How to be Misleading in an ICLW Description

You can start by abruptly ending your break (of 10 months) after attending a seminar given by the man who will become your new RE. After a phone consult reveals CD3 will be in just four days, you dive ankles first back into the stirrups. (for those of you keeping track that was six days after the seminar - four days after the phone consult) Two phlebotomists, twenty-four vials of blood and a baseline ultrasound later, you find yourself itching for test results whilst simultaneously remembering what it's like to be here yet again and suddenly becoming terrified that the test results could come back with BAD news... And they did... Not only was I diagnosed with OPCOS, at first over the phone then confirmed during my baseline u/s (which my first RE never caught), but my blood tests later showed that I tested positive for two A1298C mutations, indicating MTHFR. Which my first RE never tested for because he doesn't BELIEVE in Immunological Disorders.

Hi.

Still with me?

Good.

Here's some history!

My husband (35) and I (31) started TTC in the summer of 2007. I genuinely believed that we would get pregnant on the first try. Ha. Fourteen months later, we moved on to testing through my OBGYN's office which revealed a severe male factor. She promptly pointed us towards the RE who I now hate told us IVF w/ICSI or Donor Sperm would be our only hope. After MUCH deliberation we chose Donor over IVF, partially because it was the most financially attainable option and because we were concerned about the implications of the severity of his diagnosis might mean for our future children.

Fast Forward to December 2009 when we completed our SIXTH and final DIUI. All of them left us with straight up BFN's and a fair amount of debt. Our RE at the time and the second opinion we got a month later were dumbfounded and couldn't explain why none of the IUI's worked because my charts looked so great. Umm yeah, neither of those doctors caught the OPCOS which is clearly evident in an u/s and with knowledge of the fact that my cycle is 30 days. And interestingly enough, neither of them test for immunological factors... But at least I have an answer now as to why none of the dIUI's worked.. Not that it's any consolation.

That brings us to January of this year, I'm not going to lie- I was a complete basket case. We decided to take the rest of the year off to focus on our marriage and restoring my mental health. By March we had decided to plan for IVF in 2011 - with my husbands sperm.

Even though we had been planning for several months to attend the seminar on September 30th and follow up with a phone consult shortly thereafter. I really had no idea how quickly this would catapult us back in to the TTC/ART world. When I signed up for this month's ICLW, I thought it would be a nice way to tip toe back into the supportive waters that is the ALI community. And while I'm 1,000 percent ready to move forward, it's hard not to think about how comfortable and effortless things were just three weeks ago...

Thanks for stopping by, I look forward to reading about all of you.