Chemical Pregnancy?

I have been testing since 6dp6dt and got some great pink lines on days 7 and 8dpt but then the lines started to get lighter. The one today, even though still there, is so faint that it is starting to look like an evaporated line. So I think unfortunately I’m probably having another chemical pregnancy….

Here is a close-up of the two last ones:

November 17th, 2008 - Posted in All Things Fertility, Czech Republic, fet | | 0 Comments

Our 6 day old Embryos!

I thought I should put a couple of pictures here of our embryos that we had transferred on November 6!

Aren’t they good looking?

November 13th, 2008 - Posted in All Things Fertility, Czech Republic, fet | | 0 Comments

Back From the Czech Republic!

I’m back home after an almost 24 hour trip so I spent almost the whole Sunday (today) sleeping and now I’m feeling a little better!

November 9th, 2008 - Posted in All Things Fertility, Czech Republic, Uncategorized, fet | | 0 Comments

Counting down…

It’s getting a bit real now!

October 3rd, 2008 - Posted in All Things Fertility, Czech Republic, Uncategorized, fet | | 0 Comments

FET in November!

Well, it is official! I purchased the tickets yesterday for the trip to the Czech Republic so everything is set for the FET. I will be going along with my DD and we are leaving on October the 31st to Prague where we will spend two days. We’ll be going to Brno (where the clinic is located) on the 3rd of November and the transfer should be happening (crossing my fingers) on the 4th or 5th of November. We will be leaving Prague to go back home Saturday the 8th!
Hoping I will not have any problems since I will be there alone with my DD!

I talked with Dr. Stepan about adding steroids to my protocol and he agree with it but didn’t tell me which steroid he wants me to use but told me I will take it when I get to Brno. I am wondering if he will be giving me a shot of Medrol?!?!

October 1st, 2008 - Posted in All Things Fertility, Czech Republic | | 0 Comments

Muscadine/Scuppernong Grapes Picking!

What a great day we had here in Florida yesterday not too hot and there was a nice breeze! Now we are waiting for tropical storm Fay to arrive here in NW Florida where we live.

We went to pick grapes (Muscadines) in our backyard and we all had a good time. I really like Muscadines, we all do but we usually just wash and eat the fruit. About 7 years ago was the exception, however, because Jeff made some wine out of those grapes. It was actually a really good wine!

This year I really want to try to make some Muscadine jelly or jam and maybe even try to use them as a pie filling. I hear that “Muscadine Grape-Hull Pie” is very delicious, so I will try to find an easy to do recipe for that!

August 22nd, 2008 - Posted in Mommy Stuff! | | 0 Comments

Treatment in the Czech Republic – Part I

I have lately received some emails requesting more information on the clinic we used in the Czech Republic for our latest fertility treatment and also about our experience and trip.

It will probably take me more than one entry on the subject. So if you want to learn more about fertility treatment in the Czech Republic just keep an eye out here.

I think that a good place to start is our reasoning for choosing treatment abroad!
And I have to tell you that “money” was the main reason and the lack of it our greatest motivation to try to find a way. After my last IVF cycle we learned that we would need egg donation if we were going to have a second child and we could not afford the high cost for an egg donor IVF cycle at a clinic in the US without getting in too much debt.
An egg donor cycle in the US can cost close to $25,000 so obviously it is not for everyone!

We were not new to the idea of treatment abroad since I have had three IVF’s already over-seas in Brazil for which the second try gave us our daughter. I would have done an egg donor cycle in Brazil but they just allow shared donation with patients who are going through IVF themselves, and I didn’t like that too much. I think anyone going trough IVF to try to conceive will probably need all the eggs they can get.

I found clinics all over the world where it might be a possibility for us to go for treatment and I contacted many of them. But not all of them replied back to my emails and some replied they required a first visit to go see them before treatment, and I didn’t want to do that. I want to be able to do any medical pre-tests locally and not have to travel overseas twice to be able to have a cycle. In the end we narrowed down our search to Argentina and the Czech Republic. With both clinics I experienced great communication directly with the Drs. but the Dr. from Argentina requested tons of tests/exams that in my opinion were unnecessary (I know I’m not a reproductive endocrinologist but after 15 years trying to conceive I have had too many tests before and I know the game - as soon as you want to move to another clinic/Dr, most of them want you to have all types of tests done all over again.

