IVF Failure

Ouchie :(
photo credit: WolfS♡ul via photopin cc

We came back from vacation on Sunday and had our second ultrasound on Monday. The news was heartbreaking to say the least. The ultrasound looked almost exactly the same as it did the previous week, with the exception that there was more blood around the sac and it was not connected to the womb.  
The baby just stopped growing. We don't know why. There was a yolk sac, but again nothing increased in size during that week. My body was ready to miscarry but the meds were keeping everything in place.  

I thought I could prepare myself for this possibility but it hit us both pretty hard. I cried my eyes out. Even today, 3 days later I still have my ups and downs, especially when I see baby clothes that we won't be buying. Mr. Blue has been a saint and so supportive. I just don't know what I did wrong.  I tried to be so careful.  

Needless to say the Doctor had me stop the meds on Monday and the bleeding started yesterday. It hasn't been very heavy but it is brown which means the blood is old and was ready to go a while ago. Today the cramps have been horrible. I've had chemical miscarriages before and they were similar to a period. I thought that's how this would be. I was so wrong. The pain is almost as bad as the first ectopic when my tube burst. Vicodin is my friend.

So right now my body needs to pass this out and recover. Then they'll do a few tests to see if they can figure anything out.

We still have one little guy frozen so we'll try again after the new year. I really thought we had it this time.  

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I'm very thankful that I have Mr. Blue. He's an amazing and incredible man.

I'm thankful that I have a great family, and I'm thankful to have Gidget, she's great with fuzz therapy.

Hugs to all.

Ultrasound 1

No Peanut Yet...
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We went in for the first ultrasound yesterday. We were at 6 weeks and 1 day and tried to get it in before our vacation.

Unfortunately it's too early. They usually do it at 6.5 weeks and there was no baby to be found.  
:(
We did see a yolk sac though.  

We've scheduled another ultrasound for when we get back. Apparently the baby grows pretty fast in just a few days so we'll see. 

I was disappointed with the results yesterday. I naturally wanted confirmation that everything was going well but now we'll have to wait. My nurse called me to reassure me that it's just early and they had another women in the same situation. When she came a week later they found a perfectly healthy baby.

So here's to keeping my spirits up and having a good time on a much needed vacation.

...healthy, happy baby...healthy, happy baby...healthy, happy baby...

Cheers

IVF - Final Results

Poor Gidget!
Photo courtesy of Mr. Blue.

Halloween has come and gone. I hope everyone had a spooktacular time. Mr. Blue and I divided duties, he was in charge of playing STWOR and keeping Gidget under control and I got to hand out the candy. We turned out the lights about 8:30pm and by then I was so tired I went to bed not much later.

But that's not what you came here to read about.

I did have my appointment that morning to get the pregnancy test done. When they called me they said that what they look for is an HCG level (pregnancy hormone) of at least 50....

IVF Update - The Transfer

Can't...Wait...Til...HALLOWEEN!!
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I had my embryo transfer on the 22nd.  Over all it went well, the only kink was me balling my eyes out.

So here's how the day went. 

8:00am - Mr. Blue and I get up and start getting ready.  I was nervous as heck, I don't know why.  We didn't need to leave until 10:00am so there was a bit of Star Wars Online which did nothing to help calm my nerves.

10:00am - Leave the house and head down to Lone Tree.  We arrive at 10:40am.  Check in time is 10:45am.

(Times are approximate here on out)

~10:46am - check in as there was a long line.  The receptionist has to call the Louisville office because apparently they forgot to put in my blood work order which is supposed to happen before the transfer.
Everything is squared away and Mr. Blue and I take a seat to wait.

