This is not how I anticipated our V-day this year.
I figured by now we'd have a baby in our arms. Or at least I'd be roughly the size of a beached whale, waiting on our precious bundle of love.
This last year has been a rollercoaster. My marriage has hit rock bottom multiple times. The stress has been oppressive and destructive.
But despite the rollercoaster of this journey, there are a few people who have been by my side. My "bumpies" from the 3T board. Those ladies have been with me every last step of the way. I'm pretty sure some of them know more about my reproductive organs than my own husband. Apparently I've been on line so much the last year that these women have decided I would make a good moderator for the board. I'd like to think that I'm doing a good job...
I know I'm going to forget a ton of ladies- doesn't mean I don't love you!
Katib- I hope that I can be 1/10 the woman that you are. You are ferocious like the tiger, stubborn like the bulldog, and as loving as a swan. You've been through hell, and I hope that your family is complete soon. Fingers crossed for you.
Rumbera- My partner in crime. I think together we've probably rode the bench a total of 12 months. You're the ying to my yang, the peanut butter to my jelly. You counterbalance my snark perfectly. Thank you for being an amazing co-mod.
RunCC- Girl, you keep me inspired, and get me off the couch even on the bad days.
Ky29- you go above and beyond. You're an amazing person and you always bring a smile to my face.
BlueJoan- Keep warming that bench, and know you're always welcome here!
Sully- you're not a 3T'er, but you're amazing. Keep your chin up.
Happy Valentines Day to my internet lovelies!
Friday, February 14, 2014
Tuesday, February 4, 2014
It's the little changes
Spinning off my last post, I've decided the best place to start getting fit is at work.
At work? Yes, at work.
With my changing job roles, I'm spending a lot more time as a desk jockey and less time meeting face to face with clients. Which means people don't see what I'm doing when I'm on phone conferences.
So I've created a makeshift standing workstation. It's not totally ergnonomically friendly (yet) but it's a vast improvement over sitting in my chair for several hours of phone trainings each day. I wanted something that can be converted (with both monitors) easily from sitting to standing and back. So for now I'm using my overhead storage shelf (shoulder height) to hold my laptop when I want to stand, and elevating my external monitor and phone pad with boxes.
It's a hot mess, but it's going to be worth it in the long run. This study cited by the BBC backs up why I'm choosing to do this:
At work? Yes, at work.
With my changing job roles, I'm spending a lot more time as a desk jockey and less time meeting face to face with clients. Which means people don't see what I'm doing when I'm on phone conferences.
So I've created a makeshift standing workstation. It's not totally ergnonomically friendly (yet) but it's a vast improvement over sitting in my chair for several hours of phone trainings each day. I wanted something that can be converted (with both monitors) easily from sitting to standing and back. So for now I'm using my overhead storage shelf (shoulder height) to hold my laptop when I want to stand, and elevating my external monitor and phone pad with boxes.
It's a hot mess, but it's going to be worth it in the long run. This study cited by the BBC backs up why I'm choosing to do this:
"If we look at the heart rates," John Buckley explains, "we can see they are quite a lot higher actually - on average around 10 beats per minute higher and that makes a difference of about 0.7 of a calorie per minute."
Now that doesn't sound like much, but it adds up to about 50 calories an hour. If you stand for three hours a day for five days that's around 750 calories burnt. Over the course of a year it would add up to about 30,000 extra calories, or around 8lb of fat.
"If you want to put that into activity levels," Dr Buckley says, "then that would be the equivalent of running about 10 marathons a year. Just by standing up three or four hours in your day at work."
So let me get this straight- I can burn an extra 8 pounds a year by simply standing at my desk? Don't mind if I do!
I've been standing for about an hour a day (in 15 minute blocks). My goal is to be up to 3 hours a day by 3/1.
If I can get up to a 1/2 day standing, I'd be burning an extra 1250 calories at my current weight each week.
Or an extra 5,000 calories per month at work. That's an extra 1.4 pounds of weight loss each month simply for showing up to my job and not sitting down!
If I kept it up for a full year, I'd lose somewhere between 13 and 15 pounds (accounting for fewer calories being burned as I shrink) simply from standing at my desk.
I've been standing for about an hour a day (in 15 minute blocks). My goal is to be up to 3 hours a day by 3/1.
If I can get up to a 1/2 day standing, I'd be burning an extra 1250 calories at my current weight each week.
Or an extra 5,000 calories per month at work. That's an extra 1.4 pounds of weight loss each month simply for showing up to my job and not sitting down!
