Reward Apps That Are Worth It!

I am a bargain hunter, coffee-holic and shopper extraordinaire! I take full advantadge when I see that a place I frequent has a rewards program. These are the ones I use the most that I have found actually give you rewards for being a loyal customer.

• Racetrac Gas Stations Rewards– gas is a neccessity so it’s nice to get points on all purchases here that you can redeem for food items like coffee, water, candy bars, roller grill items, fruit, pastries. They even have levels where you can work up to earning a free coffee every day for a year!
• Chick-fil-a Rewards– Who doesn’t love chick-fil-a? Scan every visit for rewards, no need to load money to your account unless you want to. Your local chain may even send you rewards just because! I’ve gotten a free chickin mini and free sandwich just because!
• Starbucks- This one is a little more complicated because you do have to load money on your reward account to earn points but if you get coffee regulary, this is definitely worth it. Earn a free drink or food item after 125 points.
• Pampers and Huggie Rewards– Scan codes and upload receipts on any diapers and wipes purchases to earn rewards and coupons! Diapers are expensive!
• Kohls Yes2You- Earn 1 point for every $1, $5 reward every 100 points. They will send you rewards on your birthday too!

Stand up for accurate feminine product labeling!

Wow, I learned that the average woman uses 16,000 tampons over time, and that no federal law requires makers to disclose the ingredients in them. Protecting the right to know is important for all women in our lives. Learn more about this by searching the hashtags  #comeclean #generationgood from Seventh Generation.

Visit http://www.seventhgeneration.com to learn about their feminine products available at stores near you!

Interested in a free sample? Join their Generation Good program! #ad

Seventh Generation Healthy Home Party

Have you tried Seventh Generation yet? If not, you need to! My favorite product from them is their free and clear baby wipes. They are seriously SO soft and thick, not like most baby wipes where you have to use 3 or 4 to get baby clean. Theire wipes are thick and textured so 1 wipe goes a long way.

The above pic is when I was getting the goodie bags ready for my healthy baby home party!! Thanks to Seventh Generation, I was picked as a host of a Healthy Baby Home Party where I invite other moms or friends who would like to learn about Seventh Generation products and how to introduce your home cleaning and baby products that are “clean” and free of toxins and harmful chemicals.

We discussed what makes Seventh Generation products different. For instance, I love that their Free & Clear baby wipes and diapers are totally chlorine-free but are so soft and fluffy, the wipes are safe enough to use on baby’s face too!

Here are some features of their free and clear diapers:

Technical wicking layer pulls moisture away from skin to keep baby dry and comfortable.

High-capacity core absorbs 3x a standard wetting.

Sustainably sourced materials to protect forest habitats and the animals who depend on them.

Double leg cuffs and stretchy waistband help control leaks.

Large, easy-to-use tabs keep diapers snug through baby’s twists and turns.

New, soft quilted liner on our smallest sizes (Newborn – 2) made with unbleached cotton to be extra gentle on new baby’s skin.

They also have natural cleaning products avail in stores all over; Disinfecting spray made with herbs and essential oils like lavender and thyme to kill 99.99% of flu and bacteria (when left on surfaces for 10min).  Everything you can want to clean your home, they have! Laundry detergent, dish soap, counter sprays, they even have feminine pads!

If you are looking for ways to make your home “greener” and “cleaner”, then check out http://www.seventhgeneration.com

#ad I was given these products as a trial and the opinions expressed in this review are my own and unbiased.

 

2018! New Year & Big News!!

It’s been a while since my last blog post and there have been some huge changes in my life! The biggest- WE’RE PREGNANT!!  It was a total shock but I am currently 21weeks along with a baby girl!! We were mentally preparing to do one round of IVF in 2018. I went to my fertility doctor in August to see what the process would be and decide our next steps. I hadn’t taken clomid in probably two months but I asked while I was there if I could try one more round of it for that cycle, he prescribed it and I had also been taking Vitex and DHEA supplements for about three months. My RE said I could continue the vitex with the clomid and that could have been what worked, who knows! But that’s the month we conceived our miracle, it could be a coincidence but I do think the dhea helped me to produce better quality eggs and the vitex helped to regulate my ovulation, along with the clomid. If you are ttc, I would suggest these two supplements before going the IVF route. You can read about them in the book “It starts with the egg”. We were told multiple times we would have about a 1% chance of conceiving with how low my husbands counts were. 

