{Exciting News}

Well, after a 20 month struggle with infertility and millions of tears ...we've finally made it and I'm PREGNANT!!!! I think we are both still in shock even though it's been almost 3 weeks since we found out. We go in on Tuesday for our first ultrasound and should get to hear the heartbeat!!

Luckily I've been feeling pretty good so far...I've had some slight 'morning sickness' aka nausea on and off ALL DAY. But other than that nothing to major :) We're looking forward to our appointment Tuesday to see if they change the due date and to finally see our little miracle!!

If you're interested in reading about the IVF process we endured to get here .. I created a blog as I was going through it to document..check it out here: http://www.buildingourfam.blogspot.com/

I can't wait for the next 9 months on my journey through pregnancy until we get to meet our little one!! I will continue with updates on here as well :)

RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association

RESOLVE is the National Infertility Association. They provide information and support for those suffering through infertility. While I was surfing the internet regarding infertility information I came across the "Friends and Family" section of the website and thought some of my friends and family may be interested in reading some of the common myths of infertility as well as info on what they can do/say (or not say) to help. If you're interested check out the link here.

"But they that wait upon the lord...

...shall renew their strength, ; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run , and not be weary ; and they shall walk , and not faint."-Isaiah 40:31 (KJV). God spoke to me through this verse at Bible Study this morning.

As most of you that read this (or know me) know, Andy and I have been struggling with infertility and trying to conceive for about a year and a half now. In recent months we have been debating our treatment options and trying to decide how far to go with treatments. Ever since I was told in January by the RE (Reproductive Encrinologist) our next step would be IVF (In-vitro fertilization), we have somewhat taken a 'break' other than some more natural treatment I've been trying (through an herbalist/acupuncturist and changing my diet). I've also found myself praying a lot more and asking God where he wants us to go with this treatment and what I should do next. Since God knows his plans for Andy and I, I feel that I need to lift this all up to him and let him make the decision on what steps to take. As easy as I make this sound, I've been struggling for months to do just that, but I'm finally starting to feel a little more peace and am trying to just let go.

Anyways...back to Bible study. So I am participating in the Beth Moore study of the book of Esther. Today was session five and the entire focus of Beth Moore's video section was in regards to 'timing.' She talked about the importance of knowing: when it's time, when it's time to WAIT, when it's time to wait for someone and when the meantime is GOD's time. Wow..what a message God had for me through Beth today! I realized that I've been trying to bring a child into this world in MY time, not God's time. He has a plan for me and my family and he will renew my strength through the struggles I am dealing with.

Beth also talked about the American culture and the way it trains us to be impatient. With all the technology and advancements we have, we don't want to wait for anything, but God hasn't intended for us to live our lives this way. We aren't on this earth to float through easily and get what WE want whenever we want it; we are here to fulfill a specific plan that God has in store for us. And sometimes this means we are meant to WAIT for something to happen. Beth made a very good point: if we cannot wait upon the Lord, we will not fulfill our destiny/greatest purpose.

I just want to praise God for bringing me this message today and reminding me that He is in control of my destiny. I hope that this puts my mind at ease and helps me through my struggles with infertility. Beth closed her lesson today with a message I will now leave you with: "Don't wait upon the EVENT, wait upon the LORD, the longer we wait, the more we renew our strength." So, here's to me renewing my strength and waiting upon the LORD for my time to start a family.

Natural Fertility

Well...after some discussion with Andy, thought, prayer and research I have decided what my next step will be to try and help our infertility. I have been researching natural methods of curing infertility in general and came across this website: http://natural-fertility-info.com/ where I found A LOT of useful information. So I'm going to be changing my diet to incorporate MOSTLY organic meats/produce/dairy and wheat/snack items. I don't want to go crazy and throw everything in the house away yet...so I'm just going to start purchasing more organic as things run out and try to be a lot healthier and get away from processed food, chemicals and hormones. I've heard of miracles happening just from dietary changes and I figure it's worth a try!! :)

So I talked to Andy about it yesterday...he's not as sold on it as I am ..but I'm the one making the changes not him...so oh well! And he said the more power to me if it actually works. And..it's a lot better than continuing the stress of infertility medications on my body and increasing that with IVF medications and procedures.

Also..if anyone sees a naturopathic dr. or a nutritionist that they'd recommend I'd be interested in getting their information as I'd like to talk with a professional about this also.

