Right around the time I fell in love with taking pregnancy tests I also found a new favorite hobby, pictures of pee sticks.  Some people have catalogued files of pictures of their children and while I also have that, I have files and files of pee stick pictures on my computer.  Every time I put the card into my laptop to upload, there is a box that I check that deletes the pictures from the card. 

This morning I caught some precious brotherly love moments on camera!






They were so cute that when my in-laws came over this morning, I popped my memory card into the Wii so that they could see them without making everyone huddle around a computer.  Smart right?

As I looked up at the computer screen I started to panic, but realized it was too late to hide it.  I tried to act so casual as my mother and father in law saw about 30 thumbnail sized pictures of pee sticks.  Well done.  Well done.

But anyway... I wanted to show you guys a couple of other pictures of the Detect5 Pregnancy Test but didn't want to clutter up the giveaway post.  Which by the way if you haven't entered, you should!  If you did enter, don't forget that you can tweet about it everyday for extra entries!  Anyway... I digress... Onto the pee stick pics!

I am playing with Answer/FRER to see how they compare to the Detect 5

Who doesn't like to pry apart a pee stick and see the guts?

That's it.  Nothing monumental.  Just a couple of my thousands of pee stick pictures. :) 

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On 1/3/12, I received a 10,000 mIU/ml shot of HCG, the same hormone that a pregnancy test is designed to test for.  It's purpose is to trigger my ovulation in an effort to make it easier to time things better for conception.  One of the "perks" of a HCG shot is that it will give you a false positive pregnancy test until it leaves your system. In order to know when and if I get a true and real positive test, I test routinely so that I can know for sure when the trigger shot HCG is gone and hopefully the HCG produced is because a baby is on board.
In the last cycles that I did this, I used simple cheap test strips and watched the lines get lighter and lighter until they eventually were negative.  While this approach works in theory, it was mind numbing to use a qualitative (yes/no) test to try to tell me a quantitative result (how much or how little HCG was in my system). 

So when I came across the Detect5 Progressive Home Pregnancy Test, I was in shock and awe at what this little pee stick could tell me!  It is designed to tell more than just IF you are pregnant!  It tells you, within a range, how much HCG is in your urine.  For many people a simple yes or no will do, but for anyone that has had a miscarriage, lived with infertility, or needs reassurance that a pregnancy is progressing, this test is worth every single dime. 


When the box arrived I could hardly wait to tear into it and start testing.  I opened the box and saw not only the Detect5 pregnancy tests, but cards that very clearly showed how to interpret the results of the test.  There were even disposable pee cups in the package 'cause if there is one thing that POAS (peeing on a stick) has ever taught me, it is clearly label your pee cup or hide it well!  Finding a family member rinsing their mouth out with a pee cup is not cool!  These totally eliminate (no pun intended) this as an issue.


I am pleased with the actual size and width of the test.  Each strip is a thick test strip (not the super skinny difficult to see ones) and the case was easy to handle and use comfortably.  There is a plastic window that helps to prevent the issue of evaporation lines.  Overall, a very well built and quality product!  I dipped the test the full 15 seconds it recommends and waited for the results.  The instructions say to read the test at 5 minutes after the control line showed up but the test was not done processing to interpret the results until closer to 10 minutes.  At 15 minutes it was even easier to see the lines and to see that they had color.  At 60 minutes (well after the time limit) the lines looked nice and dark but there was a questionable line now at the 500 mark. Several hours after the test had been dipped, the line was clear at the 500 mark.  So... I recognize that the directions say to read it 5 minutes after the control line shows up but the results are so different now that the test has dried. Watch the slide show to see what I mean!

Detect5 Home Pregnancy Test - Slideshow

Even with the varied results that sort of evolved over time I am still in love with this test!  I love that I can get a much better idea of where my HCG levels are.

I will be using a new Detect5 test every 2-3 days to see the HCG going and then hopefully... coming!  Just for consistency's sake I will take pictures at the 60 minute mark so that the lines will hopefully be easiest to see.  Please note that this is not when the test is designed to be read but, I am kind of a free spirit when it comes to pee sticks!

1/7/12

1/9/12

1/11/12

1/13/12

I think it is safe to say that today's test is negative!  Anything from here on out I think we can call a true positive.  I have loved watching the trigger leave using these tests.  They have been able to definitively tell me that the hcg level was going down.  Hopefully in a couple of days they can also tell me that it is going up!  To Be Continued....

