More fertility videos - courtesy of NBC

Eastern approaches to Infertility:

And one on male infertility. This was really interesting. One of the subjects is an NBC cameraman whose mother convinced him to bank his sperm before he had chemotherapy which would render him sterile. The sperm was over 20 years old when they did in-vitro. They spent $90K and 4 years working on their baby:

Drinking adequate water can help prevent miscarriage (Update: Drinking the RIGHT KIND of Water can REALLY HELP!!!)

I am just posting this again because I think it's important. When I read my own blog, it kind of looks like the end of the page is the end of the whole blog, and you can miss stuff that's been posted earlier (like the post and video on DHEA). I just read this (added it to an older post after I read it but I didn't want it to get lost). I think this is really important - I'd never heard this before:

"Dehydration is the number one cause of preterm labor. When the body is dehydrated the uterus begins contracting, which leads to labor and premature birth."

I'd never heard that before!!

If you'd like to see the full article just click on the blog post about HYDRATING YOURSELF (to the left of this page) or click here: http://knockknockbaby.blogspot.com/2008/10/dehydration-can-hinder-your-fertility.html

Robitussin, Guaifenesin, & Mucinex

I took a trip to Walgreen's today and stood there in the cold, cough and sinus section for a good 15 minutes, trying to decide what would be the best brand of expectorant to buy (with guaifenesin in it).

They had Mucinex on sale - for something like $18.99 for like 40 pills. I thought, Good Lord that is like a dollar a pill. They call that a SALE? So I looked at some other options, like Robitussin. But it is so hard to figure out which one you're supposed to take.

They say "avoid the one with the letters on it" but there was more than one box with letters on it, like CM or DM. They say that the DM is an ingredient that can cause birth defects. I'm not sure about the other letters but - it's enough to make me want to look for a different option. I wish they could just write it on the back of the box: "Yes Ladies, this is the one you want to take if you're trying to get pregnant."







I'd read in an online chat that you can just take the less-expensive guaifenesin pills (not a name brand) - like in a basic expectorant. I took a look at a very large bottle of Walgreens' brand expectorant pills after I saw they had an active ingredient of guaifenesin - 400 mg. There were 240 tablets in the bottle, and it was $19.99 - so I'd be getting like 6x more than with the Mucinex (which must have a huge advertising budget). Love how it says "MUCUS RELIEF" in big capital letters on the bottle.




I analyzed the ingredients on the back of the bottle, trying to make sure none of them were dangerous. The only "active ingredient" in the pills was the guaifenesin. Still, I wanted to look up the ingredient "maltodextrin" when I got home, but luckily it seems to be some kind of harmless corn starch, so I think it's pretty safe to take the stuff.


I stood there for a while, trying to figure out if I'd really need that many pills. That's like - 3/4 of a years' worth. But then again life does have this funny way of working, where, the odds seem like they'd be much higher that you'd get knocked up right after buying this huge bottle of pills, whereas if you just got the 24 pack of Mucinex, you'd find yourself having to run back to the drugstore, spending another $20, month after month. Kind of like the rule with women where, if you want to get lucky with a guy, you should wear the most horrible pair of panties in your whole drawer. Fate just can't resist setting you up for comedic relief.

Here's the article I read on Robitussin / Guaifenesin:

http://www.pinelandpress.com/faq/cm.html

Egg Trivia - Things I just learned today

After casually researching the art of conception for a few years now, I was surprised to learn some new and interesting facts about the female egg! This knowledge came courtesy of www.in-gender.com - one of my favorite TTC websites. For those of you who have read Toni Wexler's book from cover to cover, you may already know this stuff. But I didn't till today!

I'd heard the ovaries are about the size of a walnut. But did you know that, just before your egg is released from the ovary, your follicle continues to grow until it's nearly the size of a GOLF BALL? It's so big, it can actually be felt during a pelvic exam and seen in in a vaginal ultrasound. Which seems pretty funny considering that the actual egg itself is smaller than a grain of sand when it's released. I knew the follicle got bigger, but had no idea it got THAT big. Before, I would have guessed it became maybe the size of a pea.

Another trivia fact: contrary to popular belief, your ovaries don't necessarily release eggs in alternate cycles (left, right, left). Now they believe that it's actually pretty random. I did not know that!

I also learned that the egg is the ONLY human cell in your whole body that only contains half of your entire chromosomal makeup. Every other cell in your body has all 46 chromosomes, but an oocyte (the unfertilized egg) only contains half that number, because it's waiting for that that one Super Sperm to come along, bond (literally) and make up the difference.

