43yrs 3d

Only 362 more days to go until I am no longer eligible to do IVF with my own eggs at BigShotFertilityClinic. I was telling Magic last week how depressing it was that I was turning 34. Then I caught myself. I have a little dyslexia creep in once in awhile, which is not age related. Then I thought about it. Why couldn't I be 34 for a year? Everyone is always talking about how having a positive outlook can help you get pregnant. Instead of bemoaning the fact that I am now officially 43, I can just pretent I'm 34. I don't feel any older than 34, at least in my mind.

I attended my 25th high school reunion this past weekend as well. This was the first high school reunion I have been to, craftily having avoided all the others. Enough time has passed from teenage angst days that I really wanted to see where everyone was in their lives. Plus, I got to stay with my BFF, someone who I don't see often these days. It is daunting to have a number "25 years" in front of anything at my age, but I would have to say that all my classmates looked great, a little weight gain aside. Some women looked even more beautiful than when we were teenagers. A little over a third of our classmates attended out of a class of 63. I could only deduce that myself and one other did not have our own children, but I did not get a chance to directly ask everyone, though that was one of the standard questions. I was hoping to meet more women who didn't have children. There was only one gal like me who got married later in life who has been trying but no luck yet.

The juicer came with me this time, half way across the country. I found a rolley bag that worked well to pack it in and didn't get hassled too much at airport security about carrying it on. I really wanted to take pictures of my juicer on my trip, in the airport, at the reunion, but I think I would have gotten odd looks from my classmates who haven't seen me in 25 years. The crazy lady with the juicer. I didn't juice as fervently as I do at home, but at least I felt like my whole routine wasn't shot from traveling. I even found my brand of frozen wheatgrass juice at the store. My CM has taken a hike this cycle, and I'm not sure how much the traveling had to do with that. I had fun catching up with my classmates, but me and my juicer are glad to be home. I think I'm good for reunions for another 25 years!

Feeding the Elephant

I was serious about my last post. Juicing has taken up all my free time and money. It is amazing how much produce I go through in a week. It's like feeding an elephant!!

This will be a quickie post because my life has been completely taken over by work this week, and I have 10 minutes (better type fast).

After drinking fresh vegetable juice twice a day for a week, I had the best CBC blood test ever. For once, my protein levels were normal instead of elevated. My cholesterol rocked at 154. I've also noticed some other improvements. My cycle was 25 days long! Those of you who have been following my blog know that this is one day longer than my average. I thought this past cycle would be a bust with the hot flashes and high FSH, and surely AF would have come earlier. Also, I had no spotting before my period this time. I still have hot flashes, but not as much or severe as the beginning of my last cycle. The down side is that my period was pretty scant. Ah well, Rome wasn't built in a day!

I've also gotten a lot of questions, like, does you juice taste good? Why yes, it does! Here is one of my favorite recipes:

3-4 kale leaves
4 sprigs of parsley
3 carrots
1/2 apple

Juice the greens first up to 1/4 cup. In general, don't drink more than a 1/4 of greens or anything from the broccoli family, like cabbage, at a time or it could upset your stomach. For me, drinking juice from kale is like drinking a glass of milk. Since I don't do dairy, I have to get my calcium from somewhere! Next, juice the carrots and 1/2 apple up to 1 cup of juice. Add more carrot if you have less than 1 cup. Stir well. Mmmmm!

Also, thanks to Jill for turning me on to frozen wheatgrass juice. I found a brand called Evergreen Juices that is carried at my local health food store. The taste is much better because this wheatgrass is grown outside for a longer period of time than inside for short periods of time in trays that can have problems with mold. It's like drinking lawn clippings, which to me tastes better than icky sweet fresh wheatgrass grown in trays. I have a lot more energy since combining both juices, sometimes too much energy!!