Today is a WONDERFUL DAY!! Today John and I get to take care of our god-daughter Julianna while Josh and Emily go to Raleigh to spend the day with some of Josh's family and go to a concert. They are spending the night in Raleigh, so they asked us if we would be willing to take care of Juju (her nickname) today and tonight and they will pick her up tomorrow mid-morning. We are not only SO excited to get to spend some really great quality time with our god-daughter, but really honored that Josh and Emily trust us to take care of the person they both love the most in the world!
They dropped her off a little after 12 p.m. and headed on to big Raleigh-wood. Juju was so good. She never once fussed or cried when her Mommy and Daddy left. That made Josh and Emily feel good I think because they know Juju is very happy with us! Now they get to go relax and have a great time! She drank most of her juice cup, played with her da-de's (babies) and helped John with his homework (pointing at everything in John's school book with her pen!) We also danced and waived at the doggies in the back yard. And while John doesn't believe me, when John would go and work on the computer in the other room to do his homework, Juju would look at the door and holler "JOHN" and "John-John"! She did it about 5 times, but only when he would leave her. She ADORES John, most of the time prefering to go to him over the rest of us! Once he would come back in the room, she would just give a huge smile and want him to pick her up. So even though he doesn't believe me, Juju and I know she was hollering for him!
Then after several long eye rubs and laying down on the floor, I knew it was naptime. Her pack-n-play is set up in our room because it is the darkest. (That's just for naptime--we will put the pack-n-play in my office for night time.) We went in there and I sat with her on the bed to get her comfortable in a new room. Then I laid her down and turned her "Violet" dog on to sing her to sleep and laid her down. She fussed for only about 2-3 minutes and then was out like a light! She's still napping now, which is how I am able to do a blog post.
When Juju gets up, we will probably go take her to see my parents (if they are home) and maybe go to the park to play in the swings. John and I can't wait to be parents, but in the meantime being god-parents really ROCKS and we are so thankful that Josh and Emily love us and trust us to give us that title for their precious girl!
July 3, 2011
June 23, 2011
Explanations, Promotions, Vacations & Other -tions! A recap since my last post...
Wow! I can't believe my last post was May 4th! A LOT has happened since then. Unfortunately, none of it is a pregnancy. That's right, our 2nd IUI didn't work. It wasn't too upsetting, since I didn't really expect it to work anyway. What stunk was I found out by getting my monthly (unwanted) visitor on May 17th--our 3 year anniversary! At my last visit, Dr. Taavon told me something that about made me fall out of my chair. He told me that what we've been told for the last two and a half years (going on 3) was a total lie. We've been told this whole time that we are having unexplained infertility. So that's why no one has given us a real solution to help us get preggers. Well, Dr. Taavon told me that we aren't unexplained at all!! He said that I don't have regular ovulating cycles and that John has low sperm count. There...infertility EXPLAINED!! He said that since I ovulate perfectly with the Clomid and Ovidrel shot, then my end is taken care of. He said that Dr. Yalcinkaya should be able to work with John and either find a medicinal or procedural fix for him or we will just have to go with IV-F if we want to get pregnant. It sounds weird to say this, but I felt so much better being told that we have an explanation now!
John and I are going over our options as in do we want to go for the IV-F if that's our only way to get pregnant, or do we want to go the adoption route. In the meantime we are taking a break from non-stop baby thoughts and giving ourselves a rest. We figure after almost 3 years of trying to get pregnant and countless fertility treatments, we need a rest from the stress and disappointment month after month. We have postponed our appointment with Dr. Yalcinkaya until October 17th. We desperately want a baby, but we know our limits and feel this break will do us both a lot of good.
The reason we decided to wait until October 17th for our specialist appointment is because we wanted to go after we get back from MEXICO!!! That's right, the Griffin's are headed to the Moon Palace Resort in Cancun at the beginning of October! I earned a free trip through my Thirty-One business. It's only for Directors and above and it's for 6 days all expenses paid by the company! PLUS we get extra "Cancun Bucks" once we get there for massages, souvenirs, etc. And Thirty-One provides so many extra gifts and amenities above and beyond the free all-inclusive trip--John and I are so excited to get SPOILED!!!!! See some of the fabulous pics below!
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Another amazing perk of being a part of Thirty-One is the amazing Dream Rewards that we can earn! I was able to earn the top level which is a $2000 gift card to either Best Buy, Carnival Cruise or Disney! Since we earned the trip to Mexico, John and I decided to take the Best Buy card! I am getting an iPad 2 with some accessories (PINK COVER!!) and getting an Xbox 360 with Kinect for John. He helped me SO much this last year with my business, so I wanted him to be able to get something rewarding too! He's been wanting an Xbox for a while now and I'm so happy to get it for him for FREE!! We also think we will get a nice 32" flat screen TV with a built in DVD/Blu Ray player for our bedroom. We have the 13" that I have had since the 7th grade in our bedroom right now! It is still a GREAT TV and we will probably move it into one of our offices if we get a new one.
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John and I are going over our options as in do we want to go for the IV-F if that's our only way to get pregnant, or do we want to go the adoption route. In the meantime we are taking a break from non-stop baby thoughts and giving ourselves a rest. We figure after almost 3 years of trying to get pregnant and countless fertility treatments, we need a rest from the stress and disappointment month after month. We have postponed our appointment with Dr. Yalcinkaya until October 17th. We desperately want a baby, but we know our limits and feel this break will do us both a lot of good.
The reason we decided to wait until October 17th for our specialist appointment is because we wanted to go after we get back from MEXICO!!! That's right, the Griffin's are headed to the Moon Palace Resort in Cancun at the beginning of October! I earned a free trip through my Thirty-One business. It's only for Directors and above and it's for 6 days all expenses paid by the company! PLUS we get extra "Cancun Bucks" once we get there for massages, souvenirs, etc. And Thirty-One provides so many extra gifts and amenities above and beyond the free all-inclusive trip--John and I are so excited to get SPOILED!!!!! See some of the fabulous pics below!