For anyone who hasn't seen the Miracle of Life Video (which I still remember having to watch in the 6th grade), it's a pretty crazy looking process, how the sperm combines with the egg. The photos make it look like there's a literal explosion, where the sperm's head suddenly pops off and all the genetic material spills out and combines with that of the egg. It makes you feel almost sorry for the sperm, as it's just worked soooo hard and traveled aaaaall that way to finally get to the golden egg... and how is it rewarded? It's head blows up!!!

If you'd like to read more about eggs and ovaries (and a basic explanation of sex chromosomes) click on this link for the page I read at in-gender.com.

http://www.in-gender.com/XYU/Conception/

To see this full picture (below - not cut off by the margins in this blog) go to: http://media-2.web.britannica.com/eb-media/98/26998-004-554F159B.jpg

Chiropractic Treatment and Fertility

About a year and a half ago I went to see a chiropractor for a free consultation, as my lower back had been bothering me for about a year. He just happened to mention that he's helped several women become pregnant. One of his patients in particular had been trying for FOURTEEN years and was unable to conceive - but shortly after his treatments - BAM.

In his office, he had this diagram / machine on his wall that showed how your spine is related to all the other parts of your body. It would make sense that if the part of your spine that is connected to your ovaries is damaged, and your nerves and blood flow are out of whack in that area, then you might have difficulty in either conceiving or carrying a pregnancy to term. He showed me a photo of my spine and my lower back looks like I was in an accident. The lower disks are kind of smushed together. I actually cried when i saw this because I was really worried that I wouldn't be able to have a baby, but he said he thinks my chances would improve a lot with treatment. I've never been in a serious car accident so I don't know how my spine got to be like that. All I can think of is that it got damaged in the 3 times in my life I've fallen hard on my tailbone - the last time being when I was learning how to snowboard and fell so hard on the hard ice (which was like concrete) it knocked the wind out of me and I literally crawled into a bush nearby and cried, it hurt so bad.

I'm getting medical insurance in about a week (first time in about 10 years) and am planning to go back to see him for a treatment. He also said that he can show your partner how to do a treatment on you, so I'll have to try to sweet talk my boyfriend into coming in with me. Will let you know how it goes!

In the meantime, here are some related videos. I'm happy to see these on youtube because I searched the net about a year ago and couldn't find anything! Finally, the word is getting out!










One more thing I'm thinking of trying is the Back 2 Life back machine. For anyone who hasn't seen the infomercial, it sounds pretty promising, and I'm thinking it could help me fix my squished vertebrae. Basically, it's been shown that "continuous passive motion" can be the key to healing your back and re-aligning your spine (I even remember the chiropractor saying something about how his treatments would be very gentle, but they're very effective). I'm thinking that buying one of these machines could actually cost me less in the long run than seeing a chiropractor, and I can even let my friends and family try it out. You can do a payment plan of about $40 a month for 5 months.

When I started to develop lower back pain, one of my first thoughts was, damn. How am I going to deal with having a kid? Half the fun for me would be getting to pick the kid up and carry them around, go walking in a power stroller, etc.. but lower back pain would take most of the fun out of that. So this could really help in a lot of different ways.



To view the infomercial, look here (I'd embed a video but can't find it on youtube): http://www.getback2life.com/

Here's an explanation of what it does and why it works so well: http://www.getback2life.com/howItWorks.php

And lastly (I'm adding this months later), this is just an interesting webpage I found - it teaches chiropracters how to keep babies to turn from the breech position. Interesting stuff.

http://pregnancychiropractic.com/bagnell_technique.php

This is a woman who said the Dr. who teaches this technique had actually helped her to turn her baby from the breech position at 37 weeks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7HxTuEzEw0&feature=channel

Fertillity and Acupuncture

Years ago, one of my girl friends told me that a woman she worked with finally got pregnant after receiving acupncture treatments. I haven't tried this but am planning to if it takes longer than a few more months to get pregnant.

Thought this was pretty interesting... Below you can see a conversation with a Fertility Acupuncturist. You do have to turn the volume way up (the sound isn't great) but it's worth it.



This is also a great video on the positive effects of Acupuncture on Pregnancy:



And another really good video:

Eating Right to Boost Fertility

A few weeks ago I decided to load up on Healthy food from Costco, as the McDonald's daily drive thru just didn't seem to be cutting it.

I bought tons of salad, tomatoes, granola bars, beans, whole grain cereal, soy milk, organic soups and chili (Amy's Organic Chili RRRRROCKS by the way - I love it how she doesn't list it as a "vegetarian" food - it tastes so good, why bother???).

I've been feeling pretty good since I started eating healthier and started taking my vitamins / pills on a regular basis - which include a prenatal vitamin, Flaxseed oil, and 75 mg (in 3 25 mg. doses) of DHEA. I have to keep this stuff in a pill minder and refill it every week but keeping it by the coffee table in front of the TV (which is where I always eat my salad since it takes 20 minutes) seems to help.

