Sick in the Summer...

Who gets sick in the summertime? Aren't colds and viruses supposed to occur during the winter? Not for me because I got myself a doozy of a viral upper respiratory infection! It started as an itchy throat last Thursday. On Friday I went to the nurse at work and she gave me some cough syrup and cough drops and said to pick up Del.sym at the drugstore. This is the best cough syrup you can get without a prescription. I got some of that on the way home. It was yummy and got rid of my cough. However...

Turns out that we had beautiful weather all weekend so we took the boat out to the San.Bernard River on Saturday and cruised on down almost to the Gulf..past the Intercoastal.Waterway anyways. I still had a sniffly nose at that point, but it was so pretty, we couldn't NOT go! We had called around and asked if several people wanted to come out with us but no one was available. We decided to take the boat back home (versus storage) and take it out again on Sunday, hopefully this time with people! Sure enough, we got a winner! (Winner, Winner, Lobster Dinner!) M&M and their friend K came with us. This time we took it to Lake.Houston. It was so very nice, but at the end of the day, I couldn't even breathe through my nose and my tummy was upset. Why? because I had been sniffing and snorting so much, all my snot ended up in my stomach! BLECH!!

So Monday morning, I really couldn't breathe and I sounded like a toad frog when I talked. I called into work and made a doctor appointment hoping to get back to the office by the afternoon. Well, my new doctor (I got a new one last year that was closer to my new house) said it was a viral upper respiratory infection and that if she gives me antibiotics, I will just build up immunity to it and they won't work. So basically she gave me a nose spray and said to go home and wait it out. Let the virus run its course. WEIRD! I had one of these in November and she did the same thing. It is so odd to me for me to be sick like this and not even taking anything for it. I was home Monday and Tuesday....But I guess that's what she has the real MD and I only have Google MD!! My sinuses are a little better, but I now have a cough (I called her yesterday, apparently that's the "next step" for Mr. Virus) and still sound like a frog...but I'm back at work today. I could only handle so much daytime TV and Lifetime!!!

Nancy left me quite a lengthy comment on the previous post, so I thought I could address some of her questions here to clear things up on my TTC Trek.

I am currently taking Met (just started 1500 mg this week) because the last IUI cycle, I had tons of follicles, but none of them were big enough. This is typical of PCOS, however I have not been diagnosed with that as of yet. My FSH is fine. The time before, we had lots of follies, good sizes, but the IUI didn't work then either. He wasn't sure why, because I did ovulate. Now that I read your comment (and based on previous Google MD experience) I think it may have been also due to my ibuprofen usage. It is the only thing that can get rid of my cramps and headaches , but I have read that it can conflict with IF treatments...anyone else heard this? My first IUI, doc "saw" the eggie being released and said we had perfect timing for O, then the prog was only .9 and he said this is the first time he's ever "seen" O and then the prog contradicts it. All of my cycles have been monitored.

Much Ado About Nothing

No common theme for today's post. Just a bunch of "thought bubbles" (I read that on someone's blog somewhere...) today.

• Since coming back from our vacation, I realized that there are still a lot of places I want to see and do. My Bucket List has several things listed such as Vegas, Hatch Chile Festival, Rome, Niagara Falls, The Outback, New York. Alaska was way super fun and I am glad I can cross it off my "list."
• Dean and I saw Sex and the City on Monday since ALL of my girlfriends saw it on opening day - the day before we were leaving - so I couldn't go since I pack last minute... :-( But we both (yes, the husband LOVES S&C) loved the movie! It made me want to the show to come back so bad. But (not to spoil it for anyone that hasn't seen it), I think it still left room for a sequel or 3... I love the show and all the girls. I was trying to decide which one most reflects who I am, but I thought it was a combination of all of them and then I found this S&C Survey, and apparently I am Carrie! (definitely without the fashion sense though. I CANNOT stand some of the "trends" and CANNOT force myself to buy things just because they are "in.") Hopefully my husband or my friends (hint, hint) buy me the DVD set for my birthday or Christmas!!!

