I love hearing my friends say that they’re planning on starting their families. I can’t believe we’re at that age where it’s so normal to start having babies. Now WE’RE the aunties and uncles at the parties and no longer the teenagers that lock themselves in the room. Honestly, looking back at my childhood years, I used to think my aunties and uncles were so cool. I hope it’s that way with our kids in the future, lol! I am no longer the “auntie that only visits for the holidays because she’s always gone in some foreign country.” I have finally joined the ranks of “mommas” at parties! And it wasn’t easy getting here, but with the help of an app, Sean and I were able to successfully create Maverick.
Distance did not help, but it let me prepare
First of all, Sean and I lived apart so starting a family was already placed on the back burner while we were apart. There was no way in hell that I was going to go through a pregnancy alone. Thankfully, the Army finally listened and stationed us at the same post so having Maverick really was a blessing. While we were apart, I did what I could to make sure I was making the best environment for my baby. I worked out consistently every day, ate a healthy diet, and took prenatal vitamins. That’s really all you can do if you are an otherwise healthy individual.
The Clue App
Calendar tracker
Cycle analysis
The one thing that really helped me hone in on my uterus being primed for conception was tracking my cycles. I had an irregular cycle before because I was so little and so unhealthy in a way where my body was starving for nutrients. So making the lifestyle change made a big difference when I started thinking of having a family. The Clue app helped me track so many symptoms during these changes.
Clue Period Tracker, Ovulation & Cycle Calendar is a free app available on iOS and Android. It focuses on patterns of symptoms to predict when your period will come and what days you may be ovulating. The symptoms it includes are: bleeding, pain, mood, sleep, sex, energy, cravings, digestion, discharge, skin, weight, temperature, exercise, and medical things like medications.
“Period predictions are based on your cycle length, either from previous cycles or from what you logged while setting up your account. The fertile window is predicted based on the end of your cycle.” - Clue App
So it works best if you’ve been using the app for a few months already and your cycle has a strong prediction rate. I used this app for almost 1 year before moving to Korea to be with Sean. I used it while I was in Korea as well. It took me and Sean one year to get pregnant, and honestly, we were in the brink of seeking infertility assistance because it wasn’t working for us.
Photo from HelloClue.com
Now it’s not guaranteed that this app will get you pregnant, but it does help to track your symptoms. And on the other hand, don’t rely on this app to be your second form of birth control. Just because the app says you shouldn’t be ovulating, doesn’t mean you should take a chance if you’re not trying to get pregnant.
Content reads
Another great feature of this app is that it has content that is beneficial for you to read. If you ever have a question about your period, symptoms, birth control, even fertility, there are articles in the app that you can read! It makes it so all of your questions can be answered in one place rather than you scouring Google for something easy to read.
How’d the app help me? How’d I “just know”
I knew something was up even before I tested. A couple weeks before I tested (5 weeks), I would get nauseous in the car. I couldn’t close my eyes when Sean would exit the freeway or I would feel super sick. When that would happen, I’d think to myself, “huh, that’s weird…”
1.) Nausea was never a symptom I had listed before.
Then a few days before we flew to Mexico, I felt an inkling that I could be pregnant. That’s when Sean and I bought the test. We said we would take the test right before Mexico, to make sure I wasn’t pregnant because we had a package where the drinks were free (lol, so responsible). When Sean left for Gunsan, I woke up the next morning and my BOOBS felt completely different.
2. Breast discomfort WAS a symptom I had, but it was always around the 2 week mark, not days before my period.
I couldn’t take it anymore, so I took the test by myself. PREGNANT. I only knew this because I paid close attention to my body’s cues. I charted my symptoms, moods, etc every month. It was just a couple of days BEFORE my period was supposed to start when I took the test. Being aware of your body is so important when it comes to pregnancy and your health overall. It took almost two years to make it happen, but now we’re blessed with Maverick’s fat butt and I couldn’t be any happier!
And lastly, even if you aren’t trying to get pregnant right now, using this app to track patterns that your body goes through during your cycle will help you out! Knowing when to “expect” pain and discomfort, and realizing why you’re in such a bad mood some days is really helpful, lol.