Everyday I'm monitorin'!!!

Well after my appointment on Sunday where we now had 17 follies on the right and 14 on the left and an E2 level of 791 we are to the point where we have a monitoring appointment every morning until I trigger. At my Monday morning appointment the ultrasound tech told me I would be on the meds for at least 2 more days because the aren't doing any procedures before Thursday or Friday. I just hope my eggs aren't over mature by that time. My lead follicle is at 19 and I have about 10-12 that are in the 14-16mm range. Not sure what my E2 level is at today but I am willing to bet it is over 1000. Well it will be back in tomorrow morning for another check and hopefully I will know when ER sometime soon.

Good morning

Early wake up this morning in order to get in for a quick monitoring appointment before the festivities of my brother in laws wedding. Things are looking good in my ovaries. We still have about 12 visible follicles on my left and it looks like my right side woke up since now there are about 14 visible follicles. Each side has about 4 measurable between 11mm-14mm. I'm still waiting on my E2 levels which I hope are good, but it looks like I will be going back in on Sunday for another check.

Back to it

It's the day after Christmas and I am back to it. I had a nice little break with 4 days off. I never got to sleep in any of my off days as we were up early on Saturday so we could head to Shrek the Halls (the coolest ice sculptures ever!) Then on Sunday I had to go in for my suppression check (all was good so I started stims that night). Monday was up early to do prep work for Christmas and then of course Christmas itself since I was hosting 14 and had created an elaborate menu to include popovers and prime rib.
Today I am back at work. I had to wake up extra early since I had a monitoring appointment before hand. After 3 days of stims my lining is at 8.2mm and I have 8 follies on my right and 12 on my left but none of them are measurable yet. My E2 came back at 121, so the nurse called and said we will do the same 150iu of Gonal F and 75iu of Menopur and then back in for another visit on Friday morning. This is exactly the way things should be going so I am really happy about it. Lets just hope things continue the way they should.

Another last

Today marks the day of another last. Today is the last day that I take BCP. Woohoo!!!! It has been a long 21 days but we are finally done and I am so excited. I started Lupron on Saturday morning and things are so far so good. I keep doing the Lupron until Sunday when I go in for my monitoring appointment/ suppression check. If all looks good on the 23rd I will start stims that night. Yeah I can't wait!!!

Gift under the tree

So when I got home Tuesday from work there ways a box sitting at my back door. Woohoo all my meds for IVF#2 have arrived. I felt like a kid on Christmas, all I wanted to do was open that box and check it out. I headed in to the living room and to my surprise I noticed that my tree had face planted. All that hard work to make the tree look pretty for nothing. I was so worried because the hubby and I have always purchased an ornament to remember every vacation we have been on, I didn't want any of those to be broken because there would be no way to replace them. I knew that the tree clean up would be a two person project and since the hubby wouldn't be home until late I dug into my box full of meds. Turns out that my dosages will be lower this time around so there wasn't as much as last time. I put all the meds away and now I wait until Saturday to start the Lupron.
All is well with the tree now. It's back to it's upright position and looking as beautiful as before with only a few casualties but luckily none of the vacation ornaments.

Little freak out

This morning I get an automated phone call from the OBGYN office reminding me that I need to come in for my annual check up. I am supposed to start Lupron in 4 days. Then I remember reading somewhere in my packet of paperwork that all cycle will be canceled if all testing is not complete by a certain date. Then my panic sets in that Christmas is only 2 weeks away and the offices won't be open like I need them to be. Oh and not to mention that I should be getting my period sometime next week. Ugh!!! Why me???
Anyway after a quick call to Nurse D she reassured me that even if I don't get my pap done right away they will not cancel this cycle. ::::wipes sweat from my brows:::: then I contact the OBGYN and was able to get in on the 18th. Now lets just hope that AF doesn't show up before that date. Nurse D told me to expect it around the 20th so let's hope she knows her stuff.

Weekend update

Had another great weekend. Friday was the company Christmas party which is always an interesting event. It is an employee only function and this year they had an ugly sweater contest. Sorry no pictures but you can only imagine the ugliness. Tacky might actually be the word. Lots of lights flashing and some even played music. Wowzers! These people have too much time and way too much room in their closets for junk.
Anyway, Saturday we went to St. Michaels for the Christmas parade and to walk around the town. It is such a cute little place. If you are ever in the area you should go and check it out. That afternoon we went tree hunting. We were looking for a very special tree this year since it needed to be tall and skinny since we don't have a lot of room for it if we intend on having 14 people over for Christmas dinner. As you can see the hubby and stepdaughter are in front of the tree we selected. Ugly I know!! But after we cut it down and then removed the bottom 4 feet of the tree we ended up with a perfect tree. As you can see the finished product, I think we did a great job decorating it.

There is a plan

Sorry it's been a week since I last updated you. Well we have a new plan. I started BCP on 11/27 and I will be on them for 21 days. On 12/15 I will start Lupron and then on 12/23 I will go in for a suppression check to make sure everything looks good to start stims that night.
For those of you who have been around for this whole journey I will be on the same meds Gonal F and Menopur. I think the dosage will be lower this time. I am nervous about the change in adding Lupron and getting rid of Ganirelix but I am willing to give it a shot.
Well things will probably be pretty quite around here until my meds arrive on the 11th, only 8 days away. Come on time can you please move a little faster???

Where do we go?

Well after the bad news on Friday I surprisingly woke up in a good mood. A new day and a new start, right? I had a very productive day of shopping only to be capped with the late night arrival of AF. At least this means we can move on. But where do we go? I called Nurse D this morning and left her a message. She called me back about 30 minutes later to tell me how sorry she was that this didn't work. We started to talk about where to go to next. She emailed the RE and told him we need a new protocol for me. So basically we are waiting to find out if I will be able to cycle right away or will I go on BCP again so that I can start stims around Christmas for an ER after New Years. I really am okay with either route. I just want to know where I go next.
If any of you have experience with back to back IVF cycles what did you do? BCP or no?

Beta or Bust

As I mentioned before we decided to go beta or bust. Meaning that we would not test at home and just wait for the phone call from the RE to know our fate. As it turned out our second wedding anniversary was our beta day. This had to be a good sign!!! We decided to hit the RE's office and get the bloodwork the go to the mall to do some Black Friday shopping and then enjoy a nice lunch at a steak house. As we sat there and enjoyed our lunch I got the phone call. I turned out to be the worst moment ever where we got the news that IVF was a bust. I was unable to maintain my composure and cried throughout the remainder of our meal. We decided that we should probably go home and nap since I didn't really know how to face the world. After a few Aleve and a three hour nap I felt a little bit better. Now we wait until Monday to follow up with my nurse and RE to see what our next step will be.

Nothing New

Just dropping in to say there is nothing new going on here. I am anxiously awaiting my beta day which is Friday. It's a short work week for me and that makes me very happy. In addition to Friday being beta day it is my two year wedding anniversary. We scheduled the blood draw at 9 am then plan on walking around the mall and maybe heading out for a nice lunch.

I'm PUPO!!!!!!

Today was the big day. We had our embryo transfer. We transferred two embryos, a four cell and a six cell. The experience was not too bad except for the fact that they want you to have a full bladder when the do the procedure and then they push all over your belly with the ultrasound and all you can think about is how bad you want to pee. After the transfer they make you lay down for five minutes and then they let you finally go to the bathroom and then they send you home to be on bed rest for 24 hours. So that's where I am now! Laying on the sofa taking it easy so that these little embryos can snuggle in. You may wonder what PUPO means and for those of you who don't know it is Pregnant Until Proven Otherwise. Here's a picture of my precious embryos.

