It looks as if our little baby bean is hanging in there! This morning was Beta #2 and the results came back with a perfect doubling. As you know, our first Beta was 575. Today's Beta was 1075!! Woot!!! I was really starting to worry as I did the test at 8am and by 4 pm I still hadn't heard from them. Finally I couldn't take it anymore I just decided to call the doctor's office. Low and behold, my results never made it across the nurses desk so she wasn't even planning on calling me! Thank God I gave in and called them!
She also said that they would've been happy with an increase of 66% which would have been in the 850-950 range, but with the increase that I had, they are very pleased.
They went ahead and scheduled our ultrasound for next Friday at 9am. An ultrasound that I am very much looking forward to? Who woulda thunk it?! Of course, that is when we will find out exactly how many baby beans are in the ol' uterus. I'm warming up to the idea of twins, but I will obviously be ecstatic with just one. I can't wait to see our little orange seed (thanks What to Expect When You're Expecting app!!)!!
Thanks again for all the incredible support! Infertility really sucks, but I have met some amazing people during our journey. I can't wait until everyone can get the BFP's they deserve!
As always, baby dust and wonderful thoughts!
Showing posts with label IUI. Show all posts
Showing posts with label IUI. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Round 7 results!
Where did I last leave you? Oh that's right. Whining about money and how we wouldn't be able to afford another round of fertility treatments because of Curtis' gallbladder and wah wah wah. Wellllll, in case you didn't already know (and I'm still trying to keep it secret as it's early) but,
WE ARE PREGNANT!!!
Yup. You read that right. Saturday morning I got up, peed in a cup and dipped the little hCG stick in it and came in the living room. I waited 5 minutes and fully prepared myself for the impending negative I have become so used to seeing. Instead, I saw two lines. DARK lines. Those beautiful little pee lines indicated that I was indeed pregnant. I dipped another to make sure after wiping tears and practically jumping up and down. Waited another 5 minutes. Once again, I was pleasantly surprised with another set of twin lines!
I immediately got dressed and went to the grocery store. I bought ANOTHER box of pregnancy tests, this time the digital ones. Chugged a bottle of water on the way home. Peed on the stick. Instead of waiting 3 minutes, I checked after like 1. There on the screen was the best thing I've read to this day: Yes+.
Needless to say, we freaked. Well, I freaked, Curtis remained impassive as he was super nervous. I called my doc and told them about the positive results. The nurse said, "When did you get the positive result?" I said, "I just got 3 positive tests within the last hour." She responded, "Wow! You really wanted to be sure didn't you?" I just laughed, "You have no idea." She then said she would leave a note for my nurse who would call back with the next steps.
The nurse called me back about an hour later, "I spoke with Dr. [Awesome]. Here's what he wants you to do: Pee on three more tests. If those come back positive, take 2 more. If that comes back positive, take just one mor-". The whole time I'm like, "Ok. Uh huh. Honey! We have to go to the store!" Until she stopped and started laughing. She was like, "We're just kidding. Three was plenty. We'll go ahead and schedule your blood beta test for tomorrow morning at 8:30." HURR HURR HURR lady. I was totally ready to go all Juno style- drink a crap ton of Sunny D and pee on every pregnancy test in our little town! Thankfully, they were just kidding and we made plans for the beta.
The rest of the day was spent in awe and prayer...just hoping that the beta would show that this was a viable pregnancy and not a chemical one. We also let those who were chronicling our journey know, but continued to ask for prayers/baby dust/good thoughts.
That leads us to today. We got up bright and early and headed to the big city for our beta test. My Mother-in-law came too. She's been cooped up in the house and wanted to get out for a little while, so we planned a trip to Costco and a couple other stores. We get to the doctor's office and the waiting room gets packed...complete with a couple that had the most adorable set of 7-month-old twins I have ever seen! All the rest of us in the room just stared at them and smiled. Dr. Awesome called a couple back and then waved me back as well. He told me, "We'll get the results today and call you when we know." I asked about continuing the Progesterone gel, which he replied yes and gave me some more. He then took the blood sample, joked about the request to pee on even more tests ("The nurses don't understand. My wife and I did the same thing for weeks."), then wished me well! Off we went to breakfast.
We soon had to cut our trip short as I got a text from a woman who wanted to look at the puppies. So instead of hitting up the stores, we just began the drive home. I was on the phone with my Mom when the doctor called. He told me, "Well I have some good news! Your beta came back mumbled-mubled-5...." I was like, "Huh? Can you repeat the number?" He said, "5-7-5." I think I said, "Holy cow! That's HUGE!". He then laughed and said, "Yup. It could possibly be twins!" To which I fainted.
Just kidding. But he went on to explain that we need one more test to check the doubling (Tuesday at 8am) and then we can go from there. But the number I got was very strong, very good and we're confident this is a viable pregnancy!
So as of right now, I am 4 weeks with an estimated due date of 6/4/13. I have some people hoping for twins and, to be the cliche Mom-to-be, I don't care as long as it's healthy and sticks around for 9 months!!
Just a quick note: Current side effects are just cramping, tiredness and sore boobs. No real nausea yet, though I get a little while eating and I got some while driving. No spotting. Headaches, but I used to get those a lot anyways.
As always, please continue the good thoughts and I'll be back for an update when I get my Beta #2 results back. Until then, lots of baby dust and love!!
WE ARE PREGNANT!!!
Yup. You read that right. Saturday morning I got up, peed in a cup and dipped the little hCG stick in it and came in the living room. I waited 5 minutes and fully prepared myself for the impending negative I have become so used to seeing. Instead, I saw two lines. DARK lines. Those beautiful little pee lines indicated that I was indeed pregnant. I dipped another to make sure after wiping tears and practically jumping up and down. Waited another 5 minutes. Once again, I was pleasantly surprised with another set of twin lines!
I immediately got dressed and went to the grocery store. I bought ANOTHER box of pregnancy tests, this time the digital ones. Chugged a bottle of water on the way home. Peed on the stick. Instead of waiting 3 minutes, I checked after like 1. There on the screen was the best thing I've read to this day: Yes+.
