Life can be tough...

But not for our cats. Sandy on the left, Dream on the right, enjoying a well earned snooze after a tough day!

Katie had a blast at puppy school last night, her brother Darcy (spitting image) and sister Emily were there too, and they all had a lot of fun. She was so tired she fell asleep in the car on the way home and didn't even eat her supper - straight to her mattress and slept thru till 5.30am. Bliss for us!

Right. IVF. That other thing going on in my life! Well...I will know for sure tomorrow, but it looks like I will be starting injections in a week's time with a view to retrieval, fertilisation, and reimplantation sometime after July 24th. I am alternatively excited about it, and then dreading it as it is our last chance unless we manage to get some frozen embryos for another try. It's all an unknown right now, and this is probably why it is so difficult. In the meantime, I try to stay positive! And borrow friend's babies for cuddles whenever possible! 

Why having a puppy is just like having a baby

You get woken up in the middle of the night because she has done a wee or poo and wants it cleaned up - and commented on!

Food and toys belonging to others (the cats) are much better than her own.

Expensive educational toys are all very well but she'd much rather play with a cardboard tube from a roll of paper towels, or shred her newpaper (pee on it dear, don't play with it)

Everyone you know wants to cuddle the new arrival but no one wants to clean up the mess!

Your once tidy home is now resembling a bomb site.

You learn that no one else but you and your partner really wants to know whether she went wee wees in the right place, or whether she managed to sit on command.

Date night with Hubby is mainly filled with conversation about the wee one, and you race home straight after the movie to check that she is ok...

You have to leave your warm cosy home at night to take her to the vet or puppy school.

Long hot baths are a thing of the past unless hubby is around to entertain and amuse her, or you have a set of ear plugs handy.

Everything - everything! - takes so much longer when there is a wee being tugging on your leg, or generally getting in the way.

And just when you are ready to growl her for something really naughty...she does something so cute, or snuggles in for a cuddle, and you realise it's all worth it :-)

We have Liftoff

I'm writing this at the office as my boss just told me I needed to update my website! Aren't I lucky to have such an understanding boss? Seriously, he really is a great guy (ok, Martin, you can stop reading now!)

The blood test yesterday was good enough for the doc to call me in this morning for an urgent scan. He was really pleased with the way things looked (though all I saw were blobs and shades of grey on the screen!). So, upshot is I am back on the birth control pill from today, and injections will start in 2-3 weeks. The nurse will call me with our dates next week.

Another thing I am planning on doing this cycle is talking to an acupuncturist - there have been some interesting studies done overseas showing that acupuncture pre and post implantation can increase the odds of a successful pregnancy. Rupes read about it in New Scientist magazine, and I have a pile of info from a lady who does fertility acupuncture. I mentioned it to my nurse and she thought it would be a good idea, and they will allow me some extra time after the implantation to have my acupuncturist come in. One study showed an increase in successful pregnancies in all age groups from 25% to 42% - nice odds for me!

So, nice news for a Friday afternoon - nice to have an answer and a plan going forward. The uncertainty was driving me nuts. They plan to start me off at a higher dosage of stims to try and avoid the small follicles and too few from last cycle.

We have quite a bit on this weekend but it's all good fun stuff, and with the weather being so cold, it will be nice to curl up during the quiet moments with Katie the Puppy and a good book!

On the Katie front - she has her final immunisation next week, and then starts Puppy Class the day after. She is too cute - she drives us nuts at times, but she is very playful and is gradually learning a few things (like tugging on Mummy's skirt when she gets home from work is definately a no-no!) And she really likes snuggling up on the bed with us in the mornings and evenings...awww.

Nothing at all to report

I am getting frustrated. Developments over the last couple of days have shown how completely out of whack my system is right now, so we could start the next cycle as early as tomorrow, or as late as a month to six weeks away! Having your life ruled by a blood test result makes things interesting, to say the least. It's hard not to be down about it.

I am sure I will feel better tomorrow about all this, but today was tough. I think not knowing is the worse thing, the thing that makes all this so unknown and hard to bear.

Ahhh Weekends...

It's been a good one. Our friend Selma and her wee girl came over for dinner on Friday night so I got my baby cuddles in! Though the wiggle is hardly a baby - more like a toddler who is pretty interested in everything - including Katie. Doesn't like Katie barking very much though, but thought it very funny when Katie pulls on DH's pants.

