ICLW

Welcome ICLW’ers! I haven’t participated in a few months, but I’m looking forward to meeting new bloggy friends over the next week. My abbreviated story is that my husband JJ and I started TTC in May of 2009. We quickly realized it was going to take us longer than we had originally planned so we got some help. At first I started on Clomid for a few months and then in July of 2010 we went to an RE for the first time. I was diagnosed with PCOS so we did two rounds of IUIs plus Femara which were both unsuccessful. We took October and November off from IUIs but I was still taking Femara. In a roundabout way, I had heard about acupuncture possibly helping with infertility so I made an appointment with a local acupuncturist and 3 weeks later we found out we were expecting! We found out the week of Christmas, and as much as we wanted to announce our big news to the family during the holidays, we held off – all the way till 12 weeks! I am now 22 weeks pregnant and overall feeling great. We found out a month ago we are having a little girl and I am ecstatic! I still can’t believe this is really happening. Even though my belly is growing and I feel Baby J moving all the time, it doesn’t feel real. We had a cookout at work yesterday and of the 5 people helping set up, 3 of us were pregnant. The two non-pregnant people kept telling those of us who are pregnant to quit lifting things. It was hard to remember that I was one of those people now! And a big wakeup call came the day before when I was at the store shopping for the cookout – I ran into two people I knew but hadn’t seen for a while, and instantly they noticed my belly and congratulated me. I think I’ve definitely “popped” in the last couple of weeks so there is no hiding the belly now! We are due August 22 and I am starting to get anxious about the delivery. I don’t do well with hospitals but I’m trying to keep my nerves in check. We are just beginning to work on the nursery and I am super excited to see it all come together.

A few random things about me/my family are that my dad is moving out of state next month so we have had his two lab puppies (1 year old and 2 years old) since the beginning of December. They have quickly outstayed their welcome and I can’t wait for my house to get back to normal with just our two dogs at the end of next month. Also, about five weeks ago my husband opened up a BBQ restaurant in a small town in Missouri which has taken him away 5 days out of the week. It has really taken off and he’s enjoying it, but he misses being home and I miss having his help around the house.

Those are the big things going on in our lives at the moment. It’s all very exciting and I feel so blessed to call this my life right now. Blogging has been such a great therapy and outlet for me through our TTC months and it is equally important now. Many of my fellow bloggers have gotten their BFPs in the last few months as well, and others are still waiting for their special day, and I hope to be supportive to everyone. Now I’m off to go read about each one of you!

ICLW

Welcome ICLW’ers!  I’ve been slacking when it comes to our monthly get-togethers, but this month I am ready to go.  One of the reasons I’ve been slacking is because at the end of December we found out we are expecting our first baby later this summer!  After nearly 18 months of TTC, Clomid cycles, Femara +IUI, cycles, and then acupuncture, we were able to get pregnant during a cycle when we least expected it.  You can see my full history in the side bar, but the short version is after 2 IUI cycles we took a break in October, then again in November.  I was still on Femara, just not doing IUIs.  Then I was referred to a chiropractor who really pushed this nutrition program that ran a few thousand dollars.  After turning to my blog and all you lovely ladies, you recommended I try acupuncture.  Well, you ladies rock – because it worked!  After my very first treatment I got pregnant.  I know that is pretty unusual, and it was probably a combination of us BD’ing at the right time, still being on Femara, etc, but I have to believe the acupuncture did the trick.  So I’ve said it before here, and I’ll say it again for those of you who are stopping by for the first time – if you haven’t tried acupuncture, I definitely recommend it.  It may not be a quick fix; my doctor wanted to treat me for three unmedicated cycles which who knows how long they could have been, but in the long run it will at least get your body in a better place even if you aren’t able to get pregnant while going through acupuncture treatments. 

I waited quite a while to announce our news on my blog; finally got the word out there two weeks ago once I hit the 12 week mark.  I’m excited to be in this stage now, but I feel like I don’t fit in.  I will always be an IF’er and know the struggles we all face.  I will continue to follow those who are still on the TTC journey and be inspired by those who achieve pregnancy and ultimately bring home a healthy baby.  We are going day by day and are excited for the next milestone which will be finding out the baby’s gender in ‘hopefully’ 4 weeks!  I added a poll on the top right of my blog for those of you who want to take a guess at what we’ll be having.  I don’t have any strong feelings one way or the other, so I’m interested to see what you all think.  Thanks for stopping by and I look forward to finding some new blogs this week!