Another amazing perk of being a part of Thirty-One is the amazing Dream Rewards that we can earn! I was able to earn the top level which is a $2000 gift card to either Best Buy, Carnival Cruise or Disney! Since we earned the trip to Mexico, John and I decided to take the Best Buy card! I am getting an iPad 2 with some accessories (PINK COVER!!) and getting an Xbox 360 with Kinect for John. He helped me SO much this last year with my business, so I wanted him to be able to get something rewarding too! He's been wanting an Xbox for a while now and I'm so happy to get it for him for FREE!! We also think we will get a nice 32" flat screen TV with a built in DVD/Blu Ray player for our bedroom. We have the 13" that I have had since the 7th grade in our bedroom right now! It is still a GREAT TV and we will probably move it into one of our offices if we get a new one.
Something else exciting happened in May! I promoted to Senior Director with Thirty-One Gifts!! This was SO awesome because my goal once I promoted to Director in September was to be able to promote to Senior Director by my 1 year anniversary with the company--May 1! I promoted to Senior Director on April 30th!! I am so excited to be able to attend my first National Conference as a Senior Director! God has totally blessed my business!
May 4, 2011
IUI #2 Recap
It's been 2 days since our IUI and I feel nothing like I did the last time. Maybe that's a good thing because the last time didn't take. I guess we'll see in a couple weeks. But for now, I'm taking it back to Monday morning...
Right when I finished my last post, John was finished with his "part" so we went and got a Starbucks break! When we got back to the clinic, they were ready with our sample, so we headed on over to Wendover OB/GYN. This time, Dr. Taavon did our IUI since Dr. Mody is still out of town. This whole IUI experience was so different. No crazy green straw thing stretching my cervix and causing me lots of pain! Dr. Taavon was in and out before I even knew what happened! He was so great and took the time to go ahead and answer all of John and my questions about the specialist and our next steps. He is so patient and kind and really takes the time with his patients and makes sure we are taken care of! For these reasons, John and I mutually decided to switch my primary doctor to Dr. Taavon. I'm so happy with our choice. Dr. Taavon also got our specialist appointment set up for June 3rd for our initial consultation.
We left from our appointment after spending 30 minutes with my hips sky high in the air and headed over to Ham's Lakeside for another wonderful lunch! We really enjoy how beautiful it is out there! Just so relaxing--we love it!
We arrived home about 1:00 p.m. and had a GREAT surprise sitting on our front porch! We got our Body by Vi 90 Day Challenge kit! Here is some info on the Body by Vi challenge--check it out!! John and Amanda's Website: http://youshakeitoff.myvi.net/
ons! We started yesterday and when John and I woke up this morning, I had lost 1.8 pounds and John lost 3.8 pounds--IN JUST ONE DAY!!!!!! We are hooked! I can't wait to see how much we lose and what we look like at the end of the 90 days!!
Right when I finished my last post, John was finished with his "part" so we went and got a Starbucks break! When we got back to the clinic, they were ready with our sample, so we headed on over to Wendover OB/GYN. This time, Dr. Taavon did our IUI since Dr. Mody is still out of town. This whole IUI experience was so different. No crazy green straw thing stretching my cervix and causing me lots of pain! Dr. Taavon was in and out before I even knew what happened! He was so great and took the time to go ahead and answer all of John and my questions about the specialist and our next steps. He is so patient and kind and really takes the time with his patients and makes sure we are taken care of! For these reasons, John and I mutually decided to switch my primary doctor to Dr. Taavon. I'm so happy with our choice. Dr. Taavon also got our specialist appointment set up for June 3rd for our initial consultation.
We left from our appointment after spending 30 minutes with my hips sky high in the air and headed over to Ham's Lakeside for another wonderful lunch! We really enjoy how beautiful it is out there! Just so relaxing--we love it!
We arrived home about 1:00 p.m. and had a GREAT surprise sitting on our front porch! We got our Body by Vi 90 Day Challenge kit! Here is some info on the Body by Vi challenge--check it out!! John and Amanda's Website: http://youshakeitoff.myvi.net/
ons! We started yesterday and when John and I woke up this morning, I had lost 1.8 pounds and John lost 3.8 pounds--IN JUST ONE DAY!!!!!! We are hooked! I can't wait to see how much we lose and what we look like at the end of the 90 days!!
May 2, 2011
Here we go again
Well its that time again folks!! We are doing IUI number 2 today. I for one am not excited about it!! I am just tired of the emotional roller coaster each month. But it's the last step before we get our referral to the infertility specialist. I had to go have my follicle study done on Friday. The ultrasound tech (who I love by the way!!) said she found one really big follicle on my left ovary!
Dr. Mody is out of the office for a few weeks so I had to talk to Dr. Taavon. I really like his straight-shooter type of personality. He came right in and said "so you've been at this a while now...you've got to be getting tired of this crap right?" I just laughed and told him that tired doesn't even begin to describe it! He was very straightforward and told me that with the Clomid and Ovidrel I'm ovulating every month and at the right time now so my issue is fixed. He asked me if John has been checked out and I told him yes by a certain urologist in Asheboro (who shall remain nameless) who told him his sperm count is little low but "it only takes 1 to get her pregnant!" Dr. Taavon looked at me like I was crazy and said "that's bullshit!" It really shocked me that he was so blunt...but I also appreciated it! He said that most urologists just want to do surgery and don't want to mess with male infertility. So as long as there's not ZERO sperm they will tell them they are fine and send them on their way!
Dr. Taavon said he wants us to try the IUI once more and then refer me to a specialist. He said that if the IUI doesn't work the specialist will check us out and see if there is either a procedure or some medication to increase his count. If there isn't or it it doesn't work, Dr. Taavon said our only next step is IVF (in vitro fertilization.) This was a hard thing to hear but I was very thankful for him being honest with me!
So Saturday night, I gave myself my Ovidrel shot (yes I was a big girl this time) and now I'm sitting in the waiting room at Wake Forest Reproductive Medicine clinic as John does his part of this procedure! I'm just ready for my Starbucks!!
