Approximately 11 million couples in the US are trying to conceive (TTC). On average, a couple only has a 20% chance of becoming pregnant each month during the woman’s fertile time (not the best odds huh?).  In fact, 75% of women report an increase in their frequency of dryness when TTC. Pre~Seed mimics natural body secretions to relieve dryness while providing an optimal environment for your man’s little swimmers. Its moisture is delivered in the same pH , osmolality and viscosity (thickness) as fertile cervical mucus. Pre~Seed does not harm sperm and is less irritating to women than the leading lubricants (see Clinical Studies).

That my friends is why Pre Seed is so great for women who are TTC! I was ready to try pretty much anything while TTC, and when I gave this a try I fully noticed a difference. The good news is that you can now buy Pre Seed at your local stores as well as online. I promise you won’t be sorry you gave this a try.

When the people behind Pre Seed contacted me to do this giveaway, I knew that even though I didn’t need it now, I still wanted to offer it to my dear readers. I know many of you are struggling with TTC, and if there is anything I can do to help, I will. And I believe that Pre Seed will help.

So onto the GIVEAWAY! The giveaway package will consist of one carton of the Pre~Seed Product, and one product brochure. The giveaway will run until Monday September 19th.

How to enter: Remember…each entry needs a separate comment to count.

Mandatory entry…now this will be easy…:

Leave a comment saying “I want to win Pre Seed!” Yup! That’s it!

Extra Entries

1. LIKE After The Alter on Facebook
2. LIKE Pre~Seed on Facebook
3. Follow @afterthealter on Twitter
4. Follow @preseedbaby on Twitter
5. Tweet about this giveaway and come back to leave a link to your tweet! Be sure to @preseedbaby and @afterthealter in your tweet!

Look at all those ways to enter! Good luck!

I was provided with Pre~Seed for the purposes of this review. as always all thoughts and opinions are my own.

This post was originally written on Thursday, April 1st, when I got my BFP on the digital. I wrote this down because I knew The Captain wanted to keep it a secret for a while, but I wanted to share my thoughts. Just like my previous post…if you know me in real life please don’t post anything on facebook. Thanks!

It was 5 am and I woke up having to pee. I knew it was imperative that I take the test with FMU (first morning urine) so it was now or never. I laid in bed terrified to test. The day before I tested in the afternoon with a cheapo test and saw the faintest of lines. Faint enough to think I was crazy. But they say a lines a line so I decided it was time to stop playing games and I bought a digital. That is what was waiting for me in the bathroom. A digital test. I knew I wouldn’t be able to fall back asleep so I finally got up the courage and stumbled my way into the bathroom. I decided to pee into a cup so that I couldn’t screw anything up (trust me, I have messed up tests in the past). I unwrapped the digital test, popped the blue cap and the screen was blank…WHAT? DAMN! It’s broken! So I got the second one out of the package, popped the blue cap…and nothing again! SERIOUSLY? See the other digitals I have used in the past have a blinking sign to show that the test was ready to use, so I sat there thinking that it was God’s way of telling me not to test. I couldn’t believe it? Is this a joke?  So I grabbed the directions and saw that it’s SUPPOSED to be blank! Jokes on me! (can you just picture me at 5 am doing this?) So I put the pee stick into the cup for the right amount of time…it starts to blink…and I wait. I have taken tons of HPT (home pregnancy tests) before, and all of them have left me feeling the same. Nervous, excited, and sick to my stomach. This one was no different. The difference with this test is that the words PREGNANT stuck on the screen after a few minutes! I couldn’t believe it! I mean I knew it COULD happen…but why would it? It hadn’t for the past 6 months…but this one was different! It worked!!!

