Still growing....

Hi everyone! We have an update from our appointment this morning. The ultrasound showed 3 growing follicles, they are 14-16 mm in size and still need more time to grow. We are all set to do the "trigger shot" on Sunday and the IUI is scheduled for Monday morning. After the insemination I will be on progesterone for two weeks and to support implantation.

I think it's finally starting to feel "real" since we have a date set for insemination. We are full of excitement and can't wait for Monday. I promise to update our blog on Monday, get ready because I'm sure it will be lengthy. 

On a different note, we are moved into our new home and we LOVE it here! It's so peaceful and we enjoy seeing the deer and turkey's roaming in the evenings. The change of scenery couldn't have come at a more perfect time! Please keep us in your prayers, we appreciate each and every one of you that take the time to give us your prayers and positive feedback! 

Love,

Lauren & Matt

Getting closer...

Hi everyone! We are getting closer to insemination day. I just finished the first round of fertility medications on Saturday and I'm very glad to have made it through that phase of the treatment. I had a difficult time staying awake during the first several days and I'm glad the lethargic feeling has gone away. The injection wasn't too bad, not fun, but not terrible. Matt's mom ended up administering my injection, because Matt & I weren't feeling very confident in our nursing skills. I was pleasantly surprised that the side effects from the injection were extremely minimal as compared to the oral medications.

We had a follow up with the fertility specialist this morning and she performed an ultrasound so she could see how many follicles (eggs live in the follicles) have developed in my ovaries and their sizes. I had 3-4 follicles total in both ovaries and they were measuring between 12-13 mm in size. The doctor explained that in order to rupture and release an egg they needed to be 18-20 mm, so we just need a little more time for them to grow. We have an appointment set for Wednesday morning to measure the growth and if they have grown to a good size she will give us the go ahead to administer the trigger injection and schedule the insemination in the day or 2 days to follow. It should happen this week and we are so excited.

I will update the blog on Wednesday! Please keep us in your prayers this week. Thank you all for the continued support.

Love,

Lauren & Matt

Let the fun begin... It's Day 1

It's cycle day one and we had an appointment with our specialist this morning. It went great, she performed an ultrasound and blood work to make sure everything looked good before we move forward... The nurse instructed us on how to administer the injections and when to take all the medications. We will be receiving the medications tomorrow via fedex and my first dose will be on Sunday.

Days 3-7 will consist of an oral medication called Letrozole, which will help with ovulation and maturation of egg follicles. Sounds pretty simple except for the side effects that I may or may not experience. I'm going to keep my fingers crossed that it will be a breeze, if not it's only for 5 days. I've heard the mood swings can be pretty intense, but I've never been a very calm individual so I'm assuming not much will change :)

Day 8, this is fun part... Matt will get to administer the Menopur injection into my abdomen, let's all remember that my husband is not a educated in nursing. Hopefully he paid close attention today, because my brain is experiencing information overload. I can assure you that the blog will definitely be updated after the injection has been given.

After day 8 we will begin the ultrasound monitoring and wait for the doctor to tell us when the trigger shot will be given followed by insemination. We have a busy 10 days ahead and I can't wait! Did I mention we sold our house and will be moving in 12 days? Yes, we must be crazy, but it will actually give me something to focus on other than the treatments. I definitely need the distraction so it's actually a blessing. We appreciate all the positive feedback we received from our first post, this blog is our way of sharing with family, friends and perfect strangers that may be facing fertility struggles.  Let the fertility fun begin! Thank you for reading.

~ Lauren 

Welcome to our blog! Most of you reading this had no clue that Matt & I were getting ready to start this special journey, SURPRISE! I know, we just got married in August and we never imagined we would be talking about fertility treatments 6 months after our wedding, but here we are…

I will start from the beginning… We had planned to start trying for a baby immediately after our wedding, but first I wanted to see an Ob/Gyn just to make sure we were doing everything we should be doing to conceive successfully after 6 years of birth control. Sounds pretty simple right? Well, we were in for a big surprise when the doctor advised us to see a specialist to confirm an abnormality she thought she saw on the ultrasound. Long story short, we were convinced she was wrong… I couldn’t have an abnormality, I have already had a child without any complications… We decided to keep trying for the next few months and if it didn’t happen we would consider investigating this diagnosis a little further.
Here we are, months later and no sign of pregnancy… We found a wonderful Fertility Doctor here in New Braunfels and she ordered a series of blood tests, semen analysis and an HSG (imaging of the uterus, ovaries and Fallopian tubes). We never gave the testing a second thought, because we just knew everything would come back normal… Then came the phone call, the nurse said I had a blockage in my right tube. Ok, not terrible news, but we still had to wait for the other test results.

The following week we saw the specialist to review the results and discuss treatment options. The doctor explained that the semen analysis was normal, but my blood test results showed that I have a “diminished ovarian reserve.” What does that mean? It’s the amount of eggs left in my ovaries. My number was not what she would expect for the average 27 year old, but reflected what she would typically see in 40 year old women. What? How is that possible? Women are born with all the eggs they will get and once they run out that’s it, no more are produced. I was born with a lower number and time is running out if we want to have a baby together.

Now what? She suggested that we start with Minimal Stimulation Intrauterine Insemination or IUI along with injections, oral medication and ultrasound monitoring of ovulation. She is optimistic that this treatment could work for us, but we have to move quickly because time is not on our side and I’m running out of eggs! If we haven’t conceived after 3 cycles the next step will be IVF.

The news took a few days to really sink in and the emotions I felt were unexplainable. I realized something over the last few days… Fertility is something most people don’t talk about and I never thought I would be facing this at age 27. I decided that I wanted to blog during the entire process, talking and writing are stress relievers for me. We have a huge support system of family and friends, but most don’t live near and I thought a blog would be the perfect way to share our experience. Our first treatment will begin at the start of my next cycle in less than 2 weeks so stay tuned and wish us luck & lots of baby dust!

~ Lauren & Matt