Swiss Cheese

Today at church we talked to some friends of ours who had success through IVF (adorable twin boys!) and they asked me "So, do you feel like swiss cheese yet?"  It took me a second to catch on.. lol... but duh- shots!  So, yes... I am feeling like swiss cheese :)  Heading to Doc's office tomorrow! 

Perfect ultrasound and Holy Drogas, Batman!!

I had my baseline appointment yesterday morning.  Good ol' ultrasound and blood work as usual.  I just have to say- I love the nurses that work in my doctor's office.  They are so sweet.  My favorite nurse, June came in to do my ultrasound.  She walked in and was all smiles and just told me how excited she was that we have finally gotten here to do IVF.

One word for my ultrasound: perfect.

It couldn't have been better.  Normally there are issues with my lining being too thick or that I have one weird follicle that never fizzled out and it's a little larger than expected. Because of that, the nurses are crossing their fingers that my estrogen levels are low enough to start medications. So, I went in feeling a little nervous, but this time I had thin lining and lots of very small follicles!! June might've given me a high five lol and she cheered with the other nurses.  It just made me feel good and very hopeful.

June called me in the afternoon telling me that Dr. G looked over my results (ultra and blood) and said we had the green light to start shots (woo woo!) and Jon had to start his doxycycline (2x/day for 5 days).  She gave me my dosage for my shots and as I wrote it down, I felt a little overwhelmed lol...  2 vials of Bravelle mixed with 1 vial of Menopur.  The menopur is a new medication for me and the bravelle, I've done with each IUI cycle- so nothing new.  However, I have never done more than 1.5 vials of bravelle in one shot.  Normally it's always 1 vial of bravelle mixed with the saline solution and that's it.  When I did the 1.5 vials- it was only for like 2 days.  All I have to say is.. holy drogas, batman!!!  I definitely feel like a potions master :)

I took my 2nd shot tonight and I'm already starting to feel stuff going on down low. Yikes!  My next appointment is on Monday and I'm really interested to see the ultrasound! If I didn't feel so weird about it, I might take a picture of the ultrasound screen with my phone to show follicle growth.  Let's be honest, I've been in their office for over a year now.  There's no more sense shame anymore lol there's no privacy either! So, maybe I will take a picture :)

In other good news, Jon and I are Aunt and Uncle again :)  Jon's brother, Jeff and his wife Vanessa had an adorable baby boy this week.  This is #13 overall (niece/nephew) for me.  He's the 3rd grandchild on Jon's family side.  My brother, Scott and his wife Angel are due with a baby boy at the end of May.  So exciting!

Teaching visit and calendar

My teaching visit was yesterday afternoon.  I probably didn't even really need it because I've been doing injections for my IUIs... but it's always good to have a refresher.  Caitlin (one of the nurses) talked about all my meds and went day by day with me on the calendar.  It was pretty helpful.   After that I signed my consent forms for IVF.  Oh!  One other thing about the teaching visit!  So, the first thing Caitlin brought up was genetic testing.  I've done the disease testing and other testing, but nothing for like cystic fibrosis or stuff like that.  Anyways, she told me that since we've been with them they have started requiring to recommend genetic testing (to cover all their bases for liability reasons- it makes sense).  Anyways, she said that because I've been with them so long that they just "grandfathered" me in the treatments and they never talked to me about it for my IUIs.  I just thought that was funny.

For me personally, I decided to opt out of the genetic testing.  We wanted to have a baby on our own- without help from doctors.  If I didn't have lovely poly cystic ovaries, we would've just sent Jon in to get tested and I would've just done my usual "annual" and that's probably it.  If my baby(ies.. you always have to add that in if you're going IVF lol) has/have a disability- that won't change our love for them.  Any child is a gift and blessing from our Heavenly Father.  Sure, if they have disabilities that might make our lives a little more difficult, but I would never stop and think "oh, if only I had had that genetic testing!"  I realize that there are some cases where this may be necessary if it would cause the baby to not survive the pregnancy or something like that, and I completely respect those who do it- It just wasn't right for us.

Moving on...

