online that consuming egg white will help in the maturing of the follicle

- Taking Nature's Wonders Baked USA Walnuts from 27 Aug 12 to help with the implantation (Online information was saying that Brazilian Nuts will help but am unable to find them in the supermarkets)

- Taking the Ginseng Chicken Soup on 26 Aug 12 (pre -packed ingredients/ herbs bought from Hock Hua) and instead of adding normal white chicken, we added half a black chicken instead as the latter has higher nutritional value and the costs work out to be the same as the normal white chickens (The pre -packed ingredients call for 1.5litres of water with 300grams of meat. If we were to add the chicken tight weighing around 300grams to the soup, it will costs around $3 whereas if the black chicken which costs $5+ were spread into 2 portions, one portion for this week's soup and another portion for next week's soup, the average cost is only $2.50+)

- We have the 田七汤and the 人参炖鸡汤pre -packed ingredients at home but read online that the former is not suitable for pregnancy woman. Hence, I am skipping that soup for now.

- Using pre-seed

What makes me proud of this cycle a.k.a the improvements that I see for this cycle:

- Last cycle I ovulated at CD 25 which the gynae commented that the quality of the egg may not be that good as it took too long for it to get released. This time round, I was actually aiming for Ovulation to occur within CD 20 BUT I ovulated on CD 16, i.e 22 Aug 12 which is very near to normalcy! =)
[For those with normal 28 days cycle and assuming a standard Luteal Phase of 14 days, the ovulation will be on CD 14. Hence, for my ovulation on CD 16, it is very near to that of a normal cycle!]
- So, the mood was really heightened as if the cycle manages to get shortened, it would mean that I will have my chances upped! Now, I will get the same number of chances as per others who have their cycle regularly! =)
- Another thing that I am so hyper over is that with the ovulation on CD 16, I am hoping and praying that the quality of the egg will be good enough for fertilization. =)

The odds:

 - For this cycle, we had managed to BD only on 2 days, once on CD 16 itself and another on CD 19. Not sure if this will reduce our chance
- Also, it was noted from online readings that the troops will undergo a process called sperm capacitation and it takes around half hour for the fastest to do so. What this translates into is that if the troops had not undergone that transformation and the ovulation had already occurred, they would not be able to fertilize the egg. Hence, time must be given for them to undergo this process. Only plus point is that the troops will undergo this process at different rates, so some will go through it faster while others at a later time. So this will allow different set of troops to fertilize the waiting egg
- The other thing that I am unable to measure would be the uterine lining. According to different gynaes, a thickness of 7mm is preferred for the fertilized egg to implant (着床). This cannot be told of by the OPKs or any other tools except only if one were to visit the gynae for a ultrasound scanning.
- I have read online that chasteberry (Vitex; 蔓荆子) will help with the lining but was not in time to get it. Hence, if things were to fail again this cycle (touch wood, touch wood), I will try to get the chasteberry to complete or complement the rest of what I was doing.

The news:

Based on my luteal phase of 16 days (have checked through my old records, the luteal phase is 16 days add on to the day after I last tested positive on the OPK, so this time round, the positive came around on 22 Aug 12 and then on 23 Aug 12, it was back to negative, so 23 Aug 12 shall be the 1st day to start the count from. As the ovulation kit that was used for this cycle was different from the previous cycle, I am not sure if the level of sensitivity differs too, i.e the previous batch could have been more sensitive such that I would still test positive on 23 Aug 12 but not on this new batch. Oh well, there is no way of verifying, so I will accept 23 Aug 12 as my 1dpo).

Based on the count, if we were to get lucky and succeed for this round, we will know of the results by 8 Sep 12. If we did not succeed, 8 Sep 12 will be the day that the much dreaded flow will begin and we will have to re -start our To Do list again and renew our hope that this cycle will be the different one resulting in a pregnancy.

We Love You, Our Dear Baby. When will you let us have you such that we can hold a kicking and happy you in our arms a good 9 months later?

Clearblue Fertility Monitor

This time round, I have the much lauded Clearblue Fertility Monitor to assist and help me out for this cycle. Basically what this monitor does is to take the guessing game out of the usage of the normal OPKs. Why? Because now I do not have to put the sticks under the light and try to figure out if the test line is darker or as dark as the control line. The monitor will be doing the assessment and reading on behalf. Pricey for the job that it will do, but anything goes and I will repeat here again, as long as we can have well and alive, kicking, crying and smiling a good 9 months later in our warm and secure arms.

However, the monitor started to get me down a few days later, at around CD 15. It will not prompt for test sticks too early in the cycle as some may still be having their flow etc. Hence, it only started asking for test sticks from CD 10 onwards. CD 10, test stick reading was Low Fertility. Oh well, the flow just ended about a week back, this result is kinda expected.

CD 11, CD 12, CD 13, CD 14 and CD 15 came and went and the monitor still place me at the Low Fertility. -_- There are another 2 levels to go, i.e High Fertility and Peak Fertility. If I keep on loitering at the Low Fertility level, how long will it take to jump the ranks? If I do not jump the ranks soon, the quality of the follicle/ egg will then be regarded as low (Ovulation on CD 25 for the last cycle was perceived to be 'low quality' by the gynae) and I will then not attain the goal of keeping the ovulation to be within CD 20.

