I'm pregnant, now what?

It's official. I'm preggers, prego, with child, bun in the oven, a human toaster etc. I'm thrilled!

It took nearly two entire years to conceive successfully. What did it?

IUI with Clomid and a trigger shot! On St. Paddy's Day. We joke we had the luck of the Irish even though neither of us has a lick of Irish blood running through our veins. Now we also did things the old fashioned way at the urging of our doctor too. Who is to say exactly what happened in the deep recesses of my body.

I was not supposed to test until March 31, exactly 2 weeks after the IUI. The weekend before that though I was sick and nauseated. As Jason will tell you often this is typical for me although since going back on acid reflux meds my vomit sessions have been few and far between but that doesn't mean I completely stopped gagging...just cause. Well all that weekend I had a lot of gag sessions and every evening since that Thursday I would feel nauseated as soon as the sun would begin to set. I was also tired. I rarely takes naps unless assaulted by a migraine but I took a nap both weekend days that weekend. By Sunday afternoon I was wondering. I had HPTs just sitting in the dark bathroom cabinet all alone and I decided at least one needed to see sunshine. While Jason was outside I peed on a stick. I left the stick on the counter and walked outside to confess to him what I had done. After waiting a few minutes I walked back inside to take a gander. I have to admit I was feeling pretty confident. Why? Because my due date would be in December. It's a family thing.

So I did not have a huge reaction when I looked down and saw a faint line.

Jason was waiting for me in the kitchen so I walked out looking down, looked up and said, “Looks like it worked. I’m pregnant.” We hugged. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a movie type moment as we were scared. Not scared of being pregnant but scared of losing the baby. We’ve been down this road before. It sucks. So we stuck to being cautiously optimistic and swearing each other to secrecy until the first trimester was up. I would be the first to slip up, what a surprise.

Ultrasound

Scheduled for tomorrow to see if the IUI is go. My FSH levels were under 10 which is a huge relief since the first RE stated I was perimenopausal. Praying to God this is it and the right time!

Moving on

Needed progesterone to kick start my period again. I think it has really f'ed with these last two cycles. I haven't had a normal cycle since surgery in December. However, I had CD3 bloodwork today to check FSH and Estradiol levels. I begin the Clomid challenge on Friday and go back next Wednesday for another FSH/Estradiol level check. If those numbers are good we will move forward with an IUI. If not, we'll wait another cycle.

There was another woman in the blood draw area at the fertility clinic. I overheard the phlebotomist confirm her 2nd IUI. The woman agreed, adding if the ultrasound looks good this time, meaning she has nice sized follicles. The look on her face said it all. I've been there, I've looked like her. The pain, exhaustion, stress and the feelings of failure are etched in the crease of the forehead, the downward turn of the mouth, the dark circles under the eyes and the haunted look. It just reminds me not to get my hopes up too much because chances of a successful IUI the first, 2nd, or even 3rd time is slim. None of the women I've met or spoken to during this journey who have underwent the same journey at one time or another or are still on it, have had a successful IUI. Well there was one but she miscarried. I don't consider that a success.

If anyone is still reading along, please keep us in your prayers or send us some positive thoughts if you please.

It's been awhile

At doctor's orders I was taking estrogen to be followed on the last 10 days of the script by progesterone to induce my period. What followed was a two week period. Oh joy. I think today is cycle day 40 or 41. I'm not pregnant according to the test I took yesterday but who knows if I even ovulated last month. I wasn't diligent with the fertility monitor. Actually I ran out of test sticks and did not want to shell out the $50 for another box.

Based on the above it looks like we'll get to do the IUI for this upcoming cycle. I have a script of Clomid waiting and I have to call my doctor on day one to schedule the bloodwork and ultrasounds. If all goes well I guess we'll have a December baby.

So wish us luck that we get lucky with the IUI the first time around. From what I've been told I should not get my hopes up that it will work the first time.

It's hard to believe we've been trying to conceive for almost 2 years. We are two months shy of that anniversary.

Surgery

Wednesday I underwent a hysterscopy to remove a polyp. The surgery went well and the polyp was removed. It was large enough to require the RE to cut it in half to get rid of the polyp and I now have a balloon catheter in my uterus until Monday. The RE spoke to J after the surgery while I was sleeping off the anesthesia in recovery. He told him he definitely felt like this polyp was having an adverse affect on conceiving. Basically the polyp was pushing/hanging down from the top of my uterus and essentially blocking my tubes. Now the HSG or dye test did not show a typical blockage in my tubes and the dye spilled over as it should. However, the polyp was preventing the egg from leaving the tube and adhering to the wall of my uterus. So we pray this is our last obstacle but who knows. I will find out more information on Monday.

The pain was more unbearable than the D&C of June and I ended up taking the additional 2 days of rest as recommended by the doctor. My stubborn ass went to work on Thursday but left after a couple of hours. The pain meds really helped this time.

One year anniversary

Monday the 27th is the one year anniversary of when we started our kitchen demolition/renovation project. We lived without a kitchen for 4 months! It was a PITA but I'm so happy with the end result.

We have been living with the exposed sub-floor since then because Jason and I were unable to decide on flooring. We both wanted tile but were unable to find anything either of us really liked. Next I wanted hardwood, then I wanted cork but Jason did not like the samples we found, then I went back to hardwood to match the rest of the house, and then finally we moved back to tile.

Last Friday on my way home I heard an ad for a flooring warehouse. It was not the first time I heard the ad but for whatever reason it stuck in my brain this time. Saturday morning I was telling Jason about it and I looked up the website. We read the directions and drove out to have a look-see. Well lo and behold we found a tile option. We purchased a 12x12 and a 20x20 sample. We brought them home, laid the two tiles on various sections of the kitchen floor, walked around, played with the lighting and it's now snowing in Hell because we both agreed we loved the tile! We hightailed it back to the warehouse before they closed and purchased 6 boxes of our new flooring tile.

So this weekend we will be installing our new floor! Our kitchen renovation is nearing completion! The only items left are deciding on(HA!) door/drawer pulls, over & under cabinet lighting, a backsplash, purchasing an over the range microwave, and finally a new window. The microwave is not a necessity as our old counter model works fine. The backsplash we like is pricey and not a necessity at this time. The window is a long way off as we need new windows in every room except our bedroom and bathrooms. 50+ year old windows = drafty.

Stay tuned for photos.

Dave Ramsey

J and I are enrolled in Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University at the beginning of September. In May I bought his book, Total Money Makeover and we implemented the first two baby steps. We are currently in the middle of working Baby Step 2, the debt snowball. As he said we finally got sick and tired of being sick and tired. I know a lot of people pooh-pooh his ideas but he makes sense to J and I and we are already making huge strides towards a debt free life. In fact we no longer have any credit card debt or credit cards. It's a wonderful feeling.

Dave posted his Common Sense Fix for our economy on his website and it makes sense to me. I'm not a financial guru, however, so there may be flaws. Given the current panic in the financial sector maybe a little common sense will go a long way towards our economic recovery.

http://www.daveramsey.com/media/pdf/the_common_sense_fix.pdf