Welcome!!

Hello everyone! Well, Here I go!! My first blog! I wanted to start a blog to be able to document our journey through the next year of our life. As many of you know or maybe don't know, my husband, David and I have been struggling with infertility for almost 6 years now. It has been the most emotional thing I have ever faced in my life. I feel we all have a calling on our life, and I feel that for David and myself that calling is to be parents. I soo desperately want to be a mommy, and having zero control over that is simply heartbreaking. I am going to get pretty detailed on this blog. No sugar coating! I want to document my raw emotions, the procedures, and everything in between. So I apologize, in advance, if I get too graphic for anyone! So...here's our story up until now...
It all began November 20th, 2004. I married my soulmate!! David and I both decided as soon as we were married that having a family was very important to us. We decided that "when it happened, it happened" so we stopped using any form of contraceptive right away. (or as our new infertility doctor describes "we fired the goalie") Pretty much that same year I was diagnosed with PCOS (Polycystic Ovary syndrome) PCOS is when your hormones get all out of whack and you form little cyst's on the ovaries, which also in turn makes you insulin resistant. Side effects/symptoms are: weight gain, facial hair, ovarian cysts, irregular periods and a whole gamete of other things! After about 2 years on our own, with no baby, I asked my OBGYN for advice on getting pregnant. I was given Metformin (which is a diabetic medication) to shrink my cysts, and hopefully calm the PCOS down. I seemed to respond ok to this medication, as it helped to regulate my cycle. So the doctors let us go a few months on that, hoping that would help in getting us pregnant. I was optimistic as I had heard good things about Metformin! I was also very hopeful as it was on the Walmart $4 list. so it was cheap! In the second year of trying, I had what's call a blighted ovum (also known as “anembryonic pregnancy”). This happens when a fertilized egg attaches itself to the uterine wall, but the embryo does not develop. Cells develop to form the pregnancy sac, but not the embryo itself. A blighted ovum usually occurs within the first trimester before a woman knows she is pregnant.  I however did know, and had told everyone. We were sooo excited. So this seemed like such a huge loss to us. So after this took place and before you knew it, 6 months went by, and no positive pregnancy test. 
We were then referred to an infertility reproductive endocrinologist in Fort Wayne. By this time David and i had been trying for over 2 years. This doctor did a whole panel of tests on us and it was found not only did I have PCOS, but David had infertility issues as well. The Morphology of his semen analysis (told ya I was gonna get graphic...sorry) was very abnormal. There are 3 parts to a SA (semen analysis): count, motility, and morphology. The count: how many are there, Motility: how well do they swim, Morphology: how are they shaped. Morph's are supposed to be >30 % normal to slightly abnormal. My Darling husband David's Morphs are only 0-2%! We were pretty devastated. We knew this was another roadblock in front of us. 
Our doctor advised starting with IUI's (intra uterine insemination). This is where they take David's sperm, wash it, and place it in my uterus using a specialized catheter. David and I did 4 cycles of this. I also at the time was being ramped up on medication, to optimize ovulation. The doctor started me on Clomid, which is a pill to encourage ovulation. This process was long. It involved a lot of trips to the doctor. for every cycle it involved ultrasounds, semen analysis, sperm washings, labs, and IUI's. For about 2 weeks out of the month I was in either the lab or the doctor's office seriously every other day! Each month the cost of this was roughly $1,500. Insurance doesn't pay for anything involved with infertility (that will be a later blog). After about a year of this process and still no baby, we ramped up the medication with IUI, one last time.  I was started on HCG trigger shot injections after IUI's. We did this 2 times. Still no positive pregnancy test. At this time, we were emotionally, physically and basically financially drained. We decided to take a year off to regroup. This was much needed time for us.


But now we are back in the saddle and have decided we can't stop until we get our angel!! IVF, here we come!!