S 965: a very important bill

Since I'm in DC for work this week, I thought it appropriate to use my blog to spread the word on S 965, The Family Act of 2011. If you're a fellow infertile, you've probably heard of this already. If not, please click here for the text of this legislation.

Basically, this bill would create a tax credit for the out-of-pocket costs associated with infertility medical treatment. While my husband & I are lucky enough to have 80% coverage for fertility treatments, it's still quite expensive for us. The fact is only 15 states have mandates regarding infertility treatments & of course, there are loopholes even in mandate states. Should this become law, it will help thousands of couples be able to afford a shot at parenthood.

So what can you do to turn this bill into a law a la "School House Rock? Well, it's pretty simple: write your Senator in support of this bill. Even if you haven't experienced the heartache of infertility yourself, remember that 1 in 8 couples has: we are your friends & family.

Sperminated!

Post wash semen specimen: 22 million with 40% normal morphology & 42% forward motility. Vid was very proud of his work; he actually fist-pumped when the doctor told us the results prior to the IUI. Couple that with 3 (maybe 4) mature follies & we better get SOMETHING out of this. My RE said she has a good feeling about this one & commended me on my weight loss. My beta is on 6/8 (15 days post IUI) since we'll be travelling 14DPIUI. I am in Washington DC for work next week (Tuesday-Friday)& we are staying a few days extra for a bit of a vacation. Both Vid & I have been to DC several times before but never together so it'll be fun to experience it with him; I haven't been there since before we were together (8 years?). Not sure if I'll POAS prior to beta or not; we'll see. I start Endometrin 2x daily on Saturday. We're on doctor's orders to have "insurance sex" over the next 2 days. If we were to finally get pregnant this cycle my due date would be Valentine's Day, which is also our Pekigese's (named "Romeo"; get it?) birthday.

The trigger has been pulled

I went in for my monitoring appointment this morning & per usual, everything looked hunky dorey. I have 3 follies on my left (17, 19 & 21) & 1 on my right (19). My E2 was 627 & my lining was a lush 13 with the coveted 3 stripes. My RE gave me the usual talk about the risk of multiples (4 is her limit to trigger; any more & we would've been cancelled. I managed not LOL @ her since I've had 2+ follies @ each of my 6 unsuccessful IUIs. I triggered tonight & will go in tomorrow morning for my IUI, followed by lots & lots of sex in the next 72 hours. I swear to God this better work!

And away we go!

Remember how I was saying my ute was fucking with my mind last month after being on BCPs to prep for IVF #1 before we decided to push it back? Well, it seems we're back on track. Friday night Aunt Flo came to town: CD 28. So my ute continues to be a Swiss watch so far as menstruating goes; too bad my ovaries are too lazy to pop out a mature egg once in a while!

I went in for my baseline ultrasound & bloodwork this morning. My bloodwork & vag cam photos were okey dokey. So the plan is to start with 100 of Clomid tonight for 5nights & then add 75 of Follistim per night beginning on Friday.

Random thought: my Clomid comes in foil packaging, but a friend who is taking it for the 1st time had hers filled in a child proof bottle. Ironic, no? My meds are filled @ a specialist fertility pharmacy & shipped via UPS to me because of insurance reasons while she filled hers @ local Walgreens. Maybe that has something to do with it.

Next Monday I'll go back in to see how things are growing. :)

A child of God, or not?

Scanning the interwebs as I so often do I came across a post on CNN's Belief Blog written by a father who experienced something I cannot fathom: the embryo his wife carried to term turned out not to be theirs & when she gave birth, she handed over the baby to his genetic parents. Instead of highlighting the ultimate good that came out of this heart-wrenching story, the Catholic Diocese of Toledo took the opportunity to condemn IVF as "morally unacceptable".

Really, Diocese of Toledo?

