Using a Midwife

My sister used a midwife for both her births and I've considered going that route for a while, IF I should ever be so lucky as to get pregnant. I don't know if I'd REALLY have the guts to do it (I consider myself to be a pretty ballsy person but...my sister is like... warrior woman). The thought of giving up all chances of a last minute epidural freaks me out a little (you hear so many women say they were dead set on taking the natural route and then at the last minute they were like, GIMME THE DRUGS!!!!!!!!). In the event that I did feel brave enough to go there, I wanted to save this resource here. It's a website about midwives, and I found this link via the woman who posted the page about her beautiful cervix (she's a midwife). I'd like to use the woman my sister used but she's in another state.

http://cfmidwifery.org/find/

I recently qualified for health insurance, so it is tempting to think, IF I got pregnant I'd rather go the hospital route - just for the painkillers. But the thing I don't like about regular hospitals is - the way traditional western births are set up. It's set up to accomodate the doctors and nurses more than the woman in labor.

When you think about it, it is waaaay more natural to give birth in a squatting position, rather than laying on your back. The only reason women give birth laying on their backs is so that the doctor and nurse can see what's going on, more easily. I mean, I get it, but... I just think it's unnatural to try to squeeze out something so big, when you're laying in a horizontal position. Seems a lot more natural to use GRAVITY. Can you imagine trying to relieve yourself in the bathroom, sitting on your side? Only we're talking about something a whole lot bigger than that.

OK I'm even grossing MYSELF out here. I guess that's my cue to get back to work.

Things I didn't know about the Female Cervix

(Please note these photos are not necessarily in order of a woman's cycle... and no this is not MY cervix - credit goes to www.sisterzeus.com)

Note #2- you may not want to let your boyfriend see these... mine just freaked out a little when I sent him the link. His reaction was like, "UGH!!!! I'm never putting my dick in a vagina again! I'm joining the priesthood..." I guess there's a good reason our cervixes can't normally be seen on our bodies. But whatever. It's a part of the female body. I'll give the bf another 48 hours to forget about the priesthood : D.
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For a few months now I've been trying to figure out where my cervix is. This may sound silly to someone who already knows, but i've been pretty clueless. Even if I stick my finger up there in the shower, I'm never quite sure if I'm feeling the right thing.

The thing that gets me is, the thing that I keep THINKING is my cervix just seems waaay too far up there for any sperm to actually want to head that way. If I were a sperm, I think I would be a lot more inclined to head left or right - not directly into the tiny little hole that's at the top of the cervix. I'm not sure if I think that way because I'm a little ADD, bad with directions and tend to get lost easily(therefore I think that's what the sperm will do once they're on my turf), or if I just have a negative attitude, but... with all the different curves and crevices in a vagina, it's just hard for me to imagine them going to the right place. I think the sperm will feel like I did on my last trip to IKEA - totally lost and unsure of which direction to go.


The thing I don't understand is... with all that space all around the cervix (on the sides, etc), why would the sperm go into that tiny little hole. I'm trying to think of an analogy... it's like... say your cervix was a lightbulb (with a small hole in the bottom) screwed into a light fixture at the top of a ceiling, and you were a firefly. If you were continuously trying to move in an upward direction, would you be inclined to fly directly into that tiny little hole, or move to the side of the bulb and just head straight to the top of the light fixture? I imagine like 99% of the fireflies would rather move to the side and head for the top of the fixture, going around the bulb completely and getting stuck in the sides, and only like one percent, IF that, would figure out that they're supposed to be actually going INTO the bulb.
In videos like these, they make it look like all the sperm know exactly which way to go and what to do, and I just don't see it really happening like this (yes i do realize it's a cartoon, but... still...)



Sometimes I feel like, in order to get pregnant, I'd be much better off doing "backwards visualizations." Rather than WANTING the sperm to find my cervix, I have to practically think of my cervix as being this precious, sacred thing that I'm actually hoping the sperm will stay far, far away from - this way, I could practically guarantee at least a few of those buggers would somehow find their way in there - just to trip me up.

Another visualization that could work better might be something like this:



My sister has this theory that there's a correlation between erratic lifestyles and pregnancy. Mind you, this is not the same thing as a stressful life and pregnancy. I think it's like this. If your life is really erratic and you're all over the place, the last thing you want is a pregnancy... but then whoop, there it is. Meanwhile, there are other people in this world who want everything to be perfect and they stress out about little things like - namely - getting pregnant. Those are the people who find it just about impossible to get knocked up, because they're focusing way too hard on it and are trying way too hard to control the situation, rather than letting nature take it's course.

Anyway - I digress. I actually started this entry to focus on the cervix.

I thought this article (where I got the cervix pictures from) was just great. It shows pictures of the cervix in the "proper order." I had to look up the definition of an "OS" - that just means the opening of your cervix.

Here's the article: http://www.sisterzeus.com/cervob.htm

And the online definition of an OS: http://pregnancy.about.com/od/laborbasics/g/cervicalos.htm

This is also a great site: "My beautiful cervix." It's awesome, this woman took some great photos (again - may not want to show em to your partner, but... an interesting fact: the gal who posted these actually got her BOYFRIEND to take the photos. So if my honey happens to be reading this: hey babe at least I didn't ask you to go there).http://mybeautifulcervix.googlepages.com/

And this site shows some good drawings of changes in cervical mucus, and how sperm can either be helped or hurt by different types of mucus.

http://www.sisterzeus.com/mucob.htm

I still don't really understand why it is that your cervix would be HIGHER when you're most fertile (you'd think it would be lower so the sperm would have an easier time reaching it) but I guess that's just another one of the mysteries of life.

A Highly Recommended Female Fertility Specialist

Over a year ago I saw some kind of discussion online where women were raving about a woman in San Rafael named Anca Sira. She's an acupuncturist and has helped many, many women get pregnant and have healthy babies. From her testimonials, it really sounds like she's a very caring and empathetic doctor. My favorite testimonial is from a woman who had her first baby at age 44 without the use of fertility drugs.

Part of the reason I'm putting this post here is because I want to remember her webpage. If I can afford to see next year, I'm planning on it!

This is her website:

http://www.ancasira.com/home.html

I don't know what she charges. I am guessing she's not terribly cheap, as I'm imagining every moderately infertile woman living in Marin must want to see her.

If I can't afford to see Anca, I want to see this lady. She's located a little closer to where I live and her prices seem very reasonable.

http://www.fertilitychinesemedicine.com/physicians.htm

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