An Appointment with an Ultrasound! - Day 11

This my friends are my beautiful follicles. My ovaries.

Updates on my numbers.

left side:

2 @ 12

4 @ 11

2 @ 9

8

2 @ 7

right side:

2 @ 14

1 @ 13.5

3 @ 12

4 @ 11

10

And my uterine lining is 4.9!

I have definitely noticed that depending on the nurse, my follicles are measured slightly different. I have had 3 different nurses. But I guess I only need the nurse on the last day to get it right!

I asked again what my ultimate goal was. 8 mature eggs are ok, but 10 is good. Although anything above that is way better!

Same 2 shots and 1 baby aspirin regiment is still on.

My estradiol level is 897, which is up a little higher.

Getting there slowly, but surely.

Adding In The Second Shot Today - Day 10

Today is an important day! The addition of the second shot. 

So we had been doing the follistim to make lots of my follicles grow. 

Shot #2!

Today we add in the ganarillex which is used to tell my brain to not release the eggs into the bigger follicles. It says, "STOP!"

This is a single shot in the muscle of my leg. And the nurse said expect it to hurt, expect it to become a huge welt and a rash. And I got nothing. No pain, no welt, no rash. So much so I asked her the next day if I did something wrong!?! She said, "No. I was just one of the lucky ones." Thomas said it was because he was such an amazing shot giver. I will take both of those reasons, thank you!

Today my follicle numbers are:

left

2 @ 12

2 @ 11

1 @ 10

3 @ 9

right

2 @ 11

3 @ 9

2 @ 8

7

 

My uterine lining is 4.5. 

Yay! Things are moving along!!!

My estradiol level is 821. So much higher!

All the things I need. My shots and my oils.

This man. The best shot giver ever.

Things are moving along...

And Another Appointment - Day 9

Today I just waited for call for how my hormones were doing and whether they were going to change follistim dosage.

At the appointment I was told that as the follicles grow it will start to be uncomfortable, I was curious why? She said my ovaries will eventually be twice the size they ever are in normal life!

Thomas' response to hearing this? "Babe, I like your big ovaries."

That man.

Ok and now for my numbers:

left side

1 @ 10

3 @ 9

4 @ 8

right

1 @ 9

2 @ 8

1 @ 7

 

The nurse told me I needed to be up to 12 - 14 mm.

I am about a day and a half behind, but because of the BC they think my body is just taking a little longer to warm up. Why didn't they tell me that 2 days ago!?!

This moves the extraction day out a day or 2 now. Which is still in our 3 day window!

The ultimate goal is to get 12 follicles in the 17 - 21 mm range

And starting now I need to increase my protein, water, and electrolytes

My uterine lining is 4.3

My estrodial level is at 500. Which is rising.

But she said I have beautiful ovaries. :) The little things, right?

I got a text from a co-worker saying I was missing a beautiful sunrise. This is what I saw when I ran outside.

When I went into acupuncture later that day, I realized that I was starting to feel my ovaries. It felt like I was ovulating. Yes I realize that most people don't feel that, but when you have been on this adventure for 3 years, you are well aware of your body.

Janelle my fabulous acupuncturist asked if I started getting headaches from the shots or breaking out or bloating? No. Thank goodness. No. But good to know that those are things I can expect.

Interrupting Our Story: When Real Life Gets Hard

It has taken me a few days to process, but here I am now.

Since I have been writing out this whole story for you of our IVF process, and you all know that this story has been a few days behind where we really were. It gave us a little cushion to go through everything and for me to get it all in writing.

Although this will be like reading the end of the story, with the news we got last Thursday, I just felt like I couldn't keep going giving you all hope. That just seems wrong. 

So here you are. On Thursday we found out that IVF did not work. After all the anticipation and the bed rest and the week and a half of waiting, we got the call Thursday that the blood work showed that none of the little embryos we implanted took. I am not pregnant.

Needless to say, we were crushed. There was lots of tears, hugs, and we took Friday off to just be together and gather strength. 

