Sunday, May 24, 2009

Sick of AF! Vent... sorry if TMI

AF (or so I thought) showed May 7-10 and was here & gone & not bad at all. So, then, why did she return...nine days later- on May 19 and is still going strong & showing no signs of going away?!? I am so sick of these unpredictable and irregular cycles! And I don't know who is responsible for printing "Have a Happy Period" on the Al.ways pad sticker but I'm thinking there must have been a MAN involved on that decision. A woman would have found a more appropriate saying like "Go away bi*ch!" I'm a regular ray of sunshine right now, huh? Just aggravated here because I had 4 months of regular, predictable cycles and then I spoke too soon.


Saturday, May 16, 2009

RE visit

This week, I went to the (3rd) RE clinic... specifically to give them all of my medical history & ask questions about this clinic's IVF bundle price, basically a BOGO deal. Met with Dr. C... yes, we're good candidates and she thinks the deal will still be available at the end of the year (when we've planned to go through IVF). She is the 3rd RE to say that (just from looking at my history) I have lean PC.OS. However, I've had tests for insulin resistance & u/s that proved otherwise. I didn't even "argue" with her b/c her personality was very matter-of-fact-I'm-the-Dr.-don't-question-anything. Too abrupt for me. If we do go with this center- they have 2 other locations & I would want to switch to someone else. Anyway--- I'm considering calling my OB/GYN and asking if he will prescribe Met.formin to me for a few months. If my cycles were regular on Met.formin maybe it is possible that I have lean PC.OS. The RE's other concern was that I be treated for mild hyper.plasia before going through IVF. My endometrial lining has always been thick. That's a red flag to the RE's for pre-pre-cancerous cells. The treatment is supposed to be hormone pills for a few months. As one of my friends likes to say- all of this sours me out! All around me through the blogs that I read the most, ppl I've never met but care about are pregnant or parenting. I feel very happy for them but left behind. Many have been through the IVF process & it gives me hope that it may very well work for me as well... but I have a few hurdles to get through before I can get to that point. Sigh.

Saturday, May 9, 2009

Y.oga

First Y.oga class today. A good friend and I walk into a beautiful old re-modeled home, up a set of stairs to a mint green & white room with hardwood floors, a big screen t.v. on one wall, several windows, and two tall topi.ary plants. The instructor, D, was sitting in-between the two plants on a mat & told us where to put our mats. "Have either of you ever done y.oga?" (We shake our heads no). "Ahhhhh, y.oga v.irgins- great!" (Uh-oh, what are we in for, is what I'm thinking). She tells us some y.oga basics... not for physical fitness although we should feel better, shouldn't hurt, not about a certain religion...yada, yada.

There were 7 of us in the class, which meets every Sat. morning for 6 weeks. A couple, two older women (who can bend with the best of them), one younger girl & the two v.irgins. So, we started crossing this leg with that arm & reaching, feeling, as D said, "every movement within the body. Feels delicious, doesn't it?" Delicious? Not supposed to hurt? I found long lost muscles that shouted "leave us alone!" Maybe I woke up my lazy ovaries today! I had a different perception of y.oga... that we would all be sitting around in the meditation pose for an hour trying to train the brain to "chill out" (remember- I'm doing this on my mission to learn to really relax & try some new things) instead I'm trying to keep up with the runner, fish & cobra pose & remembering when to inhale/exhale!

Here's the problem with taking a class like this with a good friend... it's so easy to get tickled! And this is not a time to be laughing. But when we had to suck on our thumb to find a certain stomach muscle, and D told me I had beautiful hips (a.k.a. well rounded) and to just "let them go", & you lock your hands under your pelvis, and learn that our bodies "love to be upside down"... well, it's just easy to get tickled doing this with your BFF! I think we had made D a little mad by the end of the class. We did finally do some meditation-type stuff at the end of the class, but I was too tired to relax, if that even makes sense.

But here's my final thoughts- I liked it. It's like Eastern medicine meets aerobics. I have no idea if it will increase my chances of fertility but I don't see how it could hurt. At least PC enjoyed the summary of the class and asked me to demonstrate certain poses (gotta love the mind of the male)...and I needed the "just right" y.oga outfit... you know, for inspiration, so check out my cute outfit from O.ld N.avy.------- Om Shanti, friends. "Let there be peace." Learned that today too:]

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

May "Madness"

Hello out there! The month of May is about to get the best of me... busy & stressful! I appreciate the comments & advice about the IVF bundle price. I have an appointment next week for an exam/consultation... we'll start there & then make IF treatment plans. I signed up for a Y.oga class that starts this weekend... never done it but I'm willing to give it a try! I've been trying to keep up with blogs although I've been terrible at commenting lately. I will post an update after the exam & y.oga experiences!

Saturday, April 18, 2009

IVF... sooner than I planned? Advice please...

I recently came across an ad for a bundle price for IVF at an infertility clinic about 1 1/2 hours from my home. Here's the ad...

My SIL's sister had 2 unsuccessful IVF's at this clinic but she was very happy with the care from the RE and staff. (She adopted a sweet 14 month old boy from R.ussia since then.) Originally, my plan was to save enough for most of an IVF cycle in 18 months (13 months to go). Now, this offer is causing me to re-think that plan. The price is not that much of a savings if it works the first time, which- if that happened, I wouldn't care anyway!!! But it does seem to be a really good deal if it didn't work the first time. I'm not sure if it includes meds or not---I played phone tag with them last week. The IVF cycle has to be started by Sept. 1, 2009... PC & I will be in the middle of building a house (haven't blogged much about that- but we've decided that the time & price are right). Now, let me say if I became pregnant at ANY time, I would shout it from the rooftop & be thrilled!!! But if my future path to pregnancy requires IVF (right now day 14 of AF & no end in sight is looking like IVF is my only hope), I wanted it to be at a time of "less stress" (than usual) & have most of the money to cover it. So, I'm trying to weigh the options here. I'm definitely going to take advantage of the free diagnostic evaluation and get a feel for the RE office & staff. No insurance for infertility procedures just plain 'ol sucks!!! Others out there... what do y'all think about this offer?