Whoaaaaaaaaa Nelly!

Soooo, today was crazy. Actually that would be an understatement. Let me back up a bit.

On Saturday I was expecting AF to arrive but she decided to be fashionably late and show up on Sunday instead. I can deal with being one day off. So I called my IVF nurse and let them know. But for whatever reason I didn't hear from them until today which is unusual. So of course I was a bit panicky that the reason they hadn't called me back is that I left the wrong number so I left another message.

When I heard back from them the RN told me that my protocol would be 7 weeks in length with retrieval in the first full week of July. And here is where things got a bit messy. You see July is not a good time for me as I review grants which are due the day of my estimated transfer. The protocol told to me back in January was totally different and I had planned everything around it. So when I heard a different protocol I started shaking and crying on the phone. The RN was wonderful and figured out that what was told to me was the micro-dose lupron protocol without BCPs. My RE just wanted to include BCP to ensure I did not have a cyst. So the RN started asking me about my last two cycles and said that we might be able to just skip the BCP and jump to stimming. But that would mean I would start stimming this Wednesday. At first I thought, "Great, let’s just get right to it," and told her to go ahead. But then when I hung up the phone and talked to Hammer he was hesitant and reminded me that I would not be able to do accupunture. He made a valid point that since this was our last cycle that we needed to have no regrets.

But then the pharmacy called and I had to hang up with Hammer to answer their call. At first I started to give them all my information and then I stopped and asked if I could call them back. I then called the RN and told her about our misgivings but she is so darn convincing. She told me to take 5-10 minutes to talk to Hammer about it and then call me back. But I couldn’t get a hold of Hammer and the pharmacy needed to get the order in so in a moment of weakness I agreed to do it again, completely forgetting about what Hammer and I talked about, I even scheduled an u/s for today to see if I had any cysts! I called the pharmacy back who scheduled to deliver my micro-dose lupron to the clinic. So pending any cysts, all was set for retrieval on May 4th and a transfer on May 10th or so I thought.

I had to leave work a few minutes early to make it to the u/s but on the way I started to have strong misgivings. I realized that if we went forward with this I would have regrets because I wouldn’t have been able to do acupuncture like I wanted and this was all moving so fast which was stressful. Hammer and I had decided that since this was our last cycle we didn’t want to have any regrets and here I was driving to an appointment that had me riddled with regret.

So as I sat there, on the exam table, pantless in my paper frock, waiting for my RE to come in I made a decision. When he came in I told him I was ‘chickening out’ and explained about how this was so fast and that there were preparations that we wouldn’t be able to do and that would leave us with regrets if it didn’t work. And really even if we did the u/s and he found a cyst we’d still have to do the long version anyway so maybe we should just stick with the original plan which is less stressful and without regret and with that I slapped my legs in a playful way and said, “And we need this to work!” And my RE’s response was, “Dammit, that’s right!”

So I think my clinic RNs must believe I’m completely neurotic but I feel much better and appreciate that at least my RE agrees that we need to do everything we can to make this cycle work. So today I should get my revised schedule from the IVF RN. I will start my BCP tomorrow which will run from 5/25-6/14; I’ll only take ~3 day of lupron before starting stims which means it’s about 1-1 ½ weeks shorter than the long lupron cycle. I’ll update my IVF schedule on the right bar after I get my official schedule.

Anticipation

2 weeks and 2 days...the anticipation is beginning to rise.

I keep having the Car.ly Sim.on song in my head, “Anticipation.”

We can never know about the days to come
But we think about them anyway, yay
And I wonder if I'm really with you now
Or just chasin' after some finer day

Anticipation, anticipation
Is makin' me late
Is keepin' me waitin'

The lyrics kind of apply here…in almost 2 more weeks our final IVF will begin. And while I do not know about the days to come I feel hope creeping up again. Please let the third time be the charm!