Fert Report Part 3 and 4

This morning I missed yet another call from Dr. M. He left me a voicemail and told me that he was happy to report that we have 3 two cell embryos. I am sad that my Rockstar is gone but, Woohoo the groupies are still here!!!
I was surprised by another call from Dr. M later in the afternoon. Wow twice in one day I feel so special. Anyway he gave me the afternoon report on the embryos and said we have one 2 cell, one 3 cell, and one 4 cell. He then talked about doing the transfer tomorrow. He doesn't seem to think that we will have all 3 around tomorrow but he feels very confident that we will have 2. So the plan is to use assisted hatching and transfer back 2 embryos. The transfer is scheduled for 12:30pm on Friday.

Fert Report Part 2

This morning I got the call from Nurse D. I was a little in shock that she was calling me since she has been out of the office for pretty much my entire cycle since her father is dying, but it was nice to hear her voice. She told me that as of today we have 3 around 1 cell and 1 with no change from yesterday. I was very confused by what this meant and asked her to explain. She said that she believes that the 1 unchanged from yesterday is my rockstar, she said that it is very possible that it still is with us and that it just hadn't changed since the last report. She said that the other 3 were the ones that we were able to rescue with the ICSI. She said that she would give me a call back tomorrow to give me another update on my rockstar and groupies and that she would be giving me my transfer time for Friday.

I tried asking her some more of the questions that I had put together  but they are questions that would be better answered by Dr. M. She tried to get me to make an appointment to come in to talk to him about that but I really feel like we could do this over the phone much faster, so I asked her to send him an email and have him call me back. I am still waiting for a return phone call and I hope I hear from him soon. The most pressing questions I have for him at this point are:

1. Are there any tests that can be done on the eggs that diid not fertilize to find out why they didn't?
2. When we spoke yesterday you had mentioned something about a possible auto-immune issue, is there testing for this that we can get done now so that if we have to move on to another cycle we are already ready?
3. If this cycle does not work with I be put back on birth control?
4. Will we do the same protocol except ICSI won't be a rescue technique it will be the primary technique?

I am sure there will be much more to talk about, the longer it takes him to call me back the more things pop in my mind and I wonder should I ask him if this is an issue or is that an issue. (I know I should stay away from Dr. Google, but it is just so hard).

Fert Report Part 1

So this afternoon I got the call from Dr. M. He was amazed that we got 27 eggs, he was pleased that 23 of those were mature eggs, he was thrilled that my hubby's sperm count was 16 million post wash and 99% were moving. Then it was like a gut punch when he told me that only 1 fertilized. WHAT????? So at that point I lost my shit on Dr. M and asked him about ICSI and he told me that since we had already introduced sperm that we couldn't try it. I was really confused because all of the consent paperwork that we signed said that they would use ICSI as a recovery resort. Dr. M then told me that he was going to walk over to the lab and find out what was going on. He called me back 15 minutes later and said that they were able to ICSI 12 and now we need to wait until tomorrow to find out if any of those fertilize. So as of right now I only have 1 confirmed rock star and the hopes of a few more tomorrow.
Here's hoping that tomorrow is better than today!

Easter Egg Hunt

Today was egg retrieval day (aka the Easter Egg Hunt). I had to take the day off of work since my retrieval time was 12:30pm and we live about an hour away from the facility. We had to be there at 11:00am and I wasn't allowed to eat at 5:30am so needless to say I was a hungry girl.
They start my IV right away and when it was go time they walked back to the room gave me the meds in my IV and poof I was out!! The next thing I remember was being rolled to the recovery area. They game me some crackers and water and told me I could change. A minute later the nurse came in to tell me that we got 27 eggs!!!! I actually cried when I found out because I thought we were only going to get 12 or so. Now we just wait until tomorrow for our fert report.
Here's a picture of me and the hubby just before they took me back.

What a crazy week!!

Stims started on Saturday night and my first monitoring appointment was supposed to be Tuesday morning but Sandy had different plans. You may ask who is this Sandy I speak of??? Well she was the hurricane that came through our area Monday night into Tuesday morning. On Sunday my RE's office called me to tell me that the office would be closed on Tuesday so I would need to wait until Wednesday to come in for monitoring. Wednesday rolled around and I went in for my first monitoring and everyone was amazed at how well I was responding. I already had a few follicles I've 14mm so I was told I would be adding Ganirelix to my shots that night, I was also told to increase my Menopur to 2 vials and leave the Gonal F the same at 187.5iu. So the Ganirelix was just as easy as the other shots the only trick was that for the first dose I did it at night with my other shots and then I had to do the second dose the next morning and then continue with it in the morning and my other meds in the evening until the day I am told to trigger. I was told to come back in Friday for monitoring to see how things were going, this is when things got crazy!!!! I was told that they wanted me to trigger that night except the problem with that was the hubby had been activated with his task force to go and help the people of Western Maryland recover for Sandy. Dr. M and Nurse B both calmed me down and told me that we would turn the meds back a little, have me come in on Saturday morning and then most likely trigger on Saturday night for Egg Retrieval on Monday since hubby should be home by then.
Saturday's monitoring went well and it appeared that we had a dozen follicles on the right and about half that on the left. My E2 levels were up to 1789 for 1041 on Friday. I was given my trigger instructions and told to trigger at 1:30am. This is when I realized what amazing staff there was at my RE's office. Nurse B offered to do my trigger shot at her house that night since the hubby was still away and I had no one else to do it for me. She only lives about 5 miles away from me so I had a late night rendezvous at her house and she did my shot. I am so thankful for her and her willingness to go far above the call of duty.
Hubby got home on Sunday afternoon and we went out for a delish steak dinner. Yummy!!!!

My box full of tricks

Today is the day that I break into my box full of tricks. I start stims for IVF tonight. I really can't believe that this is happening. So what's the plan you may ask??? Well I will do 187.5iu of Gonal F and 75iu of Menopur. This dosage will be for Saturday, Sunday and Monday night then I will head in for monitoring on Tuesday morning to see how things are going.

All aboard the IVF Train

Today marks my last day on BCP's. 19 long days have come and gone and I am finally done. This IVF train is leaving the station. Early morning baseline monitoring tomorrow to show that all looks good and then get my calendar to start shots on Saturday. I can't believe this is actually happening. I feel like someone needs to pinch me.

Where have I been?

Since my lasy post I have been sailing the blue ocean. I went on a 7 day Disney Cruise and had a blast!!!
Here are a few pictures of the paradise we visited. St. Thomas, St. Maarten, and Castaway Cay. I know that I can hear a couple of you right now saying that you would never go on a Disney cruise because there are too many kids. Well you are wrong my friends. There are so many adult only areas that you can sometimes forget that there are even kids onboard. And if you have kids it is awesome too because there is so much for them to do in the private kids clubs that they don't even want to be around their parents. So totally a win, win situation if you ask me. We had such a great time on our cruise that we even booked our next cruise for November 2013, I can't wait!!!!!

As much as I was sad for the cruise to end I was happy because on my drive home I got to visit my best friend Katie (you can check her out here) I also got to meet her beautiful twins for the first time. I am in love with them!!! (Katie, you did a great job!!) After my short stop at Katie's it was back home so that we could get back to work to pay for everything. Work has been out of control busy since I got back so that is why I haven't posted. Don't worry though, things are starting to get exciting around here so I promise there will be more updates on the way and I promise I won't make you wait too long.

I think that Joe was thinking about seeing if he could transfer down to Castway Cay. I'm game!!!!

Winning!!!!!

