Happy Birthday Ashley!

Resting after the insemination

Waiting for my ultrasound after our IUI

The instruments used for an IUI.

The exam room I'm in every week.

Waiting to have our IUI!

Well, this morning was our IUI. Jonathan had to be at the clinic at 9:00 for his part and our IUI was at 10:00. Everything went smoothly during the insemination. They had me lay down for about 30 minutes after. Then they came in and did my normal post IUI ultrasound to see if my eggs were already released or if they were in the process of it. Jonathan missed the ultrasound today. He had to head back to work so he missed what happened next. My ultrasound showed I had not released my eggs. This is what our previous IUI cycles showed, but this time was a little different. Right before you start to Ovulate you start to get fluid around the follicles. I only had a small amount of fluid today and it was in an odd area Sarah said. We are hoping that my ovulation is just going a little slow, but there is a possibility my IUI was done a little too early.

Sarah has asked me to come back in the morning for a collapse ultrasound and blood work to see if ovulation has started. If we are still in the same place she said they will probably offer us another insemination for better timing. This is fine for both of us. This is already a little different than our previous IUI's so maybe this is good luck in some strange way. We just don't know if they want to pay for this 2nd IUI. Hopefully not!

Other than that little suprise. The ultrasound showed 1 mature follicle on each ovary. I really hope both made it to maturity and contain an egg. The more eggs you have the better chances you have. I will do a post tomorrow as soon as I get a chance.

Triggering Tonight!

I got the go ahead to take my HCG shot tonight. I had 2 good size follicles today on the ultrasound and my blood work was good. Our IUI will be at 10:00 on Thursday (Ashley's Birthday) morning! Jonathan usually gives me my HCG shot in my hip, but I think we are going to try my thigh tonight. It kind of scares me. I have never had a shot in the thigh. I know it's going to be sore, but I want to make sure it is in the muscle without any doubt.

I will keep yall posted on how everything goes. Please say prayer for us!

Stim Check!

Our Pumpkin!

Grayden watching us carve pumpkins!

Us as Pirates!

Randy Travis

Me and Jonathan at the Randy Travis Concert!

Uncle Jonathan, Riley, and Aunt Jessica Celebrating Tab's Birthday!

Tab's Birthday Cake!

Last night was my 6th night taking my injections so I had to go in this morning for an ultrasound and blood work. I have lots of follicles growing. I have one lead follicle on my left ovary that is 1.5 cm and one lead follicle on the right that is 1.2 cm. They want them to be at 1.9-2.0 cm for me to take my HCG (trigger) shot. My Estrogen level was at 182 and my Progesterone was 0.7. The nurse said those numbers correspond with what they saw on ultrasound this morning. The plan is for me to do another night of injections and go back in the morning to see if I have at least one of the follicles big enough for me to trigger. If I do trigger tomorrow night my IUI will be on Thursday morning. If not, I will do the same tomorrow night with another appointment on Wednesday morning and my IUI will be on Friday. I will do a post tomorrow to let everyone know what is going on.

Jonathan and I have been going nonstop. I thought I would catch everyone up and post some pictures. Last Thursday, my brother had his 23rd Birthday. We went over to my parent's house to have cake and open presents. Then on Friday night we got free tickets to the Randy Travis concert down at the new civic center. Me, Jonathan, Tab, and Meribeth went. It was lot of fun. On Saturday all four of us plus Riley went to the Holiday Market. It got me in the mood for the Holidays. Saturday night Jonathan's coworker invited us to his Halloween Party. After our original costumes fell through we found some pirate costumes we went and had a fun night. To end the weekend we went over to my parent's to carve pumpkins with them, Tab, Meribeth, Riley, and Grayden. To say that we have been busy lately would be an understatement, but it's been a lot of fun. I hope y'all enjoy the pictures!

Baselines!

Well I was back at ART in Montgomery again this morning. I had my ultrasound and blood work done. My ultrasound showed 35 follicles!! Yes, 35! I have NEVER had that many. I think the most I ever had was 21 or somewhere around there. I had no cysts! My labs came back within normal range too. My Estrogen level was 42.1 and it just needed to be below 100.God is so Good!

I got the go ahead to start my injections tonight. I'm doing Follistim 150U Sub Q (under the skin) again this go round. I will take these until Sunday night. Then I go back in for first stim check to see how my follicles are growing and get my blood drawn to check my Estrogen and Progesterone levels checked.

Our IUI will be sometime next week. I'm really hoping it is on next Thursday. That would've been my sister's 28th Birthday. I think if it worked on that day it would be so much more meaningful. For those of you that don't know the day before my 10th Birthday, my older sister Ashley was diagnosed with bone cancer. She was only 12 years old. She passed away 6 months later. We all still miss her more than I can express in words. I know she is looking down on us cheering us on, to go on as tough as it gets sometimes.

Ok. I've got lots to do. Nite!

"The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and His ears are attentive to their prayer." 1 Peter 3:12

The Pumpkin Patch!

Us in front of the pretty Sunflowers

Riley and his daddy riding the tractor train!


Riley and His Uncle Jonathan!


Riley and his Aunt Jessica


The Blackwell Family minus Grayden

Sweet Riley!

