Monday's Appointment=Canceled

I just got the call that my appointment for Monday has been canceled. The doctor will not be there. They rescheduled it for July 11. I told them to have my nurse practitioner call me since this cycle is so screwed up. I don't know if she'll want me to have an u/s or blood work or just induce a cycle. Hopefully I'll hear from her soon.

I hope you all have a GREAT FRIDAY!!!

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Cycle Day 41!!??

Yep! That's right!! Today is CD 41! I have taken a GAZILLION pregnancy tests, of course they're all negative. I've had some dull cramps like, maybe, ol' Aunt Flow was about to make her appearance, but nothing. Nada. *sigh* We have an appointment in Mobile on Monday so maybe they can tell us what is going on. We'll be talking about our next IVF cycle as well. I really wish we could do another one right now, but I know it would be best to wait until Erick has some more vacation time.

** Happy Thursday everyone**

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IVF #1=BFNothing to transfer

Hello all!! Sorry I've been MIA lately. It's been an adjustment getting back into a routine and going back to work after being off for 2 weeks doing IVF.



So, after all the shots, doctor appointments, taking off work for 2 weeks..........in the end, we have nothing to transfer. I was am devastated!!! I never thought it would end this way. Honestly, it never crossed my mind that we wouldn't have anything to transfer. We had talked all week on how many we wanted to transfer and after we found out we only had 4 eggs, we were prepared to transfer 3 if we needed to; anything we had to do to bring a baby home in 9 months. Now, it's over and we have nothing to show for it except a hotel bill and no more vacation time!





 I never did an update on what the doctor told us after our unsucessful IVF, so here's what he said:

We had 4 eggs retrieved, all 4 were mature and fertilized. Great news!! Out of the 4 fertilized, only 1 had cell division and it stopped dividing at 2-cell stage. Not great news. He's not sure what went wrong. He said it's something inside the egg that wasn't normal. He couldn't tell this by just looking at them. He said they looked great on the outside and the fact that they fertilized was good. I guess it's like a miscarriage, they can't stop it and most of the time they can't explain what went wrong. God is in control and it just wasn't our time. We go back to see him on June 27 and we'll talk about the next cycle. He's wanting us to start again in July, but my husband doesn't get anymore vacation time until October. So we're wanting the retrieval and transfer to happen in October. The best part about the next cycle is IT'S FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We didn't have to pay for this one and he said he would split the cost between the 2 cycles!!! I'm so thankful for him! He is wonderful!!!

Transfer

We  got a call from the nurse this afternoon & she said we had nothing to transfer. :( We have an appointment tomorrow morning with the doctor. Hopefully he can give us some information on what went wrong. I will do an update tomorrow when we talk with him. Thank you all for your support.

quick update

The nurse called this morning & said all 4 eggs fertilized!!!! Woo-Hoo!!! I will update tomorrow when I get another report.

Egg Retrieval

We got to the clinic at 7:30 this morning for the egg retrieval. We changed in to our suites while they were preparing the room for us. The nurse came in and tried starting an IV. I'm usually very easy to get an IV started, but for some reason my veins did not want to cooperate today. After 8 sticks and 3 nurses they finally got it started!! Thank goodness everything went pretty smooth after that! The procedure itself was pretty much painless. A little uncomfortable, but nothing major. The drugs they gave me was good stuff! HA!

They told me they retrieved 4 eggs. Not the number I was hoping for, but it only takes 1 right?? He said all 4 were mature. I'm hoping for a good report tomorrow!!

I'm pretty sore and bloated. I'm hoping to feel a little better tomorrow. I will update tomorrow when I hear from the nurse.

TRIGGER SHOT!!!

At 8:30 pm I took my trigger shot!! The nurse called me around 5pm today and told me I was "cooked"!! haha!! She told me to do 75units of Menopur and 75 units of Follistim immediately. And to do my trigger shot at exactly 8:30 pm! Our retrieval is scheduled for Friday at 7:30am. I am so excited!!

My first blog award!!

My blog received an award!!

Jennifer awarded me the versatile blogger award!! Thanks girl:)

This Award is to recognize and appreciate fellow bloggers and let your readers know about some new blogs they might not have visited!