Anyone who is TTC hates the phrase “it’ll happen when it’s meant to happen” but in some cases I can truly say miracles do happen. I never thought I would get to see two lines on a pregnancy test or watch my belly grow or set up a nursery, but that’s exactly what is happening. It’s felt surreal for so long and I am still very nervous about every little thing that can go wrong. That’s what infertility will do to you….for those who are struggling, please do not give up! I wanted to give up so many times and it did happen when I didn’t expect it to. 

To test or not to test? That is the question…

Well I have been visiting the RE a lot in the last month and a half and last month after several ultrasounds, I found out that I was not ovulating like I thought I was. I went for an ultrasound on cycle day 12 and my follicles were at 10mm, then went back five days later when they should’ve been at 20 MM and they hadn’t grown at all they were still at 10. So finally I got put on Clomid which is what I had wanted to be on originally. I completed my first cycle of Clomid with no side effects, thank God, and I had a 27mm (whoa) and an 18mm follicle! So needless to say it worked! I already had an ovidrel injection saved from last month so We could finally schedule our first IUI, we completed the IUI last week and so far I am 10 days post ovulation and the tww (two week wait) has been OK but I am getting very impatient and definitely want to test. So far the only symptoms I have had, have been some cramping and my breasts are more tender to the touch. But this could also be my mind playing tricks on me, since I have had these symptoms in the past and have not been pregnant. I am going to try to hold out until tomorrow but it is hard!

My advice to ladies in their TWW— stay busy!
Take a yoga or exercise class
Start a craft or hobby
Go shopping
Hang out with friends or family
Read books or watch movies

Anything to keep your mind busy but stay positive!

Finchberry Soap Review

If you are having difficulty trying to conceive and haven’t read the book “It starts with the egg”, I urge you to read it now! The book goes into a lot about egg quality but one of the things the book suggests to do is detoxify your home, health products and food. Most of the things we come into contact with nowadays have chemicals, toxins and hormone disruptors.

But there are plenty of products that are toxin-free though including personal care items, household products and even makeup! The EWG app is great for determining if products are “clean”. When it comes to bath and body, I was always a fiend for bath and body works but after reading the ingredients on their products, I realized they are not the best choice. I discovered Finchberry soaps after being given two bars as a gift and I absolutely fell in love with them!

Their products are chemical, paraben, phthalate-free and hand-made with natural colors and scents. And they smell amazing! They are vegan, hand-crafted and truly a work of art! Seriously…look at these soaps!!

Beautiful! Just beautiful & again they seriously smell amazing! I love the rosey posey scent! These soaps have a nice lather and are not full of chemicals like most of the soaps and body washes on the market. If you care about what you put on your skin, check out Finchberry! You can find Finchberry soaps at some retailers and online at http://www.finchberry.com

My experience with the Stork OTC

In my last post, I explained what the Stork otc is and how it works. We received 2 Storks from the ambassador program and they are to be used on your 2 most fertile days, after you have a positive ovulation test. In the packaging are two parts, the conceptacle which is basically a cervical cap like a soft cup inside a very thick, silicone condom. The condom was honestly too thick and too rough for us to use, we attempted using it but could not make it work…but luckily the instructions say you do not have to use the condom part if you don’t want to.

The next night we tried again but this time we didn’t use the condom part and only used the conceptacle where my husband placed his “specimen”. I just placed the conceptacle in the applicator and 3 clicks later it was in place! You can leave the cap in for 6 hours and you can move around, dance, whatever you want! I definitely prefer this product because natural intercourse can be pretty messy and there isn’t really a way to keep the sperm in there… I would recommend this product for that alone!