Now I know The Captain is by no means a morning person, but I figured there was no possible way I could keep this to myself. No way indeed! So I jumped in the bed and shook him till he woke up. He was obviously startled and mumbled something about wondering who died..lol (overreact much?) And then I shoved the positive test in his face. You see, the last time I was pregnant I put the positive test into a father’s day card (since I tested positive on June 5th close to fathers day). I used to think of clever ways to break the news to him…but not today. After 7 months of trying, just having the test read PREGNANT was special enough in my book…so  a test shoved in his face was all I could muster that morning. I think he got the point. He was excited….but I think nervous. We’ve had our hopes up before…only to get them crushed so I know why it’s important for him to be gaurded. But we are headed in the right direction. Getting pregnant is the first step!

Needless to say we both couldn’t really fall back to sleep. We both laid there tossing and turning, but we pretty much just laid there. Since it was 5 am there was no real celebrating…like I said The Captain is rather crabby at that God forsaken hour…but that’s ok. I celebrated inside. I started to plan, I started to hope, and I started to pray that this pregnancy would be a healthy one. I thought to myself…Here we go again!

Well dear readers I have been keeping a secret from you, and I want to honestly say I am so so so sorry. You have no idea how much I wanted to share every minute of the last four weeks with you, but I hope you can understand why I didn’t. If you haven’t guessed by now I will put you out of your misery. My dear readers I am PREGNANT! That’s right, you read that correctly. I have come one step closer in my journey towards motherhood, and I couldn’t be any happier.

Most of you are aware that I suffered a miscarriage with my first pregnancylast July. It was an awful and horrible experience that no woman deserves to go through. I’d like to say that the experience has made me stronger, but most days I believe that it made me weaker. It broke a lot of my spirit, and the wonderful naivete that should be felt when you are pregnant. It made my hopes and dreams seem so unattainable, and as much as I tried not to, I really believe I put my life on hold. I was living my life just waiting for that miracle to happen for me again.

The good news is that I WAS blessed with a miracle again. On my 7th cycle post miscarriage I FINALLY got my big fat positive (BFP)! (I promise to share that story with you at another time) I always knew that it COULD happen each month, but as each month passed, my confidence that it WOULD happen got less and less. The horrible feeling when AF arrived each month is enough to drive any woman crazy, let alone one that suffered a loss. Each month I was reminded what was NOT in store in my future. Each months my dreams were shattered.

But not this time. This time April brought me good luck and a pee stick that read PREGNANT! Just seeing those words made me feel so many new emotions that I wasn’t sure how to feel them all. Especially since they were all coming at the same time! I was happy, scared, nervous, joyful, panicked and many other adjectives that seem to be fleeing from my brain right now. All I could think was “wow, here we go again!”

I decided to wait to spill the beans on my blog till after our first appointment. I knew that no matter what the outcome was, I would share it with you, but for myself I just needed to have that appointment. It made it more real.  To be honest, sometimes my readers have offered more support than people in real life because they knew exactly what I was feeling. It’s amazing how complete strangers can bring you so much comfort.. That’s why I am so excited to share this news with you now.

There is so much to share and tell and I promise to share it all. Don’t I always? The good, the bad and the ugly right? I just want to give each topic the time it deserves so I can tell it just right. But I will tell you this now. On Monday, at around 12:00 PM, Captain Awesome and I heard the strong little heartbeat of our amazing little miracle. We were in awe of the little flutter that we saw coming from our little bean. The doctor was happy and optimistic, and for now I feel like I can breath a semi sigh of relief. And that my friends feels amazing!

I recently got word from a contact at Fairhaven Health of a survey being done at Early Pregnancy Tests.com that was getting to the bottom of many questions regarding Trying to conceive. They called the survey a “Profile of a “typical” TTC woman”. Don’t  you think that is a great topic? I found the results pretty interesting so I thought you would too. If you want to read more about the results you can do so HERE. Keep in mind this was a survey done of 660 people on Early Pregnancy Tests.com and may not by any means be a national average…

Early Pregnancy Tests.com: Profile of a “Typical” TTC woman

I was actually kind of shocked with the answers in the “how old are you?” section. I wasn’t surprised with the top… 47% being 25-30, but I was surprised that the 18-24 range was last with 11%. They say that your fertility drops significantly once you hit 25 and again at 30, so it is no wonder there are so many fertility issues these days now that women are waiting longer and longer to have children. It just makes sense.