Now its time to pass it on: Here are the rules;

*Thank the person who gave you the award and link back to them in your post

*Share seven things about yourself

*Award 15 bloggers you've recently discovered

*Contact these bloggers and let them know you've given them the award




Seven things about me:
1. I have been married to my wonderful husband for 10 years this year!!
2. We have a spoiled rotten poodle, Abbi, who doesn't know she's a dog! HAHA!!
3. We want a baby more than anything in the world!
4. We always said IVF wasn't an option for us because we didn't have the money, but Thankfully, his insurance covers most of it!! Praise the Lord!
5. I love to see new places! When I retire I want to travel the world!
6. I LOVE NYC!! I have been once and I would do anything to go back soon!
7. I miss my mom terribly!! She left this earth way too soon and I would do anything to be able to see her again! But I know she's no longer in pain and in a much better place!!


And the award goes to:
1. jessica at jessiceandrewsjones.blogspot.com
2. Christina at subfertilefrugalista.blogspot.com
3. Erin at terobertson.blogspot.com
4.  Tiffany at thepiferfamily.blogspot.com
5. Lori at findingblessingsineveryday.blogspot.com
6. Dawn at godsplannotmine.blogspot.com
7. Bobbi at thejohnsonsjourney.com
8. Cora at http://cora-heartfeltandhomemade.blogspot.com/
9. Chrissy at http://tryingtogetabuninmyoven.blogspot.com/
10. Ashley at http://ajpatillo.blogspot.com/
11. Julia at http://therrell.blogspot.com/
12. Hannah at http://ngowhitcombfamily.blogspot.com/
13. Rosie at http://rosieandderek.blogspot.com/
14. Lori at http://babybelgard.blogspot.com/
15. Pam at http://matthewandpam.blogspot.com/

Lupron, Menopur & Follistim.......OH MY!!!

Well, I've been meaning to do an update for several days and I just haven't taken the time to write. Lots has happened since my last update. Here's the latest:
On Friday, April 15, we started Lupron injections. So far so good, it is a breeze to inject, the side effects, however, are the devil!!! I've had the worst mood swings ever!! My co-workers think I'm a crazy person. HA! I started out doing 10 units, now I'm doing 5 units. My last birth control pill was April 17. I started my period on April 20 and had an ultrasound on April 25 to make sure I didn't have any cysts on my ovaries. The ultrasound looked good and my RE told me I could start Menopur that night. Woo-hoo!! Let's get this party started!! I'm doing 150 units of Menopur and Thursday I had my first monitoring appointment. My RE called after she read the ultrasound and said to add 25 more units of Menopur and to pack my bags because Dr Rizk wants us in Mobile for the remainder of the IVF(we live 3 hours away).  So, we left after work yesterday and drove down to Mobile. Our new home for the next 11 days will be our hotel room.  I had another monitoring appointment today and everything is looking just like it should. I also started Follistim today. Instead of trying to draw up 25 units of Menopur in the syringe, I can use the Follistim pen and it will be exactly the right amount of medicine. And let me tell you, the Follistim Pen is SO much easier to use!! I love it! I have another appointment at 8 am tomorrow, hopefully everything is still looking good. We have a lot of free time on our hands since we're not working while we're here, so I will try to do a better job at keeping this blog updated! Have a great night!!

Birth Control is Boring.......

Just as the title says, we have been boring for the past few weeks. But, we are about to be NOT SO BORING!!! Lupron shots start on Friday(4/15)!!! I think I should've started them this past Wednesday(day 21 of  birth control) but my RE was afraid of having "Easter Eggs" hahaha!! They didn't want to risk having a retrieval on Easter, which is fine with me.  Right now our schedule is......U/S on 4/25 to make sure I don't have any cysts so I can start Menopur.......first monitoring appointment on 4/28, go to Mobile on 4/30 for the remainder of the monitoring.......egg retrieval on 5/6 and transfer on 5/9!!!! Of course, this could change depending on when I start my period while doing the Lupron and how my ovaries respond to the meds. Oh yea, I will also start PIO(progesterone in oil) shots! BLAH!!