Needless to say, we freaked. Well, I freaked, Curtis remained impassive as he was super nervous. I called my doc and told them about the positive results. The nurse said, "When did you get the positive result?" I said, "I just got 3 positive tests within the last hour." She responded, "Wow! You really wanted to be sure didn't you?" I just laughed, "You have no idea." She then said she would leave a note for my nurse who would call back with the next steps.
The nurse called me back about an hour later, "I spoke with Dr. [Awesome]. Here's what he wants you to do: Pee on three more tests. If those come back positive, take 2 more. If that comes back positive, take just one mor-". The whole time I'm like, "Ok. Uh huh. Honey! We have to go to the store!" Until she stopped and started laughing. She was like, "We're just kidding. Three was plenty. We'll go ahead and schedule your blood beta test for tomorrow morning at 8:30." HURR HURR HURR lady. I was totally ready to go all Juno style- drink a crap ton of Sunny D and pee on every pregnancy test in our little town! Thankfully, they were just kidding and we made plans for the beta.
The rest of the day was spent in awe and prayer...just hoping that the beta would show that this was a viable pregnancy and not a chemical one. We also let those who were chronicling our journey know, but continued to ask for prayers/baby dust/good thoughts.
That leads us to today. We got up bright and early and headed to the big city for our beta test. My Mother-in-law came too. She's been cooped up in the house and wanted to get out for a little while, so we planned a trip to Costco and a couple other stores. We get to the doctor's office and the waiting room gets packed...complete with a couple that had the most adorable set of 7-month-old twins I have ever seen! All the rest of us in the room just stared at them and smiled. Dr. Awesome called a couple back and then waved me back as well. He told me, "We'll get the results today and call you when we know." I asked about continuing the Progesterone gel, which he replied yes and gave me some more. He then took the blood sample, joked about the request to pee on even more tests ("The nurses don't understand. My wife and I did the same thing for weeks."), then wished me well! Off we went to breakfast.
We soon had to cut our trip short as I got a text from a woman who wanted to look at the puppies. So instead of hitting up the stores, we just began the drive home. I was on the phone with my Mom when the doctor called. He told me, "Well I have some good news! Your beta came back mumbled-mubled-5...." I was like, "Huh? Can you repeat the number?" He said, "5-7-5." I think I said, "Holy cow! That's HUGE!". He then laughed and said, "Yup. It could possibly be twins!" To which I fainted.
Just kidding. But he went on to explain that we need one more test to check the doubling (Tuesday at 8am) and then we can go from there. But the number I got was very strong, very good and we're confident this is a viable pregnancy!
So as of right now, I am 4 weeks with an estimated due date of 6/4/13. I have some people hoping for twins and, to be the cliche Mom-to-be, I don't care as long as it's healthy and sticks around for 9 months!!
Just a quick note: Current side effects are just cramping, tiredness and sore boobs. No real nausea yet, though I get a little while eating and I got some while driving. No spotting. Headaches, but I used to get those a lot anyways.
As always, please continue the good thoughts and I'll be back for an update when I get my Beta #2 results back. Until then, lots of baby dust and love!!
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Two week wait, 1 week down!
Hey everybody! First off, sorry for my absence during this round's 2WW (two week wait). I have been so crazy busy with work, my Gold Canyon Breast Cancer Awareness Pink Party, puppies and, the kicker, Curtis getting so sick we had to make a trip to the ER, I just haven't had time to blog. It doesn't help that with my new bedtime being right at 9:00pm, I don't have as many hours after work as I used to. Seriously, I am wide awake around 8:00pm. 8:45pm hits and BAM! eyes drooping, head leaning, and soon after, snoring! I have to admit though, I'm actually really loving going to bed and getting 8 1/2 hours of sleep these nights. Somedays I'm still waking up tired, but some mornings I've got a bit more pep in my step! That's WITH my decaf coffee too!
Anyways, back to the procedure. Back on the 11th, we had the insemination. Curtis gave a great sample of 16 million sperm with good motility and quality. We went and had breakfast and then returned for the insemination. They had me double-triple and quadruple check that they had the correct sperm from the correct guy. When the nurse first showed us the sample, it was pink and Curtis says, "It's pink? Why is it pink?" I told him, "That means it's a girl!" haha. The nurse and I just had to bust his chops about it.
As for the procedure....OUCH. I mean, BIG TIME OUCH. Now, the doctor that did the insemination wasn't my normal doctor. It was his practice partner. So I was nervous right there. When he first started, he said, "I'm going to clean all the mucus off your cervix.." and I remember getting all excited cause I had lots of cervical mucus! Yea, that stuff excites me. He then told me that my uterus was tilted forward, which was "Normal. Lots of women have that. It's normal. No worries". When he started trying to insert the catheter into my cervix he was explaining, "A little bit of pressure...the line from the cervix to the uterus isn't straight you see, so I have to feel the way....more pressure." It was not just pressure, it was straight up pain! He ended up pulling it out, and then getting some "scissor looking things" (that is a direct quote from Curtis) and trying again. I think he ended up having to open my cervix a little bit and then he got the tube in. He kept saying, "It's normal, it's normal...Good job guys. Good job both of you." which made Curtis and I laugh later. After the torture process was over, I laid on the table with my knees up for about 15-20 minutes. Then the nurse came in with the post-iui instructions and strongly recommended we have sex that night. I'll be honest guys, that did not happen. I still felt like crap from the iui and was cramping pretty decently and Curtis just did not feel up to it. So, no mattress mambo that night!
