Moving Forward, New Diet and New Doc

In the last year and a half I have gained about 18 pounds due to stress and fertility drugs. I'm only 5'3 so that's quite a lot. I saw pictures of myself back in march and couldn't believe how I looked. I was always thin and in shape. So when the scale tipped at 131 pounds I decided that I had to do something about it. I had never been on a diet in my life and had no idea where to begin. My friend, Kelly, introduced me to the slow carb diet. Basically I cut out all kinds of crappy carbs and replaced them with beans. I also increased my veggie intake, which was already pretty good. Between IVF #1 and number #2 I lost 11 pounds in about three weeks. I felt great! I noticed how much better I felt not eating wheat. I don't think I suffer from celiac disease or anything but I think that I can do without so much wheat. The first week or two was great. Although, I have to admit it got old by the third week. I longed for the cheat day all week long. The day after the cheat day I remembered that wheat and I don't get along so well. Once I went in for my egg retrieval I stopped the diet but was still very conscious of what I ate.

In those few weeks I managed to maintain my wait. So after IVF #2 failed I decided to give it a try again. This time I'm not being nearly as restrictive. I am reading The Fertility Diet and am using a lot of the suggestions in there as well. I've switched to whole milk for my coffee instead of slim or soy. That goes for yogurt, as well. According to the slow carb rules you're not supposed to eat fruit. I just can't buy into that. This time around is also the end of the school year. There is a social function just about every day. It's been really hard not to cheat but I've managed to lose two pounds in one week. I only have 6 or 7 more pounds to go until I reach my wedding wait. I hope I can do it before we leave for summer in two weeks. The hardest part isn't the food, it's the wine. And I know that drinking wine is not helping my fertility. I guess I just have to have the same mindset as I would if I were pregnant. sigh.

Another really big development is that I also have an appointment with Dr. Sami David on July 14th. I just read his book Making Babies. I'm really inspired by it. I want to talk to a doctor who will answer my questions. I want a doctor who will try to really figure out why I'm not getting pregnant. I know that I have a low ovarian reserve. But I don't know how low or what that really means. I don't know how many more IVF cycles I can take, if any. My current doctor won't even talk to me about other options. I want to know if something LESS invasive might actually work for me. Or, I should just give up trying to use my own eggs and go with a donor eggs. I'm really hoping that we can be like one of those couples in the anecdotals in Making babies where Dr David discovers some easy solution to the problem. I'd be happy if he just listed some viable options for me and helped us to decide which one is best for us. For now, I'm patiently waiting...