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. 

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!!

April 8, 2011

I will be a Mother


I saw this on another blog and it totally touched my heart! Really wanted to post and share it with everyone!
 
Wonderful Mother

There are women that become mothers without effort, without thought, without patience or loss and though they are good mothers and love their children.
I know I will be better.

I will be better not because of genetics, or money or because I have read more books, but because I have struggled and toiled for this child.
I have longed and waited. I have cried and prayed.
I have endured and planned over and over again.

Like most things in life, the people who truly have appreciation are those who have struggled to attain their dreams.
I will notice everything about my child.
I will take time to watch my child sleep, explore and discover.
I will marvel at this miracle every day for the rest of my life.

I will be happy when I wake in the middle of the night to the sound of my child, knowing that I can comfort, hold and feed him and that I am not waking to take another temperature, pop another pill, take another shot or cry tears of a broken dream.
My dream will be crying for me.

I count myself lucky in this sense; that God has given me this insight, this special vision with which I will look upon my child that my friends will not see. Whether I parent a child I actually give birth to or a child that God leads me to.
I will not be careless with my love.

I will be a better mother for all that I have endured.
I am a better wife, a better aunt, a better daughter, neighbor, friend and sister because I have known pain.
I know disillusionment as I have been betrayed by my own body.

I have been tried by fire and hell many never face, yet given time, I stood tall.
I have prevailed. I have succeeded. I have won.
So now, when others hurt around me, I do not run from their pain in order to save myself discomfort.
I see it, mourn it, and join them in theirs.
I listen.

And even though I cannot make it better, I can make it less lonely.
I have learned the immense power of another hand holding tight to mine, of other eyes that moisten as they learn to accept the harsh truth and when life is beyond hard.
I have learned a compassion that only comes with walking in those shoes.
I have learned to appreciate life.

Yes, I will be a wonderful mother.

~Author Unknown

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!

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!!