Relieved! Travis and I are breathing easier and feeling a strong sense of hope after our appointments at CCRM.

However leading up to that moment was tense. Wednesday morning we both spoke few words, cried a bit, and felt anxious with the full day of appoinments ahead of us. It was freezing with the 'feels like' temperature of 8 degrees. The drive from our hotel to their office was only a few minutes. It was snowing and being from Florida, Travis cautiously drove at about 30 mph.

The Center had high open ceilings, a tall water feature at its entrance and two receptionists at opposite ends of the lobby's width. Depending on which appointment we checked in for, we spent the day walking back and forth alternating each time with our check in for this appointment and that one.

The first appointment of the day was with legal to review our consent forms. As soon as we sat down in the woman's small office she asked us for which date our egg retrieval had been set.

We squirmed in our chairs and I said, "Our eggs are partially dead and we are just here for the one day work up and to meet with Dr. Schookcraft."

"Oh I am so sorry to hear that."
"Thank you."
"Oh, that is aweful. I have never heard of that before. Every time?"
"We have tried IVF twice."
"Oh, I am so sorry. How sad!"
"Yes, we have already felt the weight of the diagnosis."

She had not looked at our chart and her reaction, although kind was not how we wanted to start the day. So with the re-affirmation of how unheard of and pitiful our story was we were directed across the lobby to the other reception desk and checked in to meet with the doctor.

Another small office, not too sterile feeling; calm blue walls lined the space and we sat in the silver and blue patterned chairs. Brochures on the wall, an open window, and modern desk were also in the office.

It was as if we had been holding our breath for this moment. I pulled the tissues from the display table and placed them on the desk infront of me. The anticipation of the moment overwhelmed me and I started to cry. It was a pretty cry. Just a few tears to release the pressure cooker of emotions I felt inside.

The doctor came in and was just as pleasant if not more so than on the phone. He briefly reviewed our history, inserting our names whenever possible. One of our main questions was if other people who had cases like ours were successful doing IVF using their own eggs. We were confident probably none had, it had not been heard of, or they all gave up or used donor eggs.

Pretty quickly into the conversation he said,"I strongly suggest doing another round of IVF. It would be worth it. I just had a call with a woman who had a case like yours, we did my regimine and she had 25 eggs resulting in 3 good eggs. She now has a 1 year old son and is coming back to do another round. Doing another round of IVF will either give us the exact same results as your previous cycle or give us a few viable eggs to use. Either way you will know for sure but I do not think it is time to give up."

"Well that is good news!" I practically yelled.

Travis and I both exhaled. Travis asked about the percentage of success. He responded with "about fifty, fifty." Fifty percent had the exact same result and fifty percent developed good eggs and got pregnant. We were elated to say the least. We talked about more technical things and the process of 'if and then's' which is too long to explain here.

His approach is aggressive and very thorough. He takes his time to make sure we have the best chance possible. It was the way he talked, so relaxed but confidently, which
was contagious.

We were so happy. I was happy. Travis was happy I was happy.
Here is a video of us explaining it.

That was about 9 a.m.

Until 3:30 p.m. we spent the majority of the day in tests and meetings:

1.) Hysteroscopy. Results were clear uterus. Yay.
2.) HSG. Results were both tubes clear and open. Yay. Test was painful but worth it.
3.) Ultrasound. Results were a bunch of follicles (which I normally have). Yay. Got to see a 3D image of my ovaries which was pretty cool. All of the equipment is state-of-the-art.
4.) Travis gave his sample. Results will come later. Not concerned.
5.) Business office meeting bringing everything to reality using dollar signs.
6.) Blood tests. Results will come later. Not concerned.
7.) Last meeting of the day was with our IVF nurse.

Everyone was so kind, accomodating, friendly, personable, and funny. Just cannot say enough about how great everyone was except our nurse. She was not so impressive or professional. No offense to people being young in their profession because I know how that feels but she did not look a day over 24 and mumbled something aweful. What? Can you repeat that? I seriously considered walking out and asking for someone else. Knowing that would humiliate Travis, I refrained. We have 3 nurses assigned to us so I will be sure to avoid using her as much as possible.

Now we wait 'till the test results come back. Then they will contact us to set up a phone consult with Dr. Schoolcraft again. The tentative plan is to be on his vitamin and suppliment schedule for 3 months, birth control for one month, (they may overlap), and then begin IVF; shots, bloodwork, ultrasounds, etc. Then a few days before the egg retrieval I will travel back to Colorado for monitoring, then Travis will fly up to join me for the egg retrieval, and depending on how that goes (long story short; if my egg maturity and uterus are in sync) he will do the embryo transfer 3-5 days later or freeze them and ask me to come back a month later for the implant.

