The verdict is in...

NOT pregnant.

As you probably know, Aunt Flo came for the first visit in more than a year and a half last month. No fun. After that I thought, man, not having to deal with her every month was pretty great. Maybe getting pregnant again is the key! However, I didn't really think of it as a viable possibility.

Then I went to DeMotte for a week and heard that during her childbearing years, my mom had about 10 periods and 6 kids within 10 years. That's an average of 2 cycles between every kid!

Well then I started getting nervous. I mean, Eric wasn't in DeMotte with me then, so there were no advances to deny that week, but I sure didn't do much denying the week before. What if I was pregnant again? I had been tracking my temperatures and didn't show the big ovulation-fluctuation, but then again I didn't have a very consistent sleep schedule, so maybe it wasn't very accurate. Then I started to get nervous. I didn't have my thermometer with me in DeMotte and was sharing a room with John, so trying to get the necessary pre-temp-taking three hours of sleep was pretty much impossible. I didn't even have a way of tracking my basal body temperature to see if it was staying high! What was a Natural Family Planning mother to do? No way to know for sure if I was pregnant or not? Worst nightmare.

The day before I headed back to DeMotte, I started feeling sick. Early nausea? It's probably a girl. I threw up Friday night and was sure I was pregnant. Saturday morning I took my temperature and sure enough, it was five tenths of a degree higher than it had been the week before. I knew it...I was pregnant. Oh no... I'm not mentally prepared for another three months of puking. I finally fit in all my pre-pregnancy clothes and now I'm gonna get fat again.

But wait a minute... Monday morning my temp went back down to 97.8. Probably just a fluke. I'm pretty sure I'm pregnant. No more nausea. Was I really just sick? This was day 30 of my cycle. I usually start a new cycle on day 30. I couldn't take it; I had to pee on a stick to know for sure. Only one line...hmmm...you know, these things are only 90% accurate. I'm still not sure, I might be pregnant.

Well folks, Day 32 and Aunt Flo is back for her second visit in a year and half. Don't worry, I won't give you monthly updates on her visit, but my mind has done a crazy amount of back-and-forth this month. Mom made me nervous! Now I've got my handy dandy thermometer and my chart next to my bed and will make sure not to miss a temperature until I'm good and ready for everything that follows that brief moment of lack of denial. For this control freak, the reassurance of a regular chart is the only thing that will deliver peace of mind.