~Going for the GIRL~

I finally did it!

blessed — Sat, 17 Mar 2007 03:36:00 GMT

I am finding staying on the girl diet really hard, so I decided to first focus on the supplements and then go from there. And today I managed to get them all in!

Breakfast:

Yogurt, Cal-Mag, Cranberry, Cup of chocolate milk, 2 cups water

Lunch:

Low-salt lunch, prenatal vit, iron, cup of chocolate milk, 2 cups water

Dinner:

high salt dinner (oops), but Cal-Mag, Cranberry, cup of chocolate milk...and I'm drinking my water right now.

I won some pH strips on ebay - can't wait for those to arrive.

That's about it... :)

A delicious low-salt meal!

blessed — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 23:50:00 GMT

I'll be eating this as part of my girl diet even though some of the ingredients are forbidden...it is yummy!

Chicken Cacciatore

4	boneless, skinless, chicken breasts
one T	olive oil
one	onion, chopped
4 cloves	garlic, minced
1 1/2 C	no salt added tomatos, chopped, with juice
one C	homemade chicken broth
2 T	no salt added tomato paste
1/2 t	dried oregano, crushed
1/2 t	dried thyme, crushed
To taste	freshly ground black pepper
1/2 t	dried basil, crushed

Cook chicken in large saucepan over low heat until some juice is rendered. Increase heat to medium and brown on both sides. Set aside.

Drain skillet. Add oil and heat. Add onion and cook until translucent. Add garlic and cook one minute more.

Add tomatoes, reserved juice, broth, tomato paste, oregano, thyme and pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until chicken is done, about 20 to 25 minutes.

Stir in basil and mix well. 8 servings


Sodium content in milligrams

4	chicken breasts	552
one	Onion	4
4 cloves	Garlic	4
1 1/2 C	no salt added tomatoes	75
one C	homemade chicken broth	60
2 T	no salt added tomato paste	10
1/2 t	Oregano	1
1/2 t	Thyme	1

Recipe total = 707 mg divide by 8 servings = 88.38 mg

It is from the website: http://www.chfpatients.com/rec/recMD4.htm

I also used some of my weekly allotment of Parmesan cheese on top, and served it with rotini pasta. YUMMY!

Adoption an option?

blessed — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 21:24:00 GMT

I was reading around this site and got adoption into my brain.

I found a national adoption website (not an agency), and it took about 30 seconds of reading before I was in tears. 22,000 kids waiting for their forever home. How heartbreaking is that??

All of a sudden I am torn between adoption and following the gender diet and going for another pregnancy and baby. I'm thinking that maybe we have room for 4 children of our own making and two more that we can welcome into the family and love.

Or maybe we can adopt a princess to join our household. Wow, she would be loved and cared for and looked out for. Children looking for a forever home need lots of love and there is just so so much of it here, in our home, and even in our extended family - our parents and brothers and their families.

I always thought of fostering or adopting, but never considered it. Now I have moved very strongly to the consideration. What would dh say? I'm afraid to bring it up...

My heart is officially aching.

This is gonna take some work

blessed — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 14:48:00 GMT

LOL Well, last night I did a little "practice" thing...douched with lemon juice and water
before dtd. It wasn't as weird as I thought it would be.

Problem though...I just can't stop Oing before dh. As in I do, and then I just can't keep going, and he doesn't get to. I feel terrible for him, and I wonder how we actually got pg 3 times before because this has been a problem for awhile. I know we are just working up to it now, but eventually I'm gonna need his little spermies. Hopefully dtd way more often will train them to come on out faster...

Trying out Low Salt Menu Planning

blessed — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 19:42:00 GMT

Cal-Mag and Cranberry with breakfast (choc milk, ww toast w/ unsalted butter)
Calcium + Vit D and Prenatal Vit with lunch (coke, stuffed green peppers)
1c water

Yesterday we started out our low-salt menu with Smooth Meatloaf. Today we had Stuffed Green Peppers. They were both okay, but I am really missing the salt already. My hubby seems to be on board all of a sudden - I know he is looking forward to all the babymaking. And since I seem to be past my ovulation days for this month, I think it is a good time to start practicing. LOL

I really do have to work on the water intake and getting rid of the caffeine. I am trying to convince myself that if I can drink WAY more water and limit my Coke drinking to one glass per day, that will be a good effort. It is getting there that looks tough.