Since the procedure I've been cramping off and on. Nothing too severe, just steady cramping like Aunt Flow is coming any day. About 6-7 days past the iui, my boobs started hurting. It feels like it's more than just my normal PMS soreness, but I could just be hoping! I'm currently 12 days past iui and no symptom changes have occurred. I've noticed I'm not...well....pooping as often as I used to, but that could be the progesterone or other stuff. No nausea, no cravings, no weird smells, nothing that really stands out as a BFP. I'm fighting the urge to test, but I keep telling myself that it's too early. The doctor said not to test until Saturday, but I might only make it until Thursday. I've made a post on thebump.com's infertility forum to get a general consensus of when I could potentially test, so we'll see what those girls say. It's strange cause the whole wait since the iui has been me thinking that it actually worked, that I am actually pregnant, until Monday morning. Monday morning I woke up and just thought, "It didn't work. I'm not pregnant." I had a pretty crappy Monday to say the least. Then I woke up this morning and thought, "It did work. I am pregnant!". So, needless to say, I've officially fallen off the deep end during this last week's wait, which is pretty bad considering we already knew I was crazy!
In the meantime, please continue to send your BFP/baby dust, prayers, good thoughts, crossed fingers, whatever that we've finally got what we've spent 3+ years hoping for! I appreciate all of the support!
Anyways, back to the procedure. Back on the 11th, we had the insemination. Curtis gave a great sample of 16 million sperm with good motility and quality. We went and had breakfast and then returned for the insemination. They had me double-triple and quadruple check that they had the correct sperm from the correct guy. When the nurse first showed us the sample, it was pink and Curtis says, "It's pink? Why is it pink?" I told him, "That means it's a girl!" haha. The nurse and I just had to bust his chops about it.
As for the procedure....OUCH. I mean, BIG TIME OUCH. Now, the doctor that did the insemination wasn't my normal doctor. It was his practice partner. So I was nervous right there. When he first started, he said, "I'm going to clean all the mucus off your cervix.." and I remember getting all excited cause I had lots of cervical mucus! Yea, that stuff excites me. He then told me that my uterus was tilted forward, which was "Normal. Lots of women have that. It's normal. No worries". When he started trying to insert the catheter into my cervix he was explaining, "A little bit of pressure...the line from the cervix to the uterus isn't straight you see, so I have to feel the way....more pressure." It was not just pressure, it was straight up pain! He ended up pulling it out, and then getting some "scissor looking things" (that is a direct quote from Curtis) and trying again. I think he ended up having to open my cervix a little bit and then he got the tube in. He kept saying, "It's normal, it's normal...Good job guys. Good job both of you." which made Curtis and I laugh later. After the torture process was over, I laid on the table with my knees up for about 15-20 minutes. Then the nurse came in with the post-iui instructions and strongly recommended we have sex that night. I'll be honest guys, that did not happen. I still felt like crap from the iui and was cramping pretty decently and Curtis just did not feel up to it. So, no mattress mambo that night!
Since the procedure I've been cramping off and on. Nothing too severe, just steady cramping like Aunt Flow is coming any day. About 6-7 days past the iui, my boobs started hurting. It feels like it's more than just my normal PMS soreness, but I could just be hoping! I'm currently 12 days past iui and no symptom changes have occurred. I've noticed I'm not...well....pooping as often as I used to, but that could be the progesterone or other stuff. No nausea, no cravings, no weird smells, nothing that really stands out as a BFP. I'm fighting the urge to test, but I keep telling myself that it's too early. The doctor said not to test until Saturday, but I might only make it until Thursday. I've made a post on thebump.com's infertility forum to get a general consensus of when I could potentially test, so we'll see what those girls say. It's strange cause the whole wait since the iui has been me thinking that it actually worked, that I am actually pregnant, until Monday morning. Monday morning I woke up and just thought, "It didn't work. I'm not pregnant." I had a pretty crappy Monday to say the least. Then I woke up this morning and thought, "It did work. I am pregnant!". So, needless to say, I've officially fallen off the deep end during this last week's wait, which is pretty bad considering we already knew I was crazy!
In the meantime, please continue to send your BFP/baby dust, prayers, good thoughts, crossed fingers, whatever that we've finally got what we've spent 3+ years hoping for! I appreciate all of the support!
Monday, October 8, 2012
Round 7 IUI update
Today was the day we finally got good news this round: The injections worked and we have about 4 mature follicles ready to trigger tomorrow night. Here is our schedule for the next couple days:
I'm super nervous about the insemination, since it's not our doctor doing it (way to plan a trip to Disneyland DOC! GAH!), but I'm really staying positive. I just keep telling myself that this is it. This is what we needed. I've always thought we would need the IUI, so I'm glad we're finally here.
In other news, I'm not sure if I mentioned it before (and I'm far to lazy to look), but our dog Ava had puppies again. I'm almost positive that I talked about her last litter (last year)...Well, she had another litter this time. Only instead of 2, she had 7! LET. ME. TELL. YOU. 7 puppies is ridiculous. They are only 3 weeks and I'm already counting down the days until we sell them. Thankfully, we already have people interested, but we haven't even got to weaning them yet! I cringe just thinking about it. I keep trying to leave the dirty work to Curtis, since this is kind of "his thing", but my OCD takes over and I have to get in there and clean and try to get the smell out. Ok, I'll admit, I think they're totally adorable and I play with them a bit too, but that doesn't mean I want to keep them or do this all over again anytime soon. Oy vey, it's just a lot of work!
OH! and I forgot to tell you. I was talking to the Dr. Formally-Awesome-Now-Disneyland-Butthead about the cost of the injections I had to take. I told him that I read that they were $500 a shot. He said, "Oh God no! The 5 shots you took were like a total of $200. The ones I will give you were like less than $50 a piece!" Talk about a load off!! Of course I'm hoping that we won't need to take those shots ever again, but to know that if we have to I won't have to shell out $3,500 for medicine, I'm relieved. To say the least! Ha ha.
Also, just a quick side note, I'm watching TLC while typing this and the commercial for Say Yes to the Cure: Lori's Fight came on. Can we say tears?? Damn I'm emotional.
Anyways, nothing but GOOD news today at the doctors! Yay! I'll be sure to give you all an update soon! Lots of love and baby dust to all of you!
P.S. If my Nana is reading this (she just got a computer and I sent her a link, so I'm hoping she figured out how to use it) I love you and can't wait to see you this weekend!! Muah!
- Trigger (have Curtis give me the shot of Ovidrel) at 10:30pm tomorrow night. She said that we don't have to do it exactly at 10:30, as long as it's not too much later.
