And now here we are - it's been four months since the miscarriage, and we're in the middle of our third cycle trying to get pregnant again. The first cycle was natural; the second one and the current one are both Clomid cycles. It's been really tough to see the negative tests in both of those failed cycles. I got pregnant so quickly the first time - why not now?! 

Six weeks after the miscarriage, I went back to the doctor for a follow-up appointment. They'd gotten the results of the genetic testing - our baby was a boy with triploidy, a fairly rare chromosomal abnormality. The doctor said it was random and unlikely to happen again in future pregnancies. "These things just happen," he said. "But your body is back to normal, and you can start trying again whenever you're ready."

"Oh, I think I'm ready now!" I said. Truthfully, I'd been chomping at the bit for weeks at that point. I knew that getting knocked up again wasn't really going to make the grief go away, but I couldn't help hoping that it would. The first two rounds of "trying again," I approached sex in the fertile window with an addict's zeal, chasing my husband around the house while screaming "inseminate me!" (Pro tip: desperation is not exactly sexy. This approach was as likely to end in tears as it was to end in attempted fertilization.) 

I'm trying to do it a little differently this time around. Tonight, I'll be heading home with a bottle of wine and some raw oysters, and I'll spend a few minutes in the bathroom trying to arrange my face into a seductive expression. (Not that easy, considering the fact that my acne has been borderline horrific on and off since the miscarriage. My dermatologist was like, "It's like playing Whack-a-mole! We get one pimple under control and another one pops up somewhere else!" Thanks, body, for that added bonus...) 

Hopefully, the wine and oysters will do the trick - considering how many of my friends have made babies while intoxicated, I'm starting to believe that booze actually makes you extra-fertile - but even if it doesn't, I think my husband will be happier to be presented with a drunk wife trying to do a sexy dance than one who is sobbing, "I'll never be a mother if you don't get it up RIGHT NOW!" (Can you believe that line didn't work?!)

Oh yes, the joys of attempting to conceive!