Homemade Mayo is awesome!

I am not done with my antibiotics, but I feel 100% recovered from my recent UTI (still taking the antibiotics of course!). Since I am feeling better and going crazy waiting for AF to show up, I have been --cooking.-- I don't really consider making mayo to be cooking, but whatever, close enough!

I had just got that new food processor, and wanted to put it to the test. I had success shredding cucumber, but bell peppers and lettuce turned to mush (not surprised the lettuce did, but rather weird that the peppers didn't shred well). I haven't sliced anything with it yet, and I haven't --riced-- any cauliflower either. I did try making flax meal in it, but it didn't work very well. I ended up having to transfer the flax seeds to the Ninja and finish it in that. So I still don't have a very good way to mill the flax seeds. I was looking at the Cuisinart mini chopper/grinder online, and it looks like it would work perfectly. It costs around $39 which is $5 more than I paid for the full sized processor. It would be nice to try, but honestly I don't think it would be worth it (even if it is cute and comes in many fun colors!).

I did have pretty good success making mayonnaise in the food processor. I made a double batch, and the blades were having a hard time mixing the few ingredients in the beginning. I had to stop and scrape the eggs back to the blades repeatedly until I added at least 3/4 cup oil. After it was full enough to mix things well, the process went much easier. It whipped up the mayo pretty well and it tasted pretty good. I was a little disappointed it didn't do better in the beginning, but I will keep using it for making mayo anyway. I made a 2nd batch using the ninja for curiosities sake, and it didn't work very well. I think the ninja is actually too fast, and I added the oil a little too quickly. It curdled and I had to start over in a separate bowl to fix it.

Why did I make so much mayonnaise? To make Ranch Dressing of course! You can't find soy-free mayo in the store, and you can't find soy-free ranch either (that we have seen anyway). My husband managed to find ranch mix that was soy and msg free, hooray! Half the package used up 2 cups of mayo and 2 cups of buttermilk, but even so it is less than 2 carbs per serving. It tastes pretty good too. The only problem is that we have 4 cups of ranch in the fridge! lol

The second batch of mayo I made (the one that the Ninja and I butchered) I added a teaspoon of vinegar too. I wanted to add a little more vinegar, but my husband said it was perfect with just one teaspoon. He said that it is between mayo and miracle whip, and he likes it better than either of those. I would say that is a mayo making success! I used extra light olive oil, and the flavor is subtle and nice. It does look strange in the ketchup bottle in the fridge though, lol

Tonight I plan to make some baked goods. We shop at Sam's Club a lot and keep finding things there that are a lot cheaper than at the grocery store. My husband's last find was Boursin. Two tubs were about $1 more than just one tub in the grocery store. Needless to say, he bought some. Between all the cheese spread and the mayo, I need to make crackers and buns tonight! I will make at least a double batch of almond thins. Making crackers is a great thing to do while frustrated or anxious. Smashing those little globs of dough is quite satisfying! I will make at least two batches of flax buns (6 in a batch). My husband also bought hamburger patties and lunch meat at Sam's Club, so we need some bread! Flax and almonds are both things that are recommended for endo, too bad the cheese is against the rules :( I am limiting my dairy consumption for now, and will eliminate it completely if I feel I need to after we have a third baby. For now I am going to enjoy a little cheese here and there :)

Quick update on TTC. I am on CD#21 today, which puts me exactly at one week until AF is expected. I have had a few progesterone symptoms, mostly headaches, and I've been doing good at ignoring them. Today I think I may have felt implantation. Around late morning I felt a sharp stabbing cramp in my lower right abdomen. It didn't last more then five minutes, but was quite painful. I am hoping it was implantation cramping and not my body going haywire. I am a bit concerned that the pain was on the right side of my lower abdomen and not centrally located. Since I had one ectopic, I am pretty scared of having another one. I have noticed that I am especially bloated and uncomfortable today, but don't really think that is related.

I should wait until the 31st to test, but I know I won't last that long. I've already decided to do the first test this Sunday, then every other day after that until I get a positive or AF. A lot of women get really bummed out when testing and getting BFNs, but I like having the date to focus on. I tend to not drive myself so crazy if I know there will be another test soon. Thank goodness I am using cheap tests! I imagine I will stop this frequent testing if we go several months without conceiving, but for now we are trying to stay positive and hopeful that it will happen soon.

Stevia forever!

