Wedesday 9/19

     Wednesday morning went well. My husband met me there from work. He is a trooper because he was so tired from working all night. I did not have to get another sonogram so I do not know how much more it had developed. Once we had our sample in the centrifuge, my husband went on home to get some sleep since he had to work that night. It made the wait so long. I was so bored and was texting a few folks to help pass the time. It made me realize how much more bearable all the waiting is when I have my husband by my side. I did survive the wait and was called back to have the procedure. I was a little nervous that they may do something different in some way and I would be alone but it went as usual and seemed to go better than normal. There was one little glitch afterwards though....

    After they do the procedure, you are laying on a chair/table that is then placed at a slope where your feet are higher than your head so your tilted to help them swim. Well, I was busy posting grades on my phone when they came in to do it so I laid my phone on my chest. I was so ready to get back to my gradebook and not lose what all I had entered that I didn't realize that they did not give me the remote to the chair. I have to lay that way for 15 minutes and did not realize until about 13 minutes into it. I did not know what I was going to do to get out of the chair. I didn't know where the remote was hung on the chair and couldn't see or feel it from the way I was laying. So, every scenario I could think of came with a mental image of what could happen if it went wrong. It did make me laugh though. Rolling off the chair upside down with only that paper tablecloth looking "drape" to cover you made me laugh. I sure didn't want to knock anything over to make someone run in to check on me...I sure wasn't going to yell help either! I finally felt that there was buttons on a box below the chair and just started pressing stuff and THANKFULLY got out of the chair. I know this is not coming across as funny as it was to me. I wish you could have heard my thoughts and seen the mental pictures I had flying through my head during that moment of slight panic. I guess if that's the only thing that went differently without my husband there, then I say it went pretty well!

     I also thought that it was weird that this is now the 3rd time I have had an insemination on someones birthday. I had one on my birthday(May2), my mom's (July 23), and now my dad's (Sept. 19). I just thought that was kind of neat.

Today's appt

     Todays appointment was short and sweet. It is day 15 of my cycle. We were unable to get an insemination procedure done today. He saw a couple follicles but the largest one only measured 17mm. He thought that it would be better to do it on Wednesday to give the follicles more time to mature. So we will head back early Wednesday and will get the procedure done. A sweet coworker of my husband swapped nights with him so he could be of today since he would be missing a few hours of sleep so we were thankful for that. He will have to meet me at the doctor from work Wednesday. I think I am going to talk him into leaving before the procedure is done so he can get home and get in the bed. After doing it so many months in a row, I think I will be fine. I just hope the dreaded needle they always have out is not used for the first time Wednesday. For those who do not know, I am scared to death of needles!!! You should see how long it is....just think about it...it has to be long enough to reach your cervix. So, it looks worse than I am sure it is. Anyhow, I will just keep telling myself that they get it ready every time and never use it, so they won't this time.
     Well, I don't have a lot of information to update on my husband. His blood test came back with everything in the normal ranges, so no more clearer answers so far. He was unable to get an analysis last week because I talked him into going with me to a conference for several days. He is going to try and do it this week possibly but we have to get the insemination done first then he will have to stay celibate for at least three days to do an analysis. As soon as he does, I will update.  
     Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers. Please keep the prayers going!

another month...

     Labor day weekend was a nice break. We celebrated by grandmother's 76 birthday(as well as my nieces 3rd birthday with a whole family facetime birthday song!), we bought us a new family car in preparation for kiddos in our future, and a good cookout with friends and their children. We had a good weekend despite the slight disappointment we had. By Monday, I had started my cycle in full force. I think it hurt my husband worse than it hurts me now. I think I have kept my feelings at bay lately just so when it is another failed attempt, I do not have to feel the full extent of my disappointment. I just shift my focus to another two weeks and getting my meds filled and taking them to get ready for my next insemination. So, my next office visit will be on Sept. 17. My most fertile days keep falling on the weekend so it leaves us with the risk of already ovulating before Monday, but I still have high hopes that I will be able to have the procedure.

     I do hope to take some new results to my doctor for my husband. He had his appointment with his Urologist this morning. They drew some blood to test his testosterone levels again and he will have another semen analysis possibly next week. My husband talked to him about the supplements he has been taking and the doctor said they would probably help and we might see the change in his analysis. I am hoping that they have had a positive impact! If we get some better results this time, it will give us a burst of something positive to keep us motivated. I will update you all once I know the results. 

