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Putting Things in Perspective

I must really live in a bubble, because I only just found out about the Haiti earthquake. More than 100,000 died in yesterday's 7.0 quake 10 miles from the capital of Port-au-Prince. The powerful earthquake flattened the president's palace and the main prison, the cathedral, hospitals, schools and thousands of homes. Thousands are still trapped. And here I am, boo-hooing about my fertility problems. Let's all keep Haiti in our prayers. # # # Last week, a regular customer at my mother's store came in after a 2-week vacation. Upon learning that she had been to Nigeria to visit relatives, I asked if the country is still a dangerous place to visit. "Oooohh yes. In fact, we narrowly escaped an attack one night!" "That's horrible! What happened?" "We were...

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Things I Have Learned While Trying to Get Pregnant (Warning: Entire Post is TMI)

I have been poring over pregnancy, miscarriage, fertility, and TTC (trying to conceive) boards for the past few months. Here are a few things that made me go "huh" while clucking my tongue in (disgusted) surprise: 1. The woman's body is (usually) a toxic environment for sperm. The vaginal vault has a very low pH (acidic) of about 3 or 4, while sperm only thrive in alkaline environments (such as semen, with a normal pH of 7.2-7.8). That means that my body is prepared to kill J's little swimmers within an hour or two of entering my body. Good to know! The good news is that right before ovulation, a woman's cervical mucus will turn alkaline and will create a more "friendly" environment...

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