Met the new RE

DH and I met with the new RE today.  I haven’t had a chance to talk with DH yet to see how he feels about this new Doc but personally, I liked him.  He was very thorough, wanting to know everything we had done up until this point.  He was easy to talk to.  He was warm and caring.  He was happy with my weight loss thus far (even though between the last two weeks trips I have gained 6 pounds back and am only at 20 lbs of weight loss).  He said those 20 lbs can really help and he hopes I will be successful with getting back on track with the WW and I could stand to lose some more weight (which I agree completely!).  He didn’t make me feel bad in the least that I gained some weight back – I think he could tell I was beating myself up enough over it. 

We brought up IUI and he said he typically likes to see a couple go through 3 – 6 cycles of IF drug treatments/TIC before even thinking about IUIs but also said if it was something we felt strongly about we could talk further about IUI, the process, the risks, the chances, etc. with him.   And after the comment by a fellow blogger (thank you Awaiting a Child of God for sharing) I think DH and I have more discussing and researching to do before even talking with the new RE about IUIs. 

I was a little bummed that we aren’t able to do anything for this cycle, except have intercourse and hope I ovulate on my own.  The cycle was a little too far along for us to do the Femara and monitoring.  Bummer!  But it could be worse than having to wait a few more weeks to start a new cycle.

We discussed the game plan:

• Get back on the WW track
• Continue Metformin ER 750 mg twice daily
• Continue Rovin–NV (or any pre-natal) once daily
• Continue low dose aspirin once daily
• CD22 start Provera (if I get a BFN from a HPT) at 2.5 mg once a day for 5 – 7 days (can’t remember how many days now, good thing I took notes)
• Next CD1 call in to set up first U/S
• CD5 (if BFN from a HPT) start Femara daily
• U/S on CD12 and other days after as needed and go from there in terms of HCG shot and TIC schedule

So here we are, waiting again for the next cycle but you know what, it doesn’t bother me near as much as I thought it would.  I am just thrilled to be back on the “TTC wagon” again.

New RE

So tomorrow DH and I are meeting with a new RE!  I am so excited and hopeful about this.  I think partly because AF came all on her own last month but mainly because we are able to finally start officially trying again.  And I wasn’t overly excited about the old RE – she just seemed too impersonal.  Unfortunately I gained 5 lbs back over the past week and a half thanks to our ice fishing trip at Lake of the Woods and BockFest but as of yesterday I got right back on the WW track.  I just hope the RE doesn’t make us wait until I lose MORE weight.  I am still going to work on my weight but I am just so sick and tired of waiting and not being able to try. 

We are going to talk seriously with the RE about going the IUI route.  We found out our insurance covers up to 6 IUIs per confirmed pregnancy, which is a huge relief.  My coworker who used to go to the same practice I just left didn’t have any success for 6 months/6 cycles and her first cycle at a new RE they did IUI and she got pregnant.  One of my good friend’s boss had the same experience.  I am not trying to get my hopes up too high and I realize everyone is different and just because it worked for those two on their first try doesn’t mean it will for me.  But I am feeling compelled to try. DH is all for it.  It feels like the right thing to do or at the very least bring it up with this new Dr. 

I am so glad DH is going to go with me tomorrow.  I feel much better knowing he will be there to hear what the Doc says and that I won’t have to relay everything to him.  I fear I will forget something vital when I do that.  Or that I will misinterpret something. 

Tomorrow will be CD15 so I wonder if we will be able to try this cycle or if it will be too far along.  The last cycle we tried I was on CD20 when we did the shot and timed intercourse but I had also taken femara shortly after CD1.  Guess in 24 hours I will know more! 

RU#2: Random Questions!

Thanks to The Infertility Cross for coming up with the following questions....

What was your favorite musical group when you were in Junior High?

Gosh I guess it would be New Kids on the Block.

Have you ever stayed at a luxury hotel....what was your hotel room like?

