Knock Knock..

Who's there?

It's AF!!!!

Uggh.

I have my first u/s on Friday (CD 3). As long as everything looks good, I will start Follistim injections Friday night for 5 nights. After my 5th dose, I will return to the Dr. the next morning for a repeat u/s to check my follicles. If all looks great, I will take the HCG shot that night and then return 2 days later for the IUI. I could potentially O as early as day 10. CRAZY!

My SIL's mom will be giving me the HCG injection. She was a nurse and is very experienced with intramuscular shots.

Well, I know my mom (Stephanie) and SIL (Lisa) have checked out my blog but I don't know about MIL yet. Judy, if you're reading, leave a comment :)

So, for my new readers, I have decided to make a list of the abbreviations I use on here.

AF= Aunt Flo (Period)
BFN= Big Fat Negative (a negative pregnancy test)
BFP= Big Fat Positive (a positive pregnancy test)
CM= Cervical Mucous (see the warning disclaimer about too much information)
u/s= Ultrasound
IUI= Intrauterine Insemination
BD= Baby Dance (sex, haha)
SIL= Sister in law
MIL= Mother in law
pg= Pregnant
O= Ovulate

Let's see.. am I leaving anything out???

And I introduce you to:

My Mom and future Grandma, Stephanie

SIL and future Aunt, Lisa

MIL and future Grandma, Judy

Sorry, these aren't the best pics of them, but they are the only ones I could find on my computer at the moment.

BFN and new readers

I tested this morning and got a BFN. Looks like I will be giving injections by the weekend. I expect AF tomorrow or Thursday.

My injections were delivered to my house today. I was so excited when they got here. I almost felt as if the box had a baby inside. hahaha

I have decided to give my blog address to my mom, MIL and SIL. I always send out emails to all of them with updates on our cycle and feel like they would love to be able to read my blog as well, since I keep them posted of everything anyways.

This means that I won't be able to share my BFP on here until I share it with my family first.

Be on the lookout for comments from them!

Pugs

The pugs (and Jared) at play

Obi

Princess

Almost time for

either AF or testing. Can you believe I haven't tested yet? Jared took my tests and is doing a good job of hiding them!! I probably won't test until Wednesday. I wanted to test this morning, but I really don't have many symptoms and I do have my usual AF symptoms like dried up CM.

We had a good weekend. We went for a bike ride then to the pool on Saturday and had dinner with Jen and Chris that night. We went to church on Sunday then I had dinner with Jen and my mom Sunday night. Other than that, nothing really too exciting happened.

I'll keep you posted when I test or if AF comes. I expect AF would start either Wednesday or Thursday.

Injection class

I had the injection class today. It was pretty overwhelming and I wish I would have had Jared there with me, but I didn't think it was necessary for him to be there. The Follistim injections seem very easy and fool-proof, but the HCG injection (to make me ovulate) is the scarier one and the nurse recommends I have someone else give it to me.

Here is the Follistim Pen which I will use to administer to Follistim injections.

Here is the wealth of information that was given to me:

We will be trying to find a nurse in our neighborhood who would be willing to give it to me, or we have a few family friends who are nurses, but they live at least 20 minutes. If worst comes to worst, we can drive the 20 minutes, but I hope we have a neighbor that can do it for us. The nurses can't do it this time because it needs to be administered exactly 36 hours before the IUI and it will need to be done around 9 or 10 at night.

The schedule with these injections is alot more intense, as far as Dr's appt's and ultrasounds/bloodwork goes. I made a word doc for myself to keep everything straight. But, it looks something like this:

CD:
1- Call Nurses 816-444-6888 x1203 to schedule u/s and lab. Tests will be on either days 1,
2, 3 or 4 and must be scheduled before 11:30.
· Lab: Estrogen less than 50, FSH less than 10
2- (u/s-lab)
3- Injection, same time every evening between 5 and midnight (u/s-lab)
4- Injection, (u/s-lab)
5- Injection
6- Injection
7- Injection
8- Return to Dr. for another u/s-lab. May be instructed to do HCG shot. If HCG shot is
administered, Intercourse is suggested.
9-
10- IUI
11- 1 DPO IUI. Progesterone
12- 2 DPO IUI. Progesterone
13- 3 DPO IUI. Progesterone
14- 4 DPO IUI. Progesterone
15- 5 DPO IUI. Progesterone
16- 6 DPO IUI. Progesterone
17- 7 DPO IUI. Progesterone
18- 8 DPO IUI. Progesterone. Blood draw
19- 9 DPO IUI. Progesterone
20- 10 DPO IUI. Progesterone
21- 11 DPO IUI. Progesterone
22- 12 DPO IUI. Progesterone
23- 13 DPO IUI. Progesterone
24- 14 DPO IUI, Progesterone

It's alot to remember, but I'm sure once I start, it won't seem so bad.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if I don't even have to start these injections?

