Finally!

Holy crap. We're actually moving forward!!!!

When we got Andy's last test results I was excited, but the nurse was pretty negative about it. We've heard nothing but "IVF!" since the first visit, and I was preparing for how to talk to the RE at my IVF consult abot how we would like to try an IUI first because I was sure she wouldn't agree. When we went in and she started talking she immediately went to IUI. We didn't have to say a word about it, and she only mentioned IVF in the context of "If these don't work and we have to move on in a few months...". I was surprised, and Andy and I kept holding hands and smiling at each other. We were going to wait until the next cycle (starting in late July) to get started, but she wants to do an unmedicated cycle. She doesn't think I need medication... she said she thinks our problem is getting things where they need to be when they need to be there. We're not sure what affect the 1 "abnormal" part of Andy's test will have, but we'll have to go in and actually do the wash to find out for sure. Now, we're still waiting for AF this month and hoping she doesn't come. I'm actually a little more hopeful because the RE kind of gave me the impression that we might be able to conceive on our own given enough time. I might be making that up though lol. I also feel like the fact that she was pushing IVF so hard and has stepped back to IUI shows that we have an actual shot. She had no issues recommending IVF so she must really not think we need it yet. So here's my little timeline for this month:

CD1 (Around 6/21 - SO CLOSE) - Ultrasound and bloodwork
OPK + (probably somewhere around CD18) - Call and schedule IUI, then IUI the next day
14 days later - beta

It's an extremely simple cycle. She said to call when I see ANY significant color change on the OPK strip, which is good because they can be a little tough to decipher at times. She said we had the option of doing more monitoring and a trigger shot, but we decided we'd try 1 natural cycle first and then if we needed another cycle we'll do the trigger. We hadn't planned on doing it at all so I need to get my finances in order before we add more ultrasounds. They're just over $100 a pop, which won't be a big deal soon, but until we get these 2 credit cards paid it's a lot. And according to Fertilityfriend, I do O the same day as my true + OPKs or the day after so we should be fine with timing.

There's no way to tell if this is going to work or not, and I'm curious to see what the wash does (I'm nervous about that part) but it's cool to have something to try starting in just a few days!!!!

Also, she said she's ok with waiting a few cycles before the HSG. She says she has no reason to think I would have a problem, but that if there were a blockage the IUI definitely won't work. Because of my kidneys, though, she's willing to wait 3 cycles and see what happens. Since we're not doing a lot of monitoring and I have 50% coverage, if they happened to find a blockage, we wouldn't have wasted TOO much money. And if I got pregnant during those 3 cycles she wouldn't have to risk any kidney trouble. Psyched about this lol.

Our timeline is still the same. We'll be doing 3 IUIs and then looking at IVF around October/November if needed. I am hoping everything is ok with my kidneys during this time but we'll keep monitoring them to make sure my creatinine stays under 1.4. If it starts to get worse we'll move to IVF faster, but hopefully it'll stay around the 1 mark. In October I'll have about $1000 more a month than I do now so it'll make paying for treatment easier too. The IVF loan would be about $250 dollars per month (for 4 years but we'd pay it faster) for 1 cycle, so that's nothing to sneeze at.

On the monetary front, Andy has an interview on Friday that I'm VERY excited about and I think he will get the job. The company is a contractor for Comcast, so he already knows the system they use, and our friend Michelle works there and has put in some good words for him. He likes and is very good at customer service jobs, and he'd be on the phone with employees half the time too. They pay decently so we'll have more money to hopefully get some bills paid off for good. It's in Frederick which is about 50 minutes from our house, but Andy drives for a living now, so it won't cost any more in gas, and he'd probably keep the delivery job a few nights a week. He picks school back up in the Spring in Towson, so that's.. a good hour and a half from Frederick, but he's going to try to set it up so he only has to go to campus 1 day a week and it would be his day off so he won't have to drive all that way. They have hybrid classes so he could go 1 day and get face time with the teacher (which is good for him) but have 1 day of online learning. If nothing else he could do somethingl ike Tuesday/Thursday classes and have 1 day be his day off so he only has to make the crazy drive once a week.

This has been an insanely long post but I'm done. I'm just excited to finaly have a timeline in my hands! It's the coolest feeling to know that if I get my period in a few days, we're starting a real treatment!!!! YAY!