I often find myself entering into all sorts of sweepstakes in the hopes that I may win something exciting like a new house, new car or even a kitchen makeover. Of course I never win anything like that, EVER!! But a girl has to be able to dream, right?
Well this morning I actually won something. Okay, it wasn't something big like a house or a car. But you have to start somewhere, right? I woke up to am email from Goodreads.com explaining that I had won a free book giveaway. The book is called Let's Eat: Recipes from My Kitchen Notebook. They tell me it takes about a month for the book to arrive. I can't wait!!!!! Because is there is one thing you know about me, it's that I love food. So how can I go wrong with this book.
Once it arrives I will let you know and of course give you a little review.

The Positives and Negatives

Today is 15dpiui and beta day. I woke up early and decided to POAS. It was the first time I did it this cycle, but the outcome was no different than any other cycle. Yep that's right it was a Big Fat Negative. I still went into the RE and had the blood draw done for my beta and now I await the call from my nurse. I haven't cried about it yet today, which seems weird to me. I am upset, no better yet I am pissed that 5 IUI's and nothing. What gives???
But with each negative there is a positive. Not being pregnant now means that I can drink while we are on our cruise next week. I fully intend on enjoying myself on this cruise. I will take this time to reset my mind to gear up for IVF. I'm not really sure how/when the whole process starts(I will know more when Nurse D calls). I know that I will be starting BCP at some point in time, probably this week. And double good news about my next cycle starting sometime this week means I won't be on my period while we are on the cruise either. Can you say winning????

 

Amazing weekend

After a 4 hour workday on Friday the hubby and I headed north to NYC. It took us only 3 hours to get to the Lincoln tunnel, then it took an hour and a half to get through the tunnel and to our hotel. We stayed at the Lowes Regency on Park Avenue (the upper east side). We had such an AMAZING time!!!! We checked into the hotel and put on or walking shoes and were back out the door to hit the Big Apple. We started heading toward Rockefeller Center and of course we happened to get there as NYFD was responding to a call there. I thought I was going to loose DH for while as he might try to jump into action but it turns out he was ready for some time off too. We took his picture next to the firetruck and went on about our business.  

Next stop was Time Square where we had a great meal and did lots of people watching. A late night stop to have a slice of cheesecake and then back to our room.

Saturday Morning came around way to quick. We got up and threw on some workout clothes and walked around Central Park and then back down to Time Square. We got in line at TKTS so that we could get discount show tickets (YOU MUST DO THIS!!!!) We got great seats for half the price for a really good musical. Nice Work if You Can Get It starting Matthew Broderick (Yep that's right Ferris Bueller). After we had the tickets in hand we went back to the hotel to get cleaned up so that we could be presentable for the show and the rest of our day in NYC.

We saw the 2pm show, I give this show 2 big thumbs up. After the show we went to Madame Tussauds to check it out. It was pretty cool and we got some great pictures. After playing around at the wax museum we went walking again this time we ended all the way down in Greenwich Village and Chealsea.  We had dinner at an Italian place which was super yummy!!! Then we started to walk back towards the hotel. We knew we would not be able to make the almost 4 mile walk since it was already 10pm and it was supposed to rain but we wanted to walk off dinner. We figured if we could make it to 34th St. we would be really happy with ourselves plus we would be able to get our picture with the Empire State building in the background. As soon as we snapped the picture the skies opened up and it was pouring. We hopped in a cab and went back to our hotel room. 

Sunday Morning was time for the trip to end. Boo!!!!! We checked out of the hotel and got in the car and went to the South Sea Port. We had an amazing brunch with a few Bloody Mary's (maybe my favorite alcoholic beverage of all times) and then we walked to Ground Zero and Wall Street. After we did a quick walk around of these two areas we went back to South Sea Port where they had a Farmer's Market so we picked up a few things that we could have for dinner and then we hit the road to head back home. It was such a great trip and I can't wait until we can go back.  

Another day in the life

So yesterday I got my hair done. It was awesome!!! Way back in April I attended a charity event and won in the silent auction a hair cut and full highlights. I figured since NYC, My Birthday and The Cruise are all coming up I should treat myself and get my hair did. I got blonde and red highlights and had an inch trimmed. I LOVE IT!!!!! What do you think?

After I left the salon I figured since I was in the neighborhood of my old roomie I would give her a call and see if she wanted to have a glass of wine or something. Well it turned out that I ended up going to her house for dinner and a few drinks. I love getting to see her and it doesn't happen nearly enough. Good food and good friends, that's what life is really all about.

Things are looking up

Often I feel as though I post only about my treatment and cycle. Well gee that is kind of boring!!! I am going to try to stop and give you a little more. Like amazing things that are going on in my life right now.
First of all today I am getting my hair done. YEAH!!!!! I can not wait!!!! It has been over a year since I last had a haircut or anything. So today I am traeting myself to the full treatment. I am getting highlights and a haircut. I actually won the package deal at a silent auction back in April and I decided to wait until just before vacation to get it done. I am going to have great looking hair for my trip to NYC this weekend.
Yep that's right we are taking a trip to NYC this weekend to celebrate my birthday which is on the 25th.  I'm not sure what our plan is for while we are in NYC, maybe catch a show and of course eat some amazing food. If you have any suggestions of things we must do while we are there please let me know.
Then after we get back from NYC I will only have 10 work days before we go on our cruise. I can't wait!!!!! Things really are looking up. It is going to be a fun filled couple of weeks. This is a great way to take my mind off the 2WW. Beta is October 1 in case you were wondering.

Sunday Funday

After a crazy busy Saturday full of fundraisers, Cash Bash for KIVFD from 7am-6pm a little nap and then out to Operation Care and Comfort at the bar that hubby and I met at from 8pm-11pm. We tucked ourselves in bed and prepared for our Sunday Funday. Sunday was IUI#5, because it fell on a weekend we had to go to the main offices for Shady Grove in Rockville. That is about an hour and half away from our house so we figured we would make it a Sunday Funday.
We woke up around 7am got showered and dressed (In our Ravens gear of course, because it was game day). Out the door by 8:30am and made the trek to Rockville. We got there in time for the hubby's 10am drop off time so he went and did his thing and then we had to wait until 11:30am for my appointment. We decided that since we had so much time to kill we would head over to Starbucks and grab a drink and do some reading.
11:30am rolled around and it was so show time. I went in for IUI#5, the duty RE came in the exam room and introduced himself and we went over all the paperwork. Hubby's count was good, they want anything above 5mil and we were at 7.5mil so we were happy with that. As the RE prepared to work his magic I asked him to please not hurt me like the last Dr did. I explained to him about the clotting that I had after the last procedure and he was a little shocked. He really took his time. I think this IUI actually took 4 or 5 times longer than the prevouis IUI's but I am really okay with that. I feel so confident that he actually got the cath in the best position and was so gentle with me. The nurse that was in the room was awesome too. She helped take my mind off of things. We actually talked about how her first child was the product of IUI#6.
After the IUI was done we had planned to go over to BD's Mongolian Grill, just like we did after IUI#1, when we arrived we found out that it had closed down so we had to come up with a different idea. We decided to head back towards home and we went to Buffalo Wild Wings, it was my first time there and I loved it!!! After we filled out bellies with some amazing food we went home and took a nap.
After a quick siesta we started working on the house. We got all the baseboard trim finished in both the bedrooms. After that was done we moved the remaining furniture back into the rooms. It really looks so good. Nigel thought it looked so good while I was painting the trim that he needed to get a closer look and with that he ended up with a white skunk stripe down his back. Poor little guy.

