August ICLW

Welcome to my little piece of the blogging world. I haven’t been here for very long but the benefits I’ve reaped have been wonderful! I am so grateful for the support I have received.

Currently, I am in the middle of a whole new type of TWW. I am going through my second round of IVF…we have two frozen embryos right now and are waiting for the results of the PGD testing. I am really hoping we’ll have results at this time next week. We had to send a blood sample this week in order for the lab to map out our chromosomes as a part of the testing for the embies.

Here is more about us and our journey:

·         I suffered three early miscarriages between October 2010 and July 2011.

·         After the 2^nd miscarriage I had the blood work done for the RPL panel and had an HSG. Good news was all was clear on the HSG…bad news? I have a Robertsonian Balanced Translocation. In a nutshell, the long arms of my 13^th and 14^th chromosomes are fused together. I have all of the correct genetic material but it becomes a problem when trying to conceive.

·         Found an RE in the area based on the recommendation of one of J’s co-workers. His wife gave birth to a healthy baby girl after 5 rounds of IVF that resulted in 3 losses.

·         I did not respond well to the meds in the first round of IVF in May so it was turned into an IUI. BFN L

·         2^nd round of IVF produced 10 follicles that resulted in 4 eggs at the time of retrieval. All 4 were mature and all 4 fertilized with ICSI. After 5 days 2 were biopsied and their cells were shipped to NJ for testing.

·         We have a 66% chance that each embryo will be healthy. When I think of that other 34% I just think of the quote above to remember we have a good chance of having at least one healthy embryo. We feel like we’ve already struck out enough and now it’s our chance to hit a home run. (Grand slam if both are healthy!)

·         We live in South TX…all of our friends and family live in MA. It gets lonely for both of us at times. Blogging really helps take away some of the lonely feelings.

·         We have 2 golden retrievers who make us smile each and every day. I don’t know how we would have made it this far without them. I think they have become therapy dogs for us. J

I look forward to reading and commenting this week and getting to know you a bit better.

Happy ICLW!

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!

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. :)

Who am I?  Why am I here? I have used that quote more than once after hearing James Stockdale opened the Vice Presidential debate with it in 1992. I realize that probably dates me a bit, but it's part of who I am and why I am here. I am someone of Advanced Maternal Age (I'm 41). One of my biggest fears was becoming "too old" to get pregnant.  Not only do I "suffer" from AMA but I also have a chromosomal abnormality; this was discovered after my second miscarriage last year. I will always be grateful to my Ob/Gyn for sending me to a specialist after 2 instead of waiting until the 3rd, which is the protocol. My abnormality is a Robertsonian Balanced Translocation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robertsonian_translocation); most likely this is why we have gone through the miscarriages. Unfortunately, we never had any of the babies tested. I still kick myself for not having the third baby tested.

This month we start our road to IVF with PGD. I am excited, scared, nervous...you name it. I read a quote on a blog that made me decide it was time to jump into the blogging world while I am on this roller coaster. She said "While it’s not fun, it’s definitely better with support from others going through it too." Unfortunately, I cannot remember where I read that so if you are reading this and think "Hey I wrote that." thank you for writing something that gave me the push I needed to try to become a more active member of this club that no one signed up for.