In a previous job I was very fortunate in that where ever we travelled we stayed in luxury hotels (probably one of numerous reasons that company is now doing so poorly and had to endure so many rounds of lay-offs!). The two most memorable were: The Plaza Hotel in NYC before their recent renovation.  And while the hotel was luxury the rooms just felt old and stuffy but the rest of the hotel was beautiful.  The other: the W Hotel in Times Square and that one when you went to your room the hallways felt like you were going to a strip club – very dark, gray and had neon pink and blue lights above the doors of each room.  The room was very nice and modern though.   For our mini-moon my husband and I rented a million dollar cabin on the shore of Lake Superior for three nights.  It was absolutely gorgeous! We went back to celebrate our 1st Anniversary and hope to every year or two from now on.   

Tell us about a childhood injury.

I broke my collar bone the summer after 4^th or 5^th grade.  My neighbors and I were playing follow the leader and the one neighbor did a cartwheel on the wet banana (slip and slide) that was positioned going downhill.  I was so afraid to tell my parents what really happened so I told them we were doing cartwheels at the neighbors and I slipped on some wet grass not realizing they had just watered their lawn.  For years I stuck to that story!  I was so bummed because I was unable to go to Girl Scout’s sleep away camp because of the broken bone.

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

A vet for a while until I realized that it meant more than playing with cats and dogs all day.  And a fashion designer or architect.

What do you remember about your high school prom?

My senior year the school tried to put so many restrictions on it (i.e. guys had to wear a suit or tux, they had to have natural hair color (i.e. no purple or pink), they had to wear dress shoes (i.e. no tennies), girls couldn’t have two piece dresses, they had to had natural hair color, etc.  And one of our more outspoken guys showed up with purple hair and purple Vans Tennies and he wasn’t allowed in. 

Name something you did as a child that your parents don’t know about.

By now they know pretty much everything…I lived in a small town where everyone knew everyone and everything you did so you could never get away with anything.  But for many years my parents didn’t know about the number of times I climbed the water tower, or that when I stayed with my cousin, she and I used to sneak out of her house to go down the block and play cards. 

What extremely difficult life situation have you overcome and how did you do it?
Infertility would be the most difficult situation to date.  Other not as difficult things would be maintaining a friendship with one of my once good friends after she had an abortion.  Or waiting so long to meet my now husband – I thought it would never happen and saw almost every single friend get married and have kids before I even met him.

Worst roommate you have ever had.

When I bought my house one of my then good friends moved in as my renter and I found out the hard way you don’t rent to friends and if you do you need to treat it like a business transaction and have a lease and written agreement about things like paying rent/bills, cleaning, moving out etc.  She moved in a month earlier than I expected.  Her first few months her rent was late – she thought because we were friends it didn’t matter if she paid on time.  She moved in on July 1 and October 8 she still had no idea where the broom was (she NEVER cleaned).  Then she got jealous when I met my husband and all of a sudden without notice moved out and didn’t pay me what she owed or given me the two month notice she promised.  Then she threatened to turn me in for not claiming her on my taxes or paying her renters credit.  Then went so far as to bad mouth me to my husband’s friends and try to turn them against me before they ever really got to know me.  She also bad mouthed me to all of our friends and told lies.  When she moved out she didn’t clean, she had mold growing in her room from her lack of cleaning, she broke the shower floor and never told me, she didn’t pay for her last bills or last month rent, she nicked the walls all over when moving out, she didn’t clean her carpets, she stole items from me.  Needless to say we are no longer friends.

How many times have you changed your hair color?

Too many to count!

What was your best Halloween costume?

I can’t decide: the Statue of Liberty, a Rubik’s Cube, a drunken bridesmaid, Mary Catherine Gallagher from SNL, to name a few of my favorites!

What was your Major in College?

I had numerous majors in college, starting with architect (until I found out just how much math is involved), a teaching major (until I found out during my practicum how much I disliked it), nursing (for about a half a semester (until I realized blood and guts aren’t my thing), an English major (and then wasn’t sure what I could do with it) so one night I asked my roommate for her advice and she suggested Advertising so I took a pre-mass comm class and fell in love with Advertising and Public Relations.  Which about 5 years after graduating from college when I was going through my Jr High papers my mom had saved I ran across an assessment we took and it said I had strong advertising tendencies! 

What was your first car and what do you remember about it?

1987 Chevy Celebrity, dark gray with a gray vinyl top.  Loved that car!

What was your first Job?

