Disappointment and Questions

Well, we filed our taxes. We will not have enough this year to do more than fix our roof. I have to say that I wasn't too bothered by this at first. I think the biggest reason was because in all honesty, I still had my urologist that I had to see to hear that I probably hadn't gotten my urine sodium levels low enough for him to give us the go ahead anyway.

I had my urology appoinment yesterday. Not only was my sodium level lower, but so were all of my other levels. What does this mean? This means that my body should be letting go of cystine more easily and mean less possibility of the kidney stones from it. Very important, especially in case I was to get pregnant and be as sick as I was with Jack.

This is great news, don't get me wrong, but it's also ironic. Of course, the levels couldn't be great and we could have the money for an IVF cycle. I realize that this is something we can't have control over, and that ultimately God has a bigger plan for us, it's just disappointing.

I spoke with my urologist and told him that I've been faithfully praying for another child, and for God to show us another way to complete our family. I asked if I could go off of the Thiola while we are trying to conceive naturally. He said that was fine so long as I continue to keep my sodium intake low and my fluid intake high. He said it's better for me to go off of that medication now because by the time I would find out I was pregnant it would be too late anyway, and any damage would have been done. This is NOT a drug you want to mix with pregnancy. So, I'm off of it.

I've also given thought to another idea. I'm not sure if it's one that our fertility doctor would agree to or not, but I do think it's worth discussing. When we did our last IVF cycle, he said that my husband's sperm count, motility, etc. had all come back better. As a matter of fact, the count had gone from 3 mil at our first IVF cycle to 9 mil this cycle. We have no idea why it improved, but we're happy with it. That said, I was wondering if it was good enough to try intrauterine insemination (IUI). The reason IUI was not an option for us the first time around is because the count, morphology, and motility were all poor. It was because of those reasons that we were fast tracked to IVF with ICSI. I googled it (yes, I am aware you cannot believe everything you read online), and don't like to do IUI's with less than 5 million, and prefer it to be 10 million-ish. Granted, I'm not sure how much improved things like the morphology and motility were, but if they were better, and could continue to improve, I wonder if IUI could be an option for us. There is the issue of my one patent fallopian tube, but I also googled that, and there are people out there who have gotten pregnant with just one tube.

I called our infertility nurse coordinator and left a message asking if this could be a possibility and one that our doctor would be willing to discuss with us. I'm waiting for a call back. I've already bought royal jelly with bee pollen for me to try to boost my egg quality, and I'm seriously debating getting some Fertili-Aid for Archie to try. IUI is covered by our insurance with only a $100 copay each time, and up to 4 cycles. I won't bother doing it if our physician doesn't think it will work, but I feel like we need to do something. We already know that he told us with our last cycle that my egg quality had greatly declined in just 3 years, and I'm not even 30 yet (later this year)!!! It scares me. We can't keep praying and hoping for something to happen and not investigate this option. He may think we're crazy and tell us it's not going to make a difference, and that is fine, but I have to at least ask.

I'll post an update when I've heard back from the infertility people!! In the meantime, if you pray, could you please pray for patience, and perhaps a miracle for us? Thank you!