I use Stevia for drinks and some cooking/baking. I use 19 packets when I make Kool-aid, so we go through it really fast. A box of 50 packets is somewhere around the $5 mark, so the price adds up quick. Also the packets contain dextrose as a filler :/

I ordered a 1 lb tub of organic stevia extract from amazon, and it just came! This stuff is stronger, so 1/32 of a teaspoon is a serving. I will have to experiment and get used to it being stronger. The good thing is that this tub should last us for a really long time.

Gotta start eating more organic, so the sweetener is a good start. On the endo diet I am supposed to avoid a lot of things, including preservatives and additives, but preservatives and additives are in nearly everything in the grocery store. I hate having to pay more for food, but if it helps me stay out of the hospital it will be worth it. It will be a huge adjustment to start eating organic. Organic isn't that popular where I live, so shopping is going to be a little more of a challenge. We will get used to it no doubt, but it may take a few weeks.

Also in my order was a new food processor. My husband melted our last one on the bottom rack of the dishwasher several months ago. This is a cheapie, but had good ratings and is similar to our old one that worked well (was also a cheapie, same brand, but this one is a 10 cup instead of an 8 cup, and was $5 cheaper than the one we had before) We have been doing okay without one, but as our eating changes I keep finding myself needing one. Making riced cauliflower takes forever with a hand grater, cramps my hands, and sometimes accidents happen and chunks of skin end up in the food. Also a food processor will allow us to more easily make almond and flax meal, peanut butter, mayo, and veggies for soups and salads. I have to make my own mayo and sauces because soybean oil is in virtually everything you buy in the store. I will be eating nothing that comes out of a box, and very few things that come out of a can (tomatoes are one of the few tinned items allowed).

I am blogging on my phone, so the pictures will be at the bottom of the post. I just wanted to show the label and the ingredient list. Notice only one ingredient? Awesome huh? Anyway, hubby is home from shopping (hooray for baby spinach! Lol) so I will help him put stuff away. Watching an Office later, funny show!

Expensive jewelry

Doesn't every woman dream of expensive jewelry, at least once in awhile? Well, I for one, am sick and tired of expensive bracelets. Sure the bracelet I just got was far cheaper than the last few, but I could have done without.

I usually like white gold, but I keep going and buying the clear ones with my name printed on them. Yup, I'm talking about hospital bracelets... Bleh. I just got home a couple hours ago and am going to get some sleep soon.

I starting peeing blood around 11 last night (gross I know, and it gets grosser just FYI) and having a really bad urgency to use the bathroom (not to mention the pain). I mentioned it to my husband and he just blew me off. Well it just kept getting worse and I couldn't fall asleep because I was running to the bathroom every 3 minutes. Around 3 or 3:30 in the morning my husband was being all dramatic at me being awake (apparently I was doing this just to be mean to him:/). He freaked out when I let him see how much blood was passing (not to mention rather painful clots). So he insisted on taking me to the E.R.

Honestly, I was relieved it was just a rather bad UTI. I was afraid I had endo inside my bladder or some other horrid problem. Thankfully the infection didn't get to my kidneys yet, and I have meds to take for the next week. I have never had a UTI before, though endo makes you more susceptible to infections so it makes sense I would get one now. Supposedly none of the meds will interfere with TTC or give the baby brain damage. Speaking of TTC, I am 4 dpo today!

I won't be doing much for a few days besides resting up and letting my body heal. I am supposed to be feeling better in 24 hours :/ hopefully I can sleep through most of that.

Anyways, that's all. Just wanted to do a quick update about my new bracelet. I am hoping for no more of those things for 9 months. That would be nice!

How I really feel about Endometriosis.

So I've been talking about TTC a lot lately, and mentioning the endo here and there. I've said a few times how badly I want to get pregnant while I still have a chance, but I haven't really talked that much about how I feel (or maybe I have and it just feels like I haven't, lol who knows).

To be frank, the endo scares the s#@t out of me. I didn't know I had it until recently, but looking back, I've had the symptoms since I first started my period. SEVERE PERIOD PAINS ARE NOT A NORMAL PART OF BEING A WOMAN!!! Okay? Tell all your friends; spread the word. All my life I thought being bed ridden during a period was just the way it was supposed to be. I didn't really think much about it when my sister would vomit from her period being so intense. My mother remarked that childbirth didn't hurt as much as menstral cramps. Why did no doctor ever step up and say "Hey! This kind of pain isn't normal, and you shouldn't be expected to just endure it!" Seems doctors are as clueless as the general populace when it comes to endo; sadly enough.

