Adopt-a-Blogger: July

First of all, if this is your first visit, courtesy of Amy's Adopt-a-Blogger program, welcome and thank you! I cannot begin to describe how much this means to me, and it could not come at a better time (but I'm getting ahead of myself here). If you're curious about the name and heading picture, I explain in my Welcome to Chateau d'If post.

Background: Husbandido and I first met in the summer of 1999, though we didn't start dating until 2007, partly because he looked really young (like 12, though I assumed he was an undergrad) and partly because he was trying to get his life in order. Having known each other for so long before we started dating (and the fact that we covered religion, politics, and children on our first date probably helped, too), we went from starting to date to married in 13 months. I turned 31 on our honeymoon. Four months after our wedding Husbandido lost his job; in addition to losing his income, we were also suddenly faced with bills for COBRA and his tuition (which had previously been covered by his employer). I was working in a temp position, and we didn't know how we were going to get by. It wasn't until March 2011, almost three years after we married, that we started TTC. Though Husbandido had not yet found a job, he had completed his degree in computer science, and we had both felt nudges from the Holy Spirit that it was time. We had learned sympto-thermal NFP shortly after we were married, so I started to get concerned after about 6 months of TTC. (The fact that 35 was starting to loom didn't help.) We started working with a reproductive endocrinologist (RE) in November 2011. We had a positive pregnancy test my third cycle on Clomid, October 2012; unfortunately the pregnancy proved nonviable.

Diagnoses: According to our RE, we were "unexplained," which frustrated me to no end. On the other end of the spectrum is our NaPro doctor; it seems like every time we talk to him, I gain at least one more diagnosis. The current list includes vitamin D deficiency, iron deficiency, poor quality ovulation, type 3 luteal phase deficiency, and, as of our last appointment, probable endometriosis. 

Plan: Now that you're all caught up on our background, the reason that this couldn't come at a better time is that our NaPro doctor thinks that the next step is surgery, which is scheduled for August 6.  Today is my final HCG shot of this cycle (P+9); based on my last few cycles, I expect CD1 to be around July 6. Based on that assumption, we may have one more cycle left before surgery. I'll be on 25 mg Clomid (CD3-7), Biaxin (CD7-20), low dose naltrexone, and HCG post peak (P+3,5,7, and 9) for the fifth time. Barring a miracle positive this cycle or the next, August 6 will have me in Columbus for a laparascopy and selective hysterosalpingogram. I'm not enthusiastic about having surgery, but at this point, it is our best chance at success. As much as I would love to be one of the stories of women who end up pregnant right before surgery is scheduled, I'm certainly not counting on it. As we prepare for my surgery, please pray that I may find peace in the decision and that we may have the grace to accept whatever may come.