I saw an advertisement for a new female physician near me that is taking new patients. That is very hard to come by in my city. I'm trying to decide if I should call and make an appointment or not. 1) I am due for a physical. 2) My current dr. is downtown and is a pain to get to. 3) I want to have a full check up before we start ttc. I know I will need to call in now to get to see her twice before I start ttc in July. The first appointment will be a "meet n greet" sort of thing, and then I'll be able to book my physical. Decisions decisions...

Hubby doesn't agree

blessed — Sat, 10 Mar 2007 02:52:00 GMT

March 9, 2007

916mg Calcium
125mg Vit D
266mg Magnesium
10mg Zinc
500mg Cranberry

2 pancakes
1c chocolate milk
1 arrowroot-banana cookie
1 cheeseburger (ww bun, hamburger, 2 slices cheese, ketchup, mustard, bbq sauce, onions)
cottage cheese
fries
2c Coke
broccoli & small amt of dressing
strawberries
apple pieces
blueberry & strawberry yogurt

Today DH and I were driving in the van and I suggested that I needed to get some supplements and he asked me why and I mentioned the gender diet. Wow, he went on and on about it forever, saying that it's like I am just deciding all this stuff and not even consulting him and that he is the one who has to make sure he can provide for the family, etc, and should we even be having anymore kids, especially a girl when we will have to buy everything for her brand new??

Then he called it all crazy and shared his opinion that someone just made it all up. I don't care what he says about it. I'm so curious to see if it will work for us. He has agreed to a fourth child, and that is the part that is important to me. I know he'll love another baby no matter the circumstances. I plan to follow the diet and the theories without talking to him about it again.

This month DH and I decided that we would give up eating out, and see if we can do it for the whole month. We tend to eat out A LOT and spend way too much money on it. It is going very well, I think. I am hungry most of the time though because I am not eating when I am NOT hungry, like I usually do. I have added to that, not eating after 7:00 pm, since I've heard it's not good for you.

Well, I've lost 5 lbs since the beginning of March and am now at 114 lbs, my pre-pregnancy weight. I am so happy and proud of myself because I suck at losing weight and following diets. This success makes me think I can follow the Gender Diet well; I just have to commit to it. I plan on making a meal plan tonight so we can buy groceries tomorrow. :) And I am going to base it on the gender diet too. LOL

My temp popped up this morning, which is very weird because I am pretty much a consistent "ovulate on day 20" person (except for the months I have surprise pregnancies and o on cd 11 LOL). I am on cd15 today. It would be interesting to see if I go back to a 28 day cycle like I had before DS1 was born. If the supplements have anything to do with that...I know I am deficient in a lot of stuff nutritionally, so we'll see. :)

Anyway, despite the temp jump, I still am having crazy amounts of ewcm and I know it is because of my liquid increase - I didn't drink water at all before this week and now I am trying. I wish I could just pass off my ewcm-making to someone who needs it. I guess to dry that up I should go the Sudafed route? I think I read that somewhere here. I'll have to add it to the shopping list.

Increasing the Calcium

blessed — Sat, 10 Mar 2007 02:38:00 GMT

March 8, 2007

750mg Calcium
375mg Vit D

4c water

1c chocolate milk
ww toast w/honey
hamburger helper 3 cheese
2c Coke
1c iced tea
1 sprite slurpee
2 pancakes w/syrup

Today I was shopping for art for our new bedroom and I came across this small painting that made my heart soar and fall at the same time. It was of three boys, probably about 9, 7 and 5 and a little girl about 3. They were sitting/standing on a grassy hill on a nice day. Those could be my kids! I wanted to buy it so badly, but there was no price or title on it. I'm starting to think it may have been God telling me something...

