Ethel's Revenge

Let me just try to sum up yesterday in the least amount of words as possible.

CD1, sharp pains, cramps, prescription pain killers (in vain), crying, floor, vomit (toilet, trash can), sweating, shaking, doctor's office, sonogram, functional cyst rupturing, fluid in pelvic culdesac, napping. Yes, that was yesterday.

After another horribly painful rupturing cyst, my doctor has decided to only allow me to take 50mg of Clomid. Evidently when I ovulate on the left side it's just going to hurt like hell. Just for fun it appears I've ovulated on the left side three consecutive cycles, thank you body. So basically more Clomid, equals more follicles, equals more cysts, equals me in horrible pain. I know the pain of one cyst rupturing, I seriously cannot, and do not, want to imagine the pain of any more than that. I'm now somewhat terrified of taking the Clomid since it's whole purpose is to help you ovulate more eggs each cycle. Let's just hope the right ovary is more cooperative than the left. Lucy, it's time to let Ethel know who is boss.

So tomorrow is the beginning of a new path. I start Clomid and our IUI cycle will be in full swing. So here we go.

From the end spring new beginnings.
~Pliny the Elder

Waiting

::tapping fingers to pass the time::

Please stand by. Waiting is not exactly the most fun part of ttc. And there sure is a lot of it that goes on.

Da Plan! Da Plan!

Houston, we have a plan. (Two quotes right off the bat? I'm on a roll.) My RE appointment was all that I hoped it would be and more. I went in there thinking we would take this one step at a time but my doctor is ready to make this happen and frankly, so am I. So, the plan...

-Baseline sonogram to check for cysts on CD1,2 or 3
-100mg Clomid (CD3-7)
-Monitor follicles until they are mature
-HCG trigger shot to induce ovulation
-IUI 36 hours later
-Wait, wait, wait...
-More waiting...
-Yes, more waiting, 2 weeks is forever when ttc
-Hopefully jump up and down (lightly) b/c we got a bfp

I thought I would want to take this slowly but after talking to my RE, I feel like his plan is a good plan. Enough waiting and seeing, enough taking this slowly, enough is enough! I walked out of the office feeling really good about what we are going to do and really positive about this next step. It feels right. On top of that I am so grateful to have a doctor that I trust.

So now it is just about waiting until I start. There is a very small part of me that is holding out hope that this won't be necessary but I'm not counting on it. At least this time I have something to look forward to. Hot flashes, bloating and insemination by catheter! Sounds fun to me!

(In regards to them "washing" the sperm before the IUI)

"Do they use a mild detergent?"
~Jason Minter, my adorable husband

Working for the Weekend

We just wrapped up a weekend filled with plenty of time with friends and family. It was really nice to be able to get together and just have fun with the people I love. It's the perfect way to get your mind off your wacky body. (Back to that in a second.) Friday was spent celebrating a friend's birthday. A good friend who I just don't get to see or talk to as much as I would like. Needless to say I enjoyed our night, so much so that we didn't get home until 2 am. Made me feel like maybe I'm not as old as I think I am sometimes. Then Saturday was spent with the family taking pictures at the Gaylord Texan. (See below) This was an anniversary present to our parents. What better way to celebrate a fabulous marriage than to capture the family they have created. After that we played some Texas Hold'em. Good, clean, gambling fun with the fam! Today we celebrated the brother in laws birthday. Weekends never seem quite long enough, do they?

Friday, out with friends



Saturday, family photos

As far as ovulation, I'm relying strictly on temps and those aren't much help these days. Just as a general rule, your chart should look more like a plateau and not a collection of mountains. Right now my chart is doing it's best impression of the Rockies. So, who knows. I will be seeing my RE in 2 days and that is all I can focus on right now.

TTC Status: CD 28, ovulation in question
Mental Status: Ready for the doc to give a girl (and a guy) a hand with this
Texas Hold'em Status: So a flush beats a straight and a straight beats a pair, right???

"The only reason why we ask other people how their weekend was is so we can tell them about our own weekend."
~Chuck Palahniuk

The Little Ovary That Might?

So, as it turns out my ovary's mantra is more like "I think I might be able to ovulate, sometime, somewhere in the future... not really sure when though. I'm gonna go take a nap."

(Forgive me in advance for the lack of quotations around the movie titles. I think that is the correct way to do it, but it just started to look silly so I left them out. My English teachers would be having a conniption.)

CD 22, still waiting. Instead of this being like the book The Little Engine That Could, it is more like the movie Neverending Story. Hey, at least my sense of humor hasn't abandoned me. Of course that reminds me of a scene in Garden State. (My life often reminds me of a scene in a movie or book. In fact, that actually reminds me of a scene in You've Got Mail when Kathleen Kelly is talking about that very thing and says, "Shouldn't it be the other way around?" Yes it should Kathleen. Yes it should.) Anyway... In Garden State Sam is talking about how she has to laugh at things in life, otherwise life will seem a lot longer than you like. She admits to crying, but in between, she laughs. So I'm in between today.

Green Tea Status: Lately I'm hooked on drinking the citrus one cold
Weather Status: 100's outside, hence the need for cold tea
Mental Status: Feeling sort of "whatever" right now

Fiction reveals truth that reality obscures.
~Jessamyn West

I'm Disappointed in You Lucy

Quick update because I don't know where else to focus my bewilderment. Lucy and Ethel are really up to something.

CD 19 today and my OPK got lighter again. What the heck body? One OPK left and at this rate it won't be positive tomorrow. Definitely didn't miss it yet b/c I've been checking my temp and we are still at a cool 97.02 this morning.