Ironman Video

I am finally finished and finally got it uploaded.


I have been really crampy ever since my IUI which I don't remember happening last month. It could be a pg symptom, or I am just reacting differently to the IUI than I did last cycle. Anyone else remember being crampy ever since O, when they conceived??

IUI #2

The IUI went well today. We had 25 million sperm, which is good. Not spectacular, but good.

I hope my faith and prayers are strong enough and that the Lord will grant his blessings to Jared and I. Even when things look dim, the Lord can work in miraculous ways. That is my hope.

Follicle Scan and Bunny pics

We had our follicle scan and it wasn't so great. I had 1 good
follicle, but my lining was the thinnest it's ever been at 6 mm. After the
ultrasound we met with the Dr. for the consultation. He explained to Jared and I that only 45% of women put on Clomid or Femara become pregnant. Because of the little glitches that I am having in response to the medication (my thin lining), my chances are reduced.

This next medication that they want to put me on (Follistim injections) gives us an 85% chance of becoming pregnant, over the course of 3 cycles. This medication works completely different from the other medication and does not cause a thin lining. He said that the 15% of women who do not become pregnant on this medication have severe issues like endometriosis, blocked tubes, 1 tube and even male factor infertility.

Jared and I don't have anything severe like that. I will be on Follistim for up to 3 cycles. If this doesn't work, we will probably stop fertility treatments because the next step would be invitro and Jared and I really don't want to go that far.

The Dr. gave us a good outlook and I think he feels pretty confident that
the Follistim will be what it takes. While on Follistim, 75% of women will have a single baby, 25% of women will have twins and 1% could have triplets.

The odds look pretty good, so hopefully this will be what it takes!
We are still going forward with the insemination tomorrow, even though my lining is thin.

Now for Bunny pics...

Here is Momma rabbit

Here are the 3 babies. Can you make them all out?

Look how tiny it is!

Here is the farm owner's house (It's 100 years old)

Here's Jen and Chris going into their new house.

You can see the freshly painted green walls in the background.

Eeek!

I've fallen so behind!

I started posting a couple nights ago because I finished the Ironman video. I tried uploading it to Youtube, but Youtube hasn't been working for me lately for some reason, then I tried uploading it to Photobucket. That's when I realized that Youtube and Photobucket only allow videos for 10 minutes in length. Jared's video is 13 minutes long!! So, I will have to cut some more things out of it and then get it on here. It's always something.

Monday last week I started back in my old department at work. I am SO HAPPY to be back doing my old job. My stress level has gone way down, which is good.

Another piece of news is that we aren't moving up to the farm now afterall. Jenny and Chris are!!! They sold their house and had to be out in 2 days. They are currently living with my parents until new carpet is installed in the farm house. Jenny painted almost the entire house, so it looks great. Mine and Jared's house is still on the market with not much interest or movement, so we may be in there a while longer.

We have been house sitting at the farm since the owners have been on vacation. Yesterday morning, Jenny and I did chores and noticed that 1 of the female rabbits had bunnies. She had a total of 5 but only 3 survived. We weren't expecting bunnies, so the cage wasn't prepared at all. Luckily the mom tore out a bunch of her hair and piled it in the corner of the cage so the babies had something inbetween themselves and the wire cage floor. Jen and I hurried and got the box for the nest and put some hay and as much of the mom's hair as we could and placed the bunnies into the box/nest. They were still going strong this morning and the mom completely rearranged the nest for them. I will get some pics tonight so I have something to post.

I have fallen behind on my picture taking too.

Well, we have our follicle scan and consultation with the Dr. tomorrow. I hope I have some great looking follicles this month!

Sorry, I have no pictures to share this time.

Cycle #16

AF started late Thursday night. Friday is considered CD 1 and I start taking the Femara medication again on Sunday.

