A New Start?

Here we are again with it having been months and months since I last posted. I'm hoping to actually make a new start at blogging. I have more time now, since I have now transitioned to being a SAHM, but I digress. Let me start from the beginning and update you.

When last I posted, we were in the early stages of Monkey's adoption. I am incredibly pleased to report that we finalized his adoption on March 3, 2014! He is officially ours! We are so very excited and totally in love with our little boy =)

The last time I posted, we also had two other young children living with us who were available for adoption, but, due to circumstances, we were not going to be adopting them. I am pleased (for them) to announce they have now moved on to their adoptive home. They left us at the end of December (after Christmas) and are reported to be doing well.

We were back to being a family of only one child for about 5 months. In April, we determined we were ready to grow our family more and we requested a referral on some children living in North Carolina through Adopt Us Kids. We advised our caseworker we were doing this and she was suportive. Four hours (yes, hours) after our request for information, we heard back on the children in North Carolina that they had a lot of interest, so were restricting it to North Carolina families only. I called our caseworker to update her and she had news for me that she had received an email that morning about a sibling group of 3 who were in need of an adoptive home. She gave me the name of their caseworker and it was the same caseworker Monkey had! We felt it was a good sign.

I spoke with the kids' caseworker that same day and got information on them. They seemed to be a good match for us, so I asked for a meet and greet with them. The caseworker stated she would talk with the kids and try to arrange this. It took about 3 weeks, but we finally met with the children. We had an instant connection with them and began weekend visits with them in order for them to finish the school year out at their current schools. School finished on May 16 and the kids moved in with us on May 17! The Hubs and I discussed our situation in great detail and finally decided I should become a stay-at-home mom. So I finished my last day at work on May 30.

The kids have been living with us for just over a month and things are going well so far. We've had some minor problems, but that is to be expected. We have lots to learn about being a family of 6, but we're getting there! We feel very good about our family choices!

Termination of parental rights (TPR) is still pending on the new children. The caseworker is hoping for a smooth termination and for finalization by Christmas. They would put us finalizing all four adoptions in one year! The children are a 13-year-old girl (Prissy), a 9-year-old boy (The Dude) and an 8-year-old girl (Princess). The girls are very, very girly! They love clothes and makeup and nail polish. Total little divas! The Dude is a sports guy, so he and The Hubs have truly hit it off well! We're very excited about our growing family and are hopeful things will go smoothly. Please wish us luck while we continue to grow our family!

I'm going to be trying to blog daily. I'm hopeful I'll be able to do this and I hope you'll join me on my journey! I'm also planning to be redoing my blog design some. This would be helped along if I could find my Paint Shop Pro to install on our computer but, so far, no luck in locating it. If anyone feels like donating a blog design, I'm up for it, lol!! In the meantime, I'll be working on what I can find to update the design myself. Til next time!

ICLW -FIrst time for a year!

Welcome to anyone visiting me from ICLW, as well as anyone who just stumbled by (although, after all this time, I can't imagine that happening)! This is my first ICLW in a year! I'm really rather looking forward to it =D I guess it's time I get started back blogging regularly anyway.

Let's see. I think I'll start by giving you a bit of our history. The Hubs and I met online in August 2000. He's from England and I'm from the US, so for a couple of years we visited back and forth across the Atlantic. In June 2002, I went to England for what was supposed to be a 2 week visit and, while there, The Hubs asked me to marry him. I said yes and in November of that year, we were married in my hometown in Georgia. We chose to reside the first few years of our married life in England. In January 2006, following a year-long immigration journey, we moved to the USA to live. We've been here ever since.

On our first anniversary, we decided we were ready to be parents, so we stopped preventing a pregnancy. After about a year with no sign of pregnancy, I began temping and charting my cycle. That carried on for the next few years. We were convinced it would happen, but it never did. In September 2008, I carried my concerns to my OB/GYN. She diagnosed me with Type II Diabetes and started me on Metformin. After a few months of that and still no pregnancy, she prescribed Clomid for me. Four cycles of that and still nada, so she prescribed a round of Femara at my request. Still nothing. It was time to look at the next step. We were referred to a Reproductive Endocrinologist with our first visit in April 2010.

