It's been an interesting month since my last post. Well six weeks I guess.

First of all, it looks like the Femara did work... just slowly! lol I started my period on Day 39, which means I might have ovulated on the Femara, just on Day 25. I went in to see Dr. Thurston on Day 3 after I started my period, and there was an 18mm cyst on my fallopian tube. Or so he thought. It had never been there before. So when I got my Day 14 ultrasound (actually Day 13 this cycle), it was completely gone. So he thinks it may have been a residual cyst.

During that same ultrasound he only saw small follicles, and didn't think the increased dose was working, but wanted to see me back in 5 days. So I went back on Day 19 for another ultrasound. I had a 14mm follicle. He still was skeptical and gave me a prescription for Femara for my next cycle, along with a prescription for follistim (injectables, ugh!).

Well I've been doing ovulation predictor tests, and yesterday, on Day 22, I got a positive! So I definitely think that the Femara is working, just not quickly. I'll have to discuss this with Dr. Thurston at my next appointment.

On a side note, I call the pharmacy about the follistim... um, it's $92 per injection, and I'd have to have 10 injections! YIKES!! I don't expect insurance to cover any of it, so if we can avoid that extra $1,000, that would be nice! lol

So that's the latest. No baby yet, but plenty of people around me are. Which is good and bad. I'm trying to take it all in stride.

Well I've got good news and I've got bad news.

The good news - the Femara worked!
The bad news - it didn't work well enough!

Yep, I went in Monday for my Day 14 sonogram and there were several small follicles, but no big juicy one. The largest was only 8 mm, and we want it to be around 18-20 mm for fertilization. Now, it's possible that it can still grow, and I'll be doing OPK's starting Friday. But this month looks like it's not going to happen.

Next step... Femara Round 2! I have a prescription for a higher dose of Femara for next month. Dr. Thurston seems pretty confident that the higher dose will give my follicles an extra kick in the pants. Let's hope so!

We decided to jump back in. Hindsight, maybe we should have waited another couple of weeks, but I'll get to that in a minute.

I went back to the doctor today... but this time it's a different doctor, same practice though. Dr. Thurston is one of the doctor's I saw when he was on-call one weekend that I needed a sonogram.

So I went in today, we talked about my history, and actually talked about some options that hadn't been discussed before. He did a sonogram and everything looks clear, so I have a prescription for Femera this time instead of Clomid.

I go back in about 11 days. Monday, March 9th. Which happens to be the day that Jack has his LapBand surgery! lol How's that for timing??? So Jack has surgery at 7:00 AM, and then I have a sonogram at 3:30 PM. Different hospitals, of course! Jack has to stay at the hospital overnight, so it will be fine. I'd be more worried if it was outpatient surgery and I had to get him home and take care of him that day.

So this should be interesting. I'm hoping I don't ovulate on Day 14 this month!! lol Normally I ovulate around Day 17-18 on the Clomid, so we'll see what happens with the Femera.

Let's see where this pony takes us!

Friday I went in for my Day 12 ultrasound... I think it was actually Day 14 since I got started on the Clomid a little late. There was no dominant follicle, but there were a few small ones. So I was scheduled to go back today, Monday.

Today... no follicle. So unless he just didn't see it, it looks like the Clomid didn't work this month. It's really disappointing. Beyond disappointing actually.

So next week I'll have bloodwork done to check my Progesterone level and see if I ovulated but we didn't see it somehow. If it's positive, then I'll menstruate on my own. If not then I'll be on progesterone to start my period.

Where do we go from here? That's been the big question.

Dr. Richards talked a little about moving to injectible meds, which would be a lot more expensive... like $1,000 just for the drugs. But they are more reliable, according to him.

I almost feel like we should take a couple of months off. I need to get my blood pressure under control... it's been consistently high. Plus I could use the time to lose some weight. We're also debating about changing doctors when we go back. Not that we don't like Dr. Richards... I LOVE him! But he's very conservative and cautious in his approach. I feel like we need to be a little more aggressive. So we're thinking maybe one of the doctors we saw on call on a weekend might fit a little better.

I don't know... it's all just talk right now. We have time to think about it, I mean we have to actually finish this cycle, right?

