Let's Get Caught Up

Yesterday I told you that my husband and I are delving into the world of fertility treatments to get pregnant. I figure it'd be a good idea to get everyone caught up on where we are at this point.

Back in June we had our first appointment with our RE and discussed our options. He told us that we have 6 vials of sperm to use and highly recommended IVF since we have so little to use. Since I happened to be on CD1 I was able to get some baseline tests done which included an ultrasound and a blood draw. I don't remember all the tests they were drawing for but I thought that woman was secretly a vampire with the number of vials she pulled out of her drawer (6 in total I think). My ultrasound was mostly normal but my AFC was a little low and I learned that I have some localized adenomyosis.

Adenomyosis (ad-uh-no-my-O-sis) occurs when endometrial tissue, which normally lines the uterus, exists within and grows into the muscular wall of the uterus. (From Mayo Clinic)

 I'm pretty much asymptomatic but I do get some severe cramping right before my period starts and lasts for about a week or so at most. I always just assumed that my cramping was normal and never knew that there was something else going on.

You mean it's not supposed to feel like this guy takes up residence in my uterus every month?

There really isn't anything to do for it but at least I know why I feel like someone is tearing up my insides every month. Other than that my ultrasound didn't show any problems and our RE sees no reason why I wouldn't be able to get pregnant. Woo! Next step was to get a CD 21 blood draw to check my progesterone and then meet back with him to discuss our options.

My husband and I talked at great length about what we could afford to do and how we should proceed. In the end we decided that we simply can't afford to do IVF at this point and our best option is to move forward with an IUI.

Intrauterine insemination (IUI) — a type of artificial insemination — is a procedure for treating infertility. Sperm that have been washed and concentrated are placed directly in your uterus around the time your ovary releases one or more eggs to be fertilized. (From Mayo Clinic)

We decided that we would try two IUI's before regrouping and saving the money to proceed with IVF. After that decision was made we waited for my next CD 1 (July 14) and I had a baseline ultrasound on CD 3 (which conveniently was the same day I had scheduled the follow-up appointment with the RE) and got a whole list of prescriptions. My protocol is as follows:

CD 3 - 7 -   5mg Letrozole (Femara)
CD 8 - 10 - 150 IU Menopur (injection)
CD 11 - Monitoring ultrasound (I had 3 good follicles). Trigger with 250mg Ovidrel
CD 13 - IUI
CD 14 -? Progesterone suppository

Right now I am on CD 18 and have a blood test tomorrow to check my progesterone levels with a beta-HCG pregnancy test on August 9.

So I am right in the middle of the dreaded two week wait and there is nothing more for me to do until my beta test next week. Wish me luck!

Why, hello there...

*peeks head in*

So this thing kind of crashed and burned huh? I've been thinking about blogging (and actually keeping up with it) again as we go through a new journey in our lives. I think a general update is in order before I dive back in because A LOT has happened in the last 2 years.

First things first is that in May of 2011 we welcomed a beautiful baby girl into our lives and she has completely captured our hearts. I'll post a birth story about her and some up to date photos in an upcoming post. She is perfect in every way and I don't know what I'd do without her in our lives.

I also started nursing school and I will graduate this December and take boards probably in January. It is a field of study that I never expected to find myself in but I find I am absolutely loving it. I am very excited to finish school and start a new career.

Last, but certainly not least is that in February of this year we were hit with some rather devastating news. My husband was diagnosed with stage 2 testicular cancer. We were completely blindsided by the news. I'll post a separate blog post about this too, hopefully sometime this week.

Those are the big things that have happened in the time since I stopped posting.

As I mentioned above we are moving forward with a new journey in our lives in that we are trying to conceive our second child! Due to my husband's cancer he had some sperm frozen since many of the treatments used severely diminish his fertility. So that means that we are delving into the world of fertility treatments to conceive and it is a bit overwhelming. My plan is to chronicle our journey here and share some of our day to day lives as we move forward in this process. I look forward to getting back into this blogging thing and hope you enjoy taking this journey with me!