The 2nd question of How Long have you been TTC made me feel a little better about my situation since 60% said 8 months or longer. Wow! How crazy is that? My doctor did tell me the average was 6 months, but maybe that number will be going up soon? Or since this was on a pregnancy test website…are the women who are frequenting the site the ones who are struggling to get pregnant?

The question of “do you have fertility issues” made me think. In reality, most people won’t know if they have any issues till at least a year of TTC because that is what is recommended by doctors, and it is also the time frame most insurance companies work with. The study here showed 40% did not know.

70% answered yes to the question of “Do you test for ovulation”. I am not surprised by that answer because timing is very important, but I think people rely on that too much. Going back I kind of wish I just followed my doctors advice and just “did it” 3-4 times a week till you get your period. I think if I followed that advice things would be a lot less stressful. But I didn’t listen..lol so I’m part of that 70%!

Question: “do you use an electronic fertility monitor?” The Answer was 87% NO…but I’d like to put in my plug for the clear blue easy fertility monitor. I REALLY think it’s worth the money. I wish I had bought it sooner, because I really believe that my timing has been off with the regular OPK’s. If you have a little extra cash I say go for it!

I sponsored a giveaway for Fertilaid Giveaway and really loved their Fertilaid as well as their Fertile CM, so I was shocked to see how many respondents haven’t given it a try. Maybe it’s the ordering online thing? That stops me sometimes….

Do you use Preseed or Pre?  It’s amazing how many people don’t know that regular lubricant actually KILL sperm. Yup! You may be harming your chances right off the bat! This survey had 57% day they do not use. My question is are they using none at all, or just the wrong kind? Definitely something to think about! I’ve used both, so if you want to know my opinions feel free to contact me. (since I am sure most of my readers don’t need to know lol)

I didn’t comment about all of the questions so feel free to see all the results on the survey. But I did find the results interesting. I wonder if they would be similar with a larger sample of respondents? I have a feeling they would! What do you think? Do you find the results accurate? Would you have answered the same?

Captain Awesome and I decided a little less than a year ago that we wanted to start a family. With just that one little statement so many other things got set into motion. We had plans. But now, looking back, the words of my doctor now come back to haunt me “when people plan God laughs”. Isn’t that the truth! The problem with plans is that they don’t always work out, and when they don’t work out you are left fumbling for a new plan. But through all the plans, and the ups and the downs, I have to remind myself to just live my life. You’d be surprised how hard that is!

When the summer clothes started to come on the racks last year I told myself “don’t buy any because soon you will be too fat to wear it”. I planned on being the “designated driver” at upcoming weddings because by then I was POSITIVE I’d be pregnant. Then came the miscarriage, and all the plans shattered. After we were free to try again, I was so sure that it would happen quickly. In September I had friends invite us on a vacation in January, and I said to The Captain… I don’t think we can book that trip now. I am hoping to be pregnant by then and I won’t know how I will feel. So we didn’t book the trip. Funny thing is that January came and went. Our friends went on that vacation, and we stayed home.

You may ask why I cared about booking the trip. Well , the answer is simple. It’s a lot of money to travel, and I am worried that if I travel with in my first trimester I could be sick. And therefore the trip is ruined because I am sick and can’t enjoy myself. I know what you are thinking…you could feel fine! And you are right, but it isn’t worth the risk. Therefore we decided we should plan a trip to coordinate with “the right time” and go to relax. But you’d be amazed at how life throws curve balls at you! Each “right time” has occurred when other plans have been set, and therefore we haven’t been able to take that trip. I don’t think people realize how small the window really is. And if you are busy during that window, you lose your chance.