Just trying to think about things objectively and make some decisions. We'll see where it goes.

On the blood pressure note though, Dr. Richards switched me to a different medication on Friday. He was a touch upset that I didn't get it filled this weekend so he could see if it was working today! Needless to say I went to the pharmacy on the way home, got it, took it, and then a few hours later took my blood pressure. Holy cow! It definitely worked!! I went from 154/115 this afternoon at my appointment to 126/74 this evening! WOW! And YAY! Because that will help us avoid a lot of problems later when I do get pregnant.

*sigh* Tomorrow is another day, right?

lol... that's what it feels like each month... we go all the way back to the beginning and begin again, and again, and again! lol I feel like I should just copy and paste from previous posts!

So I went to Dr. Richards today for my checkup and go ahead for this cycle. Basically he does an ultrasound to make sure there's no lingering cysts. I got the all clear, so I'm starting (again) the Clomid today.

One change this cycle is the Estrogen patch. My uterine lining was borderline too thin for implantation, so the patch should help with that.

We talked about what happened last cycle (I really need to call them cycles instead of months, but more on that later). Dr. Richards thinks that we missed the ovulation by a day. Basically, we should have done the IUI earlier. I think from here on out we're going to take a "Sperm wait for the egg" approach. Meaning that we do the IUI close to, but before we anticipate ovulation so that the sperm are sitting there waiting for the egg to be released. That's fine with me! From what I've read, that approach can yield a better chance of having a girl. So we'll see! I'll be happy with either to be completely honest. :o)

One of the things I've been doing lately is confusing my days/dates. lol Someone will ask what today's date is and I want to tell them Day 7.... as in CYCLE day 7! lol And my cycles are spanning across months, so it gets confusing to say last month, when I mean last cycle. So I really need to do a better job of keeping my terminology straight!

Anyway, that's about it. I was really bummed about not having an "announcement" for Christmas, but maybe we'll have one for Martin Luther King Jr's birthday? lol Because I don't want to have to wait for Valentine's Day!! :o)

Monday I went for my bloodwork and got the results of the Progesterone test on Wednesday. The nurse said "It's really good! Dr. Richards was surprised!" Cool! What was the number? 8. Which is good, but I had to laugh because it's been over 10 before! lol

So I got my hopes up. I mean, we've had so many people praying for us, and with the Christmas next week, I just really thought "Hey, maybe this is my month!"

Well it's not. Saturday morning, there was the evidence. I was devastated. Poor Jack, he didn't know what to do. I just laid in bed bawling my eyes out and couldn't stop. I felt so stupid, but I couldn't help it. All day I'd tear up at the drop of a hat. Ugh! So frustrating, but I just needed to cry. I heard a preacher say once that crying is cleansing, like laughing is healing. I believe that.

So what now? I don't know, honestly. I'm torn between doing another cycle, or waiting a couple of months. Because I'm so discouraged right now, part of me is saying why do I want to put myself (and Jack) through that again? But I want this to happen so much that another part is saying I don't want to put it off.

I'll probably go see Dr. Richards on Tuesday and talk to him about some options. Last month we talked about the possibility of raising my dosage of Clomid. I think this next cycle I want to do that (whether it's this month or another month). Also, Dr. Thurston, one of the on-call docs that I saw, suggested I ask about adding Estrogen after the Clomid, so I want to talk to him about how that would help.

*Sigh*

I went yesterday morning for the progesterone test. Called the doctor's office today to see if they had the results. Nope. Another day to wait.

I'm pretty confident that it will be positive for ovulation. The real test is still another week away. I'm not so sure about that one.

I just felt the need to post this....
I LOVE my doctor's office! My doc is fabulous (Dr. James Richards), and his nurses are amazing! But I have to say that even his colleagues have been awesome! I know they say that when you go in to delivery you never know which doctor you'll get (based on who is on call), but I can honestly say that I would love to have any of those doctors with me.

So if you're in the Dallas area, check out Walnut Hill OBGYN Associates. They deliver at Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas. And, obviously, they do fertility stuff too! lol

2ww. That's what they call it on the message boards. It's the time between ovulation and menstruation. Wow that sounds really clinical! But it is what it is. It's the two week wait between the window of opportunity for conception, and the time when you find out if it worked. And that's where we are... right now.

