The results are in...

Today was testing day! I didn't sleep well last night (I had figured I wouldn't). Dominic woke me up at 5 when he got up and he went and got my box of prenancy tests (he hid them from me so I wouldn't take any early). I waited the required 3 minutes and found out that we aren't pregnant. I had kinda expected we wouldn't be as we only had a 14% chance of it working on the first try. Now we just have to wait for my cycle to start so that I can go back on the hormone pills and we can start all over again. I am rather excited to have a week without extra hormones coursing through me. I didn't get mean, but all the extra hormones make me queasy and tired, which I don't like. We are going to try the same treatment this month and we now have a 25% chance of getting pregnant. If my follicles aren't where the docs want them to be this month, we are moving to injections next month, provided I don't get pregnant.

So I've been doing a lot of reading about PCOS and trying to figure out what it is and what all it means and so forth. When I saw my doctor last week, he went over all my lab results which helped to explain part of why we've not been able to get pregnant. Two of my main hormone levels are backwards. My body also doesn't break down insulin, which causes fertility issues and puts me at an increased risk of getting adult onset diabetes...which I've been told since I was a teenager I would probably have, so no surprise there.

I wish that more doctors knew about PCOS. I've always had an irregular cycle and when I was a teenager and in my early 20's, the solution I was always given was to go on birth control to regulate my cycle, no one ever wanted to run tests to find out what the problem might be. It wasn't until we had been trying to have a baby for over 2 years before we even had any tests run to see what the problem might be, and even then, my doctor said that I didn't have PCOS, but they couldn't give me an answer as to what was going on. It wasn't until we started seeing a specialist that we got any answers. There would have been a lot less heartache and doubt had I found out when I was a lot younger that I would have an issue having kids someday.

Infertility is such a wide spread issue these days. Women are told to be so careful when they are pregnant, but it used to not be that way. Women were given all kinds of medications while they were pregnant that we now know contrbute to all kinds of health and medical problems. I wish that more insurance companies and employers would add more to their insurance plans to help with infertility. We're lucky that our insurance will pay for $2000 per year, but they will only cover hormone pills, absolutely no injections, because according to the insurance company, pills are all you need, injectables are elective. I can kinda see the point of that, but at the same time, our chances of getting pregnant are much better on injectables then on pills. Also, $2000 doesn't cover much. I'm trying to find out right now what all is considered Advanced Reproductive Technologies (ART). What is considered ART greatly affects how many tries we get each year. We can't afford to pay for very much out of pocket because I'm already paying for a number of things out of pocket...so we only get as many tries as insurance allows.

Infertility is very frustrating and I wouldn't wish it on anyone. I'm doing my best to handle it all and I am lucky to have a great support system, but I know that isn't the case for everyone, which is sad.

Update

So apparently I got really lazy about updating my blog...I'm going to try and be better about it, but I don't promise anything!
Dominic graduated in November and it was very exciting! I of course cried like a little baby because I am so proud of him. He actually cried afterwards when he saw me and I was crying and told him I was proud of him, but he'll never admit it. Now he is considering getting his Masters since none of the criminal justice agencies are hiring. He's taking a little break, but I wouldn't be surprised if he starts soon. Dominic wanted to go to Disneyland for graduation, and he wanted to take the adorable Miss Desi with us. We had a lot of fun! Dominic will do anything for that little girl, including stand in line to see all the princesses (and take pictures with them!)
We were told about 2 years ago that we wouldn't be able to have kids, and we've been trying to figure out what to do ever since. We kept going back and forth between infertility treatment and adoption. We were pretty set on adoption when Dom changed his mind after finding out that we would most likely have an open adoption. He wasn't very comfortable with that, so we went and got all our tests done and started seeing a reproductive endocrinologist at the end of November. The RE mapped out a plan for us that is going to be most economical. My insurance covers a little bit of the cost, but not much. I was diagnosed with PCOS (Polycystic Ovary Syndrome), which means I don't ovulate correctly, which has been one of our major issues. PCOS has also caused a number of my hormones to be out of whack, so we are working to correct that. I started taking hormones while at Disneyland so that I would be ready to get knocked up! After we got back, I had to go in for an ultrasound to make sure that my body reacted correcly to the hormones, and thankfully it had. I then had to give myself a shot to trigger ovulation so that we could do an IUI (intra-uterine insemination). I was very proud of myself for giving myself the shot as I HATE needles and don't do very well with shots. We went in for the IUI 1 1/2 days after I gave myself the shot. That was December 22nd and so now we are just waiting to find out if it worked or if we are going to have to try again. It's frustrating because I am still on hormones, just in case it did work, and they make me not feel very well and give me all the early pregnancy symptoms. I think that I've been very good about not getting my hopes up, while still remaining positive.
We are both very excited to become parents and can't wait for it to happen. We would love for it to happen now, but considering nothing else in life is easy, we don't expect this to be either. I'm going to try and keep my blog updated with what is going on, but I'm not making any promises.