The bloodwork and ultrasound monitoring will happen with my old IVF clinic here. They will send updates to Dr. Schookcraft's office. If all goes well we plan to start IVF in June or July.

This is it folks. Our best shot! We are giving it our all.

Believing that the worst eggs are going to turn into the best eggs. That we will get pregnant and carry a healthy baby full term. Thank you for your prayers and support as we hope for the best!

We arrived late last night in Denver.  After a long flight, which included a woman a half a dozen rows in front of us loosing her lunch in the isle, a situation you would never want to happen in a confined space with shared air and no windows!  Thank God for coffee grinds which the staff poured on it to eliviate the stench.

We waited outside to get picked up for our rental car and felt all 22 degrees of the Denver weather greeting us.

Recieved a call from one of the nurses at CCRM pushing our initial appointment time back from 7 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. due to the weather.  Happy for that!  Especially since I did not sleep at all last night.  The ice machine must be on the other side of wall because every time I was just about to drift off I heard it.  Of all the things I forgot to pack were my earplugs!

Anyways, the nurse reviewed the itinerary with us and it was a lot less testing than I originally thought and still not sure how I feel about it. We have appointments with Dr.Schoolcraft, our nurse, billing, legal, hysteroscopy, blood tests, Travis' tests, and then a phone consult with Dr.Schoolcraft sometime later.

They never told me of additional testing but in my head I was expecting more.  This is what the guy is famous for and based on our criteria there is not anything on there we have not had done before.  Like I told Travis when we were processing this yesterday, I would still go through with it.  Even though they have been done before, they have not been looked at by the top guy in the country.  This is step 1 to moving on.  There is no other option.  Unfortunately it is very expensive and that burden is ever-present. What we cannot afford is more time.

I am happy to be here.  Not like vacation happy because this is not fun.  People have told me to 'have fun!' 'have a great time.'  This is an extreme example but what comes to mind is like telling a cancer patient that has to travel for chemotherapy to have fun.  Our reason for being here is heavy, it is sad, it sucks, and I would much rather not have to be here.

Seeing snow on the ground does not override being 31, spending this kind of money, and having to see a national specialist on something so dear to our existance.

Going to the Colorado Center of Reproductive Medicine is a big deal.  The emotions I had to set aside until now are coming to a head.

I am scared.  I am nervous.  I am sad.  I am anxious.  I have butterflies in my stomach.

I am comforted by this one thing; Jesus is with us.

I have pictured him literally walking next to us.  What we need of Him today is just to be present.  Because of His promises we know He is.

Since my last post, we have had to find the strength to push toward moving on with wanting to start a family.

In agreement with our local IVF doctor and recommended by friends, we sought out the top IVF physician in the country; Dr. Schoolcraft in Colorado. He has been on Oprah, Dr. Phil, and I knew of him through watching the reality show of  Guilianna & Bill. The waitlist was over a month long for a 15 -30 minute phone consult with him.  It was free.  All we had to do was fill out tons of paperwork and wait for the call.

Our call was last Friday at 9:15 a.m. our time.  My boss was gracious when I told her about it and went into work late. Travis did the same.
I could not sleep past 6 a.m. I had my phone ring on as high as it would go. He called. I put the phone on speaker as Travis and I sat on the edge of our bed listening to what he had to say. He was super nice.
"Good morning, Lauren.  This is Dr. Schoolcraft. How are you today?"

"Good. Thank you so much for your time this morning!" Relieved he was so personable.

"Tell me about your fertility journey."

"How much time do we have on this call?"

He had our file so I didn't want to go into too much detail. I wanted to hear his opinion as soon as possible.
With kindness in his voice he said, "Well Lauren I am sure you have heard this before...and I am sorry to say...Your case is extremely rare...something something...Your eggs are your eggs....Your best option is an egg donor."

Remembering my eggs are 'partially dead' I slid down the bed to the floor, sitting and holding my knees to my chest. I starting tearing up because I would never want to do an egg donor.  An egg donor means I would never have a child that looks like me, sounds like me, or maybe gets my singing voice. The baby that we have always imagined in our heads. Would they have Travis' big brown eyes and my nose? Or his long eye lashes and my thick blonde hair? That loss immediately washed over me.  I wanted to break down right then but stayed as strong as possible for the rest of the call.

He took a long pause and then went on.

"Unfortunately, we do not know why your eggs are the way they are and there is no cure."

