I originally joined a forum in order to seek support and found it! All to often I have found that those who haven’t struggled with infertiliy truly don’t get it. That isn’t to say they aren’t supportive, but I don’t think they fully understand the heartache that goes along with it. The women and men on the fertiliy forums have first hand experiences of what I have gone through and am currently going through.

It wouldn’t be uncommon to find me reading for hours on a forum. Reading all kinds of things, both good and bad. Reading about women who are upset that they have to take Clomid-seriously?!?!? I’d love for Clomid to be my quick fix. I read about women who are nervous about doing an IUI-again, seriously?!?! Once again, totally jealous, I’d trade an IUI for IVF any day. Then I read about women who can do IVF and don’t have to pay a dime for it, why you ask-INSURANCE. Our insurance doesn’t cover anything, so lucky us (not), we are paying out of pocket. So I’ve found that I begin to get frustruated at all of these women who have it “better off” than I do.

I am quickly humbled as I read about women who aren’t able to use their own eggs or sperm for IVF – I feel fortunate because we can. I read about women who have egg retrievals and no eggs are to be found – I haven’t had that problem. I read about women who haven’t carried a baby for 9 months – I have and will be eternally grateful.

So, there’s good, there’s bad and there’s worse. We are all on these forums to give each other support. That’s what I am there to do-share my story in hopes that I can help someone else who is struggling. I am not there to see who has it worse off. I am not there to count the successes from other women, while counting my defeats. I am there because we all need support from each other, as infertility shouldn’t be dealt with alone.

Hope everyone is doing great!

Our First Little Girl, Kate At 24 Weeks

I am just at 25 weeks and can’t believe it! In the beginning, the pregnancy seemed to be going by very slow and now it seems like the weeks are passing by in the blink of an eye. I had a doctor’s appointment and an ultrasound last week and everything looks great. I always get excited to see the doctor. The appointments don’t consist of much other than a urine sample, weight and blood pressure, but just the mere fact that I am there as a pregnant patient makes it exciting in itself. As I have mentioned before, I really love my doctor and she always puts a smile on my face. I had to get a test done for CMV because I found out that a child in my school in a carrier. As I understand it, CMV can cause some pregnancy complications, including birth defects, but practicing good hygiene habits should help keep me healthy…. needless to say, hand sanitizer is my best friend.

I did get a call today from the doctor’s office because I needed to reschedule some of my appointments and I found out that she is gone the week that I am due…major bummer!!! There are three doctors in the practice and I have met two, so I look forward to meeting the third. You never know who will be on call when I deliver.

At my ultrasound everything looked perfect! She was hiding her face through most of it, so we didn’t get a lot of facial pictures. The ultrasound technician also mentioned how active she was. (Yes, I know!!!) They guessed her weight at about 1.8 pounds, which puts her at the 56th percentile. I’ll be anxious to see how much she weighs at birth.

This past weekend Mike and I headed to Babies “R” Us to begin our registry. Doing it on the weekend was not smart as the store was crowded with babies, pregnant women, and clueless dads. We did enjoy ourselves though and Mike had fun scanning all of the merchandise. We weren’t able to complete the entire registry, but we’ve got a great start. I need to do a little more research on some things and get some advice from my friends that are experienced moms before we add any more to the registry. As I told Mike, “It’s a work in progress!”

We are also in the beginning stages of starting the nursery. It has been cleaned out (thanks to Mike) and decisions are being finalized with bedding selections. We were able to order the crib and dresser a week ago and will have to decide on a rocker in the near future (I am waiting on fabric samples from the bedding to match up with fabric for the rocker.) I am envisioning a beautiful pink and white nursery when it’s all complete.

All in all, I am feeling great and loving life. I am able to keep up my energy at work and have continued with water aerobics about 3 times a week. I am falling asleep without effort and night and am frequently awakened by kicking and hand movements throughout the night. I couldn’t be happier and I am anxious to see what the next few weeks bring.

Our Pregnancy Is Flying By!

It’s crazy what a couple of weeks can make when it comes to pregnancy. It seems like things are progressing quicker, day by day. Our little girl is kicking, A LOT! It must be from the yummy treats her mommy is eating! Much of the kicking and moving around is around 9-10 p.m. when we are getting ready for bed! Yes, I said 9 p.m. We are getting old! Wendi’s belly is also growing like no other over the past few days. Her “baby bump” started out very low in her stomach but is now taking over her whole mid-section and rounding out very nicely! I’m sure we’ll be posting more pictures in the next week.

So, with all of these new changes and growth, it means we have to get our act in gear and get moving on things we NEED to get done. The nursery is one of our first tasks. I successfully cleaned EVERYTHING out of our second bedroom this past weekend. It’s now empty and ready to be worked on. We will first paint the new room (PINK, PINK, PINK!!!) and then we are going to get new carpet. After that, we will be ready to start loading it up with all of the baby stuff such as crib, dresser, her clothes and all of the other goodies we will be getting over the next couple of months.