It's stuff like this that makes me question my active participation in my church. I think about looking into joining other denominations every so often but never have; it's my understanding many other Christian denominations give IVF the proverbial "thumbs up". However, I also think of what my grad school buddy & Catholic priest friend who grew up in Nigeria & worked in an area with a horrible HIV/AIDS rate & encouraged condom use once told me: "What is said in Rome is not necessarily what is said in my homily on Sunday". In other words, although the Catholic Church is very much a hierarchical organization, every priest does have some degree of freedom over how he runs his parish.

I've not heard any stories about being excommunicated from ladies I know on the infertility message boards I frequent who have had successful pregnancies via IUI or IVF. That's not to say they don't exist, but what I've been told by most active Catholics I know is that since IVF's goal is to create life in God's image they see no problem with ART. Of course they may be paying me lip service & are secretly praying for my soul not to be thrust into eternal damnation, but I'd like to think they're not.

Basically, the crux of this article is that the Catholic Church is talking out of both sides of their mouth: they are "pro-life" but at the same time don't see the miracle of creating life that is ART. I've always believed God gave us the brains to think up things like IUI & IVF, so why not put them to use? As the author states so beautifully:

Babies born of IVF are here because their parents loved, respected and longed for these children well before conception. These children could not get here through the conjugal love of their parents and it took a very deep love, respect, and commitment to pursue the medical treatment needed to conceive through IVF. There is no doubt in my mind that God is working through loving parents and ethical doctors to allow these children to come into this world.

Amen.

Yesterday was Mother's Day? Really?

Obviously, I am well aware yesterday was Mother's Day since I don't live under a rock. Being forced to spend 30 seconds on Facebook on a day such as yesterday would surely make any infertile confess to the most heinous of crimes. But, with just a touch of snark & the help of my fellow infertiles, I survived.

I spent my mother's day making my husband hump up & down our basement stairs with plastic storage boxes full of summer clothes so I could change our wardrobes over from the colder weather. It was good to cull & generally straighten out our walk-in bedroom closet & 2 chests of drawers. It was also simply gorgeous out despite the weatherman's predictions (70 degrees & sunny) so I opened all of the windows. Vid & I also took an hour long walk on the local bike/walking path, not really talking much but enjoying each other's company nonetheless.

I purposely didn't go to choir practice this week using finals as an excuse knowing full well I had none (just 1 paper & 1 presentation) but that you can't sing at Mass if you don't go to rehearsal so you don't screw everyone else up. I know God will forgive me for guarding my heart: I didn't want to burst into tears in the middle of the Agnus Dei or something.

This week is the last week of the semester (yahoo!) for me; I'm not taking any this summer in anticipation of having to do IVF. Once I'm done with class on Wednesday night I'm taking my mom out to dinner @ a local restaurant that gives you a free piece of cake with the purchase of a meal for your mom; it's become somewhat of a tradition. Aunt Flo should be showing up by the end of the week so I may end up taking home a piece of cake too. :)

Vote for me!

In addition to the numerous obnoxious ultrasound & pregnant belly pics on Facebook we infertiles have to endure apparently there's a new, hip thing for our parent friends to shove in our faces: that the cuteness of their children is worthy of my vote on some random website.

"Vote for Ayden/Brayden/Kayden; only 29,307 votes & we'll surely win him free diapers for a year!" (And yes, I chose those names because I hate them. I loathe random y's in names to make them "Youneek" & all names ending in -ayden generally).

I guess it's just another thing I may never experience as an infertile: having others tell me how beautiful my child is. And I know we will make beautiful children. take a look @ Vid around age 2 & 1/2; how cute!:



So why don't any of the infertility magazines (you know, the ones @ your RE office that inexplicably have babies on their covers?!?! what up with that...) to hold an infertility photo contest?

Here are some categories for your consideration:
*Most photogenic uterus
*Sexiest fallopian tubes
*Cyst that looks most like the Virgin Mary
*Strangest place of endometriosis growth

And many others, including:



Your thoughts?

Maybe Baby

I saw this movie this past weekend. Unfortunately, there's not much out there in the way of movies that are appropriately funny when it comes to infertility, but Rowan Atkinson is HYSTERICAL! If you're infertile you can almost certainly identify with the 1st 2 minutes of this clip: