So now that we’ve told our family what’s going on, I felt like it was time to share it on here. I mean, this is the story of my life right? Seems strange to pass over such a big part of it. So here you go…

Chris and I are on our 13th month of trying to have a baby. I’ve actually been off birth control for longer than that but we used the fertility awareness method (temp tracking your fertile days) prior to officially starting so I’m super familiar with my cycle. I’ve known when I ovulate, when my fertile days were etc. I also knew that I had a short cycle (23-26 days) and a 9-10 day luteal phase (phase after you ovulate). All of this meant we knew when we should “try” and by the time my annual appt with my OBGYN rolled around in February I knew that we’d been trying long enough that something was wrong. Even though my OB said we didn’t need to worry about anything she humored me and started running some tests.

• Prolactin: Good
• Thyroid: Good
• 21 day progesterone: Good
• Ovulation: Good
• Day 3 estrogen and FSH: Good
• Chris: Good (actually good++)
• My tubes: Good
• My cervix: not so good. Narrow and bent at a weird angle
• Ovaries: Left – good. 10 follicles. Right – not so much. It has a cyst and only 3 follicles.

I lumped it all together because it was easier but these tests were actually performed between February and last week with multiple drs in multiple locations. After the cervix discovery I was sent to Oregon Reproductive Medicine where I’m currently a patient of Dr. Barbieri. I love her. My “official” diagnosis is unexplained infertility because none of those things above should cause infertility but somehow in my case, they are. She actually thinks it all maps back to hormones – my short cycles along with my androgenic alopecia (Long story. l was diagnosed last year. It’s believed to be related to hormones. But I only have enough for one medical issue today so we’ll save that story for another time).

So I have unexplained infertility and less than a 5% chance of having a baby naturally (FYI most normal couples have only a 20-30% chance of conceiving each month). What do I do about it? Well, last Wednesday I started clomid – a drug to help me have a better/stronger ovulation (hopefully help level out whatever is causing my cycle to be so short). I took clomid for 5 days and on Thursday I start testing for the ovulation/LH surge. Once I get that, I go back to ORM and I get another ultrasound to check my follicles/eggs. If I responded well to Clomid I should have 1 or 2 good eggs and from there Dr. Barbieri would perform an IUI (basically using a catheter to put Chris’ guys directly into my uterus thus bypassing my cervix). If I didn’t respond well to clomid or I don’t ovulate before we leave for Nashville on Wednesday we try to have a baby the old-fashioned way. Either way, two weeks later we’ll find out if we’re pregnant or not.

If I get my period we do the clomid/IUI 3 more times. If none of those work we move on to IVF. With clomid/IUI we have a 20-30% success rate. With IVF we have 70%. I really, really don’t want to do IVF but we’re going to cross that bridge when we get there. My dr does feel very strongly that we’ll be pregnant by December so here’s hoping that I can’t ring in the new year with champagne :)

Besides all the drugs and science there are a few natural things I’m working on as well…for starters, cutting way back on working out. In fact, at least 2 days a week I am not allowed to work out at all. Apparently they’ve seen the short cycle issue in women who workout/run a lot. This is going to be the hardest for me. It’s already been hard and it wasn’t only a week ago that Dr. Barbieri told me to stop…. And I need to eat more fat. Thankfully I’ve always had lower body fat which has been a big bonus until now. Now I need more fat. Healthy fats. Hello avocados.

And acupuncture. I’ve been going to a great acupuncturist for over a year for my knees and about 6 months ago I started talking to her about fertility treatments and did a couple of sessions with her but didn’t have much success so I switched to a new clinic. Blossom acupuncture and Liz Richards are extremely well-known in the infertility community and work closely with Oregon Reproductive Medicine to treat women going through infertility treatments. Liz also comes to ORM and does acupuncture treatments on women the day of their IVF/embryo transfers. Basically there is a ton of research that supports higher pregnancy rates when acupuncture is involved. So I’ve added weekly acupuncture treatments with Liz to my fertility “program.”

So there you have it. The abridged version of the story. Infertility totally sucks. And I have had my fair share of tearful, sad, why-me, mopy days. I mean, you think you fall in love, get married, have a baby. Easy right? And you make your baby in some romantic way and then you’re suppose to get that super exciting moment where you run into the bathroom with a pregnancy test and start crying together… Or not. Or you take a bunch of drugs, feel a little sick, make your husband bring his specimen to the lab and then have a random dr try to impregnate you by sticking a really big needle type thing up your lady parts.

