Year in Review and New Year Announcement

We would like to welcome new followers to our blog and also thank everyone for their support through this last year. It was a busy one! Last year at this time, Amanda and I found out that our best chance for achieving pregnancy was through In Vitro Fertilization (IVF). It was not the answer to our infertility that we had hoped to hear, but it has allowed us to grow closer as we've faced this challenge together. We would like to highlight what we have done with your help since last December:

• We sent out our Christmas newsletter informing our family and friends that we were infertile and would need IVF to have children. This was not the easiest thing to do, but it has allowed us to share our burden and have it lightened with your help.
• My grandma contacted us, after receiving our December 2010 newsletter, with a newspaper article about a couple who had held fundraisers to pay for their own IVF procedure.
• We contacted this couple, Allen and Jill, asking for advice on how to get a fundraiser started. Jill informed us that she had started an organization called Pound the Pavement for Parenthood and this organization would like to sponsor us for an upcoming 5K race. We couldn't have been more surprised and thrilled! Jill, her team, our families and friends helped us successfully run and raise funds for our IVF. They have helped us more than we can describe and not just through financial support. It's been a great help to Amanda and me to read about Jill's own experience with IVF on her blog.
• Amanda's sisters and co-worker helped us start this blog to try and sell homemade items for our IVF. Since that time we have been blessed by many dear friends, family members, and strangers who have purchased our products and also helped sponsor us with other fundraisers: Get Outdoor Expo booth, bake sale, two Scentsy fundraisers, Gnomeo Movie Night, Cards for a Cause, and a Fall Boutique. This blog now also serves as a journal of the impact infertility continues to have on our lives and the lives of others.
• In July, we contacted Fertility Lifelines to purchase our medications. This wonderful organization has a charity medication program and we were able to receive full medication through them for our first IVF cycle at no charge.
• In August, we had our first IVF attempt. Unfortunately, it failed.....but we did not give up hope.
• This month, Amanda and I have worked out the financial details with our clinic so we can begin our next IVF cycle! We are excited to announce on this blog post that today will be the first day we begin our second IVF round. We begin birth control tonight. Then, the Lupron shots begin on Sunday. We are thrilled to receive a second chance to have children. Interestingly enough, this IVF cycle will correspond with our five year anniversary.

Thank you all for your continued support and prayers! Stay tuned for more information about our lastest IVF experience.

Turkey Time!!!

This list is not an exhaustive one, but just highlights a few things we are grateful for this Thanksgiving season. Have a great Thanksgiving!

Card Fundaiser - For Utah Residents

Austin and I would like to highlight an exciting fundraiser on our blog. We are selling some awesome card boxes for our next IVF cycle. The keepsake card box holds 30 handcrafted cards. You get the keepsake box and 30 cards for $30.00! Half the proceeds will go towards our next IVF cycle.

We will hand deliver the boxes to anyone living in Utah from Logan to Nephi.
These make great holiday gifts and they help our cause towards having children. E-mail us at twoinfertileturtles@gmail.com if you are interested in purchasing a box set.

The boxes come in two separate styles: an all occasion adult or children box set. The adult set comes with a variety of all occasion cards and dividers to organize them into categories. The children box set includes stickers and 30 fun kid prints for kid occasions like birthdays or celebrations.

My mom bought us an adult box set, and we have loved it! The cards are original and give an added touch. I have received so many compliments on the cards that I have sent to others from my box. The cards have saved me several last minute trips to the store for special occasions.

The Unexpected News

As the light changed from red to green to yellow and back to red again, I sat there thinking about life. Was it nothing more than a bunch of honking and yelling? Sometimes it seemed that way.

- Jack Handey

My sister let me know last week that she was expecting her sixth child. The news stunk and I was mad! My mother had consoled me during our infertility treatments that my husband and I would give them their 12th grandchild to make an even dozen.

My sister beat me to it...

After dealing with all these emotions for a few days, however, I remembered that life wasn't just about me. Life is full of unexpected surprises. Like Jack Handey related, sometimes you can be so full of your own thoughts, that you disregard the feelings and desires of everyone else. I regret allowing myself to feel downtrodden by the news of a new niece or nephew. As I've forgotten myself and thought about my sister's situation, I have been able to be happy for her pregnancy news.