So...here's to getting my body healthy and ready for a baby!! Bring on the 'Fertility Dense Diet'

Not what we hoped for

Well it seems that we are pretty much back to square one on fertility treatments. The injectible medications DID actually work..but unfortunately they worked TOO well, causing too many follicles to develop which could potentially lead to me becoming pregnant with multiples (not just twins, more like 4+ babies..eek!) and as much as I love Jon & Kate, I don't envy their life with 8 children and our doctor is not willing to put us through the risk trying to get pregnant this cycle could bring. So....he thinks our only option is to do IVF when we are ready for it. This is a VERY big step in the infertility process and neither Andy or I is ready for it yet. So after a discussion we've decided to take a break from 'trying' and see if I can try some natural methods of getting a cycle back.

The first step I'm going to take is a Nutrition Response Test to see if there's anything my body is lacking that could help to restore my menstrual cycles. I'm going to the chiropractor tomorrow and planning on talking to her about it. I know there must be SOMETHING natural that could help...if anyone knows of anyone with similar problems that I've had (hypothalamic amennorhea) PLEASE leave me a comment with any treatments that helped them. I'm pretty desperate to try anything. I am taking this news surprisingly well considering how upset I was last week when the Dr. told us this may be what would happen. Andy is pretty upset about it too, but we know that God has a plan and we are trying to leave this in His hands. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers and thanks to those of you that have been recently, we appreciate it.

Infertility Journey...progress?

I thought it was time to update everyone on my infertility journey. Well, as of January 1st I was officially covered on Andy's insurance plan, which meant we could finally start infertility treatments. Last summer I was officially diagnosed with Hypothalamic Amenorrhea and had tried several oral medications to attempt to induce ovulation or a menstrual cycle with no success. We went to our RE (reproductive endocrinologist) on January 2nd and he told us he wanted us to come in for a baseline ultrasound and then start injectible medications, which we did. I started Menopur (75 IU each day) on January 2nd, I went in for an ultrasound a couple days later and found that I was slowly responding, so he wanted to continue me on the same dose as not to hyper stimulate my ovaries. After a couple more days on that, I went in for another ultrasound, found that this dose wasn't working so he increased it to 1 1/2 vials of Menopur per day. I continued this for about 3 days I think and went in on Monday (Jan 19th) and found that my uterine lining and follicles in my ovaries were not responding as he hoped. So he told us we would have to increase my dose to 150 IU of Menopur but he didn't think I would respond properly and we would just have to go directly to IVF (In Vitro Fertilization) , needless to say I was devastated. I really hoped this would work and I would ovulate without having to go through such an invasive procedure. I know there's still a *chance* this may be working (I will find out at my dr. appt tomorrow) but I don't have a lot of hope.

Neither Andy or I are ready for this big step in our infertility journey, so after speaking with my chiropractor last week I will be doing some nutrition response testing to see if we can get down to the root cause of my problem and solve it naturally.

This has already been a long journey for Andy and I and we hope that an end comes soon. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers. Thanks to everyone who has been so supportive to us by lending an listening ear and being a friend through this tough time.

Check out this video...helps to explain how I feel (warning...if you are/have gone through infertility it's a very emotional video)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqfGqOx2iDQ

RE Update

Just a quick update on my medical situation. The last couple months the RE (reproductive encrinologist) had me on an estrogen patch to try to raise my estrogen levels and build up a lining on my uterus. After a couple months of that he started me on Prometrium and I FINALLY started my period (after 11 1/2 months without one). After this I started on Femara, which was supposed to make me ovulate (although I haven't had any luck with oral meds so far..) On day 12 of my cycle (last Wednesday) I went into the RE for an ultrasound to see if the Femara had done its job. Unfortunately it didn't work, which means our next step for trying to get pregnant is to move to injectible medications because with the way my ovaries and hormone levels are right now, I will not be able to build up a lining and ovulate on my own. I am pretty upset that we have to move to this invasive of a treatment, but trying to stay hopeful that we will finally be able to have a baby soon!!!

We've been waiting for October for the past few months..and it's finally here, so next week I should finally be added to Andy's insurance plan, which covers infertility and we can get started on all these meds. Please keep Andy and I in your thoughts and prayers as we go through this, it's been a rough year already and I'm hoping it gets better sooner than later!!