4 Life Changes I’m Making to Boost Fertility

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This is a sponsored conversation from Mums the Word Network and The Stork OTC. All opinions are my own. 

I look at Caleb and I wonder….is it possible for your own baby to give you baby fever? He’s only 15 weeks old and yet there are so many precious things I miss about him already. Those early first few weeks, sleepy newborn snuggles and all his little squeaky noises. It’s all going by so fast already. When we started the adoption process, we had planned to pursue both adoption and some fertility treatment options. But since we were matched so quickly, we kind of pressed pause on everything else since we didn’t want to divide our focus.

Now that Caleb is here and we’ve settled in (okay and we’re sleeping through the night too), I think we’re ready to revisit the topic of fertility. People keep telling us that because we adopted, we’ll be pregnant in no time. And maybe they’re right. But maybe not. I mean, if we’re actively making plans and seeking out some fertility treatments in hopes of getting pregnant, then yes. It is possible that we will get pregnant even though we just adopted a baby. But at the same time, nothing is guaranteed.

We were married for almost seven years before we decided we were ready to add children to our family. I often think that had we started earlier, our parenting journey would have been written with a little less heartache. After all, the 21 me would hypothetically be more fertile than the 28 year old me. I can’t go back and change the past and wouldn’t trade Liam and Caleb for a different version of our story. And I have to be realistic in realizing that there’s a possibility another pregnancy might not ever be in our future. I’m still undecided on how I feel about that. But what I can do in the waiting is make sure I’m doing all the right things to help make it happen. I’ve been needing to make a few changes in my life anyway, and I can’t imagine a better reason to get my butt in gear.

1. Set a regular workout routine. Speaking of my butt…I’ve been slacking on this for way too long. I tend to put everything else ahead of working out. My endless to do list usually has work out listed last and then I’m just so darn tired. But I also know that working out regularly (and its subsequent health benefits) will not only do great things for my body, both inside and out, but will also give me the energy to continue being the active mom to two littles I want to be.

2. Focus on consistent sleep. I probably struggle with this one the most. Working from home sounds great on paper and in truth, I still wouldn’t trade it for a regular office job. But as a work from home mom, that usually translates to fitting in work whenever the kids are sleeping. Work time in the evening is limited as it is and I often find myself working until midnight or later. I’m making a commitment to go to bed early and get as much sleep at night as Liam and Caleb allow me to. Whether this means I have to say “no” to some projects or figure out how to manage my time a little more efficiently, this mama needs more sleep.

3. Make some diet changes. This goes hand-in-hand with working out more consistently. It’s been a while since I took a hard look at my diet. While in a perfect world, I’d love to get back to a vegetarian lifestyle, I don’t know that my husband or toddler would be fully on board. So instead, I’d like to focus on more veggies, less meat in general and cutting out sugar and oil wherever possible. I’m also contemplating going gluten free to see if it clears up my skin and a couple other issues. I’d be interested to checking out any favorite gluten free recipes if you’d like to share them.

4. Consider some alternative treatments. Guys, clomid seriously messed me up. I don’t remember feeling this crazy on it when we got pregnant with Liam. But after four rounds of it last fall, I felt like I was going nuts. Kind of rage-y and angry all the time and just not myself. I started seeing an acupuncturist (who is amazing), but stopped booking appointments when we got busy with Caleb’s adoption. I want to start making those a regular thing again. Not just for fertility reasons but also for total body healing. And I’ve also been wanting to look into a couple of fertility supplements and tinctures to see if those make a difference.

According to our fertility doctor, an IUI is our next (and kind of expensive) step. While we may end up going this route eventually, I want to make sure we’ve exhausted all the other more natural and less expensive options available to us. I actually just received a product called the Stork OTC for free to try. It’s an at-home device that you can use to help you get pregnant. I haven’t tried it yet, but I see it as a great inexpensive option for people trying to get pregnant but who don’t want to commit to expensive fertility treatments at the doctor just yet. The box says it has a 20% success rate which is comparable to the success rate of an IUI but it’s way less expensive.

The Stork OTC can be purchased at select Target stores nationwide. It’s located in the family planning section next to the ovulation test kits. And it’s currently on sale for the next couple of weeks too:

You can use this Buy 1 Get 1 at 50% off deal at Target until August 19th.

Or you can purchase it at the Stork OTC online store at 25% off through the end of the month.

I’ve been asked to be a panelist for The Stork’s Twitter party on August 17 at 8 p.m. EST. If you’re interested in learning more, would you join me? You can do so by using the hashtag #TTCwithStorkOTC.

Have you tried the Stork OTC? If you have, I’d love to hear your thoughts!