Hellobee

Well, hello again Hive! I’m slowly finding my way out of the boxes after our spontaneous move across town. As I’ve mentioned on the boards, we’ve had some neighborhood issues ranging from the insane: our neighbors pouring gasoline on the street and lighting it on fire, to the annoying: our crazy neighbor yelling down the street, “When are you going to get pregnant?!?” After the gasoline incident, I told Mr. Blue that our last pre-TTC task was finding a new house pronto!

As I packed up our house, I made a list of all the things that I have utilized in our pre-TTC days.

1. Before Your Pregnancy: A 90-Day Guide for Couples on How to Prepare for a Healthy Conception – This is my absolute favorite pre-TTC resource, with the possible exception of TCOYF. This book discusses what you and your significant other need to do in the three months before conception to help make a healthy baby and make your body a healthy home for said embryo! It discusses everything from alcohol and caffeine consumption to chemical exposure to eating and exercise. It cites the research in a non-scientist friendly way and explains what’s best for the health of your eggs, your uterus, your SO’s sperm, and your baby’s growth and development. It has been a great resource for us in learning how the choices we make prior to conception can affect my pregnancy and our baby.

2. Taking Charge of Your Fertility (TCOYF) – This is my other top contender for best resource. If you’ve been on HB for more than a minute, you’ve probably seen someone reference this book. It sheds light on how our bodies actually work, what signs indicate ovulation, how to chart your cycles, and a host of other things. This was the first book I read, and I still use it as a reference. For the first time in 29 years, I feel like I know how to work with my body because I understand what it’s doing.

3. Basal Body Thermometer (BBT) & Fertility Friend – After reading TCOYF, I began charting using the Fertility Friend app and a BBT. I just pop the thermometer in during my hazy half awake-half asleep stage. If I want to go back to sleep, this thermometer automatically saves the last temperature, so I can enter it later in the day. I log the temperature into my FF app, and it does all the heavy lifting for me. FF has both a free and VIP (read: not free) version. They often have specials where you can “like” them on Facebook and get a year VIP subscription for the price of 2-3 trips to Starbucks. I took advantage of this offer, immediately hid it from my newsfeed, and have been enjoying my VIP version ever since. Charting has given me a good picture of my cycle length and when I ovulate, which will hopefully lead to us getting pregnant sooner.  Frankly, seeing that my body appears to be working as it should has also been a huge stress relief.

4. Get Ready to Get Pregnant – This book is similar in concept to #1, the 90-Day Guide, but it takes a much more scientific approach, but it is a bit doom and gloom. I would not recommend that someone who is already pregnant read it because all the references to “if you want a smart, healthy baby, you should do ____” might make you freak out unnecessarily. Some things are a bit extreme for my taste, but I did find some of the practical tips useful.  For instance, it recommends letting your dry cleaning air out in the garage or on your walk home because of the chemicals used can harm your body and your future baby.

5. What To Expect Before You’re Expecting – I excitedly flipped through this book at Barnes & Noble one day in my early pre-TTC days, only to discover that my long time HB and Weddingbee lurking plus TCOYF had pretty much covered the topics in this book. I think for someone who is about to TTC for the first time and doesn’t want to read much or is in a hurry, this would be a good basic picture of TTC and what to consider, but for the rest of you, this is probably gets a vote of “skip it.”

6. Jillian Michael’s 30-Day Shred – Ahhh…Jillian. Pure evil awesomeness. I even got Mr. Blue to do this with me. The first day he was so cocky, expecting it to be today’s version of Denise Austin’s Stretch Aerobics. To my great enjoyment, he couldn’t unbend his arm for 3 days after we tried it. Now, even my tough hubbie has a healthy respect for Jillian. While I would love to drop the newlywed weight, my real motivation is to feel energetic, relaxed, and strong during pregnancy. Exercising before and during pregnancy is often linked to healthier pregnancies and easier deliveries, which I’m all for! Also, it is easier to continue an exercise program you’re already in condition for after you get pregnant than to start a brand new one, so I wanted to be back in a working-out groove.  We decided on the 30-Day Shred because it only takes 20-30 minutes a day and has both cardio, strength training, and ab work squeezed in the time.

7. Vitamins – As discussed here, I’m all about taking my vitamins now. I take both a multi-vitamin and an extra folic acid supplement.  There’s no reason not to take them, especially folic acid, when it is such a concrete way you can reduce the risk to a future child.

8. Bobble Water Bottle – I take this everywhere with me. While I’ve always known water is important for good health, my reading convinced me that it’s extra important to stay well hydrated right now and throughout my pregnancy. I’m asking my body to gear up for the most difficult task it will ever do, and it’s only fair that I give it what it needs to do that: lots of water and good nutrition. I don’t love the taste of water generally and am consciously trying to avoid any unwanted chemicals or minerals, so this bottle with a built in filter is my best friend. I can fill it up anywhere, and I have yummy, filtered water.

Reviewing my list, the common trend seems to be a lot of reading! Did/are you using any products or books to prepare to TTC?