40% of women with infertility issues are found to have endo. It is estimated that some 20% of women have endo, but 80% of them are undiagnosed! It takes an average of 8 years before becoming diagnosed! 8 stinking years, of this desease ravaging your body, before being found. How seriously crappy is that? (Some studies claim 10%, some claim as high as 25% of women are suffering from endo, but it seems like 20% was the number that came up the most during the research I have done so far, so that is what I am going with.)

The scary thing about endo is that you never know where it is going to grow, how fast it is going to grow, or even how bad it currently is without exploratory surgry. I don't even know how bad I had it, or how much was removed. I was so drugged out of my head at the time that I don't remember much of what went on after my surgery, besides the horrible nightmares I experianced while under the anethesia, of course. At my post-op appointment I was a bit in shock, so didn't ask the questions I should have. I do remember the Dr. saying the surgery took so long because they had to be so careful. When they first went in, they had to seperate my bowels from my stomach wall so they could even fill my stomach cavity with gas. I didn't think about that at the time, but holy crap! My bowels were fused to my stomach wall! No wonder it hurt so bad when ever I got gas... I was also told that my utures was fused to my abdominal wall on the front, my bowels on the top, and my ovary and fallopian tupe on the left. Also the bladder tube (have no idea what that is acutally called, sorry!) was fused to the rest of the nasty mass of organs, which was why it was hurting so bad to empty my bladder. How could I have dismissed all that pain and just figured "oh, well, it is normal to hurt all the time." This is way too TMI, but intercourse was also painful. When ever pressure was put on the left side (unsurprisingly, that is the side that was full of scar tissue), I would have sharp stabbing pains. I thought this was irritation from my IUD, so like a moron I ignored it :/

I either have a really high tolerance for pain, or am just super scared of looking like a total wuss. I remember being in horrible pain during periods ever since I've had periods. I remember laying on my bed after taking as many advil as my mom would let me, wrapped in a blanket with a heating pad. I would be crying because of the pain, and praying to God to take it away, all while thinking to myself "at least I don't have cramps as bad as my sister, at least I am not throwing up." I struggled with the horrid pains of IBS (irritable bowl syndrome, which is a symptom of endo) when I was in highschool. I remember not bothering taking any advil because I knew it wouldn't even touch the pain. I ended up being impacted to the point of throwing up, not being able to do normal everyday stuff from the pain, but still I didn't want to complain.

When I was in the hospital this past May, I struggled with what to tell the nurses when they asked what my pain level was. I remember the nurse leaving my room after I told her my pain was at a 6 or 7. My husband asked why I was crying, and I said that I was really at a 9, but didn't want to overstate my pain. I was ashamed of understating my pain, but more scared of overstating it and that the nurse might think me weak. Looking back, no one in their right mind would have thought me weak. After all, my organs were being ripped on every time I moved, my abdomen was full of scar tissue, my fallopian tube was on the verge of rupturing, and my pain level was so high the max amount of allowed mophine wouldn't even touch it. Even now, I try to laugh off the endo. I haven't told anyone besides my husband just how scared I am of what the future holds for me. As fast as the endo has progressed these past few months, I think it is looking to be a rather painful life for me.

After I get a BFP, I will be switching to low-carb and start modifing it towards the endo diet. I don't really want to limit my dairy/calcium while pregnant, so I will wait until after the baby is born to do that. I will probably start restricting red meat (boo!) and staying away from all foods that are high in sugar and fructose, and foods that are simple starches. The endo diet is really restrictive, but it will be totally worth it if it controls the endo and gets me close to pain free. Not having caffine won't really effect me much, since I will be staying away from that while pregnant anyway.

I will get into the endo diet later on, once I actually start doing it. I have been doing research on it and will continue to do so. I have read one book on it so far, and plan on buying another book in a few months. This is serious scary stuff, and if I can control it through nutrition instead of surgery every year, why wouldn't I? I would gladly give up all sweets, gluten, caffine, dairy, and red meat if it means I don't have to have surgery regularly to control the spread of the endo.

This has been a long post, but it was a good post. I needed to get some of this off of my chest, and I feel better now. I try to not dwell on this whole topic, but it still gets me down downsometimes. At least right now I have the TTC to obsese over, lol

TTC CD#14 update.

