Tonight was our long awaited Ladies' Movie Night -- we also got to go out to dinner. It was lots of fun -- we had mexican food and watched "August Rush." The movie was a bit cheesy, but there was good music and it ended happily. Made me miss dh and the baby a lot, though. Dh helped with all the kids at grandma's. Thank you, dh and grandma for giving us some time off!
An acquaintance from "down home" is currently on day 6 of stims. She has 7 follies (a cyst on one ovary is limiting stimulation) right now. Please keep her and her dh in your prayers over the next few weeks.
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
He's So Cute
When Nathaniel was born, I was amazed at how cute he is. I know I'm biased, but he really is a cute baby. So, for your viewing pleasure, I'm including some recent photos (from Halloween thru Thanksgiving).
He made such a cute little lamb.
Playing around with mommy after returning from Houston. I let him relax in just a diaper and wrapped in a flannel blanket. He was so glad to be home. He rolled around on a pallet on the floor wrestling with a blanket for an hour! He was so glad to be out of that car seat, too.
I forgot the outfit I'd bought for Thanksgiving in the dryer! So, he had to wear his new flannel shirt that I bought for the 3 month pictures that never happened. My mom says he looked like his grandad! I didn't get to trim his nails that week, and he decided to tear his face and head up.
Tomorrow is his 4 month checkup. He's supposed to get shots, but we both have a case of the cruddies (mine is worse). I don't know if that will interfere. It scares me so much when he coughs and coughs. There is mucus coming out of everything! Eyes, nose, and then there's all that drool!
He made such a cute little lamb.
Playing around with mommy after returning from Houston. I let him relax in just a diaper and wrapped in a flannel blanket. He was so glad to be home. He rolled around on a pallet on the floor wrestling with a blanket for an hour! He was so glad to be out of that car seat, too.
I forgot the outfit I'd bought for Thanksgiving in the dryer! So, he had to wear his new flannel shirt that I bought for the 3 month pictures that never happened. My mom says he looked like his grandad! I didn't get to trim his nails that week, and he decided to tear his face and head up.
Tomorrow is his 4 month checkup. He's supposed to get shots, but we both have a case of the cruddies (mine is worse). I don't know if that will interfere. It scares me so much when he coughs and coughs. There is mucus coming out of everything! Eyes, nose, and then there's all that drool!
Blog You Very Much
This week, the ladies at Lost and Found Connection forwarded a request from some other blogger about thanking the person/persons who inspired you to blog. Really, there were two people for me. So, here goes.
Jenn at pincushionprincessdiaries.blogspot.com first gave me the idea of blogging through ivf. She belonged to my babycenter board and went through ivf just before me. Her ivf didn't work, but she is due anytime after a successful IUI!! Another inspiration was Sunny at gracehopeandfaith.blogspot.com. Sunny is just inspiring in general. I don't know how she remains humourous and patient after 3 plus years of ttc. It's her turn!!!
Jenn at pincushionprincessdiaries.blogspot.com first gave me the idea of blogging through ivf. She belonged to my babycenter board and went through ivf just before me. Her ivf didn't work, but she is due anytime after a successful IUI!! Another inspiration was Sunny at gracehopeandfaith.blogspot.com. Sunny is just inspiring in general. I don't know how she remains humourous and patient after 3 plus years of ttc. It's her turn!!!
Monday, November 12, 2007
I Became Pregnant One Year Ago Today
Today . . . last year I was on bed rest after our transfer -- pregnant until proven otherwise. Today . . . this year our little miracle baby is going through the very normal teething stage. Yesterday and today have been hard on him. He also has a cough. Poor guy.
Today, I also got estimates for repairing our garage door (that I crunched on Saturday). It was a stressful weekend! Luckily, it's not going to be too expensive to repair.
Today, I also got estimates for repairing our garage door (that I crunched on Saturday). It was a stressful weekend! Luckily, it's not going to be too expensive to repair.
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
National Infertility Awareness Week (Blogtavism)
To the powers that be:
My husband and I always follow the rules. We went to college and graduated with honors. We work and have worked in public education, public policy, and health care -- trying to give back to our community. We pay a ton of taxes! We saved and bought a house with plenty of space to raise the family we'd carefully planned for. When the time seemed right, we decided to start trying to conceive. Thus began the longest, most arduous and heart wrenching experience of my life.
We did what we were told . . . just relax and it will happen. Give it a while. Then it turned into monitor your temperatures,use a ovulation predictor. After six months, I knew there was a problem. Why else would two healthy people at healthy weights and with regular cycles not be able to conceive? Then, the testing began. I can't count the number of times we went to the doctor, the number of oh so pleasant exams, the horrible hysterosalpingogram, the ultrasounds, and the blood draws. Then, we each had surgery. The diagnosis: each of us had a medical condition that was preventing conception.
