What's going on?

I've been slacking on the posts because life is a bit overwhelming at the moment. I'm halfway through my second to last quarter of classes and my parents decided to come visit for a week. In between writing papers, answering midterm questions, and writing discussion board posts, I've been cramming in 30 hours of classroom observations. Thankfully, I'm almost finished! That means I can finally get back into my normal routine, which includes going back to spin and muscles classes.

My parents visit definitely threw me off. They were here for an entire week, so I had to do my best to entertain them. Unfortunately for all of us, there's not too much to do around here, so a lot of time was spent in the house. My dad and I did get to go ziplining (not an activity that I thought I would be able to do in North Carolina) and we had a good time.

(My dad zipping along)

(Waiting to cross the huge suspension bridge)

(Waterfall!)

(Suspension bridge)

Since we're currently sitting on the TTC bench until the beginning of next year, I decided to go through with any and all testing that my RE suggests in preparation for IVF. After some scheduling conflicts due to not having a negative pregnancy test (talk about a stab to an infertile's heart after a failed IUI) on file, I finally had my saline sonogram done. I was nervous because another doctor would be performing the procedure since my RE was out of the clinic. Surprisingly, everything went well and I only experienced some minor cramping after the procedure was over with. Nurse D told me that everything looked clear. We also discussed scheduling an HSG to check out my tubes. D thought that I had had one done before - nope! Since I can't schedule the HSG until the next cycle day 1, I'm looking at popping some birth control pills. My chart is all over the place and I haven't ovulated or had a period without drugs in who knows how long, so I'll go in for another darn blood test on cycle day 35, then start the birth control. D suggested that I just stay on the pills until E gets home so we can time one more IUI before our IVF cycle in April.

While we were on the topic of IVF, I asked about the drug protocol. It seems my combo of meds will be L.upron, G.onal, M.enopur, and E.ndometrin. I'm slightly nervous about the M.enopur because I've heard that it burns. Hopefully I won't have to stim too long or produce too many follicles which causes a cancellation. Figuring out a correct dosage for me has proven to be tricky in the past. D told me that I'll most likely come in for monitoring every day or every other day. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

So I guess that's the run down of what's been going on around here. BF is gearing up to have baby girl. Since I won't be able to make it home for Thanksgiving, we decided that I would spend a few days with them before Christmas. I'm looking forward to meeting my "niece". She's already so spoiled and she's not even here yet.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend! Happy Halloween tomorrow :)

And the winners are....

Thanks to everyone who entered the Shutterfly Holiday Card Giveaway!

The winners are:

JM from Meier Maddness

Alison from Always Moving Forward

~she~ from SHE Says

Please leave a comment with your email address or email me directly so I can send you your promotional code for 25 free cards!

If I'm not contacted by Tuesday at midnight, I'll be re-drawing for another winner(s).

I hope to have another giveaway soon, so keep a look out!

MilSpouse Friday Fill-In

Well it's been a few weeks since I've participated in the MilSpouse Friday Fill-In, but I'm back! Head over to Wifey's blog to link up your blog and to sign up for the MilSpouse Secret Santa!

1. The best part of October was getting to spend time with E for his R&R. I can't wait for him to be home for good next year!

2. The worst part of October was having to send E back overseas and finding out that our 4th IUI did not work.

3. For Halloween, I'll be sitting on the porch to hand out Halloween candy like I did last year. The dogs go INSANE every time the doorbell rings, so I sit outside with a bowl of candy to avoid barking and howling for 2 hours.

4. I hope that in November I get the majority of my school work finished so that finals week will be a breeze in December.

5. Wifey has posted MilSpouse Secret Santa. I will be participating.

Don't forget to enter my Shutterfly giveaway! The giveaway closes on Saturday evening and I will be announcing the winner on Sunday!

Wordless Wednesday

Happy Halloween from Murphy

(and Bella who's hiding because she HATES the camera)

A lack of updates

Sorry for the lack of updates. It's been a busy week around the house since my parents have been visiting for the past week. I've also had midterms, classroom observation hours, and fertility-related appointments. I drop the parents off at the airport tomorrow, so hopefully I'll be able to sit down and write a post tomorrow night or Thursday afternoon.

