I was pretty sure the shot in the arm would hurt worse than in the stomach, and I was totally 100%  correct. Can I say OUCH any louder?!?! Thanks to hubby for being sweet and gentle. Maybe tomorrow he can figure out how to make it not hurt. 🙂

In case you’re wondering, the pic at the top of this post is what we’re dealing with. It’s nothing compared to what many women go through, but it seems like enough to me. Ha!

Well, we are off to a positive start! Everything looked good today with my blood work and ultrasound, so we will start stimming tonight. This time our doctor is starting me on 225 units of Bravelle instead of the 150 I started with last time. They have to be super careful about meds with IUI so you don’t end up like octomom. There is also the chance that your cycle will be cancelled if you over stimulate. I’m hoping that 225 is just right!!

The big positive this time is that we can start immediately! Last time we had to postpone for almost a month due to an ovarian cyst, which was probably a side effect from the Clomid I was on for the first cycle.

The only thing that makes me nervous this round is that we are doing the shots in the underside of my arm instead of my stomach. Considering how bruised and sore my stomach was last time, I’m not looking forward to seeing what my arms look like after all of this. Ouch!!

I will go back to the doctor on Friday for another ultrasound and more blood work. He will check to make sure my follicles are growing as they should and will also check my estrogen, progesterone, and LH levels. I think they want my follicles to grow about 2mm per day and my estrogen levels should increase as well. Please send thoughts and prayers our way that all progresses according to plan!

Blood levels are checked every time I go to the doctor, transvaginal ultrasounds are performed to monitor progress of follicle growth and uterine lining, and educated guesses are made by my doctor about when to trigger. My doctor explained it last cycle as kind of like playing chicken. He wants the follicles to grow as big as possible, but he has to grow them fast before I naturally ovulate.

I know this is a lot of information, and I’m probably leaving stuff out that you may need to know to understand what exactly is going on. Please feel free to ask questions so it all makes sense.

Hi there! I have contemplated blogging for a while, but I’ve never gotten around to it. Finally here I am. I am compelled to tell our story, if not for you, then for me.

How many infertility blogs are there already? Probably hundreds if not thousands. However, each story is unique, and this is ours. We have been married for two years, and we started trying for a baby immediately. I thought it would happen quickly, but no matter how many times we have prayed to see those two lines on a pregnancy test, it never happened. After a year, we went to the fertility doctor. We are diagnosed with unexplained infertility. How frustrating is that?!?! Instead of jumping into action, I shut down. I panicked about the costs. I fell into a depression. I wasn’t doing anything except getting older.

Finally, this May we did our first IUI cycle with clomid. I was positive it would work and that all we needed was that little jump start. Much to my dismay, we weren’t pregnant once again. We moved on to cycle two, this time with injectable medications where hubby gave me a shot every night in my stomach for about 2 weeks. Again, no double lines on the pregnancy test.

So here we are, ready to start round three tomorrow. If this round doesn’t work, our doctor is advising that we move on to IVF, which is over $15,000 out of pocket!! We’re hoping that with some science and a lot of prayer, we will get our baby this cycle!

You may be asking why I named the blog Our 21st Century Baby? Well, imagine this. One day my child asks me how he or she was made. I won’t be able to tell the age-old story of two people falling in love and making a baby together in privacy. Instead, I will share the story about how it took a village. It took wonderful doctors and nurses, a fabulous acupuncturist, a family who cried with us, friends who prayed for us, and two people who were very much in love and who wanted more than anything in the world to be parents to a special child or two.

Join me over the next few weeks as I document our journey. And please pray for those two lines this time!