Some Days are better than Others

Some nights my heart breaks more than others. I'll be doing laundry and wish I was folding onesies. I love my life, but my life isn't complete.

Last night I had someone at a meeting complain to me about how mad she was to find out that her baby was a boy. She was so annoyed to find out that  her healthy baby wasn't the gender she wanted. And I wanted to break down right there. What I wouldn't give for a baby of either gender!

I don't want my friends to feel like they have to walk on eggshells around me, but I don't know what's going to set me off, and what won't. I know that I need patience and strength to get me through this time, but all the while the inevitability of the fact that I will never carry our children comes out of nowhere and every episode leaves me feeling more hopeless and sad than I've ever been before.

I can't give up hope, and I won't give up hope. My heart is hurting but it's still beating.

Jealousy and 2013

I made it through Christmas mostly ok. Minor breakdown, but overall had a great time with my husband and family.

The thing that got me today was finding out that Kim Kardashian and Kanye West are having a baby together. Someone who is still married to another man and is famous for making a sex tape is pregnant.

I agree with this quote whole-heartedly, and in 2013, I'm going to try my hardest to stop being jealous. It's hard being at the age where everyone is starting to have kids and wanting to be so happy for everyone. Happy to get their Christmas cards and baby announcements. And I love to see them, but boy, do they tear me up inside.

I didn't really have any New Years Resolutions, but my goal is to try to stop being jealous of everyone else's families and be happy with what I do have. I know that things will work out for us eventually, they have to. It's just a long road and so many dead ends and so many tears. But I have to believe that things will work out, that we'll have our children, just not on our timeframe.

Along with it being Christmas, it's been hard thinking that around now, we'd be telling our friends and families that we were pregnant. This is a little TMI, but I was hoarding a positive pregnancy test until last night, when I had to toss it during a cleaning frenzy. And I have to mourn the fact that I will probably never have that again. That I won't be able to carry our children, and that we might not even be able to have biological children. And that hurts, so very much.

I'm praying that 2013 brings more happiness than heartache for everyone. I pray that we're able to find and afford a surrogate sometime sooner rather than later. And I'm thankful for all of you who have been supporting us through all of this. So if I don't say it enough, thank you.

Beating the no Baby Blues

The past two years have been really tough getting through the holidays. People posting pictures of their babies looking at Christmas lights, opening presents, and I think of that void in my life I found this great article called "Beating the no Baby Blues," which offers some helpful tips about getting through the times when not having a child is unbearable.

"The point is that there is no magic bullet that will destroy what is trying to destroy you--whether it be cancer, infertility, divorce, or loneliness. Without implementing positive strategies for dealing with adversity, sooner or later, we are bound to become undone. And so, in the spirit of the holidays, I share the things I’ve found most helpful.

 1.) Go for a hike. Fresh air and exercise are a time-honored prescription for feeling better.
2.) Cry. Opening up to what hurts is one way of making sure it doesn’t take you down.
3.) Hug your ________ (husband, dog, sister, mom, dad, cat, best friend) and tell them you love them. I believe the energy you put out into the world is the energy you get back.
4.) Take charge of your life by mapping out goals and options. Is adoption feasible? Does your acupuncturist know of anyone who might surrogate for you?
5.) Give yourself a break. Take the rock out of your shoe and put it in a mental box. Tie it up with a brightly colored bow and store it in a dark corner of your mind. When you unwrap it again next year, perhaps you’ll have a new perspective."

Here's the rest of the article from Suzanne Rico: http://www.fertilityauthority.com/blogger/suzanne-rico/2012/12/02/beating-no-baby-blues

New Journey - Surrogacy

Today we had our "WTF" appointment with our reproductive doctor, which is never fun to go to. This one in particular was harder than the rest.

We talked about how even though I was able to get pregnant, my lining issues made it so I wouldn't be able to carry the pregnancy. He feels the best option for us is to go the surrogacy route. Even though I knew in my heart that was going to be his answer, it still hurt.

The good news (silver lining) is that we have 4 embryos left, and they are all good quality. He was especially optimistic that because I was able to get pregnant, that the real problem is just my uterus, and not the embryos. So yay embryos!

Our next steps are to save money (a lot of it) and either go the agency route, or find an independent surrogate. My doctor is saying that an ideal surrogate would already have had successful pregnancies, be healthy, and between 20-35.