Good luck to all the other ladies that are currently doing IVF or are in their 2WW!! Have a great weekend everyone!!!

Monday's appointment update

My appointment on Monday went really well! We got to Mobile Sunday night around 10pm and checked in to the hotel. We got up Monday morning, had breakfast and headed to the doctors office. When we got there, they sent me across the street for an ultrasound and everything looked fine. Then we talked to the doctor and he wanted to do a Hysteroscopy because it had been about 6 months since my last one. Boy was that uncomfortable!! OUCH!!  It was going good until they injected the saline in! But, he said my uterus looked good and everything looked normal. After the hysteroscopy, they took some blood from Erick and myself and then they gave us the 30 pages of paperwork to look over and sign. Holy Moly! As of tomorrow, we will OFFICIALLY be in our first IVF cycle! WOO!! I start the birth control pills tomorrow and then I'll do a Lupron shot, then Menopur, retrieval and transfer!! The only thing that could possibly cancel our cycle is if my doctors wife gets any worse. As I mentioned before, she has cancer. She was in Houston, TX a couple of weeks ago but now she's back in Mobile. From what I understand, she's in the end stage of leukemia. It is so sad! He is such a nice guy and was so professional when we talked to him Monday. He was smiling and laughing with the staff, you would never know that his wife is ill. I told my husband that he is truly dedicated to his patients to be at the office when he should be with his wife. I don't think he was there very long that day, his nurse practitioner told us that she hand picked his patients for Monday and we were one of the lucky 5 that she picked! I felt so special!

I will keep this blog updated through our journey but, it will be pretty boring for the next 21 days only having to take a birth control pill everyday. I am excited and nervous for us! I just pray that it will work like we hope it will!! God is good......all the time!!

Mobile bound tomorrow night and a much needed update

I am WAY past due for an update! In my last post, my cycle was a complete disaster. It has finally decided to cooperate, thank goodness!! I started the BCP again and was supposed to have my timeline appointment on February 21, well........the clinic canceled my appointment because my doctor's wife is not in good health and he would be out of town with her. They rescheduled it for the following Monday. They canceled it again! By this point, I'm on day 15 and would need to start my lupron injections on day 22. My RE called me and told me she was sorry but I would need to finish my pack of birth control, have a period and start them again. *sigh* I completely understand that he needs to be with his wife but, I have to say that I was disappointed to have to start the pills all over again. They're not saying exactly what is wrong with her but, he has been in Houston, TX with her so I'm assuming she has cancer. We are finally going for an appointment this Monday, the 14th. I am so excited!!! I finished my pack of birth control yesterday so, I'm anxious to start this cycle. I just really hope we can go through the entire process this time! That will be something we discuss on Monday. I don't want to change doctors but, I don't want to wait another year to do this either. We already have our medicine and it won't last forever. I am curious, though, if we do change doctors will the new doctor want to start all over again and do new tests or anything??  If any of you have had to experience this I would love to hear your opinion!!

Well, that's my update for now. I will be sure to update after our Monday appointment!! Have a great rest of the weekend!!

Lots of updates

It has been way too long since my last post!! I have been keeping up with everyone via my cell phone. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas & New Year! Ours was great! We usually go to my grandmother's every year, but this year she came to us.  It was wonderful not to have to go out of town, but I sure did miss my aunt, uncle & cousins!

As far as IVF goes........i did start the birth control, but I had to stop taking it.  My cycle last month was a disaster! After my surgery in October I had a cycle.....well....it decided to last FOREVER!! & by that I mean I started taking Prometrium on day 46 & finally started on day 50!! BLAH! Day 1 fell on saturday(new years day) & I called my RE on Monday & I went for blood work & an u/s on Tuesday.  Everything looked good so I started the BCP Tuesday evening.  I made an appointment to go to Mobile on January 17(Yes! this past Monday) this would be our "Timeline" appointment.  We were so excited to finally be doing this process!!! Well after being on BC for over a week, i was still bleeding!! UGH!  It was terrible! I called my RE & she said this was not good news......i was probably having breakthrough bleeding! She said for me to continue the pills & hopefully it would stop......well....it didn't. I called her back saturday morning(I will tell you why I called her on a saturday in a minute) & she said to stop the pills because they were obviously not doing any good.  I finally stopped bleeding today!! Whew!!

