UFC Graduation

Friday, March 10, we graduated from the Utah Fertility Center and have now moved onto a regular OBGYN.

It has been quite a long, but successful road with the Utah Fertility Center.  We have been through a lot and we wouldn't change it for anything.  We're graduating with a healthy baby on the way and will be moving onto Valley OBGYN.  The two surgeries, Ovarian Torsion and Fallopian Tube removal, were performed by two different OB's at Valley, and they were both wonderful! We've decided to stick with them, and we know that we will continue to have great experiences with them in the future.

For all the pictures we haven't shown yet, here is our little baby.  And another fun thing we learned, the due date has been bumped up.  Our sweet babe will be joining us around October 15 now!

Also, I have started a new adventure...go check it out on my FITNESS page.

Pregnant

Yes, it is true.  I am Pregnant!  We are going to be Parents!

It is still surreal for both of us, but we are starting to prepare for the the baby (or babies?) to arrive.  It feels like we have so much to do, in such little time.  But, we're still taking things a day at a time, and enjoying every happy moment of this pregnancy.

I am sure you want to know how we found out and what it was like telling our families, so here is how it all happened.

Monday, February 6, I went in at 8:00 a.m. for my blood work.  It was like every other time I've gone in to get the blood work, but there was something that surprised me.  After nurse finished drawing my blood I asked if she could leave a note for my coordinator.  Scott and I decided that this time around it would be better if we heard the news together, so I asked if she could leave a note for the coordinator to leave a voicemail.  The one thing that surprised me after she wrote the note was her saying, "You have to promise me to listen to the whole message, so you can hear all the instructions."

WHAT?!

Was there something she saw in my blood already, because I remember last time and the nurse didn't say anything.  So...I happily took this as hey, this is a really good sign.

After that I went on with my day, back to school.  Nothing changed, other than me being so nervous for the voicemail.  I left work at my usual time and came home and watched The Ellen Show.  After being home for about 30 minutes, I ran upstairs for just a minute, and they called!  I waited and waited, then finally the voicemail came through about five minutes after the call.

Then, I just had to wait for Scott to get home.  He has been so busy at work, which is awesome for business, but I was dying for him to get home from work.

Around 7:00 pm, we finally listened to the voicemail.  We made it through the first sentence of the voicemail, then lost it! My coordinator said, "...you are pregnant."  We laughed, cried, smiled, and hugged for a few minutes.  Then, we decided we should probably listen to the rest of the voicemail.

I was told to continue taking my medications just as I had been.  So that means, I do one shot ever morning, another shot twice a week at night, a progesterone medication every night, and then every morning a Prenatal Vitamin and Baby Asprin.  I'm sure it seems like a lot, and it is, but it's part of our daily routine now.

I will take medications until about the middle of March and will have two more appointments, a 7 week and 9 week appointment.  Then, I'll graduate and move onto my regular OBGYN.  It's hard to believe that everything is moving forward and each week is such a huge accomplishment.

I've had to give in and buy a little something.  I saw these JellyCats at Babinski's and fell in
love, so of course I had to give in.  We decided for good luck we would need to get two, in the hopes that both of the embryos are growing into two cute little babies.

Before we know it, I'm sure we'll have more updates for you! So let the waiting game continue for more good news!

Our Piggy Bank

This sweet little piggy bank has so much meaning to our family.  Not only was it specially picked out by some of our nieces, it was picked out specifically to be the Baby Gowdy Piggy Bank.

There has been such an outpouring of love and support from so many family and friends that we have been left speechless.  No words will ever adequately express the love and appreciation for all those that have supported us through our IVF journey.

You might be surprised to hear that there is more than just coins in our piggy bank.  So many people have touched our lives through our IVF journey, that we have decided to add all their names into the piggy bank.  If you have prayed for us, sent good vibes our way, shared your story, fasted for us, sent any amount of money or gift, or touched our lives in any way - your name is in that sweet piggy bank.