A sweet friend of mine sent me the above verse and it was perfect. This is the second time God has used her during this IVF cycle to send the perfect verse for me. 

So how are we right now? We are both able to talk and honestly. I have found even more, that I process best by talking through everything that has happened. We are both sitting here knowing that as another friend said, our short story just turned into a novel. One chapter has closed and another has just started.

I am going to continue writing this blog to finish of our entire story. Again it is just as much a place for me to document as it is to tell all of you. I was anticipating telling you all in the next 2 weeks that we were pregnant. It was going to be perfect. Instead, I am so sorry to tell you all that life hurts. And some times it sucks. But my prayer from the beginning has been that if for what ever reasons it did not work, God would remind me that this is our story. That He has a plan. We may not understand it, but there is a reason. I have also been praying that it would speak to someone through this craziness.

I have also been asked if I wished that I had not made it so public. Honestly, I wouldn't do it any different. However, I fully understand why people do not tell. There is so much excitement, but in the deep disappointment, it is really hard to tell everyone you love about. It is so hard to hear the tears and the deep deep disappointment. Even harder then my own heart breaking when we heard the news. i don't like hearing our loved ones so sad.

All that to say. I love you all. Our family. Our friends. All of you whom we love. You are an amazing community that we could not do this without.

Finally, the question you are all wondering. What are we going to do from here? We have an appointment with our fertility doctor on Thursday. We are going to talk to him and see what he thinks is best. Thomas and I are however, ready to go for round 2. 

So of course we ask that you all pray. My Facebook post the other day about hundreds of you all praying for us is true. You all are amazing and your prayers get us through. 

So thank you from the bottom of our hearts. 

Appointment Day - Day 8

Off to get blood draw again!

And the vein in my arm started rolling! But I was then able to find out that they have this down to an art! They use my best arm to draw blood for the first half of the blood draw days, and my worse arm for the second half. The reason is they want my good arm to be ready for the IV on extraction day.

So amazing that this is a beautifully choreographed dance!

My blood draw seat.

And now for my numbers.

My follicles are:

1 @ 10 mm

4 @ 8 mm

5 @ 7 mm

Grow little ones grow!

My uterine lining still isn't quite up to par.

But my estrodil level increased to 350

They want me to stay at 300 IU of the follistim which means no increase in the meds. 

So things are growing!!! Yay!

A Break From Appointments - Day 7

Apparently my numbers are so low, that I get a break in the Dr's appointments today. 

So off to work I go. Hi ho, hi ho.

 While they wait for the extra follistim to kick in and do what it does best. Make those follicles grow!

Oh I did forgot my baby aspirin today. I cannot get out of my routine! Geesh!

 I am definitely starting to feel a little bit of a sore stomach because of the consistent shots.

 Since I don't have a lot today, here is the view of what I see out my front window when I have been working from home.

The trees just light up as the sun comes up!

I just love it!

Daily Ultrasound and Blood Work - Day 6

And now begins the never ending appointments of blood work and ultrasounds.

For the next week I have appointments!

Blood Work

My arm bruised from drawing blood for the first time. Bummer.

Internal Ultrasound

Ok, here are my numbers for today:

3 follicles are at 6 mm and need to be higher and another 4 follicles are at 5 mm.

She asked if I had been taking my medications. Of course I had! Ok maybe not perfectly on time! But yes! Apparently the size of the follicles were not quite where she wanted them to be.

And the lining of my uterus is not quite where she wanted it to be either.

So I waited and tonight she informed me that she wanted me to up my follistim from 225 IU to 300 IU. Well hopefully that will get me to where they want me to be!

More Shots - Day 5

So, since I was so awesome about giving myself a shot the first time, I decided to do it again the next day. Only this time I bruised myself. I have no idea how I did it, but apparently I am not cut out for this.

Sorry Thomas. You still get to do this for me!

