Saturday, October 10, 2009

How We Became a Family of Four


If your new to my blog, you might be wondering, how can this lady be infertile and have 2 kids? Well that is because 1 in 8 couples struggle with infertility, and part of that is secondary infertility. We are one of those couples. Here was our journey to becoming a family of four.

I have a 7 year old little girl from a previous relationship (no assistance needed), my husband has 2 older children from his previous marriage (no assistance needed). Oblivious to secondary infertility we started trying to have a child together in July of 2007. Much to our surprise we soon discovered we had severe MFI and ovulatory disfunction (annovulation). After trying numerous drugs on my DH and waiting many many months while working with a male infertility urologist and RE, hcg injects finally did the trick! So after 22 months, a cancelled IVF, and 3 IUI's, we finally welcomed our little miracle on December 31, 2009!! Below is a detailed account of our journey....

July 2007- Stopped taking BC...YAY I'll be pregnant in no time!!

January 2008- Started charting, showing no ovulation, also found out we have MFI or male factor infertility (very low testosterone, lowish counts, very low motility (3%), and low morph (9%).

February 2008- First appointment with a male infertility urologist. Uro most concerned with his low testosterone levels, sperm count, and most importantly his very very low motility.

April 2008- DH started Clomid and Fertility Blend for Men.

May 2008- Clomid is not helping at all, dose was increased. Started testing on me through my OB.

June 2008- First RE appointment! Clomid still not helping DH at all, moving onto 3x weekly hCG injections.

July 2008- Testing with RE begins; CD 3 b/w, u/s, and a HSG. Baseline u/s showed large cyst, all other tests were cancelled. DH started injects.

August 2008- Testing take 2! CD 3 u/s, b/w, and HSG. Cyst gone, tubes clear, hormones normal. RE said I have very PCOSish like cycles (long and annovulatory). DX'ed with Ovulatory Dysfunction.

September 2008- IUI #1 w/ clomid & trigger shot. Cancelled due to poor S/A results (only 300,000 total mobile sperm). Now looking into IVF w/ICSI

October 2008- IVF #1; cancelled.

November 2008- Break Cycle that was 63 days long, provera to induce AF.

December 2008- Another break cycle. DH has follow up S/A after being on the hCG 5 months now and low and behold it is WORKING!! Motility improved from 3% to 49%, count went from around 20 mil. to 40 mil., morph still low at 11%. Thank you hCG!! Moving back to IUI's!

January 2009- IUI #1 take 2 w/ 50 mg clomid + trigger (1 follie) + progesterone: BFN

March 2009- IUI # 2 w/ 100 mg clomid + trigger (2 follies) + progesterone: BFN (count post wash was 14 mil. with 39 % motility)

April 2009- IUI # 3 w/ 50 mg clomid + 75 units of follistim + trigger (3 follies) + progesterone: BFP!!!! (count post wash was 12 mil. and 36 % motility) Beta #1 at 12 dpo was 100, Beta #2 at 14 dpo was 274!! Click here for my BFP chart

May 2009- First u/s showed 1 healthy baby!!! HB was 125 bpm at 6 weeks 4 days!! SO in love.

July 2009- Decided to freeze 2 samples of sperm 'just in case' before DH stopped taking HCG and started back testosterone therapy.

Dec 2009- Little M entered the world! Click here to read my birth story!

Jan 2011- Back to the RE to discuss using our frozen sperm, re did HSG and CD 3 labs. Tubes clear, labs good.

May 2011- Frozen sperm IUI. 50 mg clomid + follistim + 2 extra shots of bravelle due to lack of response + trigger (3 mature follies) + IUI w/ 2.4 mil total motile sperm + progesterone: BFN

June 2011- Frozen sperm IUI attempt. 100 mg clomid  + 75 units of bravelle on CD 5, 7, & 9 + a few more shots of bravelle + trigger (3 follies) + IUI w/ 9.6 mil sperm: BFN

August 2011- Large cyst (60mm) on forced break. BCP for 2 months to shrink.

Oct/Nov 2011- Final frozen sperm IUI: BFFN It's over :(

Nov 2011- Unexpectedly became a foster mom to my 6 year old cousin, L. God works in mysterious ways!

If anyone has any question regarding our journey, is going through the same things and has questions, or simply needs some support, please feel free to email me. I love to hear from you and thank you for being there to help support me over the years.

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