All in the Lords due time!

I figure its about time to take a minute and write down whats been happening. I just want to remember this time in our lives...hard as it is sometimes.

The last I updated on this part of our lives was in May 2014 in this post: 100th post: Yay, for working body parts!

I can't believe its been that long...

June 2014 I did a saliva hormone test with a Dr. West in pocatello and the results came back the week I was heading to girls camp. I remember being on the phone with the doctor about 45 mins before I had to leave! The results came back that I had hardly any progesterone............

So they put me on a progesterone cream and black haw drops for 6 months to see if we could help it out. I wasn't looking forward to waiting 6 months to test again but I had some great things to keep me busy....

During this time and after lots of fasting, prayer, talking, and researching we decided to open the door to ADOPTION! Link to our Adoption Announcement Video.

It was a decision the was hard but exciting for us to make. We both felt like Heavenly Father wanted us to open this door.

We really felt like the more doors we opened for Heavenly Father to bless us with children the better.

It has been so interesting to be pursuing this option while the church has been in a transition; a bit frustrating at times with policy changing but still very interesting.

As of right now we are pursuing a private adoption route. Basically that just means we aren't working with an adoption agency right now. We pretty much "market" ourselves and then ideally through word of mouth we find our baby and then work with an attorney to finalize everything. It can be a lot cheaper.

So during this time we filled out endless paperwork, had health assessments, background checks, wrote biographies, went over finances, had a home study conducted...etc. It was a crazy process...

We just got our profile up on adoption.com!!! Click here to see our profile

We ran into some delays; like our ward getting split and getting a new bishop the week we were suppose to turn in our bishops recommendation. So we had to start that over but I just kept telling myself "God has this all planned out. His timing is perfect."

This is going to be such a blessing and will hopefully give us good exposer. Here is a link to the video where they announce the Adoption.com and LDSFS Relationship. If the church didn't sponsor this for LDS couples it would be costing us $200 a month to be on this profile site! We are VERY grateful!!!

This awesome step in trying to grow our family has been exciting but has also brought a whole new set of emotions to work through. Waiting is not an easy thing but God sometimes just makes us wait!

We are still pursuing infertility testing...so back to this hormone testing...

So in June 2014 I took the first hormone test and in January 2015 I finally got to test again (they tell you to collect your saliva sample on cycle day 19, 20, or 21) and the results came back somewhat better. My progesterone was up "artificially" from the cream and drops but my estrogen was now a little high...so this lead me to go back to my regular Dr. to get his take on it all.

Turns out my Dr. does saliva hormone tests...ha...but just a little differently...which totally made sense after he explained it...

Most hormone tests are based on the average women's cycle 28 days...

Well i'm not too normal (anymore) when it comes to that. Ever since my miscarriage my body hasn't quite gone back to its normal clock work style...which has concerned me but i've never got anywhere with finding out why...

Ok, back to average women's cycles.

Because those hormone tests are based on this the results could be off because my cycles are longer which leads to me ovulate later in my cycle which of course leads to your hormones going up and down through your cycle slightly different than the average women's.

To overcome this problem my Dr. does a cycle long saliva hormone test. So all through your cycle on different days you collect saliva samples and then they track what your hormones are doing throughout your whole cycle to get a better idea of whats going on.

This is the saliva hormone test kit

So we opted to do this option along with another test.

This other test we did is a ovulation verification (follicle scanning). I've been wanting to do this test for probably a year but have never really had enough information or reason to do it. Well nows the time!

Here are some things these series of ultrasounds could tell us:

1. Could tell us if I have PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome). If you want to learn more about PCOS

here is a link to a great article. ...but here is a quick run down. PCOS occurs when the hormonal signals are not carried through. Thus, follicles do not grow and release the egg, but instead stay small 2-6 mm in diameter each month. Over time, these small follicles build up resulting in an ovary packed with multiple small cysts.  

2. Tell us if I am ovulating; though it might not tell us if i'm ovulating consistently. We might just caught it on an ovulating month or a non ovulating month...

3. Help us know if my luteal phase (the phase after you ovulate and before your period starts) is long enough. It is important that it is 14 days. If it is shorter; than that could be attributed to a hormone imbalance and would cause really early miscarriages because that fertilized egg doesn't have enough time to implant correctly.

4. Help us determine if both ovaries are working...or if I just have one ovary that works.

I went to my first ultrasound March 20th (day 2) and things looked good. Both ovaries had blood flow so thats a good sign they are working :) (sorry if this is TMI)

My second ultrasound March 30th (day 12) they measured follicles (they were 7-9mm they usually ovulate when 20-22mm) and again things looked good. The doctor said he thought this follicle on the right side would be the one that eventually would ovulate.

My third ultrasound April 3rd (day 16) again they measured (the biggest was about 12mm) but the follicle on the right had stopped growing and one on the left had grown to be the dominant. So for sure I am ovulating late like day 19 or 20 (average women ovulate on day 14)

My fourth ultrasound April 6th (day 19) they measured once again and the biggest one was 15mm...slow growin' :)

My fifth ultrasound April 10th (day 23) I'll make this short. They measured and couldn't find very many that were bigger than 12-13mm, no signs of ovulation, and no positive from a ovulation test kit. So my doctor and I feel like I didn't ovulate this cycle.

This was weird for me because every time i've used ovulation predictor kits, which have been many over the last 4 years, i've always got a positive.

So now we wait...

...wait to see when my period starts....

...wait to get the saliva hormone test results...

and wait to see a fertility specialist May 7th.