Praise the Lord!!

For the record, yes I am a religious person, hence the title! The Lord has moved in me ladies and gentlemen!

So this month has been crazy! I'll give you a brief synopsis if you are just joining me in my journey:

-Went to my RE for an ultrasound to make sure everything was fine and dandy to start round 2. Everything looked great.
-Took my Letrozole and wore Estrogen patches. The patches were used to build up my lining since in round 1 it was a little on the thin side.
-Started slightly spotting and also found out I had a UTI (fun!)
-Went in to see my RE a week later and my follicles were on average 10-12mm and my lining was at about 12.5, I believe. I scheduled an appointment for a few days later to check the growth.
-Went to my RE and found out my follicles and lining were shrinking! I was disappointed but my RE put me back on a higher dose of Letrozole and told me to come back later that week to see how everything is going.
-Went back to RE for another ultrasound and there wasn't much growth so he told me to come back in a week to see another doctor (he was going to be on vaca that week).

Now that you are up to speed on my progress, I will tell you about the appointment I had this morning.

First, I was praying for the entire 30 minute drive to the appointment. I didn't have such a good feeling about this appointment so I have been doubting my ability since the follicles and lining started to shrink. I told him this morning that I wanted it to happen by my 25th birthday and I was leaving it in his hands. I was done worrying and being down on myself, I put it in his hands to work his miracles.

Second, I was running about 5-10 minutes behind because of traffic, so that was fun... I hate running behind to doctor's appointments! I get there, check in and wait. They finally call me back and take my weight and blood pressure. I get into the room, the nurse goes over my information since I'm new to this doctor and tells me to undress from the waist down (standard procedure).... And I wait more. The doctor didn't come into my room until an hour past my appointment time! I was kind of getting impatient because even though I was a few minutes late and just as I started to get impatient, she walks in the room.

I tell you what, not only was Dr. D very apologetic for running behind (she explained they double booked her since my doc is out of town) but she was also very nice. She was excited to see how I was doing (I had not met her prior to this) but she was genuinely excited to check.

Well I must report good news now! I have two follicles on my left side that are ready to go! My lining is perfect! I have one follicle on my right side that is pretty good size but not 100% the perfect size. Dr. D told me to take my shot today and have intercourse today, tomorrow and Saturday, then start my Prometrium on Sunday evening and finally, I test on November 8. AHHHHH!!!!! I am so excited and haven't been able to stop smiling! Dr. D said she'd cross her fingers for me and wished me great luck!

Guys, this could seriously be happening right now! I could be pregnant on that day! I could have a child in my arms by the middle of July! Eeeek! I'm overjoyed! My prayer is for this to come true and to happen!

How?!?!

Well, I went into my doctor yesterday morning to check the progress of the growth of my follicles... That didn't go so well. Apparently, my follicles that were once measuring at about 10-12 each (I had four on my left side, my right was dormant), are now shrinking down in size to between 8-9 each. I was devastated to say the least! I really felt it was going to work. Luckily though, it still could :-)

My RE is having me start taking four Letrazole a day for the next few days and come back on Friday for an ultrasound. The hope is that this will stimulate the follicles more and they will grow rapidly and be ready to go. My fear is that if I get pregnant with the middle of the cycle dose, that I will have a miscarriage or the child will have significant health issues. I really don't want either of those things to happen!

So I shall make the drive to the pharmacy to get my medication and start it again in hopes that this will all work out. I really hope it works this time because honestly if it doesn't, we are going to keep shelling out money... Our child(ren) better realize they are special and blessings to us (and behave!) because they will be our "million dollar babies" hahah

Today is the day.... One of many

Ladies (sorry if you're a guy ready this,  welcome to my blog),

Today is the day. Well one of many at least. I have taken my medication as directed and had no side effects. I attached my patches as directed and had weird side effects. Well, actually they were totally normal side effects but not normal for me. After much preparation, I go into the doctor to see if I can take my shot. I brought it with me today because I am so confident in my body's ability, God's blessings and the medication's strength that it will work and I will be ready today.

Please say a little prayer for me to blessed with this opportunity to bring new life into this world. We are more than excited about this!

