Blood Signs: November

6.11.09

November

Um.

Has anyone noticed.

It's

November.

24 days from now, but who's counting?

11 comments:

JamieD said...: It kinda has a way of sneaking up on you doesn't it? Even though you technically have 40 weeks to think about it.

Very exciting!!; November 6, 2009 3:55 PM
awomanmyage said...: You mean, it's almost Christmas? the ginerbread lattes are out at Starbucks!; November 7, 2009 1:21 PM
Wordgirl said...: I honestly think I may have a little denial going on ...

mnnnn gingerbread lattes....; November 7, 2009 1:48 PM
loribeth said...: Mmmm, gingerbread lattes....

Anything special happening in November, Pam? ; ); November 7, 2009 7:41 PM
Karen said...: The last month, wow! Go out to dinner with your husband. Take a lot of naps. She'll be here before you know it!

Your pregnancy certainly has gone fast for me, but I remember how anxious/excited I felt, which can be exhausting to maintain for days that turn into weeks! Not to mention the waddling, groaning every time you stand up, peeing every two hours . . .

Sending good thoughts your way!; November 7, 2009 10:17 PM
excavator said...: Cool! I was just wondering when your due date was.

If she comes on her due date you'll miss having a Scorpio...but I've known some nice Saggitarians.

Your little bun in the oven keeping you warm?; November 8, 2009 11:23 PM
Evergreen said...: Any time now! Exciting! The key now is to be ready but patient. She'll be here before you know it.; November 8, 2009 11:08 PM
Courtney said...: Ack! 24 days??? So excited with anticipation to hear about your new arrival and watch your life change in such a beautiful way.; November 8, 2009 9:02 PM
awomanmyage said...: Can't think of anything else that would be going on, can you? Nope, nothing comes to mind. It's cold out, got the quilt on. Time for hot chocolate and Bailey's.; November 8, 2009 8:34 PM
Wordgirl said...: You guys make me smile. Yes, the official due date is the 30th -- though our doula said with first time mothers often its late -- so I should just tell people the beginning of December if they ask...you know the hardest part of this time of year for me is the dark comes so early -- I am really trying to be tuned into the cycles of the seasons this year -- feeling it so deeply -- and I am so looking forward to that day in December when the days begin to lengthen again....

So, I am very excited -- which, of course means for me that no one can really tell except for the smile on my face.

XO

P; November 9, 2009 7:26 AM
Tobacco Brunette said...: Wow. Other people's pregnancies sure do fly by.

Pammy-la, I can't believe it is so close. I'm so excited.

Are you freaking out? You seem way calm.

XOXO; November 10, 2009 7:15 AM

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Our Journey Thus Far

Threw BCP over shoulder - Fall '04

Introduced to BBT & Charting on a mimeographed sheet from 1963 given to me at GP's office

Find 'Fertility Friend' online. Begin robo-charting - October 12, 2005.

Still have a 'if it happens we'll welcome it, but we 'aint really trying attitude'

July 2006 I suck it up and go to a 'fertility specialist' recommended by my best friend who experienced secondary infertility and succeeded in delivering beautiful twins.

Met Dr. Volleyball Coach. Tall. Fast-talking. Super-charged. Confident. Not the nurturing type I somehow imagined in my mind -- but a go-getter. Got to like that in a doctor. I'm hesitant. Don't even like ibuprofen. She orders HSG. (OUCH) Bloodwork. S.A. All within the realm of 'normal' --She gives me clomid.

Clomid stays in the dark closet for a year while we get married (October 7th) and I continue to churn through the 1200 pages of composition papers at my community college. We say "one more year, we'll try naturally. When the stress of the wedding is off."

June 20th, 2007 -- I turn thirty-five and decide against a sabbatical opting instead for a leave of absence.

July 2007 -- I take the clomid and schedule the FUS -- off to the races. My first round I have two developing follicles -- one ultrasound shows a 15 mm & a 17mm. The second ultrasound I have one remaining 20mm follicle and the other dropped out of the race. Suzie (who I adore) gives me an hcg shot and a love schedule...and we wait. Oh, and they test late for progesterone levels and I have late night run to an all night Walgreens to fill the suppositories. I also have been taking estrogen for my thin lining.

We have a family vacation scheduled in the UP of Michigan with my mother. I refuse to test when family is around. Friday of the test passes, Saturday, Sunday I start spotting (even on the progesterone). I take a ridiculous HPT at home Sunday night -- even though I'm peeing pink.

I have an IUI consult where they run down my numbers:
FSH:5
Estr-whatever: 33
Progesterone: 8.9
I ovulate, but not perfectly, they release but we don't know how mature they are. Etc.
S.A. 58.4 Million Total Volume
42% motility
23% morphology

Conclusion: 11.3 million straight swimmers and a tough egg to crack.

