Impatiently Waiting for our Miracle(s)

Warning: this post contains spoilers! I’ve held this back to give everyone time to watch last week’s episode of This is Us. Wow – was it powerful. As a 3-time loss mom, I feel compelled to share my thoughts on the episode. The week before, in the last minute of the “Number One” episode, they told us that Kate lost the baby. And I immediately started crying. And I was thankful. Thankful because she was a character in a TV show, not a person in real life. But so extremely thankful that they were going to highlight the topic of miscarriage, and I was anxious to see how they did it. I could not wait for the next episode. And they did not disappoint. I think the episode, “Number Two”, was powerful, enlightening and much needed. I so appreciate the writers of This is Us highlighting what miscarriage does to a couple, and how it makes you feel. Is everyone’s experience the same? No. I didn’t have a spontaneous physical loss like Kate did. I have never been on my bathroom floor cr...

Ready or not… round 2 of IVF is underway. Apparently round 1 was just a “warm-up”. Since round 1 wasn’t successful for us (we had two embryos make it to freeze, but both had an abnormal number of chromosomes), our doctor changed the protocol for round 2. And holy crap, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Here is our protocol for this round: Cycle Day 3 (November 2 nd ) – Estrace (estrogen) and Birth Control once daily for 21 days Cycle Day 9 (November 8 th ) – Added Androgel (testosterone gel) which was applied to my stomach for 21 days November 28 th – Last day of Androgel. Start Microdose Lupron injections (20 iu in the AM, and 20 iu in the PM) November 29 th – Start 5 (yes, FIVE!) injections a day: AM: 20 iu of Microdose Lupron 300 iu of Gonal-f PM: 20 iu of Microdose Lupron 300 iu of Menopur .25 mL of Omnitrope (Human Growth Hormone) Injections will continue for 10-12 days until the follicles are hopefully large enough, and then we will trigger wit...