Clomid Round 3

Figured I would come on here and talk about where we are at with trying to get pregnant. I have continued to chart my BBT pretty consistently since last August. And the reason I chart it is because it lets me know without a doubt if I have ovulated or not. Disclaimer: Yes, I am one of those women that is all up in the science of TTC. I am the kind of person that likes to know exactly how things work. So when it comes to me trying to get pregnant, I do rely heavily on science and biology and how the woman's body actually works when it comes to doing so. I am also a whole hearted believer that God is in control of whether or not we actually conceive, regardless of if Clomid helps me ovulate or not.

CD57 - 57 days after my chemical pregnancy my body decided it was going to ovulate on its own. I was ecstatic but not really not too shocked, since Clomid can stay in your system for some time.  On 8dpo, AF showed up. Without Provera, on its own, real life period, showed up. This was amazing! I get it, after you ovulate, you get a period... But thats not the case for someone with PCOS that is annovulatory majority of the time. I believe the short luteal phase is due to the length of my cycle, but I honestly have no idea.

Anywho, Jonathan and I decided that we are confident in doing another round of Clomid for this very cycle. I am so happy that we chose not to delay any longer. My momma heart has so much love to give! I believe that with lots of prayer and petition and asking the Lord persistantly for that which my heart desires, he will one day bless me with getting pregnant again. I hope and pray that now is the timing that he has in mind. 

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." 

- Philipians 4:6

"Be Persistant in prayer, and keep alert as you pray, giving thanks to God." 

- Colossians 4:2

In the 60-Day Devotional I am reading, In Due Time by Caroline Harries, it has encouraged me to declare those blessings over my life and claim those things as already mine. 

"Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be taken up and thrown into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he say will come to pass, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours." 

- Mark 11:23

In conversation with a friend of mine recently, she made one of these bold and confident declarations. It was so encouraging to me to see a friend of mine making these declarations that I am reading about in my devotional! I figure, if I am reading about it, and also at the same time I have a friend unknowingly demonstrating the same thing that I am reading.... this has got to be God nudging me to be stronger in my faith in him and how powerful he is! I need to have the same confidence in making declarations to God, and believe that what I pray for WILL come true.

My Declaration: If it is God's Will, I will get Pregnant this cycle with a healthy baby! I will take a test in early May and see two SOLID pink lines!  

Lord, I am so grateful for your Word and how it is a tool for me to use through my day-to-day. It is such a blessing how compleletely relevant it is to my life in every situation I face. I know you blessed Sarah and Abraham with allowing Sarah to conceive. BY FAITH! Thank you Lord, for this gives me such an incredible hope.

"And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise." 

- Hebrews 11:11

Today is CD 9, and I finished the last dose of Clomid 100mg Saturday night. In the past two cycles we took clomid days 5-9. It took my body 10 days to ovulate last time. So, I decided to try days 3-7 in hopes of ovulating a little earlier in my cycle. I am also drinking 8oz of 100% Pomegranate Juice CDs 1-14 to hopefully encourage a healthy uterine lining.

Clomid has given me a few hot flashes and twinges in my ovaries, but nothing out of the ordinary. I'm lucky I don't have any crazy side effects like some women. I'm sure I will get a little moody over the next couple days, but thats also a pretty common thing  for me when I take Clomid. Could be hormone related, or could be just my anxiousness keeping me on edge. So that's whats going on in a little more than a nutshell. 

I hope if you're reading this, you will be encouraged to also make the same kind of declarations to God in whatever situation you are facing. But don't forget to praise him for all of the blessings you have recieved and that you will receive from Him in the future. I encourage you to read Galatians chapter 3 as it helped me so much to understand why I have the right to claim these blessings and declare them as my own. 

Home Chef: Cajun Shrimp Tacos

I recently decided that I wanted to try one of those meal delivery kits, because I love to cook. I did some research and looked at current meals being offered by Blue Apron, Hello Fresh and Home Chef. In the end I decided to go with Home Chef simply because they had the most appealing meals offered. I do believe the price is the same as HelloFresh. Our first order was delievered right on schedule and I was excited to dive right in and cook a meal. The first meal: Cajun Shrimp Tacos with a Creamy Corn Slaw. I tried to capture each step for you to see how simple it is. And to offer you a link for $30 OFF your first order if you're interested in trying!

I'd say the most time consuming part is chopping/slicing/dicing all your produce. Other than that, this meal was super easy. 

Ingredients: 

Green Pepper

Shallot

Lime

Corn

Sour Cream

Shrimp

Cajun seasoning

Slaw mix

Tortillas

Crunchy Jalepenos (if desired)

First, I removed the husk, rinsed and removed kernels in a bowl using a knife. 

Next, I cut the lime in half, juiced one half and cut the other into quarters.

Seeded and removed ribs from green pepper, then sliced thinly.

Sliced the shallot thinly.

Shrimp needed to be patted dry with a papertowel. Then I seasoned both sides with a pinch of salt and the cajun seasoning.

Over medium-high heat, I blackened the corn with a tsp. olive oil. I should've known a lid would be necessary. I had corn popping up in the air and oil splattering everywhere! It was a hot mess! I removed the corn pretty quickly because it was making such a mess. 

Then prepared the slaw mix by combining with the corn, sour cream, 1 tablespoon of the lime juice, and 1 tsp salt in a bowl. I did add a little mayo out of my own fridge to improve the slaw, in my opinion. 

Using the same pan (wiped clean) over medium heat, I added 2 tsp of olive oil and then the shrimp.

Cooking on both sides 60-90 seconds

Transferred my shrimp to a plate, added more olive oil to the pan and cooked the green pepper and shallot slices with a pinch of salt. After about 5 minutes, I added the shrimp back in a bit longer to soften the shallot and green pepper.

I warmed the tortillas in my microwave with a moist paper towel wrapped around the stack for 30 seconds. (I HAD NO IDEA you could do this and it work so well to warm them all!)

Then I assembled the tacos! Topping with a squeeze of a lime and crispy jalepenos. They were so good!

Jonathan and I were extremely pleased with the food that we recieved for both of our first meals. The other meal was Provolone Stuffed Turkey Meatloaf with Spicy Green Beans. And we enjoyed that just as much, if not more than the tacos. Week 2 we got Pot Sticker Burgers (amazing!) and Creamy Tomato Skillet Lasagna that I am cooking this evening. 

Plates come to about $9.95 per person, we are doing 2 meals a week, which with shipping would be $50 a week. A little steep, but the meals are good, healthy and perfectly portioned for just the two of us. Not to mention for the 15th time, I LOVE TO COOK! We have ordered our 3rd week already and we chose THREE meals! They sounded so good, I couldn't only get 2. Due to ordering 3 meals, shipping was free, which I appreciated that. 

Home Chef has an app, that was you can look at all the recipes, ingredients, calories, difficulty, etc all right from your phone. Also, you can opt to skip any week you choose as long as its before the deadline provided. Being able to do it all from my phone makes things so much easier. 

If you have any interest in trying Home Chef, please do so through my link to receive $30 OFF your first order. I will recieve a small credit if anyone purchases through me, as most referral links work. Hope you enjoy!

https://www.homechef.com/invite/gbzRpEH2w7Ek9

Weekend Recap - Easter Weekend

This past weekend was an extended one since my boss is kind enough to let us be closed on Good Friday. For years now I have gone to a Good Friday Mud Bog! If you aren't from the south you probably have never heard of such, but its something that we do for fun around these parts. I went with my girlfriend Megan and her other half, and met up a while later with my friend Amanda who was also there.




We had such a fun time and I was able to see so many people that I don't see all the time. I ran into a couple girls that I went to high school with. One of them in particular had been posting on Facebook recently a few "incognito" things that led me to believe she is also struggling with infertility. Now I wasn't positive on this, but I smiled at her and said "I think you and I might be going through something very similar in our lives right now." She immediately said that I was right and we gave each other the biggest hug and talked briefly about where we were at in our journey. We both shared that we had experienced a loss (she's had 2), and just took comfort in knowing that we are not alone in this. Its strange how something so common is also at the same time, not often talked about openly. There are SO MANY WOMEN going through infertility, child loss or pregnancy loss that need the support of others. And even the women who are just getting started with trying to grow a family that have no idea how rocky that road will be ahead of them, they also need support and encouragement. We are all connected by that same desire to conceive and give birth to a healthy baby. This kind of thing is so much more common than any of us even really know. Wether its 1 in 8, or 1 in 4, or whatever the true ratio may be, its actually amazing how many women you interact with on a daily basis that have been in your shoes or in a similar pair.

I am feeling stronger everyday, and it shows by the fact that I was able to openly discuss my loss with another woman... in public. Because of the comfort and support I have received from other women who have been so open with me, I am hopeful that sharing my story will also provide comfort to another woman on her journey.

Saturday was race day! First points race of the season, and Jonathan's first time driving the new truck he's been working on. He was so nervous, as was I. You never know quite exactly what a new motor is going to do the first time you push the gas to the floor and hold it there. I never would've guess that Jonathan would hit a perfect "trip zip" light on his first pass, but that's exactly what he did! The truck ran great and was consistent all day. Jonathan did lose in round 3, but all in all it was an awesome first points race of the year. We are so excited that it is racing season again and we will be able to spend time at the track with all of our friends.



Easter Sunday, we woke up early and I got to work making two new recipes I found. One for corned beef hash (didn't come out great) and another for Eggs Benedict Casserole (was so yummy!!) for brunch at my mom's. I was a little disappointed that they planned an 11 o'clock brunch this year, because that kind of interrupted our church plans. But I love my family, and was glad I was able to see my Granny and my cousins. I did make the suggestion to do a late lunch next year, that way Jonathan and I can still attend assembly beforehand (our church doesn't currently have "early service").

I have been trying to work on my courage when it comes to sharing my faith and just pray that God continues to work in me through his Spirit to help me be bold and brave and share the wonderful news that Jesus died for our sins and was resurrected, just as he said would happen. I am so extremely grateful for all of the gifts God has blessed me with in this life. I will be forever amazed by the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross so that all of my sins (and yours) could be forgiven. Thank you God, for your perfect plan, that has been in place for my life from the very beginning.

Romans 6:3-5 New International Version (NIV)
3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his.

If you ever have any questions about Scripture and the truth in what the Bible says, I encourage you to take it upon yourself, open your Bible and read the truth. If there is something you don't quite understand, ask someone. If you are feeling unsure about what someone is telling you, consult someone else. You WILL feel convicted in knowing the truth. If you are seeking the truth, you will find it.