One

Last Thursday my IVF countdown showed this:



One month away. At this point, it could not come fast enough. I am about to start my second to last period before IVF. These last few weeks have been crazy and difficult. Literally everyone I know is expecting. At work one of my coworkers who has an 18 month old just announce she is expecting...twins, natural twins. On top of three other pregnancy announcements. I have never felt more left behind than ever before.

Last week as my ticker clicked down to the one month mark and I was days away from my second to last period before IVF I had a total crying meltdown. I haven't had one of those in a very, very long time. I cried because this nearly four year long journey has literally taken it's toll on me. I'm so tired both physically and emotionally, but especially emotionally. When Hammer stated that he only wanted to try IVF one more time I was sad thinking about the what-ifs of not putting a cap on attempts. But now as our last cycle looms before us it's almost a relief that no matter what happens change will come.

I have continued to see our chiropractor and while we haven't experienced pregnancy (as they were so convinced that this would be the cure) I have had some other relief from pain. As I was lying there on the table he told me that I have an energy about me, that he could sense something was going to happen. Later that same week I had a coworker tell me a very similar thing. I think maybe it's because June will be that turning point for us. Either we get pregnant or we don't and we move forward for the first time in four years. We've been stuck on this infertility treatment detour for way to long. I've been mentally chewing on several options which I think is good because that way I have a healthy focus on an alternate future if things don't go well. Part of that future involves a possible job promotion and going back to school which I'm going to go for regardless of IVF outcome. Here are my options:

A. Apply for promotion & get it, get prego, work until due date, be a SAHM, go back to school in a year
B. Apply for promotion & don't get it, get prego, work until due date, be a SAHM, go back to school in a year
C. Apply for promotion & get it, not prego, go back to school for prerequisites, quit job and get PT graduate assistant job to go back to school full time
D. Apply for promotion & don't get it, not prego, quit job and get PT graduate assistant job to go back to school full time

So clearly there is change on the horizon. I didn't want to get into all the boring details but it's a summary. I have wanted to go back to school for some time but because of having to stay at my job for retirement reasons (state retirement plan) for at least five years AND it being nearly impossible to try to do my job (which includes travel), plus treatments, plus school - we focused on job &; treatments first. I think throwing myself into school for a new career will help with the long adoption wait time as well, which is our baby plan B. I know that if this cycle does not work I will need some time to mourn and I will do that. But I also needed to know that if an alternate future is a head of us that I have a focus and a hope waiting and that the world will not end in June.

On a side note, my ex-friend became an issue last week as well. Our bible study had lost a few members from people moving out of state and so our leader when to a bible study meeting that was to help people get connected into a group. Apparently the ex-friend was there and was looking for a group to join. Unbeknownst to our leader, she had spoke to him about joining. Later that day we were hanging out with our leader (R) and his wife (J), who happen to be the other couple in our group dealing with infertility. He mentioned who he had spoken to and that they were likely to join. I wasn't sure what to say because I don't want to be that person who bad-mouths about other people. But later in the conversation with J, she asked about ex-friend because they knew we were 'friends' with them and if ex-friend was nice etc. I ended up telling her about the issue we had with them and that I didn't know if she should join our group especially since there are two other women, besides myself, dealing with infertility. R & J were great about the whole thing. Aside from being shocked about what she said and totally agreeing with our decisions about their public behavior and cutting off friendship; they made sure that ex-friend was connected into another group. It was such a relief to the both of us and continues to solidify for us that God has put us into this new church community and bible study and we are so excited about our new group of friends who are already showing us support and love.

**Sorry for the long delay in posting as we were out of town this past week cleaning out Hammer's dad's house and moving his stuff into our basement. It was not a fun week but it does close another chapter for us.

Cutting All Ties

So for those of you who follow my blog, you might remember my friend who got pregnant during the time I was miscarrying. She had been diagnosed with PCOS back when she was a teenager and had been on BCPs ever since. I said she wasn’t a ‘true infertile’ because she had never gone through infertility with her husband but only had the possibility because of her condition. It's not true infertility when you are told you have PCOS as a teenager and then get pregnant on the first try. She never went through months of failed cycles and treatments. Just jumped in the sack on a chance that she was ovulating and *BAM* pregnant.