So, to our readers, there may be others who have heard such news and didn't know how to deal with it. I am right there with them! However, keeping those relationships strong is important. Try to keep in mind that an infertile person wants to be involved, but not too involved in the details of someone else's upcoming pregnancy. :) The reason for this is every time an infertile woman hears more news about a baby, the only message that comes across to her is that you have a child and she does not.

Infertility Ettiquette

A great resource for couples dealing with infertility is the National Infertility Association also known as RESOLVE.

The first time I read through their website was about a year ago when we were having our failed artificial insemination procedures. I must say I cried through every article I read. I was a complete mess, and Austin kept looking at me like I was crazy since I really don't cry very often. It was nice to be able to say to myself, though:

"Yes, I can relate to that. That is exactly how I feel."

Well, that said, I decided to revisit their website again today, and, though not overly emotional this time, I was able to find some information that I thought could be of value to people trying to understand the infertile world and what to say to console us during our difficult times. You can read this article on the RESOLVE website. The first half talks about what not to say. Funny thing, I think I've heard just about all of these at one time or another during our stuggles. The bottom half also is a good read because it offers some suggestions of ways to support and comfort your infertile friends. Please post any other resources you come across that are helpful.

What are we waiting for?

You've all been there before: waiting for the bus, waiting in line at the DMV, waiting at the doctor's office, waiting for your next paycheck, waiting for that special someone to call...

Well, what do you do to endure the waiting process? Do you doodle? Do you twiddle your thumbs? Do you study the faces around you and compare their appearance with yours? Well, you try to fill that waiting time with meaningful activities instead. However, somewhere beneath all the activities you often wonder when your time for waiting will end.

This is where I am at right now. It seems like my life is on hold for an indefinite period of time while I wait for the opportunity to become a mother. I am in a transition point in my life and I'm not quite sure what my purpose or role at this point should be. I am looking for meaning of where I fit in. Nevertheless, I just don't know where I do fit in right now. It's just hard.

So, until my dreams become a reality, I will keep on waiting. One of these times it will be my turn to have my number called in the waiting line of life.

Anyone's Guess

On our counter sits a framed Peanuts comic strip that reads: "When life takes you for a ride, hold on tight!" Good advice in times like these.

We met with our doctor on Saturday to discuss what happened with our failed IVF. From that visit we learned that there is no explanation for my estradiol levels falling. It is a phenomenon that happens rarely to women going through an IVF cycle. It's frustrating for us and the doctor because we don't know what caused our problem, so there is no way to prevent it in the future.

That said, the doctor said we will be more "gun-shy" with our next IVF cycle and won't push our luck on follicles. Once we have 8-9 mature follicles or so, we will do the egg retrieval.

Hindsight, however, is 20/20. When we were doing our cycle, we decided to grow my follicles one more day to try and get more mature eggs. If we had triggered that night instead of the night after, chances are we would have been just fine and wouldn't have had to cancel our IVF.

We will keep you posted of when we begin our next IVF cycle.

Thanks for all your encouraging words and continuing prayers. We couldn't have gotten this far in our journey without each of you!

Estrogen Levels: Down...Down...Down...

My mom has said for years that I like to do things differently than everyone else: I was the only sibling to play on a sports team in high school, I'm the only sibling (as far as I know) that dyes her hair, and so far I have been the only child in our family to move across the country alone to begin a career.

That said, it should not surprise anyone that I like to do IVF differently than everyone else...

Up until yesterday everything was looking perfect. My Estradiol levels were up to 1726 picograms per milliliter (pg/mL). I had 6-8 mature follicles and another 35 or more that were maturing. They wanted me to have one more night of stimulating and antagonist injections to try to have 10-12 mature eggs before retrieval. We were getting so excited for the next phase in IVF.

Well, we went to our appointment and everything looked great. They did another ultrasound and we have about 9 mature follicles, 39 follicles total. We were elated! They ran some blood work and we were supposed to start our trigger shot last night.

Our doctor called later that afternoon and said he had some terrible news for us. My Estradiol levels dropped drastically down from 1726 picograms per milliliter (pg/mL) to 1290 picograms per milliliter (pg/mL). He said that his professional opinion was that we should discontinue this IVF cycle and try again at a later date. My jaw hit the ground!