But in the end you get the same result. You get a baby. And that’s what we’re aiming for. And to be honest, the best thing I did was going to ORM. Dr. Barbieri said that so many times women feel like there is this “rule” that you have to wait a year before you can go to a fertility clinic and that’s absolutely not true. I’m so glad I trusted my gut and pushed my OBGYN to start testing things because if I had relied on her I would still be stuck in that unknown waiting phase. Now we have a plan. I know what steps come next and the order that we’ll do things. Hopefully it works the 1st time but if it doesn’t I know that we’re strong enough to try again. I completely believe that everything happens for a reason and our baby is out there, we just need to wait for the the rest of our story to fall into place before we meet them.

And to anyone out there who might be struggling with this – I’m an open book. I will do my best to answer any question you might have and tell you about all the tests and treatment options we’ve tried. Infertility should not be something that people talk about secretly. It’s not something shameful that women should be embarrassed about.

So get ready, besides my dinners, my weekend adventures, my workouts (and how I’m toning them down) you’ll also get to join me on our journey for a baby. Thanks for coming along.

And because every post needs to have a picture – here’s a good one from the weekend.

The post My infertility story appeared first on Whit Likes Fit.

Here’s what came in the mail to me. Love.

PS somehow I lost my good camera photo so all you get is this iphone one:

• Two flavors of protein powder – french vanilla and white chocolate
• Two pre-mixed protein shakes in french vanilla and chocolate
• 6 protein bars. 2 flavors each of peanut butter crunch, chocolate caramel crunch and triple chocolate crunch
• 3 boxes of Protein 2Go – in lemonade, mixed berry and tropical orange

I have tried everything except the Protein 2Go (still haven’t gotten around to it) and I have to say, I’m super impressed! Everything has been delicious and for the most part, I don’t get the typical “fakey” taste that you find with a lot of protein powders. My favorite by far out of the entire package were the protein bars.

I am really, really picky about my bars. I swear I can take one bite and taste fake sugar – stevia, splenda, sucralose – whatever it is, my taste buds can spot it immediately. But not with these bars. So good and they all had 10g of protein and were less than 170 calories. I will even admit to you that I ate two a day. Back to back. Because they were so good I just couldn’t stop.

So I bet you’re wondering what my favorite flavor was?? Drum roll please…chocolate caramel crunch! I was completely surprised by this since I am a major peanut butter lover. I even saved those to the end because I thought they would be my favorite but there was just something about the caramel – it tasted so real. So “true to taste” if you will. The chocolate was my least fave. I think in general I’m just not a big fan of super chocolate things but it’s definitely worth trying.

Unfortunately I didn’t really like the pre-made shakes but I kind of have pre-conceived opinions about pre-made shakes so I probably didn’t give them a fair shot. See, back during the summer before my wedding, in the depths of Hood to Coast training and crazy times at work, I lived off Muscle Milk pre-made protein shakes. Until I was sick of them. And read that they were made with arsenic. So even though these from Designer Whey taste way better, I just couldn’t get the thought of the Muscle Milk/crazy protein drink summer out of my head. And to be honest, I want to make my own shakes. And the fact that they are shakes that can come shipped un-refrigerated. I mean. Kind of strange.

Between the two however, the vanilla was better than the chocolate. And if I was in a bind and needed a quick shot of 18g of protein I would toss one of these back but I probably would never pay for one of them.

And now for what I’m sure you’ve all been waiting for – the actual protein powders. Between the two, the white chocolate is by far my fave! I will admit that with the vanilla I get a slight fake taste. Not sure if it’s because it’s french vanilla or what, or maybe because I’m comparing it to the white chocolate but either way – if I’m buying one of these, it’s the white chocolate.

I mixed up a variety of protein shakes with these using a variety of berries, bananas, almond milk, coconut milk, spinach and even shredded carrots. But my favorite recipe was this one below:

Coffee Banana White Chocolate Protein Shake

• 1 frozen banana
• 1 scoop Designer Whey white chocolate protein powder
• 1 tablespoon 5 sparrows sugar free white chocolate
• 1/2 cup black coffee
• 1/2 cup almond milk

Blend it all up and server in a big glass that makes you happy. Like a Starbucks tumbler that reminds you of Maui :)

So there you have it. My Designer Whey review. I would feel super comfortable buying their products – especially the protein bars and the white chocolate powder. I plan on trying the Protein 2Go’s after a run when it’s a little hotter out. Right now I’m calling the lemonade as my fave but you never know – with the protein bars it wasn’t what I expected. Watch – I’ll end up picking mixed berry which is the flavor I never like.