For those who know me- you know that I have to always have a plan.  I need to know dates and times.  I have to have organization, people!  This is probably why I love signing up for races when I'm running... I have set workout schedules and a goal date lol!!  However, when you are going through fertility treatments, you don't always know what's going to happen until the night before.  So, now for IVF I have all these tentative dates that could change but might not or some days might be moved and blah blah blah blah... It's going to drive me nuts :)  People have been asking how long I'll be on shots and my answer is always, "I don't know".   They say it could be anywhere from 7-12 days.  That was the number they gave me for IUI too.  I was never consistent.  I had a cycle where I was only on meds for 5 days and there was another time where I took shots (I kid you not) for 18 days.  There is just no way to plan.  So, to have Jon tell his work that he'll be either taking the day off or working from home is a pain- because all he has is a tentative schedule. 

Anyways- because I have nothing exciting to tell you yet- here is my lovely calendar in all its tentative glory- haha.  I'm like ready to break out my color coded high lighters to remind me when what drug starts.  Which BTW- they are not all listed on here.  I apologize for the formatting... the next size down for the picture is too small to read.  The countdown is on!!  Excitement!

"So that's what $4,500 worth of drugs looks like!!!"

I've debated long and hard if we should continue posting about our infertility treatments on the blog.  I took a break from writing about it once we came home from the cruise in November.   However, I believe that not only is it important to keep record of it for our own personal sake, but also for others who may be facing the same trials we are.

After a few more failed IUI cycles, lots of tears, much thought, prayer and an approval from our insurance company- we are going forward with IVF!!  I cannot tell you how nervous/excited I am.  Once we got our approval and I had a doctor appointment set- I felt completely clueless.  I had no idea what to expect or what the timing would be or anything.

My first doctor appointment (about 2 weeks ago) was a normal blood draw and ultrasound.  Then, as I left they prescribed me with birth control and set up our next appointment which would be my teaching appointment (which is actually tomorrow!).  Then came the fun of having to make tons of phone calls to my insurance to make sure they were on the ball with approving my pre-certifications for my medications.  That was a hassle!  But, after about 8-10 phone calls- we finally had everything resolved.  I received my first of 2 shipments of meds on Friday.  The next one came on Saturday.  If I thought injections for IUI were overwhelming... this was even scarier!

This is the box of my first shipment.  I tried to get a size reference so I pulled out book 7 of Harry Potter.  The box was huge.  That's all there is to it!

Then here is the spread of my meds that came on Friday.  Note that in each of the bags there are 2-3 boxes that you can't see straight on.

Here is a top view of it.

Then, here is the rest that came on Saturday.

I then sent a text with a picture of the meds to one of my sisters and she replied "So that's what $4500 worth of drugs looks like!!"  LOL... seriously...  it's ridiculous.  I guess I should mention that we did not pay that much out of pocket, thankfully.  On my shipment paperwork it gives the price of everything and then it gives what our total of it was.  Our insurance covers quite a bit of it.  I seriously don't know what we'd do without this insurance.  I really believe that Heavenly Father helped point us in the right direction as far as Jon's job was concerned.  We couldn't have asked for a better insurance plan.  As crappy as they are to deal with over the phone, I am so grateful for their coverage.

Anyways, I have my teaching visit for my medication tomorrow and then on the 12th I go in for my baseline appointment and at that point all the meds will begin!  Oh- I almost forgot!  Both Jon and I had to go in for "infectious diseases" blood testing.  I had mine a little over a year ago, so they needed me to do it again and then Jon was pulled in for it too.  LOL.. can't leave him out of all the fun! ;)

1000 Pieces of Misery

We finally finished our New Years puzzle! It was 1000 pieces of misery. We got it for the Christmas theme not realizing that because it's from a painting, about 947 pieces were all the exact same cloudy purple/gray color.  Regardless, here is our proof of completing it.  Now to destroy it and never even consider trying this puzzle ever again!

Happy 2012!!!

These last few weeks have been so amazing!  We have had the opportunity to spend so much time with each of our families.  I feel so blessed because of it!  That was my Christmas gift :) All of Jon's siblings were in town the last few weeks of December and we enjoyed the time we spent with them and his parents.  It was such a blessing to be able to see everyone!  We were able to get our family pictures taken too!

Other things we did as a family: we went to Galveston to see the lights at Moody Gardens, decorated sugar cookies, lots of family dinners, watched a few movies, spent Christmas eve together and acted out the nativity story.

