Post 33: Baby Diet

I've slowly been changing my eating habits in the off chance that the old wives tales actually work! However, it is so expensive to eat healthy foods on a daily basis. My normal grocery bill is around $80/week for the two of us - this includes three chickens, three pounds of ground beef, pork chops, deli meat, bread, and salad mix. Today I spent $150, and barely have any food, and essentially no meat! I do have avocado (yuck), Brazil nuts, walnuts, beans, coconut water, whole grain bread, and a variety of fruits and veggies. The only meat I ended up with was ham and turkey for sandwiches, and a thick piece of ham for soup. I really hope this works, and I'm not eating rabbit food for no reason. It's crazy what we are willing to try when TTC. 

Post 31: It just got real!

After almost five hours at Wake Forest today, we are officially on our way to starting a family through IVF! We arrived about an hour before our appointment to complete paperwork, and it took almost an hour to complete. We answered more questions than I knew existed. Everything from medications and vaccinations to my menstruation data and family history. If I've sneezed in the past 26 years of life, they know about it. 

After paperwork was completed, we were taken to the consultation room where we met with two residents. They took a full history, and we discussed my prior treatments. With Shaun and I both bring healthy adults with no risk factors, they decided we were in the odd category where they don't know what's wrong or why we haven't conceived on our own. When they'd asked all of their questions, they consulted with our reproductive endocrinologist, or RE for short, Dr. Erika Johnston-MacAnanny.

Our doctor is awesome, and not only spent over an hour talking with us and answering our questions, but she also performed my ultrasound. Though IVF was the recommended treatment plan, there were other options offered, including:

1) increase our clomid dosage and try another round of IUI, but since three cycles of IUI failed, it's not likely that it'll work 

2) undergo a laparoscopy to get a better look at the small endometrioma that we've been watching for a few months, which includes anesthesia, intubation, and surgery, and may not show anything helpful

3) change to injectable medicines and try timed intercourse or IUI, which will only increase our chances of conception by about 5%

Once we heard our options, it strengthened our decision to start IVF! Once the decision was made, I was whisked away to ultrasound to look at the endometrioma, and to check my follicles. Since I'm not in any pain, we decided not to remove the endometrioma at this time, especially since it hasn't grown much in the past year. 

After the ultrasound, we met with someone to discuss finances, and were given our orientation packet. One cycle of IVF is estimated to be $11,000. They would like to perform ICSI on half of the eggs retrieved, which means that they'll crack my eggs and put Shaun's sperm directly into it to ensure fertilization. This process will be an additional $1200-$1600 depending on how many eggs are retrieved. There's also a $900 charge for cryopreservation - the process of freezing any fertilized eggs that aren't transferred during IVF. Medications are also not included in the estimate, and they are estimated to be around $2500. So, in total, one cycle will cost approximately $17000, and the money is due up front! 

After finances, we met with our goto nurse, Roxy. If we have any questions, at any point, we are to call Roxy.  With this meeting, we looked at a calendar and estimated when we should start trainings and medications. In order to start IVF, we have to go through a medical teaching class where we learn more about IVF, specifically how to mix and administer drugs legally! 

We have our training on October 21st, and should start our first series of injections the same week! We discussed which medications I'll be taking, but the meeting was extremely brief since Roxy will be leading the training in two weeks. When we'd finished our meeting with Roxy, we were sent for blood work. Shaun and I both had to be tested for sexually transmitted infections due to FDA regulations, and I had additional tests, such as my AMH level to check egg quality. The photo below shows Shaun's required blood work on the top, and mine on the bottom. Every sticker was a different test, and a different vial.

They took around 12 vials of blood from my arm, and a urine sample.  After blood work, we were finished with our first appointment. We celebrated by going to IKEA and Dave & Busters in Charlotte. 

Only a few days until we get started! Fingers crossed that this works, and we conceive a healthy pregnancy on the first try! 

Post 30: Two Year Mark

We'd passed the two year cycle mark a few months ago, but today marks two calendar years of TTC. We're officially at 24 calendar months, and 28 cycles, and I have yet to see two lines on a pregnancy test. It also signifies the anniversary of my moms diagnosis of frontal temporal dementia, and her 57th birthday. It's a sad day, but we celebrate joyously. We're blessed that my mother is still functioning unassisted, and though her conversations are not as detailed, she is, essentially, the same woman she's always been. I am beyond grateful to still have both of my parents, and am thankful for every day God gives me with them. My mom is my rock, and has been a wonderful support system. On the plus side, I can tell her the same story ten times, and it's always new to her!

Post 29: Avocad-oh!

I've spent the last week trying to find a way to eat avocado in a way that doesn't taste like avocado. I'd planned on making brownies based on a pinterest recipe (1 boxes brownie mix and 1 mashed avocado), but when I looked through my cabinets, I was all out of brownie mix. What I did find was a bag of gingerbread cookie mix. I figured it had to be similar to brownies, so I made up a recipe, and it worked! It even, gasp, tastes great! 