When it comes around to decorating a nursery, you better believe that there will be a special place for this piggy bank.

Thank you to everyone who has been there to love, support, and uplift us day after day.  It gets hard at times, but there is always a reason to keep going and enjoying this journey, which is you.

2nd Frozen Embryo Transfer

2nd Frozen Embryo Transfer from Ali Gowdy on Vimeo.

Why We Openly Share Our Story

I don't know why I've been putting this off for so long, but I have.  It's not like I don't share anything.  Thinking about it, I think that it's just finding the right way to put this all into words.

I can only imagine some people wonder, why in the world do we openly share our story?  This is our life right now.  This is what we are experiencing.

Here are three reasons why we are open about our experiences through IVF.

One.  We have family and friends all over the world that we share our journey with.  Whether it's our neighbors, family in Texas and California or in Canada, they are all involved and there for us.  It is hard to share every detail of everything we go through at separate times, so we find that this blog is a great way to share the experiences.

Two.  Being able to look back at our experiences is always so incredible.  We have grown in so many ways over the past two years.  Thinking of where we were two years ago, we have experienced and grown in more ways that we ever expected.  The experiences are something we would never want to take away, even the hardest times.

Not long ago,  Al Fox shared something that hit home in so many ways.  She said, "I've spent too much time literally yelling at God because things were hard and confusing; and too much time asking where He was because what I was asking for wasn't happening, and it was important to me.  What a waste that's all been.  Because it was all of those situations I was complaining about that always led me to even better things than I even knew was available.  Let's all vow to quit questioning His plan for us and allow ourselves to LET Him show us how great our God truly is.  Let's all loosen up a bit and laugh a lot more and exercise faith in a perfect God who profoundly makes no mistakes."
--That was so perfect for me and I really needed to hear that.

Three.  To connect with others that are going through similar circumstances.  We know that we are not alone on this road to parenthood.  Hearing others stories gives us strength to keep trying, and we hope that we can give strength to others too.

These are not all of the reasons why, but a few of the important ones. We gladly share our story: the love and support we continue to receive is so humbling.

As a quick update, last week on January 5, I went in for my Baseline Ultrasound and got the go ahead from Dr. Foulk to start the calendar of shots.  One shot down, and many more to go.  In hopes that we will have a successful FET and a family on the way.

Another Letter to Family & Friends

Dear Family & Friends,

Today Scott and I met with Dr. Foulk, our fertility specialist,  to talk about what went wrong with the most recent IVF treatment.  

Dr. Foulk explained that he likes to determine what went wrong based off of three things...and here's what he thinks:

1. Embryos: the embryos looked great when they were thawed, so that likely wasn't the problem. 

2. Uterus: the uterus looked good, so that likely wasn't the problem either, especially since we waited a month after the egg retrieval to let my body calm down from the hyper-stimulation.

3. Luck: we just had bad luck this round.  

We could go through everything again, just the same, but Dr. Foulk wants to do everything he can to improve our chances.  This time he is going to give me a medication that will increase the receptors in my uterus for he embryo(s) to attach.

Dr. Foulk used this analogy to help us understand how the receptors and embryos work together --  the receptors are like fibers on a carpet with round velcro circles on a carpet, and the embryos are like tennis balls bouncing around until they get caught on a velcro circle.  This last time, it's possible my uterus didn't have enough receptors for the embryo to latch onto in time.  This is hard to analyze or test before a transfer without a biopsy or removing parts of my tissue (which would cost more time and money).  

To improve the chances for the next transfer to work, Dr. Foulk will inject, into my uterus, a growth hormone to increase the number of receptors (or strengthen the receptors, I can't remember) in my uterus and then increase the chances for the embryo to latch on to the uterine wall.  The research is based off the same idea when one is given growth hormone to increase their white blood cells when fighting infection. 