Oh! And I was an hour late giving myself a shot! Sure hope that is not a big deal.
That is what happens when you set your phone alarm and go upstairs to relax at night without your phone.

And since I had so much to tell you on Day 3 when I started the shot, I failed to tell you about the shot that I am getting.

FOLLISTIM
As it was explained to me:
Normally when a woman ovulates, multiple follicles on each of the ovaries try out for the part. They all start to grow, but eventually one star shines through and the other follicles go away.
Follistim is a shot that basically overrides that process. It makes all of the follicles grow together so there are tons to choose from!

And, if you have not already learned enough about IVF, I found this sheet that they had given me in one of our first meetings. 

Explains a lot.

Shots - Day 4

The first day that Thomas gave me shots, it did not hurt all that bad, so I figured I could do it all by myself!

So, now I am a big girl.
I did it all by myself!

So lesson learned out of this?
Apparently I can turn diabetic because now I can give myself shots!
But really, no thank you.

Operation Tiny Toes! First Official IVF Appointment. Day 3

My boss has been incredible and has allowed me to work from home during the days I have appointments.  Which is good, because there are tons of appointments in my future!

I arrived to my appointment knowing that today could be the day, or it could not be the day. I had already made it inside my 3 day window, but my body could still be working against me.

So Mary drew some blood and as we chatted she let me know that the blood work would say whether or not my estradiol (estrogen) levels were where they needed to be. 

We then went in and had an internal ultrasound where they checked to see how my ovaries and uterine lining were.

My right ovary had 6-7 follicles and the left one had 9-10. She said there were no cysts and that the number of follicles was great. Additionally my uterine lining was small, which at that point in my cycle (and since I had been spotting for a week and a half before hand) was great. Remember that follicles are good because that is where the eggs eventually go.

We went into the nurses station to talk through what happens next. She would call me later that afternoon to let me know if IVF was a go due to my estradiol levels.
WAIT. What?
I thought I was going to walk out of there with a yes or a no! Grrr. Ok, I can wait. I clearly don't have a choice.

She also went over which shot I would start that night if it was a go.

At 12:48 pm (of course I wasn't watching the clock) Mary called and said my estradiol levels were below 20 which is what they wanted.

IT IS A GO PEOPLE!!!! WE ARE MAKING A BABY THIS MONTH!!!
OPERATION TINY TOES HAS COMMENCED! 
The operation part was Thomas' contribution. I told him immediately and then said, hey how should we tell people? And he said, Oh! We need a fun name! How about Operation Breadbasket? Since I has already thought up this blog, I said, How about Operation Tiny Toes? And it was a go.

Back to the rest of my conversation with Mary, she said to take the baby aspirin as well. That was the first I had heard of that. Hmmm.

So we decided to do the 5:30 time frame for the shots every night. So at 5:30 that night I prepared everything and had Thomas pinch my skin and stab me. And it didn't hurt at all. I was thoroughly impressed by that. Maybe I will even try the next night!

Dial it up!

Grab and insert.

This was the one and only time Thomas left an indentation.

We walked 2 blocks over to our little cafe we love for a celebratory dinner. IT IS BABY MAKING TIME!

This is the schedule that I was given. I added tons more info, but it had the amount of each shot I needed for each day, and when they already had blood work appointments scheduled. We just had to pick a time between 5:30 and 8:30 every night, and keep it the same, for when Thomas would give me my shot. 5:30 pm it is.

So amazing. We are actually starting this baby making process.
Oh dang.

Waiting - Day 2

That is exactly what I did.

I waited.
Waited for the appointment the next morning to see if we could actually do this IVF thing.
Waited to see if my body was in the perfect state or not.
Waited.

And allowed myself to dream. 

About babies, about cribs and nurseries, about pregnancy and how this was drastically going to change our lives.
And hope.
And dream some more.

What do you think, this pinterest nursery?

Or these ones?
I adore these trees.

I need someone to come paint me trees.

Yikes! This one could very well become a reality!

So many option! So much to dream about!
And just wait.