Growing up it would have had to be corn de-tasseling for about one week until I was “fired” for talking too much.  Then in High School I was a sandwich artist at Subway.  My first job out of college was an ad exec for a radio station.  

Do you have any pets?

Yep!  Two cats.  Jersey and Jaxon.  I got Jersey (the black one) and after a month felt horrible because I was working 80 – 100 hour weeks and never home so I got Jaxon (the gray one) to keep her company. 

Do you have a favorite TV show?
I watch way too much TV and way too much bad TV….some of my favorites are: Southland, Parenthood, Brothers & Sisters, Law & Order: SVU; Teen Mom/16 and Pregnant; Greek; Gossip Girl

My Faith Journey

I am relatively new to the world of blogging…well I have been blog-stalking for a while but am relatively new to blogging myself.  One of the blogs I have been stalking, The Infertility Cross, has recently started “Round Up” discussions.  It works like this…The Infertility Cross posts a topic, blogs about it herself and then invites others to blog about the same topic.  Those who blog about the topic are asked (but not required) to comment in The Infertility Cross blog comment section that they have participated.  A summary of who has participated will be posted.  Sounds like a great way to stop blog stalking and get to know fellow bloggers! 

Do you come from a Catholic family? Were you raised Catholic? Was there a time when stepped away from the Catholic Church? If you converted to Catholicism, what made you do so?

My Mom grew up Catholic and my Dad grew up Lutheran.  This fact did not sit well with either set of my Grandparents and it was clear that if my Dad wished to marry my Mom he had to convert to Catholicism.  Which he did, however, his parents were less than thrilled, so much so that his Dad almost didn’t go to the wedding.  (I just realized I’ve never talked with my parents about this conversion – it was just sort of a known fact.  I can’t wait to talk with them about this though!) 

Growing up we attended Mass every Sunday, unless you were on your deathbed!  Even on vacation we would find a Catholic church and be sure to go to Mass.  I was baptized as an infant.  In elementary school, I received First Communion, in the same dress my sister and Mom wore.  Then in High School I was Confirmed.  I attended CCD classes through my Junior year and once I was confirmed my parents required me to somehow serve the Church my senior year so a friend and I taught Sunday school during our Senior year. 

I remember in high school going to Mass on a Saturday night in my cheerleading uniform (because we had a football game almost immediately after Mass let out) and after Mass a little old lady sitting behind me poked me in the shoulder and asked “Don’t you know how to dress for Mass?”  I promptly replied, “Well at least I’m here!”  (Granted the skirt was quite short and looking back I probably could have worn my warm up pants underneath.)

I am going to be completely honest here, growing up I went because I had to.  I never really got much out of Mass or CCD classes and when I went off to college I loved the freedom of not HAVING to go every week.  So through most of college I didn’t go unless I was home visiting my family.  For a short time I did start attending a Lutheran church my freshman year with one of my friends until my Mom found out and was “so disappointed in me”.  there were numerous reasons I started going to the Lutheran services with my friend: a. it was someone to go with, b. my entire Dad's side o the family was Lutheran so it couldn't be so bad and I wanted to check it out, c. it was a way to rebel against my Mom and d. In my mind again, at least I was going to a Christian service and I believed in God so what did it matter. 

For many years after college I continued to rarely go to Mass because I didn’t feel it was right to go because I had to but rather I should go because I wanted to.  My train of thought was “God knows I believe.  I have my own relationship with him.  Why do I have to go to some building every week?”  I also hated to go to Mass alone.  Which, looking back, I think all of those were easy rationales for me to skip going. 

In my late 20s when I moved from my college town to my current one I became good friends with a girl who would go to Mass semi-regularly and get me to go with her.  And over the past few years I have started to want to grow and work on my faith and belief in the Catholic Church.  It was always important for my future husband to be Catholic and to get married in the Catholic Church.  (My husband did grow up Catholic and like me “had” to go every weekend, and again, like me, once he was out of his parents’ house he rarely went because he enjoyed the freedom of not having to go.) When we have kids it is my dream to send them to Catholic school and hope that they do not grow up as I did…almost resenting Church.  I hope to talk with them about our religion and the importance of going to Mass and not just demand it.   

Again, I am going to be completely honest, my faith is not near as strong as most of you blogger ladies but I am working on it! 

Never been so happy to see AF!