Did I just hear him right? We had gone through all the shots and blood draws and for nothing? What?

As we talked further to our doctor, he explained that he was just as shocked as we were. He said that every year the clinic performs about 300-400 IVF cycles. He only has known of 2 or 3 times each year when the Estradiol levels drop so drastically instead of increasing. There's less than 1% chance of having this happen. Our doctor further explained that the prognosis for pregnancy was extremely low when Estradiol drops like ours did. We will be meeting with him later this week to discuss what our options are for the future.

So, yes, I do like to do things differently. We will see where this independent spirit of mine takes us on our journey toward parenthood.

Estrogen Levels: Up...Up...Up

We have two "To Do" lists on our fridge: one for Austin and one for me. Mine only has a few items at the moment. Written at the top of my list is simply, "Survive IVF!!!"

Since last Friday, we have been down to our clinic four times. Each time we go to take a blood test to check on my Estradiol (estrogen) levels and make sure the follicles are growing at a steady rate. According to WebMD, during a normal menstrual cycle, a woman's Estradiol levels range typically from 20-750 picograms per milliliter (pg/mL). This past check, my Estradiol level is at 958 picograms per milliliter (pg/mL). The levels are only going to go up from there. Poor Austin! I've come close to tears a few times this week over little things, but I am more just ornery than anything. I just want to curl up in a ball most days and watch movies. It's like having a souped up period with the cramping, bloating, and irritability but to the nth degree.

Tonight is our last night of stimulation injections before we begin the stimulation and antagonist injections. That's right, I get to begin taking two shots a night in my belly. The stimulation injections continue to grow my follicles and mature my eggs. The antagonist injections keep my body from ovulating (releasing the eggs) early before they can be retrieved. The ultrasound we had today showed we had about 30 follicles growing on one ovary and 20 follicles on the other. That's a lot of eggs to be released! The eggs will probably be collected on Wednesday, depending on future blood tests and ultrasounds. Then the real test begins....

Our nurse informed us that we are at an elevated risk for hyperstimulation because we have so many eggs that are maturing for collection. It can be a pretty serious condition if not treated right away. We have a great clinical team working for us to help things run smoothly, though, so I think we will be okay....I hope.

Some of you may be thinking by this point: "Is it worth it?" I still have to say "Yes!" The pain, discomfort, multiple shots and blood draws, ultrasounds, and one and a half hours one-way to our doctor multiple times a week are going to be worth it when we can bring home a baby. We have a good prognosis for becoming pregnant. It's something every girl dreams of: carrying a baby in her womb, feeling it kick and get the hiccups. The opportunity to experience that will be worth all this in the long run. We just have to survive until then!

Can You Feel The Love...

Let's set the mood: candles, soft music, dim lights, NEEDLES, and HIGH estrogen levels?!

This week the focus has been on increasing my Estradiol (estrogen) levels. We had our suppression check on Friday, and have been given permission to begin hormone injections. If you understand these particular shots, you will know my estrogren levels are now increasing day-by-day...Watch out Austin!

Funny story, I almost cried on Saturday morning when Austin was playing the Newsies soundtrack. I don't cry a lot, but I have a feeling this week I will need an extra box of tissues with me at all times:) It's strange to feel tearful and realize that the emotion isn't real but simulated.

Austin has been a wonderful nurse, however! He has been measuring and mixing my medications and giving me shots in my stomach. If your following our family blog, Austin was my barber last week, but has now turned into my nurse. I love you, Austin!

I Think I Think Too... Much

When a big event or decision is about to take place, do you ever find that you can't switch off your brain from over analyzing every detail? I know I do. I have been worrying lately about the IVF process. I am not having doubts in the direction we are heading, more in my ability to follow all the directions.

We went to the IVF class two weekends ago and it just blew me away with all the steps that are involved. I have successfully completed the first step: birth control. That was the easy part. This Friday I go in for my first appointment to check on suppression. I will be able to tell you more about that this weekend. If all checks out, we will begin our shots on Friday.

That is where my thinking too much kicks in. I have been having nightmares about my inability to keep all the medicines straight. We have a fridge full and box full of meds at home right now, just waiting to be used. During our class, we learned that we will have to mix some of our meds before we inject them. That scares me to death. I keep thinking:

What if I mess up? What if I can't get all the medicine into the needle and my hormone levels get messed up?