Thank goodness I tested with OPKs at midnight last night! This morning both the Wondfo and Clearblue digital tests were negative. I came so close to missing my LH surge. See, obsessive testing can be a good thing, lol

So, you know what that makes today, right? BD like the earth is gonna end! Hubby is drinking a couple cups of coffee 1 hour before, and we are using Pre-Seed, praying a lot, but besides that not much special (position modification, so sperm have to travel as little as possible, but you know, ewww!). The plan is to BD early in the morning (when sperm count is highest!), once in the afternoon, then again in the evening. After today, we will probably not even look at each other for a week or two, lol Also had a stroke of luck with timing. Sperm count is highest after 4 days of abstinence, then slowly goes down until the lowest point at 7 days abstinence. Since I O'd on the predicted day, we hit the nail on the head...so to speak.

I can't really say what I think of the Pre-Seed as of yet. I do think it is misleading that the box kinda makes it sound like it helps you get pregnant :/ That is totally not the case, it is just a lube that is sperm friendly. The reason we are using it is because I don't want to put raw egg white up there for the sperm to swim through... yes, some women actually do that, lol It doesn't have as high of a PH level as egg whites, but seriously, how nasty is that? I do find it amusing that the applicators remind me of what my parents used to worm goats during my childhood, lol My husband was incredibly grossed out when I mentioned this to him, lol As far as a lube goes, it is nothing special, but probably better than the usual cheap stuff you find in the drugstore. I did love that it came with some coupons though. I wouldn't have bought that digital test without the $10 coupon, and it was a serious mood booster to see that smiley face last night! (even it is was sort of creepy).

I am being good and still drinking my nasty green tea (I hope I get used to the taste, since it is good for endo I will probably be drinking it for a very long time). I had a huge bowl of watermelon this morning, and have tater tots in the oven cooking to have with lunch (*puke* I am so sick of potatoes and watermelon!!). I think I will continue with the boy diet through tomorrow, then ease back into low-carb.

I am officially in the TWW, and will do everything in my power to not test like a psycho!  After doing research on progesterone I feel more confident about not misreading symptoms. It is so sucky to have symptoms and feel pregnant, but it is just the corpus luteum (something I didn't know much about until I was in the hospital with the ectopic) jacking up your hormones! At least this month I know better and I will be ignoring any symptoms I have until at least 10 DPO (days past ovulation). I will try to hold off on using an HPT until AF is due, but I think we all know I will cave and test on day 9, 11, and 13. *sigh* I just have no self control when it comes to peeing on sticks, lol

So that's all for the TTC talk for today. I will post about diet and endo here in a while.

Positive OPK!!!!!!

Like the title says, I just got my positive OPK! The picture below shows the Wondfo strip on top and the creepy smiley face on the Clearblue digital test. I will test again in the morning to see if the surge has faded or is still showing up. Either way, tomorrow is BD day! AF is due the 31st, and tomorrow I will officially be in the TWW! Lots and lots of baby dust!!!

Cd#13 randomness

My hubby is busy on the computer, so I am attempting to blog on my phone :/ We'll see how it goes!

I can't tell you how long these 13 days have been! I am really dreading the TWW, yes still, lol. Tomorrow is the magical O day according to my Period Tracker app. I've been doing OPKs since CD#6, and the lines were darker today! Still not a positive, but pretty close, so I expect a positive tomorrow morning. We bought a box of Pre-Seed and there were coupons for the Clearblue digital ovulation test, so hubby dear is at Walmart buying one (hey, it was a freaking $10 coupon! How could I help myself? Lol) I will probably take another OPK and a digital one around midnight tonight. I am NOT going to miss the surge this month! I am also going to test in the morning, afternoon, and evening tomorrow.

Besides the darker OPK test, I am having other ovulation signs. I notice each month the O signs get worse. I have not seen the normal CM signs, and that seems to just be totally messed up these past couple months (hence why we paid out the rear for a box of Pre-Seed). I have been having O cramping, nasty lower back pain, and one killer headache most of today (aren't hormones lovely?) besides the tell-tale sign of my husband suddenly seeming more attractive, lol I am pretty confident that O is tomorrow or the day after, though I am betting on tomorrow based off the intensity of my -signs-.