Let's go racing

My monitoring appointment went well. My lining is at 11.5mm and I have some follicles that are growing. Right side was a little sleepy this month, which is weird for me as I have really only ever had measurable follicles on my right side for the past 4 IUI's. So right side follie was only measuring at 12.4mm. Lefty was slightly awake for the party. They measured 3 follies 26.1mm, 14.7mm and 13.8mm. I know it only takes 1 so I am hoping that the 26.1mm follicle is the one that will do the trick. I am hoping for some little NASCAR spermies that want to go fast and go left. IUI will be on Sunday, and since it is a weekend we will have to go to Shady Grove's main office in Rockville, so the hubby will not get to do his sample at home. I am secretly happy about this because the one time that he did his sample at the office was the time with the highest count. I am also happy about doing the IUI on Sunday because that will mean we get to have a Sunday Funday. Just me and the hubby. Our calendar is all blocked off so we get to do what ever we want. Right now the only thing on the calendar is "Baby Making Day!!!!" you gotta love my hubby for putting that on there.

Life

Well it has been over a week since I last posted. I figured I should at least post something so you know I am still alive. Things are going good. No side effects with any of my meds and I go in for monitoring tomorrow so fingers crossed that things will look good. Work has been really busy. I kind of hate it. I seriously had the thought of just packing up all my stuff and not coming back the other day. I know that I can't do that but man the urge was very strong. I think if I can get some of the backlog that was dropped in my lap taken care of things would be better. I just don't want to work all the overtime hours because believe it or not I have a life outside of work. Speaking of my life outside of work, we have had some great progress on our home renovations. We purchased new carpet for the bedrooms and that was installed this past Monday. It looks amazing!!!!
I have also been trying very hard to get healthy. I have been trying to watch what I eat and I have been working out like crazy. I am hoping that I can shed a few more pounds before we go on the cruise in October. I've gotta look good in my new bikini that the hubby just bought me.

Rainbows

For those of you following along on this journey, IUI #4 was a bust. ::::Let the waterworks begin:::  I knew when I tested on Friday and saw that stark white test strip that things didn't look good, but beta day wasn't until Tuesday so I was staying hopeful that Friday was just a little too early. I actually decided not to even test at home the morning of my beta. I would just take it as it was given to me. So on Tuesday morning after a long weekend, I woke up early so that I could go in and have my beta drawn. I knew that Nurse D would call me around lunch time so I only had a few hours to wait. Truth be told my body didn't need those hours to wait for Nurse D, it decided all on it's own and of course my period started while I was at work waiting for the phone call from my nurse.
I cried.
I just couldn't believe that this was happening again. It wasn't supposed to be like this. We had always talked about having kids as soon as we got married and here it is almost 2 years latter and nothing.
But you can't have rainbows without the rain, right???? So I pick myself up and dust myself off and get ready to do it all over again. Same protocol as before, because according to EVERYONE at my RE's office "You respond so well". So well let's see if it works this time.

Here is the rainbow that I saw on my drive home on CD1 for IUI#5. Let's hope there is something magical at the end of this rainbow.

One of those days

This morning a few minutes before my alarm went off I got a text from the hubby. He informs me that the bridge heading westbound (the way I need to travel to work) is shut down. Humm!!! So I figure it is from an accident orsomething and it will be cleared up soon. Even so I decide to hurry up my morning routine and end up leaving my house 30 minutes early. I was so proud of myself I made it out of the house early!!!! That hardly ever happens. Anyway I guess it turns out I didn't leave early enough. My 25 minutes commuted ended up taking a total of 2 hours and 15minutes. Had the hubby been home I totally would have turned around and we would have had a weekday fun day, but no such luck since today is his shift. Oh well. The worst part about all of this is that late to work means late to go home too, since I don't really have the time on the books since I would rather use them for fun things like vacations. Most days I love that I live on an island...........Today might not have been one of those days.

Enter The Phantom

 

Nope not Phantom of the Opera, Major Phantom Symptoms. I am currently 1 week (7 days) past my IUI and the phantom symptoms have kicked in, in full force. Over the weekend I started having the major aversion to food. Like I didn't want any (which is crazy for me since I LOVE food)and I had that feeling like I was going to throw up constantly. Once I started eating I was fine. So I kept eating small amounts so that I wouldn't get that pukey feeling back. But then there was Saturday and I was up at the Firehouse, we were waiting for my FIL so that we could head to the state fair. That pukey feeling hit me, and then before I knew it I was praying to the porcelain gods. I really hope that this is a sign that the IUI worked. This is going to be the longest week ever as I wait to find out.

IVF Consult

The time came that went in for our IVF consult. Not a whole lot happened. I mean I am not even sure if this is update worthy but I will go ahead and let you know what we know.

Dr. M sat us down in his office and explained the process BCP, then a mock transfer, then start stims for about 10-15 days, Egg retrieval, and then 3-5 days after that is Embryo Transfer. All things I pretty much expected. We didn't really discuss the meds that I would be on or anything like that. Dr. M really feels like this last IUI had to work and that was the thing that sealed the deal and I will be pregnant. If only it were that easy Dr. M...... We met with Nurse D and signed all of the IVF paperwork just so that we could get it out of the way. The one thing that hubby was unsure on before this meeting was if we should freeze and embryos that we may have left over, I was all for it since it would mean I wouldn't have to go through the entire process again if it doesn't work or if we decide we want to add more to our family. After talking with Dr. M the hubby realized that this would be a great idea, unfortunately that is the only thing our insurance does not cover. So I have set aside enough money in my Flex Spending account to cover this if we need to use it. I am not worried about losing any money that goes into my Flex account since I wear glasses and contacts and can always buy new ones if the end of the plan year approaches and I haven't used the amount that is in there.

While Dr. M explained the timeline to us for the IVF cycle we mentioned to him about our upcoming vacation in the first week of October. We all came to the conclusion that we should do 1 more IUI if needed before we go on the cruise and then if neither of the IUI's work then I will start on the BCP in the begining of October and then we go from there.

Here's to hoping that Dr. M is right and this IUI works. Come on Sept 4th please bring me an early birthday present.

Another one in the books

Another IUI complete. Yep put it in the books. It wasn't my normal RE, it was his partner. I don't care for this RE as much as mine but hey, he knows how to do the job too. So first thing out of his mouth was "You have 3 very mature follicles. Are you sure that you are ready to possibly have twins?" I told him that of course I would be ready for it ( I may have to to take lessons for K&J my friends who just had twins). Anyway then we got into the housekeeping of the appointment, making sure it was my hubby's sample and what not. Anyway the RE seemed happy with the numbers but I was a little disappointed since this was the lowest post wash count that hubby has ever had. It was 5.1 million and I know it only takes one, but it is such a difference from our first IUI with 17.6 million post wash. Oh well! There is nothing I can do except wait for the 4th of September. That is Beta day and that is when we find out if this worked. Keeping my fingers crossed. Any good vibes you can spare please send them my way. I need all the help I can get. Thanks!

Monitoring Appointment

So this morning i woke early on a Saturday morning but it was worth it. Lining is 9.23mm, follies are 21.4mm, 21.4mm and 18.9mm triggering tonight. IUI on Monday at 1015. Yeah!!!!

Weekend Update

Well the weekend wasn't very exciting. Hubby had to work a 48 so I was home all weekend by myself. Good sides to being home by myself are that I can get caught up on sleep, do lots of reading and work on craft projects if I want.
So what did I get done over the weekend? All 3!!! I slept for probably 20 of the 48 hours that hubby was gone. I also finished Mockingjay, now I need to start a new book. And I finished the corkboard for my office. Check it out.

