The History of Lisa & Joe

I jumped right into where I am right now. I thought it might be nice to add a little background of who I am. And what got us where we are today in the world of infertility. It is kind of like it's own little world. I'm over here, looking over at the rest of the normal population, waving to my friends and family. Who just don't get it. On my own little, all-consuming planet.

Back to the history:
Joe and I met Jan 2005. My old co-workers were meeting for happy hour and Joe came with his friend M who he went to high school with. When I walked in I said to M, who's your friend...to which he said, stay away you're on the re-bound.

I had just (as in 2 weeks ago) broken off my engagement to my boyfriend of 5 and a half years.

So Joe and I were introduced, and we chatted for a while. Everyone was getting ready to head over to the hockey game. My friend S and I weren't going and coincedentally, Joe wasn't going either. So the three of us sat there drinking and talking, mostly about 90210. We hung out there for awhile and then head over to another bar, where Joe and I continued to talk, very close, and also drink. Finally Joe said, “well are you going to kiss me or what?” So we kissed. We ended up going home together that night. He wanted me to come back to his place, because I had to see “Anchor Man.” We got back to his place and my girl friend from earlier called me crying because she ran into her ex boyfriend. So I asked Joe if we could go get her and take her home. He did, and then we went back to his place. We did not sleep together that night, even though he totally thought it was happening. Something about me grabbing beers and jumping in his bed while he was in the bathroom…you’ll have to ask him for the theatrical details, he loves telling that story.

So the next morning Joe took me home and gave me his number. I called him and we went out on a date. We went to dinner and to a bar. It was a truly great date. We had so much to talk about, there was never a dull moment.

I called my friend Emily after the date and I remember saying, he’s a great guy. He’s everything I’ve ever wanted in a husband but I don’t think I’m going to call him back because I’m just not ready for a relationship. I had just broken off my engagement in Jan. Coincentally Joe was also engaged, and had broken off his in Nov.

So I didn’t call him back, and then a few months later we ran into each other at a bar. We said hello, but I was in the middle of a conversation and then he was in the middle of a conversation. And then he ended up leaving. Then a few days later, I was running down Park Ave, and there was Joe sitting at a coffee shop reading the paper. So I stopped and said hello, and apologized for not being able to talk the other day at the bar. And then continued my run. That weekend, we saw each other at the bar again. This time we talked for a while and I told him about how my mattress was in the hallway in my apartment because I couldn’t get it up to the third floor. He offered to come over and help me with it. We were drinking so I said oh, ok.

A few days later, I was leaving my house, actually with my ex, we were going to try to be friends, so we were going to dinner. And he said, what’s that on your car a love note. I went over and it was a note from Joe, telling me to call if I needed help with my bed. Notice, my ex didn’t seem concerned about the bed as he walked by it on the way in and out of my apt…

So I called Joe and he was going to come over and help me with the bed. The day we were suppose to meet, I was running late. When I got home from the gym and tanning, Joe was there. I was so grose! He still makes fun of me about that! He got the bed upstairs and I made him let me take him to lunch to say thanks. We had a great time. I was laughing the whole lunch. We said good buy and I’ll see you this weekend. We were both planning on attending the same friend’s happy hour.

We ended up hanging out that Friday. And then we hung out, a few more nights. Then we hung out during the week…watching Grey’s that I taped that he wanted to see. Funny how he doesn’t like that show now. One day we went to the outlets together, and I remember being nervous because I wanted to hold his hand, but we only did that stuff when we were drinking. When we got home I told him this and we kissed. What a dork. I know.

After that things started to progress faster and on Joe’s birthday, we said I love you. And we were boyfriend girlfriend. Again, I know. Total dork. The next day he asked me to go to Florida with him in December. At this point I knew I wanted to marry him. I was in no rush. I wanted to enjoy the dating part. Things were great. I was so happy.