Dr. Mody is out of the office for a few weeks so I had to talk to Dr. Taavon. I really like his straight-shooter type of personality. He came right in and said "so you've been at this a while now...you've got to be getting tired of this crap right?" I just laughed and told him that tired doesn't even begin to describe it! He was very straightforward and told me that with the Clomid and Ovidrel I'm ovulating every month and at the right time now so my issue is fixed. He asked me if John has been checked out and I told him yes by a certain urologist in Asheboro (who shall remain nameless) who told him his sperm count is little low but "it only takes 1 to get her pregnant!" Dr. Taavon looked at me like I was crazy and said "that's bullshit!" It really shocked me that he was so blunt...but I also appreciated it! He said that most urologists just want to do surgery and don't want to mess with male infertility. So as long as there's not ZERO sperm they will tell them they are fine and send them on their way!
Dr. Taavon said he wants us to try the IUI once more and then refer me to a specialist. He said that if the IUI doesn't work the specialist will check us out and see if there is either a procedure or some medication to increase his count. If there isn't or it it doesn't work, Dr. Taavon said our only next step is IVF (in vitro fertilization.) This was a hard thing to hear but I was very thankful for him being honest with me!
So Saturday night, I gave myself my Ovidrel shot (yes I was a big girl this time) and now I'm sitting in the waiting room at Wake Forest Reproductive Medicine clinic as John does his part of this procedure! I'm just ready for my Starbucks!!
April 19, 2011
On to cycle #32
Oh well--another one bites the dust! I started seeing a little spotting Sunday night, had nothing Monday all day and then started spotting again Monday night. When I woke up this morning, Tuesday, I decided to take a pregnancy test just to know for sure. Several people had told me that they had spotting for a few days, but were in fact pregnant. So I took the test, waited 3 minutes and then looked to see 1 line=not pregnant. I let John and know and we are both upset. We know everything comes in God's time, but we just can't understand why it can't happen for us.
I have spent most of the morning crying (sobbing) and trying to get a hold of myself. For those that think it gets easier every month because we should be used to it by now, it doesn't and we aren't! In fact, it seems to get harder each month. I feel like a piece of my heart dies each month of heartbreak! But we will be strong and move on.
I have always been a person that just needs a day to cry and be upset and then the next day I will be able to wake up and be strong and ready to move forward! So today is my day. I know I will cry, be upset, feel hopeless and sorry for myself for today. Tomorrow is a new day and I will be ready to move forward when tomorrow comes. But for today, I'm healing and praying that one day our miracle will come. Thank you to those that are praying with us.
I have spent most of the morning crying (sobbing) and trying to get a hold of myself. For those that think it gets easier every month because we should be used to it by now, it doesn't and we aren't! In fact, it seems to get harder each month. I feel like a piece of my heart dies each month of heartbreak! But we will be strong and move on.
I have always been a person that just needs a day to cry and be upset and then the next day I will be able to wake up and be strong and ready to move forward! So today is my day. I know I will cry, be upset, feel hopeless and sorry for myself for today. Tomorrow is a new day and I will be ready to move forward when tomorrow comes. But for today, I'm healing and praying that one day our miracle will come. Thank you to those that are praying with us.
April 12, 2011
Progesterone Results
Last Friday, April 8th, I had to go up to Dr. Mody's office to have my blood drawn for a progesterone check. I literally was in there maybe 5 minutes. I checked in, the technician called me back, took me straight to the chair, poked my right arm and sent me to check out. It was a whirlwind of a visit!! The technician told me that I would get my results back on Monday. I confirmed with her that this was just to test ovulation and she said yes. I headed out the door and that was that!
We enjoyed a great weekend with our best friends. John and Josh got our deck stained while Emily and I took Julianna shoe shopping. She got some cute little white sandals for the summer. The boys did such a great job on our deck--it's SO pretty!! It's a dark brown/reddish color (doesn't look that dark in the pic but it is DARK!) They are going to do Josh's deck this weekend! Check out the pic below.
John also surprised me by picking up a can of Valspar Positively Pink satin paint for my office! I've been wanting to put some color on these walls for a while and it was a lovely surprise! I'm hoping we can get it done sometime this week and I'll post pics of the finished room. But of course, I couldn't wait to see how the color would look, so I had to smear some on the wall. Check it out!
By the time Monday morning came, I had forgotten all about my progesterone test! I guess I "knew" I ovulated because I had felt those crazy little bursts last Sunday. So I was surprised when I saw Wendover OB/GYN pop up on my phone around 10:30 a.m. yesterday! Heather, one of Dr. Mody's nurses, told me that my level was at a 20, so that's good. She sounded positive, but I have no idea what that means, so I asked her what the scale was. She said that anything over an 8 indicated ovulation had occured. She said even if it was a 9 they would know that I had ovulated. And since Friday was my day 20 of my cycle (you are supposed to be tested on day 21), she said it may have even been higher on Saturday. But of course they aren't open on Saturday so I couldn't be tested then!
In true fashion of someone that has been dealing with infertility, I asked, "Now what--what's the next step?" She told me the next thing was just to wait and see if my period came or not. If it doesn't, to take a test and call them with the results. If it does, call them to figure out the next cycle. And that was that!
I called John to let him know that I did definitely ovulate. He was excited to hear this as we realized our procedure wasn't a waste as long as I ovulated! We both knew that I did because of the bursts--but we felt better knowing for SURE! So now it's just a waiting game. We are praying for God's will to be done but also praying that we are in fact pregnant this month! We appreciate everyone that is praying with us!!
We enjoyed a great weekend with our best friends. John and Josh got our deck stained while Emily and I took Julianna shoe shopping. She got some cute little white sandals for the summer. The boys did such a great job on our deck--it's SO pretty!! It's a dark brown/reddish color (doesn't look that dark in the pic but it is DARK!) They are going to do Josh's deck this weekend! Check out the pic below.
John also surprised me by picking up a can of Valspar Positively Pink satin paint for my office! I've been wanting to put some color on these walls for a while and it was a lovely surprise! I'm hoping we can get it done sometime this week and I'll post pics of the finished room. But of course, I couldn't wait to see how the color would look, so I had to smear some on the wall. Check it out!
