Hanging In

Wendy here. It's been eight days past the first insemination. S--L--O--W week.

Yesterday I had to indulge in a little retail therapy. I looked in my closet and hated every shirt in it. My wardrobe consists of mostly Life Is Good shirts. I normally love these shirts. Yesterday, I hated them all. So I went to an Old Navy store and picked up 3 items that were on sale.

Today I was thinking about the small changes I've made since deciding to have a baby.

started taking a prenatal vitamin

started taking my temperature in the morning.

stopped salting all my food. I don't add salt to anything now.

switched to caffeine-free diet coke. PS - It does NOT taste the same. Therefore I'm only drinking 1-2 glasses where I used to drink 5-7.

drink only decaf coffee and limit to one serving a day.

drink lots more milk.

change my reading material. Now I'm reading baby books and I prefer a lighter fiction. I've started several new fiction books and have stopped reading them because the story-line would have a bit of violence. For some reason, that has little appeal for me now and I'll look for something else.

And the things I've changed since the insemination:

stopped lifting really heavy things. Don't want any pulling on the lower abdominal wall.

stopped doing the floor work (abs, thighs,but) in Jazzercise. Same reason.

stopped taking really hot tub baths.

use disposable gloves for the cat box and for gardening.

started eating at least four fruits/vegetables a day. In the past, I would only get around two.

and I look at the calendar around 20 times a day.

I obsess about the calendar. I have done the math of "If I conceived on this day, then implantation would happen on this day" WAY too many times. And good Lord, the math around my period!!!

If I'm on a 28 day cycle, then my period will be on the 21st. If I go by last month's cycle, then my morning temperature will drop from around 98.2 to around 96.3 either on the 21st or maybe on the 20th if I'm NOT pregnant.

And then there is the decision about whether I'll do a pregnancy test beforehand. I have several First Response Pregnancy tests at home. Here's what the box says:
In clinical testing, First Response detected the hormone levels in 69% of women 4 days before their expected period, in 83% of women 3 days before their expected period, in 93% of women 2 and 1 day before their expected period.

So I haven't decided which day I'm going to test. But I do the calendar math CONSTANTLY. I've got highlights and circles and notes on both the downstairs and the upstairs calendars. Doesn't keep me from doing it again and again. There are times that I think that I am truly nuts!

But hey, other than calendar obsession, I'm hanging in.