He did not say anything else, probably letting that sink in.  I could hardly believe it. The top doctor in the country and recognized worldwide is telling us this.  I probably still cannot believe it.

"If you were me, what would you do?"

"Well, since your eggs have only been seen through IVF one time, I would do another cycle of IVF. Each cycle varies and we might be able to get one or two good eggs out of, for example, the 24 you produced last time. I would consider that a poor cycle with those odds but if you conceived with that one or two eggs, obviously you would consider it a good cycle. Then, if that did not work, I would do an IVM which is where we do not use stimulation meds and grow your eggs in the lab. Sometimes it works with people who do not respond to IVF. Then, I would do an egg donor."

He went on.

"Lauren, I do not want to over promise or over estimate the success of any of these procedures."

My teary voice pushed through, "We appreciate that."

Surprised he had not mentioned it before, I asked if it would be okay if I came for his two-day work-up that he is famous for. He said he would arrange it with his lead nurse and she would be in touch later that morning. We thanked him again and hung up.

Travis met me on the floor. I fell into him. He wrapped his arms around me and we sobbed together.  I looked up at him and I said, this is so much harder with the recent announcement of my sister's pregnancy with her third child. Why is it so hard for us? So hard!  We may never have a biological child of me and him together. That's only natural. I don't think we are asking for too much.

The nurse called me later that morning and sent me more forms to fill out.  She emailed me and assigned me to another two nurses who would be our primary contacts in Colorado. The two-day work-up would be timed with my cycle. Tickets for Colorado in January are outrageous so we will be planning to go sometime in February if it all works out.

Then came Thanksgiving. Travis and I spent it together and cooked with all the trimmings. Ate over candlelight.  When we prayed in thanksgiving for our meal, we prayed for our future and for our hearts that we felt were broken.  We both teared up.  We then raised our glasses, made a toast to our future, and enjoyed our delicious meal we made!

See, that is part of our life now that we have grown into and I am proud of us! It is okay to cry when life is sad.

There is healing in crying.

Better than stuffing it down, ignoring it, or trying to quickly move on.

When something is going on so deeply with us, it feels like rejection when our pain is passed by.

It has taken Travis and I a long time to learn this.  Taking time to cry a few tears, or a lot.  It makes it much easier to be truly happy after the tears have dried than stuffing them down and faking happiness.

We appreciate those who are not afraid of our tears. It brings comfort, in response if they cry with us, share how they feel about us, our situation, and in sincerity love us right where we are at.  Engaging in that moment of stillness and sorrow.

We understand people, friends and family are at a loss on how to deal with our repeated sadness.  Trust me, we would rather a different outcome too!  Right now, it completely and undeniably sucks big time!  Believe it or not, we still have tears available to cry.  I cannot see it from here but have to hope their is end to our mourning.

For now, just like thousands of times before, we wait. Wait until we go to Colorado, have the testing done, and again meet with Dr. Schoolcraft.

The news we received a little over a week ago has taken center stage in our world.  It doesn't end here.  We move forward because the alternative is not an option.

This week, we sat down with our fertility doctor and saw for the first time, my abnormal eggs. They were pitiful. I felt bad for whoever they belonged.  My name and date of birth tattooed on each picture.  "Those dark shadowed spots, is where the egg is dead," she said. My eggs were partially dead. The lining of the eggs were squiggled and sporadic.  It felt in a way good to see the pictures because it was proof and closure.

Faith:  I wish I could say, I am ready to press on with all strength and determination as ever but that is not true.  We are taking it one day at a time, trying not to be saddened by the length of days still ahead of us.    One thing we know for sure and has never been questioned is if God is doing this to us.  He is clear in the Bible that He brings life, is 100% good and wants the best for us. We can rest knowing He promises to bring us through it.

"Yea, tho I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for you are with me."

I didn't purposefully open up to read the twenty-third Psalm this morning.  But as I did, it read, "even though your eggs are partially dead, do not fear because I am with you."

God does not ask us to have big faith. That's good because lately mine has felt shallow. He says that if we have faith as small as a mustard seed and do not doubt, that anything will be possible. We believe and do not doubt that God is going to make something beautiful out of this craziness. We are not shouting amen or jumping up and down.  In our deepest hearts we have a knowing.

Hope:  Yesterday, my doctor called to tell me one of her colleagues suggested a  rare follicle rupture disorder.  Basically, it tells my body I ovulated but I don't.  The description profiles my case almost exactly.  Because it is so rare, there is very little information on it, and I do not even have enough to share with you that would make sense. There are other factors, like my general health that we are re-assessing as well. This upcoming week I will be contacting a specialist with USF to run a panel of tests.  Assessing if the past six years of my health; endometriosis, bursitis in both my shoulders, digestive health/food sensitivities, and now infertility point to something else that we can address before moving on.


