AF CD1

Yep, AF found me. I knew I wasn't pg so I'm glad to be starting over. I guess that's one good thing about AF...a fresh start. I STILL haven't heard from AZ and I had my blood pg test two days ago. I'm going to sit out this cycle, try and do the endo diet, and then hopefully we'll do another FET in May.

While I haven't officially started my endo diet, I did go grocery shopping and managed to not get any junk food. While Skittle watched Elmo this morning, I made my very first veggie soup. (NO JUDGEMENT!! Cooking is SO not my thing...I borderline hate it in fact) It's mostly all organic and since it serves 18, we'll be eating it for quite a while. Yes, DH is joining me in the endo diet. He just better not cheat when he's at work!

We don't have a Trader Joe's here in SA and the closest Whole Foods is 40 mins away. I did find a Sprouts Natural Food store close to where I take Skittle for Gymboree, so when I can't find a speciality item close to home, I'm pretty sure I'll find it there. I did manage to find organic sf peanut butter and sf/gf chocolate chips so that's at least two more foods I can eat. Just about everything processed or packaged has soy. You'd be surprised if you started reading your labels. That 100%vegetable oil in your pantry? Yep, 100% soybean oil. A little soy here and there won't hurt me but I'm still trying to cut it out as much as possible.

Tonight's dinner is crock pot chicken tacos without cheese (seasoning is gf and sf) with corn tortillas.

Endo Diet, revisited

Since once again this cycle is a bust (got three ugly BFN's), I'm trying hard to force myself to do the endo diet....again. My thought is that I did it for two months and then got pg with Skittle, that maybe if I go on it again, then I'll get pg. For some reason I'm making a LOT of excuses as to why I don't want to do it though and it's holding me back.

Excuses:
-LOTS of planning and meal prep
-Feeling hungry all the time
-More expensive
-Difficult to eat out
-Extremely picky about food (and so not in a good way)

To remind you of the endo diet's rules:
-No sugar or honey
-No wheat/gluten
-No alcohol
-No caffeine
-No red meat
-No soy
-No diary
-No chocolate

Angie's adapted endo diet:
-No wheat/gluten
-No soy
-Only hormone free diary
-Limited red meat
-No caffeine
-No alcohol
-Limited sugar and chocolate

How can I make myself do this!?!? My sis and mom and I were going to do a day of meal prep for freezer meals so maybe if I stick to my guidelines I'll be able to do it for those meals. I keep saying, "after this weekend" or "after the party" then I'll start...*sigh* Maybe if I had an accountability partner, it would help.

I've also been doing research on immune issues paired with infertility. It's possible I'm dealing with some of that as well.

Why didn't it work this time? What is wrong with me? What is wrong with my body?

18 months already!

My Skittle is 18 months old. Shheessh. A year and a half!

In no way am I bragging about her accomplishments...this is a journal for us...a way to keep track of what she's learning. She does seem to be learning things at a surprisingly fast rate and it makes me wonder a bit.

-Favorite book: ALL OF THEM
-Favorite TV show: Sesame Street. Can't seem to get enough of Elmo these days
-Favorite toy: Her hand held Leap Frog letters thingy
-Favorite word: NO *sigh*
-Favorite song: The More We Get Together with sign language

She can recognize and say the entire upper case alphabet and about half of the lower case letters. She recognizes and says numbers 1-9. She counted on her toes this morning, "1,2,3,4,4". She also can say and recognize the colors yellow, red, blue, orange, green, red, pink, and white. She's FINALLY sliding down the stairs on her belly and walks up them pretty well. She's also saying the end of words and repeats just about EVERYTHING we say (except the word Grandma...still). She also concentrates on single tasks for quite a long time for a kid her age. Example: she will try soooo hard to put her shoes on herself, sitting on the floor practicing for a half hr at a time and she won't let us help her. If she fails at something, she tries it again and again. Determined little booger!

Ok, I just had to tell this story. When my mom was watching her when I was in AZ, she said, "I love you." to Skittle before bed and Skittle said, "I love daddy." My mom then asked, "Do you love mama?" Skittle said, "I love mama." My mom asked, "Do you love papa?" Skittle said, "I love papa." Then my mom asked, "Do you love Grandma?" Skittle said, "No." :) :) :) Stinker!

She eats what and when she wants. I refuse to let it be a battle and therefore I do not push food. If she's hungry for a snack, she'll ask us for something. She has to go in for another weight check at the end of this month (once a month until she's two). We'll see if my strategy is working.

At 17 months+2 weeks she was:
31 1/2 inches
19.6 lbs
had an 18 inch head

At 18 months+1 week she was:
31 1/2 inches
21.7 lbs
had an 18 inch head

She's sleeping an unusual amount right now so I'm hoping for a growth spurt. We actually woke her up at NOON yesterday and she woke up at 10:15 this morning...She's always been a good night time sleeper...THANK YOU JESUS for that! She's down to one nap a day and it'll last anywhere from 1.5 hrs to 3 hrs (or just 7 mins in the car if we can't hold her awake!)

FET Transfer Day...again

Ok, so I just got done with my third FET transfer, the second one after little Skittle was born. Things were all around much better this time.

I don't think I mentioned before that I had to do PIO again this cycle, much to my poor tushy's dismay. I still got an allergic reaction but it's less intense since I'm treating it with lidocaine/hydrocortisone cream. I can switch over to the suppositories now though. Apparently, I *have* to do the PIO to get my uterine lining to show that I'm in my luteal phase of my cycle. Five days of shots are better than 3 weeks I guess, but I don't have to like it!

This really has been a community effort to get me pregnant. My dad is here with me in AZ this time as my mom is watching Skittle. DH just couldn't get any time off. I also wanted to give a special thanks to my father-in-law and Ms. B for watching P during all my appts. I just couldn't do this without you all!!!

Alright, here's the skinny on my FET. I had assumed that they froze my remaining nine embryos in three separate straws. Well, that wasn't the case. They froze them in two straws, five in one and four in the other. Because I wasn't able to get pregnant with three, they decided to be more aggressive. They thawed the straw of five. I was a bit shocked. What's interesting is that all five survived the thaw! This time all five were of excellent quality (just like my fresh IVF cycle with Skittle) so I had a decision to make. I had:

Two 8 cell
One 6 cell
Two 4 cell

I was given the option of transferring either the first three or the first four. I decided to put back three but also try to get the two four cell embies to 8 cells and then refreeze them. Dr. G was much more hopeful this time around. He even told me that one of the eight cell embies split again after they had checked on them. That's great news! I'm much more hopeful this time too.

I go in on Thursday for a progesterone blood test and then it's the pregnancy test in two weeks.

Thanks for all your prayers! I'll let you know how it turns out...