HAPPY 59th :) BIRTHDAY LINDA!

Today is my mother-in-law's birthday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY LINDA! We had a great time celebrating at Chickasaw with a wonderful brunch and family. I am still stuffed from majorly over-indulging. My sis in law also made us a key lime pie which made my day! She is the BEST baker and seriously makes the best cakes, pies, etc. She has been incredibly supportive and sweet to me through these last several months of fertility issues.
I am so lucky to have amazing in laws and love spending time with them.

One last thing...
I have to say the dessert spread at Chickasaw brunch is the most impressive I have ever seen. We are super spoiled to have Pappy- a French pastry chef who is truly an artist when it comes to cooking. I had to include a picture of the dessert madness. Of course I had to try 3 things which were all to die for. Delish!

Keeping up with the meds...

After we finished injection training a couple weeks ago we were both feeling pretty overwhelmed. Then the huge box full of medicine was delivered later that week which added to our anxiety. How in the world were we were going to remember everything- times to take, how much medicine to administer, etc. every day for weeks?
My friend Marjorie had a brilliant idea she gave me from her recent surgery after getting her tonsils out on how to keep track. She said to chart the meds and put on a posterboard and simply mark off as we take. I put EVERYTHING we are taking (including blood work and ultrasounds) in 4 day cycles for the next 8 days on 2 sheets of paper that we can check the boxes each time we take a medication. The reason I am doing 8 days is because we know that our day to day injections and meds will be the same during the stimming process. We will get other directions after we have finished protocol these 8 days. The sheets are hanging on the refrigerator and it feels good to mark off as we go. Just means one day closer to the big day!
Here is an example:

First day of injections!

7 PM fun!

And 7 AM fun!
Who would have ever thought that I would be EXCITED to get a shot? Certainly not me! Today was my first day of injections and they were easy breezy. Luckily we are dealing with half inch needles. The real fun begins when we do the ones with a 1.5 needle!!!!!!!!!!!! I am scared to death. We have to do the shots at the same time every day, morning and night, so we chose 7 and 7 to keep it simple. Menopur is the injection I take in the mornings and Brian could have a job working in a lab as well as he did! He measured the solution into the powder, filled the syringe bubble free (which is hard to do) and all I had to do was inject! I told him he is the medicine maker every morning for the next few weeks. The shot at night is called Follistim, which comes pre-mixed and with a pen to inject the medicine- very similar to the Multiclix device I sell. Follistim is very easy to administer. Burned a little so I plan to let it sit out from the fridge for a few minutes longer before I inject.
I go in for blood work on Tuesday, then again for more blood work and a ultrasound on Thursday. They will keep a very close eye on everything which makes me feel much better! In my baseline ultrasound update from last week they found 18 follicles. What we are doing now is stimulating the follicles to assist them into growing big and producing great quality eggs! I am loving the number 18!

A few tries at a decent Christmas card!

Last year Brian and I had zero pictures that we liked for a Christmas card- even after traveling quite a bit and taking ample pictures we couldn't agree on one. We also wanted to include Sadie and Buddy, so we decided to have my sister come over and do a photo shoot. Needless to say, we were cracking up at these pictures and the ridiculousness of what we were doing. Our dogs hated their lives through this session and thought we were insane! You can see the enthusiasm from sadie and Buddy-haha!

One smart Doodle!

Sadie celebrated her 9th birthday yesterday. I can't believe she is already 9! I have a feeling she will still be kicking at 20 yrs old, mean as can be- brown teeth and all! She enjoyed her birthday walk last night, and another this AM. Clearly sadie was unimpressed when I put the birthday hat from Buddy's birthday last year on her in this pic.