The Day Has Arrived! Day 1 of My Cycle

After the sonohysterogram, I had a week left of birth control (BC). My official stop day was on Sunday night. Well the whole week after the sonohysterogram I was spotting, so I was sure that if I went off of BC on Sunday, I would not make it into the 3 day window that sweet Sharlene informed me I had to make it into. So after 2 calls to the nurses, finally Mary (my other nurse) returned my call. There was some back and forth, but she finally told me to stay in it 1 more day. 

Monday was now the final BC day.

So I took that last little pill on Monday. And on Tuesday I waited. Still spotting. And praying that it would just wait 1 more day. Not to much to ask body, right? Right?!?!

And on Wednesday I was in the 3 day window! I had 72 hours to start my cycle. So I waited. Until noon. I can tell you I have never been so happy to have my cycle start since we started trying to get pregnant exactly 3 years ago.

I had just missed a call from Sharlene, so I quickly called her back and we scheduled my Day 3 appointment for Friday. 

Thank you Jesus for small mercies.
This is happening!

I succeeded with my 2 jobs.
Start my cycle in my window and call the Gyft clinic to schedule my Day 3 appointment.
Normally people do not have a 3 day window unless they are doing the ICSI (again, the procedure to get the concentrated amount of swimmers) and they need Dr Kim (urologist who does the ICSI) to be available. But we made it!
Yes, ma'am. We made it.

Apparently I either think I have a mostly female audience or I think of my blog as a female. Hmmm...

I am slightly later in posting these, then what is real time. By the time I catch you all up, Thomas and I will know for sure whether or not I am pregnant! So there will be no waiting for you all, like there has been for us! Oh the waiting...

Injection Training

Injection Training

Immediately following the Sonohystergram, we followed sweet Charlene, my nurse, into the nurse's station to take the injection training.

Now I love that I am married to a man who was a medic in the Army. He has a pretty cool head on his shoulders and that in his learning how to give shots and do IV's, my veins were no where near him. Granted it has been a few years, but it's like riding a bike, right? I sure hope so! And who knows, maybe I can even do it! We will see though. We will see.

The only request for this training was that we bring all the meds except the refrigerated ones. So in I go with my cute little bag full of future life blood.

Charlene looked through everything to ensure it was all there in the correct quantity. Definitely bring the sheet they give you that says how much of the refrigerated meds there are. Or take a picture of the boxes.

She showed us how to load this little dial up shot giver and how to get the very last drop of these crazy expensive drugs out of the vial. She tells you which shots to be given in the stomach fat and which in the leg muscle. They come with plenty of needle tips, but I did need to go out and buy alcohol swabs. Oh and band-aids if you feel as though you need one.

There are also all the meds for "extraction" day which she explains a little.

I would make sure you ask what each medication if for and when you will use it. Although they are good about telling you what to use when, for me it is always best to hear it twice to make sure I am doing the correct thing. There is just too much riding on the line to not get it right!

Now that this is all done, we just wait for the last birth control day and then day 1 of my cycle! We are so stinking close!!!

The Sonohysterogram

Warning for men, this may be a little more graphic then you want to read.

Sonohysterogram

What is sonohysterography?
Sonohysterography is a technique in which fluid is injected through the cervix into the uterus, and ultrasound is used to make images of the uterine cavity. The fluid shows more detail of the inside of the uterus than when ultrasound is used alone. 

This is a perfect explanation. 

So here you are. 

The procedure.

Except it is to see the little embryos implanted.

They say that this is a little worse then a normal pap smear. 

The reason that they do this procedure is to see what degree your uterus is connected to your cervix. For example, I have always known I have a tilted uterus (it is actually really common), but this allowed Dr Murrain to know which direction it was tilted for implantation.

Dr Murrain cleaned the face of my cervix with iodine and then used a catheter to get through the cervix. Sadly I have learned way more about human anatomy that I know I should already known. The catheter which is bendy, needed a little assistance and they had to add a metal rod. That hurt like crazy! A tears to the eyes immediately kind of a hurt. That also went away immediately, so all was good. 

