I decided this morning that I have a lot going through my head, and we, as a couple have been through a lot since we got married in January (2010) so now would be a GREAT time to start capturing it. Hopefully some day we will be able to come back here and see how far we have come!!!
Many of you know us as Mr. and Mrs. Ditty. I prefer Megan. Kevin, that is another story... Ditty, Ditt-beer, Ditty-pop, Big Sug, Big Sexy, 250, Ditty-more-beef-stew. The list goes on. I can only correlate that the vast number of nicknames for my Dear Husband is proportionate with the shear number of friends and family that think he is as great as I do!
Since this blog is supposed to be a place for me to keep track of all that we have done/been through thus far trying to grow our family, let me catch you up on what we have done so far....
January 2nd, 2010 - Our Wedding!!!!!!!!!!! A very cold day, but a celebration of love (and drunkedness).
February 2010 - Knowing that I have PCOS (for those that don't know, this is a common issue with women that causes ovulation and hormonal balance issues), we made a leap of faith and had my IUD out. Kevin was a little leary because at this time we both we delusional still and he didn't want to get pregnant "right away". Ahhhhhhh, the good old days.
March 2010 - To our surprise, I get my first period (in 4 years) all by myself!!! We go in to the Dr. to see what is going on in there and find out the bad news - 2 very large cysts on my Right Ovary. They prescribe treatment with various progesterones to help shrink the cysts. This leads to 6 weeks of crazy mood swings and general crabbiness...
April 2010 - While I focus on shrinking cysts, we decide to get Kevin checked out "just in case". Turns out he felt bad for me and decided to have issues too. Just to make me feel better I think. Semen Analysis comes back with the triple threat - Low count (quantity), morphology (shape) and motility (motion). They said it could be a fluke and say we will re-check it in a few months.
June 2010 - Our first medicated cycle. 5 mg Letrozole. I have a beautiful response. We were supposed to do an IUI, but due to timing we had to do TI (timed intercourse for the acronym challenged). BFN (Big Fat (or swear word) Negative).
July 2010 - Another try with Letrozole. 7.5 mg this time, just for giggles. Again, a great response - 2 gorgeous follicles! This month we were able to get it together and do the IUI (Inter-Uterine Insemination). Dr. says I hope you are ready for Twins. Dude, I just need to focus on getting knocked up, lets work on that first... Another BFFN (this time definitely use the swear word).
August 2010 - Taking a break due to our schedule. Trying to get back to the old fashioned fun of being married. Same result.
September 2010 - The bad month, as I like to affectionately call it. Kevin had another semen analysis at the end of August that was sent of to the Mayo Clinic. They held our results and when I called to cycle in September, broke the bad news over the phone. Very low count, very low morph. This is when I decided we needed to make a move to a more qualified clinic (Sanford Reproductive Medicine).
October 2010 - Our first cycle with Sanford. And Needles. Lots of needles. Injectables (drugs to make my "eggs" grow) and blood thinners (to prevent another nasty blood clot destroying more of my vision). 1 beautiful follicle. AN ACTUAL COUNT on our insemination (love my new clinic). We had 4.2 million sperm post wash (yes, they wash sperm, see below). This number was pretty low, but they said they have seen it work at this level. This was also the first time Kevin was able to be present when our potential child was potentially conceived. Dr. Dahl says she sees better results when you hold hands during the IUI. Awww..... We had such high hopes. I bet you can guess what happened.
October 2010 part II - this month was the worst and best month of our Marriage thus far. We re-connected. Kevin was so convinced we were pregnant. In fact I am tearing up just thinking about it. We spent a weekend home, alone, without distraction and talked. A lot. We both want this. A dear friend once told me that when going through infertility treatments sometimes it takes the guys more time to emotionally get to the point the woman are at, but they do get there. This is true. We are now in the same place and we are both so much happier for it.
November 2010 - The big surgery. Kevin had been diagnosed with a varicocele in October (we were busy :)). Dr. Noah recommended surgery, so we went ahead with it. Dr. Noah is confident that he can help Kevin's count, morph and motility, which will help us get pregnant. (Note: get pregnant with insemination, hopefully, he in no way, shape, or form thought it would be enough improvement to get pregnant on our own. Just wanted to clarify).
So, here we are. 10 months later. No baby. But we have learned a lot. And come a long way. We have decided to cycle in December even though we won't see any improvement from the surgery until January or February. We need to perfect the dosage levels stimulating my ovaries. I have the meds. We might as well try.
Let me explain one more thing. Cycle Days. Lots happens depending on the day you are in your cycle.
CD (cycle day) 1: The day you start your period, full flow not just spotting. AKA the day you have to call the clinic. You must be seen for baseline before starting any stimulations. They check to make sure you don't have any cysts and that everything looks good in the ole' ute (uterus).
CD 3: must have baseline done by this day. Start injectable stimulation hormones this day.
CD 3-12: Injectable stims. And various monitoring appts with the Trans-Vaginal Ultrasound. Affectionately called the dildo-cam. They check the uterus for lining thickness and the ovaries for follicles (where the egg lives until it is ovulated), size and quantity. Ideally you have 1 or 2 follicles for and IUI. If you have more then 3 they can cancel the cycle. Once a follicle reaches 18mm then the real fun begins!
CD ? (Usually around CD 12 for me): Once follicles are around 18 mm they give you a prescription for a form of HCG injection to use to trigger ovulation. This shot needs to be given 36 hours before your scheduled Insemination.
34 Hours post HCG Trigger: Is when the man needs to do his part. They get off easy in the whole process. Really. All they need to do is make the magic happen. You know what I mean. Usually into a little sterile cup. Get it now?
2 Hours prior to insemination: The lab takes the ummmm, sample, and washes it. Yes I said wash. Gotta have clean spermies. But really. Semen contains various chemicals that are to help protect it during normal intercourse that are neutralized when everything is done the old fashioned way. But if you inject this directly into the ute the result is not only painful, but ineffective. Also, washing the sperm gets rid of the old, dead, unmoving sperm, making it a better sample overall!
Insemination: A super fun little procedure that involves stirrups, a catheter, and a vial of "clean" sperm. Use your imagination. After you have to lie around and rest for awhile. Then it is back to life as usual.
2WW (aka, the 2 week wait, aka, hell): The time period from insemination to hopefully seeing a positive pregnancy test. Haven't seen one of those yet....
So there you have it.
Today is CD 2 and I am hopeful it may bring us our BFP (that would be the opposite of the BFN).