Our next OB-GYN appointment is in 2 weeks and then we should also know when our next ultrasound is. This next ultrasound is going to be a good one. Our last one they were able to tell us the sex of the baby. This third trimester ultrasound should be able to show up much more detail and features of our little girl, Kate! I think the OB mentioned that we would have 2 more ultrasounds before Wendi delivers in December.

Last but not least, please bear with us for the next couple of weeks. Things are looking pretty crazy. Wendi just went back to school yesterday. She’s a elementary teacher. We’ve also received some requests from readers/experts so we are going to work on touching up the website to accommodate some of these requests.

One more thing, we are running a “Best Fertility Story Contest” so please enter here for a chance to win a $50 Visa Gift Card!

Wendi at 22 Weeks!

I am 22 weeks and feeling better than ever. My belly is expanding and I am feeling our little girl move all around…such an amazing feeling! I had to head back to work this week, as school starts in a few days. I will miss my usual summer days of water aerobics; instead I will have to opt for the evening classes. I will definitely miss the bright summer mornings working out in the Arizona sun.

I didn’t tell my coworkers that I was pregnant, so arriving back at school this week was exciting in itself. I bought a t-shirt that said “Tickled Pick” to announce the wonderful news that we were expecting. Many friends and coworkers said that I wasn’t showing much, but not being able to fit into my old clothes is a sure sign that I am indeed pregnant and growing. I feel like I am walking around school glowing and am really happy when I am congratulated. (If everyone really knew what a feat it was to get pregnant in the first place!!!) I am anxious to see how some of the parents of my students will react, as parents are sometimes weary of having a “pregnant” teacher. They are concerned about the amount of time I will be away from the classroom. So needless to say, I am working on finding the perfect fit for a substitute teacher while I am on my maternity leave. That’s awhile off, so I thought I’d post something fun…I thought of “22” things I am enjoying at 22 weeks pregnant.

1. Actually beginning to look like I am pregnant.
2. Slowly fitting into my maternity clothes.
3. Feeling so happy!
4. Feeling the baby move.
5. Seeing the baby move.
6. Having Mike feel the baby move.
7. Picking out our babies name, “Katherine”.
8. Not having to keep my pregnancy a secret anymore at work.
9. Buying the cutest little girl outfits.
10. Trying to find her the perfect bedding.
11. Picking out her nursery furniture.
12. A hearty appetite.
13. Energetic!
14. Gathering advice from friends and family.
15. Spending quality time with my husband.
16. Thinking about all of the possibilities for middle names.
17. Beginning to prepare the nursery.
18. My ever-growing belly!
19. Getting ready to register.
20. Enjoying cat naps while I can still take them.
21. My new body pillow.
22. Thinking PINK, PINK, PINK!

Wendi & Mike July - Firesky Resort

Yes, this will be my first bout with fatherhood and you can definitely tell by all of the questions I have as our due date of December 8th approaches. I couldn’t be more happy and I can’t wait to see our little girl, Kate but there are definitely things that I do not know! There is a lot that goes into being first time parents and it’s starting to hit home.

Much of what we will experience, especially me, we will learn from trial and error. When will the baby eat? When will the baby sleep? What will make the baby sick? What will make the baby smile? How will Wendi and I function on so little sleep? How many potties per day? Those are things that we will experience just like millions of other parents have gone through. It’s part of life and it’s soon becoming a reality to our household.

Our lives are soon to change, but for the best. We will truly have a “family” once Kate is born. Our family might be female dominated (1 wife, 1 daughter and 2 female doggies) but none-the-less a family! Do I see gray hair in my near future? Absolutely! But that’s what hair coloring is for….right!!!

What’s more amazing is to think about our pregnancy. Kate is a “frozen” baby. She was literally frozen and thawed! Our first frozen embryo transfer was a success after an unsuccessful fresh IVF cycle. It’s absolutely amazing what medical technology can do these days, especially for those of us who don’t have the leisure of snapping our fingers and….KAABAAM! We’re pregnant! Didn’t quite happen like that for us. That’s okay though. We definitely went through a life experience during the IVF process and it’s something we will be going through again when it’s time to give Kate a little brother or sister. Without IVF, we’d still be starring at our dogs wondering how the heck we are going to have children. Well, some days….no MOST days, our dogs do think they are humans!

So, we’re going to have to fill Kate in someday on how she was brought to us. I’m guessing, the way technology advances, that IVF will be one of the norms of getting pregnant and I’m sure there will be other procedures that arise over the next decade that allow fertility professionals to more so master the art of fertility treatments. Explaining might not be as tough down the road as it’ll be much more common than today. There is still mystery for a lot of folks that are not familiar with assisted reproductive technology. IVF and fertility treatments have been the craze over the past few years…a few more years and they will be totally normal to someone trying to get pregnant that has fertility issues and cannot due so on their own.

I think that’s about it for now. I need to stop writing and get back to emptying out our second bedroom, so Kate has a little space of her own when she joins us!