I haven’t really bought new clothes for 4 full seasons now. Each one has come and gone with me thinking I’d be wasting my money. I guess The Captain is happy because it saved us a bunch of money!

My 30th birthday is coming up in June and people ask me what I am doing. But I can’t give them an answer. I’m not going to plan a raging drinking event if I am pregnant. That just wouldn’t fit. I would love to maybe combine my birthday and our 2 year anniversary (both in June), but I have to refer back to my previous statement…I just don’t know how I will feel at that point? What to do?

I realize as I am reading this back I sound a little crazy. Don’t worry I am not. Other than big travel plans I promise I really am living my day to day life to the fullest. But being the planner that I am I am having trouble with the unknown. So here is a reminder to myself and all of you. Don’t wish the year away, and don’t sit around and wait while life passes you by….remember to live.

Thursday I had an appointment with my OB. I needed to have my 6 month check up anyway, and I figured it was a good opportunity to speak with my doctor about my inability to get pregnant, or I should say my frustration with not being pregnant yet. By blogging and being active in the TTC community I have been getting a lot of advice. To be honest, advice is much easier to take from those who have been through what I have, but wanted or not the advice has been coming in. Some people have suggested that maybe it is time to see a Reproductive Endocrinologist (RE), who specializes in infertility. I have been hesitant about taking that route because I still feel like getting pregnant is a natural thing for most people, and although I want it more than anything in the world, I want to give myself time to just allow it to happen. I went into my appointment with an open mind, and was ready with all my questions. I have to admit I was really happy when I started to push the issue about the RE that the OB smiled at me and told me he thinks I’ll be just fine. It was nice to hear.

I had been seeing the same doctor in my OB practice for about 3 years. He was always nice, and supported me through  my miscarriage. But sometimes I just felt like he rushed me, and when I would get home I would be frustrated because I forgot to ask something. So this time, I tried a new doctor (we’ll call him Dr. Patience). A friend of mine had just went to him, and said how nice and patient he was, and I thought that patience is what I needed. Boy was I happy to have met him. He was nice, personable, and best of all he took the time to hear me out and give me feedback. I have found that my OB office looks at pregnancy as a natural thing. He said most of the time the issue isn’t about infertility it’s just about timing, and I agree with him. He told me that since I got pregnant once, he is able to tell that everything is working how it should…that I ovulate, my tubes are open, and The Captain’s swimmers are ready to do their job. He said it may not seem like it now but that’s a good thing. Then he did something that made me smile…He said I know you feel like Marissa Tomei in My Cousin Vinny (here he began stomping his feet) saying “My biological clock is ticking”. But then he went on to remind me that I am still young and healthy, time is on my side, and that I can and will get pregnant. He said that he knows that it may FEEL like I have been doing this for years…but the average is 6 months, and that although some may get pregnant right away that is by no means the norm.

The statistics he gave me were amazing. I wish I could reiterate the numbers, but the percent of people who miscarry is staggering. What is more amazing is the fact that you have the same chance to miscarry a 2nd time as you do the first time. (I try not to think about this one) But with all the information given, I am happy to announce that The Captain and I have decided to continue on our present course. I am the type of person who will take people’s advice, do my own research ( ALOT of research), and then make my own decision. You’d be amazed at what I know about TTC.

My doctor made a great point when I told him about being active in the TTC community. I asked him questions about what worked for others, and about the advice I get from people who tell me stories about a friend of a friend….He reminded me of this…..everyone is different. What works for someone, may not work for someone else. He told me that he can sign me up for every test imaginable, but his opinion is that all the tests will show that everything is in working order. He asked…”do you want that stress?” And the answer was no!

In the end he left me with what he called the Dr. Patience curse…he told me whether I am ready or not I will have a baby in the next 15 months. He said I better not ruin his perfect record, and I told him I’d hold him to that. I left happy and confident in my decision to wait the full year before taking any other action. In the end all you can do is go with your gut right?

