New: Year, Country, Beginnings, Friends...

WOW! Its been almost six months since my last post, I can't believe where the time flies!

We have moved to a new country, DH has a new job, I'm learning a new language, making new friends, and trying to figure out what the heck is going on!

Unfortunately on the down side PCOS is still a b*tch but we struggle on and Soy Isoflavones have become my hero as far as shortening cycles and bringing forward/guaranteeing OV. 

The main lessons I have learned in the last 6 months is the patience of living out of a suitcase!

The lessons or things I wish to pass on to you...

• When you move country, use the first three months to put yourself out there - force yourself to meet new people, join that class, get out of your comfort zone and try out some local foods/language
• You can always do more in a day than you think. Give yourself a list of goals, not too long that you lose motivation, but push hard enough and you can always get that extra item ticked off that list!
• Never fight or lose patience with your in-laws. Its not worth it. Bite your tongue... you can do it. Just. a. few. more. weeks. living. all. together. Help. me!
• Don't let your husband walk over you. Speak up. You have a voice, it should always be heard. Your opinion matters. Don't put yourself to the bottom of the pile and don't take shit. 

Have a good month gorgeous readers...

I'll be back in 30 days (promise)

Dealing with long cycles and conception problems – the natural way

Day 49 and no AF in sight

Rightly or wrongly, I have decided to give two months to dealing with my PCOS and irregular periods the natural way, before resorting to Chlomid, Femara or Metformin.

My self-devised treatment plan constitutes of the following:

Two months – 13^th August until 15^th October 2014

Daily sunlight for 20mins – I have my morning coffee sitting in my bikini in the morning sunlight. Theory: stimulate natural Vitamin D production.

Cutting down on coffee to 1 cup a day – its been proven that excess coffee intake hinders fertility.

Drinking 1 cup of Green Tea a day – this may seem to contradict the above as Green Tea does have caffeine, however Green Tea is claimed to help increase fertile CM and through my own trials this has helped me too.

Cutting down on hard-core exercise. I usually exercise and exert myself to 100% for one hour, five times a week. I have decided to reduce this to max 30mins of cardio, four times a week and try to reduce the intensity. Theory: over-doing it on the exercise has shown to lengthen cycles. (I already have 45+ day cycles!)

No Carbs at Night – Previously I tried this for weight loss (I am slim, BMI 20 but stubborn patches of cellulite/fat) and had good results. Theory: PCOS is linked with insulin resistance and difficulty processing carbs/sugar. Also to balance out my lower levels of exercise! IMO the ‘night’ rule has no impact on cutting carbs, but I find it easier to have a personal curfew for carbs rather than just ‘cut down’

Acupuncture – I have always been intrigued with acupuncture. I took the plunge and went for it and minus a mini freak-out it was fine! I am now going for twice weekly acupuncture in the hope that it will help to stimulate my ovaries and regulate my hormones.

Chinese herbs – I am not so sure about this one, but my traditional acupuncturist Dr Zhang at Tong Ren Tang has prescribed me a course of Chinese herbs to help in balancing my Qi and for warming up my apparently ‘cold ovaries’.

Meditation – I am going to try to do 20-30 minutes of quiet time/meditation a day. Theory: a lot of fertility problems are linked to stress, plus the fact that TTC is an emotional rollercoaster and serious test of patience. I hope that by stilling the mind I can minimize my body’s production of cortisol and adrenalin.

Limiting alcohol intake – not only because of excess calories or potential pregnancy but also that alcohol affects estrogen production & I don’t want anything affecting my body’s hormone production.

So, the bottom line is this, I have been suffering with greasy hair and skin, long cycles, short light spotting of an excuse of a period, skin rashes and a sticky patch in my hair that appeared for a week (!!!) I don’t know whether I ovulate each month but 8 months and 6 cycles of TTC later I’m now willing to try anything!

 Wish me luck! xxx

Trials & Tribulations of a Pilots Wife: Making Mini-me's

Well, Dearest Husband and I have been Trying To Conceive (#TTC for those in the know) our first baby for the past 8 months. Eight Months! This is so not as easy as you think are told during your teens/early twenties and living in the constant fear of birth control failure!

Well, 8 months off Birth Control (#BC for those in the know) and nothing. No Big Fat Positive (#BFP) pregnancy test, just a hell of a lot of let down BFN's.

