Faith, Hope, and Sorrow

I know there are so many wrong things people say, but is there anything that you can say to a friend to offer comfort and support? I feel sad for them, I want to offer help in any way possible, and I want to be available if they need to talk. I have struggled to get pg, but never lost a baby, so I don't know just how they feel. Whatever I can think of sounds hollow. Not saying anything seems like ignoring their pain, but I wonder if that's better than saying something stupid. I just wondered if anyone had heard or said anything they felt conveyed their feelings without prying or dismissing. Thanks so much!

The other day I checked out a STACK of books from our library on fertility. I can only imagine what the guy checking Michael out thought (Michael went to get them all for me) since we pretty much needed a truck to take them home :) The first book I read is GREAT!!! I highly recommend it, and it is now our featured book. My acupunctarist recommended it to me. It's called The Infertility Cure, The ancient Chinese Wellness Program for Getting Pregnant and Having Healthy Babies by Randine Lewis, Ph.D. The author began studying western med. She wanted to be a doctor, but halfway in her training she realized that western medicine doesn't always get the whole picture, so she switched to TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) and got her PhD in that. What I love about this is because she studied western med, she explains TCM perfectly. It's like she wrote this book for sceptics of TCM. I finally understand what Qi and Essence mean (well, at least I understand better...). She is able to

What are you thankful for today?

What are you Thankful for today?

So my acupunctarist recommended thyroid testing (since I have never had a full thyroid panel). My results came in (I just got them over the phone, the actual numbers are coming in the mail) and my dr. said everything looked good. She then said that there was one test that she doesn't order because it supposedly doesn't do anything, it's called the Reverse T3. The upper limit of this test is 350 (upper end of a range), and my test was 380. She said it didn't matter, but it seems like rT3 has to be created somehow and have some sort of relation to T3 and T4. Does anyone know anything about this? I tried looking it up on google, but didn't find anything written in terms I could understand without pulling out my biology book.

I thought I'd give a little update on my first cycle post acupuncture. Unfortunately, I started my period today. It seemed a little more devastating than normal, just because I had gone through acupuncture, taken herbs, and was starting to exhibit symptoms the last part of the cycle. HOWEVER, this was the most normal cycle I have had in MONTHS! I haven't had such a hormonally driven ovulation in a long time... talking moody, breaking out, all the fun things that used to accompany my ovulation. Plus it was a clear ovulation! Like I said in my first post about acupuncture, I noticed an immediate change in my temperatures-- they weren't so sporatic. Same thing after ovulation. I had a very clear temp shift, and my temps stayed above my coverline for the first time ever. But the best thing... I actually had a normal luteal phase!! I've only had one normal luteal phase in the 8 months I've been charting. I am a total beliver in acupuncture! Of course, I would rather be p

I sent this email to Hope (if you havent caught on, shes my SIL) and she had no idea what could be going on so she suggested I post it here and see if you girls might have an idea. Here goes... I am on Day 35 or so of my cycle and usually have my period around day 24. I took a pregnancy test and its negative and i have some ovulation type symptoms(almost eggwhite fluid) so i took an ovulation test and it was positive (for about the 3rd time this cycle). What could be going on?

At one point I did have a while list of questions and topics but those have slowly faded away and now I only remember 1 of them, which seems to be eating at my guilt lately. Do you ever feel biased about friends getting pregnant or is it all just me? Ill happily give an example, Hope i hope you dont mind. I feel that if someone has been ttc and they get pregnant I have a great attitude towards them and their pregnancy. Hope, my wonderful SIL example, tried SO HARD(and Im sure thats an understatement) to get pregnant and when she finally did I had no harsh feelings towards her. I even found myself overjoyed for her. On the other hand a friend who was not ttc at all, and actually trying to avoid pregnancy, gets pregant and I feel as if I cannot be happy for them. I also feel resentful and I most definately kick in the Fight mode of my Flight or Fight instinct. Does anyone else ever feel that way about their friends/family?

We are in a young ward and currently about 1/3 of the ward has either announced a pregnancy or has a baby under a year. Today a good friend who is out of state told me she's due in Nov. with #3. She's a year younger than me, got married a year after I did,and had her first a year before me. I really am excited for her, and happy that they are happy, but it's also tough. I am coping better this time around than when trying w/ my first (I had several younger friends "complain" about surprise pregnancies and we told NO ONE we were trying) because "at least I have one." A lot of people at church assume I'm much younger (I'm 27 1/2) b/c our only child is 3. Many of the women around my age have 3, even 4 kids. My non-church friends & close to age cousins are closer to my stage of having children, so I told my DH last night I need to hang out with more people like that. I get asked sometimes 4x on Sunday if I'm expecting. Apparently o

Stories like this just make me sick and sad! Sometimes I have a had time controlling my frustrations over women having unwanted pregnancies, out of wedlock, and here we all are, married, wanting a pregnancy, and nothing. Good thing the Lord is in control because I would have made things happen a lot differently!

Which talk(s) were your favorite from conference?

I was thinking today about what to do when members do become pregnant. I mean, it is something we all hope will happen to all of us, but it can be a rather interesting circumstance when in a group of people still trying to achieve what you have. So I started a little success list on the side. Hope is our first success :) (even though she was pregnant when she joined). I just don't want this blog to be so focused on the "sorrow" that we can't see the "hope" (ha ha... ironic, eh?). So to celebrate the joy that some members have found, I'll keep a little running list of success. I know we have talked about how difficult it is to hear of our friend's pregnancies, but I pray that we can be truly happy and joyful over FH&S members who do become pregnant... knowing the reality of the heartache that led them to their joy. Let me know if there is something else you would like me to add/remove/change on the blog!

What are you thankful for today?

I'm not sure if anyone has noticed, but our blog has grown over the last week! Welcome new members! What calling(s) do you have? What callings have you had in the past?

I still have yet to find pregnancy tests at the dollar store, but I did find these. If you order 1-9 it's $0.95 each. 10-19 $0.85 each. Plus if you use the code SPRINGFUN you get 10% off the order. If your order is $14.95 or more, you get free, same day shipping! Otherwise shipping is $1.99. I just filled a cart, to see what I'd get... and if I buy 17 pregnancy test strips, and one collection cup (they are not midstream tests... though the site has those too), shipping and all comes to 15.94!! What a deal! If I keep checking like I have been, I could use those up quickly!