Do you have a comment?

If you have a comment, question or story and you feel uncomfortable about writing it on my blog you can always email me. I would try and comment on what you say on my blog if that is ok with you. I would not give out your name or any info that you said was not ok.

Is it the hormones?

I think like any medications, fertility medications affect people in different ways. I noticed for me were weight gain and my hair was growing. The other thing like emotions I guess it depends on several things, was it the medication that made me more emotional or was it the fact that I am going through fertility treatments to get pregnant and there is no guarantees that any of this will work. Was it the constant thinking about it or was it seeing pregnant women every time you turned around (I am exaggerating) but that is what it felt like. The best thing I can suggest is to find a friend/family member that can support you and listen to you. Think positive! even though it is hard when you don’t want to get your hopes up just in case it fails. If you feel sad, cry; if you are angry, talk about it; if you are excited about it, share it with others. There is no one that should tell you how you should feel.

Just a small difference in the price

The cost can blow you away. The first thing was the ultrasounds. As you read in my last post I had a total of 4 of them. 1st one was when they found the cyst, 2nd to see if the cyst decreased, 3rd to see the progress of the follicles and 4th to see the progress of the follicles again. My insurance will not cover since this was part of the fertility process. I don’t know the exact amount that all these ended up being but I just want you to know how many ultrasounds you may need and each one will cost hundreds of dollars.

The drugs, Femara and the Noveral was not pricey but the Follistim was another story. This is where research should have been done on my part to find the best price with a reputable pharmacy. The first time I ordered my prescription of Follistim I just went to my local pharmacy it was a drug that had to be ordered, so I called the next day to see if the drug was in and ask them how much it was. I was told it was $9.00. I questioned it and they said yes that was correct. I went to pick up my prescription and was getting out a $10.00 bill the cashier said that price is not correct. I thought ok maybe a little more but no the cost was $843.00. I freaked out! The pharmacy made a mistake so they charged me for their cost only. It was still $800.00.

The next surprise was when I got home to see how to use the Follistim. I had no needle to inject this drug. I called the pharmacy and they said I didn’t order one. Well if I knew that I needed to order one I guess I would have! Or maybe not maybe I should just try and drink it (LOL). I ended up going to my doctor to get what they call the Follistim pen. This is what you need to inject the drug. Needless to say make sure you know what all is needed to administer.

The other cost would involve, the 2 blood draws, the collection and washing of the sperm and last the nurse inserting the sperm into my uterus.

Artificial insemination is less expensive than invitro and that is why we chose this option first hoping for a precious little baby.

The next Dr. Visit

It was a month later and I had to go to the doctor's office to see if the cyst was gone. The baseline ultrasound was done and the cyst was still there but it had decreased in size. The doctor said it was small enough to start the IUI process. The process is done by days and day 1 is the first full day of flow. On day 1 I started taking an oral medication called Femera I took it for 5 days 2 times a day.
On day 3 I started taking an injectble medication Follistim (Follistim is used to stimulate a follicle to develop and mature) I had to take the Follistim until day 9 and then I went to the doctor's office to do another ultrasound. The ultrasound would be to check to see how many follicles I have and the size of them. The follicles holds the mature egg. The ultrasound showed that there were 9 follicles but none of them were the size they needed to be. I continued to take the Follistim for 2 more days. I went back to the doctor for another ultrasound and a blood draw. At this time the ultrasound only showed 8 follicles and only 4 of them were a mature size. The blood draw is to check my FSH level. Day 13 I did another injection called Novarel (is used to cause ovulation). Day 15 is when the insemination is going to be done my husband and I both went into the office. They collect his sperm and then the sperm is washed (Sperm washing separates sperm cells from a man’s semen, helping to get rid of dead or slow-moving sperm as well as additional chemicals that may impair fertilization). This process of washing takes about an hour. Now it is my turn the sperm is placed directly into my uterus by a flexible catheter. This only take a few minutes for 20 more minutes I lay there with my hips elevated looking at the fertility bunny on the ceiling. We wait for 2 weeks and take a pregnancy test. The test was negative.Tomorrow I am going to explain the cost of this entire procedure.

How about a small giveaway??

I want to thank everyone for visiting my site.

I would like everyone that visits my site starting Tuesday, August 4, 2009 until Sunday, August 9, 2009 make a comment on any of my posts. For each comment made I will put your name in a bowl. Then on Monday morning I will draw a name. So I bet you are wondering what the prize will be. I have a couple of choices.

The first choice is 1 wallflowers pluggable home fragrance diffuser set (scents are Autumn Apple, Fresh Linen or Cinnamon Stick)or I have deep cleansing hand soap (I have several scents so I won't list them all). These items are from Bath & Body Works.

I will only be able to ship within the United States.

Just in case you are wondering WHY?

If you might be wondering why I am writing this blog. There are several reasons for this.

My first reason is to find others in my same situation and to see the process in which they were able to conceive or if not how to deal with it.

I want the support of my friends to help them understand what I am going through. I am not trying to get someone to feel sorry for me but to understand what infertility is.

Infertility is real and not just a feeling. Some may say "just get over it" or "Why don't you just adopt". Those words can be very hurtful when someone is trying to conceive a child of their own. There are many reasons why I feel the way I do and why I have taken certain steps to achieve a child of my own. I will take the time to help someone understand or for those who do understand I just want to say thank you.

I also want to explain to all readers what all can be involved when trying to conceive.

We all go through struggles in life and have to take each challenge and make the best of it. This is my way of making the best out of a devastating situation. I am not saying my struggle with infertility is the worse problem someone could have believe me I have been blessed with so much and I am very grateful for my family and friends and the help that God has given me through this time.

The last thing I want to say if my miracle does happen in the future I want everyone to know I will never forget how this made me feel and will always be there for anyone going through infertility.

It was a beautiful Friday afternoon and then the splitting maul happened!

Aaron and I were working in the yard on Friday. We have a tree stump that keeps sprouting up leaves from the roots in the ground. When it all sprouts out it is an eye sore. Aaron wanted to make sure we were able to kill this so that we do not have to continue to cut the leaves up so he wanted to take a splitting maul to be able to get the stump killer in all the roots growing out. Aaron started splitting it up. All of a sudden the splitting maul bounced off one of the roots and the maul hit Aaron in the head. I didn't know what just happened. All I seen was Aaron bent over. I thought this thing hit him in the eye but he was still standing but bent over. All I said was Oh my goodness, Oh my goodness. Then Aaron said I am bleeding go get me a cold wet cloth. I gave him the wet cloth and then he came inside. I was able to see his head and still couldn't tell what was hit on his head there was so much bleeding. Aaron was able to get the bleeding to almost stop. We then went to the immediate care center. Aaron had to get 12 stitches in his head. The doctor said that he did chip his skull but nothing was fractured.

If you do not know what a splitting maul is I have a picture of one and the stump.