'The' Day...

Well...today is day 29 of my cycle. The last day...or just the next day, depending on what's going on (or not going on) inside my uterus. 

A little update...

Well...according to Fertility Friend (FF) Chart, it's official...

OhMaGooosh!!

That's what went through my head a few minutes ago as I was thinking about the fact that I probably O'd!! 
I think it happened yesterday...maybe even when I was writing my post about being frustrated that I felt like I wasn't going to O. 

Nuthin' much...

Here I am again...waiting... There hasn't been much to share lately so I haven't posted anything. There still isn't much to share, but I thought I'd check in anyway! 

I'm ALIVE!!!

I woke up this morning feeling pretty good!!! For the last three weeks or so, I would wake up in the morning and feel like DEATH!!!
We all know the feeling in the morning...dreading getting out of the warmth and protection of your cozy soft sheets...but, you wake up and get up and hop in the shower anyway and by the time your shower is done you're pretty much awake! Well...that has NOT been the case for me these last few weeks! 

Debrief...and BW results...

I couldn't believe it when AF showed up two days after stopping prometrium! So...off to the RE I went...
I got there (early...again!!!) and was ushered in to do the scan first. The nurse said we would do my labs after my ultrasound. I thought that was fine, so I agreed. 

A Fresh Cycle!

I am shocked!! AF showed up, and a new cycle is here!! 

We have a plan!!

Ladies and Gentlemen,  We have a plan!!!!!!!!!!!

2 Days!!!!

Two days...
Until my first RE appointment!!! I'm nervous, excited and anxious to move forward! In some ways it feels like it's taken forever to get here...and in others it's gone SO fast! 
Can't wait to hear what he has to say to us!!

Questions for the RE

In preparation for my first RE appointment on Thursday, I've been compiling a list of questions. These questions are in no particular order. I just wrote them down as I thought of them.

Where East meets West

What can I do to improve my chances of having a successful IVF procedure?

That's the question that I've been asking myself since we discovered that was our last hope of having biological children.

My first thought was...lose weight. They say that a weight loss of only 10% drastically increases your chances of conceiving and maintaining a pregnancy.

After that, I did a bunch of research to see if there were other things that I could do to increase my chances of having a successful pregnancy.

Adoption via Craigslist?

There are thousands, apparently, millions of families pursuing adoption this year.

 

If you're considering adoption, are you planning to advertise yourself on Craigslist?

Infertility Today

I subscribe to a blog called 'Fit Pregnancy'.

 

When hubby and I first moved 6 months ago (have I already been here for 6 months?!) we thought we would get pregnant right away! We knew we would have some difficulty, but we figured a couple of rounds of IUI and bada-bing..baby! So...I 'liked' Fit Pregnancy on facebook.

The latest news

Sorry it's been kind of quiet around here the last week. There hasn't been much to update you on until now.

Two large-ish things have happened in the last week.

Thankful Thursday

When I first started this '30 Days of Thankfulness' journey, I thought, oh my...how in the world am I going to come up with 30 (read: THIIIRRRTYYY!!!) things to be thankful for?!

Like really...truly thankful for...

Not just...I'm thankful for the sweater my mom gave me last Christmas. That's nice...and I am thankful for it, but there are SO many other things in life to REALLY be thankful for!

Today I have so many things that I am thankful for that it's hard to narrow it down. I think I will write them down for another day when I'm not feeling so thankful!

Without further adieu...the winner for today is...(cue the trumpets!)

Thankful continued...

Today I am thankful for my best friend!

We've been best friends since 2nd grade and to this day (has it really been 25 years?!) I consider her to be closer than my best friend, she's my sister! She is a wonderful, compassionate, caring, supportive, loving, exciting, creative, dynamic, smart (I could go on and on!) woman! She's a fantastic mother and wife. She calls to bounce ideas off me and listens to me gripe about not wanting to see other women with babies and young children!

Infertility Etiquette

Since starting my blog, I've found a number of other bloggers that are sharing about their own infertility struggles.

I discovered a post today discussing the issue of infertility etiquette. If you have a friend or family member struggling with infertility, what should you say? What shouldn't you say?!

Waiting...

I'm siting here waiting to hear who will be the next president of the US. No matter what your political leaning, election night is most certainly exciting! Who will be our next president?! We'll find out soon!!

While I am waiting to find out who will be the next president, that's not really what I'm waiting on. The last week has been an exercise in waiting. Last Monday I went to my obgyn to find out the results of hubby's latest SA. The news wasn't good...and he referred us to a local reproductive center. That afternoon I called and found out that I could get an appointment as soon as November 5th!!

Getting out...

We went out tonight. Like an actual real couple. Like a couple without a care in the world. It was lovely! We went into town to the local university and saw a musical that they were putting on. They did a fantastic job! For several hours I was able to get out of my head and think about something else. It was wonderful!!!

30 Days of Thankfulness

I decided to jump on the bandwagon. I've seen it all over Facebook and Pinterest. 30 Days of Thankfulness. If I believed in coincidences, I might think what perfect timing it is to have a full month to remind myself of all of the things that I'm thankful for. Coincidences are nice, but God-incidences are better. Surely, God is saying...remember all of the things that I've blessed you with. And so, I shall...

Healing Through Music

You'll probably find me posting a lot of music here. For reasons unknown, music has been my 'go to' place during all phases of my life...from joy, to hurt and sorrow.

I was driving today and heard this song again. It's a great reminder that my God is bigger than any issue I go through, including infertility.

Stats

I have a love/hate relationship with statistics.

First, my experience with it in college wasn't so great. I'm terrible at math. TERRIBLE! As in, I still couldn't do basic addition/subtraction in my head in 6th grade. This is also the year that my math teacher hit my hands with a rule because I couldn't to the math quick enough. Anyway...I digress...

Stats can be really helpful, and they can also be misinterpreted. So...tread forward carefully...

Commitment to Health

If you know me, you know that I've struggled with my weight for years. At first it was just due to too much eating and not enough moving (read: college), but eventually I realized there was a problem. For years I struggled eating the right things and working out, but I always felt horrible and had terrible recovery time after working out...with zero weight loss.

A couple of years after this was when we first started 'trying'. I had been charting for about 8 months or so and knew that there was a problem. So, I went to my OBGyn. She did a bunch of blood work and told me that I had something called PCOS. I read a little bit about it, but didn't know all that much. I left that appointment and went home to do research. I found out that no only does PCOS cause fertility problems, it also makes it extremely difficult to lose weight. Yay! Now I have a reason for why I can't lose weight! What in the world do I do about it?!

The Research Phase

If you know me, you know I like to plan...and research! If I'm going to make a decision, I'm going to be fully informed and aware of every possible outcome before I jump in.

Moving forward with IVF/ICSI is not different.

In an effort to force my brain to absorb the concept that we aren't going to conceive naturally...or even semi-naturally, I've been doing research on just about everything I can think of.

Infertile? Me?

It began on a warm sunny afternoon. It was a Tuesday, I think...

Just kidding. It was a cold, October day. There was a huge hurricane off the east coast, threatening to submerge cities from North Carolina to New York. It was windy, and pretty cold for late October in Tennessee. It was the day we got the results.  Infertility.