Reality Bites

Guessing by the date between the prior blog post and this one, you can tell that it has been a busy timeframe for us....we'll try and do a better job of keeping our information up-to-date. March 20 officially marked the first day of Spring (and our niece, Stephanie's 14th birthday!), and wouldn't you know it, mother nature had a little humor tucked up under her sleeve -- we received snow! Just glad that the weather has made a turnaround and hopefully we'll see 50 degree temps soon. With the warmer weather comes the chance to get out and do things rather than being house-bound. Bailey is sure enjoying the fact that the snow and ice are receeding as that means daily walks with her mom and dad! We saw our first Robin in the yard this weekend -- that has to mean Spring is officially around the corner -- right? Since we get a lot of questions as to how things are going with our infertility, and exactly what is happening, here is our update: Our infertility treatment that we are going through is called hyperstimulation. In essence, the doctor is using medication to increase follicle production, induce ovulation and progesterone. The medications specifically that we are taking are Clomid, for production of healthy, multiple follicles, HCG for ovulation induction, and Progesterone, which is the medication that is needed should a fertilization occur to keep the pregnancy progressing. During this type of treatment, the doctor uses ultrasound to see how things are going. You have an initial ultrasound at the start of the cycle to make sure that things "look good" if it does, you proceed to the first piece, Clomid. After the Clomid is taken (usually days 3-7), then a few days later, you have a second ultrasound and they do what is called a Follicular/endometrial study. This will tell the doctor if the medicine worked well by the follicle growth (how many, and what size the follicles are) and if your endometrium is right. The Clomid should (if it works correctly), produce a follicle or multiple follicles and they should be between 20-25 (those are critical numbers since it means the follicles would be heathly, mature eggs -- perfect for fertilizing). If that ultrasound goes well, you have what is called an HCG injection the same day which forces ovulation. Several days later, the progesterone injections start. And hopefully, all that leads to a positive pregancy test at the end. We have now gone through 3 rounds of this treatment. While we haven't lost hope, we are beginning to feel defeated. If you, or someone you know has ever been diagnosed with "unexplainable infertility" you understand how great and not so great that is. On one hand knowing there is no reason for the infertility means there is physically/medically nothing wrong with you (whew)....but on the flip side, that also means that the doctors are baffled by what is causing the problem and truly have no way of helping you, other than to try different options. The first round of treatment didn't go as well as we had hoped. The medication didn't work as well as it needed to and we found out afterwards, that while we were hopeful for a positive outcome, the doctor was pretty sure it wouldn't end up that way. So, in theory, our doctor "scrapped" the first treatment cycle and we moved onto the second. Now, the second cycle went perfectly -- when you undergo this, you live by timing of the clock, ultrasounds, and the most important detail --follicles....In this instance, size and timing mean everything. On our second ultrasound, we found out that I had 2 follicles one being 24.4 and one being 24.7. Now in follicle world, anything between 20-25 is what they call "perfect". That gave us great hope since the first cycle we didn't have those same results. Needless to say, the end result wasn't positive. So, this month, we started treatment cycle 3. Of note, our doctor believes that everything should be done in fours, meaning he tries every option 4 times before moving onto the next step, hyperstim being #1, IUI #2, and IVF #3. This cycle we were beyond hopeful because of the fact that the previous cycle worked so well -- why wouldn't it work since we had pretty much knocked last cycle out of the ball park, but didn't hit the home run yet. This is where the learning part comes into play -- we found out that on Clomid, you can respond great one month and then the next can completely tank (factors such as stress can affect the way the medicine works). We didn't know that little piece of information and this time around, on the second ultrasound, there was only 1 follicle and it was 34. You're thinking 34, that's great news....we'll in the world of infertility, again, size means everything. Anything over 25 is considered non-viable. This was "over mature". So, in the middle of this treatment cycle, we had to stop. Heartbreaking since it means another defeat for us and another month of waiting. Now we wait for this cyle to end and then proceed to next month...again, with hopeful and faithful hearts. We leave you with this....."Whatever you ask for in prayer with faith, you will receive." -- Matthew 21:22 Faith...that is what is is all about.