During the first few visits with our new RE, I was diagnosed with Hypothyroidism and Endometrial Hyperplasia. I was prescribed Synthroid, referred to a regular endocrinologist and had a D&C. I was also advised to lose weight. A year and a half of visits with the RE failed to produce a pregnancy - in fact, due to my failure to lose weight, the treatment we were given was minimal. By September 2011, we were ready to move forward with a different path to parenthood.

Earlier in our journey, we had two failed private adoption opportunities. I won't go on in length about those because they're still very painful (particularly the first one), but they are part of what led us to our decision to adopt through foster care. We sat down and looked at all the options available to us for adopting. We knew we didn't want to try private adoption again at this time, so our decision was between adopting through an agency or foster adoption. After discussing it at length, we decided the children in foster care had less of an opportunity to find an adoptive family than those through an agency, so that was the option we went with. We had viewed the "My Turn Now" list of children in Georgia who were available for adoption and we found a 14-year-old girl we were very interested in adopting. We called the State hotline to start the process of becoming foster/adoptive parents in October 2011.

In November 2011 we still had heard nothing back from our request for further information, so I called again and found there had been a glitch and we had not been added to the list. This phone call, we were added. A few days later, we received an invite to an orientation class, which we attended in late November 2011. We turned in consents for background checks at that meeting and then had to wait for a call back to start IMPACT training classes. By February 2012, we'd heard nothing more and several phone calls to our caseworker had not been answered so I called again directly to the local DFCS to find out what was going on. I was redirected to another caseworker as our original one was no longer employed at DFCS (hence the reason we'd had no further contact) and was told she didn't even have our names or our file. She went in search of said file, found it and sent our invites for IMPACT training. We had our first class at the end of February 2012. We attended 10 weeks of training classes and finished our last class on April 10, 2012. Our next step was to proceed through the home study process. We did this throughout the summer of 2012 and, in September 2012, our homestudy was submitted to the State of Georgia for approval. We received a call from our caseworker on September 26, 2012 saying that our homestudy had been approved and our home would open on October 1, 2012.

We were awaiting a call back from the caseworker of the girl we were hoping to adopt when, on October 9, 2012, we received a phone call from our caseworker with the words "Look, I know this isn't what you signed up for, but we have a 2-year-old little boy we need placement for. Is there any way you could keep him?" Those are the words that would change our lives forever. We told her we definitely could and 2 hours later, we picked up our Monkey Man (or MM). He has been with us ever since. In May 2013, his birthmom sat down with us and told us she was thinking of voluntarily relinquishing her rights if we would adopt him. We had hoped for the opportunity to adopt him anyway, so this was a complete blessing. We told her yes and agreed to an open adoption with her. We are now waiting for his birthdad's rights to terminate, which should happen in October. His birthdad actually spoke to MM's caseworker recently and requested for surrender papers to be sent to him as he no longer wished to be involved (which he basically hasn't been anyway). Once those rights are terminated, we just have to wait for all the legal time frames to be met and then we will finalize his adoption! We are so excited!

Additionally, on May 24, 2013, we had two more children come to live with us temporarily, a 4-year-old boy and a 3-year-old girl. They are quite the handful, but we're making it with each other. Their mom voluntarily surrendered her rights in July and their dad's rights are set to be terminated in November. Their maternal grandmother has petitioned for custody, but we don't know if this will work out or not. In the meantime, DFCS is looking into other possible permanency solutions for them. We are not being considered a permanent placement at this time because of their more extensive needs, however, we are hoping whatever permanency they do have will allow us to maintain visitation with them.

