decision: made.

And the winners are:



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AND



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After a measly 11 day luteal phase, AF greeted me at noon. We were getting ready to leave to run some errands and I was less than pleased by her arrival. We were hoping this cycle was going to be our miracle BFP. Guess not. So, this means that we are headed for IVF! MBL and I talked about it this afternoon and due to several factors, we have decided to go ahead with IVF this cycle! Since I will be doing the long lupron protocol, I won't actually start any meds for at least three weeks, but we have our first call out to the fertility clinic and I am hoping to hear from them tomorrow or Monday to verify our plan. I really thought and prayed hard about the timing of this and I feel strongly that going ahead this month is the way to go. The only anxiety on my heart has to do with my fear that it won't work. But waiting another month or two won't make that go away. So, we're forging ahead.

I'm actually quite surprised by how well MBL and I are handling this. We were both quite shocked by the arrival of AF and both of us were sad that this past cycle didn't work. BUT, neither one of us freaked out or lost our cool. I didn't even cry (although I'm sure those tears are yet to come). We talked about our options coolly and calmly and shared the positives and negatives for cycle timing. MBL even asked what he could do to soften the blow of our BFN. It's amazing how close we've grown through all this IF crap.

Now onto the babymaking stuff. In the three or so weeks I have until we begin the lupron, I have a battle plan for making sure I give this cycle our all. I am googling my noggin off, trying to figure out what MBL and I can eat or do to make sure we have the best shot possible. For starters, I am going to try and lose 5 pounds. I (finally) am below my pre-pregnancy weight, but I am still 13 pounds away from my wedding day weight. I do not want to define myself by a number, but I feel like losing a wee bit of weight will help me feel better about myself and my body and may even help with our cycle. I plan on running again (I took the last two weeks off due to my ovary size post IUI) and I may even do some hot yoga. I took a class two weeks ago and I really liked it. I think it would help relax me, too. I also plan on making these every morning for MBL and myself:



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Apparently leafy greens are really good for fertility, so I am looking forward to working out different recipes for green smoothies so that MBL and I have our share! I am also looking into taking Coenzyme Q10 which is supposed to help with egg quality. The last time we we went through IVF I also ate hard boiled eggs to help with egg quality and now that I can finally stomach them again, I think I will do that as well. At this point, I would sleep upside down for the next two months if it meant I would get a BFP!

Do you have any other suggestions on what I can do to help my chances for IVF? Have you ever done anything crazy in the hopes it would get you your BFP? If so, what did you do?