Fertility and Vitamin B12

Aside from the chasteberry fruit or vitex that I am taking now as supplement, my husband and I are also taking Vitamin B12 (and three more vitamins which I will all blog here). Hoping and praying that in due time, we will have our own bundle of joy :)

So why B12? How does it affects fertility?

Because according to studies (so many literature-you can all google them) )B12 can improve sperm quality and sperm motility (for men) and deficiency of B12 may result to irregular ovulation or no ovulation at all (which is my case)

 It also helps boost the endometrium lining in egg fertilization thereby decreasing the chances of miscarriage which only means B12 will  help pregnant women  carry the baby in full term.

I hope it would really help us this time.

Chasteberry fruit or Vitex

It's been 23rd day since I started taking this supplement. I can not say yet if there are changes in my cycle because as I have read, I should wait for at least 3 months to see the benefit of this.

Anyways,I decided to try this herbal supplement after reading from  natural fertility website.

According to the article, Vitex Agnus Cactus or also known as the Chasteberry fruit has been shown in studies to:

Inhibit follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH): Vitex increases the secretion of luteinising hormone (LH), which in turn increases progesterone.  

 Lengthens a short luteal phase: Studies have shown vitex to be affective at lengthening the luteal phase. While it does not contain any hormones itself, it does help the body to increase its own production of luteinizing hormone (promoting ovulation to occur) which in turns boosts progesterone levels during the luteal phase of the cycle. 

Increased progesterone levels: Vitex has been shown to stimulate the formation of the corpus luteum. The corpus luteum is responsible for the secretion of progesterone. In a study of 45 women, 86% responded positively with normalized or significantly improved progesterone levels.

Reduces advancement of mild endometriosis: Vitex is used in Germany by gynecologists to treat mild endometriosis and prevent it from advancing.

May help prevent miscarriage: Vitex has a beneficial impact on progesterone levels. If miscarriages are due to low progesterone, vitex may help to normalize or increase progesterone levels. Vitex may be considered safe to use during pregnancy, but make sure to consult with a healthcare practitioner when using this herb during pregnancy. Also make sure to read our ‘Use During Pregnancy’ section below. 

Relieves PMS: Clinical research has shown that vitex may be very beneficial for PMS symptoms, especially depression, headaches, rashes, acne, allergies and sensitivity of the breasts. In one study improvement of PMS by the first month was experienced by 32% of the women. By the third month 84% of the women experienced improvement of their PMS.

Lack of menstruation (amenorrhea): In a study of 15 women with amenorrhea, 65% had resumed a menstrual cycle by the sixth month of use. Progesterone levels also increased.

Irregular menstruation: Vitex has been shown to help balance both an absent menstrual cycle as well as aid a menstrual cycle that is heavy or too frequent.

Uterine cysts: Vitex has been found to be helpful at reducing cysts that are growing within the smooth muscle layer of the uterus.

Stabilization of menstruation after stopping birth-control pills: After discontinuing estrogen-containing birth control pills, vitex taken for several months has been shown to help stabilize the cycle and induce ovulation more quickly.

Helps stimulate milk production in new mothers: For over 2,000 years vitex has been used to help stimulate mother’s milk. Begin using vitex right after birth and continue for 10 days or more as needed.
Acne: Several studies have shown an improvement in the skin with the use of vitex. Along with appropriate diet changes vitex may help acne.
Vitex can help basically any issues that one experiences that disappear once pregnancy begins and returns after breastfeeding ends.

If you want to read more about vitex and fertility, click on the link above. I've learned a lot about natural fertility in that site, not only about Vitex but also natural foods that helps you get pregnant. I hope I can have good news to you all after some more months!!

productive weekend

 ( a cross post from my rocksdaily.com blog)

I think I just had my most productive Saturday last weekend. Here's why..

Woke up before 8:00 AM-went to Bambang (Rizal Avenue,Manila) to canvas and buy some stuff for my boss, we were there until 11 AM.

Before 12 noon we are already on our way to RAON (Quiapo, Manila)  to buy things for my husband's project ( box/carrier for his guitar effects)

Around 1:30 PM we had lunch at the food plaza of Save More Sta Ana, Manila and waited for 2PM to finally meet a N@wie to close a transaction from our garage sale page :D Nice meeting you sis!

After that, we went to San Juan and brought the stuff I bought from Bambang to my boss' house. Oh yes, it's Saturday and I am working :D bait ko no? hehe!!!

We were home around past 3 in the afternoon. BUT WAIT, our day is not over yet...with all that lakad we made..I still have much energy (so unusual of me)..

So while the husband started on his project..I went down and did the laundry (I also washed some of my bags and shoes and slippers) I was done at around 6PM (bilis ko lang naman maglaba)

We had  a quick snack then we prepared ourselves na and went to church for our 6th day of prayer and fasting. We finished at around 9 PM, went straight to my sister's house to pick up Rachel (my niece) who will be sleeping over with us.