As for the girl we originally hoped to adopt, we were informed she cannot be in a home with other children and we would not be considered a placement for her. This was heartbreaking news, but we only want the best for her and the other children in our care, so we will forge on. We do hope to adopt at least one more child, but we will see where our path takes us. For now, we are just enjoying life.

So, that gets you up-to-date with me. We actually have a visit planned with MM's birthmom for this afternoon, so I will be able to update you on that situation later on. I'm looking forward to blogging more regularly once again and I hope you'll join me!

K - Knocking On Heaven's Door - Bob Dylan

Today would have been my dad's 71st birthday, the first since he passed away. This has been a very difficult day for me. I made it through though. And I guess from now on, they'll just get easier. So I'm told, anyway.


Happy Birthday Daddy

Day 21 - A Picture of Something That Makes You Happy / ICLW

There are several things that make me happy....


My nieces, Bug and Boop


Being silly


I mean, seriously? Who could resist those faces?


And, of course, Pog! Have you ever seen a cuter doggie face?!?!


Finally, my lovely, wonderful husband.

The things that make me happiest? My nieces, our puppy and The Hubs. Life is a great thing when their in mine!

Day 18 - Dreams/Plans/Goals You Have

Another really easy post!

It's no secret that one of my dreams/goals that I have is to become a mom. I've wanted it for so long and we've worked so hard trying to move closer to our goal. I hope 2012 will be our year to finally become parents!

Another plan I have is to complete my degree in April, graduate and begin working on my teacher certification. The quicker I can complete my schooling, the quicker I can begin to look for a new job that I love!

I hope The Hubs and I can one day purchase the house of our dreams! We love the house we live in now (even though we don't own it) but we'd really love to have a beautiful home just the way we like it one day.

I'd like to successfully run a small side business, either crocheting or baking. I know I'm good at both these things, I just never seem to have the time to do either of them! Something to work towards though.

This relates to the first thing I said, but I want to complete the adoption process and walk away with our child soon. Then, when the first adoption has finalized, I hope we can adopt another child.

Those are my dreams/plans/goals!

Day Fourteen - A Picture of You and Your Family

Once again, I do not have a single picture of me with my whole family. In fact, I don't have a picture of myself with my sister and the younger of my two brothers (who is still older than me) at all! However, here are three photos that contain most of the members of my family.


My Dad, my Mom, my eldest brother Goose and me


The Hubs, his Gran, his brother, me, his sister, his Mum and his sister-in-law

And, last but not least.....


The Hubs, Pog and I at Christmas 2006

I hope you've enjoyed!

Day 7 - A Picture of Someone/Something That Has the Biggest Impact On You

The Hubs and our puppy (Pog) are truly the biggest impacts on my life. They are a part of every single second of my life. Everything I do is with them in mind and is considerate of how my actions would impact them.

What can I say? My biggest impact is my family =D

Update On My Dad

First off, let me say thank you so much for all the thoughts and prayers that have been going up from the online community for our family! It really means so much to us!

I wanted to give you an update on my dad's condition. It does seem like he has had a stroke, but one brought on by hypoxia (shortage of oxygen) rather than due to an embolism (blood clot). It was a relatively mild stroke, however it is exacerbated due to him having COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease). Saying it is relatively mild does in this instance, however, mean that he is still currently in ICU. We are hoping he can be moved to a room in the next day or so.

He had a Modified Barium Swallow (swallowing) test performed yesterday, which he failed. He was aspirating everything he tried to eat during the test: thin liquids, honey, thickens (pudding, applesauce). They stopped at that point rather than moving on to more solid foods, which would actually strangle him even more. He is still unable to talk, also. What all this means is that he will have a speech therapist working with him for his speech, swallowing and confusion over the next few weeks.

During last night, it seems he had a very bad night, attempting to climb out of his bed and pull his tubes out. The ICU nurses called the doctor on-call overnight and he ordered an injection of the sedative Halodon (a psychotic sedative) which has knocked him out completely today. He is currently completely non-responsive. We can't even get an actual evaluation of how he is today.

