The Kitchen Sink Approach

Why change just one thing when you can change everything? In addition to the reflexology I had just started, I decided to start running. Why? Good question since I despise every second of it? I felt like I should get in better shape and maybe that would help with getting pregnant. Plus I need some stress relief.

I told Greg I was considering running. We have a 15 year old treadmill downstairs (was my parents). Greg is an excellent runner. We had gone running together once before, once. He is like a Kenyan (maybe an inside Chicago joke, but every year, it seems someone from Kenya wins the Chicago Marathon and runs it in like 2 minutes). Well the one time we went running, we were in Florida and I was huffing and puffing. Greg didn't break a sweat. He kept saying supportive things and it just made me more mad. I was so embarrassed by the great divide in our abilities that I told to just go ahead and leave me. He looks back on this outing and thinks it was a great time. I think it was humiliating.

So at 10pm and after a really, really bad day at work, he says, "well how far do you think you could run?" And I said, "probably not 2 minutes without stopping." So he said, "let's find out." I said "it is 10pm" (on a school night mind you). But my trainer won out.

I decided to comply. Rules were he wasn't allowed to watch. So he sat at the top of the stairs and I ran. I was able to go a mile without stopping. I couldn't believe it because I hadn't run in about 2 years.

Greg was a great coach. I ran ever other day and each time he assigned me a new goal. Within two weeks I was running 2 miles without stopping and hating every single second of it. I never got to a point where I could enjoy. It was torturous.

I was talking to a friend who is having fertility issues of her own. And she was telling me about her good friend that also is in our happy little club. Her friend had been a pretty serious runner. And by serious I mean had done it consistently for years and didn't dread every single second of it. Her fertility doctor told her to stop running and don't do anything more strenuous than walking and yoga. No joke, and this is someone who was athletic. He also put her on this super strict diet. The premise was that carbs affect insulin, insulin affects hormones, and hormones affect fertility.

So my friend put me in touch with her friend and she sent me the diet. It was like Atkins but way more restrictive. Plus you had to drink a glass of whole milk a day. I can't even drink skim milk, I don't think I could get through 2 sips of whole milk. So right then and there, I decided to go on Atkins. I had done it before my wedding and it worked. Unfortunately, I didn't go through all the phases, so everything I lost came back.

But the research is pretty strong showing a negative correlation to eating bad carbs and fertility issues. I ordered a pizza and said goodbye to those bad carbs.

Meanwhile, I was making my reflexologist's head spin. She said the point is creating balance in your body and every day you seem to throw in something else new -running, not running, new diet. She just wanted me to stick with something- good carbs/bad carbs, running/not running, just make a decision.

So I netted out with keeping on Atkins (it has be 9 weeks so far) and we bought an elliptical. I work out 3 days a week on the elliptical and 2 or 3 days a week I do a video like Jillian Michael's 30 Day shred, which is 25 minutes of hell, but I kind of love it.

So all these positive lifestyle changes, plus the reflexology helped me get pregnant. On April 24th, I got my BFP (big fat positive) as opposed to a BFN (big fat negative). Side note, Greg now knows the lingo, like "Did you tell Stephanie you got a BFN?"