- Thursday morning Curtis has an appointment to "do his thing" at 8:30am.
- My appointment is 10:30am.
- TWO WEEK WAIT!!
I'm super nervous about the insemination, since it's not our doctor doing it (way to plan a trip to Disneyland DOC! GAH!), but I'm really staying positive. I just keep telling myself that this is it. This is what we needed. I've always thought we would need the IUI, so I'm glad we're finally here.
In other news, I'm not sure if I mentioned it before (and I'm far to lazy to look), but our dog Ava had puppies again. I'm almost positive that I talked about her last litter (last year)...Well, she had another litter this time. Only instead of 2, she had 7! LET. ME. TELL. YOU. 7 puppies is ridiculous. They are only 3 weeks and I'm already counting down the days until we sell them. Thankfully, we already have people interested, but we haven't even got to weaning them yet! I cringe just thinking about it. I keep trying to leave the dirty work to Curtis, since this is kind of "his thing", but my OCD takes over and I have to get in there and clean and try to get the smell out. Ok, I'll admit, I think they're totally adorable and I play with them a bit too, but that doesn't mean I want to keep them or do this all over again anytime soon. Oy vey, it's just a lot of work!
OH! and I forgot to tell you. I was talking to the Dr. Formally-Awesome-Now-Disneyland-Butthead about the cost of the injections I had to take. I told him that I read that they were $500 a shot. He said, "Oh God no! The 5 shots you took were like a total of $200. The ones I will give you were like less than $50 a piece!" Talk about a load off!! Of course I'm hoping that we won't need to take those shots ever again, but to know that if we have to I won't have to shell out $3,500 for medicine, I'm relieved. To say the least! Ha ha.
Also, just a quick side note, I'm watching TLC while typing this and the commercial for Say Yes to the Cure: Lori's Fight came on. Can we say tears?? Damn I'm emotional.
Anyways, nothing but GOOD news today at the doctors! Yay! I'll be sure to give you all an update soon! Lots of love and baby dust to all of you!
P.S. If my Nana is reading this (she just got a computer and I sent her a link, so I'm hoping she figured out how to use it) I love you and can't wait to see you this weekend!! Muah!
Thursday, October 4, 2012
Shots! Shots! Shots! Shots!
Unfortunately the ultrasound today did not go well. My follicle response to Clomid was, well, lackluster to say the least. *Cue sad face* So, to ramp up the ol' ovaries that seem to decide that now is a good time for a nap, we have been given 4 sets of injectables of Bravelle. 150 IU today, 75 IU Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We have another ultrasound scheduled for Monday to check any progress. Estimated insemination date is then Wednesday. Here's a picture of the "gift bag" we got today:
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| Forgive my over-instagram-filter-usage. I am an instagram addict. Hate on it. |
Those boxes on the left? That's Progesterone. Vaginal inserts...cause we all know that I haven't had quite enough stuff shoved up my vagina this month. What's one more? I'm not to start those until after the insemination though. The nurse gave them to me now so that way I had them. Have I mentioned I love my doctor's office? 100 Gagillion Million times? I don't care. I love them.
Curtis just gave me the first shot, the 100mg, a few minutes ago and it wasn't fun. Not that shots are ever fun, but I wasn't expected the pinch. Maybe it's cause he did right below my belly button, when I normally give the Ovidrel trigger shots on the side of my stomach...or maybe I tensed...or maybe I'm just a big baby. Oh well. Only 3 more to go!
Also, a quick weight update: As of this past Saturday I am down 6 lbs! Yup. 207 to 201. I'm super excited about that and fully plan to get a scale this weekend to see if I'm finally below the 200 mark. Crossing fingers!!
Well, that's about all I got for now. As always send baby dust and I'm sending it back <3
P.S. For the record, I hate that song. The one in my title? Just awful. That and Dubstep are like dropping a banshee in acid.
Monday, September 17, 2012
Last Week Recap
Where do I even begin? Last week was QUITE the adventure! I guess I'll start at the top:
Last weekend (7th-9th) we helped my Mother-in-law move in to her new house. Thankfully I had just received my flu shot because on Sunday, Curtis got the flu and was sick as a dog! He even called off work on Monday and slept for about 20+ hours. I was hoping he'd be better by my glucose test on Monday morning, but alas he was not and I had to go by myself.
Speaking of the glucose test, that was so much fun, let's never do it again! Seriously though, that was rough. I made my appointment first thing in the morning knowing that I had to fast prior to it. I got in and she made me give a urine sample, then took some blood while explaining the test to me: "First, I'm testing your urine to be sure you have been fasting. The blood is a baseline sample, along with your thyroid sample. Next, you're going to drink the sugar concoction. It tastes like Orange Soda without the carbonation and a lot more sugar. You have four minutes to drink all of it. You may feel dizzy, light-headed, a sugar high, nauseous or sick. You can not have ANY water for the first 30 minutes. After that, I'll call you back for another urine sample and blood sample. Then you can have water, but don't drown yourself. After another 30 minutes, marking the 1 hour mark, you will have to give another urine sample and blood sample. Don't worry, we'll alternate arms. Then we won't call you back until the 2 hour mark is done. You'll give urine and blood, again, but then you will be finished. Any questions?" Now, I know I have a flare for the dramatics, but guys...THIS.TEST.WAS.AWFUL! That's no joke. The first hour was the worst. Within the first 15 minutes my lips went numb and I felt like I was gonna pass out. I remember thinking, "Good think I'm in the hospital already!". It was bad. Water helped a little, but I didn't finally start feeling better until after the halfway mark. Then I was immediately 1000x better! When I was telling the nurse, after the first 30 minutes, about my side effects she remarked, "Sounds like you got all of them then! Be thankful you're not pregnant and having to do this!" I explained to her, "That's actually the reason that I'm doing this. I'm trying to get pregnant and my doctor wants to see if I am insulin resistant. Hopefully I'll be back in 10 months doing this again, even though it totally sucks!". I wasn't mad and she couldn't have known why I was doing it, so I figured explaining it was enough.
