I had some brownish spotting yesterday, enough that I had to wear something, but then it stopped (this is typical for me to spot a day before or the day of my period). Now, this morning my temperature dropped below the coverline, which is a big sign of my impending period, as if the spotting wasn't enough. So, I might have more spotting more today, and then tomorrow will be the first day of my new cycle, most likely.

I am disappointed. I thought this would be easier! Kevin mentioned to me the other day that if we had gotten pregnant the first cycle (the cycle where we didn't get the green light until after I ovulated) I would be 12 weeks pregnant today! I'd be starting to get over morning sickness. Hoping to get an ultrasound to know the sex of the baby. Listening to heartbeats. Buying little baby things at garage sales (well, I guess I'm doing that already, but there was a lot more I would have bought, were I pregnant). I was hoping I'd be pregnant when we moved into the new house. Now, if I do get pregnant next cycle, I will probably find out a week before we move.

I think the whole house thing will be great though. Luckly, I'm not a really stressed out person, so the whole building and moving process probably won't affect my ovulation. I really only get stressed out when I launch a new web site at work, or if a family member is sick. I don't stress about much else though! So I'm not worried about that.

I've been trying to analyze any potential fertility problems we may have, so I can try to use little tricks to correct for it next cycle. Here are some things that I know AREN'T wrong:

- I am ovulating VERY regularly (ovulation on the same day every cycle, and each cycle so far is exactly the same length).
- I have good progesterone levels (which I can tell from my temperature spikes).
- I don't have a luteal phase defect (luteal phase for me is 12 days).
- I have a short cycle, but nothing out of the ordinary.
- My HSG was normal, no blockages, no obscructions, no fibroids or anythhing else big enough to change the morphology of my uterus.
- My fallopian tubes are not blocked, and I have free spillage from the tubes into the body cavity.
- I have very strong periods, so the lining of my uterus should be thick enough to support a pregnancy.
- I don't have a retrograde uterus as previously suspected, so that is fine.

Here are some things that COULD be a problem:

- We could have male infertility problems, though I doubt it.
- I could have egg quality problems. I'm not sure if there are any signs that would clue me into that, but I seem to ovulate strong and fast, which makes me feel like that whole system is fine.
- I DO have fibroids, but they should only affect pregnancy if they're big enough, and supposedly they're not. It is possible they affect impantation though, and that could be a problem.
- I don't have good cervical mucus, so the spermies may have traveling issues. This is the most obvious problem I can see. I am always using allergy medications, which dries up my fluids, though I stop a few days before ovulation time.

What other fertility problems have I not accounted for?

So, a few things I can do to help with the potential problems I've identified:

- Take baby asprin. It slightly thins the blood and makes implantation easier.
- I will not start taking my allergy medications this month (which I've been starting to take each time I get my period, to help with these awful asthma and allergy symptoms), even though I'm not pregnant. So that may increase cervical fluid.
- I think I've convinced Kevin to try using real egg whites to give the spermies a medium through which they can travel, since I don't have much cervical mucus.

I think that's it. Anyone have any other ideas? :)