All Smiles

So AF showed up on Oct 15th which made my 1st cycle after our failed IVF 33 days. A little longer than usual but thankful I am still regular.

Today is CD 15 & I started having ovulatory pain this morning. Since I have a bunch of OPK tests left over from previous cycles, I thought I might take an OPK test today afer work to see what it showed.

Ta da:Oh smiley face - how I have missed you so. This means my LH hormone is surging & I should ovulate in the next 24-48 hrs. You can guess what is about to go down in our house the next couple of days! Even though we are on a "break" I figure if you get the smiley then you might as well give it a try! At this point, what do we have to lose!? It has happened naturally twice before so I guess anything can happen!?

I Am The Face

Today is Pregnancy & Infant Loss Awareness Day.

Each year, an estimated 500,000 babies are lost to miscarriage, 1 in every 148 births are stillborn, & 3 babies in every 1,000 die shortly after being born. While the families touched by these losses struggle with their grief throughout the year, today we all pause to remember the babies that were lost.

I AM THE FACE campaign was created to spread awareness of pregnancy/infant loss, & raise support for those who are affected by it.

I am one of the faces affected by pregnancy/infant loss everyday & tonight I will light a candle at 7pm to honor those babies that have been lost. Please go to www.iamtheface.org to show your support and join the movement.

Too many women have to go through this journey alone & fortunately for me I was able to find a group of women who were there doing my weakest times. Miscarriage & Pregnancy Loss shouldn't feel like a taboo subject. Awareness should be as common as AIDS or Cancer awareness. The little ones lost deserve to be honored just as those who suffer from disease and cancer.

I often remember our sweet angels that were taken from us too soon in March '09 & August '09 - especially today.

I am also remembering all those babies who grew wings too soon, for all my friends & loved ones who have had to take the journey of miscarriage, pregnancy loss, & still birth. My heart is with you all today.

Fall Goodies

This month the lovely ladies on www.thebump.com did a Fall Exchange which I participated in & when I got home today, these awesome goodies were in a package on the front steps waiting for me: These goodies came all the way from New Brunswick, NJ. My fall exchange sender was Lauren (aka: babystinkbreath) & she sent me cute little notecards, a box of pumpkin cookie mix, a pumpkin scented candle, halloween sox, bag of twix & some rawhides for the furry kids! That was so very sweet of her to send a little something for the pups :)

What a great group of ladies this forum has & so generous! These exchanges have been so much fun shopping for! I'm hoping we do a Christmas Exchange next month!

Checking In

Not much going on during this IF break so that is why I haven't written anything in awhile. I have gotten so caught up in life that I literally caught myself wondering what cycle day I was on today & didn't have a clue. So I pulled out the calendar, counted the days & discovered today is CD 29 so AF should be right around the corner. It has been so nice not keeping track of things this past month & it is amazing to me how fast the month of Sept has flown by.

Can't believe that Halloween is right around the corner!? The first weekend in Nov I am flying to WI to see my sister & her family, then Thanksgiving follows a few weeks after that where my family will be making the trip to KC & I will be cooking for us all, then in the middle of Dec we should be starting things up for IVF #2 & Christmas will follow shortly after. With all that going on, the time is going to fly by - which is good!

I feel like taking a break was definitely a good thing to do & I am actually looking forward to returning to the "IVF World" in a couple of months & hopeful for all the possibilities it has to offer.