Wish us luck...

Today is the big day! Chris and I are about to leave to go to the Dr. so that they can do the retrieval and retrieve the eggs to fertilize. Based on how everything goes today, how many eggs actually fertilize and get to the appropriate stage, we will either do the transfer on this Saturday or next Monday. After the transfer I will be on bed rest for two days.

Keep us in your prayers!

Where we are at now

I haven't updated the blog in a while to tell all of you where we are at now.


Chris and I are about to start the process of in vitro fertilization (IVF). After seeing one reproductive endocrinologist for 5 months and several failed attempts to get pregnant and complications from all the medications, it looked like we were heading towards in vitro fertilization as our best option for getting pregnant. Chris and I decided to get a second opinion and consulted another reproductive endo, Dr. McKenzie.


After meeting with Dr. McKenzie, Chris and I felt more comfortable about IVF and decided to begin the process with Dr. McKenzie. After much waiting, this month begins our first attempt at IVF; and if it works the first time, hopefully our last.


We are so thankful to have this option, even though we never thought this was a road we would have to take and we are looking forward to adding a new addition to our family.


We feel so blessed that we were fortunate enough to have Kaitlyn. I can't imagine what it would be like to go through this journey to have our first child. She gets us through all of this because if we start to feel discouraged we just have to look at her beautiful smile and remember what a miracle she is and we know that we will again be blessed when the time is right.

Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers in the coming weeks. It looks like the egg transfer may take place around the 1st of July.

Kaitlyn and the Easter Bunny

Just thought I would share a picture of Kaitlyn with the Easter Bunny. She wanted to take her Build A Bear Rabbit "Reagan" who is named after her friend Reagan from school.

She was really excited about seeing the Easter Bunny this year. She was puzzled because the Easter Bunny was drinking a drink out of a Sonic cup. She kept asking me why the Easter Bunny "wanted to drink that". I told her the Easter Bunny gets thirsty too.

The Easter Bunny looks enormous compared to our sweet little girl!

A Serious Talk with Kaitlyn...

So Chris and I sit down last night at the table with Kaitlyn to have a "serious talk" about her behavior at school this week. She received 2 "Oh No" reports this week mostly because she was not listening to her teachers and was disrupting other kids who were actually trying to take a nap; she obviously was not napping. As we are just about to finish our discussion with her on how to behave and how she is not going to be able to ride her bike when she gets home from school if she cannot behave, she looks at us and says with a smirk on her face and her hands out for emphasis..."Come on guys, what's the problem?" How are we supposed to keep a straight face???

We are in deep trouble if this is how the future "serious" talks are going to go.

Oh, and did I mention when we asked her what happened at school that day she says, through fake tears, "I'm afraid NOT to tell you." I say "You're afraid to tell us?" and she says "I'm afraid NOT to tell you." It is nearly impossible to keep a straight face through all this. She definitely can do dramatic performances that are Oscar worthy!

Fortunately, today was a much better day at school. I was holding my breath when I got to the school hoping for no "Oh No" report. Thankfully, she made it through today without an "Oh No"!

1 day down many more to go...

Finally as promised...

video from Kaitlyn's 4th birthday party.

Tonight I was finally able to sit down and take the time to figure out why I couldn't play the video back on our computer so that I could get it uploaded to the blog.

Here is a short video of Kaitlyn and her friends playing "What Time is it Mr. Fox" at her birthday party at The Little Gym. Kaitlyn is playing the role of "Mr. Fox" and the kids have to follow her instructions. When she says "Midnight" the kids are supposed to run from her.

And here is a video of our sweet girl exerting alot of effort to blow out all 4 candles! Thank goodness there were only 4!

I haven't been blogging lately...

If you haven't noticed I haven't blogged in quite a while. It has been a whirlwind these past couple of months between all of the Dr's visits, the holidays etc.

I have started all of my recommended/prescribed treatments and am getting used to this new routine-take a few pills, do a few injections, have blood drawn, have blood drawn again, and again etc. The nurse actually told me my skin is getting hard where they have been drawing my blood because they always draw from the same spot. I am starting to wonder if I am going to look like a junkie after all this is over with! Last week I ended up with a horrible bruise from the tape and another from the needle. I am getting quite well versed in all of the fertility medicines and all the different hormone levels etc. Chris went with me to the last consultation with the Dr. and he said "I am glad I came, now I am even more confused." I think it is a little bit easier for me to keep up with because everything is mapped out for me on the calendar they give me every time I see her.

On another note...Kaitlyn is going to be 4 years old this Sunday! I can't believe how fast these 4 years have gone by. I just look at her sweet little pictures from her first birthday when she was still bald and it seems like yesterday!

Here are some of my favorites from her first birthday!

The first birthday cake smashing is the best. I can't imagine what she would look like if we tried this now!

I will post some new pictures after the party this weekend.

So I had my first visit to the fertility specialist...

two weeks ago today where they drew 12 vials of blood for testing. Today I went back to meet with her to review the results. Who knew getting pregnant could be so complicated?

The specialist said that I have a MTHFR Mutation which is a genetic mutation of 2 genes C7667/A2198. What does all that mean? It means I may have hyperhomocysteinteinemia (high blood levels of homocysteine) and low folic acid levels. This can cause problems with clots in the placenta and can be treated with supplements of folic acid early in pregnancy in addition to low dose aspirin and prenatal vitamins. I read on the internet that this mutation is commonly found in women who have experienced 2 or more early pregnancy losses so that may be why I had both miscarriages; however it is not a definite causal relationship. I asked her if I had this when I got pregnant with Kaitlyn and she said that I definitely did because it is genetic. We have always felt like Kaitlyn was a little miracle but little did we know how true that was. I try to remind myself of this when she is driving me to the brink of insanity!

All that sounds fairly simple right? :-)

Well, to complicate things further there was also some abnormalities in my protein C and protein S levels. I had no idea what protein C and protein S do but they are related somehow to a clotting disorder. The Dr. thinks that because both of these were off there is a possibility that the results may have been wrong and wants to repeat this lab work.

So where do I go from here? Well, I am going to go back at the start of my next cycle to have the lab work redone to find out what's going on with the protein C and protein S and then go from there. She also recommended starting Femara next cycle which is a drug that works similar to Clomid to induce ovulation. Then I will take an HCG trigger shot to trigger the follicles to release the egg and will have to take 2 more HCG shots after that to help keep my HCG level up and my progesterone levels up so I don't miscarry. Just to throw another wrench in the system there is a very good possibility that I am going to be out of town on the exact days when I am supposed to have all of this lab work etc. done so if that is the case that means we will have to wait until next month to start the process.

I mean really who knew it could be so complex? My head was spinning when I left her office with all this information but at least now I have some answers and a plan to move forward with.

Did I mention that I have to take someone with me to their office to get trained on how to give me my injections of HCG? They are intramuscular shots so they said it is easier to have someone else give it to you.

I know that all this sounds really complex but I still think I am lucky because there are women who have to go through far worse than what I am about to endure to get pregnant. And I just have to say "Thank God for Pharmaceutical Companies!" because it sounds like without all of these miracle medicines I might have very well never been able to have a child.

Well, I feel like every post needs a picture so here are some pictures of our little miracle in her Cheetah costume for Halloween. Too cute!