~10:56am - we're called to the back to have my blood drawn.  They want to check my hormone levels and see if they need to make any modifications to my medications.  Once we're done we head upstairs to another waiting room to wait for my 1st acupuncture appointment.  I'm still nervous as all get out.  I feel like I've had 2 cups of coffee but in actuality I haven't had any caffeine since the week before, with the exception of chocolate.  :-)

IVF Update 6

Can almost see the finish line!
photo credit: Dru Bloomfield - At Home in Scottsdale via photopin cc

Uhm...ow, and also, OW! Had the first inter-muscular butt injection last night. While I wasn't screaming in pain it still hurt. Mr. Blue did a good job though so I can't fault him for that. I got a flu shot the same day so my body isn't too happy with me right now. The progesterone oil injections have to happen every other day.

I'm up to 4 estrogen patches every other day and taking vaginal suppositories 3 times a day.  (No perverted comments from those Tasmanian born!!  You know who you are!!  ;-P )

On the plus side I don't have to give myself belly injections any more. I was having a harder and harder time finding areas that didn't hurt too bad, and of course I'd get frustrated and have an emotional break down.

I used to think the emotional roller coaster would come from the stress of wanting a baby and the chance that it might not happen. While that can contribute, the biggest stress is just from the medications themselves. They always recommend a counselor but I don't feel that would help.  I just don't have a lot of control over my emotions right now. Mr. Blue is the best support and very patient with me. He's all the counsel I need right now.  :-)

Last night we went to a wedding for one of Mr. Blue's co-workers. I was dreading it at first but after meeting some cool people I had a great time. I didn't drink any alcohol but Mr. Blue didn't think you could tell the difference. So I'm a dork. LOL
It just felt good. I needed that.

Everything has been going well so far, my body is responding nicely and the medication levels are good. Transfer day is on the 22nd. I probably won't post again until sometime after that. I'm supposed to be on bed rest for 36 hours after the procedure.

Hope everyone is well.

...Healthy, happy baby...healthy, happy baby...healthy, happy baby...healthy, happy baby...

IVF - Update 5

Waiting...Waiting...
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I haven't been posting much because there isn't a whole lot going on right now. It's mostly the waiting game. 

This month is prepping my body for the 1st (and hopefully last) embryo transfer. They had me on birth control pills to regulate my cycle. Just before the pills finished I started on the daily Lupron injections. Small ones but pokey pokey in the belly again. This week the dosage of the injections was reduced and I'm taking a baby aspirin once a day (to help prevent clotting). I'm also wearing an estrogen patch. At some point I'll be wearing 4 of them, LOL.

The idea right now is that they are trying to get my uterus lining to the most ideal state for the transfer and it will be monitored roughly once a week. It's a gradual process to increase the lining. If it gets too thick then we have to start all over again, so naturally I'm hoping that doesn't happen.  

There are a couple more meds that I will have to start in a week or two. One of them will be the progesterone shots in the butt muscle which Mr. Blue will kindly do for me.  :)

If everything goes well we should be able to do the transfer in about 3 weeks time, with the pregnancy test being on Halloween.  :-D

The other interesting thing is that they recommend acupuncture on the transfer day before and after the procedure. We don't have to do it but I'm going to try it if it helps and I've never had acupuncture before so what the heck.

One last note.  Yes the meds are messing with my system.  My emotions are kind of out of whack.  I noticed my writing is a little off as well, so my apologies.  I'm happy but I also feel kind of numb if that makes sense. But then again it changes from day to day so who knows how I'll feel tomorrow.

My next post will either be after the first injection that Mr. Blue does (so I can bitch about it) or after the transfer since I'll be on bed rest for 36 hours. Like I said, it's mainly a waiting game right now.

Hope everyone is well!

IVF - Update 4

I Love Autumn!
photo credit: Ian Sane via photopin cc

I've been playing a lot of SWTOR and coupled with the fact that there isn't much to tell, well, I clearly haven't posted lately.

The main thing is that we did see the doctor about the chromosomal anomalies. Most of the 10 had 2 or more problems. Which definitely explains why we haven't been successful before. The main decision now is whether or not we want to implant 1 or both of the healthy embryos. The Doctor recommends both to increase our chances of getting pregnant, however, it also greatly increases our chances of having twins.