Then, Saturday night was the All Blacks vs Ireland game, and a few of us went along. We had front row seats on the try line, but it was raining steadily so despite raincoats we all got quite cold and wet. Highlights of the night - we won, and I caught the ball and threw it back. So...I touched the same ball Byron scored a try with.

International visitors - this was a rugby test. If you are a girl you might like to google Byron Kelleher or Daniel Carter images to see why I like this team so much :-)

Today we babysat the wiggly one this morning - lots of fun playing games, exploring and generally keeping her happy and amused. She was lovely though, and it was nice to have her for a while!

Back to work tomorrow, and I'll miss Katie after having so much time with her this weekend - mainly due to the fact it has been very cold and wet, so no painting was done! Nice to have a big relaxing weekend though, and take things a little easy!

She's a cutie

Well, having a puppy has certainly made our life a different place to be! While it's a lot of work (daily messes, taking turns to come home at lunch, trying to get her head out of the dishwasher/fridge/cupboard when making dinner), it is also a lot of fun, and when she cuddles up it's all worth it! And it's all good practice, right?

In fact, it's a perfect distraction from the month ahead of waiting to start our next cycle. I am quite enjoying the break! 

Puppy is great, I'm not so good

I had a lovely day off work today - my co worker is back and she held the fort while I played with Katie, and painted some of our new fence.

The clinic had called this morning and asked me to go for yet another blood test, which I did. They just called, basically to say that my body is cycling on it's own and therefore has already started to produce an egg. The poor old ovaries are obviously a bit confused from all the drugs, and so the only option is to wait a month till the next period, then start from there. That delays any possible retrieval, fertilisation and implantation till August.

I'm bummed. I knew going into this that there were always problems, delays, and unforeseen situations. I just feel like with one cancelled cycle, and now one delayed, that the odds are against me for ever actually getting to retrieval. We have already booked to go away in early September, so hopefully we will get any cycle done prior to then. I guess we will have to cross that bridge when we get to it!

In the meantime, Katie had her first wee run outside today, did her first "big job" on the lawn, and scratched the grass very officially to cover it. She's a wee sweetie, and she met her first "wee humans" today. Maddie the baby had her cracker stolen from her chubby wee fist, and Jess got to pat her and throw her cardboard stick for her to fetch!

Couldn't resist this pic

I decided this blog had to change for the next few days to a puppy blog, seeing as nothing is happening on the infertility front!

Now, look at this cute wee face. She was very good last night - she woke up at 2am and we got up and played with her for half an hour, and then when we went back to bed she only whined a couple of times and then was quiet. We both took turns coming home from work in our lunch hours and she was just fine.

And she is mostly doing her wees where she should be! And I must be a doting "parent" to be excited about where puppy pees!

DH has just put a neat little gate up so we can keep her in the kitchen - we had the table up against the open doorway over night but it was a little large and heavy! So now we have a very cool little slot door system - isnt he clever? The cats still aren't quite sure, but as long as she stays in the kitchen they have dominion of the rest of the house! 

Meet Katie - our new Puppy

DH and I happened to be at the pet store today (I think it was all a plot on his part as he had been there earlier in the weekend and seen the puppies!).

Anyway, to cut a long story short, we fell in love with little Katie and here she is. Right now she is asleep in the corner of the kitchen that is her own, and she is very cuddly and placid. That may change!

So far the cats have been more interested in her food than in checking her out!

Guaranteed we will get pregnant now we have a puppy! She is lovely and very sweet - nine weeks old and a gorgeous Golden Retriever.

Frustration ...

I stopped taking Provera last Sunday night - and was told to expect a period in the next few days. Well - nothing yet. Infertility is a strange beast - the one time you want it to arrive, it doesn't! Until it arrives I can't start back on the birth control pill, and I can't then start another cycle, so delays are frustrating. Upshot is I have to go in to the clinic tomorrow (a holiday here) for another blood test and see that the results of that are.

In the meantime, I have been having fun painting our new front fence and scrubbing an old copper that we bought second hand - it will look beautiful when it is all cleaned up, but right now it just looks black apart from the part I have cleaned! It's getting colder here, and although I managed to be outside painting all day yesterday, I was frozen by the time I came in. Heavy rain today put paid to any more painting, so I scrubbed!

Happy weekends to you all
Paula