Awesome People

I have a really negative post that I have been wanting to post for the last couple days and just haven't gotten around to it.

But now I can't do that because I read the most AMAZING thing on Facebook today. Yes, Facebook.

At first I was upset because I saw that another friend and his girlfriend were at the hospital and she was in labor. They have only been together since November. (insert sad face here)

But as I read the comments following the hospital announcement, my friend stated that they weren't his twins, but that she was a surrogate/gestational carrier for another couple!

That has moved me to the point of tears right now.

You don't hear about people doing that much these days, mainly because it is SOO expensive.

I'll write about surrogate/gestational carrier more on another day.

Just dwell on the love and giving of one woman to another couple.

That is purely amazing.

National Infertility Awareness Week!!!

I know, it's Wednesday and I am just NOW mentioning this??? So crazy!

But it has been a very busy week and I have all these tabs up on my computer to make sure to write about and post links to... But I gotta find the time!

So today's short post is to make sure we get the word out about infertility and make it something that is OK to talk about!!! We have no reason to hide this, and the more people know the more help we may get through support from friends and family to better coverage on our insurance!!

So today's goal for me: write a few various posts on infertility and share them on all my networks.
Your goal? Share those posts, write some guest posts for us, tell your friends, family, strangers... Anything!

Have a great humpday!

Plus: find this awesome stamp on the address below!!

http://www.theafa.org/article/the-american-fertility-association-releases-infertility-awareness-stamp/

Some Good Infertility Quotes

“If a tree falls in the forest, can anyone hear it? If an infertile bangs her head against the wall in a bathroom at a baby shower, can anyone hear her?”

 “Millions of couples suffer from infertility, so why the f$ck is everyone pregnant but me?”

 “Nature has got it all wrong: When you are younger, it should be harder to get pregnant, and as you get older it should be easier. When you are so ready, you can’t do it to save your life. And when you are 21, you are so not ready, but you are ripe as could be. The eggs should become more developed the older you get, not die slowly from the day you’re born. That’s one thing God got wrong.” – Halle Berry

Inspirational book title:  - The Facebook Story: I just deleted all my pregnant friends.

 If curiosity killed the cat, than the infertile can shoot eye pistols at the fertile who conceived on her first attempt.

“You know you are trying to get pregnant when: Someone asks you today’s date and you reply “Day 21.” -Melissa

“You know you have been TTC too long when you open the fridge door and immediately get angry at the eggs in the carton…. or jealous.” -Tiffany

 “QUESTIONER: “Wow, I didn’t know you were married that long. How many kids do you have?” ME: “None. They’re on backorder. I ordered them, like, forever ago. I don’t know, they must be out of stock.” -Rachel