Mr. Blue and I discussed this. We only want 1 healthy, happy baby. We can always change our minds later (assuming my biological clock is still running). If that embryo still splits into twins, so be it.  :)  And if this one doesn't implant there's always the 2nd one.  

To get my body ready for the transfer they've started me on birth control pills to regulate my cycle a bit. There will be a whole host of other meds that I will have to take as well to prepare my body for the best possible outcome. Estrogen and progesterone are only a couple of meds I will be using.  

I find this stage rather interesting with all of the prep work that is being done. In Australia there wasn't much that they did to prep me other than wait for when my normal cycle would occur then they did the transfer. There were no meds involved. This has me hopeful that it will be successful this time.  

At this point the transfer date is set for the end of October.  I love October.  Hopefully it will be a great month!  

The Gidget Chronicles 1

Me!

Hi  Hi

Uhm, I am Gidget and my mom said I could borrow her blog thingy.  My mom and dad are so very nice, they just do not play with me as much as I want them to. I like playing very much, especially when mom and dad chase me. Sometimes when they have been sitting in front of this box for too long I whine until they pick me up and put me in their lap. I like cuddles very much.

But that is not the part I wanted to tell you. My mom takes me on walks to the park nearby which I like but she never lets me chase the fuzzy creatures with the long ears. I am a hunter and want to hunt them. I am very fast and am certain I could catch them, but mom says she is afraid of what would happen to me if I went into the marsh where the long ears hide. 

On this walk I was happy and smelling things and mom stopped and called me. She pointed out a hoppy bug to me. YAY! I like hoppy bugs! And flying bugs and the bugs with lots of legs… Oh yeah, when I got near it, it jumped into the grass and I pounced on it. Mom and dad say I pounce like a “cat”. I do not know what that is but it must be very good because I am very good at it. 

The hoppy bug tried to get away but I would not let it. I killed it and played with it for a bit because I am a good hunter. I was going to eat my kill but mom said “EEWWW!”. I looked at her and clearly she did not want me to eat the dead hoppy bug. I did not want anyone else to get my trophy either so I peed on it to make sure everyone knew that it was my kill. I was very happy.

I have to go now.

Bye

IVF - Embryo Update 3

Le Sigh...
photo credit: Rich Renomeron via photopin cc

Last week we got the call from the Doctor regarding our frozen embryos.  Of the 12 that were biopsied and frozen, only 2 have normal chromosomes.  You read that right...2!
This actually depressed me a bit as I had hoped for a solid 6.  The Doctor said that some of them even had more than one anomaly and that this would explain why we've had problems with IVF before.

In Australia we only had 3 embryos vs the 12 here and they didn't go any kind of genetic and chromosomal testing.  Which means that every single one could have had an anomaly.  

Naturally I've gone through the range of emotions from wondering what the hell is wrong with me to being thankful we at least have 2 healthy embryos (which Mr. Blue needed to remind me of to snap me out of my depression).  Next week we meet with the Doctor to go more in depth about the results and to discuss the next steps, hopefully setting a start date for transfer prep.

What I'm really curious about is if he'll recommend the transfer of 1 or both embryos.

Not much else to report for now.  Hope everyone is well.


...healthy, happy baby...healthy, happy baby...healthy, happy baby...

IVF - Embryo Update 2

Can't...reach...computer...
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Ok, so I'm a slacker. We actually got our latest update on Sunday, but Mr. Blue and I were having a CIV 5 marathon that went until midnight, so needless to say I didn't post that day.

Monday I was too damn tired from staying up too late on Sunday, so I didn't post.

Yesterday, well really I have no excuse.

So today! The Embryologist called (Sunday) to tell us the following - of the 20 eggs that were successfully fertilized, 12 of them made it to the blastocyst stage. They were biopsied and then frozen.  