Me and my Hubby!

I know 2 post in one day. I'm doing GOOD! We just have so much going on this time of the year. I want to keep everyone updated. This weekend we went to the Pumpkin Patch in Clanton on Saturday. We had so much fun. Me, Jonathan, my mom, Tab, Meribeth, and Riley went. It was a little cool for Grayden to go. He stayed with his MiMi and Pops. This was everyone's first time going. We walked around, went and saw the beautiful sunflowers, rode the hayride, and then looked through tons of pumpkins. They were all starting to look alike after a while.

We have a busy week ahead. I'm sure I will a lot more to update everyone on. Have a good week!

Day 1 of NIAW!

I wanted to share a video that is a part of National Infertility Awareness Week. We have emailed this video to most of our family already. It is a video made to help family members and friends of couple's struggling with infertility have a better understanding of all the emotions we go through. Here is the link!

http://www.tearsandhope.com/emptyarms_video.html


Just a quick update on us. I was suppose to go in on Friday for my beta (pregnancy) test, but I cancelled it because I already knew the answer. Our "old fashioned" try just didn't work. I will call ART tomorrow to set up my baseline blood work and ultrasound for sometime before Wednesday. If everything looks ok I will begin my injectables again on Tuesday or Wednesday. We will be doing an IUI this cycle. I spoke with one of the nurses on Friday and everyone knows now, that us trying without IUI or IVF, our chances or even more slim due to our failed post coital test. Please keep us in your prayers as we get ready to start this process over again. Please pray that I good results from baseline appointment. I will post the results as soon as I find out.

October 19-25, 2008

I thought I would share with everyone that National Infertility Awareness Week is coming up. If any of you are looking for resources or things you can do to help get the word out about infertility you can visit http://www.resolve.org/.

Help get the word out by writing letters to your local congressmen, to your insurance companies, and to willing employers so they can understand how infertility affects couple's daily. In the United States there are 7.3 million people suffering from infertility.

Time to Catch Up!

Seaside Florida!


Jonathan and I on the Harbor in Destin!




Jonathan and I after my Birthday dinner!


Me with my Pretty Birthday Flowers my inlaws, sister-in-law, and niece sent me!


Jonathan and I at the fair the weekend before my Birthday!

I'm sorry I have not been around lately. We have been pretty busy. Now let me catch you up on what we've been up to. The first thing is my 26th Birthday was this past Wednesday. On the Sunday before my in laws and niece Emma came in town to take us out to dinner to celebrate. The visit was really short, but we still had a great time. Then on my Birthday, Jonathan and I went out to dinner at Dabbo's. It was great! Then we went over to my parent's to eat cake and open presents with them,my brother, Sister-in-law Meribeth, and our 2 nephews Riley and Grayden. I had such a great day!

On this past Friday I had another appointment at ART here in Montgomery. I had some blood work drawn to check my progesterone. My progesterone did not come back as high as they like it to be on a "natural" cycle so I had to go back on my progesterone support. My level was 7.1 and they wanted it at 10. I was pretty bummed because I really was really hoping for a drug free month.

Now Friday was not all that bad. Jonathan, my mom, and I headed down to Destin for the weekend to celebrate my birthday a little more. The weather was BEAUTIFUL! We all 3 got some sun, ate some good food ( I had been craving smoked tuna dip since we were down there in June), and did some shopping. It was a perfect weekend.

There is nothing else new or exciting to announce right now. I'm going to post some recent pictures. Enjoy!

Another Day. Another Appointment.

On Friday morning I had another appointment at ART here in Montgomery. I was going in for an ultrasound, blood work, and post coital test. I had an u/s and b/w because I got my surge on my ovulation predictor test (OPK). Which means I was getting really close to Ovulating. They have you come in to make sure you have a good size follicle with hopefully a healthy mature egg in it. Getting ready to release. Everything looked good on the u/s. I had one big follicle that was 20mm and tons of smaller ones. They ran some b/w to make sure I had not already ovulated. I got those results late yesterday afternoon. I had not ovulated yet. This was good news. Now for the not so good news. As if there was any bad news left to tells us at this point. The post coital test did not come back good at all. This is the test where they ask Jonathan and I to make love in the morning and then come for them to get some samples from me to see if I am killing Jonathan's sperm. They check at 3 different levels. The highest being the most important because it is where the sperm have to make it in order to ever meet the egg. The only found 3 sperm at that point. Sarah the practitioner said she should have seen at least 20 at that level. We may do another post coital test next cycle if this one fails just to make sure, but our option would then be to go back to IUI if it has the same results as the test from yesterday. This means the "old fashioned" way may not be an option for us after this cycle.

I really thought everything would be fine with the post coital test, but I have learned every time I think everything is fine is when I am blind sided with some not so good news. I told Jonathan that 3 is not my lucky number. We had only 3 mature eggs, only 3 sperm living inside me. Oh well. We are not giving up on this month because it only takes one. I just thought I would give everyone a little update on our latest appointment. I do go back to ART next week to check my progesterone. This will just tell us how strong of an ovulation I had. I will update everyone on those results when I get them.

I hope everyone is having a great weekend. War Eagle!