Here are a couple links if you feel like reading more about the research Dr. Foulk has done:

http://science.sciencemag.org/content/299/5605/405

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2003-01/nioc-rdh011603.php

This next time, with the increased receptors, we are hoping we will have increased/better luck and the embryos will both stick.  One embryo has a 55% chance of taking.  If we add two embryos then that increases the chances of at least one embryo taking from 55% to 75% chance.  With increased chances of having more than one embryo plus the increased receptors, Dr. Foulk and we are very hopeful this next FET (frozen embryo transfer) will be successful.  

Now for maybe a bit "TMI", but it decides the timing for the next transfer: depending on when my period starts, it will determine when we do the transfer.  If it starts on the 1st-3rd of December, we'll do the transfer on December 23rd.  If it starts on December 4th or later, we'll do the transfer in January.  The period cycle indicates when I have to start taking all the preparatory medications/shots to prepare my body for the transfer and there's supposed to be close to two weeks from the start of my cycle to the day of the FET.

We love you all and can't express how much we appreciate your love and support.  

xoxo

Day 1

With the events of yesterday, I am still full of emotions.  It's hard to believe everything that has happened, when it all feels like it was just a dream...or nightmare.  

I was able to laugh and forget about all the heartache for a moment with my students today during one of our lessons.  Several of the vocabulary words we learned today completely tied right into my feelings.  We talked about the words annoyed, frustrated, cranky, and selfish...which all hit home with how I was feeling inside.  I could've used all the words as an example for my students, but decided not to.  So, now I get to share them with you.  

Yes, I am annoyed that after everything we have been through, nothing happened.  It felt like I was flushing thousands of dollars right down the toilet.  I am frustrated about the whole situation and want answers NOW.  Which makes me very selfish, but I'll just wait to learn why at a later time.  I may or may not be cranky today, but what do you expect when you learn what we just did.  

Look at that! I wrote a whole paragraph using all of the vocabulary words.  My students think it's the hardest thing to do, but when the words are so great and fit in with life, you can easily write a paragraph.  


Today, I decided that even with all the sad things that have happened, I need some good in my life.  A while ago I came across a "30 Days of Gratitude" post, which I knew back then I really wanted to do.  If you asked me yesterday to do it, I would've said NO WAY! But after some time, I feel like it is what I need most as this time.  

These are meant to be Journal Prompts, so I won't be sharing with you my response to all, but for today I will.  Here is the link to the website where I found the prompts, if you are interested in doing this as well.  

Day 1: What smell are you grateful for? 

Who doesn't love the smell of fall and Christmas?! The spices, pine, berries.  Mmmm! I just LOVE them all.  When I smell that, I think of family and friends gathering for the holidays.  I get anxious to grab a book and cuddle up and read or watch a movie.  For a season, things slow down and we can sit back and enjoy the time to do what we love.  

Here are the rest of the prompts/questions for the rest of the month: 

1. What technology are you grateful for?
2. What color are you grateful for?
3. What food are you most grateful for?
4. What sound are you grateful for today?
5. What in nature are you grateful for?
6. What memory are you grateful for?
7. What book are you most grateful for?
8. What place are you most grateful for?
9. What taste are you grateful for today?
10. What holiday are you grateful for?
11. What texture are you grateful for?
12. What abilities are you grateful for?
13. What sight are you grateful for today?
14. What season are you grateful for?
15. What about your body are you grateful for?
16. What knowledge are you grateful for?
17. What piece of art are you grateful for?
18. What touch are you grateful for today?
19. Who in your life are you grateful for?
20. What song are you most grateful for?
21. What story are you grateful for?
22. What tradition are you grateful for?
23. What challenge are you grateful for?
24. What moment this week are you most grateful for?
25. What form of expression are you most grateful for?
26. What small thing that you use daily are you grateful for?
27. What small thing that happened today are you grateful for?
28. What friend/family member are you grateful for today?
29. What talent or skill do you have that you are grateful for?

Thank you all for your love and support through thick and thin.  You are a strength to us and have a stronger hope for the future knowing that we are not alone.