It's been awhile...

So it's been awhile since I last posted. We've moved into our house and we LOVE it! We have the inside of the house unpacked, but the garage is still full of stuff that needs to be put away. We both have the first couple days of September off and so we are dedicating those days to getting the garage done so we can be 100% in the house...and then I'll need to decorate...and I have no clue how to do any of the rooms other then the bathrooms. The puppies have finally adjusted to being in the house. They don't bark as much, but they no longer sleep in the bed with us, now they sleep on the couch or recliner.
My little brother drove out here from Texas this past weekend and so I don't have to go to get my china hutch from my mom cause he brought it out for me. I'm way excited to get all the china unpacked and put away cause I love it. It was my grandmother's and is super old and delicate and soooo pretty. Plus, I am excited to have something of my grandmother's in my house.
I have been very proud of myself since moving into our house. I've made the bed everyday...I've kept the house clean...I haven't let the laundry pile up...and I've cooked dinner everynight but once, and except for our date night. My whole life I've been saying that once I had a house of my own I'd keep it clean, and no one believed me. I've been telling Dom for the past few months that I would keep the house clean and that I'd be making dinner every night...and he always laughed at me...and now he's amazed cause I actually have dinner ready when he gets home. He's been working A LOT. The past 3 weeks he's worked over 15 hours of OT...and there have been some nights where he hasn't gotten home until after 8 PM. It's been crazy but the OT is totally helping.
Dominic has 1 class left before he is a college graduate. He also has a week and a half of vacation time he has to use before the end of the year. There wasn't a lot of days available to take vacation, so we are doing what we can with it. He is taking Sept 2-3 off and then he has a day off in October so we can go to the state fair. One of his friends at work is going on a cruise with his wife in December, and Dom has been wanting to go on a cruise for years. I told him I would take him somewhere for his graduation present, and he decided on a cruise! I've been looking at cruises and today we found out from our realtor that we get a free vacation...one of the vacation packages we could choose from was a 2 for 1 cruise...so we decided to do that so that we only have to pay for 1 of us to go on the cruise. I'm now way excited cause that means I'll have a little bit of money to go shopping with! I can't wait to have some vacation time with Dom so that we can relax!

YAY!!!

It finally happened! Dominic and I are homeowners! Now scary real life begins...So yea, we signed the papers last week and we were supposed to close and get the keys on Monday. Dominic packed up all our stuff on Sunday since I was going to have to move by myself on Monday/Tuesday...and I mean he packed EVERYTHING! The only shoes I have are flip flops cause I was wearing them. Monday morning I went and picked up a uhaul to make it easier...and then I waited and waited to get the call that I could get the keys...it didn't come. The lender said they would send the prior to funding conditions by 3...they didn't send them till Tuesday. So we unload the uhaul and take it back...and I sit around and wait all day Tuesday to get the keys. Around noon on Tuesday, we find out that the lender has issued the wire transfer and everything has been sent to the title company...around 4 we find out that everything has been recorded and it's our house, we're homeowners...we still didn't have the keys cause the seller wouldn't give them to us until the funds were in their bank account...so that was another day wasted. Wednesday morning I wake up feeling like crap because Dom packed my meds and so I hadn't been able to take any. I decide I'm going to start work late and at 7:54 AM, I get a text telling me that I can finally have the keys. So I leave the house to go and meet the seller and then go onto the house so that I can turn the power on and turn on the air since we were planning on moving stuff over. After working the rest of the day, Dom and I took 3 loads of stuff over to the house. And we also took the puppies who loved it! They ran all over the place and sniffed everything. They didn't want to come back inside after we showed them the backyard! The funniest thing was when Daisy ran into the closet door. The master closet has the mirrored sliding doors (which I'm getting rid of). The door was open and Patton ran into the closet and Daisy went right into the door. She fell over and was stunned for a minute, but she's fine now. I'm just such a bad mom that I couldn 't stop laughing! Dom and I are going to take a few more loads over tonight and then tomorrow we are going to do some unpacking. Then bright and early Saturday morning, a whole bunch of guys are coming over to help Dom move all the stuff out of the storage unit. Marina and I get to stay at the house and unpack because I have to wait for the DirectTV guy to come...oh darn, I don't get to be out in the heat. Hopefully the move goes smoothly and it doesn't take too long to unpack...but I have the feeling it's going to take forever!

