Thing 1, Thing 2, and Cindy Lou Who

It's time to hop back on the Scream Machine again...our ride on the IVF roller coaster is back in full effect!

Before I get started, I know that several of you who read this are IRL (in real life) friends/family and that is completely fine. You all have been so supportive of us and we love you all. However, Andy and I have chosen to not make any "public" announcements this time around. This is for our own self preservation. The only people that I work with who know that we are starting another cycle are my nursing manager and whomever chooses to read this blog. That being said, if you are reading this please DO NOT bring it up to me or anyone else at work. If this actually works, I do not want the entire world knowing until we confirm that it is absolutely viable....which probably means when I push an actual live baby out of my woohoo. I haven't completely decided, but there will probably be no Facebook posts if it does work. I don't even want baby showers because they give me panic attacks. All we want are lots of prayers and a healthy baby in 9 months. Thanks for understanding.

I never thought that I would be so excited to have Aunt Flow visit...of course she was a day late and I had one of those !!!What if this is a miracle!!! moments, but for the 58,391,922,896th month in a row she knocked on my cervical door. Her love never fails.

We received our tentative schedule, and the timeframe was wayyyy different than what I had speculated. I started my BCP yesterday, and will be adding the dreaded Lupron injections to the mix around 3/9. I have to drive to Charleston the first of March to have my saline sonohystogram performed, mock transfer, and full blood work panel on both Andy and myself. It is at that time we can apply for the Shared Risk Program, and if accepted, we will purchase a package that includes three fresh donor cycles, and three frozen donor cycles. If it doesn't work after all six cycles, we get a 100% refund. Which means that we would have the funds to "just adopt".

Please pray that we get accepted into the program! I don't know what we would do if they turn us down...I don't think I could stomach gambling that much money for one try and no refunds. Our coordinator said that as long as my uterus is pretty, we shouldn't have a problem. My lining has always been around 11-12mm (which is f'awesome) so hopefully we'll be good to go.

Around 3/19 I will begin Estrogen support. Since we are doing a split cycle, our nurse (Sam-I-Am, RN) is trying to coordinate myself (Thing One), the other girl's (Thing Two), and the donor's (Cindy Lou Who) cycles. That woman was blessed with the gift of strategy...and I am obsessed with Dr. Seuss, so I'm going to nickname everyone to make this process easier.

While I'm at it, I'll call our fertility doc Dr. Seuss. Bless.

Once she gets mine and Thing Two's uterus thick and pretty, we will just basically hang out and marinate on Lupron/Estrogen while Cindy Lou Who does all of the dirty work! I will just have to go in every other week to have my lining checked. I can't tell you how relieved I am to not have to go through the whole stimulation process. It was a bloated horrid mess! Cindy Lou Who will stimulate and then have the egg retrieval once her follicles are mature. We will then split the eggs with Thing 2, and our share will be fertilized with Andy's sperm. We will transfer the embryos three to five days after retrieval, depending on how they are dividing.

According to our calendar, retrieval will be on or around April 13th, and the transfer will take place around April 16th-18th!!! That is, if everything goes as planned. Much earlier than we expected. Now that I think about it, this is exactly 6 years after I came off of birth control to start trying. Crazy.

Anyway, this timing should work out well because our 10 year anniversary is May 19th and we requested that week off work. If it works, then we'll have an entire week off work to be extremely happy. If it doesn't work, then we'll have an entire week off work to go on a road trip and drink insane amounts of alcohol.

So, let's play the glass is half full. If it works this time, then I will be due right after Christmas! How awesome would that be? I've always wanted a Christmas baby, so maybe it will finally come true. Six years of hell for one awesome Christmas would be the ultimate blessing.

Now, I will introduce the characters in our little daytime drama...I have to do this or else I will go crazy having to describe I-You-He-She-It-We-They in all of my blog posts. This makes it fun...and easier!

Our Nurse, Sam-I-Am, carrying our Green Eggs and Ham.

In reality, she's a girl, so just imagine Sam with a little less facial hair.

Andy and Jessica, Thing 1

The Other Couple, Thing 2

Our Infertility Doctor, Dr. Seuss. 

Hmmm. He's not as creepy looking in real life.

And our angel, Cindy Lou Who.

Hopefully she will help to bring us our Christmas miracle!

*Disclaimer for the crazies: All of the above images, names, characters, and references were created by Dr. Seuss and obtained from the internet. I am not taking credit for them, only keeping his legacy alive. This blog post is based on true events, however, has been fictionalized and all persons appearing in this post are fictitious. Any resemblance to real people, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. And if you want to sue me, please consult with my infertility doctor because he has all of my money. So there.