After doing some more independent research, I officially decided to up my vitamin intake this week. Even though the prenatal vitamin that I've been taking for a year claims to give me 100 percent of everything I could need for baby-making purposes, I've read enough/heard enough about other people's experiences with pregnancy and vitamins that I figure more of a good thing can't be bad. (Yes, I realize this is sort of a self-diagnosis, but you don't exactly need a prescription for vitamins.)
So, now in addition to my prenatal vitamin, I am also taking separate helpings of vitamin B6, B12, D and E. For what it's worth, my regular physician actually encouraged me to take more vitamin D at my appointment last year. I did not heed her advice because it was 1) generic advice that she gives everyone because she believes everyone in modern America is vitamin D deficient (her words) and 2) the appointment was in the summer when I was always in the sun, so I figured this didn't apply to me.
As my period got started last week I also promised myself that I would exercise daily. So far, so good. It's becoming a bit of a game for me, a competition with myself in a way, to see if I can keep up with this routine. I'm doing a combination of long walks with the dogs and my husband (and even a buddy of mine who wants to join me in my efforts to get more exercise! Hooray for healthy girl time!), as well as 30-minutes of aerobics each day with 30-minutes of strength exercise a few days a week.
I've also decided with the start of this new cycle to entirely stop drinking caffeine and alcohol. Although I drank both in total moderation (aside from one party I was at in January when I was getting my period and decided to drink rather heavily), I figure I can make the sacrifice. So, that one cup of coffee I drank about three times a week is no more, and I am not drinking any soda (though I did that rarely if ever). I had my last alcoholic drink at my friend's birthday party last weekend, and I'm happy to give that up entirely now as well.
Finally, I am going to give the gluten-free diet a shot. I bought a book about going gluten-free over the weekend. Although it's geared toward people with Celiac's disease (because those are the main people who would purchase such a book) I think I can make it work for me. This means giving up pizza, which my husband and I would probably eat once a week or every other week (almost always homemade on the grill) and whole-wheat pasta we would also eat with the same regularity. I think it would be nearly impossible to be entirely gluten-free, seeing as gluten exists in incredibly small amounts in products even such as soy sauce, I am at least going to cut down all bread, pasta, and cracker products (as well as beer, which falls in both the gluten and alcohol categories).
Oh, and because several studies suggest it is good for fertility, I am now drinking whole milk. Yes, whole milk. After a childhood spent with 2% milk, I learned to love skim as a teenager, and now I am going hardcore all the way past 2% to whole. I wouldn't pick whole milk, but I'll try anything.
I plan to keep this up at least until July. If I don't see improvements in my ovulation dates within four months then I probably won't see any changes from these lifestyle choices after that. By July we will have been trying for one year officially. Seeing as how I ovulated last cycle on CD39, I am really hopeful at this moment that I can bring that ovulation date down even further. CD35 would be amazing, CD30 would be absolutely divine.
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