By the time Monday morning came, I had forgotten all about my progesterone test! I guess I "knew" I ovulated because I had felt those crazy little bursts last Sunday. So I was surprised when I saw Wendover OB/GYN pop up on my phone around 10:30 a.m. yesterday! Heather, one of Dr. Mody's nurses, told me that my level was at a 20, so that's good. She sounded positive, but I have no idea what that means, so I asked her what the scale was. She said that anything over an 8 indicated ovulation had occured. She said even if it was a 9 they would know that I had ovulated. And since Friday was my day 20 of my cycle (you are supposed to be tested on day 21), she said it may have even been higher on Saturday. But of course they aren't open on Saturday so I couldn't be tested then!
In true fashion of someone that has been dealing with infertility, I asked, "Now what--what's the next step?" She told me the next thing was just to wait and see if my period came or not. If it doesn't, to take a test and call them with the results. If it does, call them to figure out the next cycle. And that was that!
I called John to let him know that I did definitely ovulate. He was excited to hear this as we realized our procedure wasn't a waste as long as I ovulated! We both knew that I did because of the bursts--but we felt better knowing for SURE! So now it's just a waiting game. We are praying for God's will to be done but also praying that we are in fact pregnant this month! We appreciate everyone that is praying with us!!
April 8, 2011
April 4, 2011
And now we pray!
Boy was today ever interesting! We got up at 7:30 a.m. to get ready for our Big Day! John took the whole day off so that we weren't stressing to make sure he got back at work at a specific time. We were out the door by 8:15 a.m. and heading up to Greensboro.
We arrived at the Greensboro office of the Wake Forest Infertility Clinic for John's 9:00 a.m. appointment about 5 minutes early. They took us back to a room where they gave us the instructions and we filled out a little paperwork. Then the fun part came--the nurse told John that he needed to "collect" and we left him to do his contribution to this procedure. Needless to say, he got the better end out of this deal!
Once his job was done, the nurse let us know that it would take about 40 minutes to perform the "washing" procedure and that we could go get some breakfast and come back. Neither of us were very hungry but a Starbucks break sounded great! So we headed over to the Harris Teeter in the Friendly Shopping Center and went to the Starbucks that is in there. (It was the closest one.) John and I got our favorite Caramel Macchiato--but had mine made decaf...just in case! We sat at a little table and shared a few laughs over his part of the process. (Those jokes will remain private!)
We enjoyed our coffees and then headed out to go back to the WFIC. When we arrived the nurse popped right out and called us back to the lab room. She handed me a vial in a "Hazardous Material" baggie and told me to keep it upright and warm by holding it in a closed tight fist. She gave us our paperwork and we headed back up the road to head to Dr. Mody's office. It was only about 5 minutes away and we arrived at 10:00 a.m. on the dot! We got ourselves checked in and paid the copay (not too bad) and sat in the waiting room. We were only there about 3 minutes and Dr. Mody's nurse, Diana, came and got us. She is just so cute and sweet! She took my vitals (normal BP again! YAY!) and asked me to make sure my bladder was empty. After that, she took us into the room where our procedure would take place. She asked me to get undressed from the waist down and hop up on the table and cover up with one of those very "concealing" paper sheets (sense the sarcasm). After she shut the door, I began to do just that! John's eye's got huge and said "Are you supposed to be getting naked in here?" I just looked at him and said, "How else do you think this is going to work?" That melted us both into giggles and made me realize just how tense we had both been. I can always rely on that hubby of mine to get me cracked up and help me to relax.
Meanwhile, I've been holding that vial of what John called "his boys" during this whole process trying to keep that precious vial warm. It wasn't but maybe another 2 minutes and Diana came back in the room with Dr. Mody. They were ready to do the procedure! Dr. Mody asked me when I took my shot and if I felt myself ovulate--I was so happy to tell her about my "bursts." She smiled and said that it all sounded good and were we ready. John had a few questions, one of which was what is the percentage of success. I was interested in that too because some thing I had read on the internet had said as low as only 6%. I knew it couldn't be right because the percentage of conceiving naturally is much higher than that in healthy couples. But in the back of my mind, I still worried. Dr. Mody explained that with Clomid, Ovidrel & IUI combined there was an over 50% chance that it could work! OVER 50%??? I was shocked it was that high!!
We were then ready to do the IUI. John came and stood by my head and I had to scoot all the way to the end of the table. She inserted the speculum and hinged it open. She then had to take this green straw device to open my cervix up. This caused a LOT of cramping and I involuntarily tensed up. Dr. Mody couldn't proceed anymore until I could relax. John swooped in and was my hero to help me relax. He held my hand with his left hand and with his right hand covered my forehead--a very comforting thing for me. He quietly kissed me and asked me to relax and take a deep breath and that's just what I did. Magically, I was able to unclench and she was able to proceed.
What didn't help was when I looked up at John and his eyes were HUGE! He had seen the catheter she was going to use to insert the sperm in my uterus and by the look on his face I knew he was shocked. I had seen a picture of one before but never in person. His words "just don't look at it" went in one ear and out the other with me. I looked up right as they finished drawing the sperm into the catheter and Diana held it up. I swear the thing was 3 feet long! (John later told me it was only about 10 inches long -- that's still huge!!) I worked very hard to remain calm and relaxed. All of a sudden Dr. Mody says, "OK there we go!" I thought she said "here we go" and asked her how long it would take. She said, "No we're done!" I hadn't felt a thing. She took the catheter out and then released the speculum. The whole thing took about 10 minutes. She helped me scoot back on the table, tilted it back and told me to lay there with my feet propped up for 30 minutes. She said that I needed to come in on Friday for a Day 21 Progesterone blood test. And then she left us to our wait.
John grabbed a couple of magazines--Baby and Parenting--and gave them to me to look through. We also talked about the possibility of multiples and what we would do if that happens. We are both very positive about having twins or triplets and we know that if that is the children God blesses us with, He will provide a way for us to take care of them! We also talked about what we would name 2 or 3 babies. We have a girl's name and a boy's name picked out that we love, but it took us forever to get those narrowed down--I can't imagine having to pick out more all at once! And how would we decide who got what name? This topic got us both laughing. Well I saw a new side of my hubby at that point. He quickly turned into this highly protective man instructing me to stop laughing because I could "bounce our babies around." For the 45 minutes I laid there (the nurse got busy and came and released us 15 minutes after our time limit!) John wouldn't let me move, cough, laugh, sneeze, or do anything because he was aftraid I was going to mess our procedure up. Bless his heart--I loved seeing how protective he was being.
