In July of 2010, the hubs and I decide it is almost time to expand our little family. But first! We shall partake in one last selfish year of two. Our 'year of fun' as we called it. What a fabulous idea.
July of 2011 rolled around rather quickly and we did not falter on our original plan. It was time to have a baby! Month 1 passed, then months 2 and 3 only to reveal no results. I picked up some ovulation predictor kits and decided to narrow in on the days that matter. It would totally work.
Except it didn't.
After month 6, I entered a period I like to call "losing my marbles and following every old wives tale & internet trick known to man." A teaspoon of vinegar, pineapple core during implantation, temping, charting, using preseed, eating all organic non-processed food, baby aspirin. I did it all. AND I managed to do it in stride. I still wasn't stressed because it hadn't even been a year yet.
Once again, the tests all yielded a single line.
In March 2012, we were officially 9 months in on this journey to create a wee little life-form and growing weary. The powers of timing, temping and doing everything 'right' wasn't working AT ALL. I decided to seek the expertise of an infertility clinic. I lined up my procedures (HSG, Sonohystogram, & u/s) and went on in, sure that all would be swell.
However, after undergoing way too many tests in one day, I was pulled into an office and given the final verdict. I had something called a "T-shaped uterus."
Whaaaaat?! Exactly.
The doctor explained that it meant my uterine cavity was MUCH too small to carry a baby. And since it was a doctor doing the explaining, I believed her words, unfortunately. Turns out that when she said, "You won't be able to carry a baby to term" and "You'll most likely experience a miscarriage," what she meant was, "We don't know what we're talking about."
I was misdiagnosed.
For three months, their words invaded my thoughts as I forged ahead trying to get pregnant, knowing that the good news would no longer be exciting. I would likely be having a miscarriage. Or three. It was scary. Sad. Depressing.
Finally, in May of 2012 my Mom convinced me to get a second opinion. I didn't want to hear the depressing verdict from a second doctor but went ahead and did it. The new doctors believed my previous T-Shaped diagnosis to be pish posh and promptly urged me to undergo a second Sonohystogram along with a 3-D ultrasound. Turns out, I did not have a T shape...I had a septum. In July, 2012 surgery ensued.
Here are my surgery pictures. They are rather (really) disgusting. Consider yourself warned: SURGERY PICS
Immediately after the doctors said that I was healed, I felt like there was no time to be wasted. I moved forward with an IUI in August of 2012. There wasn't enough time to do a medicated cycle, so I went au naturale. It, of course, failed.
It was also at this time that our doctors presented the idea of IVF to us. We discussed our options. At first I was crushed, but then...we made our decision. We were going to do the ONE thing, I never ever ever wanted to do: IVF.
In September 2012, we did an antagonist IVF cycle that resulted in 19 eggs retrieved, 14 mature, 7 fertilized, and only ONE blast. My cycle was ultimately cancelled the morning of my supposed transfer date because my blast was only an "almost blast". While it did make it to blast the next day, I was officially out of sync with my body and it had to be frozen. "It" was a 6BB beauty.
October 2012 was our our hormone free month of fun where we rented an apartment in NYC and partook in a month of work and play. Definitely worth it:) At the end of this month, I found out that luteum cysts were delaying my cycle. This was obnoxious since...
November/December 2012 was time for IVF #2. This time my clinic switched me to the Long Lupron approach. Not fun. More shots, more medicine (2 menopur! ouch!) and a longer schedule. Luckily, 31 eggs were retrieved, 22 mature and 20 fertilized (go fertility blend!). However, once again NONE were ready for a day 5 transfer (my clinic will only transfer blasts). It seems I have an egg energy issue. Four embryos finally made it in their own time - 2 5BC's, 1 6CC and a 6CB - and were frozen. Not the best batch, but beggars can't and won't be choosers. Plus, those are my embryo's we're talking about!!!
January 2013 - So, January was FET month. FET's are...how do I put this...easy as pie? Comparatively speaking, that is. In the dark shadow of IVF, an FET is like a cute puffy rain cloud with a sad face. Kind of annoying weather wise, but nothing compared to the tsunami of pain that IVF unleashes (ahem - bruised stomach, numb butt, four thousand injections, bloat, OHSS, major discomfort and mood swings for DAYS...oops, too much?). Anyway, the FET cycle wasn't bad as far as this stuff goes and more importantly, IT WORKED!!! WE ARE FREAKING PREGNANT!!! We transferred 2 embryos (a 5bc & 6bb)...one embryo didn't make it through the thaw...and we saw one beautiful little guy on our 5 week ultrasound today! I can't believe it.
We really are pregnant:)
PS: October 18, 2014 - Piper Marie is born 11 days past her due date!
L
I just cried reading this. I am an emotional disaster today. So happy for you sis! And for Ben to have the most awesome cousin ever.
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