Secondary Infertility: The first pelvic ultrasound

About an hour and a half before your appointment they make you empty your bladder. After doing so, you have to drink 30 oz. of water in 30 minutes. To some that may be easy but for me it was torture. I already don't get enough water in my system so I felt like I was going to drown. I timed it right where I would eat my lunch during those 30 minutes so it was easier for me to drink water. Then, you wait. You can't use the bathroom prior to your appointment and again it wasn't so bad at first. As I pulled into the parking lot the urge came. I rushed to diagnostic imaging and of course there were 3 people in front of me. At this point, I was doing the pee dance and even had to sit on a chair to hold it in. I seriously thought I was going to pee in front of everyone! I threw my medical card onto the counter and told the receptionist, I have to do that ultrasound thing and I drank a bunch of water but I really have to pee! She called the x-ray tech and notified her about my situation and gave me the ok to release a little. I guess she could tell from the look in my eyes and me hunched over with my legs crossed that I wasn't going to be able to hold it across the building to the nearest restroom so, she let me use on their bathrooms. I kid you not, it flowed like the Jordan river. A few minutes later I was called back for my appointment. 

I've had ultrasounds before (ummm... hello, I've had a baby before) but I was still anxious. I knew what an abdominal ultrasound was like but I've never had a transvaginal one done. The abdominal one is like what you see in the movies. A warm gel is placed on your belly and they have a tool (scanner looking thing the size of a hand scanner you see while checking out at the grocery store) that can see your insides. Nothing major.

Then the ultrasound tech handed me this huge wand looking thing. Seriously, it looked 2 feet long. She said "ok I'm going to hand this to you under the blanket and you're going to stick it in" I responded "like a tampon?" She chuckled and said yes. It wasn't as bad as I thought nor did it hurt like I thought but she was in there for a little. A little cramping and a little pressure and discomfort but nothing major. I did take an Aleve before my appointment so that may have something to do with it. She probed and moved the wand left and right. Within 20 minutes the appointment was over. Thank goodness because sure enough I had to pee again!

                         

Secondary infertility is STILL infertility

 I've been a bit anxious opening up about this but I told myself I wanted to start writing more in 2021 so here it goes...

In 2016 we were blessed with a healthy baby boy. Well, now that baby is four going on fourteen and we've been longing to grow our family. I always wanted my kids close in age 2, maybe 3 year apart, but unfortunately that wasn't in the cards for us. I had a bad pregnancy the first time around and I remember telling myself "I don't know why anyone would want to put themselves through this again knowing what it was like the first time". From nausea to actually loosing weight from throwing up so much, to 3.5 hours of pushing and breast engorgement from clogged ducts you name it, I had it. I often blame myself for the reason why we haven't been able to get pregnant again. Thoughts like "if I hadn't complained so much" or "why does my body hate me so much" are often played in my head but I have to keep telling myself to Trust in HIS plan and not mine.

So here we are 2 years of trying and 1 year of really trying and still no sibling for Jet. We've had numerous conversations about how far we really wanted to go with treatments and finally made the appointment to meet with an infertility specialist. At the end of 2020, literally December 28, we met with the specialist and she asked us a bunch of questions regarding our medical history and family medical history. She developed a plan of action starting with taking vitamins (Irene: Omega - 3, CoQ10, D3, prenatal and Titan: Omega - 3, CoQ10, D3, Mens multi-vitamin). We started those and I developed a rash in my underarms and me and the ladies room got to know each other really well - I'll leave that part up to your imagination. I recently stopped the CoQ10 and my rash has disappeared and I no longer frequent the restroom. 

Next, she ordered a bunch of tests. First, Titan had to do a semen analysis. He complained about it but seriously, all he needed to do was provide a sample in a cup. His results came back normal and we learned that he has many healthy swimmers. Us ladies, we have it a bit harder. Some tests include an ultrasound (both abdominal and vaginal) to check your ovaries and uterus. 7-10 days after the start of your period you do a HSG test where they insert dye into your fallopian tubes to see if they're open or blocked. Both men and women have to do some blood tests. Once we get the results back of all the tests we'll develop another plan of action. This could include several rounds of IUI and eventually IVF. Since we already have one kid we (more-so me) decided we'll go as far as IUI but didn't want to do IVF. 

I'll document more of my journey here so feel free to check back for updates. Here's to hoping to introduce you to a new healthy sibling for Jet by the end of this year or early next year!