Birds and the Bees . . .

Don't Always Make Babies

These video's are the best thing to get me out of a bad mood. I hope you love them as much as I do!

Yours Truly,

Sister K

Revamp The Romance

By far the worst week of the months is the week inbetween your last scheduled (ahum) bedroom appointment and 10 days when you pee on that infernal stick. Those days tend to be a little stressful in our home, so this time around I'm decideding to do something new. Thanks to Pintrest.com I found this great blog called  Prettiful Designs.  She inspired me to take my mind off infertility by focusing on the relationship between my husband and I, which is pretty important if you know what I mean . . .


http://www.prettifuldesigns.blogspot.com/2012/06/7-ways-in-7-days-to-knock-socks-off.html


Yours Truly,
Sister K

"Am I Prego"

  Nope, I’m only a little delusional with a hint of crazy and a dash of hormonal. It always amazes me the ability I have to turn any symptom I may have into an “early sign of pregnancy”, its actually a great power to have. If someone could harness the emotional power a woman holds when those days between the end of Aunt Flow and the beginning of the dreaded but always- know-its-coming next Aunt Flow, they could potentially cure the world of it's problems. If you sat down and actually thought about how good you are at convincing yourself that you may be prego because you think you had tender boobs 2 days and 4 hours ago, how do you think you would do in the White House trying to convince a man that his idea is wrong and yours is right? Yeah, I know women could take over the world if they took the power of persuasion they possess during that long wait for Shark Week (aka Aunt Flow week) and use it towards a good cause. I think my favorite could-be-prego symptom is the “Oh I feel a slight queasiness this morning” but then I realize NOPE I just took my sugar-hating metformin without enough food so now I’m going to drown in my grief and console myself with a pound of Herseys chocolate. Don’t worry, I stay out of the public eye so that I can keep my image of being a sane, skinny person alive. I relish the thought that I am not the only one that frantically Googles just about anything that may seem slightly out of the ordinary during my day. My husband has now put a lock on the Google website…I no longer have the privilege of looking up my symptoms but I did harness my emotional power and had a friend look it up for me=] Clever I know! This does not change that fact that any little difference in my body could possibly mean that my highly dysfunctional uterus has finally started to act like it is apart of my body. But hey what else are us infertiles going to do with all this extra time we have, since we don't have kids, but to Google unnecessary symptoms and live vicariously through the internet and our "potential" fertility? Aw the good life =] Well, ladies another week to look forward to and another day of potential! I hope y'all have enjoyed yourself so far and also found that you can relate to someone in a similar situation! Always remember you're not the only one who cries until shes laughs about her highly dysfunctional uterus =]

Sincerely,
Sister H

A New Day, A New Doctor

A New Day, A New Doctor

For the past year, my husband and I have been traveling about 4 hours one way to see a doctor, whom we loved, to start us on a treatment for infertility. He was an awesome doctor and diagnosed me with PCOS and gave me those great weight loss pills, Metformin. But the time has come to start Clomid treatments which means that I will need to be monitored throughout the month, and as much as I love to visit my in-laws, an eight-hour round trip for a doctor visit just wasn't possible. Luckily we found a great doctor only 25 minutes away.

I have to say that I love walking into an infertility specialist's office instead of an OB GYN office because it's not littered with pregnant women waddling around. I made it about 2 feet in the door before the waterworks started. Yup, I'm "that patient." The one that blubbers from the moment they put the pressure cuff on to the time I walk out the exit door. (Wait, I'm emotional, I must be pregnant!) I think my last doctor might have named a tissue box in my honor. When the nurse walked into the room she had a look on her face like "wait, aren't I supposed to tell you the bad news, then you cry?" Luckily, they ushered me right into the doctor's office; I think it had something to do with the nervous looks on the other patients' faces. The new doctor was just as amazing as our previous one. He listened to our concerns then explained what he planned to do to fix me! We even got a print-out of our conversation and a plan of actions! Definately the best doctor's visit ever! And to welcome us into his fold, he sent me to get a gallon of blood drawn to test for everything possible. I mean, EVERYTHING ...

