Monday, April 19, 2010

Coaxing the Shy Egg

Thank you all for your lovely comments on my last post! It feels nice to have my writing affirmed. Writing is such a personal thing, at least for me. To have someone read something I've often feels more intimate than having a conversation with that person. So it's nice to be complimented.

That said, this will be a much less...um...thought-provoking post. I did want to give a brief update on where I am in my cycle, and, more importantly, what I'm waiting for.

Today is day 27 of my cycle, and my egg(s?) is still resting in her little follicle. I've decided my eggs are just shy homebodies. And slow on the uptake. Which is ironic, because I generally move rather quickly in life and am not super shy, though I may have some homebody tendencies.

Fertility friend's algorithm has decided that I did ovulate about a week ago, which is really annoying since I know I didn't. My temperatures did even out and then rise by about a half a degree. However, the reason for said rise was not ovulation but rather that I have apparently been successful at warming my formerly cold uterus, at least according to Katy, my acupuncturist. So my formerly very erratic temps are now much more even and a tad warmer on average. I guess those nightly heating pads, daily herbal teas, and biweekly acupuncture appointments are doing something, even if they haven't convinced the egg to come out of her shell yet.

My temps have been going down a bit again, accompanied by random patches of fertile cervical mucus. And lots of baby dancing with my ever-happy-to-oblige husband.

But this has not occurred yet:
In case you can't tell, this is a picture of a human being released--ovulation. Found at New Science. I know my husband is going to gag when he sees this, but I think it's pretty cool.

I've found during the past few cycles that right about now seems to be one of the hardest times for me. Waiting for that elusive egg release. Wondering why it could possibly be taking this long. Analyzing every little sign and symptom, wondering if it's a sign of impending ovulation. Staring at my cervical mucus and trying to stretch it between my two fingers repeatedly. And the long series of negative OPKs with second lines of various shades, but not quite dark enough. To be honest, I think I over-interpret more during this part than during the two-week wait, as I've pretty much resigned myself to the fact that any symptom I have post-ovulation could as easily be PMS as it could be pregnancy.

Go, eggy, go. My fallopian tube really isn't that scary, I promise. And there are lots of friendly little spermies waiting to make your acquaintance, if you'll just get your guts up and get out there.

9 comments:

Leslie said...

Cool pictures!!!

In the land of all kinds of worse, I have to agree with you that waiting 30 days (or more?? say it ain't so!) to ovulate sounds SUPER sucky.

Technically, I suppose it doesn't matter how regular your cycles are if you never get pregnant ANYWAYS, but at least you get the illusion of progress more often, the faster your cycles go by...

Hopefully that shy egg is just the precursor to a shy child, who one day you'll be having to encourage to ride a bike or jump off a diving board, just like you're waiting for his/her egg to emerge right now...

Anonymous said...

Thanks for posting those pictures! I thought they were very interesting!

Also - I feel for you on that wait for ovulation. I keep pinching myself as I sit here at cycle day 19 - 6DPO!!! Most of the time I hadn't even ovulated yet! The time goes by sooo slowly when you are waiting to ovulate. And not knowing how long you are going to have to wait makes it worse. At least in the 2WW there is a countdown!

Melissa G said...

Oh man, I've been on the TTC wagon for a bit, so I forgot how frustrating those OPKS can really be. Is that line darker or NOT?!?

Glad to hear that the Acupuncture is working out for you. I think I was wrong about us having the same place though. You are a little further south than me. I'm on the peninsula.

Well I hope that egg decides to show sooner rather than later, in the mean time enjoy the extra "attention" from dh! ;)

Julize said...

Yikes, that must be so frustrating. I seem to have all manner of reproductive problems but, fortunately for me, ovulation has never been one of them. I can only imagine how frustrating it must be to constantly be waiting and speculating about what's really going on in there.

Cool pics, by the way (although they do look a little like a big zit getting ready to pop).

Adele said...

Holy MOLY but those are amazing photographs. Wow.

I have a love-hate relationship with fertility friend. I often use the "override" option because yes, in fact, sometimes I do know better than the software, which often doesn't understand what it's looking at.

I hope the eggy drops SOON.

K.O.P. said...

Okay, I started out trying to take my temperature and all that stuff but it never had a pattern AT ALL and I still got my period every 28 days like clockwork and so I just gave up. I'm impressed with your diligence. I may have to give that a shot again since I'm using solely TCM right now as well. Herbs and needles are my friends. I don't get to drink anything neat-o though, I'm jealous!

Alex said...

Very cool pictures! That really sucks that you're waiting to O right now - come on, eggies!!! You're ready, just release!!!!!

Valerie said...

Reading this brings back way too many memories. I ovulated on cycle day 28 when I finally got pregnant and that was super early for me. Hopefully this egg that's so reluctant is your Egg! If not, then the acupuncturist may be able to shorten that ovulation time for you.

sharon said...

keep the faith.
i know that is a test of faith right there, keeping it around, but that little egg of yours will show its beautiful face.
in the meanwhile, everything you are doing is probably all really good, but also try meditating ... relaxation [closing the door on anxiety AND i know this is a hard one when you want this sooo badly] has helped a lot of people i know beat the infertility monster.