WOO HOO!! That's 2 more than I was hoping for. Now we have to wait for the results of the biopsy to determine which embryos have the right number of chromosomes, etc. Unfortunately this takes 2 weeks so we are trying to distract ourselves with other things and not think about it too much.  I'm hoping that a minimum of 6 will be normal. That equates to 3 tries. There's always the hope that the first try will take though.

...healthy, happy baby...healthy, happy baby...healthy, happy baby...  :)

IVF - Embryo Update 1

This cuteness has nothing to do with the post!
photo credit: waimeastyle via photopin cc

I got the first call from the embryologist's today. Of the 30 eggs retrieved, 25 of them were mature. Of that number 20 were successfully fertilized! That's twice the number we had in Australia!

The next update from them won't be until Monday. Then they will let us know how many actually made it to the blastocyst stage, were biopsied and frozen.  

Right now I'm recovering from the procedure. They had to use a catheter on me so I've been having some discomfort with that aftermath as well as my insides feeling like they're gonna fall out when I walk. I was flushed all day today as well. I'm not sure if that's the meds or what's going on.  I may call the nurses tomorrow.

Any hoo, I've got a new Egg/Embryo tally on the side bar that I will do my best to keep up to date so that the numbers can be seen at a quick glance. I still hope we get pregnant on the first try.  :)  

IVF - Trigger and Retrieval

Eggs, Eggs and Tadpoles!!
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I had planned to do a post about the trigger yesterday but wasn't feeling good so I'm going to combine posts today.

I had my appointment on Saturday, I was right on target so they told me I'd be doing my trigger that day. What a headache. They called me that afternoon to give me instructions and to make sure I had the trigger medicine. I did but I had a hard time reading the information on the box and vial so at first I wasn't sure I had enough. They wanted me to come back to the office and purchase the right meds because they didn't think I had it. That's about an hour's drive ladies and gentlemen and I had already gone down that morning. Mr. Blue then helped me to decipher (read that as science experiment) the true amount in the vial (it's not really labeled clearly for the layman) and I tried to call them back. Their phones go to an answering service on the weekends even when they are in the office and it took them a bit to get back to me (not their fault, they're very busy). I was freaking out though, wondering what the heck?

IVF - The latest

Oh Look! My Ovaries!
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My apologies for not posting more, I haven't been feeling that great. My ovaries are now the size of bowling balls. Ok, that's an exaggeration but it sure feels like it isn't. I've never been more aware of my ovaries in my life. I have a LOT of follicles right now and it's making things very uncomfortable. Bloating, back pain, cramping, upset tummy, crankiness...

We're getting closer to retrieval so they have been reducing my stim meds. Due to the number of follicles I have I'm a risk for hyperstimulation. They've recommended I eat foods with high sodium content to help reduce the risk. Gonna have to throw my diet out the window for the next few days.

I'm still giving myself the injections. I haven't been having any reactions to the Cetrotide the past couple of days which prompted me to ask the Nurse if it's still working correctly. It is, apparently my skin has finally gotten used to it. I have only one left though, go figure.

Due to my risk of hyperstimulation they've given me a different kind of trigger medicine. This one is better than the other because I can do it myself instead of having Mr. Blue give me a shot in the ass. Which also means I can't be upset with him hurting me. Always a good thing.  :)
Keep your minds out of the gutter!!

I have another appointment tomorrow and then hopefully I will be where we need to be for retrieval on Monday.

This will all be worth it when we get pregnant.  And then I'll be able to tell our kid what I went through to get them here, including the labor story.  ;-)

**Hyperstimulation is when the ovaries become dangerously enlarged with fluid.  The fluid can then leak into the abdomen which can cause problems such as pain, shortness of breath, dizziness, etc.

IVF Med Reaction...Again

Baby Toes!
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Took the Cetrotide this morning and, as should be a shock to no one, had an allergic reaction. The reaction was slightly bigger and more annoying than the first one. Luckily I have an appointment tomorrow morning AFTER the next injection so I'll be able to show them the reaction and see if I should be concerned.

