Monday, July 30, 2012

Menopur Monday

Today is Day 3 of Meno.pur and Bra.velle...good times! The symptoms have already started after just 2 doses...mood swings, headaches, tired. At least this time we are laughing more over the  mood swings. J just looks at me and says "Hormones" and I grin sheepishly and laugh. Hopefully it continues this way. I didn't get the headaches last time but I am guessing that with the high dosage comes the headaches earlier on in the cycle. I am so glad I found the tip about icing before doing the shots. I can still feel the sting of the Meno.pur but it seems a little better.

Last night was our first "incident" with doing the shots. (I am a bit of a wimp so J does the shots for me.) Usually he counts before giving me the shot...last night he decided he would try just doing it without telling me it was coming. Um, that did not work. I ended up jumping back and pulling the needle out so I got two shots instead of just one with the Brav.elle. No more surprising me. :)

I am really glad I participated in July's ICLW - it was fun finding new blogs and receiving support in my corner of the blogging world.

Hope y'all are having a Marvelous Monday!

Friday, July 27, 2012

Let the Adventure Begin

We had our monitoring/blood draw appointment this morning. I followed some tips that I read this week about how to have a better blood draw and I really thought it was going to go well. When the tech felt my veins and said "Yup, there's a good one right there." Needle went in just fine and then....nothing. It was moved around a bit and finally we were in business. Oh my, not the way I like to start my day at all.

Then we met with Dr. A and Wandy...both J and I were really happy that we were able to see Dr. A. The other doctors are all great and very friendly but we both feel more at ease when we see Dr. A. My lining looked great - nice and thin...so that was good news. No cysts...more good news. 3 follies on the left and 3 follies on the right. I am trying to find the positive here...there's one more than when we started last time, so that is definitely good. There is a piece of me that wondered if we were making a mistake in moving forward with this round, BUT it only takes one. So here's to hoping that one of those follies decides to become THE ONE. :)

Here's a picture of my socks for today:



On our first date J and I went to play mini-golf and have ice cream. As we were eating our ice cream we spotted two skunks right not far from where we were sitting. Once they got within about 6 or so feet of our picnic table I jumped up. The ironic part of me jumping up was that at the time I had on an air cast for a broken foot. Ever since that night we think of skunks just a little bit differently. :)

Thursday, July 26, 2012

The Meds Are Here!

My medications arrived this morning!! It's so odd to see boxes and boxes of meds that mean lots and lots of belly shots and be excited. I am ready to take on my role of human pin cushion once again!
My only concern was that during IVF#1 all the meds came with ice packs and this time (new pharmacy) they were just in the box. I am hoping that they are fine and there is nothing to worry about. I've sent an email to my nurse just to make sure there is nothing to be concerned about. I know at some point the temperature was above 77 when they traveled from Masschusetts to Texas.

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday

Thought I'd share some puppy pictures.

 About 10 weeks old

Just over 2 years old

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Terrific Tuesday

When I lived with a friend of mine after college we would leave each day telling each other to have a good day by using the day of the week with an adjective. So it would be "Have A Marvelous Monday, Terrific Tuesday, Wonderful Wednesday", etc... So I've decided, I'm going to make Tuesdays terrific!

I still have the work situation hanging over my head. My boss returns from his trip to the West Coast today so I am hoping we'll find a way to resolve this situation. I need this knot in my stomach to go away!

Now on to the terrific stuff! (bullet-style)

* Slept in today - forgot to set the alarm and our back-up (the puppies) did not go off until 7:05am...an extra half-hour of sleep! We didn't have to rush to get ready because work is pretty quiet for both of us. (I was only about 10 minutes late, so not bad at all!)

* I ordered my meds today and they'll be here on Thursday! It's about $1K less than we had anticipated - yay!

* It's not 100 today...a stretch maybe for something terrific, but living in Southern Texas and having it under 100 in July is a good thing, epecially after last summer.

* I stepped on the scale today and it hasn't moved...generally that would not be terrific but considering my lack of exercise and the sweets I ate in the last week, I am pretty happy. I've started this week on a better note...Green Monster smoothies for breakfast. :)

* The most terrific part of this Tuesday? The support I receive from all of you!! Thank you so much for all of your comments/support regarding yesterday's post!

Monday, July 23, 2012

Stuck

I am trying so hard to not have each post read as if it was written by Debbie Downer but I am a bit down in the dumps today. I have some work stuff going on that is really pulling me down. I am not going to go into details but I've done what I need to do and now I am waiting to hear back from my boss. The waiting is miserable. I am really, really hoping a resolution will begin today.  Not sure if it's possible to have the situation completely resolved today but if I could get a next action from my boss I'd be happy.

J and I did our best to have a fertility-free weekend. We did pretty well with that - took the dogs to the dog park each day, went out for a couple of beers (with the dogs in tow) on Friday, and worked on our home improvement project. With the exception of having work hanging over my head it was a really good weekend.

The ironic thing with deciding it would be a fertility-free weekend is I forgot to pay attention to the dates. Saturday marked the one year anniversary of my 2nd miscarriage. I am not sure if that's good or not; it definitely feels strange that I did not realize it until this morning when reading blogs and read about someones worst July ever. I wear a necklace with a charm for each baby lost so they are never really forgotten, even if I miss a date.

