Trying to be patient....

Well, it's now almost the end of May.  I'm trying to be patient and wait my turn.  Save my money.  I'm wondering what my purpose in this world is sometimes.  At work, I'm surrounded by pregnant co-workers.  And there are a lot of them.  It's sometimes hard to deal with but I manage.  I think about what I'm doing to have my chance and that helps.  I've also been fillin out the application for an IVF grant which would help us out a lot.  It would mean no loan but it's a long shot.  I'm almost ready to mail it.   I just have a few more things I need for it.  For one thing, J needs to write a personal statement.  He's been giving me a hard time about it.  This application wasn't easy.  I had 19 pages to fill out.  I had to make copies of birth certificates, marriage license, medical records, doctors statement, tax returns, pay stubs and even a picture of us.  It's been a lot of work and the only thing I asked of J was that he do his own personal statement.  We started arguing about it today and that just pissed me off.  I know its not easy to do but he needs to make a small effort.  I've done everything else, including my own personal statement, which I gave him so he had something reference. 

The other thing on my mind has been this whole Thyroid issue.  At first it was overactive.  Now it's underactive.  I've gained 8 lbs in one month.  Scary.  I'm currently on Synthroid and have a follow up appointment with my Endo next month.  Maybe this is another reason I'm not having my opportunity for a baby yet.  Maybe I need to get this under control so I can have a super healthy pregnancy and baby. 

Just a half a year to go till I have my turn.

Moods...

I’m not sure what’s going on with me lately.  Maybe it’s about all the “waiting for next year” to do treatments.  Everywhere I look someone is pregnant in my office or just had a baby.  It’s so hard to be happy especially when it feels like I’m not moving forward. I’ve been very short with J these days.  I just don’t know what to make of this entire car mess we have.  He keeps telling me he wants to fix the cars and sell them.  Then he winds up spending all the money we have available on the credit card as soon as we get the loans to pay them.  Since Feb, I’ve had to help him pay the rent on the shop and I had to pay the clinic what I owed them from last summer.  Then he keeps saying that he doesn’t have the money to fix the cars and sell them.  It’s a vicious cycle.  He takes on too many projects and it drives me crazy and we wind up spending more money that we should have. Money we could have been saving all along.  He keeps telling me it’s going to work out but all I feel like doing is crying right now.  I’m a mess inside and out.  We have mounting medical bills for both of us and he doesn’t even open them.  I do and he makes it seem like he can’t afford to pay them.  I can’t pay them.  I pay for everything right now. He was supposed to pay for his shop and he’s not doing it because he doesn’t have the money.  He said he was going to fix the cars, fix the cars, and fix the cars.  We’ve been at this since Dec and I guess he should just junk them already.  I’ve spent thousands of dollars that was supposed to be saved for our treatment next year and I don’t know if I’ll get it back.  Every time I turn around we are spending any credit we have available for something else.  We have a wedding in VA that we are going to and that will cost us money for airfare, car rental and hotel.  And of course we need to give the bride and groom a gift.  We need to buy a battery for the SUV before it dies in May and get new tires.  We also have to get the new cat spayed.  That’s another $200 out the window.  I know this is how life goes but we never seem to get ahead.  J is bad at saving.  Any extra money seems to get spent in the few minutes he seems to have it.  I want him to start saving but he won’t do it.  Anything to do with money he just doesn’t handle it right.  I’m having so much anxiety right now I can’t sleep at night without taking Ambien.  I’m trying to continue exercising as much as possible.  I think it helps work off the anxiety.  Anyway, I’ve spent enough time getting upset and getting it out of my system.  I wrote this a few hours ago and at the time was feeling awful.  Now, I’m actually feeling better.  Damn those mood swings.

Conversations...

I got a surprise call from my best friend today.  She seems the same as usual.  I'm starting to see that she is very depressed and doesn't love herself at all.  She puts up with her BF's crap because she thinks that's all she has left.  I wish she would just start taking care of herself and she'll see things can be different.  Our conversation seemed very stained.  I offered her suggestions but she shot them all down.  It just doesn't sound like things are going well for her right now.  I know how she feels but I still try to have hope for the future.  She asked my about my fertility stuff but I don't really want to talk to her about it.  She had once implied that using a donor would mean the baby isn't really mine. Then she went ahead and started her own fertility quest.  I now know she was jealous.  Plus when she was evaluated they told her she should have a surrogate.  She didn't tell me why but I figured out it was because of her health.  They wouldn't intentionally get someone pregnant that wasn't healthy enough to carry a pregnancy.  Anyway, it was a difficult conversation. She seems so angry at everything.  Her boyfriend, school, her weight.  I remember what J said to me about her and that I should pray for her and that's what I'm going to do.

Why me....