On another note...I have to split walks as it is too hot for both dogs to go the whole way in this heat. So I take Buddy first, then come home and get Sadie or vice versa. Buddy is walking on a leash somewhat better now that he is almost 2, but definitely needs more work! Apparently Buddy has developed a crush on a Golden retriever with a pink bandanna (he has good taste) and goes absolutely crazy when we get to her house. Here's what happens: We get about 2 houses away from the girlfriends house and Buddy starts to act like a complete fool- definitely not impressing the crush. He cries, tries to drag me, barks and makes a complete scene! People look at me like I should really get control over my dog! So we get to the golden's house and my dog bullies me. yes you read that right- he does this every single time! Buddy gets behind me and jumps up on my back legs or actual back to try to push me down so he can get to the fence to see his crush! Even if she is not outside he still does it. It has been about a year and he remembers to do it every time! So if you see me on Gardenia being bullied by our goldendoodle, that's just part of our daily walk! :)here are some pictures of Buddy when he is being sweet-

In My daughters Eyes

About 9 years or so ago my mother gave me this song on christmas morning. Martina McBride has always been one of my favorites and this song made me an even bigger fan as she truly sings from the heart. I was glad I had Kleenex handy when I got in my car to drive home and listened to it! The words mean so much to me, especially during this difficult time of experiencing infertility. I always thought about how I couldn't wait to pass this song on to my child some day and how I would be pregnant at the exact moment I wanted to be. Never in a million years would I have expected it to be such a process. I love every word to this song and my reality of experiencing motherhood is within reach. I can't wait. Enjoy the song and send to your mama's! :)
I loved this also- At 2yrs, "mommy , I love you". 12yrs, " mom, whatever" , 16yrs "mom is so annoying" , 18yrs " I want to leave this place " , 25yrs " mom, you were right" , 30yrs "I want to go to my moms house" , 50yrs "I don't want to lose my mom", 70yrs ,"I would give up everything for my mom to be here with me". A mother is irreplaceable and I am very fortunate to have mine
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLS0Y40WwlA

My grandmother "meme"

I wanted to ask for prayers for my precious grandmother. For those of you that know her, you know that she is truly an angel on earth. Her blood pressure has been spiking and she has had several visits to the ER. She has not been feeling well at all, which is not the norm for her at all. Please keep her in your prayers for a speedy recovery.

Let the stimulating begin!

Today was my baseline ultrasound. We went in at 7:30 to join a waiting room full of people. It is crazy to think how many people are in need of fertility treatment! Even though everyone is a stranger in the room, you almost feel a connection because we are all there for the ultimate goal of starting a family.
They found 18 follicles, which is a good start from what I have read. It makes my heart so happy to think that one of those follicles may hold the egg which will become our precious child. We were sent home and told we would be given further directions via nurse with a phone call before 5.
I spoke to the nurse and received our instructions! I am so excited! Saturday I start what they call "Stim Day" which means stimulation day, #1. I start my morning with a menopur injection and then get a stomach injection of Follistim at night. I have previously been on Follistim for IUI's and the shots were not bad at all! I will continue this protocol 3 days and go in for blood work Tuesday AM at 7:30, on Stim day 4. Brian and I both get to take Doxycycline (antibiotic) for 7 days
We are so excited as this is really and truly happening now! The cycle all begins on Saturday!!!

A LOT of meds!

Our medicine arrived Friday night for IVF! I was so worried as some of the medicine has to be refrigerated and our box was loaded on the UPS truck at 6:30 AM and did not arrive to us until 6:30 PM! Luckily everything remained chilled. All I can say is overwhelming! There is SO MUCH medicine! We are going to have to come up with a system to stay organized and efficient with times, etc. If I act like a different person for the next month, you can refer to the picture above as to why :)

IVF timeline....

Right now we are in the medicine and testing stage to make sure everything is good to go, and so far so good!

Tuesday July 19th we have injection training where we learn how to dose and administer the injections I will be getting every other day

Wednesday July 20th is our trial transfer. In this procedure they basically spell out exactly what they will do, step-by-step on my real transfer day in August. This will avoid any hiccups during the actual procedure.

I will start my injections end of July. They decided on Follistim and menopur

Then LOTS of bloodtests and ultrasounds through this process!!!!!