I have my consultation with the Dr. and my follicle scan and my trigger shot all on Tuesday, July 24. We will probably have the IUI on the following day.

I purchased the finish line video from the Ironman videographers. I don't know if I mentioned this but I ran across the finish line with Jared. Most everyone had family or their spouse run across with them. It was so neat! Take a look:

Good news!

My Dr. is going to let me do another Femara/IUI cycle since he can't get me into a consultation before I would have to start injectables. WooHoo! I'm so glad I don't have to take another break cycle.

Big Fat stupid Negative

Not sure what exactly our next step is, but I am going to call the nurse this morning and figure out where we go from here. At my last follicle scan, she said that I will probably be done with the Clomid/Femara and I will have to come to a consultation with the Dr. to decide where to go from there. Well, if I wait until AF comes before we do a consultation, then it will probably be too late to start anything for this next cycle and I really don't want to take another break.. so we'll see.

I imagine they will start me on Follistim, which is an injection med so I will have to learn how to give myself shots. FUN! I wonder if there is a nurse that lives in our subdivision that will do it for me???? My dad is a retired fire fighter and has given lots of shots.. he could do it???

I will figure something out, but people say that giving it yourself is really not that bad at all. uggh. I never thought I would have to ever do something like this. I just don't understand how we got pg with Abby so easily and now this.

Evap city

Well, I got a line, but it looks very evapish. If anything, it still could be the shot. All I can do is keep testing and see what happens. I have no symptoms that makes me think this cycle is any different from any other.

I've spent way too much time looking at this line this morning. It made me miss my exercise. I seriously cannot wait till I am pg so I can stop doing this to myself every month. haha. Ok, well, here are the pics. They have been enhanced and it probably looks way better on the screen than it does in real life.

When am I going to get a real line??? It feels like i will never see a real line and I'll be looking at these thin, grey, indented ghost lines the rest of my life!

This one is untouched

Tshirt

I must be really busy lately.

I haven't shared much about the Ironman, but once I finish the video, that will pretty much give you all the details. I did want to share some pictures of the Tshirt that I made for myself to wear on race day.


I have my day 21 blood draw for my progesterone check today. I have tested a couple times and the lines are getting lighter.I may test on Monday at 10 DPO, but if I get a faint line, it could be the shot still in my system.

We had a good 4th of July. Jen and I went and saw the movie "Liscence to Wed" It was pretty stupid, but it had 1 hilarious scene. Jared and Chris (Jen's DH) saw Transformers while we went to the chick flick. They said Transformers was great.

After the movies, we all headed back to my parents for a BBQ. Jared and I stayed there almost all day. We headed back home around dinner time and Jen and Chris came down and we watched another movie "Catch and Release." Again, pretty stupid. (sorry for those who are fans).

I think Jen and I are done choosing movies for a while.

IUI

It is over and done with. It went pretty well actually.

Jared's sperm count was more than it was in January.. what an Iron Man!!! hehe His count in January was 24 million. Today it was around 35 million. WOOHOO!!

So, I am now in the 2WW, even though I don't think I have O'd yet. Hopefully I will very soon though.

I added some pictures of the ironman to our website (in the June folder) but I didn't get all of them up there. I will work on that this weekend. I am also making the video but it is taking me longer than I thought because of some technical issues with the program that I am using. Hopefully that will be done soon and I will post it as soon as it is.

Happy Friday. Have a good weekend!

1 year ago today

was Abigail's due date. We could have been having her birthday party today (or whenever her actual birthday would have been).

I had my scan this morning and it went ok. The good news is my lining is great at 11mm when it was only 7mm on Clomid. The bad news is I only have 2 follicles and one is a little small and one is a little big. The small one is 15mm and the large one is 34mm. They like to seem them in the 18-28mm range. They still gave me the shot and we will have the IUI done tomorrow at 10am.

Wish us luck and if you think about it, say a prayer for us.

My Ironman

Jared did fantastic!!! I will share more details and photos later, but I just wanted to get on and let you all know that he is officially an Ironman. Here are some pics of him.

Swim Start

Bike

Run

Finish

Our plan landed after midnight last night, so we are both a little tired. I got to sleep in this morning and came into work a little late. Stay tuned for more details!

We're off!

Off to Coeur d'Alene, that is. Jared's Ironman is on Sunday.. don't worry, I will have to whole trip documented with pictures and video. I will try to blog from our laptop if we are somewhere where we have an internet connection.

