Friday Favorites

Friday, we meet again!  Does anyone else feel like this summer is going by entirely too fast?  I mean don’t get me wrong, I’ve been ready for July since April, but I hate to see the time go by so fast, then realize that life is going by too fast, then get depressed and feel the need to eat unhealthy amounts of sweets and cry about it.  Ok, not really, but time truly does fly!

 Ok, let’s get started…

Favorite Moment:

My favorite moment this week was hitting the 30 DAY mark until target egg retrieval!  As of right now we are still on track to retrieve on Friday, July 11^th.  This is subject to change based on my response to the medication, but that is the day we are shooting for.  It’s been exactly two months since the dreaded appointment where I found out that IVF was our best option, I can’t believe we are this close to our big dream coming true!

Favorite Song:

A friend of mine from grade school & high school just signed a multi-million dollar recording deal & I couldn't be happier for him.  You can order his EP, Clouds, here.

Favorite Workout:

Still going strong at Curves and really loving it.  I've been trying to get there 3-4 x per week.  I should report that after one month there I was down 1.5 pounds and lost a couple of inches (.5” on my chest, which I really don’t have much to lose there anyway so that kind of sucks, .5” on my thighs too), and I went down from 23.5% body fat down to 20.3%!  How awesome is that for one month!?  Also, if you read my IVF Prep diet plan you will heed this....

Favorite thing I’m looking forward to:

Digging a hole for our house! Excavating should start any day now.  CANNOT BELIEVE IT!!  Joe and I bought the property about 4 years ago in October of 2010 so we have been ready for this for a while now & it’s so exciting that it’s finally happening.  This process will certainly rival that of the infertility journey that we are on and it seems only natural that life would hand us both of these things at once!  Bring it on.

here's a little Pinspiration for you...

Favorite Pin:

love these, do not love the price!

Favorite Funnies:

biggest pet peeve ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

this never happens!

birthday cake Chips Ahoy please!?

IVF Prep

My goal for the next 30 days is to make sure that my body is primed for many healthy eggs, a 5 day blastocyst transfer, and a healthy environment for an embryo to implant & develop.  I’ve been doing my research on how best to prep for IVF.  Two of the best things that I’ve found are diet and supplements.  I also believe that exercise is an extremely important component of the process.  Being healthy in general is a huge benefit to success. 

A couple of the things that I’ve read show that a high protein/low carb diet will best help aid in the success of IVF.  I generally consume high protein.  I eat a lot of turkey, chicken breasts, some red meats, etc.  I need to incorporate more nuts into my diet so that is one thing I will be adding.  I also generally consume more carbs than are probably preferred.  I love pasta, I love bread, although I eat whole grain sliced bread, my pizza crust is never whole grain and I eat a lot of pizza.  What I’m trying to say is that although I generally eat a pretty good diet, there is definite room for improvement.

Here's some of what I've been eating:

Smoothie: (first thing in the AM)

approx 1 cup of mixed frozen fruit
1 cup of spinach

1 scoop of vanilla whey protein

1 It Works! Greens in orange flavor (these have 8+ servings of fruits and veggies per packet!)

L&A Cranberry Blueberry Plus (found in the organic section)

Breakfast:

1 cage free egg, scrambled. 2 pieces of turkey bacon

and/or 1 cup of oatmeal

Snack:

Handful of peanuts (cashew halves)

Fruits &/or veggies

Lunch:

“Bare” grilled chicken breast (organic) & spinach salad with Annie's Natural Tuscany Italian dressing.  

Cold-cut veggies

Or a whole grain wrap w/ low sodium deli turkey and Laughing Cow light Swiss spread

Dinner:

This will vary.  If I can stick to a good breakfast and lunch I will be more lenient on dinners, but will attempt high protein/low carb/whole grain meals.  I will stick to quinoa rather than pasta, more thoroughly cooked red meat (I love a medium rare steak!), maybe some vegetarian dinners, etc.