Eating right is also helping me save money - handy while I'm between jobs. No more McDonald's trash sitting in my car either.

Here's a nice video (I kept surfing on youtube after I found the fertility statues' video) about eating healthy to increase fertility. Compliments of SexHealthGuru.com. Enjoy!

These Fertility Statues have helped Women get Pregnant - Believe it or Not!

UPDATE MARCH 09: THE FERTILITY STATUES ARE SCHEDULED TO BE ON TOUR AT THE SAN FRANCISCO RIPLEY'S BELIEVE IT OR NOT MUSEUM IN APRIL OF 2009!!! See their site for more details on admission etc. (and you can even print out a coupon - woohoo).




http://www.sfchamber.dpway.com/promotions/ripley.aspx









I know it must sound crazy, but a friend of mine worked at the Ripley's Believe it Or Not museum in San Francisco over 10 years ago, and became pregnant when they had the fertility statues on display. She told me - I kid you not - that several of her co-workers also became pregnant while they had 'em there (by the way, I'm not referring to the women in the ORLANDO headquarters as in the video below - my friend was working at an actual Ripleys museum). Now I'm a believer. My friend has had lots of babies since then. Check out this video:



I heard they're located in Florida now, at the home base in Orlando (last time I read about them on the net I heard they'd been "retired" there). A friend of mine just moved there... I think it might be time to take a little trip to visit her! : ). For years I've joked about how, "One day if I can't get pregnant I'm going to go find those statues and touch them." The time has come.

Here's an article on the statues:

http://www.ripleysf.com/ripley/exhibits/Fertility.html

Note: I just called the Ripley's Museum in San Francisco and asked if they might happen to have the statues back on tour. The guy who answered the phone said they're on tour right now, and I could call the Orlando office to find out exactly where they are. For anyone who wants the number, it's 407-345-8010.

UPDATE: Okay I just found out by looking online: They're in New York for a few months. You can read the article here: http://www.nyc.com/events/ripleys_fertility_statues_kick_off_world_tour.996127/editorial_review.aspx

Why does Cervical Mucus have to be so Hostile??

For some reason it cracks me up to hear the term "hostile cervical mucus."

I guess because of the word "mucus" being so much like "mucinex," I sometimes (when I'm not well hydrated) picture a cartoon character that looks quite a bit like the green nasty looking character in the mucinex commercials, lurking around in my cervix, beating up the sperm as they try to get closer to my egg.

They say (as I'm sure you've heard) that good quality, "thin" cervical mucus is ideal for sperm because it helps them swim more freely to their destination. And if your mucus is thick - especially if you're dehydrated, it's not good. I know I can be really bad about staying hydrated - and staying away from coffee - so my mucus may be less than optimum.

Mucinex is supposed to help thin out your cervical mucus (as well as the phlegm in your throat when you have a bad cold). So hopefully if I take the stuff (and drink a lot of water) it will help kick some Hostile Mucus Ass!



This article may give a more accurate description of what Hostile Mucus is:

http://www.babyhopes.com/articles/hostile-cervical-mucus.html

Wanna get knocked up? HYDRATE YOURSELF!!!

It makes sense - if you're dehydrated, you're likely to have a harder time getting pregnant. I always suspected this could be true and just googled it. Sure enough, this article says: "... aside from all the vitamins and herbs (recommended), probably the most important thing you can do to improve your fertility is to drink plenty of water."

Here are two excerpts from the article that I really like (the full article is accessible through the link below it).

"The number one area that water helps with getting pregnant is that it acts much the same way guaifenesin does. It thins out the mucus. It also increases the mucus. Cervical fluid is something that is extremely important to have in order for conception to occur. Without it the sperm cannot reach the egg. Good fertile quality cervical fluid will help the sperm to reach the egg. It will also help keep the sperm alive for several days to await ovulation. This is key in how to improve fertility."

"Dehydration is the number one cause of preterm labor. When the body is dehydrated the uterus begins contracting, which leads to labor and premature birth."

http://www.stages-in-pregnancy.com/how-to-improve-fertility.html



I've been trying to get pregnant for a few months now, and nothing has happened. But one thing I suspect is that the reason it hasn't happened is because things are kind of "dry" up there. When I don't drink enough water, I can actually feel it to an extent. Like... how do I describe it... it's almost like things are "warmer" up there when you're dehydrated, and this may not be THE best climate for sperm survival.

