Our Journey to Durham

I had my 37 week appointment yesterday. Things are cooking in there. I am 2 1/2 centimeters dilated and my doctor said she'd even call it a 3. So, then her next question was if we knew if it was a boy or girl. I told her "boy." She doesn't like to induce boys too early, as they don't fair as well as the girls in the breathing department. So why is she so quick to induce this baby??...well, I have a history of quick labor and unless I want to have this baby in the car on the way to the hospital (it's almost exactly an hour drive from our driveway to the hospital doors!), it's probably the safest decision.

Before Brandon and I got married, we had talked about having kids. We knew we wanted 2 kiddos our own. Call us crazy if you wish (I can handle it!)...we were/are up to the challenge of being a 6 member household. We figured when the time came to have kids, it'd be no problem. Boy were we wrong! Unfortunately, shortly after we were married, I was diagnosed with secondary infertility. That's a fancy term for when you have already had kids, and then for some reason can't get pregnant later on. I knew something wasn't right...strange things were happening to my body. Sometimes my cycle would last for months on end and sometimes it would disappear for months on end. Then other things started to happen...you see, I developed this "She-Man" syndrome (someday I'll coin the term!). I started to grow hair where NO woman should grow hair. I also started to lose hair where NO woman should lose hair. Needless to say, my tweezers and bi-weekly waxing appointments became my best friend. Then, the acne appeared...I looked like I was in jr. high again! At first, my doctor thought I had Polycystic Ovary Syndrome, but at further glace at my ovaries both her and my infertility doctor weren't sold. So basically, the other 2 diagnoses I've received through this ordeal have been anovulation (means you don't ovulate) and irregular menses (whacked out periods).

With Camden, we went through 6 rounds of Clomid, which resulted in nothing but a lot of hot flashes for me. We were then sent to an infertility specialist in Indianapolis. He sent us home with a hope & a prayer (and a shot and some pills...and a whole new drug protocol when that wasn't suppose to work). Well, what'd ya know...2 weeks later we found out we were pregnant with Camden. When we knew we were ready to try for #4, we again tried 3 more rounds of Clomid, which resulted in more hot flashes and a whole lot of nothing. We headed back to Indianapolis to meet with our infertility doc. He again sent us home with a hope & a prayer (and a shot and some pills...and a whole new drug protocol when that wasn't suppose to work.) He also said if the shot/pills worked this time, I'd need to buy him a lottery ticket because we were some lucky folks...unfortunately, the little concoction he sent us home with didn't work and we were onto a new protocol.

So, during the next month, infertility treatments became a full time job for us. At first, it wasn't too bad. I started by taking a pill each day for 5 days. Then the fun began...injections! Each night, Brandon and I would put the kids to bed and then turn into mad scientists...mixing up a concotion of hormones that he would later inject into my belly. Once injections started, I was monitored very closely. I had to get my hormone levels and ovaries checked every other day to make sure things were in check. Unfortunately, one of my horomones (estradiol?) was pokey and I had to stay with the injections for longer than usual (8 days total). Needless to say, after it was all said and done with, the cycle was a failure. At that point, I was ordered by our infertility guy to take a month off (normal protocol to let your ovaries rest) and then start up the following month. I was kind of panicking because the timing of things would have put us starting round 2 right at the start of the school year...how was I suppose to work and manage running to appointments every other day?

Well, as we were sitting here twiddling our thumbs one night during that month off waiting for my cycle to start (Sept. 3rd to be exact)...I noticed that my boobs were sore. Brandon went out to the Wal Mart and got a prego test. What'd ya know...it came back positive! So started the journey to Durham.

I can't believe that was 9 months ago...time seemed to stand still way back when. Now, reality is setting in that next week, we are going to meet our new little guy. Yeah!