YAY!!!

I get to meet Kailee this weekend! I'm so excited that I finally get to meet the newest little Loosli....cause you can't get much better then being a Loosli. She's going to be 6 months old next week and I can't believe I haven't met her yet, but I finally will. I'm flying up to Boise on Friday morning and then flying back home on Sunday night. So it's just a quick trip, but it will be fun!

Will the day ever come??

So we still haven't closed on our house. Some things came up as the paperwork was getting ready to send to the title company...so needless to say, we are still waiting. Thankfully the sellers gave us another extention, but I think it'll be the last one cause they are just as frustrated as we are about the house not closing. Our new closing date is June 22. We'll see if we actually get to close on time.
Richard and Joe left for Europe this week with Celine and our niece Serena. I'm sure they are having a blast, but while they are gone, Benjamin is having the house redone. We moved all the furniture out of the house on Monday, Tuesday we ripped out the carpet and I got to play with a jack hammer to get tile up. It was a lot of fun and a great stress reliever! Wednesday we had to use a blade on the jack hammer to get all the tile glue up...and the house has been dusty as anything. It was pretty bad on Tuesday, but even worse on Wednesday. The dust has been settling and then Benjamin has been vacuuming it up which just kicks it up more. I swear the dust is everywhere! It got inside the closed cupboard and everything. I've been keeping my door closed but the dust still managed to get into my room through the air conditioner. Finally today there isn't much dust in the air. Yesterday the painters came to paint the downstairs, so it smelled like paint all day. On Monday the tile guys are coming and they should be done by Wednesday afternoon and then we get to move all the furniture back into the house and unpack and clean. Hopefully soon after that, we will be moving all of our own stuff into our own house...

Some News

So Dom and I have been doing a lot of thinking about the options available to us to have a kid. I've always been all for going to a fertility doctor and doing whatever we had to in order to have a kid...but Dom has always been a bit hesitant about that course. About a month and a half ago, he told me that we should just adopt so that we don't spend everything we've been saving on fertility treatments and then if they don't work, we wouldn't have anything left to use towards adoption. I wasn't very happy about that because I've always wanted to be pregnant...but I started thinking about it and I decided that if we can't have a kid that is both of ours, I'd rather adopt a baby that needs all the love and attention and care that we can give it. So, needless to say, Dominic and I are starting the adoption process. I'm actually really excited about it. I'm just starting to research adoption agencies and I want to have our agenct picked out in about a month. I am planning on having all the home visits completed towards the ends of the summer so that we can start waiting for our baby. We are really open to the child we get. As much as I would love a newborn, I'm okay with a child that isn't a newborn, or even a toddler. I know that the older the child is, the more difficult it can be, but Dom and I are willing to put in the work and we are excited about all the possibilites. We are also okay with either a boy or a girl and race doesn't matter in the least. We both get adoption reimbursement from work and so once we get that and have had our child for a while, we are going to work on adopting a second child so that we can have our 2 kids. We've even been playing around with the idea becoming foster parents while we are working on adopting a child and probably even beyond that. Dom is of course scared that with adopting a child, they will someday want to find their birth parents, and I keep telling him that is a possibility, but that no matter what, we'll support our kids and help them in anyway that we can. I think that he is most nervous that no one will pick us, which scares me too, but I know there is a kid out there just waiting for us to be their mommy and daddy.