Our Story

My name is Danielle or Danni, depending on when in my life I met you. I met my husband Andy while I was bartending on the side. At first a good impression he did not make, but several weeks and several drinks later we hit it off and have been together ever since. We started dating on July 20, 2005, he proposed on November 1, 2005 and we were married November 11, 2006. From the beginning we had a great relationship. We were both from the same small town but had never met (he is 6 years older than I am). We we met I was just about to turn 31. I should have known then that because it took me so long to find the man I was going to marry it would take me about a lifetime to have a family.

From the time we got engaged bad things and disruptive things kept happening. I was diagnosed with Trigeminal Neuralgia (a very painful nerve disorder) which I subsquently had to have surgery for in May of 2006, my now MIL was diagnosed with Ureter Cancer and had to have her ureter and kidney removed. Thank Goodness she is fine now! We also stupidly decided to buy, remodel and add on to a house the same year we were planning our wedding. The house is done now for the most part, but we certainly learned a lesson. We are never going to build or remodel again! So when our honeymoon came around in Feburary 2007 (we went to Nassau, Bahamas for my brother's wedding and decided to kill to birds with one stone), and we decided it was time to start to have a family I should have known it wouldn't be easy.

We officially began TTC in March 2007. The pills were gone, I stopped drinking, I tried to eat healthier, went to the dentist, had already had my yearly, I was ready to go! When it got to me six months TTC and AF kept showing up I started to get bummed out. When my best friend announced she was pregnant after trying for only three months I got pissed off. When a year rolled around and it seemed everyone was pregnant but me I became lost. I finally went to my GYN to discuss my issues. He began by giving my an HSG. Tubes were clear. He then started me on Clomid. During my first Clomid cycle he found a cyst during a mid-cycle U/S. He wanted to keep tabs on it and asked me to come back a couple weeks later. When I did it had nearly doubled in size. He subsequently scheduled me for surgery and essentially drained it. He said it was about the size of an orange. No damage to my ovary. Yea! But it was a small victory because he subsequently told me that I had a huge amount of scar tissue surrounding my uterus and ovaries and he said that if I was able to get pregnant it would most certainly be a tubal pregnancy. My heart dropped. He then gave me a name of an RE and also sent Andy off to be tested so we'd have those results ready.

Well, Andy's results weren't great. I can't rememer the number but I do remember there weren't very many, and they didn't want to go anywhere. The upside was that they were not irregular or deformed. My RE then had him tested again at their facilty and asked that we not have sex for a week before. This numbers went up but not greatly. Subsequently Andy had a whole battery of tests for chromosomal disorders and such and everything came out fine. My RE thinks it is probably just a vericocele. When we went to discuss our next option he said there was a 50% chance that a surgery on Andy would work but that would push back IFV approximately six to nine months. We had already been TTC for 18 months! We decided to start IVF and because of his sperm issues we are doing ICSI. For those of you who ready this and have no idea what that is, it is where the doctor injects one sperm in each egg, rather than a petrie dish free-for-all. That way each egg is fertilized.

So we are now embarking on our first journey of IVF. I started by being on BCP for 21 days. I started to give myself Lupron injections on Day 14. I am no off of BCP and am waiting for my first blood test and ultrasound next week on November 12th.

So far the drug hasn't been too bad. At first I felt nothing at all, but now I am a crying mess. I was watching Grey's Anatomy last night and when there was an emotional part, pre-IVF I would have teared some and moved on but not last night, I cried like a baby for about 20 mintues. Crazy! I am also really quick to get angry and paranoid right now.

Oh, and on a side note, while we don't have any actual human children, we do have four fur-babies who I wouldn't be able to do with without so I want to mention my son Arroyo (dog) and my three cat-daughters Hollie, Sadie & Gertie. They are the best!

I also want to thank all of the ladies on the infertility websites for all their help and support during this stressful time. While I wouldn't wish this on anyone it is nice to know that there are women like me who can identify with the struggles and emotions of this long hard journey into motherhood.