Meeningfully

We have battled secondary infertility since 2013, and we are extremely blessed to be about 12 weeks away from welcoming a baby girl into the family. Our "TTC" (aka as Trying to Conceive) journey for number 2 is well documented on the blog. While I haven't been writing much these days, I am glad I kept this blog because without it, I wouldn't be able to mentally keep track of how many times we have used artificial reproductive technology (ART) to get to where we are. As we enter the final trimester, and as I psyche myself up for the new year, it will be nice to recount this journey: 2013 - 1st SO-IUI after J turned 1 which ended in an ectopic pregnancy. One of my fallopian tubes ruptured as a result. 2014 - We went on to try 2 more times of SO-IUI. Both were unsuccessful. We also realised that my endometriosis was back, and had to start on treatment before we think about trying to conceive again. 2015 - We embarked on our first IVF. The haul was dis

I looked at my last post and realized that I have not written for over a month. Well...accurately, I have written. I wrote a lot. Just that it wasn't here. source

IVF egg retrieval for round 2 was done 3 weeks ago. And now, we take a break. Yup... we did not go for an embryo transfer. It was a collective decision that this would be the best for us right now.  A collective decision among hubs, me, our doctor and the embryologist. 

We started our 2nd IVF cycle about 3 weeks ago. This time, we are on the long cycle protocol. At the same time, our doctor switched our follicle stimulating  hormone (FSH) jabs from Puregon to Gonal-F. And, boy oh boy! This switch sure does some really horrible things to me.

I have written a great deal about not being able to conceive, and what we have been doing to bring us closer to our dream of having another child. What we haven't quite talked about is the why. 

My first scan took place on Day 6 of the IVF/ICSI process. I was lucky I did not need to do any suppression jabs due to my endometriosis. So, it was less poking than expected. This is the 5th day of taking my FSH injections. I was actually anticipating full blown grumpiness and bloatedness which surprisingly did not happen. Sounded too good to be true, which indeed yielded some worrying results.

#monthlyreflections #ivf #growingup #5lovelangauges I said I wanted to do a monthly round-up starting this year. Then I forgot. Now that I remembered, I am thinking what I should start with. With a quarter of the year gone, 2015 has proved to be a year of reflections and adjustments for the whole family due to certain decisions we made. With that, I am certain it is going to get tougher throughout the year. But we will pull through!

We wanted to have another go at SO-IUI and began waiting for my period of come. Days became weeks, and weeks became  months, and it didn't arrive. These things... when you want them to come, they don't. When you don't want them to come, they do. Instead of waiting longer, we walked into the doctors' office to change our plans. We will, rather we have just put our foot into IVF. Or ICSI to be precise. I did not know there was a difference, and I shall go into that difference in another post.

On top of cost being the biggest obstacle for couples who want to start on IVF, it is the emotional stress that may come along with it that may sometimes hinder couples from taking that giant step. Source

Deciding to start on IVF (in vitro fertilization)  to most couples is a last hope to having children. Yet, it is also an extremely stressful decision as it does not guarantee a child even after going  through the painful process.  source