Concetpion-moon

Our conception-moon (term from What to Expect Before You're Expecting book) was wonderful. David was a little bored but I had fun! We traveled many miles throughout South Dakota.

I was hoping to get just ONE picture of the many Wall Drug signs. Not familiar with Wall Drug? Check out the history of this fantastic place here! We didn't actually go to Wall Drug this trip but it is on our agenda for another trip very soon.

This picture gives you an idea of how they make the murals a the World's Only Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD. As they said on the video, it is a GIANT paint by "corn" process!

A view of the corn palace from the parking lot.

A picture of me by the corn statue in front of the corn palace. Like a true Cobber....

Pictures from our trip to De Smet, SD (the Little Town on the Prairie).

David and I in our traditional prairie men and women head wear.

He's so handsome!

This new birth control (in addition to the stress of school, work, and fertility stuff) has really done a number on my acne. I can't remember the last time I had three zits on my chin!!! Doesn't help that my stress relief is to pick at things...

This is the house that Pa built! Ma, Pa, Mary, Carrie, and Grace lived here. We highly recommend paying the $8 per person for this tour! We drove out to the Ingalls Homestead and decided not to pay the fee for that one because it seemed to be more hands on for kids. It looked really fun though!

David and I in front of last home that the Pa, Ma, and Mary Ingalls lived in.

No pictures from Brookings but if you find yourself there, go check out George's Pizza & Steakhouse! There is not a shortage of pizza joints in this town because of the university (we counted 9!!!). There are four located right downtown in Main Street. This was the fourth and last one that we walked into. We had the chicken ranch pizza (chicken, ranch dressing, bacon, tomatoes, and onions). It was so delicious! The staff and atmosphere were great too! They also serve a variety of Greek food. If you go there, let us know what kind of pizza you got because we absolutely plan to go back again!

Full-time job...

Anyone that goes through fertility treatments should know that it really is like having an additional full time job. If I was a stay at home mom, I could not imagine having to make these phone calls when I have kids running around the house. It's hard enough trying to make the phone calls in between the conference calls, homework, papers, and work!

My latest round of phone calls have been surrounding my medical records from previous surgeries. When I had my BAHA procedure done in 2007 (or was it 2006?), I was put under a local anesthetic. I want a copy of the anesthesiologist report for my consult on Friday because it will (hopefully) provide some good information. Like the fact that I am perfectly OK to have an epidural without being intubated! This has involved several phone calls, voice mails, authorization forms, trip to the medical records department, etc. I just wish I would have thought about this earlier than a week before my appointment. There is no telling if it will make it to Sioux Falls on time.

Day 3: Take 3 or 4 or ?? Not sure!!!

I'm on my Day 3 for the 3rd of 4th time! I hope this is the last Day 3 I ever have to worry about.

I am scheduled to start taking the Lupron on August 1st. The stimulation meds will start on August 12th.

We have our first appointment with the folks in Sioux Falls on Friday (the 29th of July). We will have a marathon day of appointments including the doctor, nurse to sign consent forms, genetic counselor, anesthesiologists, and business office (to work out payments).

After our appointments, we'll possibly head over to Mitchell, SD to see the World's ONLY Corn Palace! If we don't go there, we'll head straight to Brookings, SD to spend the weekend. Saturday we'll go to De Smet, SD (the Little Town on the Prairie). Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote about De Smet in her book "By the Shorts of Silver Lake". I'm calling this trip our "Conceptionmoon". I read about a conceptionmoon in my "What to Expect BEFORE You're Expecting" book yesterday morning!

I think we're on the right path!

I finally received a phone call from Sanford in Sioux Falls. When the coordinator left his message, he said, "this is going to be a very long and extensive process." But from the other things he said in his message, I could tell that he didn't know that we had already located the mutation of my Treacher Collins Syndrome gen and had already done the leg work with Genesis Genetics. He was very pleasantly surprised when I called him back and told him I had all the information he needed.

My question is this though....I had a letter from MeritCare with the mutation information. MeritCare is now Sanford. How could he not see the information in my file? He said that my IVF clinic in Fargo didn't even have this information (they're part of Sanford!!!). This is probably only alarming for me because I'm going to school for informatics and we talk about the inefficiency of the health care system in the US. Anyway....

It sounds like they do not "batch" their IVF patients into a single time frame per month. They can do IVF and PGD at any time. Wahoo! Now we just need to schedule the moving of the equipment to the surgical floor...and we're set to go!

I think I can get excited again....

Delayed...AGAIN!