Getting ready for the weekend

How does everybody love to start out their Friday??? For me it was with the vag cam. CD3 appointment was today and all looks well. Starting the Clomid tonight. I also have an award banquet to go to with the hubby. This will really be the only time that I get to hamg out with him all weekend since he is working a 48 starting Saturday. Boo!!!!! At least it will give me plenty of time to sit around and read. I might even get to finish my book. I am currently reading Mockingjay (The last book in The Hunger Games series). What are you reading? Anyone with some great reads please send them my way.

And go

Tuesday night the spotting starting and Wednesday morning was at the point of full blown flow. And her we go again. Let's start IUI #4. My meds will arrive today. I go in for day 3 monitoring Friday and then I start the Clomid days 3-7, then 2 vials of Bravelle on day 9 and back for monitoring on day 11 and probably triger that night with an estimated IUI date of Monday August 20th. Yep it's a whole bunch of the same old stuff. Let's hope it works this time.

Here's the plan

So yesterday afternoon when my nurse called we had a long discussion about what my plan should be and what we need to do to get to the point I want to be (pregnant). Nurse D asked me if I wanted to come in and meet with Dr. M for a consult so that we could talk about IVF. Well I was already a step ahead of them all I have an appointment scheduled with him for August 22nd. I know that seems forever away but it was the earliest I could do with him on vacation. So then Nurse D and I discussed what we should do in the meantime. I told her that I wanted to try another IUI or 2 since DH  and I are going on a cruise in October. I told her I didn't want to start any of the IVF meds until after the cruise, the only exception to this rule might be BCP's which she said I would need to be on for 19 days. She agreed that it would seem silly to not have a treatment cycle or two while waiting for us to get back from the cruise so she said yes we could do another IUI. I was a little upset that she did not want to change my meds at all for this 4th IUI. She said that with the way I have responded there really is no reason to change it. Last cycle I had 2 great follies at 24mm and my lining was at 12.6mm so they really don't see a reason to change. So here we go again......That is as soon as I get my period. AF where are you????? I am sure she will be here before the end of the week. My meds have been ordered and they arrive on Thursday, so we are ready to get this show on the road.

Standing by

Well today is Beta day. I woke up an hour early so that I could make it to my appointment on time. I figured I should test at home so that way I will be better prepared for when the nurse calls me. Well you guessed it, the test at home was negative. :::insert tears:::
I wish that this somehow go easier.....but it doesn't. Now I sit and wait for my cell phone to ring so that my nurse can tell me how Dr. M is really happy with the way I responded and that he just can't understand why it didn't work. I mean everything was textbook, 2 follicles at 23mm, great lining, a good count from DH, so what went wrong. Who knows?????
So now I sit and stand by, waiting for the phone call. I am not sure how this phone call is going to go. I am hopeful that they will want to do another IUI since we are going to be going on a cruise in the begining of October, otherwise we will just have to try on our own until we get back from the cruise at which point we can move on over to IVF land. I hope that I don't have to go there, so I guess only time will tell.
Since I'm standng by you may as well too. I'll keep you posted on how the phone call goes.....whenever I get it, so stand by.

Maybe this week will be better

Last week was crazy!!!! It all started with Monday morning having IUI #3, the hubby had to take off the first part of his shift since I needed him there. We were able to meet at the RE's office, do our thing and then both go back to work. Then work for me was crazy. It was the first week that my boss was gone. I am now doing a million times more work than I used to do. I hope this will be reflected when they do my annual review soon. Then after a crazy day at work it was carnival week at the fire house. So basically every day I woke up around 7am so that I could leave for work by 8am. I would work until 5pm then head home. As soon as I walked in the door I let the dogs outside then I changed into some shorts and a firehouse shirt and then I let the dogs back in the house and then I left for the carnival. I worked at the carnival each night until 10pm and then I would go home do a load of laundry and then go to bed. It really made for a long week. At least it helped me fly through the first week of my 2WW. So only one more week until beta day. I hope that this was it, lucky #3. This week should prove to be pretty busy too but nowhere near as bad as last week...... at least I hope so.

I'm a bad blogger

It is very possible that I am the worst blogger on earth. I am so sorry that it has been so long since I have provided you with an update. Well let's see where do I begin????? On the TTC front, I am currently in my 2WW. I had IUI#3 on 7/23. My body responded very well to the Clomid and Bravelle again. I had 2 follies on my right side both at 23mm when I triggered so here is to hoping that this time worked. I still have not been able to get my IVF consult moved up so if this IUI is a fail we may try 1 more while waiting for that consult.
Things at work have been crazy!!!! While I was on vacation in June, my boss called me to tell me that he was leaving the company. I started to get very anxious since I had no idea who I would be reporting to and how my job duties would change. My boss gave the company 4 weeks notice so that was nice, since we needed time to wrap up stuff he was working on and redistribute his work load since they will not be replacing him. Well on the Monday of his last week, the company did a huge work reduction and 30 people lost their jobs. I thank goodness was not one of those people. But with the company downsize and the change in my department I have been working my butt off. I have felt like a one legged man in an ass kicking contest. So as if that wasn't a bad enough day, I came home to find my kitchen had flooded while I was at work. So now we are trying to deal with the clean up and repair of that. If it is not one thing it is 20 million other things. I am getting to a better place workwise and our house is getting back to normal so hopefully that will mean that I will become a better blogger. I have missed you all and I hope that you have missed me. I will try to be better.

I'm back

Well after another vaction, this time to Hilton Head, SC I'm back. We had a great time while on vaction. Lots of beach time and lots of great food, both things that I love. The only down side of the vacation was starting my period the day we had to leave. What a double whammy!! Having to end vacation and start a new cycle in the same day, it just doesn't seem fair. So this means that we are on to start IUI#3. We are doing the exact same protocol as the first 2......because apparently my body responds so well. Right?? I would think if it was responding so well I would be pregnant by now :::sigh::: Anyway I went in for my CD3 appointment and we are a go. So tonight I will start the Clomid for 5 days and then I get a day off, then a shot of Bravell and then back in to see what's going on in the ovaries. If all goes as it has the past 2 cycles we are looking at IUI#3 on 7/23.
I spoke with the head nurse today and she and I thought it was a good idea to get on the schedule to have another consult with Dr. M about where we go next (IVF) since we are on the 3rd cycle and that is how many we initally spoke about doing before moving on. I am glad I had the conversation with her since Dr. M's next available appointment isn't until August 22nd. They have put on the wait list so if I can get in before that we will try to do that. Ideally I would like to see him before the first week of August so that we can hopefully roll right into the IVF cycle if we need to. I am still hoping that we won't need to and that IUI#3 will work but I need that back up plan just in case.

Quote

I often hop around blogworld and read various blogs, from cooking, fashion, travel, family, pregnancy, adoption and infertility. Today I was reading a post from a freind who is currently in the long process of International Adoption, You can check out her blog here. It has made me think a lot about adoption and understanding more about the process. Hubby and I have come to the conclusion that it is not a road that we choose to ever go down, but I admire those that do go through with it for their strength in such a trying process. As I was reading her blog I came across a quote which is the purpose of my post today.

As I near the end of yet another 2WW I hope that this is the cycle we have been waiting for. I know deep in my heart that when I do finally get pregnant this will be the baby we have been waiting for and it will be so worth it, but sometimes it just gets really hard to wait for something that you know will be so great.

I hope that you all had an amazing 4th of July!!!!