Our only option: in vitro fertilization with ICSI. Did I mention that I'm a lowly public servant? In Oklahoma, state employee insurance is like picking the best of the worst -- every option is bad! No coverage for any part of IVF. Do you have any idea how much one cycle of IVF costs? Or how much time is involved? (It's very difficult for a teacher to take off an hour or two every day for an extended period of time). Or what the likelihood of success is? We decided to take the risk -- to gamble most of what I make in a year on one attempt. We don't generally gamble, but we felt as if we had no choice.
Thankfully, our "gamble" paid off and we conceived our little boy on the first round. But about half of all couples who try IVF aren't so lucky the first time around. It's hard to even imagine how we would have felt had the outcome been different. We were fortunate that we could even attempt IVF once. It is sad that most health insurance only covers diagnosis and some treatment of infertility related issues (like cheap clomid or surgery, none of which would help us). Medical conditions (endometriosis and a varicocele) kept us from conceiving naturally, but our medical insurance would not help us. Our insurance company would probably have saved money if they'd just paid for IVF instead of multiple surgeries.
Infertility is a disease -- a disease that causes severe stress and can even cause loving couples to fall apart -- please help change state laws to mandate coverage for treatment that can actually help. Please mandate coverage for IUI and IVF.
My husband and I always follow the rules. We went to college and graduated with honors. We work and have worked in public education, public policy, and health care -- trying to give back to our community. We pay a ton of taxes! We saved and bought a house with plenty of space to raise the family we'd carefully planned for. When the time seemed right, we decided to start trying to conceive. Thus began the longest, most arduous and heart wrenching experience of my life.
We did what we were told . . . just relax and it will happen. Give it a while. Then it turned into monitor your temperatures,use a ovulation predictor. After six months, I knew there was a problem. Why else would two healthy people at healthy weights and with regular cycles not be able to conceive? Then, the testing began. I can't count the number of times we went to the doctor, the number of oh so pleasant exams, the horrible hysterosalpingogram, the ultrasounds, and the blood draws. Then, we each had surgery. The diagnosis: each of us had a medical condition that was preventing conception.
Our only option: in vitro fertilization with ICSI. Did I mention that I'm a lowly public servant? In Oklahoma, state employee insurance is like picking the best of the worst -- every option is bad! No coverage for any part of IVF. Do you have any idea how much one cycle of IVF costs? Or how much time is involved? (It's very difficult for a teacher to take off an hour or two every day for an extended period of time). Or what the likelihood of success is? We decided to take the risk -- to gamble most of what I make in a year on one attempt. We don't generally gamble, but we felt as if we had no choice.
Thankfully, our "gamble" paid off and we conceived our little boy on the first round. But about half of all couples who try IVF aren't so lucky the first time around. It's hard to even imagine how we would have felt had the outcome been different. We were fortunate that we could even attempt IVF once. It is sad that most health insurance only covers diagnosis and some treatment of infertility related issues (like cheap clomid or surgery, none of which would help us). Medical conditions (endometriosis and a varicocele) kept us from conceiving naturally, but our medical insurance would not help us. Our insurance company would probably have saved money if they'd just paid for IVF instead of multiple surgeries.
Infertility is a disease -- a disease that causes severe stress and can even cause loving couples to fall apart -- please help change state laws to mandate coverage for treatment that can actually help. Please mandate coverage for IUI and IVF.
Saturday, November 03, 2007
Really Remembering
Last night, I joined some folks at the Women of Faith Conference in OKC. I really wanted to stay home, but I went.
I enjoyed the concert. Nicole Nordeman was performing and I've always liked her music. It's very touching. And it made me think so much about infertility and ivf. Maybe it was all the pregnant bellies. Or the fact that I talked to a girl from Durant this week who is about to start IVF. Or that it's been almost a year. Or that I watched a special on the Discovery Channel about Louise Brown.
The theme of the program was freedom. I certainly don't feel free from the bondage -- the all consuming nature -- of infertility. I have a baby, but I'm still haunted by this disease. I know it's something we'll have to face again in the future. It's not fair.
The program on Louise Brown seeemed to indicate that today, IVF is routine and mainstream. I wanted to laugh. There was nothing routine abou the emotional roller coaster I was on last November.
I enjoyed the concert. Nicole Nordeman was performing and I've always liked her music. It's very touching. And it made me think so much about infertility and ivf. Maybe it was all the pregnant bellies. Or the fact that I talked to a girl from Durant this week who is about to start IVF. Or that it's been almost a year. Or that I watched a special on the Discovery Channel about Louise Brown.
The theme of the program was freedom. I certainly don't feel free from the bondage -- the all consuming nature -- of infertility. I have a baby, but I'm still haunted by this disease. I know it's something we'll have to face again in the future. It's not fair.
The program on Louise Brown seeemed to indicate that today, IVF is routine and mainstream. I wanted to laugh. There was nothing routine abou the emotional roller coaster I was on last November.
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