This was the only appointment Thomas had come with me too and after giving me his handkerchief, I held his arm. When the nurse came back in, she said I had a death grip on him.

I didn't think it was that bad!

Dr Murrain did say that if that had not worked he would have to use a dilator which would have hurt. Glad I didn't have to experience that! It is only when breaking through the cervix wall that there is the cramping feeling. The rest is pretty normal.

Once the catheter was in, they used a sonogram to watch air go in and out of the uterus, so that on the day of implant I could see what to look for.

They said it would look like a twinkle.

Hehe. My own twinkle.

As much as this is uncomfortable and I wasn't really looking forward to feeling this again during implant day, I do appreciate that they take the precautions to do this ahead of time so that when they go to implant the precious little embryos on "that" day, they don't have to harm them by passing them between multiple catheters.

My own twinkle.

Buying ALL The Meds

The Medications

If you have known anyone with fertility issues, you know that they will use meds at some point or another to help them get pregnant when working through a doctor. What I have learned is that most women will go on fertility drugs for a few months to up their follicle count before they try IVF. Well we never had to do that since we have to go straight to the big guns.

So here I was, on birth control and ready to start this whole IVF process. The nurses informed me that they would call in my order and then the pharmacy would contact me about the meds I would need. I loved that I did not have to try and be the go between the nurses and the pharmaceutical company getting all the names right.

So when MDR/Encino Pharmacy called me, they took my insurance to see if any of it would be covered. Thankfully a bit was! And the cost was still steep! $1400 later…. Yeah, that was harsh. And with insurance! Oh and you do pay the pharmacy directly.

The gal informed me that these meds are overnighted because there are some that need to be refrigerated. My nurse has informed me that I needed the meds before my injection training, so that they can see if everything is accounted for.

My injection training was going to be on a Sunday, so naturally I let things go until I realized on Wednesday that the gal had not actually set up a time for my meds to be mailed! So I quickly called her and after a day of phone tag, I finally got ahold of her and we got the meds ordered and delivered on Friday. Nothing like last minute!

Everything I needed to prep my body to make a baby.

Don't worry, I also have all my essential oils to go with!
I used Panaway, Lavender, Copaiba, Idaho Balsam Fir, Frankincense, and Valor during the process.
All for bruising, prepping my veins, pain killers and inflammation! Oh and Progessence Plus which is a natural progesterone!

I love that I have gotten rid of all chemicals, toxins, and over the counter meds in my house, but I know we could not have kiddos without these drugs! So I take them and I add my oils on top knowing that God will work ultimately.

One of the ethical dilemma's Thomas and I prayed over was whether or not to change the course of meds the dr proscribes to be more natural. We decided not to because we want the greatest chance of success with what they already know works.

But that doesn't mean that I won't add on oils that I truly believe do make a natural difference in how our bodies work!

Why Birth Control and Booking Your Month!

Birth Control.
You would think that being on birth control is counter intuitive. However, the reasoning makes sense.

1. Allows all your follicles (the little bumps on the outside of the ovaries where the eggs eventually go) to  all become the same size and it quiets them down so some are not bigger then others.
2. Allows your body to rest.
3. Takes control of your cycle.
4. Allow for planning purposes.

So, they put me on BC for 40 days. Well 41, but that is another story for later.

Scheduling
So after knowing we needed to do IVF, it took us 7 months between weddings and traveling to schedule a time that was not stressful. So we did that. The Gyft clinic always schedules for the aspiration (egg and sperm retrieval) to be the first week of every month. So with my trip to Kilimanjaro we settled on the first week of August being our month. So once I came home from Africa, it was preparing for baby making time for me!

Our month was scheduled, I was on birth control, and it is waiting time!

When you schedule with the nurses, they will give you this calendar. Do I ever love having things scheduled!