Once Diana came back and got us, I got redressed and we headed out the door. Have you ever seen "The Back Up Plan" with Jennifer Lopez? I felt like her walking out of the office with my legs clenched together. I didn't even notice I was doing it until John turned around and said "Baby...walk normal!" I guess I was just so worried that I would lose any of the deposit that I was clenching. I made my appointment at check out for Friday at 9:45 a.m. to have my blood checked and we left the office.
Hubby decided he was going to treat me to lunch at one of my favorite spots in Greensboro, Ham's Lakeside off of Cone Blvd. The food there is of course great because it's Ham's, but that's not why I love it there. This Ham's sits on the shore of a very beautiful and serene lake and I love to eat outside and watch the gentle waves lap into the shore. I'm definitely a girl that loves to be on the water...whether its the beach, lake or even just a fishing pond. Water is so calming to me and that was the exact environment I wanted. We had a nice lunch and sat enjoying the calm lake and beautiful blue sky together. It was truly such a perfect time and I was so happy!
We headed home and by the time we got here my bladder was about to burst! As I made a mad dash to the bathroom, John in his protective voice said "DON'T FORCE THE PEE OUT!" I wanted to laugh but I had to GO! When I was in the bathroom, I noticed some traces of blood. That SCARED me to death! I hopped on the phone and called Dr. Mody's office and left a message with the nurse to call me back. While I was waiting on the return call, I noticed some slight cramping almost comparable to gas pains. It didn't hurt, but it was uncomfortable. When the nurse called me back, I told her about what had been going on. She said that the cramping and spotting was a normal thing and not to stress about it. She said that in cases where the doctor has to force the cervix open, as Dr. Mody had to do for me, it can cause a bit of bleeding. I felt a lot better.
At this point, hubby and I CRASHED HARD! We had been totally calm and collected the whole day but I guess the excitement and anticipation of our procedure had wiped us out. We both laid down and took an hour and a half nap. It was wonderful! I woke up and (carefully) ran to the bathroom to check and see if I was still spotting. Fortunately, it had stopped! But the crazy abdominal feelings have continued. I haven't decided if it really is out of the norm or if I'm just really concentrating on that area of my body so I'm noticing every move. Either way, I'm not going to complain a bit because I'm hoping that each funny little twinge may be bringing us closer to a baby Griffin!
So that's been our day. Mostly a lot of laying around and resting. And laughing at my hubby being like a little mother hen monitoring my every move! If he's this protective of me at the possibility of getting pregnant, I can't imagine how he will be when I really am! We always joke that he will wrap my belly in bubble wrap--now I think that's gonna be more of a reality and less of a joke! HA! But overprotective or not, I know he is going to be a fantastic daddy and I'm so happy that he's my hubby!
And now we pray! And hope and dream and wait and pray some more! We know that God is in control and to quote Kate Gosselin, "science and humans had given their best efforts, and now the results ultimately lay in God's hands." (In researching IUI's, her name has come up a lot--for "multiple" reasons!) So we will endure our 2 week wait and hope and pray that the procedure worked and we will soon be seeing 2 pink lines on a stick!
We arrived at the Greensboro office of the Wake Forest Infertility Clinic for John's 9:00 a.m. appointment about 5 minutes early. They took us back to a room where they gave us the instructions and we filled out a little paperwork. Then the fun part came--the nurse told John that he needed to "collect" and we left him to do his contribution to this procedure. Needless to say, he got the better end out of this deal!
Once his job was done, the nurse let us know that it would take about 40 minutes to perform the "washing" procedure and that we could go get some breakfast and come back. Neither of us were very hungry but a Starbucks break sounded great! So we headed over to the Harris Teeter in the Friendly Shopping Center and went to the Starbucks that is in there. (It was the closest one.) John and I got our favorite Caramel Macchiato--but had mine made decaf...just in case! We sat at a little table and shared a few laughs over his part of the process. (Those jokes will remain private!)
We enjoyed our coffees and then headed out to go back to the WFIC. When we arrived the nurse popped right out and called us back to the lab room. She handed me a vial in a "Hazardous Material" baggie and told me to keep it upright and warm by holding it in a closed tight fist. She gave us our paperwork and we headed back up the road to head to Dr. Mody's office. It was only about 5 minutes away and we arrived at 10:00 a.m. on the dot! We got ourselves checked in and paid the copay (not too bad) and sat in the waiting room. We were only there about 3 minutes and Dr. Mody's nurse, Diana, came and got us. She is just so cute and sweet! She took my vitals (normal BP again! YAY!) and asked me to make sure my bladder was empty. After that, she took us into the room where our procedure would take place. She asked me to get undressed from the waist down and hop up on the table and cover up with one of those very "concealing" paper sheets (sense the sarcasm). After she shut the door, I began to do just that! John's eye's got huge and said "Are you supposed to be getting naked in here?" I just looked at him and said, "How else do you think this is going to work?" That melted us both into giggles and made me realize just how tense we had both been. I can always rely on that hubby of mine to get me cracked up and help me to relax.
Meanwhile, I've been holding that vial of what John called "his boys" during this whole process trying to keep that precious vial warm. It wasn't but maybe another 2 minutes and Diana came back in the room with Dr. Mody. They were ready to do the procedure! Dr. Mody asked me when I took my shot and if I felt myself ovulate--I was so happy to tell her about my "bursts." She smiled and said that it all sounded good and were we ready. John had a few questions, one of which was what is the percentage of success. I was interested in that too because some thing I had read on the internet had said as low as only 6%. I knew it couldn't be right because the percentage of conceiving naturally is much higher than that in healthy couples. But in the back of my mind, I still worried. Dr. Mody explained that with Clomid, Ovidrel & IUI combined there was an over 50% chance that it could work! OVER 50%??? I was shocked it was that high!!
