We have Liftoff!

Or do we?

Today = CD18. My temps since the last day of my last period have been 97.18, 97.35, 96.96, 97.12, 97.32, 97.66, 97.35, 96.85, 97.05, 97.17, 97.15 and then today's is 97.87!

But! The damn digital OPK will only give me an O reading and not a :) .

Sigh.

This is so ridiculously frustrating.

Whatever.

Fortunately I've had other things to focus on instead of just the gdamn TTC bullshit. Like the moving thing. We get the keys in just a couple hours, but found out yesterday that A) the gas won't be turned on until Monday so there will be no heat, no hot water (and that leaves me thinking back on some days after my parents split - yay); B) the washer/dryer and dishwasher won't be installed until later next week (which sucks ass because we have mountains of clothes to wash).

It certainly could be worse, that's for sure.

So today we're taking out some garbage since this morning was garbage day and the bins are finally empty again (one of the best things about moving is the purging - ahhhh!); then we're heading over to the new place to meet the realtor to get the keys to the place; then we'll measure the windows; head over to Home Depot to get a rug for the living room and one for the dining room, rods for the drapes, maybe some blinds; come back here to the apartment and grab some simple, light items to load into the car; grab more garbage to fill the bins as a thank you/parting gift to our frat partying neighbors; then plan on going back to the new place to unload some stuff and hopefully hang up some window treatments.

That's the plan, at least. Ha.

Tomorrow the movers are set to come at 12:30 but evidentally we were told to be ready as early as 8:30. Fun times.

In review of this, it's probably a good thing I didn't have a :) read on that OPK as I'm not sure when we can fit in Sexy time today or tomorrow. :/

That little thing called Knowledge

So today we're going to talk about basal thermometers and how they truly do work. They take your exact temperature without rounding, and they're *the* tool to use when trying to track ovulation. Fuck those OPK's. Fuck tracking your CM. Take your temperature around the same waking hour every morning and you will be able to figure out when you ovulate (after the fact, unfortunately) and when/if you're about to get AF or are pregnant.

It really does work!

If you're TTC, buy TCOYF and read it and follow it and practice what's described in that book. And if you do so, you will, possibly for the first time in your life, truly know and understand your body and how it works - as far as ovulating and shit, at least.

I charted my temps for about six straight months and each month I knew when I ovulated and I knew the day before AF came. It never failed. That number always dropped pretty significantly right before AF. Then when I got pregnant, I knew I could believe my eyes and the HPT. I knew it because the next week or so when I woke and stuck that basal thermometer in my mouth and took my temp, the numbers were still high.

It was glorious, really.

But after the d&c, I stopped tracking. I put everything away and submerged myself into a pity party that nobody else was invited to. And every month thereafter, I was left wondering if that was *the* month when I would get pregnant again. And every month I didn't take my temperatures, I was blindsided when AF showed.

All because of a stupid little basal thermometer.

This past cycle was going to be different, though. This past cycle we were moving up to bigger, more expensive things: digital OPK's. And after peeing on 14 expensive sticks and never getting a smiley face, I was left feeling quite deflated.

So I found that trusty, little ol' basal thermometer and took my temperature about three days ago, then the next. And it was high (for me). Maybe I did O super early and maybe, just maybe that temp would remain high for days and weeks to come! A girl can dream, right?

The third day (yesterday) I temped, my temperature dropped pretty significantly (from 98.04 to 97.54) and I knew what was heading into town. So last night when I went pee and saw some spotting, I wasn't surprised one bit. And this morning, when the spotting become a light flow, I wasn't blindsided like I have been the past 6 months. (Though I will admit that I'm a little... peeved... that this past cycle was 27 days long when the one prior was 43 or something?!? WTF, body??! WTF?)

I'm not happy about AF, but I'm also not upset, devastated, shocked, deflated. I'm just...not pregnant.

So the lesson today is that Knowledge truly is Power and every woman wanting to really know their cycle - whether or not you're TTC or TTA - should invest a whopping $10 on a basal thermometer and take their temp every morning before they get out of bed, before they speak.