Okay, I'm rambling now. I'm just so nervous! It's a big investment and I just want to get it right. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to calm a racing mind?

Our IVF Journey Begins

Our journey toward parenthood has officially begun: I was prescribed birth control pills last Monday (kinda funny I have to be on birth control to GET pregnant!). Here is the story to catch you up until now...

As you may know, up until recently Austin and I had the goal to participate in the money-back guarantee program at our infertility clinic. However, when Austin started teaching summer semester at WSU, he found out he would be teaching fewer courses than previously anticipated. This really put us in a financial quandary. Nevertheless, thanks to the level of money donations from family, friends, fundraisers, discounts from our infertility clinic and other resources, we have the financial means to attempt one-cycle at the infertility clinic. We are scheduled to go full-throttle during the month of August with medications and the whole she-bang.

I plan to write at least a weekly blog about the process for our readers. Please invite others that may have interest to read this blog to receive an insider's view of the IVF process: Two Infertile Turtle style.

Canvasing the Town

Friday we went door-to-door to promote our Scentsy fundraiser. We met some wonderful individuals and visited some family friends from my hometown. Our experience was pretty positive for the most part. The only really difficult door belonged to an 80 year old woman who lectured us on the joys of being childless. She is convinced her son is trying to kill her and said we should seriously rethink our desire for kids. That was an interesting conversation! We thanked her for her time and were on our way.

Going door-to-door is probably one of the hardest fundraisers we have done, but it was great to be able to spread the word about infertility and raise additional funds to help pay for the IVF medications. I'm glad we put our pride aside to canvas the town!

We are still on board to start our IVF adventure soon. We will be in contact with our clinic later this week to finalize dates of when to begin the process. As things unfold, we will continue to update about our experiences with IVF. Hopefully we won't share too much information, but we invite others to learn about the process of IVF along with us. Stay tuned....

July Scentsy Fundraiser and Update

Wishing and Hoping
Thinking and Praying
Planning and Dreaming....

Austin and I are getting closer to our first IVF procedure.:) We have decided to start our first IVF cycle either next month (August) or in September, depending on my cycle. We are excited to share this news! However, we have prayerfully been considering this past while if it makes sense to go into a lot of debt to afford the roughly $30,000 guarantee option or begin with the one cycle at a time option (about $10,000). We have decided to go with the one cycle at a time.

Now we know you are up to your ears with fundraisers! However, we are beginning to wind down and almost have the $10,000 to attempt one IVF cycle. Our previous post noted we have saved and fund-raised just over $7,000 to go towards our IVF attempt. Our goal is to raise at least another 3,000 so we can pay the fertility clinic in full for the August or September IVF attempt without going into debt.

With this being said, we have been sponsored for another fundraiser by Christine Alva-Hill who is an independent consultant for Scentsy. This fundraiser will run for the next two weeks, from now until July 26th. We invite you to share this site with friends and family members that possibly already purchase Scentsy products, but their purchases will benefit our cause to have children.

A few comments about what you can order: This is an exciting month for Scentsy fragrance lovers because Scentsy has brought back some of its most popular fragrances that were discontinued and they are available only this month. Some of these flavors are: Exotic Vanilla/Velvet Spice, Fried Ice Cream, and Tuscan Garden to name a few. You can order online at www.christine.scentsy.us. to place your order, look for Two Infertile Turtles and click on Buy From This Party.
Do know there are, however, other ways to help us raise money without purchasing an item...

If our readers are interested in helping us sell items, there are several thank you gifts available. The participant who sells the most gets a free Scentsy Warmer and Scentsy Bar or Scentsy Buddy and Scent Pak! An example of our sale goal for Scentsy is as follows: If a participant sells 5 Full Size Warmers, 5 Pug-Ins, 5 Scentsy Bars, 5 Room Sprays and 5 Scent Circles the total they have raised is $330.00. If 11 participants help reach this goal then the fundraiser will have raised $3,500. Scentsy would then contribute $1815 to our IVF! Let us know if you would be interested in helping us sell the Scentsy products!

Please look over the website and see if the Scentsy products can benefit your home and help us towards our IVF goal. If you, your friends, or family may benefit from Scentsy products, please pass the word along. Thanks and happy shopping!