But enough of this. I’m shutting down the computer and off to the airport to pick up my husband who has been in Costa Rica for the past 15 days (PS I just wrote years instead of days, someone is tired). Anyway, I can’t wait for him to be back. Chance and I have definitely missed him.

Hope you’re all having good Friday nights.

Note – I received these products for free from Designer Whey as part of my partnership with Fitfluential. As with everything on this blog – all opinions are completely my own.

The post Presents from Designer Whey appeared first on Whit Likes Fit.

The sunset falls in Wichita
Yellow dances through the blue
The wheat fields catch a glimpse of Heaven
Makes me think of you
Even when you’re miles away
You’re always on my mind
Lord, knows you’re in my heart
Even when I close my eyes

You are golden
Precious as a prayer
Flyin’ up through the air
While the rain is fallin’
Golden
Timeless as a kiss
Baby I don’t wanna miss
Another perfect moment
To tell you
How you make me feel
The day you strolled in
My heart was stolen
‘Cause you are golden

Smallest parts of who you are
Are everything to me
From the way you laugh, the way you cry
To the way you love all me
Shadows run and darkness fades
When you come around
My single star amongst the grey
Always shining down

You are golden
Precious as a prayer
Flyin’ up through the air
While the rain is fallin’
Golden
Timeless as a kiss
Baby I don’t wanna miss
Another perfect moment
To tell you
How you make me feel
The day you strolled in
My heart was stolen
(Heart was stolen)

‘Cause you are golden, lovely
Oh so hard to find
Yeah you are goodness, forgiveness
Of the purest kind
Ooh yeah

From the day you strolled in
My heart was stolen
You’ll be the hand I’m holdin’
When the heavens open
‘Cause you are golden.

The post Golden appeared first on Whit Likes Fit.

See I had to go to Fred Meyer for stamps and suddenly when I was there I thought buying a bag of chocolate chips sounded like a great plan. After FM I came home, walked the dog, took out all 3 garbages, watered the plants, made dinner and baked the cookies all by 8!!! Pretty sure that’s record time. But here’s the thing, it’s 8:51 and I’m still bored. The cookies really didn’t do much besides taste delicious. There are tons of other things I could be doing right now – catching up on work, reading a book, folding laundry, playing with Chance … But I just can’t get motivated. Instead I’m sitting around the kitchen eating cookies and shopping Pinterest.

However I was at least productive on the workout front today. I managed to piece together 4 miles at lunch but they were not smooth. I went on a new route today which turned out to be about a mile shorter than I expected so I basically spent my last mile running awkwardly around my building’s business park. Do you guys ever do things like that? Run around just so you can hit your mileage?

And because this post is full of randomness, lets add a couple more. Tell me which hair cut is your favorite.

The post Cookies and running appeared first on Whit Likes Fit.

Today in church they talked about honoring your mom 365 days a year – not just on mother’s day. And at least for me, that’s a great reminder. I love my mom so much! It’s because of her that I’m who I am today and even though we’ve had our fair share of struggles, and don’t necessarily have a “typical ” mother/daughter relationship she’s still the lady that gave me life. The lady that loves me more than anyone else on this earth. My biggest champion. The lady who would do ANYTHING for me. And I need to not take it for granted so much. I need to be a better daughter. Better at showing love to her. So mom – don’t just think my present to you was a trip to Oly, a walk, and an extremely needy dog grandson – know that for your present this year I’m really going to work on honoring, respecting and cherishing you every day! Thank you for being my mom. You’re such a wonderful example of a selfless, kind-hearted and strong woman and I’m lucky that God chose you for me.

And now for a visual of our weekend -

A walk down to the bay to a new park by my mom’s house. It’s gorgeous! It didn’t exist when I lived there. I’m super jealous that mom my can just jaunt down the hill. There’s also space to drop in kayaks too…

Lots of playtime with Chance. He loves my mom.

Sunday morning church with mom, granny and my brother. Please note – horrible angle and lighting on these photos and I am not pregnant even though my mom appears to be rubbing my belly.

My brother whipped up quite the lunch. He’s really cleaned up his diet and has lost 30 lbs! He looks amazing!! I need to get some of his willpower, especially as I ate 4 of my mom’s chocolate chip cookies.

