Tests

Today is my "Day 3" test. (FSH, LH and Estradiol) My HSG is scheduled for next Wednesday at 1:30. Today will be fine, I can deal with needles. But next week? Umm...I'm not so sure. The whole spreading, poking, prodding and pinching thing has kinda given me an icky feeling. I'll survive, but certainly not looking forward to it. I guess I should be tho huh? This will make sure everything's open and ready to go. (I'll just keep telling myself that)

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It's super nice here today. Almost 80!. I'm leaving work early for the test, maybe I'll get to enjoy some of the weather too. :o)

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One of the ladies I work with just delivered her first baby on March 25, a bouncing baby boy. Congrats T.C.! Not that she reads this...but still...CONGRATS!

HSG Question

I just found myself over at An Accident of Hope blog and stumbled on the post about her HSG. OUCHY!

Please tell me what to expect. PLEASE! I was tensing up just reading her post. Don't hold back. Tell me everything!

Great and not-so-great

I'm back.

**GREAT STUFF**

1. My dad's doing great! Thanks for all the prayers and well wishes. They worked. Dad came thru the heart cath just fine and dandy and DID NOT need anymore stents. The doc said things didn't look any better than the last time (Oct 06) but also didn't look any worse. So they left things alone and put him back on a blood thinner. He didn't even have to stay overnight, which he was THRILLED about!
2. My moms lost 25 pounds! (got about 100 to go, but shes doing GREAT!)
3. The weather was great!
4. The flowers along the interstate were beautiful (Daffodils everywhere)
5. Fresh Kentucky air rocks!

**NOT-SO-GREAT STUFF**

I had a whole big story typed up about the not-so-great part and decided against it. Let me give you highlights.

1. The Non Bro is a liar and a hypocrite
2. We didn't speak one word to one another the entire time I was there(that could be on the GREAT list too :o) )
3. I had 2 panic attacks while there thanks to him
4. I had to walk out of the house, as to not say something I'd regret, after the non bro started talking about some sermon he's working on. I think I gasped out loud!
5. He has no business being a preacher. God is Love and he's preaching hate

That's that.

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It looks like I'm going to be able to get my Day 3 tests done this cycle after all. CD1 should have been Friday but due to all stress it didn't happen until today. So Tuesday I'll be taking care of that and will call tomorrow to schedule the HSG. Things are looking up again! :o)

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Thanks again for all the positive vibes!

Thanks everyone for your advice and input. We've decided on the non reported pregnancy donor. After some more research I was able to find out that this donor has only been available since Dec 06....not long enough to bless anyone with a child. Maybe we'll be the first. The other donor has been around since March 06.

We feel good about the decision. Now we just gotta get on the phone and place the order.

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The Melting Pot was TERRIFIC! Love, love, love the place! I think I could easily be their new spokesperson. :o) But come on now. Who doesn't love cheese? And the dessert? Oh my word. The chocolate was to die for. YUMMO! We will definitely go again. For those of you that haven't gone....GO!

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I'm heading to Ky, bright and early tomorrow morning for my dads hearth cath and stent procedure. It's going to be stressful weekend for all of us. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers.

M has class, that she can't miss, so I'll be making the trip alone this time. I sure will miss that shoulder to lean on. I guess I'll be moms shadow and a shoulder for her.

This will be my first trip back home since my non brother and I had our words. Will be interesting to see how it goes. I have no intentions on speaking to him as I'm sure he feels the same, since I'm such an abomination to God and all. Erg! He makes me so mad I could just scream! ERG!

*Breathe Kim, Breathe*

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I should get back to work now. I'll post again when I return from Ky.

Happy St. Pattys Day

We are kinda in a holding pattern right now about selecting a donor. Still need to talk to the Nurse W about the whole CMV thing. Want to make sure there wont be any probs. If all goes well I think we're gonna go with the non-pregnancy reported donor. I think I like that one better only because of his baby pic ( Is that shallow? Really is it? Did you see pics of your donor? Did that influence your decision?) and because his medical history is a bit better than the other one. This one has no history of cancer where the other one has 3. My dads had colon cancer and his brother passed due to cancer. I like the odds better with the no cancer donor. What do you think?

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Today is our 3 year anniversary. Well 1 of a couple of anniversaries. We met 3 years ago today. We're going to The Melting Pot for dinner tonight. (Google it) It's our first time. Its a fondue place and I've heard nothing but great things about it. I'll let you know how it is.

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M is, as I'm typing this, taking her EMT final exam. 2 classes down. 2 to go.