Now......the reason I called my RE on saturday is because.......Friday night i went roller skating.  & for anybody that knows me, they know I LOVE to skate! Well, the night had been going good, i was having a blast!  Then, all of a sudden, it was going not good!! I was skating & went to turn around & fell! & boy did I fall! I hit my head & ended up at the ER with a concussion!! Only me ! GEEZ!! So, that's why i called my RE.......I had to cancel my appointment. She told me to stay off the skates!! HAHA!  It would've been pointless to go anyway because of my cycle being so wacko.

I'm doing ok from my fall......it's just taken me a few days to get back to normal. A concussion is definitely not fun!!! I will be starting the IVF process again very soon! I will try to do better with keeping everyone updated!

I hope you all have a great day!!

RANT!

AHHHHHH!!!!! I just wanna scream!!!! The holidays are stressing me out!!! I love this time of year and the time we get to spend with family but, why can't it just be simple??? Why do people always make Christmas time all about getting a gift?? It drives me crazy!!! I love to buy gifts for everyone but right now times are tough and we are trying to save some money for IVF and we just CAN'T buy every single person a gift!! I don't care if I don't get one single gift; I just want us all to get together and eat and be merry, but it's not always that simple!! Oh well......we'll do what we can and that's going to have to be good enough! IVF is way more important to me than buying a gift that will turn into a dust collector. WHEW! I feel better!! Thanks for listening!! haha!! :)

A Few Updates

I have been such a terrible blogger lately! I haven't had a chance to give any updates. So, here it goes:

*Surgery went good! He removed some mild Endo and my right tube is blocked! He says he doesn't understand why it's blocked, but it is...oh well. My uterus looks good, nothing crazy looking in there!! Woo-Hoo!! He did a D&C as well. He did say that I had some inflammation on the lining of my uterus and gave me some Doxycycline to take.
* I talked to my RE in Mobile and we are shooting for a January "Timeline Appointment" and a February retrieval and transfer!! I can't wait!! I have to admit though, I am S-C-A-R-E-D of PIO's!! I just don't like to depend on somebody else to give me a shot, but I will do whatever it takes!!
* I have half of my medicine. I only had enough money to cover half right now and when I get my reimbursement check from the insurance company I will order the other half. Last time the meds were $2003.00....this time they are $3900.00! Whew! Thank goodness I get reimbursed! I am very fortunate that I have good insurance!!

Remembering our losses

Good Morning! It's been a while since my last post. Nothing has been happening lately to really write about. We did have an exciting weekend last weekend. My BIL and SIL(the ones that sent us the money for our last fertility treatments) came down to visit. We finally got to meet their little girl, Dakota. She is just a doll. She turned 1 last Sunday, so we got to celebrate her 1st birthday. It was wonderful!! I can't believe a whole year went by before we got to meet her. I miss them so much! I wish they lived closer, but they are military so they don't have much say in where they are stationed.

Today has been an emotional one for me. Today I'm remembering the 3 babies that we have lost over the past year. As you know, we will start the IVF process in January and I hope I don't have to add another loss to the list. I'm just not sure that I could handle that. I'm hoping and praying that IVF is just what we need and will work the first time.  I'm also missing my mom like crazy today. Yesterday was my 29th birthday and I wish she could have been here to celebrate with me. She wanted more than anything for me to have a baby. It breaks my heart that my children will never know her. She is in a much better place, though. I know she is no longer in pain, but that doesn't make it any easier for those of us still here that love & miss her so much. I thought it would start getting easier to deal with, but I think it's getting harder everyday. I have so many different emotions going on that sometimes I don't know what to do. The crazy hormones you have with fertility treatments doesn't help either.

I am praying for all you ladies that are remembering your losses today! I don't know you personally, but you are always on my mind!

IVF.....here we come!!!

My doctor appointment went good yesterday. He seems to think IVF is in our best interest. We will be starting the process sometime in either December or January. As I've mentioned before, my husband is still in college and it would be best to wait until he graduates, since we live 3 hours away from my RE and we'll be having to travel there a lot during this process. This is just fine with me. It will be one less thing to stress about and we won't have to worry about him missing school. I can't wait to get started!! It will be here before we know it!