Today I have my appointment with our RE to discuss the results of the test, at 3:30pm, so I'll be sure to give you an update on that as soon I get them myself.
Work has been crazy busy, but I'm raking in the overtime hours, so let's not count that as a complaint. I will admit, there are plenty of days that I do complain about my job, but I am very thankful for it and the money it gives me to help provide for my family. It's hard to remember that somedays though, so I definitely need to work on that!
Yesterday, our female German Shepherd gave birth to 8 puppies. She started around 10am and had 7 by 4:30pm. We thought she was finished, so we moved her in to our spare bedroom and went to my Mother-in-law's for dinner. When we came back, she was fine and so were the pups (the picture below). This morning, we checked on them again and found one pushed off to the side. It was dead. My heart just broke and I couldn't stop thinking about it the whole way to work. When Curtis got back home, he called me, "I think the one that died was a stillborn. I let Ava outside to go to the bathroom and re-counted the puppies. There's still 7 puppies. There's still 3 girls. I think this one might've died inside of her and she had her last night. So we would've had 4 boys and 4 girls, but...we still have 7!" As sad as I was, I was also a bit relieved that something didn't go wrong and one of them died. I am feeling a bit guilty since she had one while we were sleeping, but that means it came 12 hours after the first, which I am hoping is unheard of. Who knows if there's anything we could have done even if we had been awake?
Anyways, these next 8 weeks will be quite the roller coaster with that many pups! Weaning and teething and trying to potty train and growing...we did it last year with two, I can only imagine how "fun" 7 is going to be. But I have to admit, I can already see their fluffy little butts running around the yard in the autumn leaves and I am SO excited for that! Here's a picture of them just a few hours old:
Last weekend (7th-9th) we helped my Mother-in-law move in to her new house. Thankfully I had just received my flu shot because on Sunday, Curtis got the flu and was sick as a dog! He even called off work on Monday and slept for about 20+ hours. I was hoping he'd be better by my glucose test on Monday morning, but alas he was not and I had to go by myself.
Speaking of the glucose test, that was so much fun, let's never do it again! Seriously though, that was rough. I made my appointment first thing in the morning knowing that I had to fast prior to it. I got in and she made me give a urine sample, then took some blood while explaining the test to me: "First, I'm testing your urine to be sure you have been fasting. The blood is a baseline sample, along with your thyroid sample. Next, you're going to drink the sugar concoction. It tastes like Orange Soda without the carbonation and a lot more sugar. You have four minutes to drink all of it. You may feel dizzy, light-headed, a sugar high, nauseous or sick. You can not have ANY water for the first 30 minutes. After that, I'll call you back for another urine sample and blood sample. Then you can have water, but don't drown yourself. After another 30 minutes, marking the 1 hour mark, you will have to give another urine sample and blood sample. Don't worry, we'll alternate arms. Then we won't call you back until the 2 hour mark is done. You'll give urine and blood, again, but then you will be finished. Any questions?" Now, I know I have a flare for the dramatics, but guys...THIS.TEST.WAS.AWFUL! That's no joke. The first hour was the worst. Within the first 15 minutes my lips went numb and I felt like I was gonna pass out. I remember thinking, "Good think I'm in the hospital already!". It was bad. Water helped a little, but I didn't finally start feeling better until after the halfway mark. Then I was immediately 1000x better! When I was telling the nurse, after the first 30 minutes, about my side effects she remarked, "Sounds like you got all of them then! Be thankful you're not pregnant and having to do this!" I explained to her, "That's actually the reason that I'm doing this. I'm trying to get pregnant and my doctor wants to see if I am insulin resistant. Hopefully I'll be back in 10 months doing this again, even though it totally sucks!". I wasn't mad and she couldn't have known why I was doing it, so I figured explaining it was enough.
Today I have my appointment with our RE to discuss the results of the test, at 3:30pm, so I'll be sure to give you an update on that as soon I get them myself.
Work has been crazy busy, but I'm raking in the overtime hours, so let's not count that as a complaint. I will admit, there are plenty of days that I do complain about my job, but I am very thankful for it and the money it gives me to help provide for my family. It's hard to remember that somedays though, so I definitely need to work on that!
Yesterday, our female German Shepherd gave birth to 8 puppies. She started around 10am and had 7 by 4:30pm. We thought she was finished, so we moved her in to our spare bedroom and went to my Mother-in-law's for dinner. When we came back, she was fine and so were the pups (the picture below). This morning, we checked on them again and found one pushed off to the side. It was dead. My heart just broke and I couldn't stop thinking about it the whole way to work. When Curtis got back home, he called me, "I think the one that died was a stillborn. I let Ava outside to go to the bathroom and re-counted the puppies. There's still 7 puppies. There's still 3 girls. I think this one might've died inside of her and she had her last night. So we would've had 4 boys and 4 girls, but...we still have 7!" As sad as I was, I was also a bit relieved that something didn't go wrong and one of them died. I am feeling a bit guilty since she had one while we were sleeping, but that means it came 12 hours after the first, which I am hoping is unheard of. Who knows if there's anything we could have done even if we had been awake?
Anyways, these next 8 weeks will be quite the roller coaster with that many pups! Weaning and teething and trying to potty train and growing...we did it last year with two, I can only imagine how "fun" 7 is going to be. But I have to admit, I can already see their fluffy little butts running around the yard in the autumn leaves and I am SO excited for that! Here's a picture of them just a few hours old:
Other than that, Friday marked 1 week officially on my 1200 calorie-a-day diet. I downloaded the My Fitness Pall app for accountability. I weighed myself last Tuesday and was 206 lbs. As sad as that made me, I know it's also not my heaviest, so I was comforted at that. BUT, I do remember how hard it was to break out of the 200's so I need to do my damnedest to stay out of them once I get out of there again.
I did weigh myself this morning and I'm sitting at 204lbs, which breaks down to about 2lbs a week, which is healthy. I'm hoping the Metformin, if I get on it, will help make that 3-4lbs a weeks, but it's good to know with diet, and honestly, very little exercise, I can still lose a decent amount of weight. Yay! It's the small victories, ya know?
