August 25, 2009...Waiting

This has currently become my favorite song on the radio. I think it is soo touching and it hits me to the core of my being. I will usually sing along....although it's typically with a shaky voice and tears streaming down my face. When dealing with infertility and various treatments, so much of our time is spent in "waiting." I thought this would be an appropriate time to post this video.

August 20, 2009...Thursday

Just a quick update as to how today went. Things went very smoothly as far as the insemination goes. I wouldn't say it went quite as well as the last time, but as long as it didn't come close to the pain of the first one...I don't care! Cody's counts today were 500,000, so up from last time, but still a number to laugh at. That is why this will be our last one before moving on to IVF. Ooops, I guess I shouldn't talk about that quite yet. Cody tries to remind me to stay positive and hopefully we won't need to do IVF. I try to listen to him, but sometimes it's hard :) So now we have the dreaded WAIT.

August 19, 2009...hCG

Human Chorionic Gonadotropin. This is an intramuscular injection that has to be given in the hip/rear area. For our third round of IUI, Cody gave me my hCG shot last night at 10:00. First of all, Cody wasn't too impressed with having to give it at exactly 10:00. As many of you know, that is well past Cody's bedtime :) The purpose of the hCG trigger shot is to induce ovulation. The Clomid pills that I took earlier in my cycle was to increase the production of eggs. The hormone injection that we did last night helps to get the most mature follicles to rupture, releasing multiple healthy eggs. Ideally an IUI should be scheduled 36 hours after the trigger shot. Therefore, our appointment is scheduled for Thursday morning at 10:00...exactly 36 hours. Cody has to be in an hour earlier for his collection and it typically takes about an hour to do the sperm washing.

I am not exactly sure why I am smiling in this photo. Apparently I wasn't aware of how unpleasant it was going to be. The first one that Cody gave went EXTREMELY well. Last night's was a little less than to be desired. Let's hope it's all worth it!!

August 17, 2009...High

Great news....heard back from the nurse and it turns out I have NOT ovulated yet!!! That's great news, as that means this month wasn't wasted and we don't have to wait another month. Super excited!!! So that means my trigger shot will be tomorrow night at 10pm and we will go in for our insemination at 10am on Thursday the 20th. I know last month we weren't very hopeful, but this time we are going to try and be more positive. Third time's a charm right? Gotta be!

Highs and Lows

Why does everything have to be so darn emotional?? I had my ultrasound this morning and there was some fluid showing behind my uterus. This could be because of impending ovulation, however it's more likely that I already have ovulated. I had to do some bloodwork for them to check my hormone levels, which apparently tells them whether or not ovulation has occurred. If I have already, then we are SOL and have to wait until next cycle, which totally stinks!!! If I have not, then we will give my follicles one more day to grow, do the hCG shot tomorrow night, and the insemination on Thursday morning. They put a rush on the labwork so I am hoping to be hearing back from the nurse shortly.

August 12, 2009...God will never make your life manageable, because then you would try to manage it!

Everything looked fine on my first ultrasound for this next cycle. The Dr. thought maybe we should have Cody do another semen analysis, just to kind of see where we are sitting again. He said it's kind of hard to know, with such low sperm counts, how long we should keep trying IUI. I shared with him that this would be our last attempt and then we would move on. After that news, he didn't think another analysis would be necessary, because if we move on to IVF, it doesn't matter what his counts look like. They put me on another dose of Clomid for five days. However this time, they upped my dosage from 100mg to 150mg...you wouldn't think that would be much, or at least I didn't think that would make much of a difference, but the headaches I have been getting from it have certainly confirmed an additional 50mg...miserable! The purpose of increasing the dose is to hopefully get more follicles to work with. The better the follicles, the more eggs that are likely to be released, and the more eggs that are released, the better the chances of those little sperm hitting something!! My next ultrasound is scheduled for Monday the 17th. I am assuming if things look good at this one, then the insemination would be scheduled for two days after that. We will have to see though. Our first one went like clockwork. The second one, not so much. It's certainly something we have come to realize that we can't predict and have learned to just go with the flow.

We are headed to Des Moines this weekend for the Iowa State Fair and hopefully a great weekend with the fam...we hope it's not too hot!! Kris and Josh~can't wait to see you soon!!!!!

You will hear from me again after my appointment on Monday............wish us luck!

August 6, 2009...Splendid

Three days, a lot of shopping, a lot of food, and a lot of laughter.....nothing can be better than spending a little time with your sister!! My time in Des Moines was well spent. I made myself a little friend while I was down there. Booger and I learned a lot about each other in a short little while :) Here is my new pal:

As far as our next IUI cycle is concerned...I am scheduled to go in for my baseline ultrasound tomorrow, Friday, at 3:15. My emotions are getting the best of me today. Please help me to remember the importance of sitting back and letting the Lord's plan for our life take place. I am struggling with that right now.

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are my ways your ways, declares the LORD" Isaiah 55:8

August 4, 2009...Round #2

NEGATIVE.... I guess we didn't have too high of hopes this round. Because we were only working with 200,000 sperm, we knew we didn't have a real good chance. It doesn't make the disappointment any easier to take though. I am sitting in Des Moines, hanging out with my sister, which is a good place for me to be to help take my mind off of things. I will be calling the doctor today sometime and see when I can get in for my next ultrasound. Cody and I have discussed it, and we are going to give IUI one more shot. If this next round doesn't take.......I guess we are on to IVF. We are soo hoping that we don't have to do that. Especially because I would just be starting back at school and an IVF cycle would be so demanding on our time and schedules. Everything is timed just precisely and we don't have a say in any of it. We have to go with my body and there are many appointments that would be involved in it. We are willing to go for it though. In the beginning, IVF seemed so far off yet and I didn't even want to think about it. But now here we are, getting closer, and we are thinking about it. And we are still willing to do whatever it takes. I'll keep you updated as to how the next few days will play out.