52 posts tagged “infertility”

Beta came in at 75. 

Repeat on Monday.

Got the OK to start stims tonight, so I'm trying to control both the dread of failure and unfettered glee of thinking this one will work.

In any case, we're off and running!

CD 3:

Is this our last round?  Not sure yet.  Some adoption agencies in the US have recently stopped taking overseas US citizens as clients, I guess we'll probably go for another round.

Let me again take this opportunity to rant about folks who ask, "Why don't you just adopt?"

1. I'm afraid to take on a special-needs child with my family so far away and my support network here consisting mainly of transient expats.  Many countries do not allow 'healthy' children to be adopted outside of their home country, even if it means those children languish in orphanages.
2. I'll be turned down by many agencies in my own country because I live overseas.  It's not illegal, but it is difficult and many agencies don't want to deal with it anymore.
3. There are few German babies to be adopted.  We're looking at a 4 year wait here, by which time we'll probably be deemed too old.
4. Will you lend me €20,000 euros for a non-German adoption?  Didn't think so.

Hi all.  Yet another friend has given birth - Lucia Elissa was born early yesterday morning.  That makes 4(!) this month, and another friend just went to his very first Lamaze class with his wife.  Add my 2 colleagues who are due in August and September, and that's a crapload of babies.

We're going to start what will most likely be our last round of IVF soon, and I'm trying to be positive.  A couple of friends have suggested that I read The Secret, but I can't bring myself to visualize myself pregnant every day because I can only think of how crushing it will be when it all ends badly.

Sorry for the bummer post - I had to get that out.  Thanks.  And thanks so much for all of your comments - it's so nice to know I'm not alone here.  :)

Today is my due date from the second miscarriage.  I also got my period this morning from the failed IVF.  Holy crap, the cramps are bad.  And it's Monday.  I'm trying to lose the weight I gained through this whole journey, so I can't console myself with chocolate, either.

I bought a giant, complicated knitting machine yesterday.  It has more accessories and moving parts than my old Vespa.  I'm going to focus on learning to use it tonight, I think (Mr. Twinge has to work late, as usual.)

And maybe crack open some of the Swiss chocolate we brought back from Zürich last weekend.

The tears don't come at appropriate times: hanging laundry in what should be the nursery, seeing the neighbors' newborn, calling my cat 'my little boy', soaping my flat(ish) stomach in the shower.  Instead, I have to stop my face from contorting into the 'ugly cry' while on the bus or sitting at my desk at work.

Looks like #4 was a bust - I took an HPT this morning and it was negative.  On to round #5.

Beta on Thursday.

Of 11 eggs we ended up with one single viable embryo, which of course stuck to the catheter during transfer and required a second attempt.

This whole cycle has been rather craptacular.  We got 11 eggs, all of which were ripe.  Of those, only 4 fertilized and only 1 of the 4 passed genetic testing (polar body testing of the egg only - PGD is illegal in Germany). 

To compare, last time we had 9 eggs, 7 were ripe, 7 fertilized, 2 were transferred and 3 were frozen.  (No genetic testing was done).

I'm going to get back in touch with that adoption counselor.

Chalk up another point against me in 2009.  We had to put our cat Tibor to sleep over the weekend.  Poor guy's kidneys failed - there was nothing useful to be done.

Three pregnancies and one cat lost in 10 months.  Damn it.

I want a do-over.

I'm a former Catholic.  There are many, many reasons why.

Here's a big one:
http://www.catholic.org/prwire/headline.php?ID=6395

What may be surprising to the millions of women who cannot conceive and bring a child to term is that NaProTechnology, taught by Dr. Hilgers, is nearly three times more successful than IVF for assisting infertile couples, according to the Pope Paul VI Institute for the Study of Human Reproduction, a group founded by Dr. Hilgers at the Creighton University School of Medicine in Omaha.

Infertility at the institute is treated by determining the fertile time of a woman’s cycle, as well as by using surgical techniques such as laser treatment and ovarian wedge resections.

Infertility treatment usually begins with discovering a woman’s fertile time. This can be done with the Sympto-Thermal Method of Natural Family Planning.

Believe what you want about faith, but don't flat out lie about science.  Who honestly believes that people turn to IVF because they don't know when their fertile times are?

GAAH.  And pass that bacon.