We are still doing the boy diet, even though we are really hating it at this point. I have gained so much weight I can't stand to look at myself in the mirror, bleh... Both of us are super gassy with the nastiest smelling farts in existence, so tired we can barely make it through the day, and so hungry all the time despite eating a ton of food. I am going to back off on the diet a couple days after O, as is my husband. I will stop taking the Robitussin and some of the supplements the day after O. Hubby is going to keep taking most of his supplements, as we have suspected his testosterone levels were low anyway. I think he will back off on the gelatin some though, probably 1-2 packets per day instead of 3. I will probably go back to regular water. I have been enjoying the lemon water, but I think a gallon a day for two weeks is enough for awhile!

I think we are both excited to be half-way through the cycle. I know I am anxious to O and get through the TWW. Seems like my husband is so stressed out about other stuff that he doesn't think about TTC that much. When I bring it up he seems excited about it and anxious to find out if it was a success. I am so glad he is better about this stuff than he used to be. If only he could have been so supportive the first time! Oh well, better late than never as the saying goes.

A strange thing happened a few days ago. While talking to my mom on the phone, I casually slipped in that we were swaying for a boy. Instead of the *gasp!* "are you crazy?" that I was expecting I got an "oh really? What things are you trying?" lol I was really surprised, but turns out my mom and dad swayed for a boy and ended up conceiving my big brother! How awesome is that? Whether the swaying actually works or if God just takes pity on people who do it isn't clear, but either way it gives me hope! Once we do manage to get a BFP, I will be itching to find out if the swaying worked. It is sad considering how much we want a boy, but we have such an awesome girl name that it makes me a little sad to not get to use it! Good thing our boy name is awesome too ;) Well, I think it is awesome. My husband is still getting used to the name. Am I a dork for picking names from a fantasy novel? Maybe, but the names are so cool, who really cares?! And yes, no telling what the names are until we know the gender and are in third trimester.

Well, it is super late now. I have about 25 minutes left until I take those tests. I am soooo tired, I will have a hard time getting up to test on time in the morning.

Something random here, but I've been considering signing up for Facebook *shiver* I have avoided it for so long, but it is looking to be the easiest way to share photos with family and friends. I have decided to do it, but I am dragging my feet and trying to preserve what little Internet integrity I have left for as long as I can, lol

Swaying in the wind.

Well, cycle day 5 now, and we are swaying for a boy. I was doing research on TTC (trying to conceive) a baby boy, and discovered that there is a whole group of people trying to influence (thus the sway part) the gender of their baby. I never knew this was such a big thing; guess I was out of the loop.

Swaying uses a couple theories to give either the X or the Y sperm an advantage during conception. One theory has to do with the ph balance in both the mother's and father's bodies. Acidic environments favor girls, and alkaline favor boys. There is a whole diet for each of these, and there are other things to do to affect this. One that I'm not sure about is a douche, something I've never done and don't really want to start. This is kinda gross, but if trying for a boy you use a baking soda douche to make an alkaline environment for the Y swimmers, and a lime douche for the X swimmers. I'll drink the lemon water and gelatin, but I think I'm gonna pass on this one, lol

Another theory has to do with potassium. When a woman eats a diet high in potassium it forms chains in her CM (cervical mucus, again, gross and sorry for that!). What it does is sort of builds a track for the Y sperm and helps to guide them along more efficiently and quickly than the X ones. If trying for a girl you avoid eating potassium and focus on calcium instead.

Then there is the whole deal with testosterone. Higher levels of testosterone in both parents favors a boy. For this, my husband is taking ginseng and we are both drinking/eating 3 packets of plain gelatin a day (ewwwwww, but we are doing it anyway).

There is temperature to think of. A warm environment favors girls and a cool one favors boys. Supposedly more boys are conceived in winter time and girls in summer because of this. This also means that hubby dearest can't take hot showers or wear tight underwear if he wants a boy (or any babies at all if he does it to the extreme and kills them all). Supposedly using an ice pack in that area once a day will give the boy swimmers a better chance.

Lastly there is the theory of timing intercourse around ovulation. For a girl it is best to BD (forum terminology for the "baby dance") a day or two before ovulation, and for a boy you want to BD as close as possible to ovulation. The theory here is that boy sperm are faster than the girls, but weaker and don't live as long.

There are tons of different things a person can do to sway. This is what we are doing.

