Our 1st IUI scheduled!

We now have a diagnosis and a plan! Barry and I met with Dr. Will on Wednesday, April 23rd at 10:45am ... 11:25am to discuss all of our tests and to figure out where we go from here. Our meeting went very well and we learned a lot.. I think Barry more than me ;) 
("Wait, when you say 2 or 3 eggs, you mean we could have twins or triplets?!?"- Barry) 



   

Dr. Will went over all my blood work numbers and was happy with where my thyroid levels are currently at, as well as my prolactin (17.1- goal is below 20) and AMH (8.2- doc wanted this to be at least a 2). I yelled out a BOOM when he told me how high my AMH levels where and Doc and I high-fived haha.. You have to have some fun with dealing with all this, right?!


He also showed us the pictures and results of my SIS ultrasound. He said everything looked great and my uterus was perfect! (I personally think it will be prettier with a baby in there!) He said I have 20 follicles in one ovary and 18 on the other side. That is double what he said is a good amount! Yeah for overachieving! :) He also went over Barry's numbers and all is well in that department. He is overachieving as well!
(I don't want to be the only one bragging LOL)


So with all these great results, my thoughts went to, "Why can't we get pregnant?" Dr. Will explained that we have around a 10% of conceiving every month with perfect timing. He used the term "unexplained infertility" in our situation, but did have a plan that he believes with work for us. (and increase our chance of conceiving to 20%!)

Here it is...
Femara+IUI= baby (hopefully!)

I will start taking 5 mg of femara, also know as letrozole on my cycle days 3-7.
I will start using an ovulation predictor kit or (OPK's) on cycle day 10.
As soon as I get a positive, I will call our doctor's office to schedule the IUI for the next day! 
We will wait for a LOOONG two weeks and then be able to take a pregnancy test to see if it worked! 

We should be starting this process in early May and know early June if it worked :) 

Please keep us in your prayers! 
XOXO
Sarah 

This outfit is a MUST if this works! :)

Thyroid Update (April 2014)

After celebrating Barry's 36th birthday last Tuesday (4/15) I went back to the doctor on Thursday to have my thyroid levels re-checked. Last month, I went to have baseline blood work performed and they noticed my thyroid levels were slightly elevated (2.89) My doctor said that for a successful conception and pregnancy to occur, they should be between 1-2.  So after another fainting free blood work and about 5 hours later, I found out some good news!

My thyroid levels have dropped to 2.31! I'm so relived this is moving in the right direction, and even though the number isn't exactly where it needs to be, I'm hopeful that in the next month or two it will be :)

The plan is to stay on the same dosage of my medication. Barry and I head back to Midwest Fertility tomorrow (Wednesday, April 23rd) to talk with our doctor, Dr. Will, about our game plan moving forward. We are excited and hopeful for the coming months!

As always, thanks for the support and prayers!

xoxo

Sarah 

Month 2! (April 2014)

We have moved into month 2 of testing at Midwest Fertility!  Thursday, April 3rd AF (Aunt Flow) started and to say it was a bad day is an understatement. I had such high hopes last month after starting the thyroid medication,  seeing a positive OPK (ovulation test), and not having any spotting like I typically do during my cycle. I allow myself one day to be sad, cry, drink a glass of wine (or two) LOL , and feel sorry for myself. But only one day. By Friday I already felt better and after a busy and fun weekend with Barry I was looking forward to this month of testing/trying :)

This month we... well I had a fun saline-infused ultrasound. I was glad Barry was able to take off a little early from work to be there with me. My doctor was on vacation so the on-call doctor performed the procedure. It wasn't too bad, mostly just uncomfortable. Barry kept me entertained as he held my hand and told me funny things to distract myself from the actual procedure :)

The doctor who performed the test said everything looked great and didn't see anything causing our infertility! Yay for good news!

Next text is my blood test scheduled for this Thursday, April 24th to recheck my thyroid levels. Hopefully they have lowered and are between 1-2! (Fingers crossed!)

I will keep you all informed on what this blood test reveals.

Thanks again for all the prayers!

3/19/14: Finding some answers :)

Yesterday was a huge day for me. I had my first blood draw scheduled for 7:40am. For most people, this isn't a big deal. For someone with severe blood and needle phobia, this experience is literally enough to through me into a full on panic attack, pass out, and never want to return to that doctor's office again.

 (Which isn't an option if I want to become pregnant LOL)

Usually, a couple days before a doctor's appointment, I'm already nervous and wanting to cancel. Everything about this appointment was different. I had a weird calm over me that I have NEVER experienced before a doctor's appointment. I had a sense that God was in control and that everything would be fine. Through this whole journey, I keep telling myself, "God wouldn't give us more than we can handle."

Luckily, my blood draw took less than 1 minute and the nurse was amazing. I sat there for a couple minutes after and then left. (Easy!) I didn't expect to hear anything that day or even the day after, but less than 6 hours after my appointment, I received a call from the nurse! She informed me that my prolactin number was in the normal range at 17.1.

(yay for normal!) Then, she told me that my TSH was in the normal range at 2.89 but considered on the higher end of normal for women trying to conceive. My doctor likes this level to be between 1-2. She then explained he recommends that I take 25mg of a thyroid replacement medication every morning on an empty stomach and have my levels checked again in 4 weeks. 

I was honestly kinda excited to hear this news. I feel like it's the first bit of news we have received that is something we can change. I just can't help but think maybe this is the  simply can be the fix that will bring us our baby. I pray that it is :)

- Sarah

Taking the Next Step :)

 Barry and I had our first consultation with Dr. Will at Midwest Fertility Specialists yesterday. I hoped and prayed we would never have to get to this point, but after trying to conceive for over 17 months, we decided it was time to see a specialist.

Leading up the appointment, I was very calm and even a little excited. But, the night before the appointment, everything came rushing into my mind at once and I hit my breaking point. I was filling out our paperwork for the second time, (I had originally filled out the paperwork for Advanced Fertility but had to switch to Midwest Fertility) and I just became overwhelmed. I don't know if it was the hundreds of health questions I had to answer, the embarrassing questions I had to ask Barry, or the countless insurance forms, but I had to literally walk away from the table. Sometimes there's nothing left to say and that's exactly how I felt that night. Anytime Barry would ask me anything, I would just cry. That night he  held me tight and I quickly fell asleep in his arms.

The day of the appointment I stayed busy and work and didn't have too much time to worry. Barry met me on the north side and we drove up the rest of the way together. We found the building easily and rode up the second floor to Suite 250. The receptionist was very friendly and after barely enough time for Barry to brew a cup of coffee in the Keurig, we were being called back to the consultation room.

We weren't even waiting for more than five minutes before Dr. Will came in. He walked in, called us by our first names, and introduced himself. He had already looked at my paperwork and we dove right into our journey over these past 17 months. He asked some more in-depth questions about certain issues and took lots of notes. At the end of our talk, (including him asking about when we got married, how long we have known each other, and how we met.. which was a nice change from just medical questions!) he suggested I get a fasted blood test and an SIS ultrasound. My blood test is scheduled for Wed, March 19th. I believe they are checked my AMH, FSH, and thyroid hormone levels. Once we have the results from that, Dr. Will will have a better idea as to our next step! My SIS ultrasound will not be scheduled until my next cycle (hopefully I don't have a NEXT cycle!!)

I'm glad to have the ball rolling and excited to have some answers soon!