It's Friday! It's Friday! *happy dance*

'Tis Friday!  Yippee!!

Last Friday, my GI office called me to let me know that the abdominal ultrasound they had me do came back normal (surprise...surprise...).  After a very confusing convo with the nurse (she was confusing...what she said and what she was trying to mean were 2 different things), I found out I had to schedule yet another follow-up appt with the NP.  I have that appt on Monday, so we'll see what she says.  I have a feeling she'll leave me with "You have IBS" and ship me out the door.

Wednesday, I started working part-time at our church.  I'm basically a gopher/odds and ends kinda person for awhile until I get more comfortable with things there and learn how they do stuff.  So far it's been pretty slack.  The pay isn't quite what I was expecting, but at least we'll be having a little extra income coming in, and I'll be somewhat busy while Hubby is gone.

Has anyone else not filed their taxes yet?  The wonderful military screwed up a W-2 for Hubby, so we are still waiting for that to be changed.  I basically have the forms all filled out - I just need that one W-2 so I can finish them up and ship them off.  From what I can tell, we should be getting almost enough to cover our IVF cycle!!  woo-hoo!!

Speaking of which, I received another call from the IVF office.  The nurse/coordinator had a few questions for me and wanted to let me know that they'd be sending me a packet of info for the August cycle/rotation.  However, after talking with her, we unfortunately had to move Hubby and I into the January 2011 rotation.  Hubby will get back a few weeks too late for us to do the August round.  I'm a little bummed about it, but at least we'll still have somewhat of a date to look forward to!

Every year, I always plant a flower garden.  This year (of course) will be no different.  I've already started redoing the flower beds to get them prepped.  Also this year, I decided to start the flowers indoors using seeds instead of purchasing the plants from a store.  Last year, we spent near $100 on just a few plants.  This year we'll need more to fill the flower beds, so I decided to get on the ball and start them early as well as save us some money!!  Well, I already have little plants poking through the dirt in their cups.  I'm excited to know that we'll actually get some flowers from this.  I'm always cautious about starting plants from seeds because I don't want to spend all that time planting them and then have nothing come up for whatever reason.  It's always a gamble, but so far it's paying off for us!  Yay!!

That's my week in a nutshell.   See, I told ya it wouldn't be 2 months between posts!!  haha

Costumes, Phone Calls, and other randoms

Hubby and I officially decided to go down the IVF path.  I called the facility last Thursday and left a message (that's how they do things there).  Expecting to wait an entire week before I heard back from them, I was completely surprised to have my phone ring yesterday.  It wasn't the call I was hoping to have, but it was another step in the direction of getting an appointment.  Basically I learned that my Doctor here needs to submit a referral to them.  Once they receive that, a team of doctors reviews the referral to see if I am a good candidate and they make a decision.  Based on that decision, I'll get another phone call to either set up an appointment or learn that they think I'm a hopeless case.  From what I gathered, this whole process could take about a month or so (I'm hoping it doesn't), so another month in limbo.  TTC is a huge rollercoaster.

In other news...

With Halloween right around the corner, Hubby and I tried so hard to figure out what we wanted to dress up as.  I had no idea - I figured I'd hit up Sal.va.tio.n Ar.m.y and Go.od.wil.l and be inspired by whatever I found.  Hubby had a pretty good idea for his Redneck costume.  Finding stuff for him was a completely different story.  He kept pulling stuff off the racks that was no where near being Redneck-ish.  He's now changed his mind and decided to dress as a construction worker or something along those lines.  I don't think he really knows for sure.  Me?  Well, I found a super cute plaid skirt (for $2.00!!) and things went from there.  My costume will be a not-quite-so-revealing/slutty Catholic school girl.  I thought about going all out for the slutty version, but I figured since we'll be with a bunch of church people, it wouldn't be smart to go all out.  So I've toned it down a little.  The best part - my entire costume cost less than $12, and I had to get everything - the white shirt, shoes, skirt, and stockings.  I love second-hand stores.

My brother will finally be moving out of my parent's place!  He's 26 and finally getting out.  It's been a year since he moved back home, but he's been mooching off my parents for that entire year.  Well, he's probably helped out with like $200 in groceries, but that's about it.  But he finally found a house of his own, so I'm excited for him and my parents.  Before he can move in, he'll need to do a lot of cleaning and some minor cosmetic things (it sounds like the previous people did a horrible job to the house).  It's all stuff he can do though, and over the Thanksgiving weekend, Hubby and I will be back home so I figured that we could help him a little.

Other than that, things are pretty normal around here.  We're gearing up for the Halloween party, and my hubby is planning something on Friday night for my b-day.  Saturday is technically my b-day, but with the party, he had to adjust his plans.  That's fine, except he tells me that I have to help make dinner!  Say what??!?!  Yeah...it's my b-day dinner - I shouldn't have to help make it.  It's supposed to be a day that I get to take it easy, not make my own b-day dinner.  I tell ya...  We'll see what he has up his sleeves though.  He's good with surprises and getting even better at keeping them.