I had remained supportive of her even though we chose not to go to Chic.ago for NYE with them as it was too soon after our loss. But apparently she has harbored some strange issue with me and it finally came out last week.

I had planned a dinner out with her because I needed to talk to her about an issue I was having regarding a pattern with her behavior in a public setting. She is one of those people who live in an environment of conflict. Everywhere she goes she creates conflict although she is completely oblivious of it and can’t see that maybe she is actually the problem and not everyone else. There is no filter on her tongue so she says whatever she feels regardless of how it might affect another person. (Actually that is a direct quote from her lips!)

I knew that this might be a difficult discussion because she ‘fights dirty.’ I’ve learned this through her sharing about fights she has with her spouse. And this is not one-on-one conversations with me. She will talk in a large group of people about fights that they have where she will slam, lock and barricade doors or throw his cloths out of the window etc. And the thing that bothers me the most is that she says it with pride, like she is proud that she behaves this way. She is so degrading to her husband in these conversations that people have asked Hammer and I if their marriage is O.K. Which I suppose makes sense because the last fight they got into was about the “That’s what she said joke” where she balled him out in front of all of his friends for saying it and then later she told me they fought over it where she eventually exclaimed that she did not want to be married to him. All over a stupid joke. And of course she shared that story with anyone who was within earshot.

So why am I going into detail about this? Because this is the subject I had to talk to her about. The fact that she is sharing details of her marriage in a non-constructive format in a large public setting and it’s making some people uncomfortable. I totally support sharing issues with people you are seeking input, guidance or counsel from but this is different. She is almost taking pleasure in sharing her stories because I think she likes the ‘shock factor.’ I’ve called her out a couple of times in the middle of her stories to ask if she really behaved that way and caught her in blatant exaggerations which leads me to believe that she’s really just doing most of the talking for the response that she gets from others – still wrong!

So since I was approached a number of times by other people along with having our own concerns I decided that it was time to talk. I kept the conversation strictly to people being made to feel uncomfortable about her non-constructive speech in a group setting. That way I wouldn’t be overstepping my bounds. And that’s when she dropped the unforgivable bomb.

In a statement totally unrelated to what we were talking about she said the following:

“You know I thought that you and I would be on this infertility journey together but I’ve realized now that I am pregnant that we have nothing in common.”

I remember it like it just happened. I will never forget it. Hammer even questioned if maybe I misunderstood her. Oh no. Believe me. I remember ever single word; every inflection in her voice. It was the cruelest thing anyone has ever said to me.

And she said it just to be cruel. Just to cut me at my deepest most vulnerable point. She said it to get the upper hand in the conversation. But it didn’t work. I think I handled it gracefully. I simply ignored it and kept on addressing the real issue at hand. To have addressed it would have derailed the conversation and given her control but I would not let her have her victory. I could tell by the look on her face that she was floundering, her tactic hadn’t worked and she was still stuck having to face the original conversation that brought us there.

When I got into my car and was heading home I just started bawling. I have never met someone so intentionally mean but yet with no remorse for the consequences of her actions. I knew at that moment that she had cause irreparable damage. Our friendship was over. But at the same time I realized what she said was true but just not regarding the fact that she is now pregnant. We really do not have anything in common because I now see who she truly is and I don’t want someone like that in my life. She is intentionally mean, caustic, and bitter. I found out later that this is not the first time someone has talked to her about her behavior before but because she does not feel any conviction from the Lord to change, she hasn’t. That confuses me. I have had people talk to me saying that I was too blunt and it bothered them. I didn’t feel conviction over it but because it had hurt someone, out of respect for them I made an effort to be more sensitive. You don’t need conviction to change; you just need some decency and a dose of respect for other fellow human beings. Seriously, that has to be the most pathetic excuse for poor behavior.