If any of you have My Fitness Pal, please feel free to add me! My username is Linseeloo.
Today we're on cycle day 21. If we're going by my last cycle I should expect Aunt Flow anywhere between the 26th (Curtis & I's 3 year anniversary...awesome >.<) and the 30th. Right now, my nipples are sore as hell, so I'm starting to think that she could actually come sooner, which is good cause I can't wait to get started on our first round of IUI! So wish us luck for appointment this afternoon and I'll be sure to update as soon as I can!
As always, good thoughts and baby dust!
Sunday, March 11, 2012
The Good, the bad, and the infamous shot
Yesterday we had our monitoring ultrasound. Curtis was able to come with me, which was awesome because I could finally introduce two of the most important guys in my life, haha, my RE and my husband. Unfortunately, with the appointment being a Saturday, my doctor was extremely busy so we didn't get a whole lot of time to talk, but I'm still glad they got to meet.
Well, the ultrasound itself went ok, but we did receive some disheartening news. It seems as if I am becoming resistant to the Clomid. Once again, I was only on 50mg, but instead of 4 follicles maturing, we only had 1. Dr. A said that he has seen this before, a woman becoming used to the Clomid and having to up the dosage, but it still kinda hit me like a punch in the gut. He said that next month, if we have to start again, to go ahead and take 75 mg. I told him about the Walmart pharmacy fiasco and him, and his nurse, informed that it's pretty normal for Walmart to screw up when filling scripts. Looks like I'm going to be moving back to Fry's, or maybe even the mom and pop pharm downtown, but I'll have to see which one is going to give me the least grief. At this point, money really isn't an object.
Back to the ultrasound, Dr. A gave me another script for a trigger shot, so we went and picked that up while in the big city, as well as did some shopping for our big camping trip next weekend. Here's a shot of the goods:
Well, the ultrasound itself went ok, but we did receive some disheartening news. It seems as if I am becoming resistant to the Clomid. Once again, I was only on 50mg, but instead of 4 follicles maturing, we only had 1. Dr. A said that he has seen this before, a woman becoming used to the Clomid and having to up the dosage, but it still kinda hit me like a punch in the gut. He said that next month, if we have to start again, to go ahead and take 75 mg. I told him about the Walmart pharmacy fiasco and him, and his nurse, informed that it's pretty normal for Walmart to screw up when filling scripts. Looks like I'm going to be moving back to Fry's, or maybe even the mom and pop pharm downtown, but I'll have to see which one is going to give me the least grief. At this point, money really isn't an object.
Back to the ultrasound, Dr. A gave me another script for a trigger shot, so we went and picked that up while in the big city, as well as did some shopping for our big camping trip next weekend. Here's a shot of the goods:
I'm really looking forward to it! My brother and his fiance and my brother's friend are all coming up and we'll be out there from Friday until Sunday morning, since Curtis has an overtime shift on Monday night. Going out on the boat and camping always helps me relax and I think it's a good distraction while waiting for the two week mark. Plus, I get to use my brand spanking new pole (see it up above). It's pink and I love it!
Speaking of two week wait, I gave myself the Ovidrel shot today at noon. Which means, Tuesday morning at 12am sharp, I will ovulate. I timed it that way so we would have a bit more workaround for "sexy time". Last month we were kinda rushed, it being cycle day 13 and all, and even though it is sex, waking up earlier than normal and trying to squeeze it in before work (we already get up at 5:45am) is really not "fun".
Giving myself the shot was not as easy as it was last time, which is probably because Curtis gave it to me then. I'm not sure if I tensed, or if I am just being one big dramatic baby, but I really felt it this time. No me gusta, let me tell you that*. It wasn't so much the needle, it was afterwards, the injection site felt a bit of discomfort. Maybe cause I just pulled it from the fridge, and I didn't warm it up, but I was at my cousin's house and I wanted to be quick about it. I wanted to get back to this cute little face:
This, my good friends, is a 7 week old Dachshund. Isn't he the cutest little thing ever?? I sent this picture to Curtis and he said that I could get one (the lady he came from has some more that are almost ready, but not red like him, they are black/brown), but I'm not sure if I should. Sure I'm feeling mothering and such now, and I want to baby something and cuddle with it, but am I ready to potty and kennel train? Plus, would my two big dogs play nice with one? They are nice to the chihuahua from next door when the little girl comes over to play with my stepson, even though it looks like they are trying to eat him. I guess I'll just wait a couple days and see if I still want to get one...
Oh my gosh, I just realized I never told you guys about my decision with the IUI! Where is my brain at?!? Well, I'm sure you can already tell, but we're not doing an IUI this month. In fact, we are probably not going to take that step until September. We're not prepared to pay for an IUI out of pocket for the next couple rounds, so we're going to take our summer break to save up...if we get that far of course. After my period started, I felt so desperate and heartbroken I thought jumping to an IUI would help me, but instead it made me a bit more stressed. I feel comfortable sticking to this plan for the next couple rounds, before my stepson gets here in June. I just think it's the best idea for us right now.
Well, I guess this post has gone on quite long enough. I think I covered everything, but if not, I'll be back in the next coming days to discuss the inevitable two week wait we're starting again. As always, send your prayers, thoughts and/or baby dust!
*Throwing in a little spanglish for you guys. I do live next to the border y'all...
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Just a couple things
- I am pretty sure I messed up that last post when I said that the Clomid is 10mg each pill. They are actually 50mg each pill, like the pharm tech said, but whatever...they were still morons.
