Labs

So while on my lunch today, I noticed that I had a missed call (but no voice mail) from Dr Graman. I got a wee bit of butterflies in my stomach, took a deep breath, and dialed. The receptionist took a few moments to locate the nurse (and she was leaving in 20 minutes, I caught her right in time) who would tell me what was going on. I guess I did NOT ovulate in the month of April. Which now means I have to make another appointment after I have my period in order to have this other procedure to make sure my tubes and everything baby related are clear and not blocked or scarred up or anything. And if everything checks out ok with that test, I'm pretty sure I'll be going on Clomid and maybe one other drug to help me ovulate, which Dr Graman is very positive about helping me get pregnant within a few months. Goodness I hope so, and I hope everything goes ok with my other test. Here is some info on Clomid for those interested (Clomid Info)
It feels like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders, knowing that no matter what I was doing or not doing, the 9 months of stress and craziness has a reason. Dr Graman doesn't and can't know about any other months, but I'm sure if I didn't ovulate this month, I probably didn't any other month either. It' so great to know that whatever guilt I may have had, isn't my fault.
I can tell Ken is excited too, he was talking about saving all the money we're getting from Jared living with us into a baby fund, to beef it back up since we have basically nothing saved any more. I love that he's already thinking ahead. Here hoping that everything comes back great at my next appointment!

Ovulation and testing

Well I have my blood test on Wednesday to figure out what's going on with my hormones, and to see if I've ovulated or not this month. And a few days after that, I'm thinking either Friday or Monday, I'll have some answers. I'm really hoping all that this is is PCOS, and not scarring or blockage. I really don't want to have to go through more surgery or something to fix this. I've been thinking lately, that if given the chance to go back and have a do over, I would not have done a D&C. The surgery seems to caused complications for so many women, many of which have lost their fertility completely because of complications from a surgery, and I would have thought about it more. I wish I had had a different doctor after my first miscarriage, that the ER could have referred me to anyone else but Dr Jung. The whole experience was confusing and stressful, and during such a stressful time in my life, I wish they had taken more time with me and explained the risks better, told me options, jut in general spent more time with me regarding the situation. I really wish Dr Graman wasn't retiring, I like him so much already! If he's anything in labor and delivery like he was at my last appointment, I would love to have him as my OB. But unfortunately that wont happen.

I guess having scarring from a D&C is called Asherman's syndrome, and can only be fixed by more surgery. Here is the wiki page about it. Asherman's Syndrome.  
It seems so complicated, and I really hope this is something I don't have to deal with.

After reading more about PCOS, I seem to have a lot of those symptoms (although not all), and it would explain a lot about me physically. I guess common signs are more masculine features, like hair growth (on the face, the feet, and midsection, all of which I have), weight gain especially around the midsection (also have), more acne (had acne since I was in 5th grade, so this makes sense too)... the only thing I don't have is the menstrual irregularity. Since I first got my period, I've always been pretty regular, although since I've been pregnant before it seems to be a little wonky, coming sooner than before pregnancy (4 weeks to the day before versus every 3 weeks give or take). Here is a link to read up more about PCOS too (Polycystic Overy Syndrome)
I guess I'll just have to wait and see what my blood tests say.

I'm becoming more and more convinced I'll never have a baby with every passing day. Starting to eel super gloomy about all this. Ugh.

Jennica

It is with a heavy heart that I have to write this post at all. On Thursday, April 12, I lost a dear friend of mine, Jennica. It was a very sudden passing, and I'm still in shock.

I had kind of thought of what else I would say in this blog about her passing, but the words have not come to me now. I mourn her loss, even though Heaven gained an angel on Thursday. Maybe I'll post other things about her later.