Another round of Clomid this time, some anxiety about it (since we missed the window last cycle), and a lot of juggling as it turned out!

I went to see Dr. Richards on Monday, December 1 for my Day 12 ultrasound. I had a nice little follicle (again, just one) that measured about 11mm. Not big enough, so we needed to give it some time to cook some more.

On Thursday, December 4 I went in again, this time it was Dr. Richards' son... the other Dr. Richards! lol... who did my ultrasound. Talk about a Doogie Howser moment! The-little-follicle-that-could had grown to about 16mm. Good, but not good enough. Back in the oven little follicle.

This meant that I needed to go in on Saturday to measure again (here's where the juggling came in!). On Saturday I'd see the on-call doctor, which turned out to be Dr. Jeffrey Thurston (sidenote: very neat guy, very personable, and very, very funny! I seriously considered switching to him after that appointment!), but we weren't sure when because he was fitting me in between deliveries and rounds. But what really made it complicated was that I had a craft show that day too! So my sister in law manned my booth while I went to get the new measurements (thank you again, Summer!). So I called the after hours number Saturday morning, got my marching orders and showed up at the hospital (they have an OB office there in addition to the regular office I usually go to). I have to say again, Dr. Thurston was a HOOT! Great bedside manner, I loved him! Anyway... (lol)... the follicle was now 19mm, nice and ripe and ready to go! The next step would be the HCG shot to induce ovulation. However, the follicle was cloudy on the ultrasound, so Dr. Thurston felt like I was in the process of or had just ovulated, so we skipped the shot (yay!). He scheduled me for the insemenation (IUI) on Sunday, gave us the paperwork, called the ARTS program, and sent us on our merry way.

Now, the ARTS program was supposed to call and schedule us to come in on Sunday. By 3:00 I hadn't heard anything and kind of started freaking out. I called the ARTS office, left a voicemail. I called my doctor's after hours number, left a voicemail. The on-call nurse called me back and said the ARTS office was probably already closed for the day. Great! What do we do now? Call them first thing Sunday morning. They typically take the sample at 9:00 AM and you go back around 11:00 AM (which explains why they were probably gone by 12:30 when Dr. Thurston called to schedule me! But I digress...). I asked what the chances were of them turning us away if we just showed up at 9:00... not sure, but it's worth a try. So that's what we did.

Sunday morning I called the ARTS office at 8:00 AM. Voicemail. Great. Left a message and then we got in the car and headed to the hospital, hoping and praying they'd agree to see us without an official appointment. We were about 1/2 way there when my phone rang... it was the ARTS nurse... if we had the paperwork they'd see us! Yay! We got there, Jack did his thing, and then I called the on-call nurse from my doctor's office to schedule the on-call doctor to come and do the IUI. Today's on-call doc was Dr. Bertrand, who happens to be the doctor who did my first IUI! We joked that I'm destined to have a John David (his name) instead of a James Kyle (Dr. Richards' name!).

We headed to La Madeline's for some breakfast.

The nurse called back... Dr. Bertrand wanted to push it back to 12:00 noon so he could go to church (we were supposed to pick up the sample at 10:45 AM). She tried calling ARTS to no avail, so the doc skipped church and was going to meet us at 11:00 AM at the hospital.

We picked up the sample, headed to the office, and met up with Dr. Bertrand. We got settled in the room, he came in, asked a few questions, did the insemenation procedure, told me to lay there for about 30 minutes, best of luck and good wishes, and when we left through the side door it would lock behind us.

And that was it. And now we wait. And wait. And wait. The waiting is the hardest part!

Today was my Day 12 (actually Day 13) ultrasound with Dr. Richards. I have one follicle, but it's small, only 11mm. I'm scheduled to go back on Thursday and see the other Dr. Richards (my doctor's son) for another ultrasound to see how much it has grown. So we'll see where that leads.

Originally I was going to skip November and December because of the holidays and family stuff, but after the disappointment last month I just felt like I should try one more time this year. I'm just really hoping and praying that this is going to be my month!

