Listen Up - NIAW 2017

Today marks the kick off of National Infertility Awareness Week, and we participated in Resolve's Houston Walk of Hope this morning.  

Despite it being late April, it was a pretty chilly morning, and we were all anxious to get the walk started.  All three kiddos did wonderfully during the walk, but the awards ceremony was a completely different story.  Cami wouldn't keep her blanket on, and wanted nothing more than to be held, which of course, I obliged.  Coleson wanted to eat CONSTANTLY, and Charleigh was utterly exhausted and melting down.  Thankfully, we were able to make it through the awards ceremony and I was able to claim my Facebook prize.  We got our annual picture with Dr. Williams, and the entire thing got me choked up - mainly because this is our last Walk of Hope here in Houston.  (Obviously, that is a completely different blog - and holy cow, y'all would not believe what happened at the playground today!)

Anywho, keeping on topic...

This year's Walk was different for me, and this year NIAW is different as well. Last year we went into this thinking that we may possibly do another FET in a few years.  The last year, in particular, was full of changes.  This year there's absolutely ZERO possibility of that happening.  The finality of the hysterectomy really hit home.

For those of you who don't know our story, let me share from the beginning - 

My senior year of high school, I was diagnosed with Endometriosis; this diagnosis came after years of problems.  My GYN put me on Lupron for six months, which was absolutely brutal due to the side effects.  After multiple laparoscopies, my GYN in Illinois told me that it would be quite difficult for me to get pregnant.  At that point, it wasn't even a concern to me.  

After Chad & I got married and moved to Texas I continued having problems and found a new  GYN here in Texas who performed a handful of surgeries on me within a month of my first appointment with him.  I had a D&C and hysteroscopy to remove numerous polyps, but during the surgery I ended up with a perforated uterus.  Due to this complication, I also ended up with a laparoscopy which confirmed that my Endometriosis was, indeed, a Stage 4. Almost immediately we decided to start trying to have a baby, and it never panned out. 

We tried naturally for six months, but because of my Endometriosis, my doctor didn't make me wait the full year that is clinically recommended.  From there, I did six cycles of Clomid.  I was ready to give up a few times, but my doctor encouraged me not to throw in the towel.  We went to a  consult with a specialist who recommended that we try no more than one IUI cycle before moving on to IVF.  

Once we decided to try IUI, we managed to convince our RE to let me try three more IUI cycles.  Sadly, I had some issues with cysts which pushed back our IUI cycles. Obviously, these cycles were a bust and I managed to rack up more diagnoses along the way.  We ended up taking a few breaks along the way and finally were able to start our IVF cycle.

Despite all of the odds stacked against us, we had a successful cycle.  Ten eggs were retrieved, and nine survived and fertilized.  Five days later, we transferred two embryos and of the two one stuck around and became our Charleigh June.

It was a difficult pregnancy, but well worth it.  Although I proclaimed numerous times during the pregnancy that I would NEVER have any more children.  A few weeks after her birth, I decided I immediately wanted to try again.  We waited until after our vacation to get the ball rolling.  I had my consult and scheduled an exploratory hysteroscopy to make sure I was in tip top shape for a transfer.  Some scar tissue was found and removed, and we moved on preparing my body for transfer.

On April 9, 2015 we transferred two embryos,and I was absolutely certain that it was unsuccessful.  Four days later I got a positive pregnancy test, and the day before my beta I was certain that we were having twins. 

Strangely, today marks two years since that beta where I sat and impatiently waited for the results all day long.  That beta was so high that we decided to wait until after our ultrasound to announce that we were, indeed, pregnant again. As I suspected, a multiple gestation pregnancy was confirmed.

This pregnancy was even more trying, but well worth it.  33 weeks and some odd days later

I had an emergency c-section and my sweet Campbelle Rose (Cami) and Coleson Richard were born.

Even though I knew that if I chose to attempt another pregnancy I'd be high risk for numerous reasons, I still wanted to try.  Unfortunately that wasn't in the plans.  In January of 2015 I had another laparoscopy and my doctor removed as much of the Endometriosis as possible.  Sadly, I never really felt any better and ended up with a hysterectomy in July.  During this procedure my OB found that everything he'd removed in Janurary was back, and more lesions/adhesions had appeared.

This year, I thank 

God that I've been given my threes miracles.  Some of them are more of a miracle than you can ever imagine. I was CHOSEN to be their Mommy.  And I wouldn't trade that for the world. 

Diagnoses:

Stage 4 Endometriosis

Diminished Ovarian Reserve

An ovulation

Premature Ovarian Failure

Luteal Phase Defect

Adenomyosis

Possible PCOS

Surgical Procedures:

5 laparoscopies

1 D&C

3 hysteroscopies

1 Ovarian cyst aspiration

1 HSG

1 tubal ligation (for those that don't know, this is actually beneficial during a FET because it prevents back flow)

1 Robotic Hysterectomy, leaving only my ovaries

Infertility Treatments:

Countless unmediated, natural cycles

6 medicated cycles (Clomid)

4 IUI cycles with injectibles

1 IVF cycle

1 Frozen Embryo Transfer

Three absolutely perfect babies:

1. Charleigh June, born 5/21/14 just shy of 37 weeks gestation

2. Campbelle Rose, born 11/13/15 (Friday the 13th - at shift change, no less) just over 33 weeks gestation

3. Coleson Richard, born 11/13/15 ***See above***

This year I encourage you to LISTEN.  Take a step back and talk to friends that you know are suffering.  INfertility is so very debilitating - it's emotionally draining, taxing on your body (physically & mentally), and expensive.  It's worth every penny, every tear, every shot, etc.  But don't hold back and NEVER give up hope.

I'm going to leave you with two of our favorite quotes:

`. When life hands you lemons (Infertility), find somebody with Vodka (an RE, in our case - HFI) and make a Vocka lemonade. (Thank you, Ron White)

2. The very things that hold you back are going to lift you up. (Dumbo)