1/15/12

I will be posting my test pictures as I use them over the next week and a half and adding them to this post so check back to see the progression!  In the meantime... how would you like to try these tests out for yourself?!

If you are eager to get your hands on them right away Buy Them Now!

Feeling Lucky?  Two (2) lucky winners will win three (3) Detect5 Progressive Pregnancy Tests.  That is a $53.85 value!  This giveaway IS open world wide and Early-Pregnancy-Tests.com is going to pay for shipping* too!  Giveaway ends 1/22/12 so don't wait!

*If you are outside of the US you WILL be responsible for paying any duty that your government might apply to the shipment, but still... pretty awesome if you ask me!!!  

**Disclaimer** I was provided these tests at no cost for my review.  This did, in no way, sway this review.  All thoughts and opinions are my own! 

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I am officially in the two week wait as I ovulated yesterday and now have to theoretically wait two weeks to find out if I am pregnant.  So while this commercial isn't exactly appropriate to our situation, it was too funny not to use as a kick off to my grueling waiting period! 

Feel free to share!

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I had a date this morning.  I wouldn't call it a romantic get together but it was very intimate.  Unfortunately, my date is kind of promiscuous.  In fact, I think my date has been intimate with hundreds and hundreds of other women.  Have you met, him?  He goes by a number of names but I like to call him White Lightening.

Remember how I said he kind of gets around.  Well, I am not sure if I should feel a little disrespected by the fact that he doesn't even try to hide how unfaithful he is. 
I also had to have Gavin with me today since I wasn't thinking when I scheduled it.  Gavin has preschool on Tuesdays and I would have to have him with me if I had any hope of being able to drop him off in time.  He did a great job of entertaining himself while we waited.  Pardon the plumber butt. 

While he played I started imagining all of the possible scenarios of what Gavin was going to hear and how incredibly awkward it would be when he would inevitably repeat it to his preschool teachers.  Ovaries.  Follicles.  Ovulation.  Intercourse...  Then as Gavin played I started looking around the room.  Why is it that everytime I am in a doctor's office I notice what should be most innocent of pictures and I turn them into something phallic or related to baby making?  Well how about this painting that is hanging in the room?  What do you see?
At first all I noticed was the flowers too.  But if you look closely there are a couple of very busted up, depressed looking sperm.  Do you see them? 

So anyway, it appears as if I have another couple of eggs that have been triggered with 10,000 units of HCG.  The last two cycles we have done this approach they have told me how thick my uterine lining was.  The first time it was 8.3 and my doctor say that was good as they like to see it between 8 and 10.  Last month it measured 8.1 and I was satisfied but not thrilled with that number.  Today, the doctor didn't say anything about the measurement so I asked.  He told me that it was 5.6.  Yep.  That is it.  I asked if that meant that the chances of success are lower.  He said that it didn't mean that at all and that it wasn't a big deal and the only reason we were talking about it was because I asked.  Perhaps he was having a bad day or I was lacking caffeine due to the early and fast start to my day but I was kind of annoyed.  How can he tell me last month that they like to see it between 8 and 10 and this turn around and tell me that a 5.6 is fine.  That just doesn't make any sense to me.  But anyway... I Googled the heck out of it and learned that women have been able to get and stay pregnant with a thin lining so... now we cross our fingers and see if God has it in His will to bless us this cycle. 

Oh and remember how I was so worried about the words that Gavin might overhear and repeat at school today... Well, the doctor totally whispered through most of the appointment, which I was appreciative of.  Phew, right?  Not so much.  At the very end of the appointment he told me in a very normal and audible level to "Go SEX it up."  Ha!  Thanks, Doc!  Man I hope Gavin didn't tell anyone that I went to a doctor today who told me to sex it up."  How awkward would that be?!  I would totally have preferred Gavin talking about ovarian function than sexing it up!  Hopefully he doesn't talk about either.  Ever. 


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I am going first thing in the morning tomorrow to do a scan to check for follicles and do my trigger shot again.  I'm hoping that the third time is the charm.  It just has to work one of these times!

In honor of the impending ovulation and those waiting for the sometimes elusive egg to pop.... Enjoy! 

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When I started blogging one year ago I had no idea what I was doing.  I had spent a lot of time on message boards and had seen online friends who had links to websites in their signature but I never clicked on them.  To be honest, I just figured they were commercials trying to sell me something.  To click on them was like clicking on that really flashy ad on the side bar that says, "Get pregnant now! Learn more here!"  Nope.  Not going to click it. 