Everytime I go up the stairs to my boys' bedroom now I picture this painting again in my mind. There is an empty nail on the wall there that would hold it so well. I just may go back tomorrow and buy the painting. It just gives me such a great feeling. :)

Starting today...

blessed — Sat, 10 Mar 2007 02:29:00 GMT

I've been recording my thoughts in a notebook; I thought I'd transfer them to here. :)

March 7, 2007

250mg Calcium
125mg Vit D
Prenatal Vit
300mg Iron

2c water

I quickly browsed through the Gender Diet today and I know it is going to be hard for me. I love salty stuff, and I drink Coke every day. Staying away from caffeine and sugar is going to take a lot of adjustment; my back up to Coke is iced tea! LOL I also tend to gag on water. I know it's crazy, but it's always been a problem for me. My pregnancies have gotten me a little better at taking pills, but I still have my good days and bad days with the supplements. I usually take them standing by the sink so if they come back up I have somewhere for them to go. :)

Anyway...if the gender diet works for me I will forever be a believer. I will recommend it to all my friends. :) I'm trying to do it without anyone's knowledge right now, even keeping it from my hubby. I talked to him a bit and he said he is going to eat the strongest boy foods he can so that he can make another boy. *sigh* Good thing I'm in charge of the meal planning. ;)

There is HOPE for a GIRL!

blessed — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 22:00:00 GMT

I am so thrilled to have found the in-gender website. I have never thought that I could conceive a girl, but now I have hope!

My background:

I am the mother of three beautiful loving boys and the wife to a wonderful man who is devoted to his family. We were high school sweeties - met when I was in grade 10 and he was in grade 11. We were friends for almost a year before we became a couple, then four years after that, we were married.

I was working on my Office Administration degree when we got married so that I could have a decent job for dh to be able to attend his post secondary education shortly after we got married. It worked out wonderfully...three and a half years after our wedding, dh graduated; and two months later, we were blessed with our first child - Daniel, born by c/s and a whopping 9 lbs 7 oz.

When Daniel was six months old, we got a BIG surprise...a late period. I was so scared to take an hpt because I was afraid it would be positive. After about three weeks of denying the obvious, I took the test. We were pregnant again! My pregnancy was *so* different I was positive it would be a little girl. Well, my sweet Joshua was born by c/s a few days before his due date, a full pound lighter than his big brother.

Two kids in 15.5 months was tough in the beginning. We moved across the country when Josh was only 11 days old, then lived with my parents for 3 months. It was stressful and hard, and I think it made everything harder than it had to be. I was sick with gall bladder problems and dehydration and it was all around icky.

When Josh was around 18 months old we decided we would have a third child. We planned to have 3 "practice" cycles where we did some of the Shettles girl stuff, got used to it and good at it, then we'd give it a real go after we were confident. So, cycle one we gave ourselves plenty of time before my usual ovulation day (cd 20). I had started looking into the Preconception Gender Diet and Shettles at the same time. I had dh take hot showers before dtd. Well, guess what! We found out we were pregnant a few weeks later. It turned out that I had ovulated on day 11 that cycle, not day 20 as planned. We dtd on cd12 and caught that eggie somehow. Nine months later, our adorable little Andrew joined the family, the smallest baby yet, at 8 lbs 6 oz.

Andrew was the only pregnancy that we found out the gender of our baby through ultrasound. I acted happy when the tech told us, though I felt my heart dropping through the table onto the floor. I LOVE having boys, but I thought SURELY I would not be the one to have three boys in a row.

For the past year or so now, I have been going back and forth on my decision to have another child. I had always wanted four children. I even kind of decided when I was young that I'd have a boy first, then boy/girl twins, then a girl to finish up. LOL I never imagined I'd have the same gender over and over and over. But I have three boys. And I've pretty much decided and settled on the idea that I will have four boys.

I try not to think of the fact that I'll never get to do the mother-daughter stuff, and instead focus on the teenage years, when I am a great strong woman who has raised compassionate boys who love me unconditionally and are heading out to be strong caring men who will love their families the same way. I try not to think of always being the mother-in-law and being turned away from my grandchildren by my daughters-in-law. That is what breaks my heart most of all.

I don't think my dh understands this at all. He has two brothers and no sisters. His brother has two sons and no daughters. There are no girls anywhere and that makes him scared to have a daughter. I know that a daughter would just melt him, but he still maintains that he loves his boys and having a girl would not be practical financially, and a girl would not fit into the family. I think a girl is exactly what this family needs. My four year old agrees with me - he has been begging for a sister for a couple of years (he actually was quite upset when Andrew came out a boy...).

So, that's me all caught up to now. I am a thinker and there is always so much running through my head. I hope to be able to dump a lot of it here, in this blog.

Let my journey to a daughter begin!