Gotten from :  http://www.999reasonstolaugh.com/

Ashley's IVF Results

So after our transfer (3/26/12) I ate LOTs of pineapple! A few fellow IVFers and I also read what helps implantation that fresh pineapple is supposed to help implantation. So I ate 1/2 of pineapple 3/26-3/30! I thought its worth a shot! I love fresh pineapple. I had some mild cramping throughout the week and I thought my bloating (from the retrieval on 3/21) was starting to go down on over the weekend. Monday I woke up and I was really bloated again (I was hoping this was a good sign) we also received our letter from the embryologist that we had 5 embryos frozen- great news! We only lost one embryo :) Most people only get to freeze one or two - we are so lucky. Tuesday I had a little break down before going to bed. I was crying thinking about receiving bad news on Friday. I hadn't had any symptoms or if I did I attributed them to other causes (having a headache for two days 3/29-3/30, vision changes for the past week, breast soreness but I am taking progesterone) I also woke up at 10:44 pm that night with horrible cramping very similar to when I have my period except a little worse. Wednesday I had to be up at 4:00 am to go in for my first bHCG lab. I prayed the whole way there 1.5 hrs. When I got there I asked the nurse if she would be calling me today if the lab came back at 0. She said they still make you come back on Friday so that's when I'd get results. I told her I was just curious because my DH and I were contemplating taking a hpt test even though I didn't really want to find out that way because we would have family at our house as soon as we got home on Friday and they'd be staying the whole weekend and I also would be having my sister's baby shower on Saturday. So I went to work and on my drive home from work I was trying to figure out if it would be best to take a hpt that night or Thursday night, when my phone rang! A the nurse's voice said "Ashley, this is Jean, I've just been dying to call you all day, your labs came back great! Not just good, great!" I said crying "Oh, I didn't expect to hear from you today, thank you so so so very much I can't tell you how much this means to me." She said I just couldn't have you waiting and thinking about this all week and then having to go to your sister's baby shower on Saturday. I didn't want you to worry, and if I had any doubt I wouldn't have called you but your labs are great, with a possibility of twins. Your bHCG is 332 and progesterone is 169." After I hung up the phone I cried, no balled like a baby, to the point I probably should have stopped the car! I was so happy and in shock! A few minutes after I calmed down I called my husband to see when he'd be home. He said he had to work late and would be home in a few hours. So I was trying to think of a way to tell him! We originally thought we'd find out by me peeing on a hpt and we'd both find out at the same time and have it confirmed on Friday by a call from the doctor's office. So I got home and made a sign/card that said "we are finally pregnant". When my husband got home I was trying to act as normal as possible. After a few minutes I said come here a minute we need to talk, so I had him come into our bedroom and sit down at the edge of the bed. I told him Stella and I have something to tell you. (Stella is our lab) I handed him the card, he opened it and a huge smile came across his face and he said "really?" and I told him all the details of the nurse calling. We decided to not tell any of our family until we received our results on Friday to make sure things stayed positive!

So Friday morning my mom road with me (clueless) to my appointment. The nurse asked what my mom thought and I said I haven't told her yet. She laughed and said she's road with you three times now you need to tell her on your way home. I said yes it's been hard keeping it from her. So after leaving the clinic I told her. She is so excited and happy :)

Friday afternoon Jean called and said your labs came back great again today they more than doubled 872 today! She said she thinks we are having twins!! :) (We hope so too!)

Friday night we told my parents and my sister & her husband, I put a little piece of paper saying we are pregnant and candy in a plastic Easter egg for each of them. We also told my husbands parents and siblings at our Easter Gathering on Saturday, and my grandma on Easter. We will tell my other grandparents today or tomorrow. Everyone is very happy. One of the most special parts in all of this is our due date is 12/12/12, which was my grandpa's birthday. He passed away 3.5 yrs ago and I can't help but think he's had a hand in this. We thanked everyone for their prayers and asked them to continue to pray for everything to go well and for us to have healthy pregnancy and baby(s).

We will tell the rest of our family and friends as soon as we know if there is one or two and we see heartbeat(s) which will be in the next week or two and know that everything is going well. I am fortunate that I am a sonographer and can find out sooner than our viability ultrasound that is scheduled for 4/25.

I've been feeling pretty good, bloating, tired, and crampy but I'm enjoying it! We are SO excited and still in shock it's so hard to believe! We are praying for everything to work out and continue to go well - hoping for the best and ready and hoping for twins, but would feel very blessed with one as well! :)

Your Path is Not Mine

As a woman with PCOS that struggles with infertility and *most* of the symptoms of PCOS, it is hard to remember that my life is special and unique than those around me.

Yes, there are things I want in life, a lot of which I want RIGHT NOW. But I have to constantly remind myself that this is my journey. I can't compare it to others' because their journeys are different. Would I have preferred to be fortunate and get pregnant when we first started? Yes and no. I want a baby but if we had gotten pregnant when we first started almost 4 years ago, we wouldn't have accomplished or acquired what we have. Or we would've had to work even harder for it.

Do I like my path? Not always. Sometimes I wish certain mile-markers would just hurry up and get here. Perhaps I have certain achievements that I am not aware of that need to be finished first. Who knows.