When I was pregnant with Joey I came across a birth story.  It was a birth story like none that I had ever seen or read before. (Get tissues before clicking...HERE) As I read, I was so touched.  The words and photographs were like art.  The emotions were raw and the pictures imprinted those feelings perfectly in all of the right places.  I read the post at least 3 times, falling in love with it a little more each time.  I was so inspired by this woman and her most touching and perfect telling of how her daughter entered the world that I wanted to be able to capture the emotions of Joey's delivery on film as well.  After debating how weird it would be to have a former co-worker and photography enthusiast in the room with for delivery, who also happens to be a man, I just knew that it was what I wanted.  Some people want an epidural.  I wanted someone to capture all of the real emotion and excitement of the birth of my child.

So after a most wonderful delivery, my photographer friend sent me the CD of all of the photographs.  I loved them.  Even though most all of them had me, my most disliked photo subject, I loved that I was able to feel like I watched myself in this most amazing and difficult to describe situation.  I could re-live every single moment with a click of a button.  Because I loved them all so much I wanted to share them with as many people who wanted to see.  Seeing as how I was really proud of myself for figuring out how to do simple things like post a picture in a message board post, the idea of doing anything beyond that was foreign and scary.

Doug finally sat me down, signed me up for Blogger, and suddenly I realized that it was just like posting in a message board.  I could do this!  I wrote out my birth story and added my pictures and read and re-read my post.  I would laugh as I read.  I would get choked up every time I relived the moment where I felt his weight on my stomach.   I would smile at the photograph that captured the exact moment where I realized, "He is here!"

What suprized me the most was how much I liked seeing how many others read my story.  I don't know why this would surprise me since authors of novels probably like to know that people like to read their books but I was just a mom somewhere in Ohio who wrote down a birth story.  Then all of the sudden, like a light bulb, I realized something!  All of these blogs and websites that I find myself landing on when I was searching for reassurance during my pregnancy, while coping with my miscarriages, and while trying to do what was best for my children, were really just other people sharing what their experiences.  They weren't the all knowing authority figures I had thought them to be.  They were just people like me that had figured out how to use Blogger much faster than I had.

As I started writing, I found a wonderful creative outlet.  I shared my innermost feelings, my darkest moments, my most inspiring epiphanies with myself and the handful of people who had found their way to me.  As my audience began to grow I started feeling a little like I needed to make the next "episode" of my life or my story be as entertaining, helpful or inspiring as the last.  I put this pressure on myself and started to feel like my writing had become forced, less authentic, and really just less.... me.

I love all of the people and connections I have made this year and I recognize that these relationships have come from me sharing what I feel most strongly about.  For those of you that have been following me for a while, you might recall that my header also included this line after my title.  "My children.  The ones that are here and the ones that met God before they met me.  My journey with recurrent miscarriages, my faith and my life."  I don't know if I took it off for any real reason.  Maybe it was a space issue?  Maybe it was because of the whole infertility aspect that I hadn't included in my tag line and was reluctant to introduce?  Maybe I was trying to be marketable?  I don't know.

One thing I do know is that I want and need to get back to that old me.  In 2012, I am going to just be me.  I will still be posting fun things.  I will still share my sometimes off the wall and unique views on things.  I will still have review and giveaways if they are applicable to the infertility, trying to conceive, or loss audience.  But to get to my promise... I am going to speak using my voice and stop trying to find a voice that I think "the people" will like.  It will be just plain 'ol Maria again.  The mom without the answers.  The woman with heartaches and questions.  The woman with entirely too much experience with fertility and fertility related subjects.

I want to sincerely thank you all for joining me on this journey, cheering me on, and supporting me when I need it most.  I want you all to feel free to comment on my posts.  For anyone that blogs, you know how nice it is to know that what you wrote was read, enjoyed, provoked thought, or inspired someone.  If you don't blog, commenting is a lot like signing a guest book at a wedding.  Just letting me know that you were there means a ton.

If nothing else, 2012 is going to be a year about being true to myself, my faith, and as a result, I promise to be true to you.  Thank you again, for a wonderful year and I hope and pray that in this year brings us all some fantastic miracles if God wills it, and more vibrant and colorful blooms of faith with every day we are blessed to enjoy with our friends, families, and our Creator. 

Happy New Year!!!
Love,
Maria, Doug, Gavin, & Joey

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