     On the money saving end, we have started a budget, oh my! Its not that we are crazy spenders, we are just too used to going and doing whatever we want. We are really trying though since we have a goal (even if its not completely defined yet). My coworker raised $188 for me through Pampered Chef and I had have had offers to host more, so I am excited. I am ready to see us make progress in this area so we can make a firm decision on adoption or IVF. 

     Thanks for praying for us and supporting us. It means a lot!

     

     

August 20th Dr. Appt

I went back to the doctor on Monday. It was day 15 of my cycle. I had taken my vitamins and Metphormin as always and I took a cycle of Chlomid twice a day for 5 days. So I went in for my ultrasound and possible insemination. When he did the sonogram, he first measured my endometrium and said it was thick and then he tried to find a follicle. For the first time since we started this, he was unable to get a good view of my ovaries. He kept looking for what seemed like forever. He never did get a good look at them on the sonogram so we did not know if I had already ovulated, if I had any follicles, one follicle, or multiple follicles.... I was a little worried and let down for a second but then he said that he was pretty positive from the thickness of my lining that I was ovulating this month and we would go ahead with the insemination. So the rest of the appointment went on as usual and I will again wait 2 weeks to see if a period or a positive pregnancy test awaits us. We should know something by September 3.

My husband will go back to the urologist on September 6 to see what his next step might be and hopefully he will get orders for some more testing and another semen analysis to check and see if all the supplements are helping in any way.

Another thing I wanted to mention was the fact that we are trying our best to save money and we are starting to raise money to continue this journey, whether it be continued fertility treatments, In Vitro Fertilization (IVF), or adoption. We have lots of cost that are not covered by insurance and my husband's upcoming test are quite expensive as well. Our next steps with In Vitro or adoption are thousand of dollars (you should google it, its ridiculous). The first way I am doing this is buy selling Pampered Chef. All my commission is going into a special savings account earmarked just for this. If you could help by gathering orders, please contact me so that I may get you some catalogs. It adds up quickly. I have a sweet co-worker that made me $100 last month and already has made me $126 dollars so far this month and she also reaps the benefits of all the hostess benefits(lots of free stuff). I will let you know of different opportunities to help me out in the future as well. Thanks for reading and please keep praying!

IUI video

I have had a few people ask what or how IUI is done. It is short video explaining it. There could be better ones out there but this was the first one I watched so here you go.

Short 3D animation of Intra-Uterine Insemination

No baby news

I had received a few texts wanting an update last week. I guess I should post more but it is just a lot of waiting, especially after I have been inseminated. I will try to do better though.

Well, I do not have any good news to share this month. It was not successful. We will start another round of meds on Wednesday. I will be taking double the amount of Chlomid this month so I will be anxious to see what impact it will have on my follicle development. My next doctor appointment will fall on the weekend again so we will once again run the risk of ovulating and being unable to get inseminated this month. I have more hopes this time around though since I had not ovulated before I went last time. It may increase my risk for multiples so I bet my husband is secretly happy about it. He would love to go ahead and have two children and be done with this difficult process.

Short update on my husband: He has been on his concoction of supplements for a little more than a month and a half. I saw a friend last week that also goes to my doctor and her husband has similar issues as mine. She stated that they were mailing her some information on a supplement that may help her husband. I got a text from her last night stating it was Proxeed. It is a powder you mix in your drink. I think it was around $400 for a two month supply. We looked it up and checked the ingredients and it seemed that we had most all the ingredients covered in the supplements he is currently taking (I think we have spent less too.). We noticed that he is not taking CoQ10. We had been looking into its benefits already and that just confirmed to me that we may need to add one more pill to his already full pill box. So he has a new bottle on the table and they stink to high heaven! So, let me take a few minutes to be very thankful that he takes all this stuff willingly and regularly. I am lucky to have a husband that is all in and so supportive. I am very lucky to have a husband that has such a strong desire to be a father.

Better than I thought

We got better news than expected yesterday. I had not ovulated yet and two follicles were seen, so we went ahead with another Interuterine insemination (IUI). When the doctor came in to do the procedure, he said that the specimen seemed to have more “swimmers” in it than in the past. That was really good news! I’m hoping that the pills we have my husband on are helping (It said it could take 3 months to show any change and it has only been a month and a half so I might schedule him another analysis once he has been on it longer to see for sure.). The doctor also said that if I didn’t get pregnant this month then he would increase my dosage of Chlomid. With that news, I have a little hope so I guess if I’m not pregnant this time then I will give it another try next month.