MIA

So perhaps I have been MIA. I have a great excuse though. We did our second IUI on June 22nd, as soon as we left Dr. M's office we hit the road for a week long vacation at the beach in Ocean City, MD. We had such a great time and it really helped keep my mind off that evil 2WW. We actually got back from vacation on Friday night the 29th but a pretty bad storm hit our town and we ended up running fire and ambulance calls until 3am. Saturday we worked on our washroom project which is basically finished. YEAH!!!! Then Saturday afternoon we went to a party and then the hubby and I went out to dinner at Texas Roadhouse, Yummy!!!! Sunday more work around the house and then Monday I am back at work. I am not really a big fan of having to be back at work but at least I only have a 3 day work week before we go on yet another beach vaction. This time we will head to Hilton Head Island, I can't wait!!!!
Sorry that I was MIA. I will try to get better at this blogging thing.

That Was........

So after I got the official call from my nurse, all systems were a go for triggering Wednesday night. Slight problem, hubby was working and wouldn't be there to give me the shot. At this point in my journey I haven't had to give myself an injection. Would I be able to do it? Would it hurt?
I am by no means afraid of needles, but I always look the other way whenever someone sticks me. It stems back from when I was younger and had surgery on my foot. They had me all numbed up and in a twilight state and I could feel no pain.......until I looked down and saw blood. That was the point that I knew if there was blood it had to hurt. So since then I always just turn my head and let them do their magic with the needle. But this time it was my turn. I had to do the magic with the needle. So how was I going to give the injection and look the other way so that it wouldn't hurt? Not really an option to look the other way when you are jabbing yourself with a needle. So after getting everything preped in the bathroom: Sharps container, needle and alcohol prep.

So I took a deep breath and washed my hands. Used the alcohol prep to get the site ready. Got the air out of the needle, pinched the skin together and quick little jab. In the needle went and OMG!!!! That Was Easy!!! I could totally do that again if I had to....Now I just hope that I don't need to do it again. I guess I will find out in two weeks.

Early Start

My monitoring appointments are always so early. If you know me by now, you know I am not really a morning person. I make an exception to this whole morning person thing on days that I need to go to the RE. I get up an hour before my normal alarm time in order to get there for the first appointment so that I can get in and out quickly and then to work and maybe even get a few extra minutes on the clock (gotta love OT). Anyway, The monitoring appointment is done. She measured 6 follies total. 3 on left and 3 on right. I have one at 24mm and another at 18mm (both on my right) all the others are between 13-16mm. She did not give me any info about my lining so I guess that is good.
I did get caught a little off guard when the head nurse brought me back to go over my trigger instructions and said "Wow, your body just does what's it's supposed to and you are in and out". Well head nurse, if that was really the case wouldn't I be pregnant already???? I mean I get what she is saying that my body is responding well to the medication but clearly so far it is not doing what it is "SUPPOSED" to be doing.They gave me my trigger instructions and I trigger tonight provided my bloodwork comes back good. So now I just wait for Nurse D to call me and tell me all looks good. Next step IUI on Friday morning, then off on vacation for the next week.

Date Night

With his work being a little crazy lately it has been hard to have a quite night at home with the hubby. I was excited for Monday night because it was going to be a very low key night for us. I got off work at the normal time and stopped at the grocery store to pick up a few things for dinner. I made a new dish, it was Chorizo Sausage with a sweet potato hash (sweet potatoes, red onion, bell pepper and fennel all oven roasted). Dinner was in the oven when DH got home so that gave us a little bit of time to relax before we ate. I thought about setting the table with candles and having a romantic night in but my head was pounding and all I wanted to do was take a nap. I had to get the table set before he walked in the door because it was injection night. I know I could totally do the injections by myself but I rather he do them so he is more a part of the whole process. So here is how I set up the table for him before he got home.

After the injection and dinner we relaxed on the couch. We both have a serious sweet tooth that was wanting something so I whipped up some instant chocolate pudding with graham crackers, strawberries, chocolate chips and whipped cream. Yummy!!! A soon as we finished dinner I got a text message that there was a commercial building fire in our area so it was time to jump into action. For those of you who may not know DH and I both volunteer at our local firehouse (FH). We hopped in the truck and raced to the FH. Hubby was on the first Engine out and I was on the Rescue. It turned out that it was nothing just a power surge and a lot of smoke in the building. It was fun to get out and play for a little bit. It always seems like whenever DH and I have a low key date night around the island we always end up getting something good. 

That's a picture of us after we cleaned up while we were waiting for the power company to get there. Just another crazy date night for us on the island.

Weekend Update

What a great weekend!!! Poor hubby had to work each day in Baltimore at the Sailabrations Festivities so he forced me to leave my bubble. I'm not the kind of girl who goes out that often and if I do I normally stay pretty close to home. Well DH convinced me to leave my bubble on Saturday and head up to see one of my best friends. Samantha lives in the B-more area so the plan was for me to go up and hang out with her all day and then once the hubby gets off work to join us out for dinner and drinks. I got to Samantha's house around 2:30pm and we were both starving so we went for a walk and ended up in the Canton Square for food and drinks. Super Bonus was that we got to eat outside and see the Blue Angels show. It made for a great afternoon. Hubby got off work around 7pm and we decided to stay in the square and have dinner. Super Bonus for dinner was that we also got to sit outside and watch the fireworks show. Amazing day all around!!!
I didn't feel like driving home so I just went home with DH and then he dropped me back off in the city at Samantha's house the next morning. Two days in a row with one of my besties, does it get any better than this?? We went out for brunch and then went to visit the Navy ships. Here is a picture of Samantha and I in front of the USS Donald Cook (DDG 75). This is the same type of ship that I was on when I was in the Navy. It kind of made me miss those days.

Just another day

Well there is not a lot going on here. Just another day in the life of me. Just living the dream, as I always say. I figured I would drop in to give you all a little update on me and things that are going on. I have taken Clomid for the past 3 night, I have 2 more nights of it left. ::::Knocking on Wood:::: I have had no side effects from it so I am happy about that. I just hope that it is doing it's job. The hubby has been working his butt off and I haven't seen him for days. He will be home tonight so I am so excited to see him and have a low key night at home.

Dejavu

It's CD3 so you know what that means, another trip to the RE office. I always go for the first available appointment time which is 7:15am that way I can get in and out of there and get to work a little early with the hopes of getting a few extra minutes at work and some OT for the week. Today's appointment was pretty much the same as all the others. They did not draw blood today because I had a negative pregnancy test on Friday (I guess they checked other things that day too). Anyway into the exam room I went for my early morning date with the vagcam. The ultrasound tech said my ovaries looked great. I was a little scared because a friend of mine had cysts after her first Clomid cycle, thankfully that was not the case with me. After I was done with the ultrasound I went and met with the on call nurse and she gave me my calendar for this cycle. Everything is exactlly the same as last cycle, even the cycle days are the same day of the week as last cycle. Clomid days 3-7, Bravelle on day 9 and follow up appointment on day 11. Total case of dejavu, I just hope the end result is not the same. I am looking for that hope and that light at the end of the tunnel.

In other news I am excited to say that my best friend is currently in the hospital getting ready to deliver her twins. K&J I wish we lived closer so that I could be there to help with whatever you need and to meet those two babies. Good Luck today I am sending thoughts and prayers your way!!! And any of you readers out there if you could send thoughts and prayers there way I am sure they would appreciate it. Thanks!

Let's try this again.....

Let's go back in time a few days..... Friday morning I woke up extra early because I had a 7:30 am appointment at the RE for my Beta draw. This is the test that will tell me how my cycle went. Great Success or Epic Failure. Well at 11:38am Nurse D called me to tell me the results. I love that she is so quick with results but just sometimes I wish she would call me to tell me something good. She called me and told me that I am NOT PREGNANT. UGH!!!! So Cycle #18 and IUI#1 was a failure.