But it is way worth it! The doctor's plan is a concise campaign that should yield results as quickly as possible. My uterus won't know what hit her until an egg is already implanted and a zygote is growing.  The doctor's regimen starts with 3 rounds of monitored Clomid cycles, which last about a month each, and if that isn't successful we will do another 3 rounds of Clomid with intra-uterine insemination. (Yes I know what you all are thinking, it really is super romantic, NOT!) The doctor even showed us this great chart with percentages of a successful live birth on each step. After all is said and done we have about an 80% chance of getting knocked up in the next 6 months! So, I will be able to hit my goal of being pregnant before Christmas and it only took 3 years!

By the end of our appointment with the doctor the tears had dried up and we were ready to start the panel of blood tests. But before that we sat down with the financial lady and to see what that damage is gonna be over the next few months. So if you want to know how much it really costs to have a baby, grab a pen and a piece of paper . . .

Doctors visit= $200.00
Blood tests for me= $632.50
Blood tests for husband=$305.00
Clomid pills=  $25.00-$40.00
Clomid treatment with monthly monitoring= $500.00 per treatment cycle (one month)
Clomid treatment with artificial insemination= $1,000.00 per treatment (one month)

And there goes our savings! If that doesn't work we are going to start paying in arms and legs. Maybe we will get lucky and have twins; it will be like a two-for-the-price-of-one sale!

I hope these numbers don't freak anyone out too bad. Remember, this is without insurance. Most insurances will pay for blood tests and some doctors visits. And if you have any questions please just leave a comment!

Yours Truly,

Sister K

Fertile Myrtles

My favorite topic, Fertile Myrtles!  They are everywhere and I know we all have a family member, friend, or co-worker that seems to be able to pop kids out like jelly beans. I like to call those types of woman the “Woman whose husband can just look at them seductively and they’re prego”! Well pin a rose on their nose; I wouldn’t be able to pop out an egg to fertilize if you shocked me with jumper cables.I swear they have this radar that detects those that are infertile just so they can sit down and yack about THEIR troubles. Your frame of mind as you sit and listen to these women talk/complain about all 35 of their children is quite unique. You don't envy their lack of tissue elasticity as well as your ability to not run away screaming and yelling like a mad woman or slap the woman for not sharing the baby dust with those less fortunate! I know that I am not the only woman that has thought to herself “Now what is she doing that I’m not?!” well her highly FUNTIONAL uterus must enjoy be tortured at least once a year but mine apparently loves the single life. I go back to the all-to-often-asked question “what is she doing that I’m not” almost too often to talk about those that we just don’t understand why they’re prego and we aren’t. I always wonder how I can compete with these fertile myrtles and their functional uterus's and the answer came to me one night as I was lying in bed, “I’d rather be skinny and perky than fat and saggy”! Great reasoning, right?! Yeah, it never lasts long but sometimes when I’m working out or feeling especially selfish I like to tell myself that =] Just to top the whole subject off, these fertile myrtles are always the people that tell you “it’s so easy and why aren’t you having children” well would you like to read my medical charts or hear the BS version of how I like my body too much to stretch it like a stuffed pig every other year. Oh the joys of infertility =] where would our doctors be if we weren’t there paying our soul just for them to poke around with the magic wand and then prescribe meds that make us the she-devil?! 