Finally home at around 11 PM. Was in bed before 2AM of Sunday.

Such a full Saturday no? Oh..if you think we had Sunday to rest, nope..because we woke up even earlier as it is church day :)

But I don't complain though..I am actually amazed of the energy I had these last few days. I think the supplements I am taking are already working :)

Abbreviation of terms in Fertility

For many years that I've been reading about infertility and getting pregnant I've encountered lots of terms that at first I was like"what is this?" and often times i stop reading and search for the meaning of that abbreviated word or the acronym.

I gathered some of the words and listed them here hoping that it would help those who are reading about infertility too.

TTC - Trying To Conceive

CD- Cycle Day

OPK - Ovulation Predictor Kits

BD - Baby Dance (which means making love or the intercourse)

BBT - Basal Body Temperature (this is being use to chart your body temp, to know if you have ovulated or not)

 HPT  - Home pregnancy test

AF - Aunt Flo (menstrual period)

BFP - Big Fat Positive ( which means a positive pregnancy test)

DPO- Days PAst Ovulation

PCOS - Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome - which is my case :(

Those are the very common acronym words I see from day to day, but feel free to add  the words you know too.

Now a pulmonologist

After months of check -ups and tests, the Doctor now concludes that what my father  needs to see is a Pulmonologist as his major problem is his lungs, she even suspected that there might be water in his lungs thus she required a CT Scan of the lungs and a pulmonary function test which of course costs a lot.

The tests seems endless.

And at this point in time, I really wish I am rich.

Anyways, I hope we can have the tests done  next week and then the consultation with the Pulmonologist. I pray there really is nothing wrong with Tatay and that the medicines he are taking now will be instrumental to his complete healing. Please dear Lord.

But on a happier note, I noticed some good changes with my father's health, my sister who takes care of him notice it also so I know God is listening to our prayers.

I would appreciate it very much if you can include my Dad in your prayers. Thank you.

How do you save for your child's college education?

This was one hot topic in my yahoo group last week and most of them who have kids agreed that it would really be hard to send their children in a nice university for college education unless they start saving now.

I still don’t have a child but that made me think about it also. As of this time, good schools are expensive already and I wonder how expensive it would be for the next ten or fifteen years to come?

Good thing that someone has brought up this topic because the saving and investing were discussed too alongside with the school fees and expenses. There are lots of ladies in the group (oh well along with their husbands) that are money savvy. Some I think knows a lot about stock market and the stockmarket game .

How I wish I am one of them.  I so admired those who have already invested and secured their kids education. I tell you, they even have plan A to plan B and C or D. Very inspiring. I assumed they read a lot about investment and maybe they frequent investing and financial sites like WallStreetSurvivor  and the like.

I’ve heard and read about Mutual Funds and Time Deposit but God knows I still don’t understand a bit about them. And how do I save for my child’s college education? Well, I have to learn saving first.

Friday Fragments

Last grocery day, I didn't buy coffee and bought milk instead. So for a week now, I only had one cup of coffee! Imagine the switch, from 3 cups a day to 1 cup per week. Yey for me!! I'm trying to lessen my caffeine intake hoping it would help us get pregnant :)

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And also, I've been eating loads of fruits. I decided to buy and eat a lot of whatever is in season, like for now lanzones and rambutan are quite cheap so I try to have them as much as I can. Banana is staple in our table.

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And also my husband and I are more diligent in taking our multi vitamins now. I hate the capsules but I have to take them.

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I'm hosting a birthday and child dedication party on Sunday afternoon. It's been a while since I did this and I'm quite nervous :) specially that most of the guests will be from my former church. Wish me the best.

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HOPE YOU ALL HAVE A VERY GOOD WEEKEND!!

Wordless Wednesday

FISH SPA

Christmas countdown

because it's already October..a lot are counting the days before Christmas including me!!

Christmas countdown at FlashBannerNow.com

Coming home from USA

A friend and her whole family is coming home from the United States for the Christmas season and we can't wait to see them. They are going home before their kids aged 3 and 2 start school next year. They said it would be pretty hard for them to schedule another vacation here once the kids are already in school. We've been talking about it when ever we got the time to skype and she told me that they are seriously considering of moving to another state because of this. She can't seem to find a good public school in their area.

They won't be moving to New York though because if they are, I would ask her to check nyc tutors for her kids as this might be of help to her, according to the site they have surprisingly affordable price. So if you live within the area, you might want to check them.

But I think Florida is where they're going, though they are still praying for it.  I wish them the best. For the meantime, we will be spending lots of good and happy times while they're here. After all it would be a while before we see them again. Or maybe not? Who knows, we might visit them in the US someday and tour New York too!! Okay, I maybe dreaming but there is nothing impossible with God right?