It takes about 4 hours but it does go away, and as long as it isn't hurting my cycle I'm willing to keep using it. There's only about 5 days left of it anyway.

Retrieval is getting closer and closer and I find myself paying more and more attention to baby stuff. Even me, who couldn't care less about the Royals, perked up when I heard Kate and William had a baby boy.  

My mantra right now:
Healthy, happy baby...healthy, happy baby...healthy, happy baby...

IVF Checkup

My Belly!
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I had an appointment today to check and see how I'm doing with the stim meds. So far so good. I've got a good number of follicles that have been enlarged which is promising. Now I also get to do the suppression meds again, Cetrotide. So I get double pokeys in the morning and 1 in the evening starting tomorrow. And of course there's the rash that comes with the Cetrotide (bleh).  My belly looks like it has a constellation on it now. Mr. Blue says I should have been trying to create the big dipper.  ;-)

...and luckily these particular meds haven't been making me insane so that's been nice. I've been about as normal as I can be for me.  :)

Starting Tuesday I have checkup appointments everyday to see how things are going. We're getting close to retrieval. I can't help but to hope that this time around will be the one that works! Trying not to get my hopes up but there you go.

**For those that don't know, stimulation meds are to help more than 1 follicle/egg to develop. Usually a woman only releases 1 (sometimes 2) eggs a month. The stimulation medicines help increase that number so there are more eggs to extract at once. The suppression meds then help to keep my body from releasing them naturally before they can be collected.

IVF Update

I Can Haz Hug-Me Jacket?!?
photo credit: Suus Wansink via photopin cc

Today was my first appointment to check to see how my system is responding to the medications. My last day of the Cetrotide was Friday but I was still taking the estrogen. So far I am on track! My ultrasound was good, no issues and my blood work came back great as well. I also got the call that my genetic tests came back negative for certain defect markers so that was a relief.

When meeting with the nurse I asked about anti-anxiety medications. The Doctor doesn't want me on any additional meds so as not to throw things out of whack. I get it, I do, but man oh man...

My emotions have been on overload. I don't know that I've ever felt this out of control. One moment the slightest little thing will put me into a violent rage and the next moment I'm balling my eyes out. I'm doing everything I can to control my emotions right now. I'm not even 100% sure it's the IVF medications. I'm convinced that women are naturally psycho anyway but damn! Mr. Blue is and has been my anchor in the storm. I couldn't do this without him. He's very patient with my emotional outbursts and helps to bring me back to reason.

Thank you my love!

Today has been a good day though, no emotional outbursts. I'm guessing it's because I didn't have to take any estrogen today. Yesterday was my last day for that. Tomorrow I start the stimulation meds. One pokey in the morning and one pokey in the evening + a pill. Woot! I get to be a human pin cushion (as all of the diabetics roll their eyes at me).

Sunday is my next Doctor's appointment and hopefully everything will still be going well and I'll still be on track for egg extraction at the end of the month.

And now for some chocolate...

Gremlins and Werewolves Oh My!

Mine is Cuter!
photo credit: Inti via photopin cc

This past weekend we had a small group get together for Mr. Blue's trial session of Monstrarium. It had been a while since we'd gotten together for any table top RPGs so I was looking forward to this. The other two people that joined us were Mr. Bean and Mr. Anonymous from several comments on Mr. Blue's blog.

I played a female gremlin with a pink mo-hawk, who doubled as a very ugly dog. Mr. Bean played a werewolf and Mr. Anonymous played a giant walking/talking teddy bear. 

A small group but we had loads of fun none-the-less.  Did you know that there is a saying that means the opposite of "The Bee's Knees"? That's right ladies and gentlemen, we discovered "Cockroach's Testicles", a sarcastic saying implying that something really isn't that cool (according to the urban dictionary). However, we decided that that saying had too many syllables so it was shortened to "Roach's Balls". Feel free to use this at your leisure.

