Dates, dates, we've got dates!

We have dates for IVF #3!! I can't believe it's actually coming quickly. I have some regular blood work to do next week when my pills are done. Then I start another pack of birth control pills next weekend. I stay on those till June 14th which is when I start my suppressant Lupron. I start my stims the 29th of June and looks like IVF procedure the week of July 8th! 

I can't believe how close this is. I'm a little freaked out but I have a really good feeling about this cycle so I'm trying to stay optimistic! 

The day many infertile women dread....mothers day.

I'm not sure how I feel personally on Mother's Day. The past 4 I have just thought " next year I will be celebrating Mother's Day with my own baby." And of course as you know that still hasn't happened. I don't need things to be about me, but when every other woman in my families is being honored, it sucks when it's about something you want the most. This year I'm sad, but I'm so hopeful for my next cycle so I'm trying not to dwell on this too much. All I can do is really be thankful for the awesome role model mothers I have in my life. My mom and my step mom :) 

Lifestyle changes

I am already a pretty healthy eater in the sense that I eat fruits and vegetables a lot. However I do have a real strong addiction to sugar I eat cakes cookies candy and of course my favorite chocolate! I saw a study on YouTube recently that compared sugar addiction to that of heroin or crack. Apparently when you get your "hit" of sugar it triggers the same feel good hormones that the drugs do. I also read in the book Clean Eating for Dummies that sugar really is an addiction that needs to be broken. 

So long story short I started the clean living lifestyle. I've cut out as much processed foods I could and sugars. I bought some organic foods from my local co-op and am trying to go natural or organic. I really think this will help hormone imbalance and maybe my body will produce eggs properly. My body will be cleaner without all the extra chemicals and a plus, I will hopefully drop the 20lbs I have been working on. 

As for the metformin, I had a crappy reaction to it yesterday because of Mac and cheese and chocolate chip cookies. So I figure my clean eating will also help with my reactions so I can stay on it. 

Started metformin

Yesterday was my 25th birthday. I had a little freak out because a) I'm half way to 50 b) I am almost out of my 20's and c) I really thought I would be pregnant by now. I did have a birthday party BBQ and it was a lot of fun! Saw family and some friends, definitely a good time :)

Anyways I started my metformin yesterday and at the beginning I felt fine, but then I realized near the end of the afternoon I hadn't eaten much. So I are one little piece of kielbasa, immediately I started feeling sick and ended up in the bathroom. I eventually was able to eat a little something, but most of the night I felt kind of crappy. I'm really hoping this passes like the dr told me it should because I'm not even taking the full dose she wants me on!

Got a plan!

Went to our doctors today, there was a lot of confusion between Monday and today. I ended up scheduling an ultrasound appointment without meaning to! All was well though because I guess I needed to do another saline ultrasound because its been a year since I had that done last, which lets face it, is depressing. A whole year?!? Really?!?! Anyways everything looked good just like last time, I have a perfect uterine cavity...how exciting.

She also started me on metformin, I am looking forward to this for a couple reasons. I have read in numerous places that it really helps egg quality it has also been known to help you lose and maintain your weight. So yea I start that tomorrow. My RE said that my nurse in Dartmouth where I do my treatments will contact me soon, so here we go!! We're hoping to cycle in July which really isn't that long!

DH's DNA fragmentation test..

When Jon and I went to see the new RE she had us immediatly order a sperm analysis to test Jon's sperm for DNA fragmentation. We were able to order a kit to do at home and the lab would send dry ice that day. So the day comes and my husband does the test right before work. He comes in when he is finished and says he doesn't know if they will get anything because the sample was so small. So I went and looked at it and freaked out! There was like nothing in there! So an hour later I was pain stakingly trying to get every last drop into the vials. I sent it out that day with no hope at all that they would get anything. I posted on the infertility board I frequent and said I was nervous about it. They all made a good point, they don't need much since they aren't looking for numbers just fragmentations.

So fast forward to Friday and I got the call that Jon's sperm is normal!! No fragmentation issues!! This was awesome to hear, it's not often that we get some good news. At this point I am definitley feeling good about our cycle coming up in probably July.

I am currently taking a egg quality "cocktail" the RE that we went to for a second opinion put both Jon and I on CoQ-10 and I did a lot of research on Royal Jelly. Royal Jelly is mixed in bee pollen in the gel I take. I have read great results from different places especially how the ladies had much better mature egg quality which is my problem. Plus if my doctor starts me on Metformin I should be in pretty good shape! I am getting really excited for the next cyle.

It's been awhile

I haven't written in a while but mostly because I haven had much to say! We have been in limbo for 3 months now, but I think we finally have a plan to move forward. We met with a new RE at Baystate reproductive health. I liked the doctor in the sense that I thought she could get us pregnant but I didn't like her personality at all. She did put us on coq10. This is supposed to help both sperm and egg quality issues. After a lot of research I also started taking royal jelly with bee pollen in gel form I have also heard great things about egg quality with this. I thought we were all set to move on to a new DR with a new plan. I was wrong.

I had my follow up appointment with my current RE and I really like the direction she would like to go in. She is thinking about putting me on Metformin for egg quality. I read up about this and have seen some awesome results with other ladies who changed up like this. She would like me to be on it for 2 months before my next cycle which is what I figured we would be waiting anyways. I really liked this plan so I think we will be staying with our current RE for one more cycle.

I feel really good about this decision and will be calling my RE today to tell her we are ready to go! Feels good to be hoping back on the IVF train.