Infertile Myrtle: A Festivus Miracle

I just looked at the Blog Dashboard (where we edit posts, manage settings, etc.) and noticed that this post will be our 500th post! So what better way to celebrate two and half years of Boston Baby Mama, and our 500th post that sharing a little secret.

Now let me tell you, I am not the best at keeping secrets. If someone tells me something juicy and asks me not to share it, I will of course keep my mouth shut, but one look at my face and you know I have something that I want to spill. Well, the last two months I have been keeping a secret from my family, friends and my loyal BBM readers...

There is a bun in Mama J's oven!

After our second failed IVF attempt (one canceled cycle, one failed implantation) in November I was all set to take off a month and start over with a third round. My doctor took me off all my meds and I thought I wouldn't be hearing from her for a couple months. Well, after I got my period I had a very long chat with her, as I was so depressed and needed to have some glimmer of hope that it would actually work at some point for us. We came to the conclusion that my body most likely does not respond to the pharmaceutical estrogen I had been on, and we needed to see what would happen when I was free of medicine.

I went in for blood and u/s two weeks later (not having taken any meds) and lo and behold my uterine lining was twice the size it had ever gotten while on the meds! So without telling any family or friends, we scheduled an IVF for the following Monday. I had one of our previously frozen embryos implanted, and then we waited two weeks...

And on my birthday in December I found out that it actually took. It was the best birthday/Christmas present I could have asked for.

Of course as the news of my pregnancy sunk in I started to freak out as the whole idea of two kids scares the crap out of me. And I am getting little bouts of anxiety daily about it, but I assume that is the norm as having two children is so much harder than the one I am used to.

My life is going to be turned upside down but I am excited about this whole adventure, and look forward to sharing everything with all of you!!

One last point I want to leave you with - if you are experiencing fertility issues as we have, talk to your doctor about ALL possible options, including a med-free cycle. When I met with my IVF doc last week for the last time she explained to me that her colleagues wanted her to talk to me about looking for a gestational carrier (or surrogate) as they didn't see any hope with me actually getting pregnant. Well, my fantastic doctor (Dr. Rachel Ashby @ Brigham & Womens, Boston) wasn't going to give up hope, and here I am feeling like I want to throw up all day and looking at baby names.

It is a Festivus Miracle!

PS. Due in August :)