I took the news pretty hard and ended up having to leave work early because I wasn't doing a lot at my desk except for snot crying. I got home and hugged my hubby which I really needed. There was a lot more off and on crying for the rest of the day, so much so that I ended up giving myself the worlds worst headache. So after a few Tylenol and a Margarita I decided that I should just put myself to bed early and hope that when I wake up it will be a completely fresh new start. 8:30pm I was out like a light and didn't even wake for the next 12 hours. What a refreshing rest!!! Ready to start this all over again. CD1 arrived on Sunday so on Tuesday I will wake up early and head back into the RE for my baseline appointment. So we are ready to try this all over again. Now I just hope that it works this time. So let's try this again.

Hello there

Since Saturday morning I have been receiving daily visit from a new friend. You might ask who this is, well it it this strange white bird. I guess to be more clear I believe it is an albino bird. The hubby calls him the fertility bird, I hope that is what he is and why he has chosen to come visit me. Tonight after work I was able to get a picture of him, so here he is.

Weekend Update

What a great weekend! I got off of work on Friday at the usual time and went home. It was hubby's shift so he would be working all night and that would leave me home alone with the puppies. I decided that this would be a great chance for me to finally finish my book "Skinny Dipping" by Bethenny Frankel. In my opinion the book was okay. It was an easy enough read but I never felt like the book pulled me in to the point that I had to read to find out what was going to happen next. I probably would have never picked this book to read except for the fact that the ladies on The Bump were reading it for the book club and I was so into the first book that they selected I figured I would try the second book too, since I really am trying to get into this whole reading thing.

Saturday morning I woke up at about 7:40am and finished the last few pages from my book since I feel asleep with my kindle in hand. After I was done with the book I went to let the dogs out and then started to clean up the kitchen while I waited for hubby to get home. While I was doing the few dishes from the night before I happened to look out the window and noticed and albino bird. I thought it was weird and then dismissed it as soon as DH walked in the door. He brought home some yummy sticky buns from a new local bakery. We noshed on breakfast and then went for a walk around the neighborhood. After the walk we made a run to the dump to get rid of our trash and then came home to get cleaned up for our day out. We went up to Northern Baltimore to our friends daughter's 4th birthday party. We had a great time just hanging out for a few hours and watching all the kids play. After the party was over we decided to run a few errands on our way home. One errand turned into walking all over Ikea and then off to another store for more of the same. We realized that it was getting late and we should probably stop for something to eat. So as luck would have it the weather was nice out so we decided to head back to the Shore and eat outside at Bridges.

Sunday we opted to not go for a walk and instead get straight to working on the house. I did some much needed cleaning while DH finished up the sanding of the drywall. Once I was one with cleaning both the bathrooms I came in to help DH so we could get some serious progress on our new laundry/storage room. He handed me a roller and I began to paint primer over all the walls while he cut in around the room. After the coat of primer was on the wall we took a trip to Lowe's so that we could pick up the actual paint color for the room and all the trim needed to finish the room off. We got the first coat of paint applied and then decided that we had completed enough work for the day and so we should celebrate with a candle light dinner Eastern Shore style.

Well that was the weekend for us. Hope you all had a great weekend!

Crazy

As I sit at work ending another week I realize that I have hit my maximum work output for the day so I have decided to do a little bloggy post for my peeps... All two of you. LOL (All you dirty lurkers please feel free to join and follow my crazy journey).
So here I am one week down, in my two week wait. In 7 days I will know the results of our IUI (maybe sooner). I am excited and nervous (I seem to get this way about a lot of things). Anyway I have been looking around the message board and talking to some of my friends who have been lucky enough to get a BFP trying to find out when I might be able to see a realistic BFP of my own (of course I know that is only if this IUI worked and deep in my heart I feel like it did)........:::Enters crazy me::: On Wednesday night which was 5DPO, I POAS to see if the trigger was gone. Well it was, no sign of a second line. So now that means that if I see a second line it is for real. So again back to wondering when would I see a 2nd line??? One of the earliest 2nd line sighting was from my dear friend Katie read her blog post about it here. So does her post mean I should start peeing on sticks tomorrow????
That's crazy, right??? If your out there please talk me off the ledge.

The Big Day

My RE's office decided that they were going to take an extra long weekend, so that meant that I was going to have to do the same. There was no doctor in the Annapolis office so I had to go to the main office in Rockville for my IUI. DH got home from work Friday morning and we got all showered up and ready for the big day. We hit the road and went to Rockville. DH had his appointment at 9:30am and mine was at 11:00am. We decided to not leave the office between appointments so we just hung out in the waiting room watching The Today Show and reading. When it came time for my appointment it was quick in and out in less than 10 minutes.
After the appointment we went for lunch at one of our favorite places and then went all around Rockville to some our favorite stores. All in all it was an excellent day. Now let's hope these next two weeks fly bye with some positive results at the end.

All systems go

Well it looks like my body did what it needed to do. After 5 days of Clomid and 2 vials of Bravelle my ovaries decided to wake up. I went in this morning for my monitoring appointment which is the usual bloodwork and ultrasound (aka vag cam). As the tech was doing her thing I was trying to figure out exactlly what she was looking at at what she was measuring. Well it turns out that 6 of my follicles started to respond. Two of which are large enough for them to call them mature and makes me ready to trigger. I have 1 follicle at 23mm another at 18mm (those are the mature ones) then I have 4 that are in the 13-16mm range and will probably have no chance of catching up.
So now here is the plan. Sometime tonight between 6pm and midnight I will do the trigger shot. Then on Friday morning the hubby and I will head to Rockville for his appointment at 9:30am and then mine at 11:00am. I am kind of bummed that we will not be able to do the IUI in my normal office in Annapolis and instead have to go to the main office in Rockville all because some doctor is taking an extra long weekend. At least it means that I get to take an extra long weekend too!!! So that is kind of exciting. What is also exciting is that because we are going all the way out to Rockville we are going to make a date out of it. We will go to my favorite spice store Penzeys. Then after we are all done at the Dr. it should be right around lunch time and we have decided that we are going to one of our favorite restuarants that happens to be in the area bd's Mongolian Grill. Yes all you TTC'ers out there we are going to bd's, LOL!!!I think it is only approriate right after and IUI, don't you? I am so excited about everything!!!! IUI, Shopping, Eating and an Extra Long Weekend, does it get any better than that??? Hopefully I will let you know in 2 weeks. ;-)

Moving right along

So 5 days of Clomid under my belt. Nothing major to report. I took my pill every night at about 9:30pm. I did have a headache about two hours after I took my first dose. The headache was still there when I woke up in the morning. I tried to let it go away on it's own but after a few hours and no luck I decided to take one 500mg Tylenol and within an hour that headache was gone for good. Sunday I had the day off from meds which was nice since we were celebrating my nephews 1st birthday.
Today is the day I get to see how good the hubby is with a needle....I mean he is a paramedic so he should be pretty good, right? Tonight I will do 150units of Bravelle (that's 2 vials, thank goodness it in done in 1 shot and not 2). I must admit I am nervous but it is only one shot and the needle is really small. I will try to remember to take pictures and update how it all goes. I just wish I knew if this medication is working...Guess we will find out on Wednesday when I head in for my next monitoring appoitment.

It's just like Christmas

When I walked through the door hubby was laying there on the couch taking a nap. I walked over to him and gave him a kiss. He sat up and we started to talk about how my appointment went that morning. As we were talking I walked into the kitchen to grab the scissors so that I could open that box that was sitting on the love seat. As soon as I got the box open and started emptying it's contents I looked over to DH and could see his eyes were wide and he had a huge smile on his face. I am sure that is there was a mirror around I would have seen the same look on my face. We were both so excited about what this all means. We both felt like kids on Christmas morning, so excited about the gifts that we were getting. I know that it might be a little crazy to be excited of medicine but this is so much more to us. This is the hope that some day soon we will be able to add to our family. I just can't wait for that day.

