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Mommyland

The OB Appointment

Written by Johanna Rose

Let me just start by asking, how in the world does anyone get pregnant on ACCIDENT? Or, is my OB lying to me? When I went in for my appointment on Monday, she explained that there is a four day window during which we can get pregnant each month. That window includes the 72 hour life-span of the sperm, plus the 24 hour life-span of the egg. Then, she said, even if you have sex at the "right" time, there is only a 20% chance of conception. 20%!! As in, there is an 80% chance that if you time sex perfectly, you still won't conceive. And I'm all like, "But I know 87 women who have gotten pregnant when they weren't TTC, HOW DOES THAT HAPPEN?"

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I Blame Google

Written by Johanna Rose

Apparently, my period heard that I was complaining about her tardiness and decided to show up on time this month. The thing is, I had gotten so accustomed to her irregular behavior, I wasn't expecting her when she made her appearance this weekend. And to make matters worse, the very morning I started, I had dared to hope that I was finally pregnant. I made this ridiculous mistake because Google said that the cramps I was experiencing could indicate pregnancy. You see, I was cramping all day Friday without any sign of my period or the usual PMS symptoms. I also don't usually cramp until after my period starts, so I did some research online and found that many women experience cramping when they're pregnant.

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The Irregular Period

Written by Johanna Rose

My period and I have a very bad relationship. We used to get along alright, but then in February of 2008, a few months after I married my husband, my period decided to abandon ship. For four months, she was MIA. At first, I thought I was pregnant. Being VERY NEWLY-wed, this was not in the plan. When I asked my husband what we would do, he said, "I suppose we'd get married, buy a house, get full-time jobs, and have a baby." Yes, we were already married, we had owned a house for 9 months, and we both worked full-time jobs, with benefits and the whole nine yards. Point being, ours wasn't the worst situation to bring home a baby.

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The Sex

Written by Johanna Rose Tuesday, 14 July 2009 08:51

As I mentioned before, our decision to grow our family was somewhat sudden, and therefore I hadn't done much research on baby-making. I did know that in order to conceive, we'd need to plant some sperm when I was ovulating. To determine when that would happen, I used an online ovulation calculator. Based on the length of my cycle and the start date of my last period, the calculator listed my five "fertile days" of each month. I took those five days and added seven days before and seven days after, plus a few extra days just in case, and decided that we needed to have sex every day of the month. And twice, if possible.

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The Beginning

Written by Johanna Rose Thursday, 09 July 2009 08:15

I've been picking out names for my unborn children since before I knew where babies came from. The first name I remember choosing for a girl was Khari (pronounced kah-ri). Fifteen years later, I'm not particularly fond of that name, nor the other 26 names I LOVED at one point, before I forgot them too. My husband just ignores me now when I tell him my new favorite name, because he knows it won't be my favorite for long. Like when I told him I wanted to name our first daughter Gretchen, and by the time he decided he could live with calling his daughter Gretchen, I'd moved on to Cecilia. I tell him, I just hope our kids won't mind when I change their names every other year.

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About Johanna Rose

I'm a 20-something on a journey to “mommyland” - and I have finally seen those two elusive lines on a pee-stick. I married my husband two years ago because I wanted to have babies with him, and we began trying to make that happen in November 2008. After eleven months and three rounds of Clomid, we are PREGNANT! Join me on my journey. You can also follow along here: www.mommyland.net