- I finally heard from my RE and he said that he would prefer to have me have an ultrasound on cycle day 12 (a Sunday), instead of cycle day 13 (like I did last month) because we run the risk that I will ovulate before the ultrasound. I'm kinda freaking out because if he gives me the trigger shot that day, we will be scheduled for insemination on cycle day 14...which is a day that Curtis has to work!! ugh. I planned it starting on day 13 for a insemination on day 15 and that's the day that Curtis took off. Now I'm trying to decide if we're going to go through with the cycle day 13 plan or if we should just scrap the whole insemination process for next month. I already missed my day 3 ultrasound to check for any cysts, and while Doc said he'd move forward, I have money to think about too. It's going to cost us about $880 for each IUI. I only have about $1100 in our Health Savings Account. Maybe we should try one more round of just TI before we jump to IUI. I'm so indecisive!! It doesn't help that Curtis is on graveyard this week, so he's sleeping right now. I can't get his input until 4 this afternoon when he wakes up. UGH!
-We're making the jump back to court this month. Baby Mama moved AGAIN and is having my stepson switch schools AGAIN. Curtis is fed up so we're pursuing full custody. Life is surely about to get WAY more interesting.
I think that's it! Any feedback or ideas would greatly help :) Good luck and baby dust to all of you!
- I finally heard from my RE and he said that he would prefer to have me have an ultrasound on cycle day 12 (a Sunday), instead of cycle day 13 (like I did last month) because we run the risk that I will ovulate before the ultrasound. I'm kinda freaking out because if he gives me the trigger shot that day, we will be scheduled for insemination on cycle day 14...which is a day that Curtis has to work!! ugh. I planned it starting on day 13 for a insemination on day 15 and that's the day that Curtis took off. Now I'm trying to decide if we're going to go through with the cycle day 13 plan or if we should just scrap the whole insemination process for next month. I already missed my day 3 ultrasound to check for any cysts, and while Doc said he'd move forward, I have money to think about too. It's going to cost us about $880 for each IUI. I only have about $1100 in our Health Savings Account. Maybe we should try one more round of just TI before we jump to IUI. I'm so indecisive!! It doesn't help that Curtis is on graveyard this week, so he's sleeping right now. I can't get his input until 4 this afternoon when he wakes up. UGH!
-We're making the jump back to court this month. Baby Mama moved AGAIN and is having my stepson switch schools AGAIN. Curtis is fed up so we're pursuing full custody. Life is surely about to get WAY more interesting.
I think that's it! Any feedback or ideas would greatly help :) Good luck and baby dust to all of you!
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Husbands and Hangovers
Doesn't that sound like a country song? I think so! A number one country song! haha.
Curtis surprised me yesterday by letting me know that he took the 14th off this month so that we can continue with our plans for an IUI! I was so happy I almost squeezed him to death! So, plans for our IUI continue on and I start my Clomid on Friday. Speaking of Clomid, I had another run in with the intelligent folks at the Walmart Pharmacy yesterday when picking up my script. Ugh. First off, let me tell you that I live in a pretty small town. There's no mall. There's no Target. There's a Walmart, Fry's, two Safeways and that's it. No chain restaurants; just 8 Mexican food restaurants, 1 Italian place, 2 Chinese places, 3 American joints, and fast food (McDonald's, 2 Taco Hell's, 2 Subways, Wendy's, Church's chicken and Dairy Queen). It's a good thing we love tacos!
Anyways, we only have three options for pharmacy's: Wally World, Fry's and a small little mom-and-pop pharmacy downtown. I prefer Walmart cause they seemed cheaper. I'm starting to rethink this. Read all about my first fiasco with trying to get my Clomid prescription here. Now let me tell you about yesterday's chaos.
I called my doctor's office and let them know that I started my period so I needed a new script called in for me. The nurse (not Nurse C) returned my call and said she was helping out Nurse C and called in 100mg's for me. I told her I'm only on 50mg. She responded with, "Well, only take half the dosage." Okay, whatever. Also, for the record, she didn't sound that condescending. And she did wish me good luck before we hung up!
So, we get to Wally World to pick up my pills. Remember, that I called on Monday to see if they had some in stock in order to prevent the last experience from occurring again. The nice little lady told me that they had "20 dosages on the shelf and I don't think they are going to go that fast...". Well, back to yesterday, I wait my turn in line. I get to the counter and give all my information. The lady says, "It's not ready. In fact, it's not even in stock." I felt my blood start to boil as my voice took on an edge that I normally don't use, "I called ON MONDAY to check to see if it was in stock. I was told you had 20 dosages on the shelf. You're telling me that it's ALL GONE and it's only Wednesday?" I was borderline furious. How can this be happening..AGAIN? Another tech speaks up and tells me, "Yea, that was me that you talked to. It's all gone." Oh really..."Well, I find that hard to believe." I guess I scared her, because she went to "go check". Brings me back a box and says, "Here's another one, but the dosage is 50mg. You have a prescription for 100mg." I said, "Yea, and you're holding about 200mg in your hand right now." "But one pill is 50mg.." "No, it says here on the box that for 50mg, you take one pill, by mouth, for 5 days. That's 5 pills, 10mg each." At this point I'm flabbergasted that I am explaining dosage to a PHARMACY TECH. Didn't you have to go to school for this? Isn't that your certification on the wall? Exasperated, she tells me to go to the other window and she's going to work this out.
She starts arguing with another tech that this script is coded wrong AND has to start explaining the whole thing to the pharmacist who responds, "Well, it's not covered by insurance..." DUH! If you look at the records, I paid cash last time. "Well, if she wants to pay cash..." I wanted to SCREAM at this guy! Of course I want to pay cash. I'll pay you in GUM if have to! How do these people who have to go to school and be certified in all the medication in the world, know what it does and what would happen if mixed with another medication, not understand the reason why I am ingesting these pills?? Thankfully I have explained my situation to another tech there, so they got started on my pills right away.
10 minutes later, you want to know how many pills I walked out of there with?? 200mg's of Clomid. What. the. actual. fuck? I'm just baffled at these people. I think it's time I go back to Fry's pharmacy. At least they know how to read apparently.
Oh, and I did exactly what I told everyone I was going to do last night; drank an ENTIRE bottle of Pinot Grigio. Out of a Red Solo Cup to boot! If you thought I had any class before, I just cemented it with that comment. I woke up this morning with cramps from hell, a headache and a queasy stomach...until I ate an english muffin and downed a cup of full-strength coffee. Now, it's lunch time and I'm ready to go!