I started by mashing a full avocado until it was as smooth as it could be. Then I slowly began adding the cookie mix. I knew there was more mix than there would have been with the brownies, so made sure to watch the texture. I then realized that I didn't want to waste the rest of the mix, so I threw in the rest, added an egg and two tablespoons of water, and viola, baby poop cookie dough! 

I dropped the cookie dough by spoonfuls onto a cookie sheet, and baked them at 375 for 10 minutes. I ended up with a pretty awesome cookie, and I only have to eat eight of them to equal half an avocado! I'd highly recommend this recipe to anyone trying to sneak veggies into their diet. You can't taste or see the avocado at all, and the cookies are really moist and fluffy. I'll definitely make these again! 

Post 28: Holy Guacamole...I Still Hate Avocado

After three days of force feeding myself avocados, I still don't like them. After my first attempt at a turkey, cheese, and avocado sandwich, I decided to get a little more creative. Day 2 of the gross green diet included homemade taco chicken taquitos with an organic guacamole dipping sauce. I didn't like it, but I ate it! It did make me feel better though when my husband said I picked an awful tasting guacamole. Maybe there's hope for me yet, and I'll find, or make, the perfect guac eventually. 

Today's avocado endeavor included an avocado dressing with cucumbers, yellow tomatoes, and red peppers. The good news is it didn't taste anything like avocado, the bad news is I have to eat six cups of it to equal my daily 1/2 avocado. 

The gross-looking slimy, egg hold consistency sauce didn't look too appealing, but the flavor was pretty good. For the dressing, I took 1/2 an avocado and mashed it until it resembled a paste, then added about 2-3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, and a packet of Italian dressing seasoning. I ate this with crackers, and I didn't hate it, so that's a plus!  

My next recipe, straight from pinterest, could go either way - Avocado brownies. Doesn't that just scream deliciousness? Supposedly you can take a boxed brownie mix and add a whole, mashed avocado and viola, brownies!  Maybe I'll add my daily does of walnuts to the mix for a little crunch. Ugh, this may end badly. 

Post 27: Avocado...gross

Oh, the things we do when we're baby crazy! As were preparing for IVF, I'm trying to really work on my diet. I'm a pretty healthy person. I exercise a lot between the YMCA and the dance studio, don't drink caffeine, and I cook most of our meals. However, we still eat quite a bit of fast food, and this week I finished almost an entire dozen Krispy Kreme chocolate iced glazed donuts! But, it was the first unmedicated month I've had since February, and my last chance to splurge before IVF. I've been reading all sorts of books about IVF, and thought I don't normally believe in them, I'm starting to follow as many old wives tales as I can find. I figure it can't hurt, and if constantly wearing socks and only drinking room temperature beverages can increase my chances of pregnancy, then I'm all for it!

Let me start out by saying how much I hate avocado - I think I'd rather eat dirt! However, every book that I've read about IVF prep says that avocados are super foods, and you should try to eat half of an avocado each day while going through the IVF process. Since I hate avocados so much, I decided to start working it into my diet before starting IVF to let my body, and tastebuds, adjust! 

I began by asking my friends and family how they like to eat avocados. I was given many suggestions, including mixing it into a salad, or making guacamole, but the one thing that everyone said was to put it on a sandwich in place of mayonnaise or mustard. So, today at lunch, I decided to do just that. I stopped at a grocery store, bought an avocado, and at lunchtime, I smashed it, and spread it on my sandwich. I also followed my sisters advice and melted the cheese on my sandwich to help disguise the consistency. What I ended up with was a nasty looking turkey and cheese sandwich, with way too much avocado for my liking. 

I forced myself to eat the entire sandwich, and added in some cool ranch Doritos to help mask the flavor. In conclusion, I still hate avocado, and melted cheese does not improve the texture at all. Maybe this old wives tale should be put to rest, because I don't think I can force myself to eat avocado every day for the next six weeks! 

Post 26: Feng Shui

As part of my acupuncture treatments, my doctor asked if I had changed anything in our bedroom lately. I replied, "only the sheets," and was told that we needed to change something to help reset my internal clock. It could be as simple as a new pillow or bedspread, but she really wanted us to rearrange the furniture. So 24 hours later, we did just that! We moved the bed and chest of drawers, and changed our comfortor to our warm, winter quilt. We also managed to find around 20-30 cat toys hidden under furniture! 

I'm not sure if the feng shui is correct, but it's worth a try. I'm now sleeping around four hours each night, which is a pretty good improvement considering I was only averaging two to three hours each night before starting acupuncture. I knew that it wouldn't be an overnight change, and to expect it to take time, and, I think, little by little I'm making progress.