It sounds dodgier than it is, trust me.
I was horrified to learn that one of the things that FA* recommends, in general, but especially while going through IVF cycles, is drinking 3 litres of water a day. 3!! That's a lot of water.
I'm a terrible drinker, I really am (and I don't mean that in the alcoholics anonymous sense of the word either). I try, I do, but I never drink enough. I have a 400ml bottle of water which sits by my desk at work, or goes in my handbag if I'm out and about, but often (and by 'often' I mean 'usually') I only go through it twice a day.
I was going through a really good patch for a few months where I was sinking my 8 glasses religiously because supposedly it helps with trying to conceive** (the footnote is to spare my boy readers - this way, even though they'll look, they can't blame me for getting more information than they bargained on. They were duly warned) but did about as much good in the conception department as spending loads of money.
Over and above straight water, I do have my morning coffee or cup of tea (only one a day though as a rule), but since coffee is my favoured beverage most days, and it's a diuretic, it doesn't really count. I do like tea and have that occasionally, and it's better because you do achieve a net gain in water from tea (I read that in a Wilderness mag last month or the month before), which means that I probably should switch to tea. Except I'm not going to. Weeellll, I might say try and have tea three times a week and coffee two (in the mornings) because over all it is better, but I'm not doing it until my work moves and I'm not going past Luscious on my way to work anymore. And, of course, if those cups of tea and coffee might be the finger-on-the-flush-button when it comes to tipping $8,000.00 down the loo after a failed IVF cycle, I say bring on the water!
I also have a drink of something else during the day like a Bundaberg Peachee (loaded with sugar, but oh ohhhhh so nice), or an OJ, and fruit and veges and sauces etc have a water content which will helps ...
OK! Ok, Ok, OK ...I'm scratching going for the fruit and veges thing. Duly acknowledged.
The point is that I don't drink enough, and I certainly don't drink enough as per the FA recommendations, and I want to follow their recommendations to the letter for IVF. We really want this to work.
So, as part of the whole planning IVF thing I've been trying to get my water intake up, and so far I've made it up to about 4 (400ml)bottles of water a day (except for yesterday, where I made a dismal effort), plus a couple of other different types of drinks. So I just need to double that intake (!!!) and maintain it and I'm away sailing.
The thing is, it's all very well drinking lots of water, and I know it's good for you and everything but I need to wee all the time. I'm not exaggerating. All the time. It's not so bad if I don't have my cup of coffee in the morning, but once you have that cup of coffee it's all over. It's a bit like breaking the seal if you've had a night on the turps (which, for the record, I never ever have. It's just what I've heard. I promise Mum. Cross my heart!). I swear, if anyone even so much as leaves a tap going for 5 seconds I'm off. I have to stick my fingers in my ears if I fill the jug, or run a sink of water to do dishes. I seem to spend half my day jiggling in my seat with my legs crossed five times, or dancing around on the spot thinking un-puddle-like thoughts.
The other thing is that a standard glass of water is 200ml, right?*** So the recommended 8 glasses a day is only 1600ml. You occasionally hear about 2 litres instead of 8 glasses, which still isn't too bad ...it's only an extra 2 glasses ('only' says me that is crap at drinking), but 3 litres? That's 15 glasses! That seems like an awful lot of water. And if I'm drinking that much water, won't I start washing away some of the good crap as well as the bad crap?
I guess I could just stop complaining about it and get on with it ...but where's the fun in that?
*Fertility Associates
** Among other things, increasing your water intake helps your body make lots of cervical mucus, which is what helps carry the swimmers up the you-know post-funny-business to where they need to be going.
*** I'm basing this on the pre-op instructions I got before my endo surgery. They said something along the lines of x glasses of water and a standard glass equalling 200ml. Good enough for me.
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