Day 1 of my first medication (Clomid) is under my belt. I took the pill at about 9:30pm and went to bed around 11:30pm. I did have a little bit of a headache when I went to bed. I am not sure if that has anything to do with the meds or if I didn't drink enough water throughout the day. I woke up this morning and the headache was still there. It got better after I showered and I have increased my water a little bit so far today and it seems to be getting better so I am going with the fact that perhaps I was just dehydrated.

Start your engines

Woke up early this morning so that I could go to the RE. I am not really a morning person so doing this is a huge step for me. It is CD3 and that means time for the blood work and ultrasound and wait for the nurse to call me back. Apparently the lab and my nurse rock!!! Nurse D called me at 11:45 am with the great news that all looks good. So now, provided my box of medication arrives today like the pharmacy promises I will start the meds. The plan is Clomid CD3-7 then Bravelle on CD9 then back for another ulrasound and blood work on CD11 (May23rd). At that appointment they will see how things look and see if I can trigger  that night or if I need to wait for a little more growth. So it looks like it is time to start my engines, or in this case my ovaries.

What I've been waiting for...

Well not exactly. In a perfect world I would have already been pregnant, as we know the world is not perfect. I am officially moving on to the next part of my journey. Maybe this really is the start of something good. I officially started yet another cycle on Sunday which happened to be Mother's Day. It was bitter sweet, but it was the first time in a year and a half that I did not cry when my cycle started. That is a big step for me. I guess the reason for no tears to start this cycle is because I am so hopeful. This will be my first (and hopefully only) medicated IUI cycle. I have scheduled my monitoring appointment for 7:15am tomorrow. I am so not a morning person, but for this I can totally make an exception. I have confirmed this appointment with Nurse D, so after my ultrasound and blood work she will go over my calendar as to what I need to do. I have also confirmed with the specialty pharmacy that all of my medication will arrive tomorrow. All I have to say is thank goodness for insurance. I am so excited and nervous all at the same time. I really can't believe that this is finally happening. WOOOHOOO!!!!!!

Low key weekend

Exciting news!!! I just got a phone call from my pharmacy and it looks like they will be sending out my meds to arrive on Tuesday. This should be perfect timing for my next cycle which will be a medicated IUI cycle. By the look at my chart this morning CD 1 should be here any moment (I kind of hope it holds out until Sunday). 

In other news it looks like I have a pretty low key weekend planned. The hubby is working overtime today and his normal shift tomorrow so that leaves me with a lot of me time. I figured I should put a list of things I would like to do and need to do together in an effort to get as much done as possible. If I can get lots done while he is at work then we can lounge around and just enjoy each others company on Sunday. Yeah right, that will never happen. I am sure we will be working on the storage/washing room some more. So here is my list of things that I would like to get done:

1. Manicure
2. Pedicure
3. Finish 50 Shades of Grey
4. Read and complete the homework for my boater's safety course
5. Cut the grass
6. Weed the flower beds
7. Start the stone work to edge the flower beds
8. Laundry
9. Work out Friday, Saturday and Sunday

I am sure that I will not get all of these items checked off but if I could get through most of them I would be so proud of myself. I hope everyone out there has a great weekend.

What a Weekend!!!

Well Friday morning 4:00am my alarm went off and DH and I got up to get ready to head south. We pulled out of the driveway at 10 minutes to 5. A quick stop at Dunkin Donuts and we were on our way to Atlanta. I was so nervous that with such a long trip I wouldn't manage to be able to get all my 10,000 steps in but somehow I did it. We stopped at a few rest stops on our way down and once we got there we took K&J's dog for a walk to ensure that I got all my steps in.
We made it to Atlanta around 5pm and after a quick walk around the neighborhood we went to dinner. We went to this really cool place called Six Feet Under if you are ever in the area you should check it out. Yummy seafood and an amazing drink selection. I had the Shrimp Po Boy and a Blueberry Lemonade, AMAZING!!!
Saturday morning DH and I got up and went out for a run around the neighborhood before we were all ready to head out for the day. Once we left the house for the day we our first stop was breakfast at The Flying Biscuit Cafe. After our bellies were nice and full we made a quick stop at Best Buy and then on to see the place where are friend are building their house. We drove all around the community that K&J purchased in and we did a drive by on some of the other houses that their builder did then we took a trip into downtown Senioa. We did some serious walking that day, poor K and her feet did not like all the walking but she was such a trooper.
After a quick rest back at the K&J homestead we were ready to head out for dinner and our Cinco de Mayo celebration. We invited some of their neighbors a.k.a. The Usual Suspects and went to Verde. Also another place work trying if you happen to be in the area. Watermelon Margaritas and yummy tacos, can you ask for anything more when celebrating Cinco de Mayo? No one got crazy but we really had a good time, then back to the homestead to chill for the night since we had a long drive back home on Sunday.
Sunday morning K cooked the most amazing sticky buns while DH and I went for a walk. We got back from our walk and ate then got cleaned up and headed back home to Maryland. It was such a great weekend but just not long enough. It was so great to see my friends, I can't believe that the next time I see her she will have outside babies.   

Countdown to the weekend

If only the days of the week would go bye faster. I had a great weekend last weekend as we got so much work done on our house. But I am really looking forward to this weekend. This is the weekend that my husband and I are heading to Atlanta to see my best friend. I have no idea what we will do while we are there and yet I am still so excited. To tell you the truth I don't even care if we do nothing, it will just be nice to hang out with her again. I do have a small list of things that will need to be done while I am there.
1. See the place where her and her hubby are in the process of building their new house.
2. Eat some tacos, since we will be there for Cinco de Mayo.
That's really all I've got at this point. We all love food so there will be lots of eating done. I just need to make sure that I get my 10,000 steps in each day.

Now I just need to get through my workday today and tomorrow and then we will head south. I can't wait!!!

Another week in the books

This was a great week. As I mentioned in my last post DH's test results came back negative. That same day I got home and I recieved a package from my parents. A Kindle Fire that my dad won and decided to sell to me. I downloaded Fifty Shades of Grey to see what the hype is all about. So far it is a pretty good book. I have found myself up till midnight twice this week just reading away. I got the book thinking I would be reading in when I go on my road trip to see one of my best friends in Atlanta next week but at this rate I will be done with the book by then. Good news is there are 2 more books in the series.

Have you read these books yet? If so what did you think? Don't worry spoilers don't bother me. Also do you have any books to suggest? What are you currently reading?

Well anyway my work week is over an I have a weekend where DH will be home for the whole thing so it looks like we have some home improvement work to do. Maybe I will post some pictures to show you the progress.
Have a great weekend!!!

This just in!!!!

Great news!!!! DH is not a carrier!!!! The test came back much faster than I had anticipated and I am so thankful for that. Words can not express how this information lifted a huge weight off of my shoulders. Now we can move forward with our first medicated IUI cycle which will be Clomid+FSH+Trigger (I think). I will have more information on this as the time get closer. About 3 weeks till go time and I am so excited and nervous. I really have no idea how this whole process works but nurse D told me she would get Dr M to write up the protocol and then she would send that off to the pharmacy and they would be contacting me. From what I understand SG patients always have their meds before the cycle even begins. So then when CD1 arrives I will call and schedule an appointment for CD3 and then leave Nurse D a voicemail to tell her when my appointment is. When I go in for my CD3 appointment they will do baseline bloodwork and ultrasound and give me my calendar for my cycle.
So excited that this is happening!!!!