Well the results were just as I had thought.  Not pregnant.  I feel so broken right now.  I gave up my genetics so I can get pregnant and it still didn't work.  I was able to get a hold of the oncall nurse yesterday morning.  She was able to track down the results.  Since I already had that gut feeling that it was negative anyway, I just didn't want to take any more meds.  Now, I'm having the severe backache and cramps that even advil won't stop.  Plus, I'm feeling very emotional.  I just don't understand why I can't get pregnant. I have questions for the RE.  Can it be J's sperm or could it be me?  I looked at a former analaysis that said fair to poor sperm DNA fragmentation.  When I questioned it the coordinator said "well just use ICSI".  It seems that's the answer to everything.  That was the previous clinic's analaysis.  Or is my body rejecting the embryos for some reason?  I guess I'll talk to my nurse and RE soon to figure this out.  We need answers and if we need to use donor embryos we're ready to do that. 

Almost the end of my vacation...

Well, my office believes I'm on vacation but this has been anything but a vacation.  Some know what I was doing this week but most people just think I took a trip with J.  I've been napping and resting as much as possible.  On 11/9 I'll get my official beta but I did go out today and buy some HPT's.  I'm not sure yet when I'll start peeing on a stick (POAS).  I'm itching to start now but it's only been a total of 7 days since the eggs were fertilized.  Perhaps I'll start on Sunday.  I wish we could know right away.  I examine every twinge, pinch, cramp I get. 

Last day of bed rest...

Well the journey into the 2ww has started.  Actually, it started on Monday after the transfer.  Now is the time I'll read into every pain or abnormal feeling or thinking it's an abnormal feeling.  Now is the time to POAS (pee on a stick) till the day I go in for my beta.  I do hate this part.  And what's worse is that I will have to go to work but I made a decision that I won't answer my phone till I go home.  J wanted me to wait till he gets home but I told him I can't because I'll need to know what to do from there.  But I can wait till the end of the day and really, I'll already know because of the POAS.  I'm a POAS addict.  Can't help it.  I already have plans to buy out the store.  I have coupons in hand and ready to purchase and since tomorrow is already Thursday, I'll only have a week and day to wait till beta.  My RE showed up the pictures of the embryos.  One looked like it progressed further than the other.  I'm hoping that's a good sign and that it survived past day 3.  Seems that day 3 is the turning point.  Up to that point the egg development is based on the mothers genes but then the embryo's combined genes take over and it's usually at that point, if anything is wrong, that development will stop and embie will die.  That's the risk I took at my age.  Right now, I am PUPO.  I will enjoy it and think positive thoughts.  I am pregnant.  I am worthy of being pregnant.  I am worthy of being a mother.  I am going to be a wonderful mother.  I am already attached to my embies and want them to grow in my belly for the next nine months.  I want them both to survive.  Is that too much to ask?

Getting ready for the dreaded 2ww....

Well, I had my ER on 4/1.  Guess I was getting an April Fools joke played on me because I was told I had 6 eggs retrieved.  Today my RE called me and told me only 3 were mature and only 2 fertilized so I'm in the same boat as last month.  I want to be positive.  I know it only takes 1 good embryo.  The other thing that is getting me down is that J won't be here for the transfer.  He left today.  Sometimes I feel like he would rather not be around me lately.  He seemed eager to leave.  I'm sure that's not the case.  He's tried to get his trip swapped so he could be here but it didn't work out. He's seems to have a knack for stressing me out lately.  Maybe it's better that he's not here.  Maybe my stress level will be lower if I don't have to hear about how calling in sick is risking his current job and future jobs.  I've waited for years to get pregnant and he is unknowingly sabotaging my every chance.   I don't lay the guilt trip on him by saying over and over how because of him we waited too long to have a baby.  We should have gone to a specialist 5 years ago but that wasn't an option for us then.   I'm here in the Chicagoland area far away from family.  I have a few friends here but most of my closest friends are located in the east coast.  I have no one else but J to depend on and sometimes I feel like I am totally on my own.  Anyway, my transfer is on Monday so I need to prepare so I can rest as much as possible.  I want those days to be as relaxing as possible. 

Getting closer to the big day...

I've been going through monitoring Wed, Fri, and will be going in tomorrow.  Looks like I'm progressing much faster this time around.  They are counting 6 follicles this time and they are getting bigger.  I'm hoping on Monday that my estrogen will be high enough for me to do the trigger shot and retrieval on Wed.  Let's just pray that it all works out that way.  J can't afford to take anymore time off and I'm getting some issues at my job too.  I can't arrange for coverage every time.  I really hope this works and I wound up pregnant.  Otherwise, next time, I'm not telling anyone and just going to call in sick last minute.  It's not right that I have to figure out coverage for my days off.  Anyway, I really don't need the added stress.  Right now, I abdomen feels swollen and sore.  I'm very hopeful this time around that it will work.  Please God let this be our time. 

