When this post goes live on Tuesday morning, I will be firmly ensconced at my temporary work station starting at 4 AM.  You see for pledge drives, even a one day pledge drive, I must set up a system of computers in the break room as that is the only place large enough to house all of the volunteers.  Thankfully, I no longer have to drag my desktop computer from my upstairs office to the downstairs break room.  There is a laptop I can use.  Phew!

Even as I work this weighs on my mind: on Saturday I went in for my third trans vaginal ultrasound of the week and was told I’d have to come back in on Tuesday morning at 7 AM for another probing.  According to my blood work, my LH (Luteinizing Hormone) was only 3.4 mil/ml (milli-international units per milliliter.)  Of course, I knew this from my at home OPK (ovulation prediction kit- specifically the testing strips) which do not begin to read positive until LH reaches 25 mil/ml. Even though the best looking follicles were at 18 and 20 mm respectively, without an LH surge, I was not going to ovulate.

At that point the doctors were talking about having me inject myself with Ovidrel to force ovulation.

After hearing this news over the phone on a Saturday afternoon while sitting in my car during a yard sale spree with my husband, I agreed to come in on Tuesday morning.  I kept repeating Tuesday in my mind so that I would remember to add it it to my calendar when I got home.  I didn’t remember to add it, but at 4:40 AM on Sunday morning I woke up in a cold sweat with the realization that I could not have an ultrasound done on Tuesday morning thanks to the pledge drive.

I called the nurses’ station, but got no response.  No worries though because on Monday morning, I got my first positive OPK in months!  Not only am I on a 29 day cycle again, but I’m ovulating ON MY OWN!

Take that Ovidrel!

I’m not going to lie, I wonder if having breakfast with my honorary nephew, Bjorn, made a difference. As in, maybe babies give off pheromones or something that make you ovulate.  Even when he’s being a little pill, there’s nothing cuter than a toddler eating pancakes.

Exhibit A: Bjorn is adorable
even when he uses silverware as
musical instruments at IHOP.

Anyway, back to waking up on Sunday morning in a cold sweat.  One of the things I thought of while considering how to handle being unable to make this ultrasound appointment when I was still under the impression that I would not ovulate on my own, I started mentally tallying up everyone who had ever had the opportunity to look between my legs.  And then I started a subcategory of everyone who has additionally seen my cervix.

Once you start thinking about how often you are spreading them for medical personnel your number starts to become impressive.  And then I realized that I really shouldn’t spend time thinking about that.  My time would be better spent making tea.  And so I made tea and tried to forget how many people in my city have seen my “plumbing” as my mother used to refer to it.

One last random out of the blue topic:

Recently I’ve noticed that many folks struggling with TTC (like Fertility Doll) are concerned about how much rest they get.  This is not a question I’ve asked myself.  And I’m not sure why it didn’t occur to me until now.  I’m sure that feeling less stress is important.  But resting?  As in taking more naps?  Or does that mean doing less work?

My normal job is in an office.  9-5 at a desk.  I occasionally lift boxes and send out large amounts of mail.  And, of course, there’s the three or four pledge drives a year.  Which involve setting up the computers and crouching under tables to connect wires and the like.  But I’ve never considered my work to be especially labor intensive.  I also try to hit the gym three times a week, although often I only make it twice a week. Belly dance is my hobby and, as I understand it, dancing is good for the reproductive system.  Yard work for me is relatively light.  Taking out the trash and bringing the groceries in from the car are probably the heaviest lifting I do.

Surely, I’m not overdoing it.  Am I?