The beginning...

Amanda and I have been traveling a fertility journey. So I've been thinking that I'd like to document this journey. When we see people that we love, we are often asked "how's it going" and I really don't mind talking about all of this (don't be afraid to ask me any questions!) but I thought we could keep everyone in our loop if we started a blog about our adventure. It's also a healthy thing for me to journal about what we've done.
First, this first post will be long because I'd like to start at the beginning. The rest of my posts shouldn't be so long.
Second, I apologize if I don't follow all of the appropriate "blog etiquette" as I've never done this before.
And lastly, please comment, ask questions, and enjoy :)

Amanda and I have always known that we wanted to have children and that it was going to be a long process for us. Not only are we lacking in the male physiology, but I struggle with Endometriosis. So not long after getting married, we just jumped right in! Our very first appointment was on January 2nd, 2013, at IVF Michigan in Flint. We met with an IVF doctor and we discussed the possibility of me having blocked fallopian tubes (requires a procedure), how my endometriosis plays a role, the process to getting pregnant, genetic testing, hormone testing, and ultrasounds. He was awful! No emotion, he didn't seem to care at all. We got very few answers from him. When we were done talking with the doctor, we talked with a nurse who was 100% better at answering our questions, and pointed us in the right direction.
In the month of January I had all of my hormones tested (all came back normal!), i had genetic testing done and learned that I am a carrier for cystic fibrosis (which is ok because all sperm is also tested for that) and a carrier for a VERY rare disease (only 100 people in the world have been diagnosed with this) called Meckel-Gruber Syndrome type 1 (a risk we will just have to take), I had a hysterosalpingogram which looks at the uterine cavity and fallopian tubes (my fallopian tubes are not blocked!), and a saline ultrasound to closely look at my ovaries and uterine cavity (after the ultrasound the doctor was concerned that I might have a small uterus, a fibroid, or both. The test was labeled "inconclusive").
On February 12th we had our follow up appointment at IVF Michigan in Ypsilanti. We learned that the Flint office doesn't "deal with donor sperm" so we had to see a different doctor. We were so relieved to have a new doctor! We met with Doctor Shamma in Ypsilanti and he was fantastic. He was very knowledgeable, very understanding, and very willing to do what we wanted. We decided that we wanted to first try Intrauterine Insemination (IUI) and i literally said, "I just want to wing it!" And the doctor replied, "ok, let's wing it!" He did an ultrasound that day and showed some concern about the size and shape of my uterus but said we could try a round of IUI before doing any more expensive tests. So this is what the process looked like:
-A month of birth control pills to make me have a regular cycle.
-Day 1: period starts
On this day we are to call the office and tell them who we selected from the list of donor sperm. Yes, it's exactly as you imagine it, it lists the man's race, ancestry, blood type, eye color, hair color, height, body build, skin tone, education/occupation, and interests. This list seems to be a point of humor for everyone, including us! It's just so stereotypical of what you'd see in the movies. (to tell you the truth, the whole sperm thing in general had lead to NUMEROUS hilarious conversions!)
-Day 3-7: Take Clomid, a drug that makes me produce more eggs than usual. This is the drug that gives us a 20% chance of having twins.
-Day 12, 13, or 14: Mid-cycle ultrasound to look at my ovaries to see if there are eggs to be released. If there are eggs, we move to the next step.
-evening of the ultrasound: Use injectable HCG, which is the hormone that makes me ovulate.
- 36 hours after the HCG injection: Travel to IVF Michigan in Rochester Hills for insemination!

We went through this whole process from day 1 on March 13th to insemination on March 28th. Then we waited...

And waited...

And waited...

And then after losing our minds, going crazy, obsessing, taking 2 pregnancy tests, living the longest 2 weeks of our lives... My period started. Now what???

We went back to the doctor and he recommended a hysteroscopy (a very minor surgical procedure to put a camera through my cervix and actually see what my uterus looks like). I had that hysteroscopy on Friday April 19th. It was pretty easy, quick recovery. We had a follow up appointment on April 30th... That's my next post :)

An epiphany I've had since the start of all of this is to stop waiting. This is a hurry up and wait journey. If we are constantly waiting for the next thing, we are going to miss the things happening now! So if I can control my head at all, we are going to take this one day at a time, and enjoy each and every day. Maybe not every single thing of each day, but there will be something good about every day :)

So, while we were waiting, we started a blog!