The sad thing is that it might affect Hammer’s relationship with her husband. They were friends first and ‘us wives’ were just introduced. Other than being friends for the sake of Hammer, I have no reason to continue on. Fortunately Hammer is 100% supportive of my decision to cut my ties with her. He has even defended me in a recent conversation between himself and her husband regarding the issue. It was interesting to hear it from his perspective because, not surprisingly, she left out a few things – like the evil statement! And when Hammer set the record straight and told her husband about it he was livid with his wife and totally shocked that she would say something like that to me. (Apparently infertility is a personal issue for her husband as well because his sister had to do IVF) So I don’t think this issue is over quite yet but at least for me I have no desire to reconcile with her. Do you blame me?

And swino-o was it's name-o!

What? You thought the swi.ne fl.u was gone? Not so! Apparently it's alive and well in a small town in the NW region of my state. I was fortunate enough to visit there for an audit and come across it. On a good note I had been smart and got the vaccine in January just in case one of the petri dishes, I mean kiddos, in a clinic passed it on to me. Good thing.

If you have the vaccine it makes the respiratory part much more mild but the GI part, not so much. Imagine if you will not being able to breathe through your nostrils and then having a sudden urge to be sick, act on that urge and loose all ability to breathe because:
A) said nose is plugged
B) mouth is occupied with 'other things'

I almost blacked out twice from lack of oxygen. I don't think I've ever been so sick that I had to take a full week off of work until now. Hammer, on the other hand, is so hopped up on vitamins and wheat grass he hasn't even had a sniffle all season. I'm actually really grateful though because one high fever would set him back far worse than if I had one. But it does mean that we're out this cycle for trying naturally.

I even worked my butt off to get home from that infested clinic early so that I would be home when I ovulated. And I did, and we did..."it," but after the week I've had it would be a miracle if anything survived down there. Oh well. On a good note tomorrow is Spring! And I'm almost ready to come out of swine-o hibernation so I can enjoy it. And that means April is almost here and then May and then...IVF #3!

Fast or Slow, I Can't Decide

I happened to look at the IVF countdown and was hit with a mix of emotions. First came shock that in almost 2 months we will be starting our 3rd and final cycle. How did time move by so quickly? And then I started thinking about what all has to happen in between now and that cycle and it seems like forever away. How can I have two wholly different emotions over the same amount of time? I'm excited to try again but scared because it's our last time. I want more time to try naturally but am frustrated that natural is still not working and want to get to IVF. Oh if you all could read my mind right now you all would be totally confused too, I'm sure. I think overall I'm afraid to hope and scared that we could have a repeat of last time but excited for the opportunity to try...yep, still confused. *sigh*

Free

Mid-January Hammer and I decided to join a church plant that split off of our church. It was an intentional church plant that was sent out to reach young adults in their late twenties and thirties. We were really excited about the opportunity and God has really been blessing the church. Our opening Sunday we had 450 people! We are creating a great community of people which is a void that had been lacking at our old church.

For the lent season our church decided to do a bible study series called Free. They had everyone in the church divide up by the day of the week they were available to meet. This is a great way for everyone to meet more people in the church and develop an even deeper community. There was a bit of pre-meeting workbook preparation. As I went through it I realized that the underlying theme of what was preventing true spiritual freedom for me right now was the fact that I was not living my ultimate dream of being a mom and that it made me feel a bit that God was being unfair with me. I told Hammer that I had decided to do two different responses; one for me about our infertility and one that I felt comfortable sharing with the group. I was very clear with Hammer that I wasn't going to be sharing our trial with a group of strangers.

But God must have had a different idea. One of the couples who offered up their home for the group meeting shared that she needed freedom from worry after having suffered from three miscarriages. Afterward I felt strongly compelled to speak to her and thank her for sharing such a difficult and personal trial. And when I did, I found myself tearing up and thanking her for being brave and sharing something that I couldn't. She instantly understood and gave me a huge hug. We ended up staying after everyone else had left to talk to the couple and each share a bit of our infertility trials. Oh the irony that I wanted to remain in my safe, secure space and instead God brought someone into my life to help me live a little bit more free from my burden of infertility.