Depending on how he is doing when the sedative (which has been ordered to be given NO MORE) wears off, it will determine whether he is staying at the hospital he is in currently (the one I work at) or moving on to one in Savannah.

That's about all we know for now. I'll keep you updated as we know more! Keep those thoughts and prayers coming! We need all we can get!

Need Thoughts/Prayers

I need your thoughts and prayers please! My dad has had to be brought to ER today for a probable stroke. He is being admitted to ICU. Right now we know very little, but I will update you when we know more. We know right now that his oxygen saturation levels when he came into ER were registering at it's highest at 60% (should be at least 94% to 100%). Please, please just keep him in your thoughts/prayers! He is 70 years old and has not been in good health for the last 20 years. I'll update you when I can!

Show and Tell - A Busy Week

The wonderful and lovely Suzy at Not a Fertile Myrtle has restarted Show and Tell for those of us who were missing it! Be sure to stop over and join in!

I'm feeling somewhat better now than I was earlier this week. Let me apologize again for my whiney posts. I just felt the need to vent.

Anyway, I thought for this Show and Tell that I would share with you the events of this busy week, which included a visit with my RE, my mom's surgery and my latest ankle swelling.

I'll begin with my RE visit. When we got to the visit, we were carried back pretty much immediately. Dr. O discussed a few things with us and then I explained to him that I had had some cramping pain in the weeks since the surgery while on Megace. He decided that he would do an ultrasound just to see where we were with things. It turns out that my endometrial lining is a little thick (8mm to 10mm), I have a 13mm follicle on my left ovary (with Megace, per Dr. O, there should be no follicles) and I have a tubal cyst. So, Dr. O decided to take me off Megace for a week to bring on AF, then on CD5 I'll start Megace again. I'll suppress my cycle for 6 weeks again, then come off Megace again to start AF, have a cycle and then, after the cycle has finished, Dr. O will do another endometrial biopsy and we'll go from there.

Also, I've been doing home glucose monitoring to be sure we're able to manage my sugar levels. Dr. O was a little disturbed by the fact that my fasting sugar levels which should be averaging under 110 are actually averaging 130 to 140 and my two hour post-meal levels should be under 150 but mine are running around 180 to 250. Dr. O has decided he will be referring me to a medical endocrinologist. So I have that to look forward to. Fun stuff to come soon!

My mom had back surgery the same day as my RE visit. I have to say she's doing very well afterwards. She had degenerative disc disease and her doctor had to put a couple of metal pins in one of the discs to lift it off the nerve in her back. As the only female around, I'm having to play nursemaid. I've been changing dressings and making sure she has what she needs. Considering what life has been like around here lately, it's actually been okay. She's been rather nice which is a change from her usual self. I'm pleased to see the change.

Last but not least, on Tuesday of this week, my left foot decided to swell up. This happens fairly frequently (about once every couple of months). It's been happening for a couple of years and I've seen my regular doctor and an orthopedic surgeon regarding the swelling, but no one can determine what the problem is. It has been suggested it may be gout, but I've tried a steroid pack and Colchecine amongst other medications for gout and it has had no effect whatsoever. Dr. O thinks it may be rheumatoid arthritis and he has stated we will probably do a referral to a rheumatologist before the end of the year. Hopefully, they'll be able to determine what is causing the trouble. In true Show and Tell fashion, I'll share a picture of my swollen ankle with you.



Looks painful, eh? It is.

Ta-ta for now, friends!

Sad News and Celebration of a Life

We got some sad news on Saturday. The Hubs' Grandmother passed away Saturday morning.

It wasn't unexpected. She was 95 years old and had Alzheimer's. She'd been on a downward slide for several years, but it still a difficult thing for us. Apparently she had a fall at home (where she still lived by herself - she had carers who came by everyday and The Hubs' Mum drove down to visit several times a week) on Friday and was taken to the hospital. She was stable Friday night, but had a massive heart attack Saturday morning.

