I heart a plan.

Today was the day, I've been waiting for... answers about what's next in our journey to have our baby. 

It all started this morning around 7:30, Dru and I jumped in the car and we were off to the races. Dru knew that I was on edge, so he was making me laugh (he is always making me laugh, but more than usual this morning). He knows me all to well and knew that I was so nervous about the unknown, that he was gonna do whatever to cheer me up and get me laughing. I freakin' love him! 

Oh, mapquest.... it took us around it circles and through a neighborhood that we did not need to go through, but we kept our cool. Go us! We arrived at Alabama Fertility Specialist at 9:45, 15 minutes early. (My dad would be proud! He says, 15 minutes early is on time!) We were cutting up, laughing, and masking the enormous amount of nerves that were actually going on in our minds, hearts, and bodies. 

We were called back and of course, the dreaded weigh-in was done and blood pressure taken. My blood pressure was extremely high....ummm...wonder why? Little did we know, we would be waiting for ONE HOUR in the room! Yes, one hour. Dru fell asleep and I occupied my time with Pinterest, what else is there???

Dr. S came in and began getting to know us around 11:00 a.m. We went through all our information, our concerns, his concerns, and so on. Probably the most disturbing thing that we ran across, was in actuality we've been trying to have a baby since Aug. 2008. That's when we technically stopped preventing with birth control. That's a very long time to not be preventing and still not be pregnant. So, after going through ALL of our history, this is the plan that we are about to run with. 

Game Plan: 

• I do have endometriosis, a very mild case, but it's enough to cause me MAJOR pain during my period and enough to contribute to our infertility. 
• I will start taking Clomid after my next period is over, which will be on about Jan. 27th. (I will blog about Clomid later in another blog post)
• On day 10 of my cycle, which will be Jan. 30, I will call the doc and she will review my instructions. 
• I will begin testing with a Clear Blue Easy Digital ovulation kit on Day 10. I will be waiting for my LH surge. When my LH surge is detected, a smiley face will appear, it's quite exciting :) I will have to test everyday between 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. (That's going to be interesting, because I'm kinda responsible for 20 children throughout the day, but whatev, I'll make it work!) 
• When the smiley face graces us with its presence... I will call BEFORE 2:00 p.m. on that day and schedule my IUI for the next day. An IUI (Intrauterine Insemination) means that they will take D's sperm, "wash" them, and then place them in my uterus VERY close to the eggs that are being released. This way they have a MUCH GREATER chance of finding that glorious egg. Enter baby mixture. 
• Oh and btw, Dru asked me do they use soap when they "wash" them? Um, no, crazypants... I'm not sure exactly what that all entails, but I do know that it takes about one to two hours to do this step. 
• After the spermies are put inside my body, we wait. That's obviously the most trying and most difficult part. 
• One week after my IUI, I will need to go see doc or have my progesterone level measured here in AU. This will clue us into if the IUI worked and if we are in fact, PREGNANT! 

Now, those are the steps in the process this cycle, but he did pretty much lay out the whole plan. We will try 3 cycles of Clomid and IUIs. If we do not get pregnant, then we will start shots and do 3 more rounds of IUIs. If then we are still not pregnant, that's when we will do a cycle of IVF. 

All this to say, we have a long road ahead of us, but a really exciting one. I can not even explain how hopeful I am about the possibility of meeting our baby (or babies) THIS year! Oh and I say babies because taking Clomid comes with the possibility of multiples. There is pretty much a 50% chance of us having twins by taking Clomid. Dru and I would welcome the idea of twins. Friends, we do not care if we have just one baby, or more than one baby. We will be over the moon with boys, girls, one, two, three... whatever the Lord gives us! 

I know, longest post ever. Thanks for reading and caring about us. We are so grateful for the support of our friends and family. This journey would be wayy more difficult if we did not have y'all. 

Blessed by you, 

KB

And for your enjoyment. Here are some pictures of the trip. 

Just a little blood drawing... no biggie. At least the wrappy thingy was pink! 

And that's us. D never "just smiles"... gotta love him!