• TMI Warning - Met.formin is still giving me the shits. I am almost done with Week 2 where I am taking 2 a day. I'm not sure if its supposed to be 1 twice a day or just 2 at a time, but I've been taking them 2 at a time before bed, hoping any bouts that hit me, will be while I am in the comfort of my own potty. Nothing worse than having explosive you-know-what at work, a restaurant, or a friend's house!! I have a follow up with Dr. H (man, seems like I haven't spoken his name in forever!) on July 3rd. Probably just for b/w to see where I stand after the Met.
• A good friend of mine had lap-band surgery on Wednesday so I am spending the night with her tonight to do my responsible Nurse Nighting.ale duties. Chick Flix and Chicken Broth! MMM, MMM, GOOD!
• Pregnant people are REALLY getting under my skin these days. Whenever I see one, I just want to poke them in the belly (No harm to the baby-to-be, of course) but still. GGRRR!! Last week L and I had lunch (she being the one with no ovaries, only a uterus) and let me tell you - we were critiquing every pg lady we saw. "Oooh how old do you think she is? Is she still in high school? I don't see a ring. She's older, wonder if she did IVF" etc, etc, etc. THEN on the way to work this morning I hear something about a "Pregnancy Pact." 17 girls KIDS in Massachusetts made a pact to all get pregnant. WTF? Most of them are under the age of 16 for God's sake. What are they thinking and how in the WORLD is this fair to me??? And a lady at work is back from having twins and another is CURRENTLY pg with twins. Another lady I know has an almost 1 year old and is "planning" her "next one." UUUUGGGGHHHH!!!

Enough ranting for one day, geez I am a whiner. Anyways, no other plans for the weekend. Hopefully if the weather stays nice, we're going to take the boat out to the river one day. Give me some sunshine!

Grateful for:

• TGIF - FINALLY! The 1st 5 day work week in about 5 weeks!!
• Girl time tonight
• Yummy peanut butter-banana shakes I've husband has made for me for breakfast all week!
• We joined a new gym in our neighborhood that is supposed to open in the beginning of July! Keep me motivated to look semi-decent in a bathing suit the rest of the summer...

Ten Twelve Things Never to Say to Someone Dealing With Infertility

To almost copy from a fellow blogger (welcome to the blogging universe Lupus Pie!), I'm stealing some of her points and adding a few of my own...

People who have not experienced infertility will never understand the emotional, physical, and mental pain us infertiles endure in our quest to parenthood. Some Fertile Myrtles are clueless; others are just plain insensitive. So, for the sake of educating the fertile community (and hopefully providing some much-needed laughs to those of us still struggling with infertility), I/Lupus Pie compiled the following . . .

“Ten Twelve Things Never to Say to Someone Dealing With Infertility”:

Note: In order to protect the (not so) innocent, some names and details have been changed.

1. "I got pregnant the first month with all my kids. Just put on some lingerie and attack your husband when he gets home from work." Nice. Because I don't get enough sex advice from strangers.
2. "I got pregnant if I just looked at my husband. Oh and it helps when you're having sex like rabbits every day." Right. I know now that it takes more than a "look" to actually get pregnant.
3. "Just have more sex. That worked for us. We realized we were just off by a day or so every month, so we started having sex every day and got pregnant right away." Right, thanks. I hadn't thought of actually having sex!
4. From a “friend” who shall remain nameless: “Everything happens for a reason. Maybe you weren’t meant to have children.” Really? Maybe you weren’t meant to have an IQ of 40. Unfortunately, you won’t get any smarter. I, however, will have children.
5. "I know how frustrating infertility can be. My wife and I tried for FOUR MONTHS before we got pregnant!" Really? FOUR WHOLE MONTHS??! How dreadful! Try 605 days, 7 hours, 22 minutes and 37 seconds!!
6. Similarly, so many of my girlfriends who tried to get pregnant for 4-6 months: "I know how you feel." You are freakin' kidding me, right??
7. Lots of people have asked, “So how is the baby thing going? Are you pregnant yet?” Thank you to everyone for your interest in my uterus. I will let you know if and when I become pregnant. In the meantime, it’s kind of a sore subject, so please STOP ASKING!
8. From my well-meaning girlfriends with kids: "It will happen for you when it's your time. We just had to wait for God to send us the perfect baby for our family. All in God's time." Great theory. But why is it your time again and again, while we never get a shot? Is God punishing me? Is our family not worthy of a baby??
9. “I don’t know why all you young people feel like you have to run off and take all these fertility drugs. In my day, people just kept at it until they had a kid and that seemed to work just fine.” Well, us “young people” (and if I was truly that young, I don’t think I’d be having these fertility problems, thank you very much) now have the advantage of all the wonderful medical advances that have taken place over the last few decades. Thank goodness for modern medicine (and welcome to 2008!).
10. "If you decide to adopt, I think you should get a baby from Russia so it looks like you. Those Ethiopian babies are malnourished and will have lots of health problems that may not show up for years." Really? Because white adopted babies never have issues?
11. "Your husband already has kids, doesn't he? Isn't that enough?" Yes, as a matter of fact he does have 2 GROWN kids and 1 granddaughter, but that still does not change the fact that WE do not have any babies together!!
12. "Have you tried putting a pillow under your rear after sex so the spermies can swim there faster? Have you tried charting your temperatures? Have you tried cough syrup and baby aspirin? Have you tried not thinking about it? Have you tried relaxing? YES, YES, and YES! Don't you think I have spent HOURS upon HOURS researching online and reading magazines about the topic? And when I'm thinking about NOT thinking about it, it only makes me think of it more!