We were then ready to do the IUI. John came and stood by my head and I had to scoot all the way to the end of the table. She inserted the speculum and hinged it open. She then had to take this green straw device to open my cervix up. This caused a LOT of cramping and I involuntarily tensed up. Dr. Mody couldn't proceed anymore until I could relax. John swooped in and was my hero to help me relax. He held my hand with his left hand and with his right hand covered my forehead--a very comforting thing for me. He quietly kissed me and asked me to relax and take a deep breath and that's just what I did. Magically, I was able to unclench and she was able to proceed.
What didn't help was when I looked up at John and his eyes were HUGE! He had seen the catheter she was going to use to insert the sperm in my uterus and by the look on his face I knew he was shocked. I had seen a picture of one before but never in person. His words "just don't look at it" went in one ear and out the other with me. I looked up right as they finished drawing the sperm into the catheter and Diana held it up. I swear the thing was 3 feet long! (John later told me it was only about 10 inches long -- that's still huge!!) I worked very hard to remain calm and relaxed. All of a sudden Dr. Mody says, "OK there we go!" I thought she said "here we go" and asked her how long it would take. She said, "No we're done!" I hadn't felt a thing. She took the catheter out and then released the speculum. The whole thing took about 10 minutes. She helped me scoot back on the table, tilted it back and told me to lay there with my feet propped up for 30 minutes. She said that I needed to come in on Friday for a Day 21 Progesterone blood test. And then she left us to our wait.
John grabbed a couple of magazines--Baby and Parenting--and gave them to me to look through. We also talked about the possibility of multiples and what we would do if that happens. We are both very positive about having twins or triplets and we know that if that is the children God blesses us with, He will provide a way for us to take care of them! We also talked about what we would name 2 or 3 babies. We have a girl's name and a boy's name picked out that we love, but it took us forever to get those narrowed down--I can't imagine having to pick out more all at once! And how would we decide who got what name? This topic got us both laughing. Well I saw a new side of my hubby at that point. He quickly turned into this highly protective man instructing me to stop laughing because I could "bounce our babies around." For the 45 minutes I laid there (the nurse got busy and came and released us 15 minutes after our time limit!) John wouldn't let me move, cough, laugh, sneeze, or do anything because he was aftraid I was going to mess our procedure up. Bless his heart--I loved seeing how protective he was being.
Once Diana came back and got us, I got redressed and we headed out the door. Have you ever seen "The Back Up Plan" with Jennifer Lopez? I felt like her walking out of the office with my legs clenched together. I didn't even notice I was doing it until John turned around and said "Baby...walk normal!" I guess I was just so worried that I would lose any of the deposit that I was clenching. I made my appointment at check out for Friday at 9:45 a.m. to have my blood checked and we left the office.
Hubby decided he was going to treat me to lunch at one of my favorite spots in Greensboro, Ham's Lakeside off of Cone Blvd. The food there is of course great because it's Ham's, but that's not why I love it there. This Ham's sits on the shore of a very beautiful and serene lake and I love to eat outside and watch the gentle waves lap into the shore. I'm definitely a girl that loves to be on the water...whether its the beach, lake or even just a fishing pond. Water is so calming to me and that was the exact environment I wanted. We had a nice lunch and sat enjoying the calm lake and beautiful blue sky together. It was truly such a perfect time and I was so happy!
We headed home and by the time we got here my bladder was about to burst! As I made a mad dash to the bathroom, John in his protective voice said "DON'T FORCE THE PEE OUT!" I wanted to laugh but I had to GO! When I was in the bathroom, I noticed some traces of blood. That SCARED me to death! I hopped on the phone and called Dr. Mody's office and left a message with the nurse to call me back. While I was waiting on the return call, I noticed some slight cramping almost comparable to gas pains. It didn't hurt, but it was uncomfortable. When the nurse called me back, I told her about what had been going on. She said that the cramping and spotting was a normal thing and not to stress about it. She said that in cases where the doctor has to force the cervix open, as Dr. Mody had to do for me, it can cause a bit of bleeding. I felt a lot better.
At this point, hubby and I CRASHED HARD! We had been totally calm and collected the whole day but I guess the excitement and anticipation of our procedure had wiped us out. We both laid down and took an hour and a half nap. It was wonderful! I woke up and (carefully) ran to the bathroom to check and see if I was still spotting. Fortunately, it had stopped! But the crazy abdominal feelings have continued. I haven't decided if it really is out of the norm or if I'm just really concentrating on that area of my body so I'm noticing every move. Either way, I'm not going to complain a bit because I'm hoping that each funny little twinge may be bringing us closer to a baby Griffin!
So that's been our day. Mostly a lot of laying around and resting. And laughing at my hubby being like a little mother hen monitoring my every move! If he's this protective of me at the possibility of getting pregnant, I can't imagine how he will be when I really am! We always joke that he will wrap my belly in bubble wrap--now I think that's gonna be more of a reality and less of a joke! HA! But overprotective or not, I know he is going to be a fantastic daddy and I'm so happy that he's my hubby!
And now we pray! And hope and dream and wait and pray some more! We know that God is in control and to quote Kate Gosselin, "science and humans had given their best efforts, and now the results ultimately lay in God's hands." (In researching IUI's, her name has come up a lot--for "multiple" reasons!) So we will endure our 2 week wait and hope and pray that the procedure worked and we will soon be seeing 2 pink lines on a stick!
April 3, 2011
Big Day!
Well, tomorrow is the big day! Tomorrow we go up to the doctor to have the IUI performed. Late late late last night, hubby gave me my Ovidrel shot. I decided I just wasn't brave enough to stick myself and he was more than happy to volunteer to do it! Ha! He did a great job though and even gave me a bandaid for my boo-boo! :-)
This morning we were at worship service at our church, North Ridge, and I felt it. "It" was my body ovulating!! WOO HOO!! I felt the first one at 11:25 a.m. It felt like this sharp, slightly painful, burst in my right side. It caught me off guard and I jumped and grabbed my side. John jumped too and asked me what was wrong. With a big grin on my face I said, "I think I just ovulated!" Later after service, we told our pastor, Dean, and one of our prayer warrior couples, Dr. & Mrs. Lennon, about our procedure tomorrow and they assured us they would be praying for us! We believe in the power of prayer and believe that God can and does work miracles--and will work one in our lives for us to have a child!