April update

Well, no baby this month, I started my period on Monday. I was pretty disappointed, I had a little feeling all month long that I was indeed pregnant. Guess not.
I did go to see Dr Graman again today, which was good. Big thank you to Jared, Kacey, and Ti for meeting with me this morning to pray for peace, comfort and answers today before my appointment. It was very much appreciated, than you guys!
So this is what Dr Graman said: I asked about blood testing, to test my thyroid for normalcy and I also wanted to test my level of testosterone, since I have excess facial hair (way more than a normal woman should have). And he said "well with knowing it's been 9 months, and that you want to do tests (I even showed him my fertility tracker on my phone) there are two things, two ways we can approach this. It depends on if you're ovulating or not. Let's do some blood testing at a certain point in your cycle, and I'll get the results of if you're ovulating this month or not. If not, then we can fix that, put you on something like clomid, to help you ovulate, and then probably a few months with that and you'll probably be pregnant. It also may be that the facial hair and other minor things may be some sort of PCOS, where there are small cysts on the ovaries, which hinders ovulation.
If you are ovulating, then we need to do an x ray, which isn't 100% but it does a pretty good job, to see if there is scar tissue or a blockage related to your D&C which may be the reason"

Every thing he said made total sense, especially the PSOC (mostly). He also said that RH positive, and RH negative isn't a factor, and pure testosterone isn't to blame. I filled out a form for work to take the 25th off, since I'm going to St Joes to get my blood tested, and Dr Graman will have the results in a few days, and will call me when he gets them.
One unfortunately thing, is Dr Graman is retiring in June, but he will give me recommendations for doctors in Tacoma, which is awesome. He says his goal is to help me get pregnant if possible by that time though, so I guess we'll see.

I guess I'll have to wait until the end of this month to get some real answers.

A Thank You, A Prayer, And An Update

This week has been... easier. I have been receiving a lot of support lately from an awesome person, my dear friend Kacey. She has been very encouraging the last few weeks, and it's so great to know that someone is there, without me asking, to just encourage me in my struggles. I want to say thank you Kacey, you're an awesome friend, and thank you for sticking with me through this difficult time.
I know that other people (mainly my mom, Ken, and others) have helped me when there was no one else, and I thank you all for that too. I just wanted to give a special shout out to someone great.
She sent me this message today with a video, and I really like it (both the message and the video) so I decided to share both.
(from Kacey)
Hey I was listening to this song tonight while I was driving to school and I don't know why but it made me think of you. Its a really uplifting and powerful song. Actually brought me to tears today when i was having a rough day. Just wanted to remind you to keep your focus on Jesus and keep praying! God has great plans for you Roxanne. He has a purpose and a time for everything. Love you bunches! Hope this song is encouraging, if not its still a great listen!

***************
So something amazing happened the other night:
I had kind of a mini breakdown. I was lying in bed trying to fall asleep after a super stressful day, and I was feeling really down about every aspect of my life. My home, missing Ken, my work, my trying to conceive, everything. I ended up sobbing, could not stop my tears, and I did something I normally  probably would not do, but I prayed fervently to God, to help me, to bring peace to my mind and body,  to be with me in this time of distress. And I've never experienced this before, but maybe 2 minutes after praying, crying out to God with my hurt and tears and exhaustion, I stopped crying. I felt at peace. I felt like everything would be ok. It was kind of amazing. May not be much to others, but I had to share.

****************
I have an appointment with Dr Graman to talk and discuss maybe some testing on the 4th of April. I want him to test my thyroid and my testosterone levels, to make sure everything hormonal is ok. I need some answers as to why it's been 8 months and why I'm being driven crazy. I'm really hoping that I get some answers.

Not this month

No baby this month. I'm a day early. Stinks too, because this was the last month to probably have a baby in 2012. :(

****

On the drive home today, feeling frustrated and lonely again, I got to thinking. Why do I want children?
Is it because that's what you're "meant" to do? Is it because I enjoy children and therefore want them around me all the time? Something else? Something i can't even put into words?