For other randoms...

Christina, good luck!  Get as much sleep as you can now because once that girl's here, sleep becomes a very rare and precious thing!

E and Kristin for some odd reason, I have major issues posting comments on your blogs.  I don't know what it is, but instead of posting the comment, it just erases everything and basically reloads the page, no matter what method I choose for posting it (Google Account, Anonymous, etc.).  Very strange stuff.

....TRIGS....

An old college friend/co-worker just found out that her and her hubby are expecting their first...just weeks after they celebrated their first anniversary.  Thanks to FB, I get to read about every little complaint she has.  This morning was something about how she did too much moving and how it wasn't good for the pregnancy because now she's exhausted.  I was so tempted to write something evil back to her about how she should be happy that she's experiencing that because there are some people who may never get to enjoy that.  I didn't though.  I suppressed evil Gabsy and decided to keep that to myself (and now you guys).  I've got to double check my emotions/feelings.  Granted I am happy for her, but honestly when she complains about every little thing, I almost want to scream, "You got yourself into this!  Enjoy it!!" 

slight correction

In my last post, I listed that our tentative diagnosis is Tubal IF.  It's actually Tubal Factor IF.  Either way, it means that my tubes don't work properly which is a cause for IF.  Sorry if I confused anyone. 

And I do plan to ask Dr. M about the left tube blockage/open thing.  Hopefully she can explain it to us cuz I'm a little confused by it all.

For now though, Hubby and I are weighing our options and seeing if we can financially do a military-clinic IVF program.  I'd love to get started on one right away, but with me not working at the moment, finances are a little tighter around the place.  Hubby made a suggestion to set up a separate "baby-stuff" savings account.  I'm sure by the time we could see the doctor, the fund would have at least a good start to it.

So many decisions...

And now for the much, much longer Lap update

Monday was Lap day and I wasn't nervous or scared or anything (completely unlike me).  I guess part of me hoped that by having the surgery, it would mean that maybe, just maybe, this road of IF would get a little easier for Hubby and I for the next few months.  I figured that Dr. M would go in, remove any and all possible spots of what she thought was Endo, and then bam!  Magic fairy dust would sprinkle over Hubs and I and in a few months we'd have our much-waited for BFP.

Yeah...completely different story.

The facility where I had my surgery was completely across town and our GPS didn't quite get us there.  She (our GPS) got confused or something.  Of course it didn't help that the office was on the opposite side of another office building.  Nevertheless, we got there on time and got registered and all that good stuff.  I won't go on and on about the office, but I must say that that is probably one of the best patient-oriented staff that I have ever encountered.  If I have to have surgery again, I'd definitely choose that place.

As for the surgery, I don't remember a dang thing.  Which is good.  I'd hate to have woken up in the middle of it!  Recovery was shaky.  I don't do well with anesthesia.  I had bouts of pretty bad shaking and nausea.  All I wanted to do was sleep.  Once we got home, that's about all I did.  I crashed on the couch and slept the day away.  (I had to stay up for House though...can't miss my show!  haha)  That night, I wasn't in too much pain, so I didn't take any pain pills.  I didn't sleep that well because the gas "bubbles" decided to make me achy.

Yesterday was better.  I took a couple of pain pills, but they don't really help with gas pains, which is the majority of my aches at the moment.  I was up and walking around and trying to eat a little here and there.  Overall, not too bad of a day.  Last night, I slept pretty good too, despite the fact that the gas pains were seriously horrible right before I went to bed.

As for surgery prelim results...Dr. M came out and talked to Hubby and let him know what she discovered during surgery.  He somewhat filled me in, but I know he's not the best when it comes to medical terms, especially when it pertains to the female body.  He did mention that the pictures she took and showed him were pretty cool.

She did give me a call yesterday to see how I was doing.  She also filled me in on what she discovered, and I'll do a somewhat bulleted version:

• Pre-surgery HSG showed the left tube blocked for some reason, and the right tube was spilling fast.
• During surgery - 
• Left tube appears normal.  She thinks it could be blocked at the distal end (by the ovary), but since during my first HSG they got the dye through the tube with no problem, she's not quite sure why it would appear to be blocked during surgery though.
• Right tube had some adhesions on it.  She removed those as best as she could.
• Based on what she saw, she thinks my tubes may be diseased, which she said is usually caused by an STD or PID.  Since I've had neither and she didn't see any inflammation, it's pretty skeptical that either could be the reason for my tube issues.
• She didn't notice any endo or any obvious lesions, which is a good thing I guess.
• She saw lots of good healthy eggs just waiting to be fertilized.
• The final diagnosis:  Tubal IF

So what does that mean?  Well, basically my tubes are the cause of our IF problems.  One doesn't work, and one could possibly have blockage issues.  Dr. M said that IVF would probably be our best route.  She said we're young and my eggs and his sperm are excellent.  They just aren't joining together.  She is also afraid that if we were to get pregnant on our own, and it just so happened to come from the right tube, it would most likely result in an ectopic pregnancy.  She did give us some comforting news though...apparently there are some military bases that do IVF (kinda surprising since the military insurance doesn't cover such procedures).  The cost issue is drastically reduced by going through a military facility.  The downside - the closest one is 14 hours away.  The upside - they have about a 65% success rate with people my age with tubal IF.