We found out on Friday that our baby making process would be delayed...AGAIN! My fertility doctor called to say that they were not going to take the anesthesia recommendation lightly. They had recommended that I not be sedated unless I was at an inpatient facility with all the equipment needed should I lose my airway. We had come to the conclusion that I'd be having an epidural for the egg aspiration/retrieval process.

Apparently there are even some cases where patients will lose their airways even with a spinal or epidural. Again, this was something that the folks at the fertility clinic were not willing to take lightly. My doctor spent most of last week trying to come up with a solution for me.

The reason for the delay is that we will be going through the retrieval and transfer procedures at the Sanford Hospital located in Sioux Falls, SD (about 3.5 hours from Fargo). Apparently even this isn't going to be a small undertaking by this facility. Eggs and embryos are DIVAS! They don't like light, smells, bumps, etc. The facility in SD is having to move their equipment from one floor to another to accommodate me (and those Diva eggs/embryos). This requires some major scheduling and arrangements. We know that we are delayed until July or August but we're not sure the exact dates.

We are selfishly bummed because this means no potential March 21st baby (my birthday is 4/21 and David's is 5/21). I think we'll get over it! :0)

We're annoyed because my belly is so black and blue from the Lovenox shots. I'm hoping that I'll be able to go off the birth control which will give me some relief in the mean time.

I keep thinking that it is a good thing that I have a good sense of humor!!!!

Two Shots down: I think we're going to survive?

We are two shots in on the Lovanox (blood thinner). I think we are going to survive!

David gave me my first shot on Friday night. I pretty much stressed out about it the entire day. I finally realized that although I've had many procedures I have not had that many shots. Just my occasional flu shots or my immunizations. Justifying my fear made me feel a little better but I was still so nervous! The first shot stung really bad. I was so exhausted from the days events that I went to bed right afterwards. The second shot didn't hurt as bad. I hope they keep getting better as the days go on.

Friday was a very busy day of appointments! Our first appointment we (or mainly David) learned how to administer my shot. The highlight of that appointment were the doughnut holes! I really think I need to make a donation to the Roger Maris Cancer Center for all of the doughnut holes I've eaten! They really do brighten my day!

The second appointment was with the anesthesiologist. This was a very enlightening appointment and I was SO glad I chose to do the consult! I informed him that I've always been hard to intubate whenever I've had surgeries. I told him my concerns about being put under a sedative because I could very easily lose my airway. The anesthesiologist flat out told David and I that under no circumstances would he feel comfortable with sedating me without the proper equipment AND that we were far enough from a hospital that I could very likely suffer major damage should they lose my airway. Ok! Done! No sedatives ever! Doesn't bother me one bit as I hate being put to sleep!

My trial transfer went well. The hardest part was the chlamydia and pap test. I did bleed a lot...and the doctor did say, "yeah, do you bleed easily". After the trial transfer, I told him about the consult with the anesthesiologist. I found out that they're able to do an epidural rather than sedation. Wohoo! I was so nervous that we'd be out of luck! Not looking forward to the epidural but I'm hoping it will be good practice for the real deal in 10ish months.

I had blood work done...the gal had a hard time finding a good vein. She had to poke me a bunch of times. If you are a hard stick or have a slow blood flow, I highly recommend the butterfly needle. It is less scary to me for some reason and I don't have to worry about how they are going to change the vials without shaking the needle. I just request that they use that type of needle if they have it.

My annual exam went well. I told the doctor that she better not leave me! She laughed and said she wasn't planning on it. Dr. Lindsay Dahl for those of you in the FM area looking for a new doctor!

Busy day on Friday. Busy day yesterday! Homework to finish today and then I have the WHOLE WEEK off! Very appropriate for me to have my "spring break" now as we had snow flakes on Friday and icky rain yesterday.

Day 8: No news is good news...

Today marks Day 8 of our cycle. Nothing new to report.

I was really starting to worry about being on the Lovanox (blood thinner) while I had my trial transfer procedure done on Friday. It is not uncommon for me to bleed after my normal annual physical exam. Last year I had the saline sonogram and I bled so much that it was just embarassing. My doctor even said, "boy, you DO bleed really easily". After talking to my awesome nurse friend, Anna, she advised me to call the clinic to make sure they had clotting factors on hand for my procedure. They decided not to start me on the Lovanox until AFTER my appointment on Friday and then take me off it prior to the aspiration (retrieval of eggs) and transfer (implantation of embryos). This makes me feel so much better!

Lesson Learned: Be your own advocate when it comes to health care!!! You cannot expect the doctors to be able to see the entire picture. They are very good at what they do but if you don't tell them or remind them, they will not know!

With the rising cost of health care and health insurance, it becomes even more critical for you to become your own health care advocate. If you don't, you will not be getting the most bank for your buck!