I can tell you that the Hubs & I just shared our 6 year anniversary (not bad for getting married at 19 & 20!), we have a great house, I went back to college and am hoping to be accepted to the Fall nursing program, we have two working vehicles, a family that loves us and supports us, and are generally pretty happy.

I am thankful for that. I know that one day I will have my bundle of joy. Will it be when you do? No. Our paths will be different. You will have your own struggles and achievements. But I wish the best for you and hope that you know what you want out of life other than a baby. Maybe you have certain goals to reach first.

Best of luck!

AF has ARRIVED

Gotta love when the Provera ends and then you wait....

But, couple days later AF showed up. Now to let 10 months of no AF get out of my system.

BC is to start on Sunday.

~Shannon

Question #22

22.Were you the product of infertility? Was anyone you know the product of infertility? How do you know? Or do you just suspect based on circumstances like age differences between siblings, time between marriage and conception, etc.

Shannon:
I wasn't. HOWEVER, my twin sisters are. My mom had me and then my brother. She divorced and remarried. I didn't know that there was any issue at the time (I was only 8-9). She had my twin sisters in January 1997. She didn't tell me until we started our journey that she had developed PCOS after her 2nd pregnancy. She actually conceived my sisters on her 2nd month of clomid (100mg). And I didn't find out until recently that they were actually supposed to be triplets but the 3rd didn't get very far in developmental phase in uterus. There are 10 years age difference between them and me.

Mrs Red:
I wasn't, my brother was born after 3 miscarriages, followed by 9 more miscarriages. They never gave my mom a reason why she had so many. Other than that, I don't know of anyone else.

Question #21

21.What is your favorite infertility-related quote? It doesn’t have to be explicitly related to infertility, but one that means something to your personal journey.

Shannon:
"Dreams are not something to wait for, they are something to work for."
"It rains hardest on those who deserve the sun."
"Everything will be okay in the end; if it's not ok, it's not the end."
"It's hard to wait around for something you know might never happen; but it's even harder to give up when you know it's everything you want."
"I'm not telling you it's going to be easy, I'm telling you it's going to be worth it."


Mrs Red:
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6, 7 NIV)

Question #19

19.What tv show/movie/commercial/print ad has bothered you the most since you began trying to conceive? If possible, post it here. Tell us why it bothered you so much.

Shannon:

I actually don't end up watching a lot of tv. We are usually at work or in school so when we do watch our shows we fast forward through the commercials... I know I LOVE the new pampers one:::
Pampers Commercial

Mrs Red:

I actually can't think of any tv stuff that has offended me... I know there has been but I tend to forget about it because it isn't real and most people don't think when they come up with this stuff lol

Ashley:
Well there was one earlier this year but I cannot remember the name of it - and I've been trying to remember for a couple days now, I will post if I remember! On the flip side there have actually been a couple that I'm excited to watch Private Practice is my favorite because it shows the shots, emotions, steps through infertility, etc.

Question #18

18.Tell us about a pre-ttc pregnancy “scare.” With your current partner, or with an ex.

Shannon:

LoL, I didn't have any of these either!!!

Mrs Red:
I actually never had any. I wasn't a wild child... Even though my mom thought I was -__- that was uncomfortable. Just turned out to be the moment my birth control stopped regulating my periods and the start of a lot of problems

Ashley:
Well I'd have to say it was with my ex. We'd been together for 8 years (junior high sweethearts)and were 6 months away from getting married. I was very nauseous and vomiting for 2 days in the morning and I never throw up. I was so freaking out that I was pregnant! I bought a test and was afraid to take it! Ended up taking it the next morning and it was a BFN! Fewww!
(FYI - I ended up splitting up with him a month later.....and to my surprise as fate would have it I found my husband 4 months later and we are still really good friends with my ex)

My Plan......

