Infertility

Since we struggled to get pregnant for almost 3 years, I thought to make a page dedicated entirely to all the things that helped us with our struggle. The list will be long and, if I feel that there are good and/or bad things about a product, I'll be sure to list it!

- first and foremost, I recommend this book. Before you even START to try and get pregnant, at least flip through it. It has an entirely different way of viewing, not only infertility, but the way our body works entirely. It helped us TREMENDOUSLY in the end of our journey to parenthood. I would highly suggest anyone trying to get pregnant- no matter what part of the journey you're on- to read this book. I definitely suggest reading this book in conjunction with Taking Charge Of Your Fertility (listed below) to get a full understanding of how our bodies work. 

- a basal thermometer. If you're planning to try and get pregnant, I DEFINITELY recommend getting a basal thermometer and setting up a temp chart. Mine was set up at MedHelp and it's very easy to set up an account and get the ball rolling. Learning how to chart your temperature and understanding what it means is ESSENTIAL to understanding what is going on with your body. This may help you understand why you aren't getting pregnant and it will help you to see the best time to try and get pregnant.

 - I listed this book above and it is extremely helpful. I held off on buying it until we had started our 2nd year of trying because I wasn't sure it would help me. I bought it around the same time I bought The Infertility Cure and, from experience, I can say that reading the two books together is the most beneficial. By making a chart of your temperatures every day and learning how to read the pattern, you'll know what you need to do to adjust your "fertility diet". This is best if you plan to get pregnant naturally, with no pills. If you DO plan to use Clomid/Provera or any other pill/injection, these books can still be helpful to you! They show you how to chart your body and how to understand it. This is a VERY helpful concept no matter how you choose to get pregnant.

- The ONLY reason I recommend these tests over any other ovulation tests is because they are SO clear cut. I tried every kind of ovulation test you can imagine. Most of them are "line tests" and you have to try and decide which line is darker than the other. Let me just tell you, most of the time, both lines were the same amount of darkness or they were both half dark and half light. It was beyond frustrating. These cost a little more but, they are worth it in the end- simply for the lack of frustration. 

- during our time trying to get pregnant with Layla, I read The Bible a LOT. Matt and I still discuss The Bible and God and Jesus...but on a new level. We threw everything into faith in God while trying to get pregnant...and then our prayers were answered. We both believe in God...but in a different way now. Our discussions get heated sometimes and typically turn into a debate. Although we both feel you need to have faith that everything happens for a reason and, eventually God will sort it out for you- we also struggled with faith for a LONG time. Having The Bible near by during our attempt to get pregnant was always good to turn to. Matt knows a lot about religious history and how The Bible came to be. Because of this, he's able to tell me a lot about religion, Jesus, God, and (of course) the history of the time that I didn't even know existed. It helps me understand my faith a lot more as well as his. Even though we believe in God in a different way than most Christians, we have been brought closer together by the Word and it helped us pull through one of the most challenging things we've ever been through as a couple.

-When I read online that Pomegranates COULD help us get pregnant, I was very intrigued. I had heard of all the health benefits that Pomegranates hold in the past and had been wanting to taste the sweet fruit...so, I dove in headfirst. First off, let me say, if you plan to go out and buy a bottle of Pom Juice and chug it down, I definitely recommend getting a mixture. My favorite was Pom/Blueberry juice. Don't get any cocktail juice either because it's typically just sugar. In some grocery stores, you can find Pom fruit. NOTHING is sweeter or more delicious than fresh Pom fruit. Learning how to peel it can be the toughest. I was taught to cut the Pom in half down the middle (through the stem at the top) and then turn one half upside down over a bowl and bang it with a spoon until the little seeds come out. Do that to both sides and then sit down and enjoy your bowl of Pom fruit! There are a LOT of health benefits to eating Pom fruit. I have a photo of a big bowl of me enjoying some Pom fruit the week before we ended up getting pregnant. I won't say with 100% accuracy that Pomegranates got us pregnant...but it was definitely a piece of the puzzle.

My final recommendation- find someone. Someone you can talk to, someone who will support you. This may come from an online community, a real life friend or- if you're like me- you need your own support system and start a blog. I kept a couple blogs during the duration of our journey and I can honestly say, nothing helped more than coping with it in a public forum. It may sound weird, but once I told everyone our story, it felt like I wasn't on my own anymore. Even if you don't want to write a blog or aren't ready to share your story with the world yet, keep a journal at home. Write down what you're feeling (I recommend doing this for physical AND emotional feelings) and it will help you understand your own struggle at the end. I remember days praying, wondering, questioning, crying...and I look back on all of that and when I read it, I can only appreciate my growing baby more and more. There is a lot more advice I can give, and many more things I can recommend but the best thing anyone ever told me was to just cry when you need to cry, pray when you need to pray and don't give up. There are so many reasons to keep going and really, that plus sign on the pregnancy test is only one of them.