I have been tracking my fertility at fertilityfriend.com. What a cool site!  I always knew you could track when you could or could not get pregnant, but I never really looked into it.  I am not taking my temp, just checking cm.  If it does not work this month I will get a basil thermometer and temp next month.

Wish me luck!

I tried to talk him through it, and we discussed all the aspects of having a baby-financial, emotional, relational, etc… At the end he said he was excited, but thought we should wait a month to flush out all the toxins in our bodies. He asked me to google the best way to prepare for conceiving holistically.  I did not find much, so if anyone has any resources that would be great.  Every page I read basically said “eat well, exercise, take vitamins, try to reduce stress.”  That does not sound so holistic and spiritual to me.

But he is right.  My body may be somewhat ready, and could be even better in a month.  But what about creating an environment for this baby/soul to come into that is peaceful, organized, and clear?  It makes sense.

So, he called this morning to ask if we could do a month long cleanse.  I have been thinking about it, and have decided it is a good idea.  I rush into everything, always have WAY too much on my plate, so I think if we waited and consciously prepared ourselves we will have a much better time.

Still…it is hard not to want to get pregnant RIGHT NOW.

So as for our “cleanse,” here is what I plan on doing:

Exercising every other day for at least an hour.

Yoga class at least twice a week and every day on my own.

Lots of water and fresh foods (I eat very healthy anyways).

More protein (I am a vegetarian).

Continue to take prenatal vitamin.

Reduce Imuran med and consider going off my anxiety meds.

Do a few meditation programs.

Moving totally into this house and organizing things.  I bought this house over a year ago, come on.  I do think having a really clean, organized environment creates peace and promotes happiness.

I am going to add frequent updates on how I am doing with this plan so that I can motivate myself to keep up.

Onto the second thing that is really effecting me today.  I just talked to a nurse at my doctors office and for the second time, she is telling me I can’t get pregnant until I come in and see the doctor.  She was rude and talked to me as if I were an 18 year old drug addict. Yes, I have been on a benzodiazepine for a year and a half.  Something my GI doctor prescribed me originally!  This is a drug that helped me get healthy with my crohn’s during a very stressful time.  I did not ask for it.  I did everything I could take as little as possible each day.  I am basically off of it.

On top of that, I have done extensive research on every drug I am on. I have spoken with a PhD in pharmacology about the specifics of the drugs I am on and how they relate to pregnancy.  I have my master’s degree in freaking psychology!  And so does my husband. And I am a birth doula.  We are not ignorant, we are not going to get pregnant on it.

The nurse I spoke with yesterday went over everything with me, and said there was no reason I should come in, that it was fine to go ahead and try to get pregnant.  But this new nurse today was just rude.  I will not let any doctor give me permission to get pregnant when I am an intelligent, educated, responsible woman.  Fyi, this is Kaiser, and I can’t tell you how poorly I have been treated there.  The only doctors I like are the Obg-yn’s.

Baby Calem a month later for his first “offical” shoot-beautiful! Look at all that hair!

http://boulderbabyphotos.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/2008-11-24-11-48-51_0006-copy-copy_resize1.jpg

Well, I am trying my best to really work up my baby fever so that I am motivated to go off my medications and get healthy as soon as possible. This is not hard to do. Because I advertise my business in big pregnancy and newborn magazines, I get an overflow of baby stuff in my mailbox each month. On top of that, I am a baby photographer, I teach mommy and me yoga, and occasionally am a birth doula, so I spend several days a week with newborns, babies and bellies. Here are a few from a shoot I did today. Tell me you don’t want a baby when looking at this sweet boy!

I really want to try to have a baby the next time I ovulate, so I have two weeks to totally change my lifestyle around. My biggest challenge has been Clonazepam (aka Klonopin) which is a benzodiazepine and a category D pregnancy drug, which means DO NOT TAKE IT if you are trying to conceive or if you are pregnant. The studies are inconclusive, but it is not worth the risk in any way.

I started taking this drug to help with my crohn’s disease. Reducing anxiety in crohn’s patients has been shown to drastically reduce the amount and severity of flare-ups. I know my body-I get sick only when I am really stressed out or not sleeping well. So…it worked well for me. Except that now, when I don’t have it, I have panic attacks-which I did not before going on this medication.

I have slowly weaned myself off of it for the last two months, though, knowing I wanted to have a baby. I could not just go cold turkey-it has been known to cause seizures when stopped abruptly. I am *almost* off it, but when I have a bad day I feel like I need it. So…my goal is to be off it in a week. Wish me luck

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Here are a few other ones I have done in the last few weeks (working.up.my.baby.fever).

]]> http://mypregnancyjourney.wordpress.com/2008/11/25/working-up-my-baby-fever/feed/ 0 pregnancythoughts http://mypregnancyjourney.wordpress.com/2008/11/21/crohns-disease-and-pregnancy-dont-let-it-scare-you/ http://mypregnancyjourney.wordpress.com/2008/11/21/crohns-disease-and-pregnancy-dont-let-it-scare-you/#comments Fri, 21 Nov 2008 21:22:47 +0000 pregnancythoughts http://mypregnancyjourney.wordpress.com/?p=27 ]]> Okay, it is scary enough to have an illness, let alone a painful illness, let alone an illness that can really interfere with getting pregnant and being an active mom. Yeah, it seems harmless enough to google “crohn’s and pregnancy” but look at the first page I clicked on here-way too scary to start an article off that way! Come on Baby Zone! Don’t frighten us!

Then I found this neat little Q &A on About.com

Can women with IBD have children?

Yes, women with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) can have children. In the past, women with IBD were counseled against pregnancy. But current medical management strategies have made childbearing safer for both mother and baby. Having a chronic illness while pregnant requires careful supervision by qualified physicians, but a healthy pregnancy and baby are both possible.

I just have to say-bullshit. Women were counseled against it? Even if they were in remission? Some people say that getting pregnant often keeps or puts a woman in remission. I was totally fine during my first pregnancy. No flare-ups at all-and I went off all my meds as soon as I found out. Still, no crohn’s. Get as healthy as you can get and live as stress free as you possibly can, and go for it! I even had a home birth. A healthy pregnancy and baby are not just possible, but probable if you do it at the right time.

When I was 18, just after having been diagnosed, I told my friend I could not wait to have babies. “You’re going to have kids? Don’t you think that is ethically wrong? You are polluting the gene pool and possibly causing unneeded harm to another human being if your child ends up having it.” That was her reply.

I immediately looked it up. I had a 5% chance of passing it on. 5%! After some research, I found some different answers. Some say 5%, some say 8%, some say 5%-9%. Either way, the current theory is that it is a genetic predisposition paired with an environmental influence, like bacteria. If our children do get it, I am confident that they will have already found a way to completely heal it or cure it.

<—–Skinny me soon after I got crohn’s

I am not saying it is a sure thing, there are a ton of things to factor in:

Above: Elijah at age 2 and I singing our good morning song (albeit at night)