The Hubs and I were up getting ready to go out of town for the day when his Mum texted him to call her ASAP. I told him to be prepared because I felt like his Gran had probably passed away.

After he spoke to his Mum, we had to decide whether to continue with our out-of-town plans or to stay at home. The Hubs decided there was really nothing we could do at home and that he felt his Gran would want us to go ahead with our plans, so that's what we did.

We went to Valdosta, GA for the day where neither of us had been before. The Hubs commented repeatedly throughout the day how much Valdosta reminded him of Sheffield, England. Valdosta was an old mill town and, even though its much more of a built up city now with the university there, the city has still managed to preserve some of its history, so The Hubs was able to see the chimneys from the mill and the water tower. The cityscape was very much like that of Sheffield with its water towers and chimneys left over from its days of being a huge mining town.

At one point, we got mislaid (to use The Hubs words - we weren't lost, just mislaid) while trying to locate the renovated mill and, in the process of retracing our steps, I happened to notice something interested set on the main road, but back from the road, so had I not been looking right at it, I never would have seen it. It was the Queen Victoria British Pub! Since The Hubs had been reminiscing all day and we were both feeling a deep loss for his Gran, I pointed it out to him and suggested we have dinner there. He readily agreed, so several hours later, we made our way back to the place.

When we walked in, it was like stepping back into England! The pub had proper English beers (although we didn't partake - The Hubs was driving and I don't really drink beer)! There was proper English food! There was proper English tea! And - in a rare moment of authentic recreation - there were proper English flags (not the Union Jack British flag, but real English flags)!

It was an astonishing and welcomed experience.

We ordered a Sprite for me and a Dr. Pepper for The Hubs and we then toasted his Gran. She loved pub meals. We always took her out to eat at a pub when we went to visit her. The Hubs ordered bangers and mash with seasonal veggies for his meal. I had Steak Diane (NY strip steak sauteed in Worcestershire sauce, sherry, shallots and mushrooms), mash and seasonal veggies. We finished off our meal with cheesecake (white chocolate raspberry for The Hubs and Chocolate Turtle for me) and a pot of hot tea.

We met and had a conversation with the owner of the pub who is also the chef. He's a Londoner and the former Executive Chef to the White House during President Ronald Reagan's time in office.

It was a wonderful evening and a most fitting tribute to The Hubs' Gran.

When we got back in the car to travel home, they were playing a Beatles' song on the radio, followed by a Wings' song. That's when we really knew. Gran had led us there. She had given us a chance to grieve for her and to celebrate her. There's no way we would have found the pub had we not gotten lost. She led us to it. Then, she wanted to make sure we knew it was her, so she had the Beatles and Wings playing for us. She was that kind of woman. She knew finances would not allow us to go to England for her funeral, so she gave us a celebration of her own.

So right now, wherever you are, please do me a favor and raise a glass in toast to a woman who meant so much to her family and friends. She's the last of her generation of friends and family, having outlived her husband and son, her best friend and all her siblings.

To Mary!

Show and Tell - First Baby Haul

I have three siblings (two brothers and a sister) who are all a good bit older than I am. They each have 1 child and there is a 7 1/2 year age gap between each of the children. In fact, my nephew (who is my eldest sibling M's son) is 7 1/2 years younger than I am. MJ (my nephew) is 23, Boop (eldest niece and daughter of second eldest sibling, brother D) turns 16 next week and Bug (youngest niece, daughter of sister D) is 8. All that being said, its been a while since my Mom had a grandchild who was a baby......so she's going a little baby crazy!

This past weekend, she bought us our first baby stuff (aside from what we'd put away over the years). Below is our first baby haul.