Sunday after church we went on a 4.8 mile walk up to my mom’s office at the Capitol. We walked down from her house, around Capitol lake, up to her office and then back home around the lake. I seriously miss that running trail. Probably my favorite trail ever. The lake on your right and the bay on your left? With the salty air smell? Can’t be beat.

And then we snuck Chance into my mom’s office. We literally walked him through the Captiol building and the legislative floor. People can’t even get in there if they don’t wear a shirt and tie. Imagine what they’ll think when they find dog hair in there. We are such rebels.

And now I’m off to bed. I did a great job of prepping all my lunches and dinners for the week. Can’t week to eat clean and workout.

One last shout-out to my mom. Thanks for being you :)

Hope you all had great mother’s days. Let me know what you did to honor her.

The post I miss my mom appeared first on Whit Likes Fit.

But I just couldn’t go to bed until I shared my most recent obsession: Shredded sweet potatoes. They’re like a healthier more delicious version of hasbrowns and I’ve found I can easily sub them for a rice/quinoa/other carb option.

Ready for this? Get a sweet potato (or yam), peel it and grate it with a cheese grater. You could easily use a food processor but mine sits under the counter and the cheese grater is easier. I actually grate it right into the pan I plan on sauteing them in so you save a dish. Once you have all the little grated guys in there, spray generously with olive oil (I use a misto) and then add in the seasonings of your choice.

I like a few shakes of granulated garlic, a couple twists of sea salt and a generous amount of cayanne pepper.

From there, cook them over medium high heat. I try to leave them alone for a couple of minutes so they get nice and crispy before flipping to the other side. You do have to be careful and watch these because they burn easily. I usually flip them over a couple of times but they should be done in 5-10 minutes (for one small-medium sized potato).

I could easily eat them plain, on a salad, as a side, with green eggs and ham (I kid, I kid).

But really my favorite way to eat them is like this.

I bet you’d like to know that recipe? Well, you’re just going to have to come back later in the week for it. It’s bedtime around this joint.

Question – what’s your favorite way to eat a sweet potato?

The post Shredded Sweet Potatoes appeared first on Whit Likes Fit.

I also felt so fortunate to look around the table at all the people who make up Connor’s “village.”  My aunt and uncle, cousins, grandma and then a few other of my aunt and uncle’s friends along with their kids… all these people who mean so much to Connor and who have supported him since he was a little boy.  And even though these people aren’t technically my “family” I’ve been lucky to have their support as well…in fact, all of them were at my wedding.  And the coolest story of the night was that the room we were eating in at Waverly was the same room my aunt and uncle hosted one of their wedding receptions in 25 years ago.  The same room that they celebrated Connor’s high school graduation in and the same room that hosted one of my bridal showers just about 3 years ago.  It was just a cool feeling.  To be part of something so full of history and memories.  Just another reminder about how lucky I am to have this life.  Thank you Jesus for giving it to me :)

And in other news, it’s been an amazing weekend here in Portland with temperatures in the 80s.  I took full advantage of it by spending as much time as possible in the yard.  One of my favorite things is laying out with a book in the sunshine along a body of water and even though the body of water has been replaced with some grass and the book is now an ipad it’s still one of my go-to activities on a sunny day.

While I was outside on Saturday Chance started acting like a weirdo. Wandering around, staring at something in the yard so I went over to investigate and turns out he had found the mole in the act of digging up our yard.  I apologize for any animal lovers out there but moles are horrible and they terrorize our yard every summer.  Chris has traps but we typically have to spend $125 a month on the Mole Man.  So yeah, we hate them.  And when I saw the mole moving around I knew I had to act fast so I ran and grabbed the shovel and beat the crap out of him.  And killed him.  Sorry.  Even writing that is horrible and I hate that I had to do it but it was that or shelling out $125.  But it was so gross.  And then disposing of a dead mole body.  Yuk.  I had a picture (that I took to send to Chris) but I didn’t want to offend any of you.

Ok, moving on to happier things.  I also tried some new recipes this weekend.

The bowl was so delicious.  It’s grilled tempeh with shredded sweet potatoes, steamed broccoli, goat cheese and sriracha.  I had it again today for lunch.  The shredded sweet potatoes are sooooo good.  I’ll do a full post on it later in the week after I try it with chicken. The smoothie was a mix of berries, bananas, brown rice protein powder, spinach, peanut butter and almond milk.

Oh and two more pictures of today.  The dress I wore tonight which was from Target and amazing.  It can also be a skirt.  I tried it with both a black and brown belt…so versatile.  I wish I’d bought a million more of these. And the desserts at Waverly.  3 mini delicious versions – a cheesecake, berry angel food cake, and some sort of incredible rich chocolate thing.

