I got my period. Mind you, we haven't started "trying" yet, so this wasn't a disappointment. In fact, it was the opposite. Ever since I stopped taking the pill in late January, getting my period (one that has nothing to do with a hormonal birth control pill cycle), has been kind of exciting — especially the first time. I swear, when I saw those little red drops on my underwear again, I felt some of the same excitement and empowering feelings of "being a woman" that I felt the first time I got my period at 13.

Trying to figure out when I ovulate over the last few months has actually been an eye-opening experience. I've been reading some books, including Taking Charge of Your Fertility, by Toni Weschler, MPH, and I've started "charting" my cycle. So, each day I've been monitoring my basal temperature and cervical mucus (which I will refer to as CM from now on, to spare you the discomfort of reading the term "cervical mucus" over and over).

FYI: I don't assume I'll be able to get pregnant. In fact, I'm really nervous that I'll have trouble conceiving or keeping a pregnancy. It's not that I have a family history of infertility (although I do have friends and extended family who've had fertility problems, and it's been incredibly trying, to say the very least). It's just that I can't escape all the talk of infertility around me and it's clouding my ability to think rationally.

Infertility is the buzz word of women in their 30s and 40s. (I have to admit that I've even written articles on boosting fertility.) And it feels like every time I watch anything on TV about women and kids (The Today Show particularly!), or read anything about women and family in magazines, or even talk with women, I hear about how getting pregnant is so hard or how miscarriages are so common.

After getting the wrong vaccination, I freaked out a little. I didn't make a fuss with my doctor, though. When I freak out it often means that I can't help but talk to everyone and anyone about my problem to see if they might have the solution. I admit I can be kind of annoying.

So naturally, I spent weeks talking to every expert I know (as well as my co-workers, my parents, my husband, and anyone else who could possibly advise me). Do I risk the severe reaction to another tetanus shot? Or do I just figure that the chances of getting whooping cough are really low, and that it's unlikely I'd get it while pregnant (which would seriously stink... although it wouldn't harm the fetus)? I COULD just get the shot right after delivery, which could happen anywhere from a year to two years out, assuming I get pregnant within a year of trying (fingers crossed). Would that be a better bet?

While I was getting obgyn recommendations from friends, I decided to ask my primary care doctor to help me out on the vaccination front. I wanted to check my immunity to chicken pox (technically called varicella), and everything else I'm supposed to be vaccinated against. I also wanted to get the whooping cough (pertussis) vaccine, which comes along with the tetanus vaccine — it's a combo vaccine that includes Tetanus, Diptheria, and Acellular Pertussis (it's called the Tdap vaccine).

Should have been simple. I mean, here I am, a health writer — someone who has been interviewing doctors for years about the particulars of women's and kids' health (and pregnancy) — so getting my own health in order before conception should have been easy as pie. But of course, nothing is ever that easy.

A little while ago I went to my obgyn for a preconception checkup. I wanted to let him know I went off the pill, and make sure everything was in working order, that I didn't have any diseases, and check that I was up to date on my vaccinations. Oh, and I wanted to get his recommendation on a daily multivitamin with enough folic acid.

Simple. In fact, this is what we recommend in Parenting magazine all the time (because experts have recommended it to us): Go to your doctor for a preconception checkup to make sure you're healthy before you start trying to get pregnant.

Apparently, some doctors haven't gotten this memo.

In a few short weeks, my husband and I are going to start trying to get pregnant. And to be honest, I'm not exactly sure why I'm advertising this to the world. In fact, I'm a little nervous about sharing this — as though I may be jinxing the outcome by talking about it too much.

Welcome to The Fertility Files — Parenting.com's new preconception blog.

Meet Rachel Rabkin Pechman, 31-year-old dog-lover and Parenting health director, as she begins her journey to conception. You'll get to hear all about her dreams and worries, her trials and, we hope, triumphs, in her attempts to get pregnant.

In the coming months, more bloggers will be adding their voices, and their own fertility stories, to The Fertility Files. In the meantime, we look forward to hearing your comments. This is more than a blog — it's a conversation.

Enjoy!