I've been bad about keeping up with things... meant to blog this weekend and didn't, so here's two updates in one.

I went to Dr. Richards on Friday for my Day 12 ultrasound to measure the follicle (if there was one!). I had one (and only one!), and it was about 14mm. We want it to be 18mm, so I got sent home with instructions to do Ovulation Predictor Kit (OPK) tests. If it turned positive, call and schedule the IUI. If not, come back on Tuesday (Day 15) for another ultrasound.

Well, nothing happened over the weekend (that I could tell), so I went in today for the ultrasound. You're not going to believe this.... It was GONE!! He couldn't find the follicle. I mean, a 14mm follicle doesn't just disappear! He said it's possible that I could have ovulated and missed it (in which case I will be seriously PISSED).

So I'm supposed to keep doing the OPK for a few days in case HE just missed it on the ultrasound, and if no positive, then I'll go in early next week for blood work to see if I have an elevated Progesterone level. If it's elevated then I ovulated and missed it. If not, then the Clomid didn't make me ovulate this month. But I just find it very strange that a good size follicle, almost fully matured, would just vanish!

Call Sherlock! It's the case of the missing follicle!!

So I have the all clear from the doctor, and I'm starting Prometrium this week to re-start my cycle. I'll take it for 12 days, then start my period within a few days, then do Clomid on days 3-7. I'll go in for a sonogram on Day 12, and then we'll see where we go from there.

Jack went to the urologist. Turns out he has low testosterone. He re-did his semen analysis on Saturday, and we'll find out those test results this week. Once the test results are back he'll meet with the Urologist to decide how to treat the low testosterone. Any suggestions?? lol

Other than that, we're just plugging away!

Well, it's been a few months since I posted. I go back and forth between wanting to be public with what we're doing and keeping it a more personal journey. But ultimately I think this is a good forum for expressing myself. And maybe if I say it here, Jack won't get so tired of hearing about it at home! lol

So my last post basically said that we were investigating adoption. After that we decided to try the Clomid one more time. Well, I did Clomid that month, and OMG.... it worked! Not worked like I got pregnant worked, but I actually ovulated! Holy cow! I was using the ClearPlan Fertility Monitor just to see if I ever got an elevated or peak signal and I did! I was SOOOO excited that morning! lol Jack truly thought I had lost it!

So in June we did Clomid, I ovulated, and no pregnant.
In July we did Clomid, I ovulated, and no pregnant.

During this time I was charting my temps and watching my cervical mucus (as per the book Taking Charge of Your Fertility). I never did experience the egg white cervical mucus that is described, or anything close to it.

Also during this time, I had been seeing my regular gynocologist. He had an interest in infertility, but wasn't exactly a specialist. And his nurse... geez. I love her to death, she is so sweet, but she knew nothing about what I was looking for from an infertility standpoint.

So with all of this, I made a decision. Well WE made a decision, Jack and me. We decided to go back to where we started.... Dr. Richards. He's not a Reproductive Endocrinologist, but he is a fertility specialist.

I saw Dr. Richards in August, and even though I was a little bit past the standard Clomid window (cycle days 3-7 or 5-9), we went ahead with the prescription and Intrauterine Insemination (IUI). I took the Clomid for five days, then went in for a sonogram five days after the last pill. The sonogram showed one good follicle on my left ovary, which was great! Enough stimulation, but not too much!! It was still a little small, so he wanted to let it grow some more over the weekend (the sonogram was on a Friday), and then I was to go in Monday for a follow up sonogram and then the HSG shot to induce ovulation. The plan was that I would then have the IUI procedure on that Tuesday.

Well of course my body can't cooperate! lol I felt discomfort on my left side that Sunday, indicating that I was ovulating. I took an Ovulation Predictor Kit test and sure enough, it was positive! Monday morning I called Dr. Richards' office to inform them of the change of plans... I'd be needing the IUI a day early! Dr. Richards was actually out that day, but one of his partners, Dr. Bertrand would do the procedure.

I was at work waiting for a call back to tell me when and where to go. The nurse finally called back and told me to go to the ARTS lab at Presbyterian Hospital, that I had an appointment at 10:45 AM. Well it was 10:00 when she called! I called Jack (who had been put on alert!), and he came to pick me up from the office and we headed to the hospital. Thankfully downtown wasn't congested and we got there at 10:50! Jack went in and provided the deposit and we went to have lunch and hang out at Borders until the sample was ready.

