Going to the Pokey....and I Don't Mean Jail

Ever since we began the quest to bring our spawn into the world, I have become interested in a more natural approach to fertility. After a friend of ours told me about going to acupuncture to help her get pregnant, I became even more fascinated with Traditional Chinese Medicine. As I've mentioned before, I am deathly afraid of needles so the idea of me going to acupuncture took a lot of deep breathing and telling myself as long as it helps us get a baby, then the pain is worth it. So off I went to my acupuncturist, Chuck. Pretty quickly, I began calling it the "pokey" or the "pokey doctor." I'm all about nicknames. I was super tense the first time but overall the pain was not bad at all. It was nothing like the trauma I deal with anytime I have blood drawn because finding my veins is like finding a million dollar treasure in your backyard, not happening. Chuck went through my entire medical history including how my monthly cycles are, which was pretty weird to go into detail with a guy about, but he is super cool so it was all good. After finishing my history, checking my pulse and looking at my tongue, he diagnosed me with liver stagnation and blood stasis. Next came the needles. Like I said, they weren't bad at all. I have on occasion yelled out something like,"Holy Mother" when it hurts. Chuck told me that after about 1o minutes the endorphins would release and help me relax. I was like, "Uh..yeah, right." But it happened. It was amazing how relaxed I was after the first treatment. I became a believer after that and started weekly visits.

As part of my treatment, I also had to start taking my basal body temperature (BBT) daily which is a great way to track your cycles. No matter how great it is, it sucks. I hate having to remember to take my temp as soon as the clock goes off. From this, we learned that my BBT is super low. If the uterus isn'a warm, hospitable environment, then an egg will likely not implant. So began my herb regimen to warm up my insides. Low and behold, it's working. Now I'm going to the "pokey" every 2 weeks to get a treatment and pick up some herbs. I took a few crappy photos with my phone for you to see. I'll try to remember to bring the good camera next time. It also looks like I have a "cankle." That's completely untrue. I guess it was the angle of the picture. I had needles in my belly, too, but decided to spare you from the picture.


In other medical news, I got my liver function test results and I passed!! Yippee! I was able to start Metformin yesterday for the insulin resistance. I also got my sleep study results and I do have sleep apnea. BOO! I have to go back for another study tonight to see about getting fitted with a mask. I guess since Dave has a mask too, our baby could end up being a Darth Vader baby. I won't bore you with any more alien pictures though. One time was traumatic enough.

Although I'm not pregnant yet, I feel like I'm moving in the right direction. The acupuncture has relaxed me so much and helped me deal with the stress of trying to get pregnant. The herbs are doing their job to warm me up and hopefully, the Metformin will take care of the insulin resistance. I've never been the type to consider using "alternative" medicine until now. I hate I wasted all that time not even considering it. It feels like the right decision to not jump straight into all the fertility drugs like Clomid, or any other more invasive procedures. I want us to create this child naturally, the way God intended it to be.

Toastingly Yours,

Getting Knocked Up is Not as Easy as It Sounds

Warning beforehand...may be too graphic for some. Who knew that after all my years of trying to prevent pregnancy that when I actually wanted to get knocked up, it wouldn't be so simple? First issue came up in 2003 when I was diagnosed with endometriosis. For those that don't know, endometriosis is when uterine tissue grows outside the uterus. In my case, which is considered mild, the tissue wrapped my left ovary around my bowels and was present in other areas in my pelvic cavity. During my laparoscopy for diagnosis, they removed as much of the tissue that was in my lady areas as possible. Most people don't understand how much endometriosis hurts. Even in mild cases the pain can be excruciating. Luckily, after surgery, my monthly cramps were minimalized to almost nothing in comparison to what I had suffered in my teenage years.

For anyone that doesn't understand the complicated steps that are necessary to become pregnant, here's a brief synopsis. Most females have a normal menstrual cycle of 28-35 days. An egg is released from your ovary during ovulation around Day 14-18. FYI...CD1 (CD is cycle day) is the first day of your period. The egg is then picked up by hairlike fingers at the end of your fallopian tubes.When you ovulate there's around a 12-24 hour window for it to get fertilized before you lose your chance for that month. Fertilization usually takes place in the fallopian tube. If you do luck out and your egg is fertilized, then it travels into the uterus where it implants in the uterine wall. There it grows for 9 months to become your child. If you didn't luck out, then the unfertilized egg and the uterine lining that was thickening for your possible fertilized egg will all come out once your period starts. Then the cycle begins again. Hope you enjoyed Sex Ed 101.

Now back to fertility. I have learned a lot since we began trying to conceive (TTC) in July 2009. Get used to the crazy acronyms. That's how people talk about making a baby on all of the forums and blogs. First, age makes a huge difference. Apparently, your best option to get pregnant is in your teens and 20's, usually when you would be crazy to want to do so. Even during those years, you only have a 15-20% chance each month to get pregnant. Those odds suck! Now that I've crossed the age of 30, my chances are going downhill but the big downhill won't hit until 35.

After trying for 6 months with no luck and with my history of endometriosis, my OB/Gyn sent me to a Reproductive Endocrinologist (RE) to begin testing. First was the big hormone testing on CD3 along with testing for insulin resistance because I'm overweight. My FSH (follicle stimulating hormone) came in at 10.55. Of course, anything over 10 is supposedly not good. FSH is the hormone your body releases to signal your ovary to release an egg. The more FSH present means your body doesn't respond to normal amounts to release an egg. The most fun test I had was an HSG (hysterosalpingography - say that 10 times fast.) During the HSG, a tube is threaded up your who-ha through your cervix into the uterus. Then dye is pumped in while xrays are taking to make sure your tubes are unblocked. Good times! Thank the Lord that came out all clear. And I won the jackpot by having insulin resistance. But there was a snag with that too. My liver function had to be tested as well because the meds for insulin resistance can cause your liver to began to function less effectively. My LFT (liver function test) came back above normal. I must have some closet alcoholism that I'm unaware of that caused my LFT to come back too high. Just kidding. I'm not a drinker. Today I went back to retest my LFT and can expect the results in a few days. Hopefully, all will be well and I can start on meds for insulin resistance. The RE feels like that's all we need to help us get pregnant.

Now that I've spent months worrying about my FSH and my egg quality, how we would pay for IVF or if we would even try that, and could we even have a baby at all, it may all come down to this one medicine. Crazy to think that it can be that simple!

I guess the moral of this story is not to take your fertility for granted. I always thought that pushing off having a baby wouldn't be a problem. I may be lucky by taking care of my issue easily. So many other women don't have that luxury and for them, my heart breaks. As for me, my future child will definitely hear about the hell I've gone through to ensure their arrival one day. I am deathly afraid of needles and I can't even keep up with the number of times Dracula has sucked my blood during the past few months. My kid will hear all about it! I'm sure you will hear more of these graphic details on our road to conceiving our chubby baby.

Toastingly Yours,