We did manage to solve Mr. Blue's clock puzzle, though at times I feared we may not. I helped build the actual contraption but the clues and runes were all his so I was just as stumped as everyone else. In the end the 3 of us came together to solve the darn thing.  

There were many interesting parts to the story that I really enjoyed, I can't elaborate on them at this time but it was fun. The only down side is that my gremlin isn't very good in combat but she does kick butt in other areas.  

I like to take notes for each session so that I can look back on all the different games. I have a nice 3 ring binder of all of the sessions (minus 1) that I've played with Mr. Blue and this one has been included. Fun times!!  :)

We really wish we knew some more good gamers in the Denver area. If you know anyone let us know! Of course they have to be tortured properly first...

Pokey Pokey

Must be good drugs!
photo credit: Stéfan via photopin cc

I started my estrogen pills on Tuesday and then I started doing the Cetrotide injections yesterday.  I can tell you that I was a bit nervous staring at the needle that I needed to poke myself with.  It's a small needle though so I got over it and jabbed myself (only not so dramatically) in the belly.  

The interesting thing is that I had a bit of an allergic reaction.  I ended up with a large, itchy lump (basically a hive) not far from the injection site.  At first I thought I had managed to poke myself from the inside and that the lump was actually a medication bubble.  It was very localized so I took a look at the insert that came with the package.  Apparently it's not uncommon to have a bit of an allergic reaction with the first dose.  I don't remember having a reaction to this medication at all in Australia, but our bodies change all of the time so who knows?  The lump did finally go away later in the day and armed with first dose information I went ahead with my injection this morning per the schedule.  I had a reaction with this one as well but not as bad.  This time it was a minor, localized rash.  It went away within 2 hours.  

To be safe I gave the doctor's office a call and told the nurse on duty what was going on.  She then spoke with the Doctor and left me a message.  He said that a localized reaction was very common and not to worry about it unless it got worse or I just couldn't stand it any more. There is another medication that can be used if needed.  Since I only have one more injection to do this week then I don't have to worry about it for another week, I'm game.  

Next week I only have to worry about the estrogen pills.   The calm before the storm as the following week it's double pokey pokey.  The estrogen pills have been surprisingly nice in helping keep my emotions under control.  The doctor's rescheduled 2 of my appointments today and while I was very frustrated at the time and feeling a time pressure, I'm over it now.  Until my next panic attack that is...

**Cetrotide is used to suppress my ovulation to make it more controlled.  Don't want those suckers popping before we're ready.  :) 

Now I'm off to kill things in Borderlands 2...  

Weight Loss

I'm not fat I'm fluffy!
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This year Mr. Blue and I decided to join the weight loss craze.  I'm taking a page out of Wonder Whisk's book and I've decided to post about it.

Our weight has been creeping up on us for a while, so we decided not to look like typical Americans anymore (the Aussies make fun of Americans for this) and do something about it.

He discovered the Weight Watcher's point system and that's what we've been using all year so far. The first month was the hardest as they gave me the lowest number of points to start with (unlike Mr. Blue whose points drop gradually as he loses weight).  I thought I was starving all of the time and didn't think it would work - WRONG!  It has been working and we're eating much healthier now.

We started on January 7th, I weighed in at 175 lbs.  My goal is to get to 125 lbs.

On Monday's weigh in I was 142 lbs.  I've lost 33 lbs so far!  WOOT!

...17 lbs more to go...

**My weight will probably go up with all of the IVF meds but I'm happy to have made it this far.  :)

IVF in the U.S.

Our Fuzz Butt!

In January of this year we did some research and we decided to go with CCRM - Colorado Center for Reproductive Medicine.  The main reasons were the location, as one of their clinics is actually within driving distance, and that they had a 100% money back guarantee program (if you qualify).  So we made our first appointment.