Fundraising Weekend!

What a wonderful weekend! We had a few big fundraising events that we want to share with you on our blog. These events helped us raise money for our In Vitro Fertilization procedure and to allowed us to raise awareness about infertility.

On Saturday we were pumped and rearing to go at our 5K run/walk event sponsored by Pound the Pavement for Parenthood. We were overwhelmed by the support of so many wonderful people who came out to race for our journey to fertility. Austin and I are so pleased to announce that we raised $620 from registered participants and another $212.40 from the bake sale!!! Thank you all for coming and supporting our dream to become parents! We also want to acknowledge and thank the Pound the Pavement for Parenthood Organization for sponsoring us for their 2nd annual race. We plan on racing in their future 5K events for other couples.

On Friday and Saturday we were sponsored for a booth at the Get Outdoor Expo in Sandy, UT. We set up a booth and advertised for the Pound the Pavement for Parenthood Organization and sold products to raise additional funds for our IVF. We raised $273.84 at the booth! We want to give a special thank you to all who have supported our cause by either helping run the booth or donated products to sell at the event. We met some wonderful people and helped get potential vendor sponsors and over 20 more interested participants for future 5K events.

Austin and I are hopeful that we will be able to start our IVF procedure at the end of June. Stay tuned...

Infertility Series: Myths

Dear Readers,

I was really excited to research the topic of myths for this next post. As you may know, there are some interesting "old wives tales" out there regarding what increases fertility. However, there is minimal empirical evidence that any of these myths do anything to increase fertility. Perhaps you have heard some of these myths regarding what increases fertility: (1) adopting a child increases an infertile couples chance of getting pregnant, (2) moving to an rural area vs. an urban area, (3) eating fruits and vegetables, or (4) never engaging in something unhealthy (Bunting & Boivin, 2008).

It is noted in research that a belief in myths that have no empirical evidence may, in fact, actually hinder infertile couples from seeking professional help (e.g. IVF treatments) due to a false belief that one of the myths noted above may work (Bunting & Boivin, 2008). Bunting and Boivin studied a population of college students (n= 149) for their "fertility knowledge" regarding a number of survey questions. Interestingly, belief in such myths above were varied but strong. These researchers suggested that with such results, people with infertility may engage in ineffective behaviors that could delay seeking effective interventions.

Do I have your interest? Check out this study: doi:10.1093/humrep/den168 or send it to family and friends. If this doi doesn't work, email me at twoinfertileturtles@gmail.com and I will personally send the study to you.

Happy Reading,

Austin

P.S. Feel free to post comments here or send questions to twoinfertileturtles@gmail.com

Choir Music

Here is a four-part choir piece based on Matthew 25:31-40. Please make a donation to twoinfertileturtles, and I will send you the pdf file. The donation can be as little as $3-4. Once you have made the donation, you can send an e-mail to twoinfertileturtles@gmail.com. If you prefer, you may also click on the images, right click and copy, then paste into another program such as Microsoft Word. Then, you may print this music yourself. Just please remember to make a donation to Austin & Amanda. :)

Scentsy Fundraiser!

Our dear friends, John and Connie, have generously offered to host a fundraiser for us through their Scentsy online store. All the proceeds from this fundraiser will go to our In Vitro Fertilization fund so we can realize our dream to have children! You can access their Scentsy store by clicking on the link: https://connie.scentsy.ca/Buy/SetupPrompt.

Make sure you check in the upper right corner to be sure it is on the U. S. Market (not Canadian). Change to the U. S. Market if the American flag is not visible by clicking on the flag that is visible and following the instructions. Then under “Would you like to join a party?” click on “Join Party” beside “FUNDRAISER – Building The Green Family”.

Have fun shopping, don't forget to check out the “Combine and Save” to get great deals on Scentsy. Scentsy - We Make Perfect Scents!
connie.scentsy.ca
Dress up a room with a Scentsy Warmer, add one of 80-plus fragrances, and enjoy! Shop here for all the latest styles and scents.

Rosette Hair Clip or Brooch

These pretty rosettes are a perfect accent as a hair accessory or a brooch. The edges are heat-seared adding a decorative touch. The rosettes are approximately 2-3 inches in diameter. Please indicate the color desired and whether you would like a clip (for the hair or to clip on necklaces) or a brooch pin.

