Things are getting busy

Things are getting busy, and I am starting to worry about how much sleep we will all be getting over the next 4-5 days. We have loads of packing, painting and cleaning to do. Unfortunately, I am much further behind than I had hoped -- mostly due to the fact that I was down with a fever and body aches this entire past weekend.

Our house closing is set for Friday. We have a rental truck for Saturday, along with 4-5 friends that are coming to help. And we have folks moving into our house next week! On Monday, I got a great phone call, they thought we might be able to close Tuesday! WONDERFUL, we can start moving stuff over. The only problem is now something is delaying the process of closing. They aren't sure if they can wrap it up by Friday. Lucky us. I'm not sure what they expect us to do. We can't just take off Monday and Tuesday to move. We should hear something tomorrow.

The big news this week is that Josh got his license and a new car. I posted a photo above for everyone to see his new ride. It's a big deal. He saved diligently to buy it himself. So now he gets to drive himself to work. YEAH!

Well, everyone have a good few days. I will not be available.

Follow-up

I wouldn't say I was anxiously waiting for today. I wasn't expecting much. I doubt many women worry about this appointment--not after all the other stress they've been through. Today was our follow-up appointment with the doctor for our IVF failed cycle.

Thomas and I talked about it last week, we both had many questions, ideas, theories. And today, nothing. I kept looking at Tom for input because nothing was coming to my mind to ask. There really isn't much to say. It was a failure. We get to try again for less money. And honestly the statistics aren't nearly as good as the first time. So what's to be excited about.

Well, I won't linger any longer.

The doctor chalks up the failure to two bad eggs. Once you get to the embryo stage, it mostly has to do with the quality of eggs according to him. So these embryos must have just been bad. That's great. I'm not sure anyone could prove it. He said good embryos can grow just about anywhere, they are very invasive. Which makes me think maybe I don't want an alien invasion.

Moving on, there is no reason to assume I have poor quality eggs just from this cycle. He said maybe if we don't get pregnant with the remaining four embryos he might decide to revisit that statement. He also said it didn't have to do with any male issues or endometriosis.

So, great. I've decided that's good news. Both my sisters, my mom, my maternal grandmother have been pregnant, naturally, in either their 30s or 40s - so I have good genes for at least decent eggs that should be able to make it to my grand old age of 30.

The doctor said we have two good tries with these four embryos -- two each time. Assuming they all survive the thaw. The chances for surviving the thaw he said was very good -- about 70% each. So this fall, we will go back to transfer two more blastocysts. They froze two of them together, and then the other two separately. Something I didn't know and hadn't read anywhere was that they could tell very quickly if an embryo would not survive a thaw; in just 10 minutes. If one of the two isn't going to survive, they pull another one to thaw before the transfer.

So according to the doctor, each of the next two trials give us a 30% chance of pregnancy each. Overall, he said about a 50% chance of pregnancy between the two cycles. Our chance will of course dwindle if an embryo doesn't survive a thaw.

Which is about where I was last month - at best - 50/50.

Moving Forward

I really only have one thing to share. And that is that the house closing is moving closer and everything is lining up. They've agreed to pay our closing costs plus quite a bit will be getting fixed, including a new roof. Our closing date is Feb 23rd - so we have a LOT to do between then and now. Thomas also told me today that he has midterms the last week of February and a large paper due the first week in March! Yikes.

In the meantime, Josh wants to go car shopping. Unfortunately, every car he has found that he is interested in is either in Tampa or Orlando. So we may be doing some driving one weekend soon. When we move, the plan is to have him drive to work.

I've started just a little of transitioning to my diet. I'm utterly dreading it which I think is a major problem. But I made the first wheat-free bread ever that I liked. It was from the nearly normal cookbook - and so far, I'd say that book is generally a winner. The zucchini-carrot bread that I made was pretty good. And I need to start walking or jogging again - tomorrow morning I decided sounds like a good time to start.

How to make dirt pies taste good

According to Tom, that's going to be the name of the cookbook I will be able to write at some near point in the future. Not being pregnant means I have to go back on a diet that suits my endometriosis. Unfortunately, no one else in the world follows this diet so its almost impossible to find more than one recipe in any book that is helpful. Let me go ahead and get the rules out there for all you to understand what I'm talking about: No wheat, no rye, no dairy, no alcohol, no sugar, no caffeine, no chocolate, no additives and preservatives, basically nothing American.

The good thing about the diet is it works. What used to be hours to days of endless pain that most pain killers couldn't touch; becomes nothing. I often wonder if it keeps the endometriosis from actually growing and getting worse. I've asked the doctor about it - they always tell me they've never heard of it and look at me like I'm crazy. For some reason, every doctor I have mentioned it to, thinks that it's absurd that food would actually affect your health. I haven't been able to figure that out.

But the main goal here is to keep myself healthy until we are ready to try again for a family.

Have you ever noticed that the books you are looking for are never at the bookstore -- so you can't sample them. In December I asked the clerk for some books on infertility. After explaining that I only saw "fertility" books, he proceeded to take me to the "fertility" section twice and say that was all they had. For those of you who aren't dealing with this issue, I assure you there is a HUGE difference between "fertile" and "infertile."

Well, anyway, over the past 6 months I found 3 cookbooks I wanted to check out. One was at the bookstore but full price (not about to pay full price for a book). And the other two I saw online and they both had really good reviews. So, three books were delivered this week through the great world of Amazon: Rainbow Green Live-Food Cuisine, Changing Seasons Macrobiotic Cookbook, and Nearly Normal Cooking for Gluten-Free Eating. And now the fun begins of rummaging through them, choosing recipes, making substitutes as needed, and trying them out. I'm not sure I would have ordered the Macrobiotic cookbook if I had checked it out in the store. I already have one that is much bigger, and I'm not sure if this one will supply anything new.

So now, the next few days will be a gradual shift for all of us to very healthy meals. I know I'm going to struggle; it really is difficult to follow, to plan, and to make lunches ahead of time. Thomas has been very supportive, and I keep reminding Tom and Josh that they will be able to eat pretty much whatever they want at lunch 5 days a week when they are not with me.