bump #35: the balancing act

As fun as walking a tightrope sounds (that actually does sound fun to me) that is not the kind of balance I'm talking about. Today I got to learn about hormonal imbalance. And it's about as thrilling as sitting in an hour of traffic. Which I also got to learn about today. Twice.

This morning I had blood drawn to check on my estrogen and progesterone levels to ensure that I did in fact ovulate and to get an early indicator about any possible implantation. I skipped this test for our first IUI in May mostly because I knew the IUI didn't work (hello polyp) but also because I was vacationing in Mexico. I like that reason more.  Having never done this test before I'm still not sure what my normal levels are but I did some research on the trusty (?) interwebs and found that post ovulation progesterone levels should be above 15 nanograms per milileter and post implantation levels should be above 20. Good news: Mine was 25 :) 
Estrogen levels should be above 200 picagrams per milileter. Bad news: Mine was 134 :( 

Those amounts are not balanced. We've got to up the estrogen.

I never thought my problem would be low estrogen! My husband is nodding in agreement. 

Here's a pic of my lab results

(sorry it's hard to read, don't worry I already gave you the important numbers.)

 The solution to low estrogen levels: an estrogen patch. Off to Costco to fill a prescription.

So now I am sporting a big 'ol band-aid patch on my lower tummy helping level out the estrogen/progesterone ratio and reading about possible side effects of said patch, which is never a good idea. But with the theme being balance, to counteract that bad idea I came up with a brilliant idea. Here goes...

I'm not even 5 feet tall (womp womp) which has it's obvious disadvantages. But one very distinct advantage: When it's dark out, like say Halloween night, and all the neighborhood kids are out trick-or-treating, I can pretty much join in their group and blend right in, capitalizing on my handicap.

There's estrogen in chocolate, right?

I'll be over 200 pokemons in no time! 

{ok so it's picagrams, but I've NEVER heard of that unit of measurement in my life!}

 If you really want to know why I was running around town in a costume today, hop over here!