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Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Your TTC, Loss, and Pregnancy Questions Answered


Hi! I'm back with a fun post today to answer some of the questions I've received around trying to conceive, our losses, and pregnancy journey so far. If there's anything else that you're curious about, you can find me on Instagram @thelaurablog1 and send me a message there!



Did you do anything differently to finally get pregnant?

There are a few things, but I really can’t say whether they contributed to us getting pregnant or not. Here’s what I changed.

I added more healthy fats to my diet (avocados, nuts, fish), and also began taking this prenatal DHA every day.

I swapped out all of my cleaning products, certain cosmetic products, soaps, shampoos, and laundry detergents out a few months before I got pregnant to cleaner and greener ones. I was especially cognizant of any endocrine disruptors and used the Think Dirty app to choose products for our home more wisely. 

And finally, I stopped tracking my ovulation. I hate this answer, and I didn’t even want to write it here, because it makes no sense and I never really took this advice myself. We went on vacation and I left the tests and tracking at home, and sure enough, that’s when it happened to work for us.

What pregnancy tests do you recommend?

I love First Response Early Result because of their extremely low sensitivity (6.5 mIU/ml), but you pay the price for this. These are great to get your first positive, and to intermittently check on line progression (if you so choose), but Clinical Guard strips are otherwise amazing to have on hand because they cost next to nothing and are still super accurate. If your TTC journey is taking a little longer than expected, make sure you have these so you can test as often as you want.

Will you continue to work?

Yes. I love my job and have it too good there for me to leave it.


What were your pregnancy symptoms leading up to your positive home pregnancy test?

The first pregnancy symptom I always have is VIVID DREAMS. I normally don’t dream, but when I wake up and remember every detail of what I dreamed that night, I know something is up. This began around 5DPO. I also had some very light acne/breakouts, sore boobs, light cramping, headaches and constipation between 5DPO and my positive HPT on 9DPO. However, these symptoms were so light that I wouldn’t have even noticed them unless I really sat down to think about them and write them down (which I did).

What prenatal vitamins do you take?

I started off with these, coupled with my Prenatal DHA. I then had my doctor write me a script for prenatals because they are typically cheaper this way. I still continue to take the same DHA.


How did you cope with your losses and what helped you the most?

Three things.

1. Knowing that my lost pregnancies would have likely resulted in a bad outcome for me or for that baby. I placed trust in my body for knowing that something was (probably) chromosomally wrong. Some mothers go on to carry pregnancies to term, only to have a baby that needs intubated, or fed through a g-tube, or that requires life support. I tried to remain thankful that my body knew something more that my head possibly could have.

2. The knowledge that it was perfect timing that gave me my two beautiful boys that we couldn’t imagine life without. The baby that was waiting for us, that was MEANT to be ours, had to come at his or her time. Just as we couldn’t fathom not having our boys, that very same child that was yet to be born, that we wouldn’t be able to live without down the road, had to come when he or she was meant to.

3. Gratitude for what I already had. Beyond just our beautiful and healthy boys, that would ALWAYS be more than enough, I actively thought about (or even journaled about) how much I had already been given.

Did you chart while TTC?

I monitored ovulation some (not all) months, but never took a BBT. I'm lucky in that my body is very consistent. I ovulate on day 17, with 28 day cycles. Like clockwork.

Is there an app that you found to be helpful?
I really like Period Tracker which has a TTC mode you can switch on. This allows you to add notes, symptoms, CM observations and ovulation, etc. And it's free. 

Do you recommend having the NIPT bloodwork? How much did this cost you out of pocket?

For me, this gave me incredible peace of mind at only 10 weeks gestation. The blood work tests for chromosomal abnormalities and can also give you the gender, if you so choose. Our insurance requires us to pay 10% of the cost, but for me, this was 100% worth it. I would have probably paid for it completely out of pocket if we would have had to. It's such a relief to know that everything is OK during an already stressful time.We used Quest Diagnostics (QNatal). I had the test performed on a Tuesday and received results the following Tuesday.

Are you hoping for a girl?

I'm excited to share what we're having very soon, and I'll share lots more about this question then!


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