So, as I mentioned above, our appointment went good, but we didn't get home until almost midnight last night; with that said, let me explain what happened.
My appointment was at 10:00 am and we were out of there by 12:15. We drove to get some lunch and then stopped by the mall. From there we decided to go to Bass Pro Shop, which is on our way home. On the way to Bass Pro, I started feeling weird....tingly and my hands were clamy. I tried to brush it off and not worry about it. We went on to Bass Pro and while we were in there, I felt weak and my stomach was uneasy. We left there and decided to go on home. We get going down the interstate and I have another episode of clamy hands and this time I'm feeling a little lightheaded and my tongue was really dry. Again, I tried to brush it off. Well, it happens again a few minutes later! So, I told my husband that I thought maybe we should find a hospital. We searched the GPS and the nearest one was like 15 minutes off the interstate. We get there and they take me to a room and do blood work, a pregnancy test, and they take my blood pressure while I'm standing, sitting,and laying down and they also check my blood sugar and do an EKG. It ALL checks out fine. He seems to think I was having anxiety attacks. So, needless to say, it was a long ride home. We finally left the hospital around 8:15 or so.

I'm feeling better today, but still not 100%. I'm really not sure about these "attacks". I didn't think I was really anxious about anything yesterday, but I've been reading about it today and it says that they can come on without warning. Well that's certainly what happened yesterday. I've had one episode before, that I think that's probably what was happening. It was labor day weekend 2009 and some friends and I went to Savannah,GA for a day trip and I had an attack. I haven't thought much about having another one since then, but now I'm afraid to have another one. It is a really scarey feeling!! Does anyone else have these?

Back to Mobile we go......tomorrow

Hey hey! Wow, it's been a while since my last post. Tomorrow we go back to Mobile to discuss our options. I am so torn about what treatment I want to do next. Do I want to try injectables again or go straight to IVF?? I have no idea. I just want to do whatever will work, but isn't that the case with all of us!? I've only done 1 injectable cycle, so probably we will do another one or two and if they don't work then maybe go for IVF. It just makes me crazy that there are no guarantees with any treatment. I will update as soon as we get back home.
I have a couple prayer requests......
First, my aunt Janice(my dads sister) she lives in Vidalia Ga. She was diagnosed with a malignant tumor in her pancreas in April of this year. She underwent treatment for about 8 weeks in hopes that it would shrink enough to be removed. She went in to the hospital in Savannah on Sept 3 to have the tumor and her gallbladder removed. They removed her gallbladder but couldn't remove the tumor. It has "sprouted fingers" and has grown into a main artery and some veins. But the good news is, they did a biopsy of the tumor and there are no cancerous cells left!! Hopefully it will stay that way since it can't come out. She is still in the hospital, unfortunately, it hasn't gone as smooth as we hoped. She has rods in her neck(she was in a car accident a couple of years ago) and when they put the tube in her throat they irritated it and now her throat is swollen. She had to be put on a ventilator due to the swelling. She had surgery this morning to remove the vent and it was a success! Praise The Lord! Hopefully she can now recover from her surgery and come home in a few days.

BETA RESULTS

Beta results.........BFN!! So I guess my period decided to start early......I guess it was the medicine?? Who knows! I had a 23 day cycle.  I'm just glad that I didn't miscarry again. It still sucks!! This is my first medicated cycle that I didn't get pregnant. Oh well!! I have an appointment with my RE on September 16 and we will discuss IVF! If you all have any advice to give me I would greatly appreciate it!! Thank you! Hope you all have a great rest of the day!!

Bleeding! Ugh!

Well, I haven't posted in a while. I woke up this morning bleeding. I'm really not sure what to think right now. I called my RE and she said if I wanted to have a beta today I could. Today is CD 24 and I was originally scheduled to have a beta on Monday the 30th.  I went a few minutes ago and I should know the results in a couple of hours. Hopefully it's just implantation bleeding, but if not then I guess this cycle is a bust. :( I will update as soon as I get the results.