I guess I came to a realization tonight while driving home. Would I be happy without children? Without going into details, yes. My family is complete with just Ken and I. He is enough for me. It will not be the worst thing that would or could happen if I can't have children. A hard thing to swallow yes but I don't think it would break me.
Do I want children? Without a doubt. I want children to enrich an already happy life, I want children for the every day, small little joys that children can give you. I want to see a mini Ken toddling around, with his sparkling blue eyes, his wit, my horrible Olive nose, his dark handsome hair, my compassion.... I want to create something that is wholly Ken and I, with my partner in life, the love of my life.  Will the opportunity for such a thin to happen, ever happen? I guess time will tell. This grief and doubt and stress will not overtake me.
Proverbs 3:5-6: Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding but acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight. Really trying to keep this in mind.

Lost And All Alone

I wrestled with writing this for about an hour or so, whether or not I really wanted to put this out there. I feel so lost right now, and so alone. This weekend pretty much sucked, Ken and I were fighting off and on, we didn't really do anything of significance, so boredom was abundant, and I've kind of lost hope that I'm pregnant or ever will get pregnant again. I've lost hope that if it's even possible, if we can support a child financially. And if we can't have children, then that's seems to be it, we are in no financially position to undergo IVF or adoption or anything else. Everything seems so hopeless right now, like my biggest wish and dream will never come true. I think I may be a little depressed, but it's not like I can fix it, because any pill that I can is unsafe, because what would happen if right as I start to take a pill to make me happy, that's when I get pregnant. There are too many unknowns in this journey I'm on, and being the planner I am, it makes it so difficult to feel safe, hopeful, even the slightest bit optimistic.

I want to cry, scream, stamp my feet over the unfairness of all this. I want to curse and fall to my knees and ask God why, I want to forget, I want to understand, I want to not care as much as I do about this.

So I've been meaning to write for a while, but things have gotten in the way, so there is a lot to talk about.

-Tuesday at work, I was laying my kiddos down for nap, and I try to keep one child in particular (he's just over a year old, also one of those kids I super connect with, and I love a lot!) up longer than everyone else, so he sleeps as long as everyone else. He was sitting in my lap with his blanket, and was helping me pat the other child's back. I asked him if he wanted to lay down on his bed, he shook his head no. I asked if he wanted to lay down on me, and he immediately put his head on my shoulder, and just snuggled in. I was kissing his forehead and relishing the moment, and then I had the overwhelming urge to cry, and only kept it together because a coworker came in for the dishes. I got the feeling of sadness just wash over me, because I want moments like that with my own child, and while loving on the kids in my class is good enough most days, it was really hard.

-I have still been feeling nauseated all this week, at random times, but especially around food. No food aversions, but I seem to feel sick after I start eating something that I normally eat just fine. My thoughts on this fact switch I swear every 5 seconds. One second I am convinced I'm pregnant, and the next I'm convinced I'm not. I'm trying to lean more towards not, just so my letdown isn't as bad if I am not indeed. I have another week until my period is due, or thereabouts, so I guess we'll see.

Confused is the word

Maybe all this stuff is stress related, but my mucus is still all wonky and I don't know what's going on. The certainty of my phone telling me what's going on with possibility of pregnancy is not there (like 2 stars out of 5) and maybe the weird thing is me. Maybe I'm misinterpreting what my body is showing. I have no clue. I almost feel like giving up. Some days I feel like time is running out, (of that year time period of actively trying before the talk is infertility) and other days I feel like 4-5 months is a long time to try. Heck, even moment to moment my mind changes about how I feel. It seems that, as of today and my feelings right this moment, I wan to give up the tracking, the stress, the phone app, all of it, and leave it to the powers that be, to God, to the universe.

Although as I say that, I can't. I can't really and truly. I'll always wonder, in the back of mind, what if I did track this time, and it worked? UGH. I think I need to try it at least, so as not to drive Ken and myself both crazy, if it hasn't all ready.

I had a long day yesterday, so I ended up laying down for bed early. I was reading for a bout an hour, ate some candy, and was about to turn off the light to sleep, but I started feeling really nauseated. It was bad enough I went to the bathroom and had my head in the toilet, but nothing. It subsided after about 15 minutes, so I really don't know. I guess wait and see.

No Baby In Feb

Well, no baby for February. I got my period yesterday, right on time, not even close to being late. Bleh.