Round Two

I've been sick again for the past week - which means I didn't get around to participating in ICLW this month, which means I didn't get to participate in all the festivities on Christmas Eve, and which means I think I have officially jinxed myself.  I thought to myself at the beginning of the cold season that I never get sick, and this year would be no different.  Now I've been sick twice in the last three weeks and it is no fun at all.  I think it was just a cold on steroids - sore throat, cold symptoms, fever, then cough.  As glad as I am that I was off work this past week and didn't have to deal with working through this, it sucks being on vacation and only wanting to lay on the couch.

BUT I'm on the mend - feeling better with each day.  Thanks to all you ICLWers for commenting on old posts - I promise to do better next month.  I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas.  Mine was low key, but it was still great.  I'm looking forward to being more productive this week and maybe going down to work on the restaurant tomorrow if I'm feeling up to it.  I'm sure pictures will follow.

ICLW November

Hello everyone here for ICLW!!  Thanks for stopping by.  If you are a follower of my blog, this post is going to be redundant, so feel free to skip it. :)

A brief history of our TTC is...we got married in July of 2008, threw out the BCP in May of 2009 and then realized very quickly it wasn't going to be easy for us to get pregnant.  I went months without having a period and finally went to my OB for her to prescribe Provera in November of 2009.  I did Clomid for a few months and they were all unsuccessful.  Then I met with an RE for the first time in July of this year and she prescribed Femara along with IUIs.  We have done two, and they have also been unsuccessful. 

We just started another cycle last Monday where we were going to attempt our third IUI, but things have taken a huge shift.  I had a health fair at my work the week before last and signed up for a complimentary appointment at a chiropractor's office.  My initial concerns were back and neck pain, but I also listed infertility.  After a follow-up appointment on Wednesday with the chiropractor, he made it clear that there were "other problems" going on in my body that are not allowing the IUIs to work and that we are basically wasting our time and money until I get those issues fixed.  You can read more about that appointment here.  I spent a lot of time on Thursday looking for alternatives, mainly because I didn't like this guy personally, and stumbled upon an acupuncturist.  Thanks to the advice from my followers, I have scheduled an appointment with an acupuncturist on December 2nd.  I'm very excited to go and learn more about eastern medicine.  I don't know anything about it so this is all new to me.  If anyone has any experience with acupuncture, I'd love to hear what you think.

Our plan for now is this...I continued taking the Femara this cycle because I had already started it before coming to the realization that I need to look into eastern medicine.  I did cancel my third IUI though.  I hope that the acupuncturist sees that she can help me and I plan to give her a few months to get my body back in balance.  If things are progressing well, I'd like to try IUIs again in February. 

It was a hard blow to go from such an aggressive form of treatment thinking that this will be the month, to now knowing it could be six months or more.  But I do believe that there are other underlying issues that need to be addressed before I am able to conceive so I'm willing to try and be patient.  So that's where I'm at right now.  This last week has been confusing, frustrating, inspirational, eye opening, all wrapped into one.  I'm excited to meet other IF ladies and support you through your journey.  Happy ICLW!

ICLW - September

Hello ICLW’ers! These months sure do fly by but I love having this week to look forward to. I always link back to a past ICLW post here for the general info and then post more recent info on what has been happening in my TTC journey.


I started going to my RE in July, did a cycle on Femara with her and then had my first IUI last month. Both cycles resulted in a BFN. I am currently on my second cycle going through an IUI. I have my follicle scan on Friday and then the IUI will probably be next Monday or Tuesday. I was pleasantly surprised that the IUIs weren’t too big of a deal, and I mean that in the sense of not much pain. The Ovidrel injection didn’t hurt, the scans are obviously painless, and the actual IUI procedure wasn’t too bad. I did experience more cramping than I thought, but it was tolerable. I was not prepared for the side effects of progesterone though – really sore boobs, tired, stomach pains – all signs that you might be pregnant. How mean is that the progesterone has the same side effects as pregnancy symptoms?