I try to picture myself as a sperm trying to travel through my uterus, and I hate to say it, but it's not the kind of place I'd probably want to hang out. When I'm dehydrated, it's got to be like a sauna up there compared to the average, well-hydrated person. And it's also not that easy for the sperm to travel because it's just not slippery enough to keep moving forward. I don't even know what hostile mucus is but something tells me i've got it. I picture the sperm getting stuck and not being able to move around very freely because it's just too thick or not slippery enough.

But if I were to drink plenty of water and take Mucinex like they say you should, I reckon things would be a little different. So I'm planning to try that this month. We'll see what happens. I'm going to get my uterus so lubricated it's going to be like a slip and slide. Hopefully not all the sperm will slide back out the wrong way.

Miracle Ingredient that helps sperm survive!

Okay pardon the hype but I am totally fascinated by some of the research Dr. Joanna Ellington has done on sperm.

Dr. Ellington is the maker of "Pre-Seed" (which you've probably heard of if you've been trying to conceive any longer than a month and have visited other fertility websites). I've heard about this stuff for years, but didn't have any clue as to WHY it worked so well. Recently I was reading Dr. E's blog and found out.

Last year she did an entry, explaining how she decided to use "arabinogalactan" (took me a while to get that spelling right), aka. "larch tree extract." Apparently, one of her colleagues' fathers used to study the stuff so her friend suggested it. Talk about a great tip!!!!! Dr. E found out that this stuff helped the sperm survive way past the normal time it would live in a petri dish. Interesting note: arabinogalactan is also one of the active "ingredients" in echinacea.

I was happy to see that they came out with "Pre" because I think it's more convenient and eco-friendly to have everything in one tube, rather than to use a bunch of little "one application" tubes (if you're like me, you can't stand to waste stuff and will find yourself trying to squeeze every little last bit out of the tube, or trying to use it again later after it's been opened, even if you're not really "supposed to"). At first, Pre' didn't have as much arabinogalactan as pre-seed, but they decided to add more to it (I could swear I heard they now have the same amount). I've still heard that Pre-Seed is the "better one" to use if you're trying to get pregnant but it's more expensive. What I'm thinking is, because I'm on a budget, it might be best to use Pre' for "everyday" (well... maybe not EVERY day) use but you know what I mean, and then Pre-Seed for times when you KNOW you are ovulating.

To read the blog entry yourself, just follow this link:

http://www.preseed.com/blog/?p=12

DHEA - A hormone that can rejuvenate egg production!

About a year ago, my aunt (who went through several In Vitro sessions and spent about $75,000 in the process) gave me a great tip for older women who are trying to get pregnant.

This invaluable bit of advice came from a woman who works at my aunt's elementary school. She and my aunt struck up a friendship, and this woman told my aunt that she was going through IVF treatment. Early in the treatment, she wasn't producing "good quality" eggs, which you really need in order to have a successful treatment / pregnancy (makes sense). But then she started taking DHEA and she was producing a lot more eggs. She even got to look into the microscope and could see that she had a lot more "follicles" (which release the egg) after taking the DHEA. I thought this was so interesting!

Anyway, I've done some research on it and there's a lot of info about it, but one of the best things I've seen on the net was this video on CBS's early show. You can read all you want on the net, but a picture (or should I say video) of a healthy baby is worth a thousand words! (Note - sorry you do have to watch a commercial they put at the beginning but it's worth it).


Watch CBS Videos Online

This is a discussion about it, from women who've tried it: http://hongkong.asiaxpat.com/forums/pregnancy-fertility/threads/121525/lower-fsh-increase-egg-with-dhea/

You can also download the reports (related to the video above) by clicking these links:

http://www.centerforhumanreprod.com/pdf/dheafs.pdf

http://www.centerforhumanreprod.com/pdf/breakthrough_1004.pdf

Welcome to Knock Knock Baby!

I created this blog to share with other women some of the interesting things I'm learning about fertility. I just turned 40 a few months ago and am currently trying to get pregnant (I've been trying "casually" on and off for years but since I've turned 40... IT'S ON!!!!!).

There are so many things to keep track of when you're trying to get knocked up. It seems pretty humorous at times to see how much "fertility stuff" is accumulating by my bedside and in my home. It started in 2004 with a "fertility scope" called Ovulook. I was fascinated to look at my own ferning patterns under a microscope! I've bought many things from Trying-To-Conceive (TTC) websites over the years, including sperm-friendly lubricant and a basal thermometer to keep track of my basal body temperature (aka BBT... good lord i've accumulated a big mental dictionary of acronyms!).

Anyway, I have heard of many "pregnancy tips" over the years, that I think some women may not have heard of (yet) so I like the idea of getting it out there. This blog is just a way to put all these ideas into one place (I originally wanted to do my own website but it's so much easier and faster to do a blog!).

More to come soon!

Ellebelle