Then we went to Walmart to get some groceries for our Sunday Supper with our friends, the Soto's! We've started getting together on Sunday afternoons and playing with Julianna and then enjoying nice, homemade suppers together! This afternoon was extra fun because the Soto dogs, Maggie & Toby, came to play with our dogs Semper & Maggie Rae! As we were picking up the few groceries we needed for Mozzerella Stuffed Meatballs (YUM-O!), I felt another burst--this time on my left side! This was about 12:30 p.m. It hurts just for a split second, but the feeling of something "bursting" inside is just bizarre. On our way back home from Walmart, around 1:30 p.m., I felt another burst on my right side. And that was it for the day. The great thing about that is when the doctor did my follicle study, she said there were 2 sizeable follicles on my right side and 1 on my left. So hopefully those are the ones that released the eggs.
So now hubby and I are eagerly waiting for tomorrow to get here so we can have our procedure done which will hopefully bring us our first baby Griffin! I feel very good about this procedure. I struggled for a long time with the thought of having a procedure to have a baby. I just didn't feel like it was the natural way that God intended it to happen. But I then realized that God gave our doctors the minds and the knowledge to devise these medications and procedures to help us. If I were having a heart attack, I wouldn't just lay here and say God will make me ok. I have the faith that that can happen, but lots of times the way He helps us is through other people. John and I have both come to terms with the fact that there is no "right way" to have a baby for us. But we know that we are going to be great parents to the baby that God blesses us with! And we know that we will have that baby--no matter if he or she is conceived naturally or via medications/injections/procedures! It doesn't matter the path we take--as long as we end up with the result of having our own baby to love and cherish, that's all that matters!
So wish us luck and lots of sticky baby dust tomorrow! We would love for this to be the month that we FINALLY get to see those 2 pink lines!!
This morning we were at worship service at our church, North Ridge, and I felt it. "It" was my body ovulating!! WOO HOO!! I felt the first one at 11:25 a.m. It felt like this sharp, slightly painful, burst in my right side. It caught me off guard and I jumped and grabbed my side. John jumped too and asked me what was wrong. With a big grin on my face I said, "I think I just ovulated!" Later after service, we told our pastor, Dean, and one of our prayer warrior couples, Dr. & Mrs. Lennon, about our procedure tomorrow and they assured us they would be praying for us! We believe in the power of prayer and believe that God can and does work miracles--and will work one in our lives for us to have a child!
Then we went to Walmart to get some groceries for our Sunday Supper with our friends, the Soto's! We've started getting together on Sunday afternoons and playing with Julianna and then enjoying nice, homemade suppers together! This afternoon was extra fun because the Soto dogs, Maggie & Toby, came to play with our dogs Semper & Maggie Rae! As we were picking up the few groceries we needed for Mozzerella Stuffed Meatballs (YUM-O!), I felt another burst--this time on my left side! This was about 12:30 p.m. It hurts just for a split second, but the feeling of something "bursting" inside is just bizarre. On our way back home from Walmart, around 1:30 p.m., I felt another burst on my right side. And that was it for the day. The great thing about that is when the doctor did my follicle study, she said there were 2 sizeable follicles on my right side and 1 on my left. So hopefully those are the ones that released the eggs.
So now hubby and I are eagerly waiting for tomorrow to get here so we can have our procedure done which will hopefully bring us our first baby Griffin! I feel very good about this procedure. I struggled for a long time with the thought of having a procedure to have a baby. I just didn't feel like it was the natural way that God intended it to happen. But I then realized that God gave our doctors the minds and the knowledge to devise these medications and procedures to help us. If I were having a heart attack, I wouldn't just lay here and say God will make me ok. I have the faith that that can happen, but lots of times the way He helps us is through other people. John and I have both come to terms with the fact that there is no "right way" to have a baby for us. But we know that we are going to be great parents to the baby that God blesses us with! And we know that we will have that baby--no matter if he or she is conceived naturally or via medications/injections/procedures! It doesn't matter the path we take--as long as we end up with the result of having our own baby to love and cherish, that's all that matters!
So wish us luck and lots of sticky baby dust tomorrow! We would love for this to be the month that we FINALLY get to see those 2 pink lines!!
March 29, 2011
Ultrasound Results and the Next Steps...
I went to see Dr. Mody today to have a follicle study done. I was supposed to have my yearly physical done too, but whoever scheduled my appointment messed up. I have to wait another month because the one I had last year was on April 20th. So it has to be after that. Oh well--didn't really care about that part of the visit! I wanted to see those follicles!
So I got in the ultrasound room and got to sit on those one of those super comfy chairs with the stirrups. OK--I don't like the stirrups part, but to quote Rachel on Friends, "I swear if they sold these at Pottery Barn!!" Anyways--the ultrasound technician came in and began the examination. This is not a horrible experience, but since it's an internal exam, it's not very pleasant either. They take this long wand and put what looks to me like a condom over it and squirt the goo to do the examination internally. First she measured my uterus and said it looked good. Then comes the not fun part. She has to rotate the wand inside to look at my right ovary and then my left. This causes me some mild cramping. I could see on the screen in front of me that I had several follicles with both ovaries, but there were 2 on my right and 1 on my left that were sizable enough to be considered maturing. They measured at 13 mm each. And that was it--I could get dressed and go sit in the waiting room for Dr. Mody to come talk to me.
While I was waiting, the nurse came and got me because she forgot to check my blood pressure. This made me nervous. I have had high blood pressure for the last 2 years thanks to the ridiculous amounts of stress from my old job. At the highest--at least highest recorded--it was 148/110. This was just back in January. I know that even when the stress goes away, the damaging effects from it can last for a while. So I have been concerned that my blood pressure would remain high. Especially being at an appointment to discuss our infertility--my nerves are on edge with that topic anyway. But I put on a brave face and stuck my right arm out for her to slip the cuff on. I was just praying that maybe it had gone down just a little. I waited as she pumped the cuff up tight and listened to the stethoscope. When she was done she started to enter my numbers in the computer. I couldn't take it anymore and asked her what my reading was. She nonchalantly said 110/80!!! WOO HOO!!! I got so excited--I just couldn't believe it! I was seated back in the waiting room and I just bowed my head and thanked God for making me healthy again!