Looks like this one maybe a shot in the dark. No pun intended. Well, that was supposed to be a little punny.

Frustration Status: Who can I hit?

Lucy, You've Got Some Splainin' to Do

Do you remember that book "The Little Engine that Could"? I can just hear that little engine in my head - "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can".

Well if my ovary could talk, it would have a similar mantra. (The right one that is. I'm putting my faith into Righty this month. What, you have a better name for my right ovary? Oh, maybe one could be Lucy and the other one Ethel. They were trouble makers, seems fitting.) I digress, back to my talking ovary. It's mantra has to be - "I think I can ovulate, I think I can ovulate, I think I can ovulate." As of today, CD 18, I finally got a little bit darker of a line on my OPK. Finally! It's not a positive, but at least I feel like something is going to happen sooner or later. I expect to get a positive in two days, just in time since I only have two OPK's left. I'm not sure why it is taking so long this time around. Yesterday I was not on speaking terms with my ovaries. It's a rocky relationship.

In other news, I tried to make frozen chocolate covered bananas today. Can we say failure? The first one turned out ok. The second one showed signs of things getting a bit iffy. The third one was a mess. The chocolate gummed up, was sliding off the banana, things got slimy... I had to scrap the whole plan. So in my freezer I have two lonely chocolate covered bananas with rainbow sprinkles (b/c sprinkles make everything better, remember?). I've already made plans with my baker friend for next Thursday to try this again. This will happen and we will succeed. It's not so much about me really wanting to eat them anymore, the craving sort of passed. No, it's about the feat. I will show those bananas who is boss. Pictures are a possibility so stay tuned.

Bananas are everywhere.
~Kayla and Elizabeth

Observations, Realizations, Prolongations

There is no cohesive theme to this post. Just randomness.

I think my dog is bulimic. Not to make light of a serious condition, but she has a problem. She makes herself throw up on a regular basis and I have no idea why. Manipulation to get more food? Possibly. This dog is so driven by food I wouldn't put it past her. In fact, a certain brother-in-law lovingly nicknamed her "food". Anyway, it usually happens around 5 in the evening. She stands by the door and it rarely fails that she will go eat some grass, walk to the back of the yard, sit down, start the heaving, then pukes. It's a bit if a ritual and I realized today I can basically predict this behavior. It's sad and a little annoying. I haven't come up with a cure for this yet. Well, besides the one time that she started the pre-vomit heaving in the house, Jason and I yelled at the top of our lungs and she stopped. No puke. I'm thinking that was a one time thing though. I don't think it would be humane or effective to start screaming at my dog as a form of attempted therapy.

The other day I was in Target and I heard a dad say to his son, "You're going to spill your carrots". For some reason I thought this sounded like a euphemism for throwing up.

Why all this talk of throwing up? Coincidental, so let's move on.

The Office is such a genius show. It is the only show I know of that can make you feel so uncomfortable for the characters involved. Even knowing it's purely fictional doesn't help. Michael Scott makes me want to die laughing while hiding under a table. Awkward is the word. And the pranks? Dwights desk in the bathroom, a stapler in jello, a cell phone in the ceiling? All genius.

I love Dr. Seuss more today than I did as a child. I enjoy his rhymes and his rhythm. Kanye doesn't even compare.

Little, round, rainbow sprinkles really improve a sweet. Put them on chocolate cake, vanilla ice cream, a doughnut or a chocolate covered frozen banana. They brighten things up and that crunch is irresistible. Go ahead and taste the rainbow.

Getting back to the intended purpose for this blog, my ovary is taking it's sweet time this month. Of course it chooses to do so when I'm on a schedule here. My RE appointment was scheduled for what should be the very end of this cycle (in order to allow me to test and see if said appointment is unnecessary, which is of course my hope). I can't delay the appointment without moving it to the next week because my doc will be out of town and that will most likely mean we would have to wait a whole other cycle till we can actually get the ball rolling. So, come on right ovary. You can do it, I know you can. Time to show us what you're made of. Give me a nice egg and lets make a baby.

TTC Status: CD 16, OPK lighter today than yesterday, what the heck?
Vacation Status: wanting one so so badly
M&M Status: I have way too many in my house, please come eat some

Would I rather be feared or loved? Umm, easy, both. I want people to be afraid of how much they love me.
~Michael Scott, The Office

Time and Travel

Hello, it's July! Where has this year gone? It seems that while I've been living my life weeks at a time, months have gone by without me taking notice. It's hard to believe that this year is half over and we are creeping up on our 7th anniversary in August. (Seven years, however, doesn't seem like much compared the the 40 years my parents have just celebrated.) I wish I could say we had some exotic vacation planned but not this year. I'll just have to lay on my new carpet and pretend to be on white sands near a blue ocean. If I try really hard maybe I will even be able to hear the waves...

We did get to travel to New Mexico this last weekend. Jason's family had a reunion up there and it was beautiful. Great weather, gorgeous scenery, good times. We got to spend a little time in Santa Fe, did some hiking, did a zip line and just enjoyed being around family. Since pictures always speak better than words, enjoy.

We make these helmets look cool


And we're off!


Can I go again?


Hiking scenery


More beautiful scenery from our hike

TTC Status: CD 10, this is gonna be THE cycle, yes it is
Dog's Status: Likes the dry grass, evidently it feels good when you roll in it
Weather Status: Can I move to the mountains in New Mexico?
Music Status: So, these Kings of Leon fellows have some enjoyable songs

Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms of their energy, while cares will drop away from you like the
leaves of Autumn.
~John Muir