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Don't forget your green today. Unless you want to be pinched. :o)

We've almost decided

We purchased the info and baby pics on our top 2 donors today. After careful review we still don't know for sure. We like them both. Our only hang up is that 1 has at least 1 reported pregnancy where the other has none.

What to do? What would/did you do?

I've also got another question. I'm going to ask our Doc but in the meantime.....what do you know about CMV...IgC/IgM?

Visit 1 follow up

Wow! I've been on the phone a lot in the last 24 hours! (and thankfully I think I got some answers)

I contacted the less expensive cryo yesterday evening just to double check that they don't have known donors. They don't. Ok, so we're not using them. Fairfax it is. That's one question answered.

The cryo guy couldn't answer if they would store for us or a cost. I needed to talk to the director who of course wasn't available right then. I checked back today and was told YES they will store for free!!! Only charge is to pull the sample when we need it and that will only be $35-$40. Great! Another answer.

I called Fairfax to see what has to be done to get the ball rolling with them. Very nice lady answered my questions. I've since printed those 2 forms and they are all ready to be mailed. Another answer.

I received some crummy news last night from my mom in Ky. My dad is scheduled for his 2nd heart cath to add 2 more stents on March 23. Besides the fact that just sucks.....March 23 should be day 1 or 2 of my new cycle. That means I'll be in Ky while I should be here getting my Day 3 tests done.

After a mini melt down last night, M was able to chill me out and get my priorities straight. My dads health comes first right now. We can make a baby anytime.

Again, besides the whole issue with my dads health I was stressed about missing the day 3 tests and having to postpone our first attempt to possibly June. BUT...I called nurse W today (she's really going to be sorry that she said to call and provided her number) and got yet more answers. I was concerned that the day 3 tests and HSG had to be done during the same cycle. They don't. I can still do the HSG this cycle and catch the day 3 tests next cycle and that should still leave plenty of time for our first attempt to be in May.

Whew!

We've now narrowed down our donors to 2. I'll be getting the "low down" on those tomorrow from the bank and we'll be comparing them tomorrow night. So hopefully, this time tomorrow, we will have decided on who gets to go swimming.

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After enjoying the 80 degree temps today and some comfort foods of mac and cheese and grilled hot dogs for dinner, I'm back to 100%!

Visit 1 - Complete

Ok, where to begin?

I guess first I should say that the visit went wonderfully. I was so overloaded with info yesterday, I couldn't get my thoughts straight to post. So hopefully this will make some sort of sense. Let me try it this way:

• Appt was at 10...was seen at 1015...not a bad wait...I hate waiting
• Staff was great
• No funny looks or out of line remarks about M and I being together.
• Nurse W took my vitals (She promised she'd minus 2 lbs for my shoes :o) I like her already) ( They were heavy)
• She explained to the both of us what was going to happen today and walked us to the docs office
• "Fellow R" (he's doing his fellowship there...fellow sounds funny) spoke with us before the "Real Doc"
• He was great. Asked all the basic stuff (age, reason for visit, cycle info, etc)
• Told me start taking prenatal vitamins now. I know, I know yall already told me that. I had held off on it thinking I would get a prescription or he would recommend and certain kind. He said he could give a prescription to fill each month or just buy an over the counter with folic acid. I opted for the over the counter. Stopped by CVS on the way home and bought the store brand. 300 pills for $20. That should work for a while...like 10 months!
• He explained the IUI process and much more
• That I would have an ultra sound this visit
• I would need 2 tests....1.) Day 3 Hormone Eval(FSH, LH and Estradiol) and 2.) HSG...both which will be scheduled on Cycle Day 1 (March 23 or so)
• He explained the above tests and gave me a prescription for some anti biotic to take after the HSG.

