New Beginnings

Well, what a day it has been.  The best part of today was holding my new niece Taylor Marie.  She is such a doll and came into the world weighing 8lbs 3oz.  I am in love already.  Mom and baby are doing very well.  I promise that I will put better pics up later but I was so excited today that I couldn't get a good picture. Here is one while I was holding her :) 

Taylor Marie

I am not going to lie, I thought that going to the hospital to the maternity floor would be hard for me.  For some reason if I see baby boy clothes I just start crying.  Why boy clothes I don't know but just the idea of being there gave me such anxiety leading up to today.  And I will say that I did shed a few tears at the thought of being there today.  Luckily, I was anxious for nothing.  The joy of meeting my new niece made everything else seem to disappear.  And then coming back from our appointment to the hospital gave me even more reason to dismiss all of the anxiety I was feeling.  I have a new beginning to be optimistic about. 

In other news, Stephan and I had our first visit with the fertility doctor.  I initially thought today would be a consultation.  Boy was I wrong!  When we got there, they took me back and got my vitals.  Well, my blood pressure was very high and it seems to be due to the fact that I took a Claritin-D on Sunday and my body doesn't tolerate them well.  I wanted to breathe so I took some medicine but apparently that wasn't a good idea.  Hopefully next time my blood pressure will be better.  The doctor then went through my medical history and then informed me that I would be having an ultrasound done.  Me, an ultrasound??? I got a little excited about that because that's what women who have babies go through.  So while the actual procedure was not very comfortable, I got a little excited to experience an ultrasound :) Well, I take a fertiltiy drug called Clomid which ensures that I ovulate each cycle.  The ultrasound showed that Clomid is working like it is supposed to because I had 24 follicles that were developing very well.  After the ultrasound, we went back into the office to discuss what they found.  It looks like everything with my reproductive organs is in good condition.  They did see a fibroid but it doesn't look like that will affect anything with conceiving a baby.  It looks like we will be doing our first round of IUI this week.  I go back in on Thursday for them to look at my follicles again and to see if they are getting ready to release an egg.  If all goes well, I get a shot on Thursday that makes me ovulate and Friday they transfer.  The transfer is when they put the sperm directly in your uterus and hopefully the sperm will find the released egg.  We have to wait 2 weeks to see whether we are indeed pregnant.  That will probably be the longest two weeks of my life.  I am not getting my hopes up too much but I am optimistic that this will eventually work for us. 

We also had to discuss the things that our doctor thought could be the reason we are not getting pregnant.  Stephan has to get a test called an SPA to check the penetration ability of his swimmers :)  I have to work on my weight.  I need to lose about 40 pounds in the next 3 months in case IUI doesn't work over the next 3 months and we have to do more intense procedures.  My weight has to be at a more manageable number.  So much to do, so little time! He also thinks that I have some insulin resistance so I am now taking Metformin and a prenatal vitamin.  Hopefully the combination of these drugs will remedy whatever has been preventing us from getting pregnant.  Only time will tell!

The other thing I found out is that fertility procedures are not cheap. I knew we would be having a hefty expense associated with the process but today the reality set in as I paid for everything and was told about the future expenses associated with everything. I realized just how much having a baby means to us. We are not wealthy by any means, but there is no amount of money I would not pay to have the opportunity to be a mom. To those of you who are able to get pregnant with no fertility assistance, please know that is truly a blessing from God.


I know, I had a lot to say for this post.  But a lot happened today.  I am very excited for my new beginnings.  Please continue to keep our family in your prayers.  We have so much to look forward to and yet I know that the road will not be easy.  I just pray that we are able to accept God's will for us..whatever that may be.  And so the journey continues...