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My Story: Success Details Continued

© Lori Ramsey

We have tried to conceive our third child since November 98. It was during this that I dove into books and magazines - devouring any and all information on conception and pregnancy. I even went to my obstetrician and was “checked out” for the go ahead. I was concerned for my thyroid - because of the fatigue and hair loss I was experiencing at the time. Thyroid checked out just fine and the fatigue and hair loss was due to my breastfeeding my then 17 month old daughter.

I began charting in March 1999. I found out that I had a luteal phase defect (see my article on Luteal Phase Defects). I knew that with a luteal phase of only 9 days I could not support a pregnancy. So I began taking vitamin B6. I took that along with prenatal vitamins. By the next month my luteal phase increased to 11 days then to 12. And by September, 2 months after I had weaned my daughter from breastfeeding and 1 month after a chemical pregnancy, my luteal phase increased to 13 days. I began using progesterone cream and taking a baby aspirin a day to prevent chemical pregnancies. My luteal phase increased to 15 days.

September and October came and went - all my charting efforts and all my supplements seemed to do no good. Every month came and went with no pregnancy. Finally in December I decided to take a break from charting. But I knew I had ovulated on Christmas Eve - the 6th anniversary that my husband proposed to me - and it would have been so neat to have had a due date on my birthday - September 19! I just knew that by New Years I was going to see a positive pregnancy test. It didn’t happen. It didn’t happen the next month either.

By February, my digital thermometer had bit the dust. My husband and I were so busy pursuing other things that trying to conceive was really the last thing on our minds. We only had intercourse twice during ovulation, which I know exactly when I do by my cervical mucus and cervical position. About 10 days post ovulation I had an incredible bout of fatigue hit me. And I thought to myself “the last time I felt this way I was pregnant.” That night I was so hot all night - unusual for me - who usually likes to wad up under a pile of blankets! The next morning I grabbed my thermometer (I put a new battery in) and checked my temperature. Usually my temperatures post ovulation range from 98.1 to 98.8. It was 99.0! I knew something was up!