Supplements:

CitraNatal prenatal vitamins (prescription)

Vitamin E (protects DNA integrity & is said to help implantation) 1xday

Vitamin C (improves hormone levels, improves sperm quality in men), 1xday

CoQ10 (improves egg health) 3xday

Pregnitude (addt’l folic acid) 1 packetxday

There are tons of other supplements out there that you can read about here.  Choose what’s best for you and always check with your doctor.

I also plan to cut back on my alcohol consumption, cut back on sweets, & in the beginning of July start drinking SmartWater on the reg as a preventative against OHSS since it's got electrolytes.  I've also been using My Fitness Pal app to track my nutrition throughout the day.

I cannot believe that we are only 30 days out until our target retrieval.  It seems like just yesterday (which was actually April 11th) that I was handed the news that we needed to change the course of our journey & take a big step in a direction I never thought I would have to go.  Every day it gets easier to accept the fact that this is how our baby will be made.  Although I am still hopeful that we will, one day, naturally conceive a child, I am so thankful that IVF is even an option for us.

Birthday Weekend Recap

Sad that my birthday weekend is over, but what an oh-so amazing weekend it was!  I got to do pretty much everything I wanted to, had to make some quick plan changes due to crappy rain on Saturday, but we made due and had a lot of fun.

Friday I got my carnival food fix.  I had a corn dog and nachos and a lot of Miller Lite.  We got to take the bike too, it was a beautiful evening.  We made a stop at two of our favorite bars in town for a couple more draught beers, but were home by about 11 since Joe had to work in the morning.

Saturday I spent the morning running errands then headed over to my aunts pool for some swimming.  Unfortunately we spent the afternoon covered with our towels continually checking the radar to see when the storm was going to force us inside.  It got really cool and started raining around 5 so we had to change our carnival plans.  We ended up at Gunsmoke Grill for dinner and drinks.  The service was not good.  The place is really small and has a tough time accommodating 14 people.  Their food is so good, but we were disappointed with the way that we were treated.  I made a reservation for 14 and they said it would be fine.  We got there and the table was only set up for 12 so right off the bat, they had things messed up.  I wish they would've just said that our party was too big for them to handle, we would've gone somewhere else.  We know the owners and normally have a good experience there, I think our party was just too much & they were busier than they expected to be.  Some of our group of friends came; it was really nice to catch up with them.  It’s so hard to get us all together; it’s pretty rare when we are all free, but we were able to work it out.  After dinner we met up with some other friends at a bar in town, but went home early again.  The weather was kind of putting a damper on things and we were pretty tired. 

new clears for the bike from my aunt & uncle

me and ma boo-thang! 

Sunday, my actual birthday, was perfect.  Joe took me to Brandy’s for brunch, it’s an upscale martini bar, but they serve an amazing breakfast.  After brunch we went to Zales and Joe let me pick out a pair of diamond earrings.  I've wanted a pair forever, but would never buy them without some occasion to justify spending the money.  I love them.  My ears are sensitive so I usually get sterling silver studs to wear for my every day earrings, but I thought now that I’m getting a little older I could step it up to the real deal.

mimosa, cinnamon rolls, and a huge breakfast!

Mike and Jessica picked us up for the Wine, Lobster, & Jazz fest around noon.  It was a beautiful day & we had so much fun.  We ended up tasting at every winery, which was 17 total.  Jessica bought me a bottle of wine and a really pretty pendant from one of the vendors for my birthday presents along with both mine and Joe’s tickets for the event.  Very sweet of her!  We thought it was the perfect way to also be celebrating Best Friends Day.  We went to an Irish pub in downtown Utica for supper, Duffy’s.  I had a pretzel and 2 corn dogs… yeah I was reallllly bad this weekend.  I drank and ate entirely too much but I knew that this would be the last weekend I would be since I started by IVF prep diet, more to come on that on Wednesday.

I couldn't have asked for a better birthday weekend.  I got to spend time with my family and friends that mean the most to me.  There was no drama, & we didn't let the rain ruin our plans.  I’m feeling really good about what 28 has in store for me.  My biggest wishes this year are getting pregnant and starting our house & we are so close to both of those things.  I know this is going to be our year!