Oh what a Day...make that a month.

On Saturday I ran a load of laundry and then went to run some errands. When I came back, I stepped in a puddle of water right inside my laundry room door (near the family room). Upon further inspection, I noticed our bathroom floor was also covered in water and the hardwood b/w the bathroom and laundry room was seaping water when I pressed on it. I immediately thought my washing machine had given up on me and had my dad come over. He couldn't find anything wrong with it and we shop vac-ed up the water. Dad unplugged the washing machine and disconnected the water supply. I called Lakeside Appliance and scheduled a person to come out this morning. Then I noticed the toilet in our downstairs bathroom. The water was very low (at the point where the drain goes down) and had a ring of dirt in it. Odd, I thought. But when I flushed it, it worked fine and all seemed well.

Yesterday morning, after showering and flushing the toilet upstairs, I came downstairs and heard a 'blub, blub'. I looked in the toilet and saw the water was low again and it was bubbling. When I flushed it, the tank filled fine (eliminating any suspicion of a broken toilet), but the water level raised way high up. I tried plunging it, to no avail. Usually when you plunge a toilet, once the clog is removed the toilet will flush fine. The water level stayed up high and preceded to drain very, very slowly...all the way down to the previous low level. Still bubbling. I thought it could be related to the unhooked hoses to the washing machine. I left, giving up, and ran some more errands. When I came home and flushed it, it appeared to work fine. Paul & I figured there was a clog somewhere between the upper and lower bathroom and it had resolved itself.

While I was washing dishes last night, Paul & I heard the familiar bubbling noises; however, this time the tank was full. Air coming out of a water line? Doesn't usually happen. Upon further examination, we discovered that when you flushed the upstairs toilet, the water in the downstairs toilet raised really high, then drained really slow. Likewise, when we ran the dishwasher, all was fine, until the water drained. Then the water level rose back up and again drained slow. I monitored while Paul took a quick shower and the water level rose so high, I had to get a pan and put water in a pot, then dump it outside. I repeated the process several times. Also realized there was more dirt/sand/debris instead of hair or body waste which I would expect to see if the issue was a clog in the house.

Roto Rooter came out this morning and camera scoped our lines. He had to access it from the roof, so as not to have to remove a toilet. Turns out our line is completely blocked by roots/broken in the middle of our front yard (in between the two maple trees). The good news is, this is a one time fix. The pipes are original to the house and PVC pipes are inpenetrable. The bad news is our home owners warranty doesn't cover it, because it didn't occur in the house and the county doesn't cover it b/c it's not in the street or by our water meter. That $5,800 bill will be ours. God bless my in-laws in this moment. They are going to spot us the money so we won't have to pay interest on a credit card. Small blessings. Our yard will be dug up tomorrow. We did get a really cool video of our pipes. Disgusting.

To sum up our day, I got a call from our fertility specialist who is just back from vacation. He was apologetic and has no idea why it didn't work. He said our embryos weren't the best quality but they definitely were not poor quality. Also, found out the sad news that none of our 7 embryos we left out made it to day 5. He said it's not totally uncommon, but does have him a little concerned. He does not think I have endometriosis or a luteal phase defect. He said there is no more testing to do before trying a Frozen Embryo Transfer. Too many variables with the IVF to immediately jump to 'something else is wrong'. You have to 'thaw' 2/3 more embryos than what you want to use, b/c not all will make it to day 3. (They don't try to grow any to day 5 for a transfer....) So we would thaw 4 or 5 of our remaining 9 embryos. We would then implant 3. IF all make it to Day 3, they would then keep the remaining 1 or 2 and refreeze them. You can, by law, implant 3 embryos if a fresh IVF cycle has failed. IF the FET doesn't work, there could be something going on genetically when our sperm and embryo connected. Maybe we CAN'T have kids. Who knows. One step at a time. Genetic testing costs a fortune and I'm not sure if we could ever afford that if need be. Because of our sewage line break and recent set back of $5,800, we will have to postpone a FET until even later.


Oh, we paid $80 to the washing machine man for him to tell us the issue was our pipes, not the machine. Atleast he reconnected it for us.


I know God only gives you what you can handle, but he is seriously testing our limits.

Where do we go from here?

Ok, now that reality has set in it's time to talk....ummm....reality.

Financially, we need to wait awhile before even thinking about using any of our frozen embryos for a FET (frozen embryo transfer). Maybe not quite a year, but definitely more than a few months. We just got a bill for $1,250. We weren't planning on that. It costs $114 for them to check my estrogen levels and they did that 4 times. I won't break down the other costs.

Emotionally, we need a break. A long one. This has been so draining on the both of us. The two week wait seemed so much longer than just two weeks and we don't want to go through it again. Not for a while.

We also need a vacation for just the two of us. We're thinking about heading to Baltimore & Philadelphia the weekend after Easter. This process has brought us much closer and we continue to be grateful to God for allowing us the extra time to grow together as husband and wife.

The wait is over

I got my period this morning. I knew yesterday when I took 4 different HPT's that I wasn't pregnant. I knew a couple days ago when all symptoms ceased. Apparently any early 'pregnancy' symptoms were caused by all the progesterone I was pumping into my body.