I’m also a visual person so I watched this tutorial prior to using: https://vimeo.com/182438539

Disclaimer- the stork otc products were sent to me as part of the stork otc ambassador program. This review is an honest, unbiased review but may not work for everyone.

What is the Stork OTC?

You’ve never heard of the Stork?!? I hadn’t either until I was searching for options other than IVF when dealing with infertility. The Stork® OTC is an at-home conception aid that can help couples conceive. The Stork® OTC may work for any couple, even without fertility issues, but it is ideal for those dealing with male factor infertility (low sperm count or motility).

The Stork® is similar to an IUI procedure but it uses a technique of cervical cap insemination putting the sperm at the opening of the cervix, as close as possible, to swim up through to an egg, optimizing your chances of becoming pregnant. Cervical cap insemination, the technique of the Stork OTC, has up to a 20% success rate, comparable to documented success rates of Intrauterine Insemination (IUI), 16-21%.

The Stork is FDA cleared and easy to use once you have read the directions or watched their how-to tutorial.

How Does It Work?

The Stork® OTC includes two familiar elements: a cervical cap inside of a condom-like sheath (the Conceptacle®) used to collect the sperm and an applicator device (the applicator) used to place the cap (similar to the delivery of a tampon).

After collecting the semen in the cap, the applicator efficiently and easily places it near the woman’s cervix. The cap stays in place, keeping the sperm where it needs to be, for up to six hours, while the woman continues her normal routine, then is easily removed with the attached cord, similar to tampon removal.

The Stork is available at Walgreens, Target and Amazon

Clinical Data for the Stork

STAY TUNED FOR AN HONEST POST OF MY EXPERIENCE USING THE STORK® OTC!!

Fall apart. Start Over. Repeat.

One of the hardest things about infertility is that you are forced to repeat the pain every month that aunt flo decides to show her ugly face…It is a constant feeling of living in the “two week wait”. Waiting for your ovulation window to come so you can start tracking, symptom spotting, and then trying to conceive. Then waiting another two weeks, with some more symptom spotting, waiting to see if you are pregnant.Waiting…waiting…waiting.  And then when you can’t wait anymore and decide to take a test, only to see a negative. It is constant disappointment, month after month.

So how do you change this cycle? It’s different for everyone and some of us can’t change it. The thing I struggle with is the unknown, not knowing if I will EVER see a positive or if it is just not in the cards for me and I need to move on. The best advice  I have been given was from my husband actually, although he makes it seem easy; he says to just expect the worst and hope for the best. He doesn’t get his hopes up and is realistic about the fact that it may never happen. I look at that as leaving it in God’s hands. If it happens, it happens and if it doesn’t, then it is beyond my control. I have also decided to invest my energy in things other than stressing about TTC, like yoga, crafting, spending time with my family and friends. It is not easy to let go of “the unknown” but ultimately it is not something I have control over.

Supplementation for Low Sperm Count

 

My husband has severe low sperm counts (4 million per ML, 22 million total concentration)  with normal motility and morphology. Our first RE strongly pushed IVF as our only option, after I did some research, I read about some supplements he could take and about a procedure called IUI that costs a lot less than IVF and although the success rates are much lower, it can help couples with low sperm counts. He has been on the supplements since 10/2016 and we plan to try IUI in 03/2017.

Read about what is a normal sperm analysis here: https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/003627.htm

My husband is currently taking Fertilaid for men which is like a multivitamin. Selenium and zinc are very important for sperm development and most men don’t get enough of these minerals in their diet. He is also on Ubiquinol CoQ10 100mg a day. Make sure to use ubiquinol not ubiquinone which is a cheaper supplement but not absorbed like ubiquinol. The reviews for fertilaid are very good and they also have additional supplements called count boost and motility boost that can be added to fertilaid.

 

*Disclaimer- I am not a doctor or healthcare expert. I am simply providing information that I have been told that may be useful to others.