Show and Tell - Vol 6 - Images From Wistfulgirl's Real World

For this week's Show and Tell, I thought I would share some images with you from this past weekend of my real world. Some of the images come from the festival The Hubs and I attended with my sister, her 8 year old daughter (R-Bug - my adorable niece), our 16 year old niece (Boop), and R-Bug's best friend. The other images are from a walk with Isabel (our inside dog who I may alternately call Pog occasionally - that's her nickname) and Melody (or Melly, our outside dog). It was just a very relaxing weekend. I'll warn you ahead of time - there are a few photos this week!


A field near our home. I think this is one of the most beautiful places in our neighborhood.


The Hubs at the fall festival.


My eldest niece, Boop.


My youngest niece, R-Bug (the blonde on the left - our adopted baby!) and her best friend Saturday at the fall festival.


The Hubs, Pog (the black dog) and Melly on our Sunday walk.


A secret little pond near our home. Not many people know about it.

And last but not least:


Me, taken at the fall festival Saturday.

Remembering

Eight years ago

I was sitting at my desk at the radio station where I worked with my feet propped up on the desk and reading a magazine when my co-worker rushed in and said "A plane has just hit the World Trade Center!" Our first reaction was shock and commenting on how awful it was, but we had no inkling how terrible it would actually turn out to be. His next announcement, just a little while later, was "Another plane has hit the other tower of the World Trade Center! They're saying we're under a terrorist attack!" Those words turned my blood to ice. Even now, remembering his words I feel myself shiver slightly.

It was the first time in my life I had ever felt insecure about my safety. Previously, I had always felt that we, as a country, were one of the Untouchables. Never in my lifetime had the United States experienced anything like this. The last time anything even remotely similar had happened had been Pearl Harbor, some 60 years earlier, when my dad was only a few months old! It was a feeling I will never forget.

Shortly after those first announcements, real panic set in for my family. Although we were in Georgia and well out of the path of danger, my eldest brother was not. You see, at the time he lived in Pennsylvania, but he worked in New York City. As a foreman for NYC transit, he had spoken to my mother only days previously and had told her how he would be working on the subway system near - you guessed it - the World Trade Center. We watched our televisions with bated breath as hell unfolded on the unsuspecting people who had gone into the world that cool September morning expecting nothing more than an average day, all the while my Mom was constantly phoning, phoning but unable to get through. The phone lines were jammed.

I continued working and did my on-air shift, our radio station tuned entirely to news, worry for my brother's safety eating through me the whole time. As we heard news reports come across of the casualties in New York, Washington D.C. and Pennsylvania, my mind kept playing different scenarios of what may have been happening to my brother and I admit now that none of them were positive or pleasant. I worked enormously hard to keep my composure until I could finish my shift. As soon as I could legitimately leave, I quickly made my way home to be with my mom and pray.

Unlike many people that day, our story has a happy ending. After sixteen grueling hours of panic, worry, prayer and almost continuous dialing, my mom was finally able to reach my brother. By some wonderous miracle, the Lord saw fit to give my brother and most of the members of his crew the flu. Due to having only two members who were not ill, the whole team had been relieved of their duties for that day and told to be prepared to work the next day. They had all been upset to have caught the flu, but it is proof that while we may not know what the future holds, there is a higher power who knows and prepares. I thank Him so much that He saw fit to spare my brother's life and, in the same breath, I say a prayer for those who were lost that day and for those who lost their loved ones. Please know that there are those who will never forget the suffering that continues with you this day and your loss is still with us.

Show and Tell - Vol 1

I just discovered the Show and Tell thread at Stirrup Queens and Sperm Palace Jesters (which I was just directed to by Maybe Baby?) and thought I would give it a go!



This photo is the last one taken of my husband, his sister (up front) and me prior to our immigration to the US. SIL lives in Liverpool and it was the first time we had ever been to her new home (she and her partner had just bought a new flat). It was only a few days before Christmas and, although the family were going to be spending Christmas in Liverpool at their home, DH and I were not going to be there because our dog couldn't go in the kennel for fear of picking up something that would make her unable to travel. She wouldn't be able to go with us because there were going to be too many unfamiliar people around her.