As far as TTC goes, I have my follicle scan on Thursday next week. As long as everything looks good, I will receive the HCG shot to make me ovulate and we will go in on Friday for the IUI. Woohoo! I am so ready for this.

I know a blog is no fun without pics so, here are some pictures of my sister and her DH, Chris..

Happy Birthday Jared!

Jared turned 33 years old today. Here are some photos my sister took of us yesterday!

Jared being silly

Oh my...

Aww, I love him!

BFN

It's a BFN. And I see more color to my CM. I am just having an incredibly long LP, which is what I prayed for, even though I prayed for a BFP as well. Maybe it means that the IUI is going to work! We will definately be able to do the IUI now with no problems. YAY!!!

Sunday is Jared's birthday and we are having family over tonight to celebrate since Father's Day is on Sunday. We are having a mexican dinner and DQ ice cream cake. June is a bad month for me to try and cut back on fat and sweets. EEK!

We are also done doing chores because the family has returned home. Jared doesn't want to move back to the farm now. hahaa.. he said just doing the chores for the week gave him a little taste of what it used to be like. Also, our house has not had any action on it for at least a week now. We only had that one guy look and that was a couple weeks ago. We really don't want to move up there until our house sells, so looks like we may have to pass on moving back. Whatever is meant to be will happen, so if it doesn't happen, I won't be too upset. We will still keep our home for sale and if it sells, we will move closer to family. YAY!

Ok, have a good weekend!

Updated... AF is here. Thank you Lord for letting AF come so late so that we can do an IUI this month.

Dunno..

I tested and got something.. but, it's so stinkin faint that it is probably an evap. It's thick though. I also am seeing a little more color in my CM. If I am pg, I should be getting good looking lines by now. I could be a day off on my O date, but even then, I should be getting decent lines. Well, here's the pic.. don't get too excited. These are all the same test.. the first one is not enhanced. The bottom 2 are enhanced. You can really see it in the 2nd one.

Update..

AF has not started yet. Praise the Lord! He is listening to our prayers, that's for sure!!! I didn't test this morning because I thought my CM was just a little slightly tinged, but now it looks completely clear. Hmmm... I did test yesterday after work and I could have sworn maybe something was going to show up, but nothing did. Maybe just a slight evap. I really like the tests that I bought off ebay, they don't give me near as bad of evap lines as the dollar store tests.

If AF still doesn't show, I may test again this afternoon, but I really have a feeling that she will show later on. I called the nurse and she filled my prescription for me, so it looks like the IUI is a "GO" this cycle! Maybe since the Lord allowed my AF to be late, it means that this is "the month"! Thanks so much for all the prayers!! I love you gals =D

Look what I got!

Sorry, not a BFP.. it's a NEW CAR!

I got an 07 Toyota Matrix. I love it!! Jared put our Sable on Craigslist yesterday while we were at work. Within an hour, he had 2 calls and 1 appointment to come look at it in the evening. The people bought it, so we had to go and get me a car!

AF didn't come yesterday, Praise The Lord! But, I do see red streaks in my CM this morning. I imagine AF will be here full force later today. At least it held off a day later than I was expecting. What an answer to prayer. I don't know if it will be long enough for my Dr. to let me do an IUI, but maybe!! I will be on CD 14 when we return from the Ironman, which is cutting it a little too close.

Edited to add.. I finished up the video of the lambs. TOO FUNNY!!

Birthday pictures

I had a very nice birthday yesterday. We had all the family up to the farm and had yummy cake and ice cream!

My mom made me an apron for my birthday. I have never had an apron and decided that I would really like to have one about a year ago. She did a great job! When I opened it, I tried it on and my mom mentioned something about even when I am pregnant I can still wear it.. so I found some nearby diapers (clean) and stuffed them under the apron:




We also got out to see the sheep/lambs and Ted:

Happy Birthday to me!

Wish I would have got a BFP, but I didn't. BFN today too. My cervix was still nice and closed up this morning though, so maybe AF will be a day or two late, which would be wonderful!! Then maybe we can still do an IUI this month! Please pray that AF will hold off for a couple more days so we don't have to take another break cycle!! I am expecting AF tomorrow.