*** I still can't get my thoughts together. thinking...thinking ***

• Informed us we could use Clomid right off the bat or do the first round "natural". He suggested we start off with it. (I hadn't really done much reading on Clomid but knew it had something to do with ovulation. He informed us it would make me ovulate. That's good right? ) Also explained the possibility of twins or more. YIKES!
• I checked my question list and he had pretty much already answered most of it.
• We asked about prices and such. He told us to check with the desk. *1
• He kinda lost us for a bit talking about donors and stuff. We let him continue and I guess he could tell by the look on our faces we were confused. We had planned on using a known donor from Fairfax (its within driving distance...would save us around $150 on shipping) But we were pleasantly surprised when he told us they have a bank there. GREAT!
• Next was the ultra sound. Not the most comfortable thing but nothing to whine about. :o) M and Nurse W were there with me. M got to see my insides on the screen(ovaries, uterus and my not empty bladder, TMI? ). I kinda wanted to check it out, but didn't want to move. HA! I was trying to zone out. He had to pause once for Nurse W to load more paper. Don't they know I want my legs closed, down and clothes back on?! Geesh!
• He at one point said something about my eggs or developing eggs looking like mini chocolate chips. Whatever...that was just weird.
• Ok, that's all done and I'm dressed
• Now we get to meet the "real doc", Dr SO *2.
• He didn't have too much to say that Fellow R hadn't already told us.
• He just went over everything again and made sure we had all our paperwork and that our questions were all answered. The only thing he said different was that he would like us to start off natural and not use Clomid the first time but that it was our decision.
• Nice guy
• We were left with Nurse W who again went over everything. Very nice lady. Said to call with any questions
• We were directed to the cashier D. I guess we could call her the cashier. She took our money. HA!
• Another nice lady
• She went over our insurance stuff and said shes hopeful that everything (minus the sperm and insemination) would be covered. $30 copay each visit is ok with me. Ultra sound, blood tests and HSG should be covered. Sure hope so.
• We gathered all our info and out the door we went! * BIG smiles*

*1 - Cost? $120 for insemination. $220 for sperm at their bank

*2 - Dr. SO? I just thought this was funny. In my Ring Ring post I called the doc, Dr So and So. Well come to find out that really is his initials! S.O. He really is Dr SO! I know...I'm a dork. :o)

Ok, so overall we were both SO pleased with how everything went. VERY pleased. I was a nervous wreck the night before and in the lobby while waiting but walked out at ease and with a big smile.

I, we, thought we were getting a break by having a sperm bank at our docs office. Which would be lowering our costs dramatically. (sperm at our place = $220, sperm at Fairfax = $495, BIG difference) It wasn't until we got home, stuff started sinking in and I started reading the info they had given us that I noticed a glitch in our new perfect little plan. Their bank doesn't have known donors. :o( BIG let down for us. A known donor was #1 on our list of requirements...with Caucasian, blue eyes and blond hair following. ( M is blond and blue). So the high we had from having a bank there and the cost being half was shot. BLAH! But hey! Its just money right? I mean how could we tell our child 18 years from now that "No we don't know that info because we were too cheap to pay the extra $200". And plus we had already planned on spending the $500 for Fairfax. You see how I'm trying to talk myself into feeling ok about this? Nothing in life is free or cheap right? Right?

So, now I have a whole new list of questions for our baby making crew.

1. Will they store sperm from Fairfax
2. Cost
3. And so on

Wow this turned into really long post. I know Ive forgotten to list some stuff and will post later as I remember or if anyone asks.

But let me close on a high note. I asked Fellow R when we could get this thing started. He said soon. Like next cycle! That would mean April 3 or so! That's just 3 weeks away!

However, M and I have decided to wait til May. She will be out of town the whole first week of April and we want to be together when it happens.

And what better Mothers Day present could we get than finding out we're gonna be mommies!

*fingers and toes crossed*

Ring! Ring!

(I don't recognize the number on the caller I.D.)

Me - Hello?
Her- Hi. May I speak to Kim *****?
Me - This is Kim.
Her - Hi Kim. This is Ms. So and So from Dr So and Sos office. I'm just calling to remind you of your appointment with Dr. So and So on Monday, March 12 at 10 am.
Me - Yes, I've been counting the days. *snicker* I'm looking forward to it. *snicker*
Her - *snicker* OK Ms *****, we'll see you on Monday.
Me - Thanks

Click.

How many people count down the days for a docs appointment? And who looks forward to going?

WE do!

Tomorrows the big day. The first of many...well I hope not too many...but you know what I mean.

We've got my last 2 months of charting and our list of questions all ready to go. Any last minute advice or questions we should ask?

1 more week...

....and it just cant get here soon enough. We are SO ready to get this show on the road. I'm ready to be overloaded with info and start this process. Our list of questions for the doc continues to grow. What about this? What about that? I sure hope he's ready for us!

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My brother, the one who just got engaged, was married Friday night. Nothing fancy. Its not his first or second or......time around so they kept it very low key. Congrats B1 & D!

Would a pic of M & I be an appropriate wedding gift? ;o) KIDDING! JUST KIDDING!

Maybe for their anniversary. :o)

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This is Ms last week in EMT school. Woowhooo! 2 down. 2 to go.

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Not much else happening. Give me a week. I'll have LOTS to say!