We went back at 1:30 PM to pick up the sample.... "the boys!" lol Then headed across the street to see Dr. Bertrand. After a few, um, mishaps (the air conditioning wasn't on in the exam room, the motor on the table wouldn't work, some tools were missing, etc. lol) the boys were safely and successfully deposited! Yay!

Fast forward a week.... I had bloodwork done and my progesterone was 10.2, which is the highest it's ever been! Before I started the metformin, my progesterone would be less than 1.0, which means I did NOT ovulate, so the Clomid wasn't working. June was the first month of Clomid and Metformin, and my progesterone was 8.1, which confirmed that I did actually ovulate. July my progesterone was 5.3, so I ovulated but not really good. In reality, had I gotten pregnant either of those times I most likely would have miscarried because they want it to be over 10 to be able to sustain a pregnancy. So this was good news... it was the highest it had ever been, and was definitely high enough to avoid a miscarriage. Yay!

Fast forward another week.... cramping... not yay.... bleeding... really not yay. So in a nutshell.... all that and it didn't work. Bummer.

So I went in yesterday to see Dr. Richards, for a follow up sonogram before starting another round of Clomid, just to make sure there were no lingering cysts or follicles. Guess what, I still had a follicle hanging around. So we're going to give it a couple of weeks to see if it will go away on it's own.

At the same time, we have a new challenge.... the lab did a report on the quality and quantity of Jack's sperm. When this test/report was done three years ago, before Jack's accident, he had 156 million sperm! Which is awesome! However last month, his sperm count was only 3 million. Quite a drop! So Jack is going to go see a Urologist next week to see if they can figure out why it dropped so considerably.

So that's it! If you're still reading this.... thanks! lol I know it's a lot, but I really do want to chronicle this time and part of our lives, so I had some catching up to do! I won't wait so long for the next one! :o)

~Heather

So what's next? Lately we've been talking about adoption. And it seems like everywhere I go, everyone I talk to has an adoption story. It's all around us, sometimes right in our face. Maybe God's trying to tell us something. Hmmm.... :)

I've been looking and reading and trying to get answers to some questions we have about the process, the cost, the way things work. Lots of information out there.

So we start... or rather continue... on our journey. We'll get there someday.

Sorry I haven't updated in forever! I finished a round of Provera, started my period last week and then started Clomid on Saturday. Today is day 5.... last dose of Clomid for this cycle. We should know in about 3 weeks if it worked!

Happy Thanksgiving!
~Heather

Jack and I went to see Dr. Atkins yesterday. He jinxed me last time I was in his office by saying I’d be pregnant by December! (At that time I had had three regular periods, but haven’t had a single one since then!) So we talked Clomid. He told us about the side effects, the risk of multiples, etc. After that he did a regular exam, a pap, and gave me two prescriptions. One is for Provera, which will get a period started for me. That way we know when to start counting day one of my cycle. The other is for Clomid. I’ll take five doses of Clomid starting on day 5 of my cycle. Then on day 21 he’ll do bloodwork. If I have an elevated progesterone level, that means I ovulated, and the Clomid worked! If not, then we increase the dosage next month. Day 30 I’ll take a pregnancy test if I haven’t started another period, and we’ll just go from there!

I really, really like Dr. Atkins. He’s young, cool, very personable, and isn’t offended when I start a sentence with “I read on the internet that….” :o)

So here’s hoping for lots and lots of baby dust!!
~Heather

Can we call a do- over? :o)

For anyone who still might watch this blog, yes, I'm still here. It's been one heck of a year!

November 3rd, 2005 Jack was in a major motorcycle accident and almost lost his right leg. After two months in the hospital, sixteen surgeries, 11 months of physical therapy, one wheelchair, one pair of crutches, and now two canes (yes, I broke the first one!).... we are starting BACK on the road to starting a family!

