Gotta start somewhere

Well, I finally did it! I got up the nerve to start my first blog ever. I guess the logical place to start is to first you a little about myself and my journey.
My husband and I met in high school at age 15. After graduating college, we got married. During our many years of courtship, we agreed that we would have a very large family (about 4-6 children). Although I was diagnosed with PCOS at age 14, I really thought there would be no problem with our goal. It appeared that my family was very fertile (paternal grandmother had 4 children and maternal grandmother had 6). So, after the honeymoon, we decided to start what I like to call "the preparation phase." In this phase, you must accomplish several goals.

1) Get the HAY out of your parent's pool house apartment and move into a place of your own.

2)Get a job!!! Yes, this step should be first as it will assist you in completing step 1. When we got married, we both had jobs that had absolutely nothing to do with our chose career path. We just needed something to get us through.

3) Lose some weight and get healthier. Who couldn't stand to loose a few pounds? Anyone heard of the college 20?

4) Start saving. I heard babies aren't cheap.

We anticipated that phase would last about 2-3 years. Basically, my dear husband, Joshua, wanted to wait until all of our "ducks" were in a row. As I look back at this list, I realize how naive I was back then. I just knew everything was going to work out great. *sigh*
Anywho, things were falling into place with our plan, I got a terrific job about eight months after graduation/wedding. Joshua had to go back and finish some courses for his bachelor's degree. However, we were still able to save for a home of our own. About two years into our plan, my cycles were not regular at all although I was on the pill. So off to the ob/gyn's office I went. After a slew of blood work, my doctor told me that my insulin levels were too high and that I was insulin resistant. In addition, he asked if we were planning on having any children. Of course I told him yes, but we had a plan. Muffling a giggle, my doctor said that based on my age (not quite 30, but almost there), and my lab results, we should definitely think about having a baby sooner than later. This of course made me extremely nervous. My doctor advised one more cycle with the pill and that I start 500 mg of metaformin a day. When I got home, I spoke with Joshua about what the doctor had said. Although hesitant, he agreed that we should start trying.

With the fact that our phase one plan was not yet complete, we put it into overdrive. We began searching for a place of our own. About two weeks later, we found an awesome two story home, 5 bedrooms 3 1/2 baths. It was in our price range (HUD home) and in a really great neighborhood. It didn't take long and we made an offer on the house and of course it was excepted. Terrific, everything was lining up perfectly. Being raised in a Christian home, I just knew that God had made everything work out. We closed on our house in July 2005 and began moving in August 28, 2005. I don't know if I mentioned it, but I am from Louisiana. Can you guess what hit southern Louisiana on August 29, 2005??? Yep, you got it, Hurricane Katrina. That experience is blog all by itself and I will dish about that later. Anyway, as you might have guessed, our house was devastated by the storm. 30 large pine trees came through my two story house, which was now a one story. Lucky my husband nor I were there when it happened. I used that fact as my saving grace. The Lord allowed my husband, myself, and our whole family to be safe. No one was injured or lost their life. We were truly blessed that day.

Of course, because our area was completely devastated, my doctor's office was closed for a few months. In addition, I had to have surgery to remove a kidney stone. **Hint this stone could be the reason why me and my whole family were not at our houses when the hurricane hit. ~Again, I will blog about that later.*** So, baby making plans were put on hold for the time being. Naturally, when you want something more than anything else in the world, but you can't just have it like you planned; someone else will get that something just place in their lap. My sister-in-law announced that she was pregnant about two weeks after the hurricane hit. GRRRR.

Finally, my doctor's office reopened and I set up my official "We're ready to make a baby" appointment. More bloodwork was done and my doctor uped my metaformin to 1000 mg a day. In addition, he put me on 50 mg of clomid for cycle days 5-10. We went through about 3 cycles of this and then my doctor wanted me to stop for 3 cycles. I was put on the pill while we waited for me to regulate again. During this time, I concentrated on rebuilding our home. No stress there, right? Then, round 2. My metaformin was increased to 1500 mg a day and clomid 100 mg. 3 more cycles. Of course during this time, my work had me stationed in Alabama while we transitioned to a new contract. Although it took 8 hours of driving, I would go home every chance I got. Especially during those "code red" days.

After 3 cycles still no luck. I now began having reactions to the medication. I dare not touch anything with carbs in it as it would make me violently ill. Also, the clomid began to blur my vision and I was having hot flashes like a menopausal woman. I expressed my concern to my doctor and he stated that we had a few choices. One of which was just to back off of all the medication for a few cycles to give my body a break. In addition, I should start looking into moving to the next step of fertility treatments. IUI or IVF. At this point, I dove into researching infertility options. What the procedures entailed. How much it would cost. The downtime between procedures. The chances it would work. My doctor sent me home with pamphlets on the process. How I was going to have to give myself the HcG shot. How to adminster the shot. Geez. Did they know how queezy I get around needles?

Well, it turns out I didn't need any of that. Although we were completely prepared to go the IUI route. I got pregnant without the aid of medications. No clomid, no progesterone, no metaformin. It was just good ole fashion prayer and spontaneous "code red." I couldn't believe it.

And thus started my journey into mommyhood.