Ashley:
Well, we attempted our 3rd IUI cycle this past month. Unfortunately the IUI was cancelled because I had one growing follicle that stopped growing. My RE feels IVF is a much better option for us and highly recommends it. My DH and my game plan was to do 3 IUIs and then move onto IVF. So our first two IUIs were unsuccessful and our third was cancelled, so now we are moving on to IVF. I did some price searching and RE research and also talked to some of the ladies on my support group (Daily Strength) and found a facility that has a great program 100% refundable if no successful pregnancy after 3 fresh and unlimited frozen cycle attempts, it also guarantees 30 days of life or your money back. We can stop at any point and walk away and get our money back. This program cost also includes meds which most don't and can add additional costs to the IVF itself this is just one big package. I have to talk to the facility (RMIA) some time this week to get all my questions answered and then we'll be able to make our final decision if we are going with them or not. I feel really good about this. I am happy if for some reason this doesn't work we get our money back and then can use it towards adoption instead of taking out loan after loan and having financial stress! I'm really excited and optimistic that IVF will work for us!

Question #17

17.Tell us your funniest Clomid/Femara/Injectibles mood-swing story. If you don’t have one, tell us your funniest general infertility drug story.

Shannon:
I don't really have anything, of either! At least none I can remember!

Mrs Red:
That would have to be progesterone injectables... So after my iui's my husband would give me the shots of progesterone. We would do them when he got home from work but I would prepare them before he got home. They give you 2 type of needles from the pharmacy, one to pull the medicine out with and one to inject it with. So the first week of shots we did this without a hitch. It was weird at first but not bad. The second week I had to get a refill. I got confused about which needles to use so I accidentally used the one to inject with to pull the medicine out and the one for pulling the meds out to inject. I didn't notice until the second day and I was thinking "hmmm it's hard to pull this out, it wasn't tho hard before" and then I looked at my sharps container and realized the needle color was different on most of the needles... I called my hubby over and told him I found the error of my ways and he laughed and said "maybe that's why the needle bounced off your butt yesterday when I tried to inject it!" lol the injection site hurt a lot more with the wrong needle... Pay attention ladies! LoL


Ashley:
Well, my funniest story would be my first time taking Femara. I didn't have too bad of side affects on clomid but my first time on Femara I got really dizzy and felt like I was drunk. I just laid down in bed and my puppy got sick and vomited on the carpet beside me. My husband was outside so I flew out of bed and started cleaning it up, I was putting the cleaner on the carpet and cleaning up the mess...the motion from rubbing/cleaning the carpet made my dizziness x 10 worse I couldn't even see straight! My husband came in the bedroom and asked what I was doing when I tried to stand up I just fell right back down! He ended up getting me into bed and he finished cleaning up the mess. I was still worried about how our puppy was feeling!

Question #16

16.If you are not yet a parent: What are you MOST looking forward to about parenthood? If you are a parent: What is the most surprising thing about being a parent? If you have taken the childfree path: What is the most surprising part of living childfree after infertility?

Shannon:

Not yet parent: The smile on my husband's face, the unconditional love of something we created together, watching him/her grow and develop and form their own personalities, etc. :o)

Mrs Red:

Not yet a parent-everything! Watching my baby develop in their own way, watching them learn and discover everything, teaching them how to be good people and hoping we do a good job. First day of school, bfs/gf's, every milestone, crafts from Sunday school and regular school, being needed when they're sick, seeing my husband in their eyes, watching him interact with them and them be OURS. Finally, when people tell me how cute my kids are, I can smile proudly and say thanks for real.

Ashley:
Not yet a parent. I agree with Shannon & Steph - the look on my husbands face -knowing our love created this little being and having unconditional love. I'm also looking forward to interacting as a family, teaching them things, learning things, everything :) I just can't wait!!!!!!

That time of the month... Err... Year? Quarter?

