Gave Notice at Work

A bittersweet moment. Today I handed in my letter of resignation to the City (I work for the Municipal Government). This is closing the chapter on 10 years of working there. I started as a teenager and I have made such wonderful friendships. We were so entwined with that community - Z grew up there. He can walk into any  recreation centre and the staff know him and vice versa. My coworkers saw me through pregnancy with him and saw him grow up over the years. It's hard to let go of the past despite how I'm looking forward to the life ahead with my amazing husband. Some emails and FB comments I got from people when they found out I am leaving.

• We will miss you!!
• I wish you that the happiness you have now follows you through the rest of your life!
• An exciting adventure awaits you!! Congratulations:) You will be missed! Best of luck!!
• Good luck. It's been a pleasure working with you and seeing you move your way up in the ranks.
• All the best. Wishing you happiness in your new home.
• our loss, but a huge gain for you!
• I wish you all the best in this new chapter in life
• You have wonderful memories and can always come back and visit!!
• You future is ahead of you and it is BRIGHT!!! and shiny
• Best wishes -Follow your heart.

And lastly, from my Husband: Thank you for wanting to move down here with me. I know you are giving up a lot. I love you!

IUI #3

Today we did IUI #3. I think this might be our last one. The doctor said that after 3 unsuccessful IUI's it is best to move to IVF since the success rate drops dramatically. I'm still on the fence about how I feel about IVF. It is so invasive and so expensive. And even then, the success rates aren't amazing. She quoted me 60-70% success. Well, at $12k, that is a lot of risk to take. Maybe this time it will stick because I am actually relaxed for the first time in months! Knowing that I can move with my son has taken a huge weight off my shoulders.

WE WON!!! We are allowed to move!!!

After 6.5 weeks of waiting, we finally got our results today. It was the most nerve wracking wait of my life, but the good news is that WE ARE ALLOWED TO MOVE TO THE USA!!! The court thought the move was in my son's best interests and really, it's not far from our home now (1 hour). Everything went our way. I got my child support arrears, increased child support, the ability to move and even the pickup/dropoff location of our choice! It couldn't have been better. Praise the Lord. It is only through His power that everything swayed so much in our favor. Additionally, there is a new Family Law Act in BC (Mar 18, 2013) and our case was one of the first relocation cases under the Act, so it will be setting a precedent! JP Boyd (Family Law Guru in BC) actually blogged about it and said it was an "Important Decision on Relocation, Interim Guardianship, Needs of the Child Assessments". It is posted on the law websites for all to read and cite in the future. My lawyer was excellent. I couldn't have asked for more. Several thousand dollars later, it is all over. And every penny was worth it! Now the busyness starts - Have to register my son in school, extracurriculars, list my condo in BC, buy a home (right now we are renting a 2BR apartment) in Washington, etc. It's all wonderful things and I'm thrilled to be busy doing them.

Ovarian Reserve

My RE at the fertility clinic did an ultrasound today to check ovarian reserve. She was shocked to see that I had only 5 follicles where she would expect there to be 20 for my age. My FSH level was also higher than she would like (8.7) and those two things combined lead her to put my Ovarian Reserve age at closer to 40 (I'm only 29). She thinks IVF might be better since we may not have much time left to play with. Well, THAT would explain why it has been so hard to get pregnant! I'm trying not to be devastated or to kick myself for all the years I spent entrenched in an ED. I didn't have a period for over 3 years (from 2008-2011). At the time I didn't think I would want more children, but now the damage may be done.

Court Hearing Completed

June has come and gone in the blink of an eye. Today we finally completed our hearing. What was supposed to be a 3 day hearing turned into a much longer affair. We added 2 extra days before the judge, then had to submit our closings in writing. June 3, 4, 5, 5, 14 IN COURT June 18 OUR CLOSING SUBMISSIONS DUE June 25 THEIR CLOSING SUBMISSIONS DUE June 28 OUR REPLY TO THEIR CLOSING DUE Now we wait for the judge to make her decision. There is no telling how long she could take to decide. I just hope we know sooner rather than later because it is impossible right now to make any plans for the future. I don't even know what country we will be living in and what school my son will be going to in September.

Not Pregnant again

Dammit, 2 IUI's unsuccessful. $600 in the fertility hole. I think we will take a break for a couple of months. This is too stressful, especially with a custody hearing coming up. The annoying thing is that today is C's birthday, so this was not good news to have to share with him especially today of all days. He turned 30 today and wanted more than anything for us to be pregnant before his 30th birthday. Well, that is one wish that did not get answered.

IUI #2

I went for my second IUI today. Fingers crossed!!!

Not Pregnant

Not Pregnant. Basal Body Temperature dropped yesterday morning and was even lower this morning. Then my period appeared this afternoon. In other news, we are getting ready for our court date. The hearing that was supposed to happen in December 2012 will be on June 3, 4, 5th of this year. That's just over 2 weeks away! We are going to court to get permission for my son to move to the US to live with my husband and I. I first filed my application to the court on Feb 14, 2012 and we STILL have not had a hearing yet. I can't believe it has taken this long. All this time we have been driving up and down the I5 every weekend to see each other. I just want us to live together as a family like a normal married couple would.

Psychologist visit with C

Today C and I saw a psychologist who specializes in reproductive issues. We have been getting so frustrated with the process and that we have been trying for over 1 year without getting pregnant. I'm so glad we went! The psych was awesome and really really helped us put things in perspective. We left feeling refreshed and ready to keep going.

IUI #1

So, we've been TTC for over a year. This means that we are actually classified as having fertility issues. I never in a million years thought I would be in this boat. I got pregnant with my son when I was on the pill for goodness sake! Anyways, I went for my first IUI (Intra Uterine Insemination) today. The clinic has suggested going this route first (before using drugs or even thinking about IVF) as it is the most non-invasive method but gets the sperm closer to the egg and therefore, increases your chances. It's not overly expensive either. $300 per cycle. Yeah, that seems expensive but compared to $12,000 for one round of IVF, it's just pennies! I'm surprised that the clinic isn't giving me Clomid or using a trigger shot before the IUI to better time it. They aren't even doing ultrasound monitoring (which is another $100 and I could choose to do but they said it doesn't really increase my odds). Most other women I've talked to are using one or more of these methods in addition to the IUI. The IUI was nothing. No pain or discomfort. After having one baby and having people poke around down there so much, you get immune to it and the embarrassment factor goes away, lol.