My parents took me and my sister out for breakfast this morning at the Cracker Barrel. It was great! I didn't know my sister would be there so that was a nice surprise. Then I came in to work. When I got to my desk, there was 3 pink roses in a vase and a card from Jared. How sweet :) My team is going to lunch today. There are 3 girls on my team with birthdays in June so this is to celebrate all of ours.

Tonight, we are going up to the farm and having everyone over for cake! I may take Ted for a ride. That would be a wonderful way to spend my birthday! I will take pics tonight so I can post some pics finally.

Well, as long as my cervix is still closed up, I will test again tomorrow!

House sitting

We started house sitting for the owners of the farm on Friday. They are out of town, so we are living in their enormous house and taking care of the animals. I have been sleeping like crud. We sleep on the 3rd floor in their guest bedroom. There is a king bed in there, which is a "must" for Jared and I, but it gets so warm and it makes it hard to sleep. Hopefully I will settle in soon and start sleeping better. Thursday night will be our last night there.

I tested this morning and got a BFN. I'm not feeling it this month. All signs are telling me that AF is on the way. I know I am not out until AF shows, but I imagine she will. I will keep testing, as long as my cervix stays closed. It still is nice and closed up but it usually starts softening and opening sometime during the day of 10 DPO, so we'll see.

If we are not pg this month, I am pretty sure that we will have to take another break cycle. Jared's iron-man will be right during my fertile time (if I am on meds) and we won't be able to do an IUI.

AF is due on Wednesday. My birthday is tomorrow! YAY for Cake!! haha

I will need to get some pics and/or video of all the baby lambs up at the farm. They are so funny when they run and jump in the air. Ok, have to get ready for work.

Clouds

There were some beautiful clouds in the sky last night. God's creation is so amazing! We had some storm warnings in our area. Living in the midwest has allowed me to see some crazy things happen with the weather. In Oregon, we either saw rain, clouds, a little sun and then some clouds and rain again. hahaha I love Oregon weather too, but it is just so different to see the sky and heavens transform themselves like it can in the midwest.

silly video

This is my first attempt with using the Adobe video editing software.. I haven't bought it yet. This is just a free trial version and I think that is why it has the Adobe logo on it. I was just messing around with it, so I thought I would share my creation.

Weekend?? what weekend?

I cannot believe this weekend is already over. It went so fast!!

First of all.. the most exciting part is that I O'd either on Friday or early Saturday. We had good BDing timing too. So, I am now in the 2WW. I will be 11 DPO on my birthday (June 12th). Hopefully I will get a great Bday present this year!

Saturday, the guy came and looked at our house but his wife didn't come with him. He really wants to buy a home in our subdivision, but his wife wants to live in a different area. Hopefully he can talk her into living in our subdivision, but I doubt that will happen. haha I spent all morning cleaning our home, then I left and took the dogs to my parents house while Jared showed the guy around. I went to lunch with a good friend of mine and my mom and sister came too. After lunch, I went back to my parents house and my mom and I practiced the song that we were going to sing at church the next day. The pugs and I left their house and headed back home around 1:30.

Jared and I hung out at home for a little while. We talked about cars again and started looking online at the Mazda 5. My brother has this car and he really likes it. It's like a mini, sporty minivan, but it's really still a car. We searched online and found a used one so, we went to look at it before we went over to a friends house for dinner. We liked the car, but probably will not buy that actual one. We may still look around for a good used one, but could possibly look into buying new.

After we looked at the car, we went over to some friends house and had a cookout with them.

Sunday we went to church, my mom and I sang, then Jared and I came home. He had to go into the office for a couple hours to get some work done, so I went and got my hair cut.

Later on, my sister came over to visit and we all went to Best Buy to buy a new camcorder. We bought a JVC camcorder a few months back, but I can't get it to work on my video editing program. It records in a really weird video format that is hardly recognized by anything. So, we bought a Sony instead. We will sell our JVC on ebay.

After Best Buy, we went to Chili's for dinner, then went back home. Jen left after a little while and then Jared and I messed with our new camcorder. It's a long story, but we actually didn't need to replace our camcorder.. what we really needed was a new video editing program. But, we actually like the Sony camcorder better, so we will keep the camcorder, sell our JVC and buy a new video program. hahaha I had a huge headache after messing with it all last night. Glad we finally can get it fixed though. I will post the video that I made last night when I get home from work. It is a really retarted movie, but it is pretty funny.

Well, that was our weekend!!