Good news, bad news and some advice needed

There's good news, and there's bad news.

The good news: Hair appointment went incredibly well. I went to a salon that specialises in colour, since it's the colour and condition of my hair that was worrying me. I paid money to see the daughter of the original owner, who now has her own hair care line. She was fantastic. She spent a good 10 minutes just sitting with me before we started, looking at my hair, discussing what I wanted, offering different ideas, before coming to a strong recommendation about what I should do. She said it will take six months, but that this course of action will get my hair back to better condition and look much more natural and professional. Fab. She was just a nice, thoughtful person - to the extent that when she noticed that the manicurist had moved my chair so that I could no longer reach my tea, she came back across the salon to move my chair closer.

She also got me in to see the best stylist in the place, who was good. He cut my hair a little too short, but since the idea is to get it back into great condition, I'm not going to miss the frizzy ends that much. It grows quickly, anyway. I left feeling beautiful.

Other good news: we've managed to have sex three times in the last four nights, and I ovulated yesterday. So if we have any hope of conceiving on our own, we've given it the best shot yet. Two of the evenings had the potential to be stressful as H got worried, but we eventually managed to both stay calm and enjoy things. Keep your fingers crossed.

Bad news: the bloody acupuncture place didn't put my appointment in the diary, so I rushed there on Friday to find they had no record of me. And of course they're incredibly busy so they had no way to fit me in. It was really disappointing. I'll think about doing it again, but not this month - it will be too hard to find time for the appointment.

A question. What do you all do about exercise? I love working out, although I'm crap at finding the time for it. In reading all your blogs I see all kinds of advice about exercise in the 2ww - from do whatever you like, to put your feet up and don't even walk much. Any ideas as to what beliefs underpin those different pieces of advice? My trainer has trained a lot of pregnant women and she says just to keep your heart rate under 140 (which means I can't run, bummer), and to miss out on the roundhouse kicks when we're kick boxing. Dr Candour said do what you're used to, just don't let yourself get dehydrated. I sweat a lot but I drink a lot of water, so that shouldn't be a big problem. I'd really appreciate some opinions.

Comments

[PJ]

Are you brave enough to post before and after pics so we can marvel at your new hair? What color did you decide to go with? I'm also in a state where I'm looking for something to do with my hair.

About the exercise in the 2ww thing, I was inseminated last Sunday and was told that I could keep with my regular exercise routine, no changes necessary. The key to the statement was that if you had been doing something for a couple months then there's no need to alter it now, esp. in the 2ww period. Once something happens and you know for sure it worked then the whole not above 140 thing would probably apply.

[Enough Already]

Exercise in the 2 ww. That is a tough one. I took the approach to not do anything and take it easy. The problem with that approach is that it lead to not doing anything the other 2 weeks of the month, which resulted in a decline in my fitness level. Perhaps a modified workout w/b best. When I did my donor egg IVF, I was told not to lift anything over 25 lbs during my 2ww.

On the accupuncture thing, I had 2 different results. The first time I tried it, I got pregnant in 6 weeks, but miscarried. I went right back to accupuncuture when we started trying again, 5 months went by, I quit, and then 6 weeks later, I got pregnant again - with an ectopic.

It is relaxing though.

[Tania]

Excellent about the hair appointment. Nothing beats leaving the salon feeling like a star. The last time I got my hair cut the bitch cut my bangs off which had taken forever to grow out. And they curve into this lovely little backwards C in the humidity. I'm buying stock in barretts.

Exercise is the eternal question for me throughout all of this crap. I have not exercised at the level that I would really love to in a long, long time. Part of me just feels like it's something that could be unhelpful (all that jostling, and what if I lose too much weight never mind the fact that I'm currently a good 10-12 pounds overweight); part of me thinks why bother exercising at a high level for two weeks, then have to slow down to a crawl when my ovaries grow to the size of grapefruits and may explode if I overdo it; and I'm sure part of me is just LAZY and using this as an excuse not to get out there and get in kick ass shape.
So, I've just kind of taken to doing aqua aerobics and the eliptical machine and yoga (although my RE says not to do that during the 2ww)so that I'm still moving, but looking at it more as a stress reliever than a quest to be in awesome shape. And as far as the lifting restrictions go, I have a 30 pound toddler, so I'm going to have to do some sort of lifting. I asked my doc about that and he said just be careful with it. As my doc put it the first time I got pregnant, the pregnancy isn't high risk (at least in my case it wasn't, and I'm guessing it's not in yours if it's even a question for you) it's precious. So if there is the potential you have a precious pregnancy, I think you do whatever feels right for you as long as your BMI is staying in a healthy range.

[Nico]

Well, I have no direct experience with this, but as an ice hockey fanatic I do know a number of women who have continued to play through their first trimester with no problems. That definitely gets your heartrate above 140! My doc also said after my IUI to just keep doing whatever I normally do so for the moment I'm taking that at face value and continuing to play hockey, volleyball, ride my bike and lift weights. I figure those things really help keep my stress level down, and that's way more likely to cause problems than exercising. Not that I have any idea what I'm talking about! I agree with Tania, I think you have to do what you're comfortable with.

[Em]

Thanks for visiting my blog. I still go to the gym during the 2ww and doe Tae-Bo (love those roundhouse kicks!) although I may stop and just do gentle exercise on the treadmill! I'me put you on my blog list as well.

[InSpring]

Yoga is suppose to be one of the best exercises for TTC and PG - it builds muscle without strain and releases stress, and you don't have to worry about doing it at the wrong time of your cycle, so that's a major plus.

Glad you got a good coiffure!

[ManhattanAnne]

Well, I've conceived while going running during the two-week wait and also while carefully doing nothing during the two-week wait. And I always miscarry. Now I don't exercise at all. I don't want to stress my body pre-O and I don't want to feel there's anything I could maybe have done differrently if I conceive & miscarry. Result: I've put on about six pounds. So, I don't know what to tell you...

[Panda]

Yeh, I love working out too..working out what I'm going to eat, working out if Mac Cheese really is a health food, working out how much money I've spent on pie this week, working out the likelihood of catching Listeria from the blue cheese in my pasta...

My exercise regime for the two week wait consists of wandering around in ever-decreasing circles, or walking to a chemist to buy another HPT.

By the way, you ARE posted on my guestmap. *waves*

[Simone]

Wow! You are thinking about excercising during 2ww? That's something that never occurred to me! I was always more interested in ways to comatose myself during 2ww!