Another try.. Aug 12 cycle

Cycle start date: 7 Aug 12, Tuesday
~ had spotting and was hoping for the best, trying to convince myself that it is the implantation bleed but the flow soon thicken and hopes for the cycle died along with the increased flow

Cycle Day 1: 8 Aug 12, Wednesday
~ due to the extremely light flow (which only started in the evening) on 7 Aug 12, the cycle day 1 is taken to be this date instead. Started on the Clearblue Fertility Monitor for added help for this cycle.
Things that will be continued: TCM Accunpuncture, Ba Zhen soup for the 2 weeks prior to Ovulation, reduced cold drinks intake etc

Aim for this cycle: to reduce the cycle length
Info: last cycle the O day was on CD 25 which the gynae already considered it to be old. Add on to that my long luteal phase of 16 days, the whole cycle length will be 42. The hope is to be able to cut short the FSH stage and encourage follicle maturity and ovulation hopefully, by CD 20, so with the luteal phase of 17 days, the cycle length will be reduced to 37 days.

Accupuncture sessions: 11 Aug 12 on CD 4 and 18 Aug 12 on CD 11. One funny thing that is worth a mention is that after going for TCM on 2 consecutive weeks, the TCM practitioner was asking on 18 Aug 12 if I will want to book an appointment. Guess my reply? 'Hopefully I will ovulate by the coming week and if I do, I will not go back for any sessions during the 2 weeks wait. But if I fail, I will return 2 weeks later.' Her response? 'Jiayou and Good Luck to you.'

With that, I left the TCM place on my own (Daddy was at home with your sister waiting for my parcel hence, they cannot accompany me out). I bought the chicken rice home as our dinner along the way back.

I am not sure why, but for the last 2 sessions, the needles seemed to be poked further and deeper in such that there will be slight pain at the lower abdomen area. But anything goes, as long as we will have you kicking and happy in our arms a long 9 months later.

6 Aug 12, Yet another Monday, yet another BFN

Well, the weekend was pretty okay. We were quite well -rested, I would say.

Nothing is new, the HPT still tested negative on both Saturday and Sunday. Meanwhile, one Mummy announced her pregnancy on the motherhood forum and your Father started to call her by her nick and added a prefix 'lucky' to her nick. So basically, the Mummy is now know as 'lucky xxx'.

When will we get our lucky turn? Not this cycle, I had given up hope for this cycle as there had been a nagging heavy feel at the pelvis area, which somehow I seem to know that it would be the flow reporting soon. Anyway, the flow is expected to report on Monday. With my luteal phase of 16 days, the flow can be predicted to report on 16 DPO like clockwork but not you, our #2.

Seriously, we have no idea when you will report and if you will ever come too. The wait is unbearable at times. I have given up for this cycle but your Daddy is still clinging on to the hope that as long as the flow has yet to report, there is still a chance. I hope that he is right.

12 dpo, 2 Aug 12, Thursday.. Yet another negative on the HPT

Today is the 12 dpo and there is still no sign of your presence to be seen on the HPT.

Oh well, I guess this is not the month... The trying to conceive journey has not been smooth and sometimes it can be a bit daunting too, with the many negatives and sometimes it feels like being on a emotional roller coaster..

Basically, the following would be an excerpt of what generally happens during the cycle..

CD = Cycle Day
AF = Aunt Flow aka Menstrual Flow
DPO = Days Past Ovulation
OPK = Ovulation Predictor Kit
HPT = Home Pregnancy Test
2WW = 2 weeks wait

CD 1 to CD 3: AF
CD 4 to CD 5: Remnants of AF, i.e spotting
CD 10 onwards: Mummy will start testing on the OPK (twice a day, once around 10+ am and another time around 4+ pm). The testing can be slightly difficult during working days as the OPK that I am using requires the collection of the urine and it would be so so so obvious if I were to carry a small container along with me when I go to the washroom plus the collection would be messy. Hence, I have decided to make use of those disposable soup spoon with a huge base instead. The long handle will allow one to hold onto the spoon with being splattered while the depth of the spoon will allow the required collection of the urine sample.
1st Positive on the OPK: It is bonding time! =)
1 dpo onwards: We will wait around anxiously for the results, interpreting any slight symptoms as being a sign of pregnancy.
9 dpo onwards: Crazy testing on the HPT. Each time a negative is obtained nearer to the end of the 2WW, our hearts will sink lower and lower

The cycle repeats again if a sea of red came instead of the positive on the HPT. Imagine going through this cycle each time...

11 dpo... Mummy's mood in the Afternoon

Mummy has a date with your Daddy for lunch! =)

That brightened up my mood considerably. It is indeed a welcome break from the drudgery work.

Hmm, to digress a bit, actually I came across the word 'drudgery' previously when reading through some books but this is the first time I am actually using it.

Feeling a bit proud of myself for knowing a new word but at the same time lamenting that 'when did my good habit of reading disappear?' such that I cannot really remember when was the last time that I actually picked up a book to read?

That leaves me with a tinge of sadness that when life progresses, one will lose touch of certain things that used to bring one such happiness. I hope that you will not encounter all these that we are facing now (trying hard to conceive you, losing touch with the little things that are important) and your Daddy and Mummy wish you All the Best in whatever it is that you choose to undertake.

I believe that you will be able to achieve much more than us and yet find a balance to work and life as well as your inner well -being (peace).


For now, we will need to find to find our inner peace to deal with what will greet us on 6 Aug 12, Monday, be it a sea of red or a positive on the HPT that we have been eagerly awaiting.