The "Official" Meeting with Dr Murrain

After discovering that Thomas and I did indeed need to do IVF, I figured that because we had already met with Dr Murrain, we were good and just had to schedule the time. Well I was wrong. We still had to check off the "official" meeting with him.

I went into this meeting thinking he had already told me everything and that there was nothing new to expect. I was wrong. He went over cost, which surprised me, potential problems, which when seeing them written on 1 sheet of paper was shocking, he quoted me a few more statistics, and then he mentioned I would have to do a baseline blood work again. Needless to say I walked away a little frustrated. I don't know why, I just was.

The cost I got over because really, we have no choice. So here it is. Because I couldn't find the breakdown anywhere before this. And everyone is different. This is not including the cost of medication or the cost of any other doctor that is needed.

The risks are just that, risks. They could or could not happen. Out of my hands, but scary at the same time. Did you know multiples are a risk? That was a little weird to me. And then there is Ovarian Hyperstimulation that happens in 10% of women, ectopic pregnancies in 1-3%, adnexal torsion in 7%, and imprinting disorder which is 1 in 16,000. Wow.

The statistics were hard because he said even when a woman is completely healthy with all the scores being the best possible, there is still only a 2 in 3 chance the most healthy woman will become pregnant. Seriously?!?! That was hard to hear, but I have to remember God has taken us this far. And it has definitely been our story.

Oh, and the paperwork! You would think that we were buying a house the amount of paper work we had to sign!

And then I scheduled a blood work appointment. Always blood work day 3 of my cycle.

Because people, this IVF thing needed to get started! It was go time!

The Stages of In Vitro

Just to get IVF in the books you have to:

Meet with Dr Murrain Officially

Starting Birth Control

Scheduling Your IVF Month

Procuring the Medication

The Sonohysterogram

Injection Training

The once IVF starts you have to:

Stopping Birth Control

Wait For Your Cycle to Start

Ultrasound and Blood Work Appointments

Shots, shots, and more shots

Aspiration (Egg and sperm retrieval)

Waiting while the embryos grow

Implant

Testing Day! Are we pregnant or not?

All of these will have their own post, up next!!!

Ethical Discussions

If only it were this easy.
Because this is beautiful.

The problem is, for us it is not so easy.

So many ethical discussions to have.

How many embryos do we implant?

Are we being responsible with our money if we only put 1 in?
But then we could have twins!

Do we freeze the rest? Donate them to science? Throw them away?
Do we freeze them only to put them up for embry adoption if our family is complete down the road?
(Because those are your 3 options)

Do we deviate from the plan the doctors give us and try to be a little more natural?

Do we try to do this with less harsh drugs?

Or do we just do it as they explain because it costs so much to mess with the path they set forward?

There are so many ethical questions that Thomas and I have had to talk through. It has made us stronger, on the same page, and it has made us know each other in ways most couples do not have to question their pre-parenting lives.

I am so very thankful that Thomas and I have always been on the same page. We would discuss an issue and then one of us would say we felt this way and almost always the other would agree. God definitely allowed us to talk and agree at every ethical decision.

I would love to tell you our decisions if you want to know.
Needless to say, we are here now and we know exactly what we feel God has directed us to do with every single one of those questions.

Tracking the Hormones

Knowing that we had to track my hormones for a month before we could do IVF, I decided to do that right away so we would know if there was anything going on in my body that we needed to take care of. And thus began the tracking month.

Hormone Tracking Month

So.... This was all me. For a whole month, they follow your cycle.

Day 1 - You call and make your Day 3 appointment
Day 2 - You wait
Day 3 - They do blood work and an internal ultrasound where they look to see how many follicles you have on each ovary. They also did our cystic fibrosis blood work at this appointment.
They also tell you no sex or exercise for the next week.
I had about 20 follicles between the 2 sides that looked good.
My hormones came back. The normal range is less then 50 for estrogen (I was 25.8) and for FSH (Follicle Stimulating Hormone) normal is less then 10 (I was 8.01).
Day 4 - Day 11 - You wait
Day 12 -  9 days after Day 3, they do another internal ultrasound to see how the follicles have progressed.
I had 5-6 follicles ready to go on the right side at 8 and 10 mm.
Day 15 - Another internal ultrasound.
My follicles were 10 and 18 mm. Goal is 20 mm or greater.