When I was little I was always amazed with Psychics. I always wanted to get my palm read, or my tarot cards done. I am not sure why this was, but for some reason I liked the idea that someone could tell me my future. As a matter of fact if someone could tell me my future right now in regards to TTC I think I would be a happy woman! So when people on one of my favorite chat boards, www.lifamilies.com, started talking about Brooke the Psychic, I just had to see what all of the fuss was about!

Brooke is an online psychic. As most psychics you have to pay for her services, but I found the price to be very minimal, especially for what I was looking for. A one question reading is $12.50. This worked for me because my question for Brooke was when will I conceive. So I paid through paypal. Brooke requests that you ask your question, send in a picture of yourself, as well as give your full name, as well as the full name of anyone else who may be involved in the reading. In my case I gave my picture and name, as well as Captain Awesome’s.

You might think I’m crazy, but with the amount of money I spend on HPT’s, OPK’s, and acupuncture, I figured why not give into my curiosity. And you know what?? I LOVED my reading! It’s probably because the outcome was a positive one, but Brooke really told me everything I wanted to hear.

Hi Jen….Do you have other children? Three children came up in the cards. Two girls and a boy. They may be showing future children!  I’m getting a timeframe of “soon”! Between NOW and end of April for conception/find out. A GIRL appears for this pregnancy!

Let me know when you get your BFP!

Blessings,

-Brooke

How great is that?? Now I will publically tell everyone I don’t care if it’s a boy or a girl as long as it’s healthy, and I will deny it if you say otherwise. But since it’s just between you and me I have always wanted a little girl first. And that was Brook’s prediction! Also, I originally wanted 3 kids (my family has 2 girls and a boy), but right now I am not sure if I can EVER do this again…so if you asked me right this second I’d say I only want 1 kid. (I’m hoping this sentiment will change)

You can ask Brooke anything you want. It doesn’t have to be about TTC. You can even do a two question reading for $20. No matter what it was fun. If you think she gives the same answer to everyone your wrong. If you go into LI Families, under the TTC board you can see a thread of comments all sharing their Brooke readings. So we will see what comes true. I really hope she was right about me!

This month my body played tricks on me more than usual. It was the worst. The nasty bitch AF showed up a day and a half late. Yes, you heard correct. This girl who runs like clockwork, got to experience the thrill and excitement of believing that I MAY be pregnant for a day and a half! I swore not to test till the day I was due, but failed the afternoon before. BIG FAT NEGATIVE! It’s so hard to look at a negative pregnancy test. But I have heard stories of late implanters, and therefore levels aren’t high enough to show up on a HPT, so I kept hope.

I even kept hope 3 HPT later. All of them telling me I wasn’t pregnant. But AF still hadn’t showed up so I let my mind wander to the “what ifs”. I thought this could be it! But of course it wasn’t. AF showed up, and I was sad. Actually, I think I took it pretty well. It was heartbreaking due to the fact that I got my hopes up this time, but I also have been feeling some new confidence with all the things I am doing to help me along.

I went to Acupuncture this past week and I was told that it could affect my cycle. I guess that explains the lateness. But I am feeling pretty good about it! My acupuncturist sounds pretty confident and I am doing a bunch of extra things to bring up my body temperature. All that along with my bad ass Clear Blue Easy Fertility Monitor, I think it should all work out. Not to mention my dad evoked his shillelagh. Which is an old family Irish Walking stick that he brings out when he wants something to happen really bad. Don’t worry. He doesn’t take it likely, and only will bring it out as a last resort. I think last time was for my husband to pass the bar exam, and that worked, so I know this will too!

So life moves on as usual. I will continue to do what I am doing and hope and pray for the best. I made an appointment to see my OB since I need to have my regular 6 month appointment anyway. But I will also be happy to speak with him about what is going on. I don’t think I am ready for extra measures. But I will speak to him to confirm. So lucky #7 here we come!!! Wish us luck!