There were a lot of tests to be done, a lot more than there were in Australia.  We had to get all of the testing done before we could apply for the Premier program.  It took a couple of months to get it all done.  At times I wondered if we should even continue with this, and the answer is clearly YES.  

IVF Australia

The ICSI Process

Even though IVF has become more main-stream, there are still many people out there that don’t know what it is.  So, what is IVF?  IVF stands for in vitro fertilization.  Essentially fertility drugs are used in order to get the woman to produce as many eggs as possible.  These eggs are then removed and fertilized with the man’s sperm in a petri dish.  The eggs are watched for a few days to make sure that they are dividing and growing normally, and then the best 1 or 2 are placed back into the woman’s uterus in the hopes that they will attach and initiate a pregnancy.  The rest of the good eggs are then frozen for another try later on if needed.

There are many reasons that a couple may need IVF.  The lack of or damaged fallopian tubes, cysts on the ovaries, low hormone levels or a low sperm count are just a few of these.  As I now lacked fallopian tubes Mr. Blue and I started to research this process. 

There were only a couple of clinics to choose from and we decided to go with the more popular one.  It was also highly recommended and had pretty good success rates.  We chose IVF Australia.

We started the process around June 2011; this gave my body time to recover from the surgery.  I was 35 at the time.  Once upon a time I had given myself a time limit, which I needed to have kids by the age of 35.  Ah, how silly I was. 

The Need for IVF - Part 2

My Buddy After Surgery

In 2008 I started dating the most wonderful man in the universe.  I could go on for hours about how awesome Mr. Blue is but I don’t want to make anyone throw up – so I won’t.  We worked at the same company on the same project and within a couple of years our sister company in Australia invited a group of us to come and work for them for awhile.  It was an opportunity that we couldn’t pass up, so we moved to Australia.

At the end of February of 2011, at the age of 35, I started feeling strange and suspected I might be pregnant.  When the pregnancy test came back positive I got really upset.  I wanted very much to be pregnant but I felt like something was wrong.  My love tried to reassure me that since I had never had a successful pregnancy I didn’t know what one felt like.  He wanted me not to worry.  Within a week I started having abdominal pains.  On one such night when the pain was pretty bad I went to the hospital only to have the tests come back and say everything was fine.  However, I had gone to a public hospital and they told me they weren’t equipped to do all of the testing I needed.  I was encouraged to schedule an ultrasound.   I believe this was a Wednesday evening.  The next day I scheduled the ultrasound but wasn’t able to get in until Monday. 

The Need for IVF - Part 1

Almost the same subject!
photo credit: Louis Engival (Pentax K20D / K5-IIs) via photopin cc

In order to talk about my IVF experiences, I first need to share why I need IVF in the first place.  

In 2007, at the age of 32, I had become pregnant.  I was in my second marriage and had already had a couple of miscarriages.  They were only within the first weeks of the pregnancies so there was no major impact to myself, however, one of them must have done some damage that I was not aware of.  This time I was about a month along and was very naive so I didn't know what to expect.  

On a November morning in 2007, as I was getting ready for work, I began to feel some of the worst abdominal pain I have ever experienced in my life.  Initially I thought it was an intestinal issue and tried to relieve myself in the bathroom.  Obviously that didn't work and I ultimately ended up on the floor writhing and crying in pain.

Introduction

photo credit: Vermin Inc via photopin cc

Baby Bat was originally created so that I could comment on Mr. Blue's blog - The Cobalt Kobold. However, I recently began to journal my experiences with IVF in a notebook and we decided that those experiences might be great for a blog.

It is my hope that by documenting my experiences that I can better cope with what is happening.  If anyone out there reading my blog happens to find comfort in my words as they relate to their own experiences so much the better.  

That isn't to say that I won't have other topics or rants here, but my main focus is the IVF.

Regardless of whether or not anyone actually reads this (that includes you NSA), I will feel better for having done it.  :)