And that’s what I have.  Hope you all had good weekends.  I’ve got a busy week ahead so I’m already counting down to the next one :)

Question – out of those three desserts which one would you choose?

The post Oh the places you’ll go appeared first on Whit Likes Fit.

My big birthday present is our trip to the east coast but because my husband is amazing he also bought me Adam Levine.  Well not him…but rather tickets to see him in September.  I can’t wait.

And speaking of birthdays, the tree in our front yard always seems to know when it’s my birthday.  Without fail it always pops on my special day.  I love it.  It makes me so happy.

Other birthday updates – how sweet is this FB note from my dad?  I’m a lucky girl.

And speaking of other things that make me happy…Jillian of course.  Today was a little nutty and I didn’t have time to go to the gym so I enjoyed a little pre-dinner Jillian Ripped in 30 level 1 followed by 25 minutes on the bike.

Other things of note – my mesculin green seeds sprouted!  Can’t wait for the rest of my garden to pop.

And that’s what I’ve got for now.  Just a wee bit random. Hope you’re all having great weeks.

The post Tuesday thoughts appeared first on Whit Likes Fit.

The great part about having a blog is that my entire life is recorded and that makes things really easy when trying to take a look back on it. I honestly can’t believe that it’s been a year since I turned 30. I mean, really? A year has already gone by? And for a brief moment I thought that the past 365 days had gone by without any big significant moment. But then I remembered all the things that happened. And maybe there wasn’t one huge moment but that all of these moments sure added up to one great year. Here’s my year in rewind:

Tried the recipe that would become my favorite meal of the year

Started our bike riding tradition

Became part of Fitfluential

Went wine tasting with friends and fam

Went to Mexico for the Pascoe wedding

Went to Lake Billy Chinook and got wet

Had fun times at the Makela wedding

Celebrated Lauren and Jon getting hitched

Enjoyed the start of summer + yard projects

Went to Sunriver to celebrate my father in law’s birthday

My berry picking/jam making adventures

Olympia + DaBob bay – yurts, boats and crab

Went camping at Barlow Creek

My 1st time not running Hood to Coast

The Pendleton round-up + anniversary in Hood River

The endless summer + night time bike rides

Saw Jake Owen in Salem

Celebrated at Kristi & Joel’s wedding

I got a new computer

Seattle/Olympia trip for the Coug game

Got a new job

Had a nice visit with my mom

Went to North Carolina

Went to San Francisco + friends + football

Went to Scottsdale

Went to Atlanta

Celebrated Thanksgiving at the beach

Had Christmas in Seattle

We bought a new car

Went to Sunriver for New Years + snowshoeing adventures

Chris went to Asia and Chance had an anxiety attack

We went snowshoeing at Mt. Hood.

We went to Maui for the Duncan wedding

I broke the snowboard out of semi retirement

We went wine tasting

We spent a weekend in Pacific City

Chris made me new raised beds

We celebrated 5 years of togetherness

We tackled the beer trail

Looking back on it makes me realize how freaking great I have it. I mean, who gets to do all of these fun things in one year! The highlights are definitely Mexico and Maui. And I’d say I could pinpoint a few of the best moments – In Mexico listening to David Gray on the roof top deck, when I heard the first few bars of Hey Pretty Girl as Kea and Lorrin danced their 1st dance and our last night in Maui, sitting on our open air patio and then feeling so loved as my husband pulled me into a dance to a country song that neither of us can quite remember…I think it’s was Kenny maybe? Or even as recent as a few weekends ago at the beach when Chris pulled me outside before we went to bed to look at the moon and stars in the crisp ocean air.

See what’s happening here? For a girl who started out this post not really sure about one significant moment, I sure seem to be able to come up with some haha.

Anyway, all in all, great year. In fact, probably one of the best ever. 31 has a lot of pressure on itself but I’m sure it can handle it :)

So Happy Birthday to myself. May this year be full of love, adventure, growth and plenty of good times. Can’t wait to read about what happens next.

The post 30 in rewind appeared first on Whit Likes Fit.

Monday is my actual birthday and to be honest, I really don’t want to do anything for it.  I think when you’re pretty content with the way things are it doesn’t feel like I need to make a big deal about things.  I want to get in my lunchtime pilates and cardio, a good day of eating and a nice night with my husband and I’m set :)

The post Birthdays and beach weekends appeared first on Whit Likes Fit.