We are doing the boy diet, so we are going for foods rich in potassium that are alkaline and very low to zero calcium and magnesium. So we are eating red meat, potatoes, V8, watermelon, cantaloupe, bananas, and zucchini (may add more to this in time, but this is what we've got at the moment). We are both drinking around 9-15 glasses of lemon water per day. I thought this didn't make sense given how acidic lemon is, but I guess when it hits your stomach acid it actually turns super alkaline... who knew? I don't mind the lemon water, it is actually kind of refreshing and a nice change from plain water. We are both consuming 3 packets of Knox gelatin per day. This is the really hard part for me. I hate drinking the gelatin. Hot it is thick and nasty, cold it is kinda gritty and thick and a bit chewy. I am experimenting making jigglers using the gelatin and pineapple juice. I think my first batch turned out okay, but not exactly tasty (too much like gummies, but not enough flavor). I may start using kool-aid and stevia for flavoring, and see if I can get that to turn out edible. I would just make jello except aspartame really sways for a girl, and we aren't eating sugar. I don't think I could stand to eat three boxes of jello per day anyway, lol that's a lot of jello!

As far as supplements go, I dropped the calcium I was taking since that sways for a girl. I am taking my prenatal and the fish oil pill (part of the prenatal since I am using the one a day brand with DHA), vitamin E, potassium, and 2000 mg of folic acid. The reason for so much folic acid is because this diet is supposed to be very high in sodium, and sodium blocks some of the folic acid from being absorbed. Not having enough folic acid really ups the chance of miscarriage and birth defects, so it is a no brainer to take the recommended amount for the boy diet. Once I am 12 weeks pregnant, I will wean myself off until I am only taking the folic acid in my prenatals (800mg).  I am also drinking 3 cups of green tea per day. My husband is taking his men's multivitamin, vitamin E, folic acid, ginseng, biotin, and fish oil.

This is way out there, but I am also taking robitussin 2-3 times per day. This is TMI, but it thins out the mucus in your body, in your -entire- body. This helps with CM, making it more hospitable for the wimpy Y sperm. I do this from the last day of AF (aunt flo, even though I hate that term) until O (ovulation, obviously not the -other- O). This step seems really weird to me, but I'm doing it anyway.

There are a couple other things we are doing as well, but they are way too TMI, so I will just skip them ;)

I have an order of OPKs (ovulation prediction kits) and HPTs (home pregnancy tests) that should come today. OPKs are around $16 for 10 tests in the store, and $12 for 3 HPTs unless you buy from the dollar store (which is ALWAYS out, grrr). I ordered the Wondfo brand from Amazon. They are super cheap but supposed to be comparable to the First Response brand. They don't have a plastic holder on them, they are just the test strip (which is okay with me, as I care how they function, not how they look). I only paid $13 for 40 OPKs and 10 HPTs, woohoo! My plan is to use the OPKs starting tomorrow (CD6) and test twice per day until the LH surge is detected and O has happened. I don't want to start testing too late and miss O, and I am testing twice per day so I don't miss the LH surge (which is very easy to do if you only test once per day). I will have enough tests for two months, but I am hoping it only takes one! (I am already tired of being bloated and tired from the carbs, and we just started the boy diet!).

We are doing really well sticking to the diet and staying positive about the whole process. My husband seems interested and supportive, even if he does grumble a bit about some parts of it. I am feeling good that we are actively doing something about this.

I really want to hurry this up and not take very long to get pregnant (I know I can't control it, I just am hoping to influence it as best I can). The endo has been on my mind a lot. I have had four periods since my surgery in May, and each time I bleed longer and the pain gets worse. It scares me that I can feel myself getting worse. The first time there was no pain, the second time some light cramping, the third time medium cramping, and this last period the cramping was getting quite painful. This last period I also noticed I am getting pain in my left side of my abdomen, right were the endometriosis mass was which caused me so much trouble before. It is worrisome that it seems to be spreading so quickly. I feel quite a bit of anxiety about getting pregnant to stop the endo from getting worse for a while.

My husband expressed to me a few days ago that he doesn't think I should get a hysterectomy when we are done having children. He is scared that I will change. I explained to him that we aren't really going to have a choice. My moods have been so messed up since I started puberty, and they are at extremes during my menses. To control the endo, I will either have to hope my diet is enough to stall it, be on hormones to shut down my ovary (basically forcing me into menopause) or else get a hysterectomy and go into menopause. I kind of see it as all options leading to the same place; early menopause. I am not convinced that the changes with menopause would be so bad. At least my hormones could eventually level out and stop doing this roller coaster up and down every month. He has heard horror stories about how vile and mean women get during menopause, but I pointed out to him that we already go through that every month anyway. He had to agree that I was right, lol

Well, I am off to experiment making jigglers with kool-aid, wish me luck!