I am going to have four hormone free days this week (stop bcps tomorrow and start stims on Saturday), hopefully I can produce a positive post during that time!

Saturday, July 21, 2012

July ICLW

Hello Y'All and welcome to my little corner of the blogging world. This is my first ICLW;  I am a fairly new blogger and somewhat new to the world of infertility. However, I feel like we've packed a lot into our two years of TTC and infertility. My husband, J, and I have only been married for 2 1/2 years and it's pretty much always been a part of our marriage. Sometimes it amazes me at how much stronger as a couple we have become as a result. You can see the details of our journey on my side bar.

I am happy to share that we'll be starting Round 2 of IVF next week! I look forward to sharing my journey with you and learning more about you!

Happy ICLW :)

Friday, July 20, 2012

We've made our decision...

We're going for it!! Round #2 of IVF here we come! I'm nervous, excited and ready to go! Both J and I have agreed that we are going into this cycle with nothing but a positive attitude. My fingers are crossed that my ovaries do a better job reacting to the meds this time around. We received our new calendars early this morning. I stay on the BCPs until Tuesday, go in for an U/S and bloodwork on Friday and then the shots begin on Saturday!

Happy Friday!

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Our neck of the woods

We still have not come up with a definite decision but we are leaning towards round 2 of IVF. I am just waiting for the approved amount from the RE's office regarding our credit. The unofficial number I was given was good - about $900 better than I had anticipated. If we go for round #2 I am going to go into as positive as possible. I am pretty sure this will be our last try with IVF, so I want to make sure I go into it with the right attitude.

We are hoping to attend an informational meeting regarding Foster Care/Adoption at a local orphanage tonight. I've left two voicemails and no return call yet. We want to start exploring foster care/adoption so we know what we be ahead of us if we chose that route in the future.

One more positive note, I finally stopped spotting!

Friday, July 13, 2012

Quick Update

We had our follow-up appointment yesterday with Dr. A...first the good news: Pathology report came back clean - yay! Now for the "eh" news: if we moved forward with round #2 of IVF it would be a new protocol using a mini-flare and chances would remain the same - about 20-30% chance of success. We are waiting to hear back from their office to find out what we have for a credit. I almost fell out of the chair yesterday when I was told what was on file - it was FAR less than what we were expecting. They are crunching the numbers and fingers crossed we hear back today. We did get good news about the meds - it came in almost $1500 less than what we anticipated. I really do not like how finances play such a large part in our decision making process. Paying out-of-pocket is MISERABLE to say the very least.

Happy Friday to all!

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

I'm Grateful

Lately alot of the posts I have read talk about strength and becoming stronger despite this battle we are all fighting. I've locked on to that thought because for the last couple of weeks I have felt anything but strong. When I update my family about what we are going through I often hear "You are so strong, I don't know how you do it." So now I've decided to post (bullet style) what I am grateful for as a reminder life is still good.

* My husband's love, strength and support. Sometimes it amazes me how much stronger our relationship is after all we have gone through in the last 2 years.
* My family's support - especially my Mom who never forgets to send a card to let us know she is thinking of us and is on our side.
* Our puppies - they really are the best and neither of us knew just how therapeutic it would to have them when we decided to get them.
* Our trips to Belize, just thinking about our view from our room calms me right down. It worked especially well during our IUI when J brought pictures up on his phone when things were not going great.
* The support of this community...enough said!
* The support of my boss...he knows what I've been through and doesn't hesitate to say yes when I ask for time off for appointments.
* Rain...it's raining as I type so our drought-stricken lawn is being watered without us having to spend money :)

Those are a few - I know there are more!

View from "our" room in Ambergris Caye, Belize

Our Puppies - Garnett and Sadie

(kindly, ignore the potting soil in the background)

Friday, July 6, 2012

Finally Friday

Seems odd to feel so happy that it's Friday and the weekend is only hours away considering I was off Tuesday and Wednesday. I am pretty surprised at how normal I am feeling after the surgery...today is the one day I've googled symptoms. I've been pretty crampy all day and the spotting is definitely heavier than any other day this week. I made sure to ask the nurse that this was all still normal and thankfully it is. Hopefully it doen't change. It feels like our follow-up appointment next Thursday is so far away. I am really anxious to hear the doctor's thoughts on going forward with a 2nd round of IVF.

Unfortunately, J is not feeling over optimisitic about it working for us. I know he's looking at the numbers and I know they are not great (25% chance of success) but I am really not ready to give up on our chance of having our biological child. At times this week I feel like I am already starting the grieving process of losing that chance. I am trying hard to stay positive and keep my chin up (feel free to insert any other cliche here)...but wow, it's not easy.

Tomorrow we are headed up to the Wimberely Rodeo and I can't wait! It will be really good to get together with friends and hopefully forget about things for a few hours.

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Quick update

I am happy to say that all went well today - the most difficult part was getting the IV in. We have our follow up appointment next week. After that we'll decide if another round of IVF is in our future.

Hope everyone has a happy and safe 4th of July!

Monday, July 2, 2012

Bundle o'nerves

Tomorrow is the day for my hysteroscopy. I am anxious to say the very least. I have tried hard to stay away from Dr. Goo.gle and for the most part I've done well with that. J kept me busy for most the weekend, which was great because our laundry pile is pretty small now. :) Just hoping that today flies by so we can get through tomorrow and then hopefully move forward with Round 2 of IVF.