Then Dr. Mody came and got me and took me in her office. She said having 3 maturing follicles was a great number to perform the IUI. She said that the follicles need to grow to 20 mm before they will be ready to rupture and release the egg(s). She did some sort of "follicle growth math" and estimated that they would hit 20 mm on Sunday, April 3rd. That's in 5 days. She told me to wake up early Sunday morning (like 5 a.m. or earlier) and give myself the Ovidrel shot--my hcg trigger shot. (Not sure how I'm gonna do that, but for my baby Griffin, I will do anything!) That should cause me to ovulate on Sunday. The IUI procedure is supposed to be performed between 24-36 hours after taking the trigger shot.
So Dr. Mody got us set up for Monday, April 4th, to have our IUI performed. At 9 a.m. hubby will make his "contribution" which will go through a process called sperm washing. It basically is a process to separate the sperm from the semen because you don't want semen going up into the uterus. Apparently it can cause infection. Who knew?! They will then give us the washed sperm in the prepared catheter to take to Dr. Mody's office. We are supposed to be at Dr. Mody's office at 10 a.m. and she said that they will take us right back to do the insemination. She said the insemination process should only take about 30 minutes and then I have to lay with my hips elevated for about 30 more minutes. And that's it! Then we go home and wait and PRAY!!!
Dr. Mody did want to make me aware of the risk of multiple babies with this procedure. The Clomid carries a 5-10% chance on its own. Adding Ovidrel and the IUI increases that percentage. I told Dr. Mody that we want to start our family--no matter if it's with 1 baby or by doing it all at once with multiples. She smiled and said she understood--just wanted to make sure that I understood the possibility was there. She also told me that we needed to "try" on Friday to make sure we cover our bases just in case I ovulate before the trigger shot.
So now I am just gonna keep taking my prenatal vitamins and work on being brave enough to give myself the shot on Sunday!! I'm so excited to be healthy again and I really feel like my body is capable of taking care of the precious little life that God is going to bless us with one day! Hopefully it's this month with the IUI but if not, I will hold on to my faith that God will bless us with a child!
So I got in the ultrasound room and got to sit on those one of those super comfy chairs with the stirrups. OK--I don't like the stirrups part, but to quote Rachel on Friends, "I swear if they sold these at Pottery Barn!!" Anyways--the ultrasound technician came in and began the examination. This is not a horrible experience, but since it's an internal exam, it's not very pleasant either. They take this long wand and put what looks to me like a condom over it and squirt the goo to do the examination internally. First she measured my uterus and said it looked good. Then comes the not fun part. She has to rotate the wand inside to look at my right ovary and then my left. This causes me some mild cramping. I could see on the screen in front of me that I had several follicles with both ovaries, but there were 2 on my right and 1 on my left that were sizable enough to be considered maturing. They measured at 13 mm each. And that was it--I could get dressed and go sit in the waiting room for Dr. Mody to come talk to me.
While I was waiting, the nurse came and got me because she forgot to check my blood pressure. This made me nervous. I have had high blood pressure for the last 2 years thanks to the ridiculous amounts of stress from my old job. At the highest--at least highest recorded--it was 148/110. This was just back in January. I know that even when the stress goes away, the damaging effects from it can last for a while. So I have been concerned that my blood pressure would remain high. Especially being at an appointment to discuss our infertility--my nerves are on edge with that topic anyway. But I put on a brave face and stuck my right arm out for her to slip the cuff on. I was just praying that maybe it had gone down just a little. I waited as she pumped the cuff up tight and listened to the stethoscope. When she was done she started to enter my numbers in the computer. I couldn't take it anymore and asked her what my reading was. She nonchalantly said 110/80!!! WOO HOO!!! I got so excited--I just couldn't believe it! I was seated back in the waiting room and I just bowed my head and thanked God for making me healthy again!
Then Dr. Mody came and got me and took me in her office. She said having 3 maturing follicles was a great number to perform the IUI. She said that the follicles need to grow to 20 mm before they will be ready to rupture and release the egg(s). She did some sort of "follicle growth math" and estimated that they would hit 20 mm on Sunday, April 3rd. That's in 5 days. She told me to wake up early Sunday morning (like 5 a.m. or earlier) and give myself the Ovidrel shot--my hcg trigger shot. (Not sure how I'm gonna do that, but for my baby Griffin, I will do anything!) That should cause me to ovulate on Sunday. The IUI procedure is supposed to be performed between 24-36 hours after taking the trigger shot.
So Dr. Mody got us set up for Monday, April 4th, to have our IUI performed. At 9 a.m. hubby will make his "contribution" which will go through a process called sperm washing. It basically is a process to separate the sperm from the semen because you don't want semen going up into the uterus. Apparently it can cause infection. Who knew?! They will then give us the washed sperm in the prepared catheter to take to Dr. Mody's office. We are supposed to be at Dr. Mody's office at 10 a.m. and she said that they will take us right back to do the insemination. She said the insemination process should only take about 30 minutes and then I have to lay with my hips elevated for about 30 more minutes. And that's it! Then we go home and wait and PRAY!!!
Dr. Mody did want to make me aware of the risk of multiple babies with this procedure. The Clomid carries a 5-10% chance on its own. Adding Ovidrel and the IUI increases that percentage. I told Dr. Mody that we want to start our family--no matter if it's with 1 baby or by doing it all at once with multiples. She smiled and said she understood--just wanted to make sure that I understood the possibility was there. She also told me that we needed to "try" on Friday to make sure we cover our bases just in case I ovulate before the trigger shot.
So now I am just gonna keep taking my prenatal vitamins and work on being brave enough to give myself the shot on Sunday!! I'm so excited to be healthy again and I really feel like my body is capable of taking care of the precious little life that God is going to bless us with one day! Hopefully it's this month with the IUI but if not, I will hold on to my faith that God will bless us with a child!
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