My periods have never been monthly except for the years I was on birth control. never ever have I had a natural monthly cycle. I got close after my drilling surgery, it was every 60 days for 3-4 cycles. But other than that, NOTHING... Until December. I had one Nov 27 and then Dec 25th, it came on its own and close enough to 28 days for me! I was so excited!!! We have been juicing so I figured it was regulating my hormones. So I was hoping maybe I could get pregnant this month?!!!! Well guess who showed up today? Making this cycle 31 days :-( I was so tempted all week to take a hpt in wishful thinking... I'm glad I was too scared too because I woulda just shelled up... But aunt flo is just as bad as a bfn to me... At least it's month 2 of monthly... Novembers cycle was started with depo provera and then we have been juicing raw organic fruits and veggies ever since, except the beginning of this cycle because we took a week break which I think is what threw the days off. I am really hoping this is the month, next cycle should start around the 18th, my bday.... So a bfp would be the best bday present ever... EVER


-Mrs Red

Question #14

14.If a very observant stranger were to walk into your house, what clues could lead them to believe that you have struggled with infertility?

Shannon:

I don't think there is really anything... Other than the fact that we don't have any baby stuff but they could probably think that we just aren't "there" yet. I really can't think of anything.

Mrs Red:

Same as Shannon, we don't really have any baby stuff anywhere so I don't see what clues there would be. We have a bunch of baby pictures of my nieces and nephews but other than that people wouldn't know. Work however, I have a small prayer board that screams "I WANT A BABY BUT IM HAVING SOME TROUBLE!" haha but I have it to where only I can see it or if ur looking reeeeally hard haha

Ashley:
Medication bottles, shots in the refrigerator, sharps container and PCOS books. I don't have PCOS books out on display, I keep the hidden away or in a book bag but I do have the sharps container by the garbage and my medication bottles are on the bathroom counter on days when I take them so I don't forget.

Bracelet Giveaway!

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Picture courtesy of Aerabella's Boutique

Next Step for Shannon

My next step in this journey starts this week.

It is actually quite sad to me.

I will be going back on birth control pills.

I haven't cycled in 9 1/2 months.

The PLAN is that I get accepted into a 2-year RN program in August and then we will start trying then.

I have a feeling deep in my gut that we won't start trying til I only have 1 year-6months left in the program.

We shall see!

Question #7

7.If you had gotten pregnant that first month you started trying, how would you have been a different parent? What changes have you made to your parenting style (either current or future) in the time you spent trying to conceive?

Shannon: There is no real way to know how things would have been. I'm sure I wouldn't have nearly enough patience. If definitely learned that! Since we started this journey, we have had plenty of time to evaluate other people's parenting styles and to discuss how we plan on doing ours. Simple things from discipline to nursery design.

Mrs Red:As much as I wanted to have a family started right away, I'm semi-glad it didn't happen right away. We have had time to travel where we want when we want. We also have had time to grow as a couple without the added stress of children. We have figured a lot of things out about ourselves and each other. We are both more patient and we know what we do and don't want to do in raising our kids. We've seen our friends and family raise their children and learned from their mistakes and successes how we will raise ours. We both reeeeeally want children ASAP but its all in Gods time. He has shown us that as ready as we thought we were, we weren't quite as ready as we wanted to be but I think we're better off now than we were when we first started. :-)

Ashley:
This is a great question! Its amazing how most of us are oblivious to how much of a miricle pregnancy and children really are. I really feel like our parenting would be very similar, however I feel like I will be more patient and much more thankful and tolerable to the little things. I feel like I will truly be greatful for every good and bad moment of the journey with pregnancy and children. I think we will definitly be more ready financially, mentally and structurely. We've had the opportunity to do things we wouldn't have been able to if we would have had children right away.

Warm Welcome!

I'm so excited!

I'd like to welcome Ashley to our Authors board!!! It will be great to have another one joining us to add their experiences, past, present and future.

Hi Ashley!

Views Around the World!

I am impressed on the places in the world that people are reading this blog from! So far the majority is United States BUT we also have guests from:

Australia!
Germany!
United Kingdom!
Panama!
Poland! (My mom is Polish & Czech!)
Thailand!

Thanks for visiting! Don't forget to follow us!

~Shannon