At 4:50 PM,  Anonymous said...
I'm praying hard for you :) I've got to tell you though, I'm really holding on to hope for you. Your symptoms sound just too suspicious, I mean, 'hopeful' ;)

I've got one more to add -- check your cervix. About 3 days before your period is due, it open slightly to let out the flow. If it's still closed, that's a very good sign. It would also start to rise and soften, but that usually happens a bit later. Checking my cervix has always been the best, free, cheap pee stick for me.

Thinking of you (I've got to tell you though, I'm dying over here and wish for you to pee on a stick, but I'll sit on my hands until you're ready).

Love,
Emily  

At 5:02 PM,  Julianna said...
EMILY!!!

But I get these symptoms most months! That is the torture! And, I am not kidding you, if I hear of a new symptom, I get it........hence the purple hoo ha.

The first year or two, I cried all day every time I started my period, most of the time now, I just get pissed at myself for still hoping so much.

I don't even do HPT's much anymore.

I didn't mean to get your hopes up too.....I'm sorry. I am just venting and being completely honest with what goes on in my mind and body the last two weeks of each cycle which ends up being 6 months out of a year.

I know I should be thankful I am so regular and have such good hormones and all, but it is beyond ridiculous sometimes.

Infertility sucks.  

At 5:24 PM,  Cricket said...
Ok, purple hoo-ha is for a more advanced pregnancy. Purple hoo-uppity-ha is for very early on, but probably past first missed period. I remember my (pathetic) dr commenting on it when I was at about 6 or 8 weeks.

I'd like to dive into Emily's comment - is this a manual or visual inspection?

Anyone following that link to me, be gentle. I was delusional, even tho I still have the same BS symptoms. I'm probably dying of something, but I prefer to wallow in my fake pregnancy.  

At 5:46 PM,  Julianna said...
Cricket! That means I must be having twins if my hoo-ha is already purple! LMAO  

At 9:15 PM,  Anonymous said...
Hey Cricket, me Emily.

The cervix thing is manual inspection, so you really have to know what your cervix feels like throughout your entire cycle. I check my cervix to see if I'm ovulating because I find it more reliable in terms of where I'm at with connection to my mucus (i.e., you're supposedly most fertile on the last day you notice this) and I'm never sure when the last day is (I'm 40 for crap sake, I'm just happy I see it, never mind a last day thing, implying it lasts more than one day). Anyway, I spent a month learning what feels open and closed. The cervix thing is just as gut wrenching as peeing on a stick because (but of course), it's never wrong and it's so disappointing to hold out hope one day because your cervix is still closed only to find it slightly open the next day.  

At 9:12 PM,  Cricket said...
Emily,
You, Julianna, and I are little stairsteps - I'm 42, J's 41, and you're 40. My, aren't we a lucky crowd?

Thanks for your clarification. Biological as I am, I don't do manual cervical anything - and with 1 exception, I haven't purchased any stick for peeing in years.

I don't think it'd work well on me to go manually, either. I had cryosurgery over 20 yrs ago and it froze out the center of my cervix. For me to feel open or closed, I think it would require finger extensions.

(And just to put it here for the world to see - except I do plan to blog on it soon - please don't let anyone freeze your cervix. It alters an important fertility-related cell junction and instead of the cells being swam on and building bridges in the donut-centered cervix, swimmers have to go north with great difficulty and no ladder - just another reason I'm infertile.)