Just a reminder - Don't forget to enter my giveaway. You can win 25 free holiday photo cards from Shutterfly! I'll be accepting entries until Saturday evening and announcing the winners on Sunday morning!

Christmas Card Giveaway!

Last year, I came across a promotion from Shutterfly that offered 25 free Christmas cards to Blogger users. I was so excited because I love to go through our family photos from the year, select the best ones, and send cards out to our family and friends. Since I have a long list of people to send cards to, the free card promotion was an amazing help over the holidays. Shutterfly has a large variety of Christmas and holiday cards to choose from. There are also some other great products available, such as photo books and greeting cards. I was so excited when Shutterfly announced that they would be running this promotion again.

I have a few pictures from E's R&R that I would like to include on this year's card, plus a few pictures of our adorable pups. I already started looking at the options for this year. Here are some of my favorites so far.

(The Cheer Christmas Collage - would be

perfect for a larger picture of E and I and

2 smaller pictures of Bella and Murphy)

(I love the simplicity and colors of this card)

(This one is so darn adorable!)

Ok bloggies, here comes the giveaway part. Shutterfly has not only provided me with a code for 25 free cards, they have also given me promotional codes for 3 of my wonderful readers!

I guess you're wondering how you can enter to win, right? Well here are the ways you can enter to win 25 free cards (Please leave a comment for each separate entry).

1. You must be a follower via GFC. Leave me a comment telling me which card you would like to order from Shutterfly.

2. Tweet about this giveaway.

3. Write a blog about this giveaway.

I will be using the Random Number generator to determine the winner. The giveaway will close next Saturday, October 29th and I'll announce the winner on Sunday, October 30th. Good luck!

October ICLW

Hello fellow ICLWers,

Welcome to my blog! This is my 5th time doing ICLW. I discovered some great blogs and gained a few new followers last month and I'm looking forward to doing the same this time around.

Let me give you some background information - My name is Lauren and I'm 28 years old. I'm married to my wonderful husband E. I'm a proud military spouse, full time graduate student pursuing a master's degree and certification in elementary education, momma to 2 furbabies, Bella and Murphy, and momma to my 2 angel babies. I love reading, spinning, weight training, baking, cooking, and teaching.

We've been TTC for over 4 years now. I was diagnosed with PCOS (lean) last June while we were stationed in Arizona. I have extremely irregular cycles when not on fertility medications(i.e. 146 cycle from hell last summer). I've done countless rounds of C.lomid and injectible medications. I've had 2 miscarriages - one in March 2009 (11 weeks) and the other in November 2010 (5 and a half weeks). My 4th and last IUI was a failure, so TTC is being put on hold until the spring when E comes home from deployment. We will be pursuing IVF with ICSI in April 2012. If you want to see our full history, click on the "Our TTC History" tab at the top of the page.

I'm looking forward to reading new blogs and having new people read mine! Please leave a comment to let me know you stopped by so I can head over to your blog.

Wordless Wednesday

Source: tumblr.com via Lauren on Pinterest

(Rumor has it that Arrested Development

may be coming back for another season.

This would be AMAZING; however,

I'll believe it when I see it.)

Attention lurkers!

(photo credit)

I'm going to be holding my first giveaway very soon, so click that little "Join This Site" button in order to be eligible to win!

I appreciate all the love and support from all of my readers! Also, please leave a comment so I can follow you back :) I'll post the details of the giveaway towards the end of the week/beginning of next week.

October 15th

(photo credit)

Did you know that today is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day? It's a day to remember and honor all those that lost their lives much too soon through miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy, still birth, or infant death and lends support to all the parents, grandparents, families, and friends involved.

Sadly, I know too many people who have been affected by pregnancy and infant loss. We lost our angels on March 25, 2010 and November 4, 2010.

Tonight, at 7pm in all time zones, please light a candle for one hour to create a wave of light and show your support.

I'm also posting an article published in The Washington Post to share some information about this day.

Pregnancy and Infant Remembrance Day: Marking lives lost too early

By Janice D’Arcy

This weekend families around the country will mark losses that are often unacknowledged by friends and even sometimes by family. Oct. 15 is officially called Pregnancy and Infant Remembrance Day. Unofficially, it’s known as the time of year when families that grieve over miscarriage, stillbirth and newborn death find company and solace.