Our retrieval day will fall somewhere during the week of August 8th. I will be under anesthesia for this procedure, but it is a outpatient procedure. We will update you on the set day as they monitor and decide.

Next, Brian and I will get a telephone call each night to see how everything is developing! I know we will be a nervous wreck waiting each day!

Then, about 5ish days after our retrieval, we come back in and they will do the transfer procedure.

They will monitor me closely and I will have frequent ultrasounds to make sure everything is going well. I will continue the injections through this process

The waiting game of 12-14 days to test to see if we have our miracle baby, or babies begins after they do the transfer!

Trial Transfer

July 20th we had my trial transfer. It's amazing how quick we are in and out of the office for these procedures, which works great with our schedules being able to return to work! Dr. Ke, my fertility dr, came in to do this procedure. Basically they do this to "map out" what they will do on transfer day so there are no hangups or glitches. Transfer day will be about 5(ish) days after my retrieval. This is where they will put the 2 fertilized eggs in me to create one or 2 babies! This should fall somewhere around the week of August 15th! SO EXCITING!!!!
All went well for the trial transfer. Just a few more days and injections begin! Our massive box of medicines from the mail order pharmacy will arrive today. We will have to make a ton of room in our fridge for all of the meds to stay cold. We are feeling very positive about all of this! Thank you for your continued prayers :)

Great song for those experiencing fertility issues

I came across this song on one of the infertility websites and it absolutely touched my heart. Very well written!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqfGqOx2iDQ

We are going to have a baby- one way or another!

Brian and I have been diagnosed with unexplained infertility. It has been a very tough diagnosis to grasp. There are days where we would almost rather them tell us they found something they can fix! The disappointment every month is heartbreaking.

I can't say enough about my support system, starting with my incredible husband. he has been there and supported me every step of the way. I honestly could not be luckier. He is my rock. Our relationship gets stronger every single day as we are going through this. Lots of tears shed, but also alot of laughs at some of the crazy things we have had to do through this process. I can only imagine what a perfect father brian will be. Our family and friends have also been wonderful-Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

Our fertility story begins aith us trying naturally for 10 months, then after 5 months of medications starting last December and then 2 failed IUI's In March and April we decided to go big and give IVF (In-Vitro Fertilization) a shot. It is a very intensive procedure that gives us a very good shot of creating our miracle baby or babies! I have started the initial medication and will start injections in 2 weeks. I had my sonohystogram last week which was definitely uncomfortable. They had to do the procedure twice and I was very ready for it to be over with!!!! They look for fibroids or anything else that could interfere with IVF, but all results came back great. Yesterday, we went in for injection training and talk about overwhelming. Having to mix and figure out cc's for multiple meds, which needle goes with what and which medication to take at the certain time each day made me nervous. brian had to give me a "trial" shot yesterday and he did great, as great as a huge needle can feel in my hip :) We will be setting lots of alarm reminders to make sure we are following protocol properly! We don't want to mess up anything!!!!!

I will be taking Menopur and Follistim injections up until my retrieval day, which will fall in the week of august 8-12. This is where I will go under anesthesia. I am very nervous about this day because of the anesthesia! I have to remember that the end result will be so very very worth it!

We will keep everyone updated after each procedure and ultrasound. With IVF they keep a very close watch on everything!

Thank you for your love and support, thoughts and prayers during this time! I know so many friends that are going through the exact same thing as us and I want to be there for anyone else going through this. I hope this blog of our IVF experience will help shed some light on this procedure that will be worth ec=very hard second of it!

The Eternal Foster Dogs...

Back in February I received an email plea from a shelter that is absolutely horrible and inhumane. They had several little bitty doggies that were out of time. Well, I decided that I needed to rescue 4 of them! My friend Megan offered to foster 2 of them, and we took the other 2. It is now the end of July and guess who is still at our house! We love these sweet dogs, but are looking for wonderful homes for them. George (top) is a Jack Russell doxie mix and "Princess Flower" named by ella is a chi mix. We have enjoyed them so much and wanted to share a few pics of these cuties!