Looking ahead to next Halloween and my promise

My friend Kimberly and I were talking yesterday about Halloween and costumes. I mentioned a previous co-worker had said he thought I should be a bee for Halloween since it fit my personality. I tend to agree. Kimberly did too. However, we were talking that maybe by next Halloween I will be pregnant and then I could be a bumble bee (since they are bigger). Somehow this morphed into me promising Kimberly that if I were pregnant next year for Halloween and had a belly (so far enough along to be showing) then she could paint my belly like a pumpkin. What in the world did I agree to?!?!?!!?!??? Here's to hoping I can be a big orange pumpkin belly next year!

Halloween mind chatter

I have a lot of thoughts in my head today..... Last night I was making spooky spider cupcakes and as I labored away sticking 8 legs, two eyes and a nose on each hairy sprinkled spider I thought, "Wow, someday I will be able to make these for my kids to take to school and I'll be the cool mom that makes fun spider cupcakes." That is a good thought! Then this morning on my way to work some more thoughts materialized in my crazy head. A few of my friends have today off or at least half a day off to do fun Halloween activities with their kids. Something I will have to remember to allocate PTO for when the day comes. Then I started thinking about why I don't hand out candy to trick-or-treaters (besides the fact that our neighborhood doesn't have very many kids and there are only 4 houses on our block). It would be really cute to see all the kids dressed up and having fun, but on the other hand it may be really hard too. I do get to see some cuties dressed up for the holiday today. Liz will be bringing Braden into work. He is dressing as a dragon this year. Then later this afternoon I want to go and see Iree and Marlie. Iree is Bumblebee the Transformer and Marlie is a peapod. All three of them will be adorable I am sure. I need to take pictures!

Last 3-a-day and more

Today is the last day I have to take my Metformin 3x/day. I know it doesn't seem like that big of a deal but I feel tied to the medicine bottle when you are constantly taking pills. I also have a hard time remembering to take medicine at times (I think I have too much other mind chatter) so I have 3 daily alarms set on my phone for 7am,1pm & 7pm to remind me to take it. Now I can go down to just two alarms. I also realized I forgot to take my vitamins today but in all actuality the medicine is more important than the vitamins so I guess I am okay. That is another reason why I carry the medicine in my purse so its always with me. I also think that it is a good thing to be going to the 2x/day because it is the Metformin XR and I think it will keep a more constant level of the drug in my bloodstream instead of just "dumping" meds in 3x/day and then going 12 hours overnight without anything. I think I may switch to 8am and 8pm though, so I'll have to change my alarms.
In other thoughts, I have an acupuncture appointment today. It is very relaxing but a bit pricey if I think of how much I will spend. There are a few weeks in November where I have to miss my appointment or wasn't able to schedule one (like the week of Thanksgiving) so I wonder if that will impede any progress I may be making. I keep wondering if it benefits me at all beyond the stress control and the 1 hour of peaceful time, but Clay said he wants me to keep going for now, so go I will today at 320 and the next week and then again and again.

The chicken or the egg dilemma

I read an article last night that made me think of that wonderful chicken and egg dilemma about which comes first.... it's like trying to get a job so you can get experience but not being able to get a job cause you don't have experience. HOW do you get the experience if you can't get the job and vice versa? (Oh I can't find the article again so I can't word it as perfectly as they did, but you will still get the point.)

Well they say to reduce stress when trying to conceive or when faced with infertility issues ...wait let's call them my speedbumps...but they ALSO say that infertility speedbumps cause excess stress. How do you get rid of stress when what you are faced with causes the stress you are trying to get rid of? I'm not the best at stress management anyway but this one has me in a real pickle. Mentally I try not to stress but I think somehow my body knows more and is more stressed than I let on to my head....

So, what comes first the chicken or the egg?

Darn those androgens

Today is our weekly weigh-in for my fitness challenge with my friend Mel and I have been struggling at losing weight since we started. Last year when I was on the pill, weight loss was easy and I quickly saw results. This year has proved to be more of a challenge. Here is some background to the reason why I think I'm having a harder time this go around:

(From Web MD) Most women at some point have to contend with weight gain. But for women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), losing weight can become a constant struggle. Women with PCOS have an increased production of male hormones called androgens. High androgen levels lead to symptoms such as body hair growth, acne, irregular periods -- and weight gain. Because the weight gain is triggered by male hormones, it is typically in the abdomen. That is where men tend to carry weight. So instead of having a pear shape, women with PCOS have more of an apple shape. (Abdominal fat is the most dangerous kind of fat. ) Experts think weight gain also helps trigger the symptoms of PCOS, such as menstrual abnormalities and acne.

When I got my PCOS labwork done, my testosterone was indicated to be about 3x higher than the anticipated limit. I would put the exact numbers in but I seemed to have misplaced the results. I am sure they will show up sometime.

As a side note, when I typed the title I had to chuckle... the word "Androgen" sounded like some type of alien or evil bot (like the bad transformers)... maybe they are for me..... I'm fighting the evil androgens taking over my body ;o) HA! That's a scene!

All I want for Christmas....

Clay and I have been making our Christmas lists lately. Clay is doing much better on his than I am on mine. I have a few things on there, especially movies, but I got to thinking today, some of the things I want for Christmas you can't put on a list.

If it boiled down to one thing on my Christmas list it would be a period. How silly does that sound? It's like I'm a teenager jealous all of her friends have their periods and I'm begging for mine. If I can just get a cycle then there will be some start of hope at actually trying to conceive next year.

So in hope, I am putting a countdown for Christmas on this blog. By then I will have been on my metformin meds for 3 months at 1500 mg/day. Hopefully something will start to happen.