This was a day that really cemented a relationship for me with my SIL. Because I'm a Christian and from a conservative upbringing, I felt as though my SIL (who has a same-sex partner) felt that I was judgemental of her relationship. I wanted to make sure she understood that, as her brother's wife, I supported her and felt that she was also my sister.

This trip was also my first going around Liverpool, so SIL and her partner took us to a favorite restaurant of theirs. The meal was fantastic and the conversation was amazing. I found out loads of information about my SIL that I had never known. She relayed to DH and I some of her fears about how the family would react to her relationship (everyone already knew about it, but no one had really talked about it) and we reassured her that we were supportive.

The rest of the day was as refreshing and eye-opening as the meal. SIL and DH got reacquainted (they had been close prior to SIL moving off to university, however, they had grown apart during the years she was away) and I got to know SIL and her partner. It was an awesome day. The photo was taken as we were leaving their flat to catch the train back home.

Last year DH and I returned to England for our only visit back since we moved. Our trip was to attend the committment ceremony of SIL and her partner. It was a moving experience for all of us and I'm proud to show off a photo of their big day.

Infertility Rant

My hubby and I have been trying to start a family for several years now (almost 6) without any success. Over the last year, we’ve been going through fertility treatment, again without any success. When we started this journey, we didn’t know what was the cause behind us being unable to conceive. In fact, it wasn’t until September 2008 that we found out what was wrong. Turns out I have a fairly common (it affects approximately 6% of women between the ages of 18 and 45) syndrome called Polycystic Ovary Syndrome. Basically, my ovaries produce cysts, my hormones run rampant and, most importantly, I don’t ovulate on my own. Now for those of you who know anything about human reproduction, you know that without ovulation, it is impossible to get pregnant. So, my doctor thought it would be beneficial to me to try some different medications.

The first of these is Metformin, a treatment for diabetes. While I wasn’t diagnosed with diabetes, it was determined I have insulin resistance. Metformin is supposed to help with this and also help me to lose weight. So far, I have lost some weight, but not as much as I would like. My doctor seems pleased with the amount of weight I’ve lost, but would also like for me to lose more. Right now though, it seems weight loss is at a stand still.

The next medication I was prescribed was Clomid. Clomid is a medication used to stimulate the ovaries and produce ovulation. Clomid worked wonderfully for inducing ovulation! I started on 100mg cycle days 3 through 7 and produced 2 follicles on my ovaries that first cycle. However, it did not lead to pregnancy. The next cycle was again 100mg, but cycle days 5 through 9. Again, I ovulated and produced 2 follicles, but no pregnancy. Third cycle, 100mg cycle days 3 through 7 again. Again no pregnancy. Fourth and final Clomid cycle, 150mg cycle days 3 through 7 and no pregnancy. At that point, I decided to take a break from the Clomid and give my body a chance to recover. Because I did not want to stop trying completely, I decided to try a natural route and take Soy Isoflavones.

Soy Isoflavones are often called the “natural Clomid” as they are supposed to produce similar results. I tried 160mg Soy cycle days 1 through 5. With Clomid, while I had ovulated, it had been late ovulation (usually cycle days 20 or later). Therefore, I thought I would try taking Soy earlier with the hopes of ovulating earlier. However, my Soy plan seems to have failed. I am currently on cycle day 33 and have not yet ovulated. I’m feeling I probably won’t ovulate this cycle.

I’m now feeling very low and down. Maybe we’ll never be parents. I always thought we would be. I never thought it would be such a task to get pregnant! As a teenager, I was led to believe that the very first time I “did the deed” I would get pregnant. However, that isn’t how it’s turned out. If my next cycle ever starts, I am thinking I will ask my doctor to prescribe Femara, a drug commonly used for the treatment of breast cancer, but also used as a treatment for infertility. It is supposed to be easier on the body than Clomid. I think this may be the correct next step for us. Wish us luck!