Remembrance Day originated in 1988, when President Ronald Reagan designated October as a month to focus attention on these deaths. Advocates later chose the 15th as a specific day for personal reflection and public events, such as the International Wave of Light when parents all over the world are encouraged to light candles at 7 p.m. to recall their lost children.

“Culturally, Americans don’t know what to do when it comes to mourning a pregnancy loss,” said Julie Bindeman, a Rockville psychologist who plans on marking the day. She has suffered three pregnancy losses.

“Things are more concrete when it comes to losing a known loved one. There is the pull to ‘get over it’ and ‘put it aside.’ However, for mothers and families that have suffered through this kind of loss, the grief stays with them. With time, the grief diminishes, but a day of remembrance allows both those who have experienced the loss and those that have not to validate the grief.”

Have you experienced a miscarriage, stillbirth or infant loss? Has the loss been acknowledged or understood by those around you?

Wordless Wednesday

Source: tasteofawesome.com via Lauren on Pinterest

Thank you Pinterest for making me laugh today. I needed it.

Moving onto IVF

(photo credit)

I left a message for my RE's nurse on Sunday and she called me back this afternoon. Here is the tentative plan:

I will have a saline sonogram done sometime next week. However, my RE won't be able to perform the sonogram because the clinic is closed. Either the radiology department or another doctor will be performing the procedure. Not sure how I feel about this, but it needs to be done within a certain timeframe.

We will attempt to do one more IUI after E returns, but before IVF. If it works - great. That means we save about $7,000 plus I don't have to stick myself an insane amount of times. If it doesn't, then we will go to the IVF orientation on April 18th. I thought that I would start the prep for IVF in March; however, I was originally misinformed. It doesn't look like the clinic is doing anything IVF related in March. I'm actually alright with this. E is supposed to have 2 weeks of vacation at the beginning of April and we were debating going on a vacation. I'll have a week off from student teaching due to spring break, so this actually works out perfectly for us.

The egg retrieval would tentatively occur during the week of May 7 with either a 3 or 5 day transfer. It looks like I'll have to ask to begin my student teaching about a week early so I can have a few days off for the procedures. I don't want to fall behind and have to make up the few days at the beginning of June.

While I'm not trying to dwell on this past IUI failure, it's hard not to be disappointed. I'm glad we have a plan, but it's also disappointing that we have to put TTC on hold for so long. It feels like we're always waiting. My first angel's first birthday should have been this coming Thursday, October 13. What would have our lives been like if that baby would have been born?

Also, possibly the only positive that came out of this IUI was finding out that 2 doses of progesterone is needed each day. My LP while on 1 dose was 10 days. My LP this time was 13 days, which is back in the "normal" range. I wonder what would have happened with the first 3 IUIs if I had been on the progesterone 2 times a day instead of 1? There I go again, dwelling on the past. I really need to just move on, live in the present, and look forward to the future. It's still hard at this point, but I'll get there. Someday.

It's not goodbye, it's see you later

Sadly, E's R&R is over with and he's on his way back to finish up this deployment. I hope time goes by quickly, so our family can be complete again. I still need to write a blog post on our weekend trip to D.C., thoughts on this last IUI, and school. New, longer posts will have to wait though since homework is calling me. I'll leave you with a few pictures I took before I took E to the airport.

(Our little family)

(Just the two of us)

The results are in

IUI #4 = BFN

AF showed up in full force this morning.

We are currently on a TTC hiatus until the deployment is over. I left a message with Nurse D about scheduling my saline sonogram in the next few weeks since this is probably the last time I'll have a CD 1 for a long time. I also asked to set up a meeting with her or Dr. P. to talk about a tentative timeline for IVF #1 which will happen in late March/early April.

I don't know what else to say about this right now. I'm numb.

M.I.A.

I've been M.I.A lately, but definitely for good reason. E and I decided to spend the weekend up in Washington, D.C. and we just got back today. I have to catch up on some homework, but I promise an IUI update and pictures from the weekend soon!

(Old Town Alexandria)