Back in May I changed doctors. I'm working a lot closer to home now, so Dr. Richards is kind of far for me to go. My new gynocologist is Dr. Baron Atkins. Yes, I'm seeing Dr. Atkins! lol (You should have seen my mom's face the first time I told her THAT one!) He is awesome! Totally cool, young, and completely enthusiastic for us.

When I saw him in May, he did the typical exam and bloodwork. Well guess what - the bloodwork showed that I had a high TSH level (that's thyroid!). So he sent me to my primary doctor to discuss that. Well, after fighting with my primary doctor about whether I really needed it or not (hello! We've been discussing all the symptoms and you've been treating them all separately!)... he finally prescribed thyroid medicine.

About ten days later, I had a period! (I should insert some sort of fireworks picture here!) It was the first time I had a "natural" period in, um, like ten years people!! For three months I had regular periods. Granted they were short, but they were PERIODS!! So I went back to see Dr. Atkins in August and say hey doc, it's working! He says great! You'll be preggo by Christmas, see you then! Guess what.... no period since then! Just my luck.

So now, we're kind of back to square one. Well really it's more like square two and a half. I'm going back to Dr. Atkins for my pap, etc. and he'll probably start me on Clomid or something. We'll see.

But the big news is... we're back on the horse!
~Heather

LOL, sorry I couldn't resist the title!

Last Thursday I went to see the endocrinologist. They confirmed that I'm insulin resistant and officially diagnosed Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS). I've started on Metformin/Glucophage. This should help my body process insulin correctly. Also, side effects of the medicine include weight loss and increased/enhanced fertility. So I guess I'm taking care of two birds with one stone! :o)

The endocrinologist said that once I get pregnant I'll have to switch over to insulin during the pregnancy and as long as I breastfeed, so they taught me how to test my blood sugar (yes, I "get" to prick my finger twice a day!) and I'm tracking that each day. I've got goals of where my blood sugar should be two hours after a meal and first thing in the morning (fasting). I also met with a dietician and talked about ways that I can change my diet to help with the PCOS/insulin resistance.

So all in all, it was good, it was productive, and hopefully this medicine will help so that we don't have to get into the heavy hitting fertility treatments!

Jack is being wonderful through all of this! He even let me buy a few baby things!!! lol And we're starting to work on combining our offices so that the middle bedroom can eventually be a nursery. I know that's been the big question... who was going to give up their office? lol Well I think the long term plan is to put a storage shed in the back yard and then Jack would convert part of the garage to his office/library. But for now, we're going to split my office and see how that works.

That's it for now. I'll be sure to update more often, I promise! :o)
~Heather

Why? Because I started my period today! I guess it's good, but does it mean that I'm ovulating now? Or at least this month? Also, it's only been 20 days from the start of my last period... usually your cycle is 28 days. So what does that mean? I'm just so confused and have so many questions! UGH!!!

But the good news is that my endocrinology appointment is this Thursday. Oh yeah, and I turn 28 on Tuesday!

Here's to another week!
~Heather

My endocrinology appointment has been moved up! I'm probably going to be traveling after Thanksgiving, so I called and they moved me into a cancellation for - NEXT WEEK!! Woo hoo!! I was not happy about having to wait another six weeks!! (Have I mentioned my lack of patience? :o)

So my endocrinology appointment is now October 27th.
~Heather

Just popping in for a (hopefully) quick update.

Talked to the nurse at Dr. Richards' office today. Jack's swimmers are just fine. No problems there. They are waiting for my HSG tests to come back... should be later this week... but the radiologist told me everything looked great there.

So here came my next question.... now what?

Well, I go see the endocrinologist. Which sucks. Totally. Because my endocrinologist appointment isn't until after Thanksgiving. UGH!! I am SOOO not patient. I mean, that's like SIX weeks away!!! I think I might call them and see if they've had any cancellations. Supposedly I'm on the cancellation list, but I just want to make sure.

My big burning question (that I didn't ask!) is do I have eggs that just aren't being released? I know that I'm not releasing eggs because I don't have a period. But are there any there at all? Are they just sitting there not getting the signal to be released? If so, then there's a shot that will trigger them to release. But again... I don' t know if that's an option.