So. - Late August 08 -- Clomid at 150 mg. Estrogen. FUS-galore. One 20mm follicle in the end, hCG shot in the office -- and IUI 28 hours later -- not ideal, but the office was closed on Sundays.

2 Rounds of clomid under my belt.
1 IUI which DID NOT WORK.
Follistim Pen in my possession.
We forge on.

October '07 - 100 iu's of Follistim create two mature follicles, and numerous others -- mild case of OHSS - told afterwards that in terms of "Good" "Fair" "Poor" -- our insemination was in the "Fair" category. No luck -- except I do succeed in having many, many cysts.

Prescribed YAZ to resolve them.

November '07 - Determined to take a two month treatment break -- changing to an RE. Made an appointment with a homeopath as well.

Appointment with the Baby Manufacturers -- April 29th...roughly two months shy of my 36th b-day.

LOVE the new Dr.Who-Looks-Like-Our-Friend-Up-North

Find out I have ovaries that are acting PCOS-y -- I may indeed have it -- the jury, thus far, is out.

April 2008,Early May 2008 - Femara cycles (x2) with IUI while we bide time and decide how to rustle up 24K for IVF. Ouch.

December 2008 - Commit to shared risk. Tentative retrieval and transfer date of early March - fingers crossed.

Late January 2009 - Paid 25,950 dollars not including medication, to begin our six cycles -- three stimulated cycles and, if there are enough embryos to freeze -- three frozen cycles. We are sick, worried, and broke.

Mid February - Lupron begins - stay tuned for my obsessive worrying. I am not good with medical intervention; this is one way to become comfortable. My current goal: peace amidst the malestrom.

March 9th Egg Retrieval: 9 eggs.

**waiting for fertilization report - due on March 11th.

All 9 mature - 8 fertilized - 6 blasts and 2 morulas.

2 blasts transferred 3/14-- the rest frozen.

3/23: beta 1: 127

3/25 : beta 2: 334

U/s scheduled for April 20th.

We are given an official due date of November 30th.

Level 2 Ultrasound on July 14th. I'm currently eating my way through the beginning of the second trimester...

Raymond Carver on Writers (One of my favorite bulletin board quotations)

Writers write, and they write, and they go on writing, in some cases long after wisdom and even common sense have told them to quit. There are always plenty of reasons—good, compelling reasons, too—for quitting, or for not writing very much or very seriously. (Writing is trouble, make no mistake, for everyone involved, and who needs trouble?) But once in a great while lightning strikes, and occasionally it strikes early in the writer’s life. Sometimes it comes later, after years of work. And sometimes, most often, of course, it never happens at all. Strangely, it seems, it may hit people whose work you can’t abide, an event that, when it occurs, causes you to feel there’s no justice whatsoever in the world. (There isn’t, more often than not.) It may hit the man or woman who is or was your friend, the one who drank too much, or not at all, who went off with someone’s wife, or husband, or sister, after a party you attended together. The young writer who sat in the back of the class and never had anything to say about anything. The dunce, you thought. The writer who couldn’t, not in one’s wildest imaginings, make anyone’s top ten possibilities. It happens sometimes. The dark horse. It happens, lightning, or it doesn’t happen. (Naturally, it’s more fun when it does happen.) But it will never, never happen to those who don’t work hard at it and who don’t consider the act of writing as very nearly the most important thing in their lives, right up there next to breath, and food, and shelter, and love, and God.

Downstream

At noon we have rain, which washes away the snow, and at dusk, when I stand on the river bank and watch the approaching boat contend with the current, a mixture of snow and rain comes down .... We go downstream, keeping close to a thicket of purple willow shrubs. The men at the oars tell us that only ten minutes ago a boy in a cart saved himself from drowning by catching hold of a willow shrub; his team went under .... The bare willow shrubs bend toward the water with a rustling sound, the river suddenly grows dark .... If there is a storm we shall have to spend the night among the willows, and in the end get drowned, so why not go on? We put the matter to a vote and decide to row on. - Anton Chekhov "Across Siberia"

Blood Signs

6.11.09

November

11 comments:

Hi

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Raymond Carver on Writers (One of my favorite bulletin board quotations)

Downstream

Blood Signs

6.11.09

November

11 comments:

Hi

About Me

Me, When the Northwoods Burned

Followers

Word Girl & W

My Girl Lucy

G Fishing

Twit

Twitter Updates

Fun With Mac - Lucy Edition

Mac Henry

Happy Place - Lake Superior

My Training (*gulp*) Blog & Food Blog

My Blog List

Non IF Blogs -- Here I am, Branching Out :)

Repro Lit

I'm a clicker for GLBT/IUI & IVF !

Currently Reading

About Me

Our Journey Thus Far

Comic Book Me

Raymond Carver on Writers (One of my favorite bulletin board quotations)

Downstream

My Training (gulp) Blog & Food Blog