Well, I hope you ladies enjoy reading our journey towards, hopefully, saggy boobies and feel comfortable enough to leave a post about your own stories or suggestions for topics. Until next time, always remember you're not the only one who cries until shes laughs about her highly dysfunctional uterus =]

Sincerely, 

Sister H

4 Years and Counting . . .

   Hey ya'll I guess I'm sister K! I found the love of my life about 5yrs ago; we have been happily married for about 4 1/2 yrs now. I had just barely turned 20 when I got married, I was the first of my family to get married so I thought I had all the time in the world to provide grandkids, oh how little did I knew back then . . . About six months into our marriage we decided we were ready to welcome a few little blessings in our lives. So I went of the birth control, bought a new thermometer, and started looking at baby cloths. The first year came and went (most infertility doctors will not even look at you until you've tried for at least a year). I remember thinking that any month now I would see those two little lines on the pee stick. After another year without any success, my husband had graduated from is undergrad and was accepted into a grad program in another state, his younger sister had gotten married and pregnant, one of my best friends from high school had her second child, a close cousin had just spread the news that they were expecting their second, and I was still barren.

   When we got to our new home away from home we decided it was time to see an expert. Luckily we found an infertility special that was sympathetic and helpful. He was able to diagnose me with PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome). I have been on the highest dose of Metformin for the last year and we just did our first round of Clomid and are anxiously waiting for the results. ( I've also been stocking up on chocolate just in case.) So, we've been "trying" to get pregnant for about 4 years now. As my sister has put it, "But what else can we do when the only part of our body that decides to fight against us is the part we can't see or transplant!"

   I just want to post a disclaimer: I will rant, and complain and may even become a little unpleasant. But I also want to up lift all of our readers. I hope nobody takes offense to most of I say, and I hope that you will feel comfortable enough to leave a comment about your struggles and what has helped you through this difficult trial.

So whether you shed a tear of frustration or of laughter I hope you enjoyed this read!

Yours Truly,

Sister K

The Beginning

And so it all begins.....

  The Tale of Two Infertile Sisters has been in the back of my mind for a couple of months now and I finally decided its time to put this pen to paper, or so to speak. This blog is being written by two sisters that experience the ups and downs of trying, hope, and praying to get pregnant together.

The Beginning

  I'm Sister H and I have been married for a little over a year and a half. My husband and I have been trying to get prego since May of 2011. Yes, I realize this is not as long as some couples have been trying but why go it alone! We all need someone to cry, yell and complain to so why not write it for the whole world to see =] I decided that this subject is not talked about enough in our society. Many women go it alone and suffer behind closed doors. Well not me and my sister! We are coming out and saying that infertility is hard and stressful but it is also one of the best adventures of my married life. 
   I guess I should start with what I have gone through so far...well I currently have Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, irregular menses as well as a bicornuate uterus. To break this down for ya'll, I have about a million cyst on both ovaries, I don't have periods naturally, I probably have not ovulated since my very first period and a heart-shaped uterus to top it all off. Now doesn't that sound fun? I currently take Metformin for the cyst, Provera for a period and clomid to ovulate. I'm pretty much a fertility clinic up in here! Let's talk a little about the clomid part, now I took this for FOUR straight months and not ONE time did I ovulate! But my husband sure did come up with some get ways to deal with uncontrollably emotional women that breaks down in tears just about anywhere and could eat a dozen cupcakes in one sitting. Lets just say that we started doing Insanity after the last round of Clomid...Metformin on the other hand is no women's best friend. It likes to tear you up, make you waste a good half hour visiting the porcelain throne while delightfully making your appetite nonexistent. Oh, the things a woman would do to bear just one child!
  The doctors visit....where's my Rocky music when I need it because infertility visits might be the closet thing to a man's physical as a women will ever get. To clarify this statement, we always go in hoping for the best and always come out with more meds prescribed and feeling extremely violated. On the bright side, I seem to leave with just a little more hope because the doctor is so great at sugarcoating the situation =] But what else can we do when the only part of our body that decides to fight against us is the part we can't see or transplant! Oh and the cost,  they must think that just because we don't have 13 kids running around searching for food that we can afford a Bentley and infertility visits as well! Well let me tell you that I already started a running tab for my kids and I expect every cent paid back once they become doctors and astronauts! Well, my post is getting long and I don't want to discuss everything in one go around so until next time! Oh and remember ladies, you're not the only one who cries until shes laughs about her highly dysfunctional uterus =]

Sincerely,

Sister H