I'm off to have my bloodwork to confirm it.

We'll see where we go from here.

Thank you for the prayers.

Oh bed rest...you suck

Just wanted to share this cool picture with you. All embryos are given a grade. 5 being the best and given very rarely. 4 being great. 3's being really good. The one on the left is a 3+ and the one on the right is a 3. These embryos are the ones they implanted today. This is something extremely neat that people who conceive naturally don't get to see. I think they look like Paul personally!

Bed rest sucks. I thought I may enjoy it, but the truth is I feel better sitting up or standing up. All the excess fluid floats up to my chest when I lay down making it difficult to breath. Although, I won't complain. 3 days with an excuse to veg out is fine with me.

T-minus 2 hours

till the dreaded 2WW begins.

That's right. Embryo transfer is today. I'm actually happy about it because now I don't have to feel guilty for calling into work today.

Let me explain. Yesterday around lunch I started to get sharp, shooting pains in my right side. Almost felt like my appendicitis was back. The pain got constantly worse and by last night I could hardly move. The good news is that my constipation finally seemed to be getting better. Unfortunately...as is the case when you take a laxative, I moved from one extreme to the other. I spent most of the night awake and in the bathroom. It was so severe I thought I may throw up. I have been very fortunate so far to not have done that!

Anyways, I was hoping the sharp pain would subside once the constipation went away. No such luck. So I decided around 4 this morning that I probably wasn't going to make it into work. When I woke up around 7 and the pain was still there, I knew I had to call the doctor. I called around 9 and he said he was just getting ready to call me. Va. IVF wants to do the ET today. They're being conservative, he said. Doc wanted to make it clear that nothing's wrong with 3 day transfers, although I must admit, I'm a little disappointed. Oh well, what's meant to be will be, right?!

Doc seems to think my pain is normal post egg retrieval pain, but he said we'll check today during the ultrasound. I haven't gain any large amounts of weight and the bloating seems to have subsided a bit. Large, rapid weight gain and excessive bloating are signs of hyperstimulation.

I'm sure I'll be blogging a bit over the next few days. 3 days of bed rest and I'm sure I'll be bored! Well, it's time for me to take my last shower for 3 days and go pop a valium!

Fingers crossed!

All I need to know about life I learned from infertility

1. Antibiotics, surgery, and & anesthesia cause constipation. Seriously. HOLY CRAP! Pun intended. I'm on 2 antibiotics. Evidently antibiotics can't distinguish the difference between good bacteria and bad bacteria, thus killing it all. This includes the bacteria that make it easy to go to the bathroom. I've now added ex lax to my pill cocktail.

2. If you use a cherry pit heating bag repeatedly, you will burn your legs & stomach. Said burn will look like horrible flesh eating rash and will cause brief panic attack.

3. I have a great relationship with my Mamie. She now knows she has 18 great grandchildren frozen in a petri dish. I told her she could visit them and she said she wonders if she could pick out how many looked like Paul & how many looked like me. We decided they all probably look exactly the same right now.

4. I am terrified to actually have to pick out a baby name with my husband. The few names he's mentioned have already made me want to run for the hills. Sebastian?! I hope he was joking!

5. We have amazing friends. Your outpouring of support has meant so much to us and has really sustained us through this most trying time.

6. Did I mention constipation?

Paul & Kate + 18!

Haha Just Kidding!

What an amazing Fertility Report we got this morning! Out of the 21 good retrieved eggs, they were able to fertilize 18! We now have 18 embryos to work with! :) :) :) They decided to immediately freeze 9 and keep 9 out. We're hoping atleast 2 of those 9 will make it to the 5 day blastocyst stage. This would mean Embryo transfer would be on Friday and I'm guessing they will freeze whatever's left. The odds are in our favor big time! There's still a lot of room for error but it is comforting to know we have so many chances to get it right.

I'm still feeling crummy. I think today is worse than yesterday. I went to work and although my co-workers were great about covering my programs and helping me out, I probably could have used the day to veg out at home. It's hard to describe the pain. It's more of a discomfort. I feel like a giant water balloon. So full that my lungs hurt when I take a deep breath and that my stomach has no room for me to put food in it. Although I did manage to eat a Chicken Quesadilla at the Mexican place today for lunch! Nothing will stand between me and some chips & salsa!

Where do we go from here? I'm continuing on the 2 different antibiotics as well as the progesterone twice a day. We're waiting for a call from my doctor on Wed. morning. The lab will look at our embryos and let us know if ET will be Wed. or Fri.

What's the difference between a 3 day transfer and a 5 day transfer? When a woman gets pregnant naturally it takes a few days for the embryo to travel through the fallopian tubes to the uterus. At the 3 day mark the embryo is still in the fallopian tube and is not developmentally ready to attach to the uterine wall lining. The progesterone I'm on right now is helping to increase that wall lining. So, at the 5 day mark the embryo has naturally made its way into the uterus and has gone through enough cell divisions that it is ready to attach to the lining. The thought being that a transfered 5 day embryo has a better chance of attaching.

Till Wednesday!