I researched the Dr. from the Czech Republic and found out that he has many publications out there and has presented his work at many conferences, and that for me was a good thing just to know that he was very active in his field of work.

I also found a great online-community from the UK and many of the women were going to the Czech Republic for treatment and they were all very helpful and knowledgeable and helped me a lot!

It took us about 6 months from the time I started looking for a fertility clinic overseas for us to commit to our treatment with the clinic in the Czech Republic and start organizing our trip for our first try at IVF with the help of a egg donor!

August 21st, 2008 - Posted in All Things Fertility, Czech Republic | | 0 Comments

SOLVING OUR GREATEST PROBLEMS

Just some food for thought from a letter I received from Steve Goodier that I wanted to share with this blog’s visitors.

“We have great problems. Insurmountable problems! But we can solve even our most difficult problems if we work together.

Some of the greatest problems we face today are concerned with the gradual destruction of our environment through over-use and abuse of our resources. Unsightly brown clouds; wildlife extinctions; water that can’t be consumed; the disappearance of ancient glaciers. these problems all seem so huge.

So my family does what we can. We take cloth bags to the grocery store instead of using paper or plastic grocery sacks. We buy organic foods when possible. We walk where we don’t have to drive. Our home, like many of yours, is filled with compact fluorescent bulbs and we use water saving faucets.

But does it do any good? When I am the only one in line at the grocery store with cloth bags, am I doing any good? Does my walking to the store or shivering under the drizzle of my anemic shower head make any real difference to the world?

I recently learned something about flamingos - which probably behave like many migrating birds. These exquisite birds flock in huge groups of a thousand or more. Every year, when the time comes for migration, a few flamingos start the process by taking off from the lake. But none of the others seem to notice, so the tiny group returns.

However, the next day they try again. This time a few more struggle along with them, but the vast majority still pay no attention, so these pioneers come back.

The trend continues for several more days. Every time a few more birds join in but, since the thousands of others still take no notice, the great migration plan is once more aborted.

Then one day something changes. The same small group of birds once again takes wing and a tiny number more join in, just as before. And this time their total number, though still quite small, is enough to tip the balance. As one, the whole flock takes flight and the migration begins. What a spectacular sight it must be - thousands of flamingos taking to the sky at once!

A few CAN make a difference. It’s true that all of the great problems of the world have been solved because of the persistent efforts of a few.

Anthropologist Margaret Mead put it like this: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

If you believe in a cause, don’t give up! Others will someday take notice and together we will solve even our greatest problems.”

– Steve Goodier
Used by permission - www.LifeSupportSystem.com

August 4th, 2008 - Posted in Food for Thought, Used by Permission | | 0 Comments

A source adds: “They were too impatient.”

We saw on the news today that Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s Twins pictures will soon be released to the media. Not that I care one way or another about celebrities babies pictures but this announcement was followed by a comment by my husband: “Do you know that they used IVF to conceive their twins?” “Why?” I asked and he didn’t know the answer so my curiosity got the best of me. I had to find out “why” and it turns out that Angelina chose to have IVF so “she wouldn’t have to deal with the stress of trying to get pregnant,”

“What?” I’m shocked… In vitro takes all the stress out of conceiving? Really? Maybe for celebrities like “Brangelina” who don’t really need it, and have the money to blow on treatment and who carry the infertility diagnostic of being too impatient to conceive naturally, “They both desperately wanted more babies soon,” a source within their camp told Us Magazine.

Don’t you love the way the media makes IVF sound so glamorous when it has to do with celebrities? When they report on real people’s infertility challenges they picture us as second-class human beings, perhaps “freaks” that would do anything and everything to have a baby….

I am speechless….

August 2nd, 2008 - Posted in All Things Fertility, Uncategorized | | 0 Comments