Love:  Travis has shown me such fierce love!  I can easily stand in awe of his support and tenderness.  It is more than any fairy tail could shake a stick at. I am so thankful he is my husband!

"...but the greatest of these is love."

Thankful for God's love carrying us.

More to come...

This weekend was easily the worst ever!
I woke up in the middle of the night on Friday, realizing it was not a dream. This nightmare was real. I started sobbing. Travis rolled over and held me. Reality hit. Hard.  Tears flowed. Screamed. Prayed. Cried. Cried. and cried. The ugly, from my belly, silent sobbing kind of crying.  My eyes stung. I kept my cellphone close because the text messages from friends and family were comforting. Thank you!

Fast forward to today. Happy to go to work and get out of the sad house.

The two embryos never grew past where they started on Friday.

After giving me that news, my doctor and I spoke more about the information she had gathered from the embryologist.  Well, let me give you the good news first. The good news is, my uterus is young, I am able to ovulate (although early they are able to control it), and the egg and the sperm are able to connect. The bad news is my eggs were missing key components developed in stage 3 of maturity. Stage 4 is fertilization. Stage 3 happens just before ovulation and is pivital to their health.  This makes sense. I stimulate well. Meaning, I can produce lots of follicles with eggs. However, because they do not have these attributes of Stage 3, they have diagnosed me with an unofficial name of a metabolic ovulation disorder.

It is extremely rare. Shocker.

They do not know how to fix it. Frustrating.

My doctor is dedicating to researching it and getting back with me. Great. (said in non-emotional voice)

I called Travis and told him.  I asked how he felt about it and he said 'numb.'  I probably feel that too. My tears, our tears, this weekend were for not getting pregnant this cycle, going through all the efforts again, to get devastating news, and having a more complicated and possibly hopeless problem we did not see coming.  The news today did not change that.

We have a meeting with the IVF doctor and the lead embryologist on Wednesday at 11 a.m.

We will see pictures of my eggs, get more clinical information on what happened, and hear them explain all over again how they have never seen it before bla bla bla.

My doctor told me not to expect them to have answers as to why or how to fix it.  That will take time.

In speaking with my friend Rachel today, I am going to take her advice and get the report in writing.  Then, contact a well-known clinic in Colorado who deals with the rare cases and see what they suggest.

I am dealing with a local clinic.  Although I appreciate her tenacity and compassion my doctor can only know so much. Going to a place like the 'Mayo' of infertility in Colorado, may give us more answers.

Do you know what I am thinking?  How sucky the holidays are going to be.  How we are going to pass those marks again of 'next year we thought we would be pregnant by now.' Sad.  Should be used to it now.

I say this in the nicest way possible.  Giving plenty of notice for Thanksgiving and Christmas which look like will be very difficult.  You may want us to cheer up around the holidays.  Realizing you have our best intentions in mind and you love us very much!

I honestly have no idea what we will be doing for the holidays. Whether it will be with family or not.  You may have dealt with it differently if you were in my shoes. Thank God you are not in my shoes.  I don't know what we are planning for the holidays but whatever it is, be okay with it.  If you are not okay with it, remind yourself that we are dealing the best way we know how then respect our decision.  It may completely differ from how you would or how you want us to but that's okay.

The update:

Stop all meds (yay)
Wait to get my period.
Put the Nuvaring (birth control) in on Day 3 and leave in for 3 weeks.
Wait to see what information we/my doctor has gathered by then and make a decision.

We do not have the depth it requires of our feelings to fully morn the news we received today.

We are still in shock. Dumbfounded that we are here again.

My doctor called me while we were driving on our way back to Miami.  She wanted us to visit the office so she could review our medications but that was just a cover to get us to call back. We did. She apologized for not saying what she has to say in person but since we were on the road she would have to.  I did not brace myself for the news because we conquered ovulating early, 24 eggs were retrieved so what could be so bad? A lot apparently.

I had her on speaker. Travis was driving.

All 24 of my eggs were low quality.

They collapsed while in the lab except two.  Two were fertilized by putting the egg with a bunch of sperm. The boarder of these two eggs were so weak, 2 and 3 sperm fertilized it.  Obviously you know it is only supposed to be one sperm at a time.