If I kept it up for a full year, I'd lose somewhere between 13 and 15 pounds (accounting for fewer calories being burned as I shrink) simply from standing at my desk.
I found this cool tool that will use your current weight to calculate your calorie burn if you stand. Check it out
Monday, February 3, 2014
Cancelled. And a plan
As expected, my cycle was cancelled. When I went to the RE on Saturday my E2 was over 7,000.
So I spent the weekend drinking gatorade and eating high-protein snacks, hoping to ward off any OHSS symptoms.
Today we met with the head RE at our practice. We're going to call him Dr. Awesome... because unlike Dr. Insensitive Radioactive Mouth, he is not only empathetic, but he knows his shit.
Dr. Awesome is highly recommending that we prep ourselves mentally for IVF. He was very concerned with my prolific response to the stims.
But there's good news too. He's also OK with us trying another IUI cycle with a much longer and lower-dose protocol. He doesn't want us going over 100IU, and plans to keep us at 50-75IU of follistim for 14+ days.
He also suggested a few more vitamins to add to the mix, and was surprised when I told him we were already doing CoQ10. We had asked the nurse after DH's SA if there were any supplements or vitamins they would recommend, and the nurse was all "No, no Doctors here recommend anything other than a prenatal for the woman and a multivitamin for the husband". We decided to do our own thing anyway and have been doing the CoQ10, and we will both be adding Omega-3's (I don't do seafood) and Vitamin D per Dr. Awesome's recommendation.
God bless Dr. Awesome for his delicate manner. He suggested that we both work on "being physically, emotionally, and spiritually well" before going into IVF. I looked him dead in the eyes and said "It's cool, you can call it like it is- I weigh 270 pounds. I have no intention on dropping $10-$15k per cycle until I've lost at least 50 pounds"
His jaw dropped. After he composed himself he suggested I look into weight watchers. I thanked him for the recommendation and let him know I was quite capable of counting calories, and it was just a lack of dedication up until this point.
So unless we pull off a hail mary with the next IUI, we will be benching ourselves for at least 6 months to drop some major weight before we move into IVF territory.
Selfishly I want to get down to the weight that qualifies for their BMI-based refund program... but that would require a weight loss of 90 pounds. However that would require 35-38 weeks, conservatively. It would be like gestating a child for crying out loud! But it might be worth it... and it would also give us time to save up some $$$ and for DH to hopefully find a full-time job.
So that's the plan.
So I spent the weekend drinking gatorade and eating high-protein snacks, hoping to ward off any OHSS symptoms.
Today we met with the head RE at our practice. We're going to call him Dr. Awesome... because unlike Dr. Insensitive Radioactive Mouth, he is not only empathetic, but he knows his shit.
Dr. Awesome is highly recommending that we prep ourselves mentally for IVF. He was very concerned with my prolific response to the stims.
But there's good news too. He's also OK with us trying another IUI cycle with a much longer and lower-dose protocol. He doesn't want us going over 100IU, and plans to keep us at 50-75IU of follistim for 14+ days.
He also suggested a few more vitamins to add to the mix, and was surprised when I told him we were already doing CoQ10. We had asked the nurse after DH's SA if there were any supplements or vitamins they would recommend, and the nurse was all "No, no Doctors here recommend anything other than a prenatal for the woman and a multivitamin for the husband". We decided to do our own thing anyway and have been doing the CoQ10, and we will both be adding Omega-3's (I don't do seafood) and Vitamin D per Dr. Awesome's recommendation.
God bless Dr. Awesome for his delicate manner. He suggested that we both work on "being physically, emotionally, and spiritually well" before going into IVF. I looked him dead in the eyes and said "It's cool, you can call it like it is- I weigh 270 pounds. I have no intention on dropping $10-$15k per cycle until I've lost at least 50 pounds"
His jaw dropped. After he composed himself he suggested I look into weight watchers. I thanked him for the recommendation and let him know I was quite capable of counting calories, and it was just a lack of dedication up until this point.
So unless we pull off a hail mary with the next IUI, we will be benching ourselves for at least 6 months to drop some major weight before we move into IVF territory.
Selfishly I want to get down to the weight that qualifies for their BMI-based refund program... but that would require a weight loss of 90 pounds. However that would require 35-38 weeks, conservatively. It would be like gestating a child for crying out loud! But it might be worth it... and it would also give us time to save up some $$$ and for DH to hopefully find a full-time job.
So that's the plan.
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