"A man's heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his paths," Proverbs 16;9

                                                      Our first Christmas, Charleston, VI 

When I started the detailed planning for our future, I knew that some things were going to get mixed up or not get done at all.  What I didn't expect was for the simple beginning to become so complicated!!! No we haven't had an unexpected "surprise" that will be here in 9 months, but we did go through a few scares.

Everything got mixed up! So this is what really ended up happening months after my previous post: Yes I did begin taking folic acid and some supplements in the end of the year, but it was the actual birth control that gave us some difficulty.   In December my husband and I traveled out of the country for a family reunion both on his side and mine!  In the chaos of the intricate planning, I reminded my husband that we needed to buy my bc pill.  We had been sharing one vehicle and we used his credentials to buy my expensive brand.  Long story short, we ended up forgetting, and buying the only brand they had at the AIRPORT, Yaz instead of Jasmine!  The pharmacist assured my husband that it had the same active ingredients but I had my doubts.

Fast forward a few weeks later and over a month passes without me receiving my monthly cycle!!!  Of course we panicked and now my husband is certain that we are pregnant! I on the other had am upset because my body has gone haywire and even though it was heart warming to see that my husband was excited, I felt out of control.   My gynecologist reassured me that the chances of pregnancy were little to none and recommended for me to take a blood test then go back on my regular birth control.

We went grocery shopping to distract ourselves and two hours later we learned that the test came back negative!  I was so relieved!!!! I felt as if the Lord had given me a second chance to get things in order and do this right!  My husband on the other hand was very disappointed and felt that he had been ready to start growing our family.  This scare had been a huge blessing in disguise!

My "monthly friend" ended up arriving six weeks after my last period, and lasted almost 12 days!   Yikes!!!!!  I spoke to some friends about this for the first time a few weeks later and so many of them had similar experiences  and they warned me that maybe it was best for me to get off bc all together.  I remanded reluctant to do so at first.  The bc pill was a comfortable and reliable method.  It cleared up my skin and fit perfectly into my chaotic schedule.  But then I heard a woman on the podcast I regularly listen to "Revive Our Hearts" tell Nancy Lee Demos how horrible the bc really is for your body and the things the pharmaceutical companies don't want you to know about it!  That program almost never spoke on anything to do with health or birth control so it was a strange coincidence.

In the space of just two weeks I had received several warnings about the bc pill along with my own experience but it was only until my husband expressed his own concerns without me sharing my own worries that we made the decision for me to go off it.  I had been blind to my symptoms before, but now I felt that God was speaking directly to me through all of these examples.  So I finished my last pack in February and now we are off the pill.  Lets just hope that we are careful and no little surprises catches us off guard!

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22 Things To Do Before You Conceive!

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Your eggs are drying up!  That distasteful joke has a way of scaring every single girl over the age of 25. It is that tingly feeling in the back of your neck telling you that you are ignoring something important while your mind tells you will be fine.  That right now while working 50+ hour weeks, skipping lunch, exercise, and sleep you can barely take care of yourself much less be ready to care for a helpless child. 

In todays society single men are choosing to enjoy their youth. Postponing the responsibilities of marriage and the pressure of maintaining a family.  Women are delaying marriage to build their carriers; dating around, shopping for the lie Hollywood has sold us of a "perfect mate." The rate of couples with fertility troubles has skyrocketed do to  several things such as the toxins, pesticides and hormones in our diet; because they try to conceive at a later than ideal age, and because their ovulation cycle has been disrupted due body's long dependance on birth control.  Todays society is less focused on creating a healthy family and more no enjoying the endless pleasures around us.

I had my life figured out by the time I was 13.  I was going to marry a guy who would live to love me right out of college and have my first child at the young healthy age of 24 like my mother.  When I turned 24 and was still single without prospects, reality hit me hard and I even fell into a little depression.  But the Lord used that to make me stronger in my faith and to have a clearer view of where my heart and thus treasures were.  That my hope and future should not be fixed to the things of this earth that wither and die, but to God's eternal love!

It is a scientific fact that your eggs are healthiest  that they are going to be in your 20s, and that your risk of pregnancy complications goes up as you age and after 35.  The quality of your eggs goes down exponentially every year.  You can get various hormone tests—and they can look fine at 39, and two months later they can not be fine.

If you are trying to conceive or thinking about trying in the next 6 months to a year, then there are several things that you should think about doing before then.  Half of all pregnancies are unplanned, but for all of you who like to be a bit more prepared in the next 25 blogs I will detail the things that my husband and I will be doing before conceiving.

I like to compare pregnancy to an olympic event, in that you want to train for it and you want to make sure you’re in good physical, emotional and even spiritual condition before you get pregnant. This is a great time for women who struggle with being overweight to say, ‘You know what—I’m going to get an aggressive nutrition plan and get into shape for this pregnancy.’' This is also a good time to refresh or work on the little kinks that you might have in your marriage so that your child may be conceived in a stable loving environment. 

Though out the next few months I will be blogging on the 22 things that will help prepare you to  conceive.