Noel25: My story for Elizabeth.... 7 mos today....DH & I met online in October of 1995 in Upstate NY. We were both separated from our 1st spouses with no chance of reconciling. We both got divorces pretty quickly while we were dating. We got married in Oct. 1997, moved to IL & started ttc right away. Nothing was happening & since we both didn't have babies with our first spouses, I started researching IF. I found INCIID in 1998 & everything started moving really quickly... DH got a devastating biopsy which showed zero sperm. Somehow, it wasn’t very surprising to him, but it was really awful for me. I cried a lot and am still grieving not being able to get pg in the privacy of our bedroom. I think I will always be sad about that, as I am sure we all are. DH really wanted to adopt (he was adopted) but I really wanted to be pg. We discussed the differences between adopting a baby & adopting sperm & DH agreed to adopt sperm. :-) Also, my cycles were very irregular, so the RE put me on clomid. I got pg with my son on my 3rd cycle, clomid 100 mg, & he was born June 18, 2000... two months after we moved to PA to be closer to my family, who lives in CT. I always thought that I wanted 3 kids, 18 mos apart, so I made an appt with a new RE in PA when DS was 6 months old. My DH happened to be in Croatia on business, so the RE cancelled what I wanted to be my first cycle bc DH wasn't around to sign the papers. The next 2 cycles were cancelled due to me having high LH on cd 12 & the RE wasn't listening to me. For some reason, I had this intuition that the LH didn't mean anything at cd 12 (mainly bc of the info from INCIID & my 1st RE didn't test for it). The RE said that the high LH on cd 12 meant that I already ovulated, but never did any u/s to verify that. He was ready to switch me to injectibles, but I switched to an RE in Philadelphia who promised to not cancel me due to my LH numbers. My LMP was May 1 and I was all set with the clomid. I couldn't detect a surge on the OPK's (never could), so I had to go in for bw on cd 15, 17 & 19. They kept refusing to give me the HCG shot, so I was SURE that my cycle was doomed because I don't think that I release the egg on my own. Finally, on CD 19, the bw showed I was ready for the IUI & I begged for the HCG shot. They gave it to me after the IUI because I was begging so much. They insisted that I didn't need it. The hpt's were negative on 12 & 13dpiui & the one on 14 dpiui was so faint, I thought I was dreaming. The beta on 17 dpiui was a third of what my son's was, so I was really worried. The u/s's in the beginning were always behind, but I guess that didn't matter (interesting how she is so tiny & “behind” in weight). My edd was 2/6/02, but as with my son, I started dialating at 32w. They wanted me on bedrest, but its nearly impossible with a toddler. The Friday before Christmas, I went in for my normal OB appt & the physicians assistant checked me & said I had to be admitted immediately because I was 2cm & 70% effaced. I was put on mag sulfate for 48 hours and that calmed the contractions down & kept the baby in for 4 more weeks. Elizabeth was born 3 weeks early on 1/19/02. I feel so blessed to have her. She is the light of our lives. Thanks for reading. MaryAnne |