People can be such morons!

***UPDATE***
We didn't end up having to buy hubby a suit after all. He plays trumpet and used to gig quite a lot. Some of those gigs required a tux, so he owned several. We had thought he had gotten rid of them, but when I got home from work yesterday, there he was standing in the living room in a tux with a t-shirt underneath! Come to find out, we still have 3 of them. All we had to buy was a tuxedo shirt and cuff links. SWEET! This meant the money we were going to spend on a suit, we go to spend on my dress(ES). So I found a really nice blue formal dress and a "perfect little black dress" as the sales lady referred to it. WHEW! I was sweating that I wasn't going to be able to find one in time or that fit. Now it's off to find some recipes for tomorrow and send hubby to the grocery store!

Blah

I must just be a glutton for punishment. I did another POAS this morning. It had the outcome I knew it would have. I just thought that maybe since I am now "supposedly" 13 days past the IUI that maybe, just maybe, there would be a faint line to give me hope.

HOPE, SCHMOPE!

I am still keeping the Beta appointment tomorrow just to confirm in the medical world (versus the pee test world) that we are definitely NOT pregnant.

The husband and I had a talk last week about how many times we would attempt all of these various medical procedures to make ourselves a baby. We agreed on 3 IUI's before moving on to IVF. Hopefully we won't ever get to IUI #3 OR IVF.

Grateful for:

• the fun time we had at Hollie and Bo's Easter EGGstravaganza.
• my new flowers I planted in the front yard last weekend.
• the vanilla Blue Bell ice cream with LITE chocolate syrup Dean made me last night. "LITE" chocolate syrup. Isn't that an oxymoron or something?!

POAS

Well, it being 10dpiui and all, plus the shotty response from the RE's office, I decided today was the day to POAS. I bought 2 boxes of 2 - Fact Plus and CVS - and did one of each. As you can see from the picture, the results were not happy results. Now, I the pressure is off me to be confused or think that "maybe" there is leftover HCG from the trigger or that there is a faint line to obsess over getting darker for the next 4 days. Now the pressure is on AF to rear her ugly head....again. And given that the past few months there have been a couple times she didn't EVER show up...This could be a long, long wait.


Bad news - we went out to Big Texas last night for a friend's birthday and I had plain old Coke. Plain old Coke at a country bar!!! Too bad, I could have at least partaken in the fun!

Good news - I will be able to partake in the Easter EGGstravaganza fun tomorrow!

Well, its off to put on my Workin' Weekend clothes, dig in, and pull some weeds!

Bitterness about rabbits

I met the girlfriend of a friend of my husband's over the weekend. Actually, they came to our casa for fajitas and beer (Tea for me, thank you). She is 34 and has 3 kids - 16, 14, and 9 and has actually been pregnant 5 times total. I found that interesting that for someone who is only 34, she has already had so many pregnancies. I was trying to explain to her that now that I really understand what it takes to CREATE a baby, I am amazed at how 16 year old girls get knocked up in the backseat of a car. I mean, for crying out loud... the friggin' stars have to damn-near be aligned for it all to work! The timing of ovulation and then BMS just at the right moment...etc, etc, etc.

Now, she knows our story, so what was her reply you ask?

"It's not at all about the timing when you're having s*x like rabbits - day after day after day. Do it that way and you're guaranteed to get pregnant!"

THIS I did not like. THIS I felt like asking her to leave. THIS pissed me off. For someone who's never had to "try" to get pregnant, she cannot possibly tell me that all I have to do is hump hubby's brains out every day and BINGO - I'm pregnant. SHUT. THE. HELL. UP!

On another note, I found out yet another person I know is pregnant - my sister's sister-in-law. Yes, the lady who has been married for something like 8 years and NEVER been on an kind of birth control, the year we are "this" close - TA-DAH - pregnant, due in October. GRRRR. The "luck" of some people...

And finally for a more hopeful end to this delightful post...

Grateful for:

• Doctors that are helping my friend avoid the risk of more ovarian cancer by removing her remaining 1/2 of an ovary today.
• Doctors that are allowing her to keep her uterus in hopes to one day birth her own children.
• The fact that I have the opportunity to be in this 2WW at all.