I could not believe, literally, what she was explaining. The two eggs that fertilized are being kept in the lab because there is a slight chance, 1% to be exact of what the doctor told me the could grow.  She said it would take a miracle for those to mature enough by Day 5 to be implanted. She was clear that this was not a hopeful circumstance. I should consider it a complete loss and move forward.  However, she wants me to stay on the meds until they know for sure.

I hung up. Cried and cried. Then Travis. We almost had to pull over because we were both sobbing.  I began singing 'Great is Thy Faithfulness.'  Are we going to trust God in this?  Are we going to invite him into our pain? Yes. When this is all over, we are confident we will see God's faithfulness.

Right now we need time to morn this loss. Again, a rarity in women my age to ovulate early and have such low egg quality. The embryologist said it looked like eggs from a woman who had chemotherapy, which I have not.  No answers as to why although a perfectly good reason why we have not been able to get pregnant before.

We are in shock. Completely devastated. We really thought this was going to be it!  Not only was it not it, it brought up more complications we will have to face in the future.

I just want a baby.

I can feel God's presence today, even through processing the news.  So many people have said they are praying for us today.

Here's the update:
Continue post egg retrieval drugs until Monday or Tuesday.
On Monday or Tuesday we will find out if the two fertilized eggs have matured to a healthy state.
If yes, then we head over for the implant.
If no, then we meet with my doctor and the lead embryologist to discuss trying again. What that will mean?  What are our chances of having a successful cycle and healthy baby?

Right now, we are heartbroken.  The best case scenario would be for those embryos to grow and we could move on.  Starting all over again for the third time is more than we can imagine.

Not even sure we know how to process this information. I'm tired. Travis is tired. We are heartbroken.

Thank you for your prayers.

Kindof in a state of shock. Probably the anesthesia talking, because I did not remember most of it and everything is a bit foggy still.
We arrived last night at my dad's house at 9:30 p.m. Drank as much Gatorade as I could to stay hydrated then went to bed.  The egg retrieval appointment was at 10 a.m.  We arrived there early and they still had us waiting for almost 30 minutes to bring us back.  Once there, the nurse started an IV, my doctor stopped by to say hello and then we spoke with the anesthesia doctor. Speaking with him was the most stressful part. He didn't believe me that I needed anti-nausea medicine at the beginning and refused to give it me.  Fortunately, I woke up without any nausea. If I had, the doctor better have run far.  It was funny. The nurse was trying to convince him as well. When he refused to budge on the issue, she bent down and said, if you feel nausea just aim at him!

Laying back in the chair, thinking of happy thoughts as I was instructed, I thought about the baby we would have from this, my wonderful husband Travis, and my adorable doggy, Ben.  Next thing I knew I was barely awake answering to my name being called.  My doctor was in the room and delivered the news that she had retrieved 24 eggs!  What a relief!

Getting prepped.

This is a picture with my doctor that I like so much!  I had to call her later tonight to clarify some of the medicine doses and she made a point to say, "I'm praying for your embryos tonight!"  How nice is that?

You see, on Tuesday, my numbers had climbed. From a progesterone level of .98 to 4.8. Anything over 5 is a danger zone for ovulating early.  Although my doctor would have liked me to stimulate another day to get the follicles in that 18-21 range, she didn't want to risk what happened last time. Thankful for that!

What she said next, nearly took our breath away.  "Lauren, because your body pushes through and ovulates early, this could be the very reason for your 'unexplained infertility.' My eggs had not fully matured, yet my body was going to ovulate anyways." Wow.

All the doctor's appointments in the last 6 years never tested for this. Their main concern is do I ovulate. Yes, I do. But without going through IVF, we never would have discovered this pre-mature ovulation.

This morning I had some stomach cramping which scared me because at any moment I could have ovulated. The biggest relief was hearing that I had not yet ovulated and she was able to retrieve all the eggs.

Look at my sexy outfit.

We went in at 9:20 a.m. and came back home at around 12:30 p.m.

Came home. Showered and went to sleep for about 6 hours.  Still cramping a bit in my stomach and a little dizzy but overall we are so excited! The hardest part is behind us. The embryo transfer will be the next big  phase but it does not involve anesthesia. So yay!

I have a bag of prescription medicine that I will begin tomorrow. Antibiotics, steroids, anti nausea medicine, and the list goes on. One of them has to be taken every 6 hours till at least Sunday; 6 p.m., midnight, 6 a.m., noon. So much for taking it too easy.

Thank you for all your texts, voice mails and prayers!   More to come!  Right now, as I take it a day at a time, it feels better not to have schedule my time around shots, bloodwork and every other day appointments. I get five days to just chill.  Praying that those embryos grow strong.

Looking forward to it!