I was given, and started using the Fertilaid for Women and the Fertile Cervical Mucus Enhancer at the beginning of this month when I found out that last month was a bust. I have been using prenatal vitamins for over a year, but was looking forward to giving these a try. I was a bit worried about how my body would react to the new vitamins since I have heard that some prenatals can wreak havoc on your body, causing upset stomach and constipation among other things, but I was happy to find that these pills did none of that for me. Both of these pills are to be taken 3 times a day with food. I will admit that I had a bit of trouble remembering to take them 3 times a day. Most of the time I did 2 times…so I hope that’s ok. That I would say is the only negative, but The Captain tells me that the good vitamins need to be taken that often to allow for optimal absorption into the body. The Fertile CM enhancer proved to, in fact increase my CM. I was wondering if I would notice a difference and I totally did, so I was pretty happy about that.

Captain Awesome was given the Fertilaid for Men. He was used to taking a multivitamin, but was happy to give this a try. Sometimes I feel that he feels helpless in this whole process. And I think he was happy to be able to DO SOMETHING that maybe could help. So if anything…the vitamins are keeping him and me healthy!

Now for the fun part! Fairhaven Health has agreed to send 1 lucky winner their choice of these 3 products. That way you can pick the product that you think will help you the most! The contest will start today and run for 2 weeks. Ending on March 9th.

Here’s how you enter: You can do one or all of these entries (I vote for all), but remember that each comment acts as an entry. The winner will be chosen via www.random.org

1. Leave a comment telling me which product you would choose if you won.
2. Publicly become an After The Alter Google Follower and leave me a comment telling me  you did so.
3. Become a fan of After The Alteron Facebook then leave me a comment saying you are.
4. Become a fan of Fertileaidon Facebook and then leave a comment saying that you are.
5. Follow @afterthealter on Twitter! Then leave a comment with your twitter name saying that you follow.
6. Tweet about this giveaway, then leave a comment with the link to the tweet: I just entered the Fertilaid Giveaway @afterthealter you should too! http://bit.ly/9Hi1Ispls. RT
7. Follow @fertilaidamy and leave a comment letting me know that you are!

Now for even more great news! Fairhaven Healthis also offering 10% off to my readers if you use the promo code: newyearsavings (offer valid through the end of March) So even if you don’t win you can still get these products at a very good price.

I say every little bit helps in the TTC game. And getting your body healthy and ready are very important BEFORE getting pregnant. So why not use the products that are designed just for that?

The product in this review
was provided to me free of cost for the purpose of conducting this
review. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and are not
influenced by monetary or other means of compensation.

I experienced a bit of a sucker punch today when I looked at the calendar and realized that January is almost over. This means that had I not had a miscarriage this past summer, I would be EXTREMELY close to my due date of February 13th. I can’t believe that it’s been almost 9 months since I conceived. Who knew this is how things would turn out?

I honestly believed that I would be pregnant by the time my original due date came around…I mean I found out that I would miscarry in July. I had no idea that it would be so hard to get pregnant this time around. But it has been hard, and it has been a long time, so that’s why it came as such a shock when I realized the date. I really thought I would have a baby in 2010, but it seems that we are almost running out of time for that dream to come true. As it stands, in a best case scenerio we are looking at October…but November and December could certainly be a reality.

It’s funny…before we began TTC I always said that I didn’t want a Christmas baby. I felt that it wasn’t fair for the child to share his/her birthday anywhere close to such a big holiday in my family….but as we are nearing what could be a Christmas baby, I realize that it doesn’t matter when that child is born. I will love it and make their birthday the most special day EVER! No matter what.

So I am wallowing a bit. But I’m allowed to right? The good news is that my mom is in town, so the two of us will keep busy. It will be comforting to have my mind on other more fun things. Don’t worry readers..I’m ok….if you read Friday’s post you know that I am enjoying life. The punch in the gut just hurt..but my breath will be back shortly.