Maybe I'll call Dr. Richard's nurse tomorrow and ask. The radiologist said she can't tell that on her X-ray thing, that they have to do a sonogram to tell if there are any follicles, eggs, and sizes/stages. Maybe we can do that in the next six weeks. Who knows.

Today's been a rough day. I don't know why, but all of this stuff has just really been on my mind today. I've been so busy with work, but my mind keeps going back over and over again thinking about our situation. Wondering if it will ever happen for us (see, I told you I'm not a patient person!). It's a very, very frustrating place to be. Ok, stopping there... don't want to start crying again.

So much for quick! lol
~Heather

Jack and I picked up a copy of D Magazine this weekend while we were picking up my antibiotice before my HSG.... just so happened to be the "Best Doctors" issue. Guess who was in there.... my Gyno/fertility doctor - Dr. Richards!

As a side note, almost all of his colleagues at Walnut Hill were in there too! Congrats!!

I have to say, I was really nervous about getting this HSG thing done, but the radiologist and her assistant were AWESOME!!

So my appointment was at 2:30 pm, so I got there about 2:00 pm. They told me to get there 15 minutes early for paperwork stuff, and I'm so glad I was earlier than that. First off, they are renovating the Women's Diagnostic Center, so the front desk and admissions area was in the lobby, but it was so cool, I checked in at the front desk and they gave me this little pager thing like you get at restaurants! When it buzzed, they were ready for me... that was cool! (Yes, I'm easily amused!)

So I go to the admissions area and they're putting all of my info in... well they're also upgrading to a new computer system... major problems there! In fact, funny story, they put in my address, and it pulled up the name of the lady who USED to live in this house!!

I FINALLY get through admissions and head back to the secondary waiting room, before I sit down the assistant was there to get me. We go back to this room with a long table (pillow and sheet laid out on it) and a big machine behind it. So I change into a hospital gown with my butt exposed (sorry mom!), and hop up on the table. I talk to the assistant for a while, she goes and gets the radiologist, and then we're ready to start. I laid down, she put this catheter thing in and blows up the balloon.... OUCH!! It hurt just for a second and then all I felt was some pressure. I could see the video screen thing from where I was laying and she took 5 or 6 photos. It was weird seeing my insides! lol But they looked just like they should. I saw my uterus and two ovaries and the dye flowing through my fallopian tubes! So everything is good. I'm ok... at least in that sense.

It'll take a week or so for my doctor to get the results back and then we will decide where to go from there.

As a side note, the radiologist said that the lubricant in the dye actually HELPS people get pregnant.... hmmm.... where's Jack?????? :o)
~Heather

I've been reading this book every night - well not the WHOLE book every night, just a few pages each night - it's written by one of my doctor's colleagues, Dr. Jeffrey Thurston and it's called 1000 Questions About Your Pregnancy. There is a lot of good information in there! I've definitely learned a lot!! Jack and I have had some interesting conversations!! :o) I highly recommend it to anyone who is expecting or is planning on expecting.

Next up, What to Expect When You're Expecting. Either that or a fertility book. Who knows. :o)

Quick Update - Jack did his test on Wednesday morning. Not sure if the doc will call with the results, or wait until after my HSG. I'm still on for Monday afternoon. We'll see what happens!

Ugh, I don't think I've ever had a period this heavy!! At least I don't have bad cramps! Yes, that's my silver lining!! lol

I have my HSG thingy on Monday afternoon. I should know right away if everything is ok since it's a "live" X-ray. I've got to pick up an antibiotic to take the day before, day of and day after the procedure.

Jack has his appointment in the morning. Not sure how long those results take.

Other than that, we're just waiting. Can you tell I'm a bit impatient?!?! lol
~Heather

Called today and set my appointment for an HSG (that's what the nurse called it and it sounds better than "hystero-something" like I called it!). I'll be having that done on Monday, October 10th. It just makes sure that my fallopian tubes are open and there aren't any blockages.

Jack has his "deposit" appointment set for Wednesday morning. He's thrilled, let me tell you! lol (NOT!!)
~Heather

Well, the Prometrium worked. I started my period today (yes, I know you REALLY wanted to know that! lol). So tomorrow (Monday) I call the doctor's office, report the news, and schedule my hystero-whatever-gram x-ray thingy.