Anyway, I am crossing my fingers and toes that this is the cycle. I knew going into it that there was probably a slim chance the first IUI would work but it hit me pretty hard when I tested and realized we had another failure. If this month doesn’t work, we plan to take a break next month.

Other topics I like to talk about on my blog are my family, friends, some cooking/baking here and there, and craft projects. This blog started out as a baby blog, but when that didn’t happen right away, I turned it into an everyday blog about my life. I hope to meet other fellow bloggers this month! Thanks for stopping by!

ICLW - August

Welcome fellow ICLW’ers!! For those of you that are new to my blog, check out my previous ICLW post here for the general info.


For the latest on my IF journey, I am on my second cycle of Femara and this is my first attempt at an IUI. I finished up taking Femara today, and turned right around and started a z-pack. JJ was just on some antibiotics for something else so he doesn’t have to take a z-pack this time around. I go in for my HSG (which I’m a little lot nervous about) on Monday morning at 7 am. Then I go back in on Thursday for a follicle scan to determine when I should trigger with Ovidrel. These will all be firsts for me so I’m not really sure what to expect. I would guess my IUI will take place the first part of the following week. I’m anxious/scared/excited/nervous to be going through all of this. I feel like we are one step closer to having a baby, but I’m nervous about all the steps we’ll have to go through to get there. I’ve heard that the first, and even the second, IUIs are not as successful as maybe the third or fourth. I just hope I can stay positive throughout these cycles and know that I WILL end up with a baby.

Other topics I like to talk about on my blog are my family, friends, some cooking/baking here and there, and craft projects. This blog started out as a baby blog, but when that didn’t happen right away, I turned it into an everyday blog about my life. I hope to meet other fellow bloggers this month! Thanks for stopping by!

ICLW

For those of you who are new to my blog, I'll give a quick recap of what's been going on over the past 14 months.  I went off BCPs in April 2009 thinking within a few months I’d be pregnant. Needless to say, I’m still waiting. Turns out I wasn’t ovulating, therefore I wasn’t having a period. My first cycle right off the pill was normal, my next one was about 90 days, and the next one about 60. I finally called the doctor and they prescribed me Provera to induce my period. Then after having a blood test done, they prescribed me Clomid to make me ovulate. The Clomid has worked like a charm, except still no baby. I have been charting (which is super interesting by the way!) and just hoping one of these months will give me my BFP.

I had my first appt with an RE last Thursday and you can read all about it here.  It was a great first appointment, and even though I was diagnosed with PCOS, I feel positive about what she can do for us.  I am really interested in connecting with women who have or are planning to do IUIs.  As you'll read in my RE post, we decided to hold off this cycle due to vacations and feeling a little rushed.  I'm using this month to really get a grasp on the kind of treatments I want to do - every other cycle IUI and alternate with just Femara, straight IUIs every cycle - what did you do? 

It’s been an interesting journey to say the least, one I just had a feeling I would end up on. Not sure why, but I just thought that when the time came that I actually wanted a baby, it wouldn’t happen right away.

Welcome ICLW

To those of you stopping by for IComeLeavWe, here’s a summary of my story with IF. I went off BCPs in April 2009 thinking within a few months I’d be pregnant. Needless to say, I’m still waiting. Turns out I wasn’t ovulating, therefore I wasn’t having a period. My first cycle right off the pill was normal, my next one was about 90 days, and the next one about 60. I finally called the doctor and they prescribed me Provera to induce my period. Then after having a blood test done, they prescribed me Clomid to make me ovulate. The Clomid has worked like a charm, except still no baby. I have been charting (which is super interesting by the way!) and just hoping one of these months will give me my BFP. I am on my 4th round of Clomid and have my first appointment with my RE on July 15th. That will give me 2 more cycles on Clomid after seeing her and I’m guessing she might up the med cocktail to see if that works. I’m hoping something works soon because I really don’t want to start shelling out all the money for IUI’s and IVF. It’s been an interesting journey to say the least, one I just had a feeling I would end up on. Not sure why, but I just thought that when the time came that I actually wanted a baby, it wouldn’t happen right away.