Los Porchs

As Porch and I struggled with our infertility and the news that our likelihood of conceiving naturally was less than 1%, I turned to the community of bloggers who shared our pain but not necessarily our same struggles.  While it was easy to get wrapped up in the stories of loss and sadness, it was also uplifting to read stories of success and happiness.  Without this community, I would have been lost and feeling alone, which is just about the worst place one can be while working through infertility struggles. I have already started entering the notes I have in my journal; I always knew I wanted to share the journey with the community that had done so much for me.  I kept notes in a journal with hopes of sharing them to inspire and support others.  You can find them through the laterblog, infertility, and IVF labels at the top of the page. I know that each couple's story is unique.  We feel so incredibly fortunate that our first round of IVF has brought us so...

An approval code never looked so damn good!  Vernita called today to share the good news!  We're going to Green Bay this weekend for the Packers vs. Bears game and I will need to call the office on Monday for our next steps, appointment dates, and prescription information! Oh my goodness!  It's happening!  It's so easy to look back to when we finally admitted to ourselves that weened an RE and had our first appointment in Glenview.  I remember already being anxious about the time and gas that it would require.  That was July.  Today marks the beginning of November and we have only been with Dr. TK since September so really, things have moved relatively quickly since we found Dr. TK.  We are having conversations about freezing embryos.  We have pretty much agreed not to tell anyone when we are in the midst of our first (and hopefully only) IVF cycle.  The pressure to report and share seems too much, especially if we are unsuccessful. ...

We met with Dr. TK this week & are excited, anxious, scared, all at once.  I am back on birth control for the first time since before my surgery.  We are hoping to start injections by the end of October (OMG, there really isn't much left of October) or early November.  Given our plans to travel around the holidays, I asked Dr. TK what he thought about us being away for a few days and he simply stared at me and said, "By December, we'll know if you are pregnant."  Ha.  I almost fell off my chair.  There it is again, that feeling of hope!  Ryan and I are having serious conversations about who to tell and when to tell. I am jumping up and down at the notion of possibly being pregnant by Christmas.  I believe with the help of Dr. TK we can actually make this happen!  And even if it doesn't happen the first time, it's so ridiculously exciting to have hope in our lives again.  The news about our odds wasn't very good and our chances of con...

Sometimes we have to take things into our own hands. After many attempts to reach Dr. TK's office and figure out our next steps, I called again today and am so thankful I did!  They are going to start pre-certification of our IVF round & medications.  I will go in on CD3 (cycle day 3) for another ultrasound and blood work... and when we meet with Dr. TK, we will learn more about our treatment plan.  As of now, it seems we may be able to start this month if all goes well with the approval process.   I know when I called the fertility department, the people were super sweet to me, so I'm hopeful that all will go smoothly and that by Christmas, we have something to celebrate.  I so badly want to be pregnant for the holidays!  It's always something I've wished for & maybe, just maybe, this year is our year! xoxo

My HSG was completed on the 24th downtown at the surgery center.  We found out that my Fallopian tubes are not blocked but Dr. TK thinks there is likely some scar tissue that's causing issues.  Ryan goes for his bloodwork and analysis (this will be lucky number 3) tomorrow.  Hopefully, once we have the full picture of what's going on in our bodies, we can make a plan and move forward.  Tomorrow is my 30th birthday and right now, I'm feeling pretty apathetic about it.  I thought it would be a bigger deal, but really nothing yet.  Lots of feelings of nostalgia on my way tow ork this morning.  I can't believe I'm going to be 30.  And I can't believe I still don't have children.  Meanwhile, many friends are done and have older children, but they aren't me.  I get that now.  Sometimes, I just feel stuck.  Like I"m living the same day over and over.  I'm hopeful that there are good things to come because I'm stressed out. xoxo...