AF just came a knockin' and I couldn't be happier...ok maybe I could be happier if she hadn't shown up because I was pg but I know the odds of that actually happening aren't the best.  I never in a million years thought I would ever be this happy to see AF but this is the first time in as long as I can remember that she arrived WITH OUT any meds...well ok maybe there was a med (metformin) thrown in there that might have helped.  But I didn't need to take provera this month to induce it.  I just wish we didn't have to wait until the 9th to meet with our new Dr. 

New Doc

I had a physical and annual with my new Dr today. She is nice.  It went well.  Her specialty is not infertility, which I knew going in but with insurance needed a referral to a Dr. that does specialize in IF.  She referred me to another local Dr.  Originally I asked to be referred to one down in Minneapolis, the same one my 40 year old coworker went to and had success on their first cycle.  But she has a lot of confidence in this Dr. and said it would be very stressful always having to drive so far for appointments, which I can somewhat see.  She could tell I was still hesitant and made a deal with me...that I meet with him and do a cycle and if I don't like him then she will refer me to Minneapolis.  Then through further conversation I find out she also has dealt with IF and it was never out right said but I read between the lines that she went to that Dr.  So I have my first meeting with him on March 9th.  I wish I didn't have to wait so long but we've waited this long what's a few more weeks, right? 

The rest of the appointment went pretty good - except for I started crying when I was talking about IF.  I hate that I cry so dang easily. 

I am down 26.5 lbs since September!  She was pretty impressed with that, as am I!  I still have a ways that I want to go but at least I am making progress.  She did tell me I need to step up my exercise, blaaahhhcckk!!!

She is also referring me to the hospital for EMG tests on both arms as I think I have carpal tunnel. 

All in all I feel pretty comfortable with her.  I do miss my PA over at the other provider and a few of the IF nurses but we'll see what this guy she recommends is like and go from there. 

Come on March 9th and get here soon!!

Cloud 9

I just got off the phone with my insurance provider and I am on Cloud 9!  Yes, you read that sentence correctly in that “insurance provider” and “Cloud 9” were in the same sentence and a happy sentence at that! 

Let me back up a bit…

I get health insurance free for myself through work.  When I started I was given a choice of providers and I chose the one I had always been with BCBS.  But then when we started with IF we found out that BCBS doesn’t cover squat.  Well maybe they covered a little up until the actual diagnosis of IF but none of the cycle management fees were covered.  None of the medications were covered.  We were looking at about a grand a cycle.  It was fine.  We could do it and we did for a few cycles, but it wasn’t fun.  We had no extra money.  None!  Well in talking with a coworker who had also gone through IF she had the other insurance provider offered through our employer and didn’t have to pay much at all.  Not even for cycle management or medications or the IUI!  So DH and I called the potential new provider and they said they don’t cover any IF.  We were bummed and confused but that’s what they told us.  After much discussion we decided to still switch as it couldn’t get any worse than our current provider.  So as of Jan 1 we were no longer covered under BCBS but rather HealthPartners. 

Fast forward to today.  I am almost at the 10% weight loss the Dr. required and AF hasn’t shown up since 12/4 so I called to get started on Provera and to see if the Dr. would move forward with cycle management now.  I also called the billing office to see if they could double check if my new insurance would cover any IF.  I was speechless when they called back and said that they covered it 100% after a $50 deductible, except a $17 copay per office visit!  AND up to 6 IUI cycles per confirmed pregnancy!  She did say that I needed to see a Dr. in my primary care clinic (which had to change with the new provider) and that the Dr. in that clinic would have to refer me to my current IF Dr.

So I called my new insurance provider to make sure to choose a Dr. at my plan cost level and through talking with them they confirmed what the billing office had told me!  I am thrilled! 

So now I have an appointment with a family medicine Dr. next Tuesday!  It means it will delay starting the next cycle management for a bit but I am ok with if it means we won’t have to pay but $50!  It is such a relief. 

Oh and I had prepaid my 3^rd cycle management but never completed it due to the requirement for me to lose weight so the clinic kept the unspent money in my account and I could either have it refunded to me or save it for the next cycle.  Well now knowing this I am able to have it refunded so we’ve even got a little extra coming back!  Second nice surprise of the morning!