Excited again...

Had my app with my RE  this past week. I was pleasantly surprised by what he said.  I was sure he was going to say we should look at donor eggs but he didn't.  He said my eggs were great quality even though he only got 3 at retrieval.  He said they fertilized into Grade 1, 8 cell embryo's and that they were perfect.  He even showed us the pictures of the embryos.  He doesn't know why they didn't implant.  I go on Monday for a blood test to see if I have antibodies that kill the embryos.  If I do, I'll need to take Heparin shots.  No big deal since I'm already a pincushion.  So, we are going to try this all over again.  I got all my meds delivered and I'm ready for my next IVF cycle.  He's increasing my meds to try to get more produced this time.  Maybe the extra meds will help my tired ovaries grow more eggs and hopefully the same good quality as last time.  I've been taking extra vitamins for months now.  I'm hoping that they have helped. 

Maybe everything does happen for a reason...

Well, I'm anxiously waiting to meet with my RE regarding this failed IVF cycle.  After talking to J on Friday, I told him that I hope I don't get another call from the office cancelling.  He didn't think that would happen but believe it or not, I got a call that the Dr. will be in surgery on Monday during my appointment time.  I was almost upset but they gave me an appointment for the next day at 5PM.  The good part is that J will now be able to be at the appointment.  The other 2 cancelled appointments he was working.  I'm used to doing things on my own but I'd rather him be with me during these appointments.  It's a team effort and luckily, all the past appointments he was able to come to as well.  This is why I was thinking that maybe everything happens for a reason and the reason the other appointments were cancelled is because J couldn't make it. 

I'm also glad to say that my mood has definitely improved.  I can't believe how down I was.  It's not like me to be depressed but this whole thing can really take an emotional toll on a person.  I remember the Dr. mentioning at one of the consults that this is all so emotional but at the time I didn't feel it yet.  I handed my life over to them.  They took blood and did ultrasounds and gave me direction on the next steps every other day.  I had no emotional stress at all.  I think the emotional part started in the middle of the 2ww.  It was the hardest part of all and then the disappointment at the end of that.  Add J not being here as well.  I think it's safe to say I lost it and in the process learned valuable lessons.  I think I need to keep this fertility stuff to myself for the next try.  I don't want to have to explain to anyone about the disappointment of not being pregnant.  If it works out then I'll have some positive news but until then, just J and I will know what's going on.  Also, I decided that for the next time, I will take the day off when I go for the pregnancy test.  Being at work and getting that news just killed me to try to act normal.  I couldn't function.  All I could think about was that I was a failure as a woman.  Perhaps before I wasn't ovulating but this was different.  I had 2 embryos places in my uterus and they didn't live.  What is wrong with me?  Did I do something wrong in those 2 weeks to make that happen?  I just wanted to cry and I was at work and couldn't.  It took everything to drive home and make it in the house before breaking down.  It's been 3 weeks since then so I'm feeling much better.  The extra hormones are out of my system and I think my ovaries are finally feeling normal again.  Ok, to be continued on Tuesday......

I'm officially PUPO

PUPO - Pregnant until proven otherwise.  I can't believe I've come this far in the process.  Each step has been so stressful.  Doing the stims and getting the ultrasounds and blood tests every other day.  Trying to understand the numbers they were giving me, etc.  I had 5 follicles but only 3 eggs at the retrieval procedure.  Luckily, 2 fertilized and my RE assured us that they were good quality.  Grade 1 and 8 cells.  I even got a picture of the embryo's after they did the transfer.  And I know, I know, silly as it is, I've been talking to them hoping that they have a will to live and grow up with us.  I'm praying for them but I know it's in God's hands now and I really can't do anything more except follow the doctors instructions.  Now I still need to go for BW on Thurs and I think again on Monday.  Not sure yet if I'll need a booster shot of the HCG or not.  I guess my hormone levels will tell the tale.  Anyway, I'm on 3 days of bedrest.  I get to get up on Thursday to go to work and give more blood.  Till then.

I did it, I can't believe it but I did it.....

I have done one whole day of Follistim injections on my own.  I was shaking for the first one this morning.  I held the pen needle near my belly saying over and over "OK, just do it, OK, just do it, I can do it, OK, just do it"  Finally, I just went and stabbed myself.  Couldn't believe it.  It didn't even hurt.  I had myself all worked up and it didn't even hurt.  Of course, it was because I was so worked up.  I did sort of feel it tonight when I did it.  I hope this goes by quickly.  The Ultrasound tech said it will go by quickly.  I hope in one month I am preggo.  Please, God, I so want to experience pregnancy, birth and motherhood.  I so want this to work.  I've waited so long and have been so patient.