Pills and Patches

As many of you know, I have started round 2 of TTC. My doctor upped my Letrozole and added estrogen patches to this round. As promised, I said I would talk about the side effects and feelings of the medication. Obviously, if my appointment goes well tomorrow, then the medication worked.

Letrozole

I took three- 2.5mg pills every day for four days. I took it at the same time for three of the days but the first day I took it later because I had to get the medicine after work. My doctor said this would be okay as long as I took the medicine in the morning the other days, so I did.

Vivelle

These are the estrogen patches I had to get. They cost $106 at Meijer (no insurance yet... please God let it happen next month!). My doctor wanted me to apply four of them, two on each side of my ribs and two on each side of my belly button. I have to keep them on for four days and could possibly need to change them and keep the new ones on for a while but I'll know more at my next appointment (tomorrow). I haven't had any bad side effects except the fact that I have noticed a significant increase in appetite! I'm talking, I'll eat a full meal and then 20 minutes later be starving. It's crazy! I haven't acted upon my significant hunger increase except with some water, fruit, veges or nuts.

Sorry its shorter than the last one but my experience with the Letrazole has been the same as last time even with the increased dosage.

Round Two

This photo is the highway on the road home from Chicago this past weekend (Sept. 26-Sept. 28) for our 2 year anniversary trip. It was very beautiful and the weather was perfect... I really felt God's presence on that trip.

So today is an exciting day for us! I went to my doc and he did my baseline ultrasound to check to make sure everything is looking good. When he walked in the room his immediate reaction was "Why aren't you pregnant yet girl?!? I thought I told you to get pregnant!" as he lightly tapped my knee (which was up in the stirrups) with my chart. I told him "We gave it a valiant effort for round one but we're thinking round 2 will work!" I love him. He is fantastic! I am glad he can joke with me, I'm sure he gets lots of people in there who are way too serious!

We did the ultrasound (which was creepy since they wanted me to come in between days 2-5 of my cycle... aka heavier bleed days so that was a little embarrassing and I was worried about the mess. Surprisingly there was zero mess! I was extra embarrassed when there was a med student in there with him. Usually there is a student with him because he is the head of the OB/GYN department at UC Med School. Every single time he has had a student, they have been female so I wasn't as worried about them because even though they are a student, they at least know what's going on during this time and are usually nicer or more caring. Today, the student was a male. I was became a little more embarrassed because he might know the technical points of what happens during menstruation but he also doesn't know lol My doctor goes through the ultrasound pretty quickly and said "Here's the left ovary, a pretty typical PCOS looking one. And the right, again, pretty typical. Uterus looks great. Lining in great." The lights go on and he tells me we're ready. There is a little bit of a new plan so I will go through that with you.

He has upped my dose of Letrozole from 2- 2.5mg pills per day to 3- 2.5mg pills per day. He says this should increase the rate of my follicle growth, which was a little slow last time. He has me starting this today. I will also be putting on four estrogen patches on Monday to increase the thickness of my lining which should help my fertilized egg attach better. I will go in for my follow-up ultrasound on Thursday to check the growth of the follicles. If everything is good, I will take my shot when he tells me to (most likely that day or the next day). This will all be followed by timed intercourse and some waiting for two weeks until I can take my pregnancy test. He hasn't mentioned doing the Prometrium this time around but he could always tell me to get in when I go in on Thursday. We shall see. So far, my Letrazole price didn't go up even when the increased pills. I was able to get the patches at the same pharmacy for $90 but they would have to order it and I wasn't going to make the drive twice. I was able to get them at Meijer for $111 so I was willing to spend a little extra money to have them yesterday versus making the 30 minute drive to get it later. The Ovidrel shot was ordered today and is expected to arrive by next Wednesday. It was $21 but they have stopped doing free shipping so they tacked on $10 for that. Still better than the $95 I should have been paying!

I will again be doing a report of how everything is going... I feel it is not only helpful for me so I can let out my feelings or thoughts but it is also helpful to others. I have tried to research the medications that my doctor has prescribed for this fertility journey but I have had no luck finding anything other than medical reports, which are great, don't get me wrong BUT I would have liked to have a "real life" account of what happened so I knew when I could potentially expect. No luck. So hopefully in your search, you stumble upon me and it helps :-)