The following Dec Joe proposed. I was completely surprised. We had talked about it here and there, but I wasn't expecting it for a while. So we started planning our wedding and got married on the most perfect day in July at St Mary’s Church in Canandaigua and had our reception at the Canandaigua Inn On the Lake, in a big white tent on the water. All of our friends and family were there. It was my dream wedding. I actually miss that day. We went on a cruise for our honeymoon. We sailed out of San Juan to Carasuo, Aruba, St Marteen and St Thomas. We got back to San Juan and spent a night there before heading back to Rochester and Mr. and Mrs.

I'm not a very good blogger

I already missed yesterday...and it was only my second day with my blog.

In my defense I was thinking about what I should be writing while I was on the treadmill at the gym. If only I could hook something up to my brain to transfer it in here, this blog would be rockin'.

I had a dr appt yesterday. It was day 5 of my cycle and we went in for an u/s to see if we could start the injectables. We couldn't do them last month because my ovaries were huge, and had these cysts. Which aren't a bad thing, health wise. You just can't do the injectables until they are gone and your ovaries are back to normal size.

For those of you not familiar with injectable fertility drugs, here is a little overview. There are several different drugs. Follistim and Menopur are the ones I am familiar with. You take them for anywhere from about 5 to 15 days of your cycle. They help to grow follicles in your ovaries. How they are different from the pills like Clomid and femara, I'm not exactly sure. But I think of it as "steppin it up a notch." You have to have bloodwork and u/s s done while you are taking them to monitor the number of follicles growing, the size of the follicles, and your estrogen level. There's a risk of hyper stimulation, too many follicles in your ovaries, that's what all the monitoring is for. *****Disclaimer****I sort of get all this stuff. Do not take my explanations anywhere. I may be calling something the wrong name or who knows what else!

Anyway, we went yesterday and my ovaries looked good. I attribute that to the little talk I had with them on the drive over. Oh, also, my dr put me on pill this month. Yes the BIRTH CONTROL PILL. Taking the pill while ttc is just hysterical...isn't it. Anyway, it supposedly helps reduce some hormone from being released and that helps to make the cysts go away. So my ovaries looked good and we're OK'd to start Menopur this month. I have been freaking out about this cycle with the holiday. We're going to PA to see my family and I was worried that, that was going to screw things up. Turns out we're going to be ok. Bloodwork Thurs, dr will call Sat to let me know if we need to adjust the dose. U/s next Mon.

We go with the nurse who is going to show us how to do the Menopur. She's explaining the needle and the amps, and the q-caps. And then she explains how to inject it. The cap on the syringe is about as long as my pinkie. She said I could inject it into my thigh or stomach. I asked if I had to stick just the tip in. She said no the WHOLE NEEDLE. I got a little dizzy and grabbed my chest. "Oh my god." She whipped the cap off, and showed me that the needle was only about an inch and a half. Trying to catch my breathe...I was very relieved. I can handle that. The process of mixing the menopur is a bit like doing a chemistry experiment. You have to take 1cc of the saline, put it into the amp with the menopur, draw that out, put it into the next amp, and draw that out. Since I am only on 2 amps right now that's where I end. Holy crap though. She told us that people who are doing IVF have to take like 8. At least I'll be prepared if we get to that point.

So around 9 pm I started my experiment. It actually went pretty well. I was expecting it to be much worse. I had heard it burned a lot and made a big bump on your leg. I didn't think it was bad at all. So I'm off to do it again right now. Hopefully it goes as well as last night.

After 16 months of TTC, I'm trying something new...A Blog

I've read many other people's blogs about fertility, infertility, losses, treatments, IVF, IUIs, etc. I love reading them. Thank you to all of you woman who have shared your story. They have gotten me through days that sucked. And weeks that were crushing. And months that were shattering. The dreaded 2 weeks wait...many of those.

I've actually started writing a book. About a year ago. I work on it once in a while...not very far with that.

Today I watched the movie "Julie and Julia." In which Julie, writes a blog. So although it had nothing to do with infertility...it is apparently what inspired me to start this.

I wanted to share my story, which I was going to do in my book, and I believe I can do that, it's just such a large financial investment that it seems over whelming, so I'm doing this.

Hopefully my story will help some people out there and hopefully I will get some feedback and comments from everyone out there that will help me.