Right now I'm just thankful for everyone's support, because this is not fun, and it's not ideal. But it's bearable. I need to have patience, which is something that is not easy for me. I keep thinking that if my last IVF cycle had gone well that we could have been telling people around Christmas which is just around the corner. I have friends that are announcing their August 2013 pregnancies, which is after my "due date". Little things pop up that remind me that I'll never be pregnant. But I feel more ok knowing that my doctor is confident in our embryos, and that surrogacy will work for us. Plus, if NPH used surrogacy, it must be awesome.

Thanks for listening and thanks for all of your kind words and good thoughts, they mean the world to me.

Surrogacy: The Next Step

We're still hurting from the chemical pregnancy, but I feel like we have some hope now.

Tonight we met with a surrogacy agency that we really liked and would like to work with. We still have four embryos left, so we would probably not need to complete a new IVF cycle. Costs would just be to the surrogate, the agency, and for medical expenses. It looks like we're still pretty far away from being able to afford surrogacy since we're still down and out from fertility payments, but at least we have some hope.

I don't think anyone envisions that they'll one day have a baby via surrogate. It's not ideal, and I wish I were the one getting pregnant. But I'm ok with working with any hurdles that will get us closer to having our children. I'm hoping that the focus of this blog gets to become a bit more uplifting, as even though I'll have things going on in my life that won't always be pleasant, I feel like the chance at a positive outcome is so much greater.

I don't know why this has happened to us, but I know that there is a reason for everything, and that someone will be brought into my life for a reason to carry our child. And waiting for that will be exciting, and scary.  

I'm sleepy and rambling, but I just wanted to get my feelings out about this new "chapter" in our lives. And thank Mr. Bee for always being the most wonderful, supportive husband I could ever ask for. And thank our family and friends for being so darn supportive. Having you all there for us this last week during our loss made things much less hard. 

Back at 1

My 2nd beta tests came back in yesterday at a whopping 1, which means I'm having a chemical pregnancy. The pain of having this not work, coupled by knowing that this time was probably the only time that I'll ever be pregnant in my life is unbearable. But I'm resilient, and I have a great support system.

I'll go back to the doctor in December, but I'm really leaning towards surrogacy at this point. I don't know if I can take the pain of loss and the feeling that I'm just throwing away my money and embryos, when it could be that having another person carry our children is the best option. It's also probably a better decision because of my POTS syndrome, which could give me some awful setbacks if I was pregnant.

No one ever wants to go this route. It feels like giving up, and the disappointment that you can't carry your own children is awful. I have no idea where to even begin earning the money needed for surrogacy, but I'm hoping it will all come together. I did find an agency where I live that seems to be a great fit, so I'm thankful for that.

If you have any great "get rich quick" schemes, or you've recently robbed a bank and feel really guilty about it, and want to serve your penance by shipping the money to me, I'm not above anything at this point. :)

Thanks again for all the love and support, it means the world to me. 

6dp5dt - Faintest of Faint Lines!!!!

I've been feeling pretty awful since the transfer, but chalked it up to all the medication I'm taking. Yesterday I was lightheaded and nauseous all day, and the only thing I wanted to eat was popcorn. I had accidentally left some turkey chili in my car from lunch and when I got in my car and smelled it I had to use every ounce of willpower I had not to throw up. Sorry for the visual, but it was not fun.

I laid down once I got home last night and Mr. Bee started talking to me about his day, and I literally had to tell him that with every word I felt more sick to my stomach. I'm sure I'm fun to be around! Anyway, around 1am I had to use the restroom and kept telling myself to think positive, and that there was still a chance to get a positive test. I even made a mental note to myself to remember that I was watching Duck Dynasty so I could tell future Baby Bee that I found out I was pregnant while watching trashy TV. So I tested and didn't see anything. I was bummed, but was hoping it was still early. Being my neurotic self, I took another look at the stick and saw the faintest of faint lines. I then spent a good hour or so holding it up to the light, taking pictures and playing with the contrast, and tons of other zany things that probably only I would think of.

When Mr. Bee woke up, I showed him and asked him to carefully scrutinize it, and he said he saw it too. Or he may have been placating me because I did tell him the night before that his words made me sick. At lunch today, I ran home and tested again, and saw a slightly darker second line! I wasn't going completely crazy!

As I mentioned before, I've never seen a second line except once as kind of a joke. I want to run around and jump up and down and tell everyone, "HEY! TWO LINES! I'M MAYBE KIND OF PREGNANT!" I know that things are still early and I could wake up tomorrow and have one line again, or have a crappy beta, and I don't want to set myself up for failure. I don't want to get my hopes up, but I can't believe that this could finally be "IT" for me and Mr. Bee. We've talked about kids from when we met 8 years ago, and I've wanted nothing more than to have kids with him. I'm keeping everything in the world crossed right now.