But she's leaving the final decision up to us.  She said if we want to try Let.ro.zole (Fe.mar.a) for awhile, then that's okay too.  We'll discuss it more at my post-op appointment.  I'm kinda leaning towards just doing the IVF route, especially if she knows a doctor at the base.  I know it's going to be a wait before we can get an appointment down there, but maybe in the meantime, we could try Fe.mar.a for a few months and see how that goes.  I'm not sure.  We'll get Dr. M's honest opinion and thoughts about it all and make an informed decision.

Plus, that will give us time to figure out how we're going to still keep this from our families.  That alone is going to be a task in and of itself.

Our TTC Journey

Just a sampling of what we've gone through on this TTC road..

• March 4, 2011 - First U/S - Surprise!!  Identical twins!!

• Feb 10, 2011 - Beta #2 - 1212

• Feb 8, 2011 - Beta #1 - 455

• Jan 2011 - IVF #1 in Texas, ER - 16 eggs, 13 fertilized; 5dt of 1 AA blast; 11 embies on ice

• Oct 2010 - Repeat all IF labs and tests for Jan 2011 IVF; HSG showed only slight dilation at the end of the right tube (previously was nearly completely dilated)

• Jan 2010 - Sept 2010 - TAB while hubby is deployed

• Jan 17, 2010 - AF shows; back to TAB while the hubby is deployed yet again

• Dec 15, 2009 - C26; Clomid Challenge test; CD3 levels all fine; CD10 shows slightly elevated LH levels

• Dec 8, 2009 - Travel to Texas for orientation for IVF; learned that we had to have an initial consult with RE before we could be put on the waiting list for IVF; Dr. K. squeezed us in for our initial consult that day due to our long travel time there; determine a plan - get records sent to him regarding all IF stuff, he'll review them and decide if doing surgery to open tubes is a possibility;  meanwhile, I do Clomid Challenge Test; ultimately are put on waiting list for August 2010 IVF schedule

• Oct 20, 2009 - C25; strange spotting mid-cycle

• Sept 28, 2009 - LAP scheduled for possible endo on right tube; showed no endo, possible distal blockage on left tube and diseased tubes; diagnosis: Tubal Factor IF; IVF most likely next step
  

• Sept 26, 2009 - C24; LAP surgery cycle
  

• Sept 7, 2009 - C23 (23 months)

• Aug 28, 2009 - HSG shows dilated right tube, normal uterus and left tube

• Aug 22, 2009 - C22 (22 months) - CD3 b/w, HSG, and rpt SA

• Aug 4, 2009 - appt with new GYN (Dr. M) to establish treatment plan

• July 15, 2009 - appt with new GYN (Dr. S); recommends another physician in his practice

• July 4, 2009 - C21: unmonitored 100 mg Clomid; strange AF (she never ends!!); 17 day LP; BFN

• June 12, 2009 - met with new OB/GYN (Dr. W); not impressed with him; getting second opinion elsewhere

• May 31, 2009 - C20: no meds; O'd on my own; BFN

• April 28, 2009 - C19: TAB from meds - in the process of finding an RE; O'd on my own!; BFN

• April 1, 2009 - C18: (final round with NoDak doc) 100 mg Clomid, U/S, trigger; BFN

• March 2, 2009 - C17: 100 mg Clomid, U/S, trigger, tussin; 4 BFN

• Feb 1, 2009 - C16: 100 mg Clomid, U/S CD11 & 13, HCG trigger, tussin & OPK; impecable timing; BFN

• Jan 2009 - Hubby home; non-medicated cycle; O'd, BFN

• Oct 2008 - Dec 2008 - TAB again; Hubby away for training

• Sept 2008 - C14: 100 mg Clomid, O'd + perfect timing = BFN

• March 2008 - Aug 2008 - Military-induced absintance (aka deployment)

• Jan 2008 - last C before TAB; long LP (17 days), BFN

• Oct 2007 - met with OB/GYN; discussing infertility issues; 50 mg Clomid - anovulatory = BFN

• August 2007 - more pain, another possible cyst; referred to OB/GYN

• May 2007 - Jan 2008 - C3-C13: actively TTC, but horrible timing due to Hubby's work schedule

• May 2007 - extreme pelvic/abdominal pain (possible cyst); started charting BBT and taking PNV

• March 2007 - Hubby returned from deployment; started TTC
  

• December 2005 - Hubby and I married