Feeling good... feeling optomistic. A good friend called this weekend to tell me that she's pregnant. I'm so thrilled for her! She and I have known each other all of our lives, so it's a great thing thinking that our children might be able to grow up together as well.
~Heather

Jack and I were on our way back from running some errands today and we passed by a Babies R Us store. And we stopped! Are we nuts?!?!

It was interesting. We talked alot about what we like, what we don't like, what we want, and what we can live without. Of course Jack had to get all of the Elmo's singing. I think Jack is looking forward to having more toys to play with! lol

Oh, and we talked about names too. That's always been something I've thought about. I have this huge list. Every time I've tried to talk to Jack about it I kind of get this "Yeah, whatever" attitude. But tonight at Babies R Us, all of the sudden he stopped, looked at me and said "____" (insert name in the blank). I said, "What?" He said "____, I really like that name." (I'm not going to post the name here because, well, that's just proving I'm crazy!! lol Plus, I'm not sure I want to give away the names we're considering... but that's a whole other topic for a whole other post.)

So anyway, it was an interesting, and really, really cool and fun time for me. And I think Jack enjoyed it too! :o) Oh yeah, we may have picked out a crib too! lol No, we're not pregnant yet, and yes, I know.... I'm crazy!
~Heather

For the pills at least. Today is my last day to take the Prometrium. Hopefully that means I'll be PMSing for the next week (pray for Jack!) and then I'll go in for the hystero-something-gram.

Jack still hasn't gone in for his part. Hopefully he can do that next week. We're not in a complete rush because my part right now is taking some time.

Yesterday was Jack's birthday. He's the big three-five! We went out for a nice dinner at BD's Mongolian Barbeque, which was interrupted once by the power going out in the restaurant, and then dessert at Capistrano's. I really do think that Chocolate Bag will help our efforts to start a family... chocolate usually does, right? :o)

On Thursday, September 15 we had our first meeting with Dr. James Richards with Walnut Hill OBGYN Associates. There are about six OBGYN in their practice and all of them are also fertility specialists. I really feel comfortable with Dr. Richards. He delivers at Presbyterian Hospital, which is right across the street from his office.

So we started talking about our options and what to try, etc. We are starting with all of the tests, upon tests, upon tests... ok not really, but that's what it feels like. Here's the rundown of tests:

• I had bloodwork done that day
• Jack has his "job" to do at the lab
• I have a prescription for Prometrium that I'm supposed to take for 12 days (started that on Sunday, September 18).
• Once I finish the 12 days of Prometrium, I should start a period that will "clean out" my uterus.
• On the first day of that period I have to call the office and schedule a Hysterosalpingogram for after the period is over
• When the period is over, I'll have the Hyesterosalpingogram where they inject dye into my uterus and watch it flow through my fallopian tubes. This will tell if there are any blockages that we need to be concerned about

I also have an appointment with an endocrinologist, Dr. Bressler, in November - that was the first available appointment for new patients. Dr. Richards referred me to him to check me out for PCOS and insulin resistance. I know that I've had cysts on my ovaries in the past, and that is a cause of infertility, so we're going to get that checked out. Plus I have a family history of diabetes, and have had some borderline glucose results in bloodwork. Also, Dr. Richards thinks that it would be beneficial for me to get on Glucophage. Glucophage helps with glucose levels, but also has side effects of weight loss and increased fertility.

Our next steps after we know that the testing is ok, and see if the Glucophage helps, then we'll look at other options such as Clomid, etc. So just pray that the Glucophage will work! Insurance will cover Glucophage if it's prescribed by the Endocrinologist, but not from the OBGYN. Oh yeah, that's the other thing... Insurance will cover any testing, but not any treatment. So that's why we're trying to do all of the testing first, so we don't pay for any treatments that aren't necessary.

So that's the synopsis of where we are and what we know. I'll update once we know more... which will probably be next week sometime.

~Heather

So Jack and I have decided to take the plunge and start a family. Unfortunately we aren't able to do it by ourselves and have to enlist the assistance of a professional. So this blog is for my friends and family who want to keep up with where we are in the process of trying to get pregnant. Once we are pregnant, it will continue as our pregnancy blog! :o)