Injections day 18.... Best husband ever <3

I have never had a fear of needles. Good thing. Considering I am giving myself three a day and getting blood taken every other day. Yep for all you math wizards that means I have had over 36 needles in that past 18 days! Fun right?!

Today though, I realized just how much I love my husband; and that I need to tell him how amazing he is every now and then. Let me start out with me being me, and emailing him grills that I would like for my birthday around 230 today before leaving work. On the way home, Ry calls and says I got you a little early birthday present since we aren't sure how you will feel on your real birthday. I was super excited. I pull onto our street and he was standing at the front door, present wrapped, in hand, grinning from ear to ear. I opened the gift and was excited to see it was the cover for the grill I wanted along with the sweetest card ever. I was a little confused but so happy we were going to get my grill "this weekend". When I went to start dinner a few minutes later I realized my grill was sitting on the deck. I was so excited. Completely made my day/birthday. I know I am a lucky girl. I just need to let him know that more often. :)

Human Pin Cushion

Last week was on the the worst/crazy/insane weeks I have had in a very, very long time.  Work was insane, it was a full moon and my lupron was in full effect. The side effects stayed pretty tolerable until Tuesday night. I got the worst headache I have had in a really long time, maybe ever, and it did not go away until Thursday. Wednesday I was literally in bed by 7!!!

On Friday morning, I went for my baseline ultrasound and blood work, and started my Follistim and Menopur injections Friday night. Knock on wood. So far so good with these injections. I was a little emotional (for absolutely no reason) this morning, but have been fine the rest of the day.

I continue the 3 injections a day for the next week and go for ultra sounds on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. I can't wait to see what the next week brings :)

Just in case...

you didn't believe me that there is A LOT of medicine to take...

The wait is over...for now

I have been slacking and didn't post for a while, well because there was nothing to post. Last time I posted we were waiting for MORE test results! Thankfully they ALL came back normal, and we were able to start the IVF process.  On February 13, I started taking the birth control pill (go figure), I guess you have to go backward before you can move forward. There are reasons that they do it but I still think its a little crazy.

A few weeks later I received my GIANT box of all the medicines I would need for my IVF cycle. If I hadn't been overwhelmed by this process yet, the box of medicines did it!

That following Monday, February 27, I began my Lupron injections. I have to do them every morning for the next few weeks, I start out at 10 units and then decrease to 5 units on March 7.  That Friday (the 9th) I start my stimulation injects (yes that means I will be giving myself 3 injections a day! 1 in the morning and 2 at night).

The needles aren't bad.  I am having pretty minimal side effects, just ask Ry how wonderful my moods are :) I have been having some hot flashes and nausea, but nothing intolerable.

Now that my cycle has started, I am going to try to post more often and hopefully by Easter I will have something new to post about :)

The story of my life... waiting :)

Ryan had his appointment last week and we found out that he has something called a varicosele, basically a varicose vein that causes infertility in men.  The varicosele doesn't really change anything for us, we have decided to continue with IVF and possibly pursue surgery after I am pregnant. The doctor said this is an option many patients pursue.  Great news.  However, he ordered some genetic testing to rule out any deletions on the Y choromosome, which takes anywhere from 4-6 weeks to get the results back.  We have a follow up appointment for that on February 13.  This means that our IVF course is getting pushed back at least a few weeks.

Last week, right after our urologist appointment, I had my first true break down. Poor Ryan. He is so awesome for putting up with me but had no idea what to do with me :)  I was better the next day and haven't had any "moments" since, but I am sure they will come.

This Wednesday, I go in for my final tests before starting the IVF course and will be ready to begin after we see the doctor on the 13th.  So for now more waiting....

And the waiting continues...

Its so funny... last night I looked at Ry and said for the past 12 months all I have done is pray that I don't get my period that month, dreading the week I am supposed to get it and track all the symptoms, just in case.  Well, this month I am waiting but I actually WANT to get my period. That means I can continue my testing and start the IVF process. So funny how things change so fast.

I also think my IVF nurse coordinator may think I am nuts... but I think I am ok with it. At our IVF information session she was VERY broad about a time line (any time from now til April).  I being the planner I am was totally not satisfied with that answer the more I thought about it. I called her and they are AMAZING at calling back right away. I told her that she will probably think I am nuts, but I really hope she can give me a better timeline. Well to my shock she says well... looking at your chart (counting) I would say your retrieval would be around the week of February 20, possibly sooner! I am so excited yet scared to death!!!

Stay tuned

Where to begin...

About one year ago, January 9 to be exact, I threw away my birth control pills and my husband and I decided to start "trying" to have a baby. I thought this would be like magic, a month of the pill and I would be pregnant, not so much! After about 3 months of trying I was getting frustrated, my husband insisted it takes 6 months for the birth control to "ware off."

Fast forward to June... still not pregnant, and of course just to mess with our minds a little more I was late, only a day, but that day seems like an eternity when you are waiting to see if you are pregnant.

Our summer, as usual was insane, people who say teachers don't work in the summer they haven't actually met many teachers. Although I worked a lot this summer it wasn't really a job. I began babysitting a close family friends infant triplets and spent about 4 days at a time with them. In the process Stephanie, the triplets mom, and I became extremely close. Maybe it was the sleep deprivation and slap happy conversations, or maybe it was the fact that she just accomplished what I wanted more than anything in the world. The summer passed and still no baby.

When TTC and waiting for the BFP and AF ends up showing up I started reading infertility blogs and chat boards on different websites. The beginning of that sentence may seem like gibberish to many, but it is common talk on these sometimes crazy boards.

In September, I went to a consultation at my gynecologist office, and through a series of really weird events I decided that was not the office I wanted to stay at anymore. AND they said my least favorite line of the entire process, "you are young, it will happen, keep trying." Toward the end of October I switched to another office and met with a midwife who I LOVE. She was sweet informative and best off all said I was trying way too long without any results.

Just before Thanksgiving Ryan and I had our first appointment at SJ Fertility. Over the next few weeks I had 5 different tests done and Ryan had his first semen analysis. Those tests were all interesting in their own right. Through testing, we discovered that Ryan suffers from a severely low sperm count. Our only option would be IVF, in vitro fertilization.

Beginning IVF opens a whole other "can of worms" more testing, waiting, followed by more testing, and oh yeah more waiting :) However, there is, fingers crossed, an end in sight. We have already met with our nurse coordinator and have had a few of the tests done already so now we just wait.

I am starting this blog for me. If someone else wants to read it, okay. Maybe it will help someone going through the same thing as us, awesome. Hopefully someday I can show it to my little girl or boy so they know just how much their mommy and daddy wanted them in their lives, AMAZING.