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Tuesday, December 26, 2017

We were supposed to start a frozen embryo transfer this week.

And then at the CD1 appointment on Christmas Eve I found out that not only was my doctor's clinical coordinator out of town til January, but so is the doctor, with no gameplan left behind for the people who would be providing our care.

That's a problem, because I absolutely wouldn't have started if we had known he was going to be out of town, and also because thousands of dollars are riding on this which I refuse to let go to waste on a cycle where we're getting shuffled around between doctors. Especially considering that the last time that happened at a different clinic, three weeks in to shooting up with hormones and committed to the tune of $4,000 for an IUI that we'd never get to do I found myself sitting across the desk from a doctor who didn't know my name casually flipping through my chart and asking, "Why don't you think this is working?" and "what do you think we should do?"

Is this even real life? If I knew how to get myself knocked up we wouldn't be here chatting, bro.

Long story short, that treatment ended in a miserable did-not-finish failure that left our bank account and morale on empty.

However - it was a blessing in disguise, because the doctor who did review my chart sat down and explained that it would be in our best interest not to move forward until we did a saline sonogram and determine if the fibroid that caused complications with Cade's pregnancy needed to be removed, and see if others were present. Fibroids are benign growths inside the uterus that can cause failure to implant, miscarriage, preterm labor (which I had) and preterm delivery (my water broke with Cade at 36 weeks). We would love to not have a repeat of the miscarriage scare we had at 7 weeks too, so I'm incredibly grateful that this new doctor did sit us down and explain patiently why this is so important, and laid out our several options to proceed.

We'd rather do this right and give our embryos the very best chance, so this is what we're going to do. The saline sonogram is scheduled for next week and I'm mentally preparing to hear that surgery needs to happen and allow for a month or two to heal before moving forward.

I really had thought that having had Cade the feelings I experienced throughout the years leading up to getting him wouldn't resurface, but I've been pretty surprised with how frustrated I've been this week. I keep reminding myself that there's so many worse trials and I honestly wouldn't want to experience any of the ones I've seen other people go through. I just wish the feelings of frustration, anger at others getting to have kids without being repeatedly violated by other people, and freaked out at the fact that I have absolutely zero control over this or how many kids we'll get to have weren't real.

You all should probably say a prayer for Jeff because without fail, every time these treatments start and with them loads of synthetic hormones, my everyday garden-variety crazy grows exponentially into a kind of crazy you can't even imagine. And he has to live with that - so, yeah - he's a saint.

ANYWAYS. Here's to hopefully trying again in February or March.

Tuesday, December 19, 2017

It begins: FET

Today I went and got my PIO shot to kick off our FET. It was a little odd being there with my son, surrounded by patients who are still waiting for their baby. I remember being annoyed at those people when we were in the middle of treatment. Oh well - hindsight, right?

I saw women who had clearly just finished their egg retrieval looking like they were wading through molasses, still not fully conscious. Annoyed husbands who were put out, uncomfortable, stressed, probably angry that they were shelling out so much money for what can feel like a total gamble. Then there were the husbands who were every bit as excited and hopeful and invested as their wives. Older couples. Young couples. My heart broke a little for each of them and I said a silent prayer that they would all get those babies that they were sacrificing and hoping for so much.

It felt a little like coming home, though. We had to wait a little longer than normal since they were so short staffed due to the holidays, but Cade was an angel and every clinical person who saw him talked about how perfect and adorable he was and how it makes them feel just so GREAT to meet the babies they were so involved with. To an outsider that probably sounds like lip service, but I can promise that these people meant it. They are 100 percent aware of how miraculous it is and grateful their patients are for the total gift of parenthood. Several of them are/were/will be fertility patients also, so they understand every emotion and worry of the process. We don't take it for granted, neither do they. I love, love LOVE that they recognize just how monumental these babies are and share so much in our joy.

Anyways, I got my PIO shot to kick off the cycle. From there, I call on day 1, order meds, and then start bloodwork, estradiol, and ultrasounds on day 2. I'm not exactly sure how it will roll out from there but it should only be a couple of weeks after that to transfer.

I'm excited. I feel good about getting started again. I've had some worries, doubts, and concerns about doing this with Cade. I've felt a bit like I'm shortchanging him and I don't know why. At the heart of it, though, is that we feel we are ready to expand our family and want so badly to give him a built-in best friend. It just felt "right" to be there today and I know that we're on the right path.

Tuesday, December 12, 2017

"Lose that baby weight"

After having gained 60 lbs during my pregnancy - yeah, I was pretty fluffy - I imagined I would be aching to get back in shape and shrink back down to my pre-pregnancy, pre-motherhood body size and shape. I'd hit the gym religiously at 6 weeks, eat nothing but absolutely healthy foods, and be back in my jeans and lookin' fine by 6 months.

AND, as per usual, I was wrong.

I lost about 35 lbs in the week after having Cade (mostly water weight, I was SO swollen), and continued to drop about 12-15 more, depending on the day, over the next several weeks. I've still got about 10-12 to go.

But here's the funny thing: I'm not bothered. Not at all.

Within the first few weeks after giving birth, I had some people in my neighborhood reach out to me with proposals along the lines of, "I've got this really awesome exercise program that I'd love to tell you about! It'll really help you lose the baby weight, so when you're ready to start getting back in shape let me know!" to "I'm having a shake party at my house. It's really great for breastfeeding and will totally help you drop the baby weight. I'd really appreciate it if both you and your husband would be there."

That last one is actually almost verbatim.

I wasn't offended that people were offering to "help" me get  back in shape. What I was bothered by was that a) what they actually just wanted me to be an income source and participate in their MLM, which I am adamantly annoyed by and opposed to and b) they assumed that I was unhappy with my body and how I looked. That last one was definitely the worst.

I finally snapped and made a thinly-veiled post on facebook that I knew they would see to announce to the world that I was fine with myself. After years of fertility treatments and just wanting my body to function normally, I truly could not have been more in awe of it. Yeah, there's some loose skin, and stretchmarks, and still a bit of chub - but in place of that previously somewhat fit and slender girl was a mother who had a lot more to think about than herself. Rather than pawn him off to Jeff so I could go sweat for an hour, I wanted to spend time together as a family. Instead of using his nap to get a workout in, I was spending it at the computer working to help provide for my family.  Yes, I get a few workouts in each week and I do generally try to eat well, I'm not a stickler and I'm okay with how I look. My priority for the last while was to be eating well enough to breastfeed, and my priority over the next couple months is to get pregnant again. The best course of action, for me, was to maintain strength and general health without an emphasis on being a hard-body.

To date- now almost 14 months postpartum, I don't regret missing a workout or all that extra time snuggling with my kid and hanging out as a family. It went by in a blur.

Also, I just haven't found the energy or motivation to get there. I'm okay with that also.

My plan is to "lose the baby weight" and "bounce back" after this next baby, or whenever we're done having kids. Getting back to baseline is not healthy for me mentally right now.

And I'm okay with that.