Thinking about BABIES!

Anyway, I'm sure I can blame this on being a Pilots Wife and living the Pilots Life. Hubby is away 5 or 6
days of the week and women only ovulate once a month. Did you know that the egg only lives for 24 hours!?! Well with sperm living for 4 days or do that gives maybe 4 fertile days a month.

Statistics & facts are definitely not in our favour. Anyway, back to crazy baby-making brain with other OTT women slowly driving themselves insane playing the waiting game and trying to jump their husbands as much as possible. My stats below for those in the know:

30YO, TTC#1, Off BC since Jan, CD35, 14DPO, DTD @ OV, POAS today: BFN, AF due today. Temping, charting & on CM watch.

Besides simply getting busy and down to action if anyone has some miracle baby making advise please let me know.

Signed,
Loopy-Despondent-HopefullyPregnantSoon-Mom2Be

Moving Forward - onwards and upwards

Time to pick yourself off the floor, out the gutter, get back in the driving seat. Moping time over!

I think that in life you are one of two characters when it comes to dealing with problems, either the type to: 1) Bury your head in the sand or, 2) Move on.

Dear Husband is quite happy watching TV, swimming, eating, relaxing, reading or playing games to avoid dealing with the issue/problem/failure. 

Us avoiding dealing with the issue

I, on the other hand simply cannot just “be”. I need to deal with the problem whether “dealing” is going to help move forward or not, I need to feel in control and proactively taking steps to remedy the issue in order to feel ok with the set-back. 

Recently DH was not selected for a job we really had our hearts set on. The country, the company, our new life was all a perfect fit and perfectly planned out. All that came crashing down with the rejection email that he unfortunately wasn’t successful in the interview. Cue heartache, disappointment, sadness, helplessness, feeling that life is unfair, frustration… arggghhh. But, life goes on. Ce la vie. 

Personally, in order to feel back in control of our destiny, I want to fire off some emails, apply for the next position, study and rehearse for the next interview, and move forward. DH wants to mourn the loss of this job and mope. But he doesn’t even want to mope which would almost be acceptable… he just wants to exist. Its so frustrating. How can you possibly relax just being left behind as life goes on?!?

I think I need my own focus which I am in control of. If I fail I can pick myself up and move on. What’s happened in this situation is DH has failed which affects me, but I’m not the one in control here, he is, so I can’t pick us up and move on, thats up to him. My destiny is in his lazy hands. 

Alas, being a pilot’s wife means it’s very difficult to have my own focus (ALL/ANY suggestions welcome) because anything I do has to be totally portable to pack up and move along to our next country. So personally I am at a loss of what to do. Need a hobby job. A “jhobby”. I have a job which my heart just isn’t in. I need a passion!

I'm currently trawling these great websites for inspiration, check out these sites if you have time, very motivating:

careerinyoursuitcase.com

Babes, Blogs & Business

Nerves, Excitement, Butterflies, Anxiety

So today is my husband's big interview day.

While sitting around waiting for the time for him to leave today and doing various limitations, interview questions, run through's I find myself feeling nervous and anxious for him.

Staring at the clock til the time he has to leave, counting down the minutes so my stress levels will go down once he leaves I realise the poor guy still has another 12 hours of stress ahead during the interview, test, simulator etc... argh!

What a stressful career!

So now he's gone and its time to keep occupied. Once he finishes at midnight tonight the next wait begins for a week or so to find out whether he was successful or not. Whether we are moving country or not. Whether all that Ikea researching, car researching, apartment researching for our "new destination" was worth it or not.

Oh the life of a Pilot's Wife. Just sit around being helpful to your husband and pushing him forward, being positive & hopeful about each choice and wondering what your next job will be at the new destination since clearly your job in the current environment isn't important enough to consider as a factor to stay.  No, you should go through life being the "behind the scenes" backup/organiser/motivator/creator with nothing to show for your hard work (nevermind all the shit moods, shouting, grumpiness, laziness and frustrations you have to put up with from your partner when he's under stress).

Relationship under pressure - hell yes!
Relationship stronger than ever - hell yes!
In need of a holiday - hell yes!

Roll on the relief of finishing, whatever result of the interview it will be nice to move on (and start it all again!) or get excited and anxious about the impending move!