Last week we spent our week in NH to see my family.  We left on Christmas day and got back New Year's Eve.  It was the most successful trip we've ever had.  What I mean by that is we were able to go over to each of my sibling's homes and spend time together multiple times.  Usually we're lucky to go over 2 of their houses.  I have 4 siblings and they all live within a half hour of each other.  We stayed at my dad's house and were able to spend quite a bit of time with him. 

There was one day that Jon and I took a walk around my dad's home.  About a mile down the road there is a farm.  So, I took Jon over there and we fed the cows and some donkey's too :)

Many of you know that we are  sort of cat people... or at least we always say that I (Crystal) married a crazy cat lady :)  However, for me, I have always loved cats.  My family had cats for as long as I can remember.  There is a cat that still lives with my dad and her name is, Pickles.  My mom gave her to me when I was in the 4th grade.  I'll do the math for you. It was in 1994!!  She is 18 years old!!  We would've brought her to TX with us when we first moved here, but I am afraid she wouldn't make the trip.  After seeing her this time, I can't imagine that she has much time left.  She is a special cat and Sookie has a lot to live up to :)

We were also able to spend quite a bit of time with our nieces and nephews too.  My oldest nephew, Seth, was getting ready to leave for BYU-I while we were out there and it was special to celebrate that with him.  We played Apples to Apples with all the kids and one of my nieces, Serena, loved playing it with Jon.  It was really cute :)  I apologize for the lack of pictures of Jon... I kept trying to take his picture, but it turned into him taking the camera and taking a picture of me instead... figures.

L-R: Madison (12), Serena (9), Shannon and me

One of the night's we had our family Christmas party at my sister Leah's house.  This is a picture from that:



My dad is on the couch next to my sister's mom-in-law and some of the grandkids in the room getting ready to play "grabbies"..  oh! There's Jon in the very right corner well.. his arm and hands at least :)



Our last night there we went to my brother Scott's home and watched the BYU bowl game there.  Scott was kind enough to record it so we could all watch it together at night when everyone was available.  It was so fun.  While Jon hooted and hollered during the game, I brought my straightener to do hair for my sisters and some of my nieces :) It was a really fun time.

I am so grateful for our families.  It doesn't matter how we spend our time together- just as long as we DO spend time together.  I am grateful for this season and for the opportunity I have to celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.  I am thankful for eternal families and for the knowledge I have of the gospel that we will be reunited with those who have passed on.



2011 - The Year of Travel

With the date of our anniversary where it is, I have an opportunity to review the ending year and the great times with Crystal all in one post. Each year for Christmas we purchase a new ornament that has special meaning to us regarding the events of that year. As you can see from the picture above and post title, we have dubbed 2011 "the Year of Travel". 

As has been documented many times on this blog, my work schedule this year had me travelling quite a bit. With the economic climate I am happy to have a job and to go wherever I am needed, but I really would have preferred to spend more time at home. I split my time living in Houston with Atlanta, Tulsa, and Milwaukee. Pictured below is a screenshot from my phone of my itinerary for an average work month. I'd like to also add that each 'Reservation' below is not a single flight but a round trip over the course of the week.

Thought I was constantly gone, we were able to remain somewhat close with Skype chats each evening. With all this business travel and Crystal being left at home alone, we had to find some enjoyment in the travelling.

Rather than flying home one weekend in Milwaukee, Crystal was able to fly up and spend some time touring with me.

The Racing Sausages of the Milwaukee Brewers

Weekend road trips to visit friends are always welcomed. 

Delicious Puffy Tacos...
I ate enough in Tulsa to get my picture on a wall - I'm sure C's so proud...

 

I'm noticing a food theme here...

 



We were even able to visit Oz.

Wishes for the Wizard (R to L): Courage, Home, Heart, Brain, Height

 



Now is where I can take a small moment to be serious.  Crystal, the past 5 years have been the best of my life and I am so excited for all the years to come.  Every day with you is a great adventure that I look forward to.  I love you and can't wait to enjoy endless more anniversaries together.

Celebrating our anniversary today by going to the Houston Temple

 

We hope you all had a spectacular 2011.  Have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year (hopefully with less travel)