There is usually one more ultrasound to see when my follicles reached optimal size, but I had a business trip, so that did not happen. I used ovulation predictor urination sticks to guess when I ovulated to tell the nurses.

I learned that my progesterone from the Day 12 blood work was low. It is supposed to be above 15 and mine was not.

If you want to read more about my reaction to that meeting, you can read it here.

They are also looking for how many follicles are in the ovaries. If there are more then 12 follicles in an ovary, that means you could be susceptible to polycystic ovarian syndrome. This is something that they would watch for because the drugs they give you for IVF would effect it.

There needs to be more then 15 mature follicles total.

And! They finally told us that there are over 110 different cystic fibrosis genes. And both sets have to match perfectly. By the way, I do NOT have the gene. 1 less thing we have to think about.

So! Between knowing what Thomas is dealing with and knowing what I am dealing with, we know that the next step for us is IVF. And the next step in IVF is schedules.
Ours were crazy and it took us months to get it in the books.
But here it is. The Stages of InVitro Fertilization. 

Meeting with Dr Murrain

After our meeting with Dr Kim and his suggestion that Cystic Fibrosis may be in our genes, we decided to book an appointment with Dr Murrain.

Interview with Dr Murrain.

Dr Murrain is a genetic infertility specialist at the Gyft Clinic. He was great. And he gave us hope.
And at that moment when we found out that there were so many obstacles, we really needed hope. We talked to Dr Murrain and he explained to us that we could get pregnant even with all of the issues we had run into this far. In fact, he went so far as to point out that we could be pregnant within the month! For a couple who just heard that it would be near impossible to get pregnant, this was what we needed.

During this initial meeting with Dr Murrain, he talked through a little bit about what to expect, the cost, and some of the problems that could arise. But looking back now, he was a bit vague. The Official Explanation Meeting (which is coming soon!) is when he really went into detail. Wow.

But at this point, we had hope, we had a plan and since we already know where Thomas stood with the whole process, they still needed to find out what my body was doing.

Next up, the month of tracking my hormones and doing the blood work of whether or not I had the Cystic Fibrosis gene.

The Sperm Sample

This is one of those awkward posts. I wish I could just leave it as… a sperm sample was given.
But this was also one of the steps I struggled with. So here we go.

The Sperm Sample...
We actually gave our first 2 semen analysis' at Seattle Reproductive Medicine, but from there we switched to the Gyft Clinic. We did end up having 2 additional analyses' with the Gyft Clinic.

My struggles were when my husband walked into a room that there would be magazines and DVD's just sitting there available to him. I was not ok with that. So after many question, this is what I learned.

1. There is the option to give a sample from home if you can get it to the Gyft Clinic with in 30 minutes. 
2. As a wife, you are also allowed in the room with him at the Gyft Clinic if you you are not able to work out the at home option.

Learning those options was a HUGE relief to me, being that again, this is the most awkward point. But hey, that is just me.

There are many things women have to do during this whole process, but I don't think any of them are quite as awkward as this. So we marched in there together, laughed our way through, and came out the other side with the results. We definitely needed a Urologist.

4 tests later. Yep, still need a Urologist.

So we headed to the Urologist and discovered we will need what is called ICSI (Intra-Cytoplasmic Sperm Injection). Basically we needed to be able to get a really concentrated amount of swimmers that we can only get through a procedure with Dr Kim. Our Urologist. He is great. Although he told us we might need to be concerned about Cystic Fibrosis. That is a whole other story.

Ironic? Yes. Hehe.

And since I was searching for Dory pictures, this is my other favorite quote from Finding Nemo.

Soon I will have my own squishy! And they shall be mine!