Price: $5.00 per rosette, including standard shipping and handling

Colors available: Purple, Pink, White, Blue, Yellow and Maroon

Note: Each rosette is hand-crafted and may vary slightly from the picture.

Easter Tie

Don't let the girls have all the fun with their Easter dresses! Your little man will love having an Easter tie of his own to join in the fun. Easter lilies for Easter Sunday!

Look for this in the Seasonal Ties tab or in the Baby Accessories or Children's Accessories categories on the left-hand side of this screen. Please order by April 4th to ensure receiving it in time.

As with all the ties, purchase one tie for $14.99 including standard shipping and handling, or two or more ties for $10.99 a piece including standard shipping and handling. Please indicate if you desire a size for a baby or a toddler size 2T-5T.

New Earrings

Check the earrings section for new additions! All earrings should be adaptable for clip-ons if desired.

Baby Sandals

These cute baby sandals start off a love for shoes! Show off those cute toes this spring/summer!

Sizes are small (sole approx. 3 3/4"), medium (sole approx. 4"), and large (sole approx. 5").

Price is $13.99 including standard shipping and handling.

Teeny Tiny Turtle Key Chains

This is the latest project I have been working on. These cute key chains come in three colors: Cherry Cola, Multi-Green, and Red. They are approximately 1.5 inches wide and 1.25 inches tall. You can use it as an accessory for your keys or you can give them to your kids/nieces/nephews as pocket pals.
Price: Buy one for $2.50 plus $1.50 shipping and handling.
Buy two for $4.50 plus $1.50 shipping and handling.

New Earrings

If you like the earrings, please remember to check back often under the jewelry category. The selection continually changes. Here's a sampling of the new batch:

Festive Valentine Coasters

Dress up your home for Valentine's Day with these festive Valentine Coasters. You can choose between the classical red valentine, or the non-traditional valentine variations. Height and width are approximately 4.5 X 4.5 inches. Coasters can be purchased: 2-pack $4.99 or 4-pack $8.99 (plus $2.00 shipping).

Custom Painted Houses

E-mail a picture of your house to twoinfertileturtles@gmail.com, and I will paint it for you. These examples were completed on 9"x9"x.5" wooden squares. Customized sizes/shapes available upon request.

$30.00 plus $10.00 standard shipping.

Seasonal Ties for Your Little Guy

Your little guy will feel very special with his own custom seasonal tie! Keep checking as our selection grows! Purchase one tie for $14.99 including standard shipping and handling, or two ties for $19.99 including standard shipping and handling. Please indicate if you desire a size for a baby or a toddler size 2T-5T.

Winter Festivity - Add excitement to the wintertime months with this tie that would work well from December through February!

Be Mine - Can we pull off a Valentine's tie that is not too girly? What could be cuter for a boy than man's best friend?

Lucky Tie - This is a great tie for March or all of Spring!

Easter Tie - Don't let the girls have all the fun with their Easter dresses! Your little man will love having an Easter tie of his own to join in the fun. Easter lilies for Easter Sunday! Please order by April 4th to ensure receiving this tie on time.

Patriotic Tie - It's never too early to develop a love of country!

Earrings

Custom earrings $7.00/pair plus $2.00 standard shipping & handling if one pair is ordered. Order 2 pairs and pay $10.00 plus $2.00 standard shipping & handling for the entire order. Indicate which earrings you desire when placing order. Check back often - selection will change as inventory changes. All earrings should be adaptable to clip-ons if desired.

Mary Jane Booties

These booties are designed with Mom's in mind. It's a sock disguised as a shoe. Your baby will love these handmade Mary Jane Booties. You won't have to fuss with putting shoes on your little one.
Sizes:
Small Sole is approx. 3 3/4" long
Medium Sole is approx. 4 1/2" long
Large Sole is approx. 5" long

Please indicate size when ordering.

Selling Price: $13.99 Free Shipping!

Fashionable Ear Warmers

Warm up your children's ears with these fashionable ear warmers. These stylish ear warmers can be worn inside or out this winter season. They are very comfortable and cozy. My sister makes these wonderful winter accessories and her daughters love them. They come in white, brown, or maroon colors.

Selling price: $11.99 Free Shipping!