I also have another post coming of things I can do now that I'm not pregnant. I figure it's a list to get me through each time Aunt Flow returns with a vengeance. Be on the lookout!
Curtis surprised me yesterday by letting me know that he took the 14th off this month so that we can continue with our plans for an IUI! I was so happy I almost squeezed him to death! So, plans for our IUI continue on and I start my Clomid on Friday. Speaking of Clomid, I had another run in with the intelligent folks at the Walmart Pharmacy yesterday when picking up my script. Ugh. First off, let me tell you that I live in a pretty small town. There's no mall. There's no Target. There's a Walmart, Fry's, two Safeways and that's it. No chain restaurants; just 8 Mexican food restaurants, 1 Italian place, 2 Chinese places, 3 American joints, and fast food (McDonald's, 2 Taco Hell's, 2 Subways, Wendy's, Church's chicken and Dairy Queen). It's a good thing we love tacos!
Anyways, we only have three options for pharmacy's: Wally World, Fry's and a small little mom-and-pop pharmacy downtown. I prefer Walmart cause they seemed cheaper. I'm starting to rethink this. Read all about my first fiasco with trying to get my Clomid prescription here. Now let me tell you about yesterday's chaos.
I called my doctor's office and let them know that I started my period so I needed a new script called in for me. The nurse (not Nurse C) returned my call and said she was helping out Nurse C and called in 100mg's for me. I told her I'm only on 50mg. She responded with, "Well, only take half the dosage." Okay, whatever. Also, for the record, she didn't sound that condescending. And she did wish me good luck before we hung up!
So, we get to Wally World to pick up my pills. Remember, that I called on Monday to see if they had some in stock in order to prevent the last experience from occurring again. The nice little lady told me that they had "20 dosages on the shelf and I don't think they are going to go that fast...". Well, back to yesterday, I wait my turn in line. I get to the counter and give all my information. The lady says, "It's not ready. In fact, it's not even in stock." I felt my blood start to boil as my voice took on an edge that I normally don't use, "I called ON MONDAY to check to see if it was in stock. I was told you had 20 dosages on the shelf. You're telling me that it's ALL GONE and it's only Wednesday?" I was borderline furious. How can this be happening..AGAIN? Another tech speaks up and tells me, "Yea, that was me that you talked to. It's all gone." Oh really..."Well, I find that hard to believe." I guess I scared her, because she went to "go check". Brings me back a box and says, "Here's another one, but the dosage is 50mg. You have a prescription for 100mg." I said, "Yea, and you're holding about 200mg in your hand right now." "But one pill is 50mg.." "No, it says here on the box that for 50mg, you take one pill, by mouth, for 5 days. That's 5 pills, 10mg each." At this point I'm flabbergasted that I am explaining dosage to a PHARMACY TECH. Didn't you have to go to school for this? Isn't that your certification on the wall? Exasperated, she tells me to go to the other window and she's going to work this out.
She starts arguing with another tech that this script is coded wrong AND has to start explaining the whole thing to the pharmacist who responds, "Well, it's not covered by insurance..." DUH! If you look at the records, I paid cash last time. "Well, if she wants to pay cash..." I wanted to SCREAM at this guy! Of course I want to pay cash. I'll pay you in GUM if have to! How do these people who have to go to school and be certified in all the medication in the world, know what it does and what would happen if mixed with another medication, not understand the reason why I am ingesting these pills?? Thankfully I have explained my situation to another tech there, so they got started on my pills right away.
10 minutes later, you want to know how many pills I walked out of there with?? 200mg's of Clomid. What. the. actual. fuck? I'm just baffled at these people. I think it's time I go back to Fry's pharmacy. At least they know how to read apparently.
Oh, and I did exactly what I told everyone I was going to do last night; drank an ENTIRE bottle of Pinot Grigio. Out of a Red Solo Cup to boot! If you thought I had any class before, I just cemented it with that comment. I woke up this morning with cramps from hell, a headache and a queasy stomach...until I ate an english muffin and downed a cup of full-strength coffee. Now, it's lunch time and I'm ready to go!
I also have another post coming of things I can do now that I'm not pregnant. I figure it's a list to get me through each time Aunt Flow returns with a vengeance. Be on the lookout!
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Moving on...
I spoke to Nurse C and my fabulous OBGYN Dr. M yesterday. I told them that I wanted to either do an IUI on the next cycle or I want to, at least, have a post-coital test. My doctor replied that post-coital tests are not recommended anymore, but she is comfortable with us progressing to an IUI. BUT, she wants me to wait until tomorrow to see if my period finally arrives (as of right now, it still hasn't). If by, say, Wednesday afternoon, Aunt Flow doesn't show, then I have to call Nurse C to schedule me for a blood beta test. It's exciting to think that I might make it that far, but I'm not really holding out hope at this point. My back hurts and I feel like my period is just waiting for midnight to show up. UGH.
Anyways, I did email my RE, Dr. A, as he's out of the office this week. I'm hoping he checks his email while he's out, but if not, it's not a huge deal. I'll just talk to him when he gets back. God, a vacation sounds great doesn't it?
OH! And I called Walmart to make sure that they have Clomid in stock and ready for me. Haha. I am NOT playing that game again. The lady said they have about 20 in stock and she "doesn't think they're going to go that fast...". Hahaha. I'm popping those like tic-tacs for the last two months. I'll clear that supply by summer time!
Welp, there's the daily update. Hi to new readers!! Good luck and baby dust to all of you :)
Anyways, I did email my RE, Dr. A, as he's out of the office this week. I'm hoping he checks his email while he's out, but if not, it's not a huge deal. I'll just talk to him when he gets back. God, a vacation sounds great doesn't it?
OH! And I called Walmart to make sure that they have Clomid in stock and ready for me. Haha. I am NOT playing that game again. The lady said they have about 20 in stock and she "doesn't think they're going to go that fast...". Hahaha. I'm popping those like tic-tacs for the last two months. I'll clear that supply by summer time!
Welp, there's the daily update. Hi to new readers!! Good luck and baby dust to all of you :)
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