Quick Update!

Things are just beginning to settle down after a long fun summer!  We really enjoyed being able to spend a lot of time together over summer!  But I will admit after all that time together we were both ready for Rob to head back to work!  :o) 

Some of the things we enjoyed over the summer were; Going to the Zoo, Sea World, Going to the Conan Show Live, and sitting in studio with the Mikey Show on the Radio 94.9FM.  We spent a lot of time doing other things as well but those were definitely the HIGHLIGHTS!

We have continued our "Trying To Conceive" journey without too much luck!  Due to finances we are not able to pursue the fertility clinic at this time.  So I have continued to look into natural options to try to encourage ovulation to occur.  I am currently trying a natural option and I do believe it is helping a little.  Our goal right now is to try to save some money once we are back to having Rob working full time and if we don't get pregnant on our own then maybe we will have enough money to get in with the fertility clinic to try Clomid.  I am trying not to stress over it but it is heart breaking when the days, weeks, and months tick by and we still don't have our family started. I know that the stress of feeling depressed, or guilty, and anxious does not help the process of getting pregnant but some days I just can't beat those feelings.  I try to stay as positive as possible and find the good in all of this. 

I don't have a whole lot to update on but felt like it had been a long time since I had blogged.

~The Mrs.

Dr. Visit Update!

So on June 16th Rob and I went to my Reproductive Endocrinologist appointment.  We were there doing a follow up on the Metformin (which had NOT helped in regulating my cycles)  and to discuss the next step in our TTC (Trying to conceive) journey.  She reccomended that I stay on the Metformin and said that it was time for her to refer us to a Fertility clinic.  So she gave us all of my records containing my lab work results and also the findings from the internal ultrasound she had done at the 1st appointment.  She also included a letter stating that she reccomends that the next step in my treatment be to start a round of Clomid (the fertility drug that tells your body to ovulate).  She said that by giving them all the previous lab work and ultrasound results it would hopefully reduce the amount of tests they would want to do before they would do the round of Clomid.  All of this will be out of pocket cost to us.  So our plan is to wait another month or so and hopefully loose a little weight and get a little more healthy.  Then we will go in for the consultation with the fertility clinic.  It's all very stressful and depressing...but I guess it's just what we have to do to get our family.   I hope Clomid works for us....otherwise I don't know what we will do.

That's the update for now. 

~Lacy

Just an update

I will have to do a separate post about our trip to Minnesota!  It was a BLAST!  It was so fun to see the family and celebrate Grandma's 95th bday! 


I mostly wanted to update everyone on the "trying for baby" status.  I have an appointment scheduled with my Reproductive Endocrinologist on 6/16.  My plan is to ask if they can put me on the Clomid with this next cycle.  I have been taking the Metformin for over 3 months and I still have not had my cycle.  So....I will probably have to do another round of Provera to start my cycle but hopefully that means that I will be able to try the Clomid once that cycle starts up!  My mom had success with Clomid for all three of her pregnancies and she had the same condition that I have.  So I hope that I have the same type of response that she did. 

So that's the update!  I will check back in after the next appointment!

We Made It To ONE Year!!!

 So, we survived our 1st year of marriage!  It is so crazy to think that a whole year has passed!  A part of me feels like if Rob and I made it through the past year we can make it through anything!  Our marriage has been great but other factors have been very stressful for us!  Both of our families have faced some stressful times in the past year (mostly my family though)....and inevitably it does take a toll on me and Rob in some way.  But we have stayed strong to what we feel is right and Rob has stayed by my side and has supported me in all of my decisions in how to deal with and handle my family's issues!  Aside from the drama though, there have been some really GREAT things that have happened!  Our BEAUTIFUL and PERFECT niece Holly Elise Ordway was born on September 14th, 2010!  She is so great and is growing soooooo fast!   It seems like just yesterday that she was just a little infant that didn't do anything...and now she smiles, giggles, grabs things, rolls over, sits up...it's truly amazing!  Here is a pic of her from her First Easter...just last Sunday!

 

 

 

 

7 months old!  Easter Sunday 4/24/2011

We feel so lucky to have been able to spend Holly's 1st Easter with her and my brother and sister in-law!  It was a very special day for her!  Rob and I brought hard boiled eggs up to color with her and also brought her a special Easter basket with lots of fun surprises!  Here are a few pics!

Her 1st Easter Basket from Auntie Lacy and Uncle Rob!

Having fun coloring Easter eggs!

Here are few more pics from visiting Nick, Melissa, and Holly at the Desert for Easter weekend!

One of my favorite pics of us at the desert!

Auntie Lacy and Uncle Rob and little Holly!  Happy 1st Easter for us and her!

Rob went on his 1st Dune Buggy ride!  And LOVED it!  :o)

Holly and I on Easter morning!  She is wearing the Easter bow that I made for her!

The Friday before Easter Rob and I headed to Julian, CA for our Anniversary celebration!  We drove up the back way through Santa Ysabel and went to Dudley's Bakery for lunch and to buy some yummy bread to bring back home!  Neither of us had been there since they expanded it to a deli and bakery!  It was a GREAT lunch and the weather was perfect!

The Bakery!

My Super Yummy Turkey Breast Sandwich!

The view was amazing and the weather was perfect!

This was the view from the bakery parking lot!!  Amazing!

Rob looking cute with his soda!

 After Dudley's we headed up to Julian!  It was only about 10 minutes further up the road from Dudley's!  When we arrived we checked into our Bed and Breakfast, The Julian Hotel!  It's the oldest hotel in Julian!  It was so cute and warm and quaint! 

This is the Parlour where they served tea time, breakfast, and you could play games!

Another angle of the parlour!

They brought me Hot Cocoa even though they don't normally offer it at that time of the day!

Breakfast!  French Toast with Julian Apples on top!

Being silly with his little coffee glass!

After we got checked into the hotel we walked around town and looked in a lot of shops!  Right about 4:30pm we stopped into a business that takes old western photos of people.  So that it looks like you are in an old western movie in a saloon!  They closed at 5pm so we ran to the hotel real fast so I could re-apply some make-up and fix my hair and then went back for a photo!  It was a lot of fun and I think it was my favorite part of the Julian visit!  Here is the photo we picked!

Cute Huh???  Anyways!  That first night our plan was to grab dinner at a local restaurant and then head to the Observers Inn for a tour and to look through big telescopes to see the stars and planets and stuff...but we got fogged in and the skies weren't clear so it got canceled!  :o(  We got a rain check though and we're planning a day trip in the summer to go back and do the tour!   Can't wait!

 Since all of the businesses mostly close after 5pm we decided to just take our cameras out in the night and goof around with night photography!  It was really fun because the whole town of Julian was pretty much silent (except the distant sounds of the local bar hosting a live band).  It was like a ghost town especially with the fog coming in!  Here are some of the pics from that!

The next morning we checked out and headed home!  It was a short but AMAZINGLY sweet trip!  We had such a great weekend!  It was a perfect way to celebrate our 1st year of marriage!  It will be a trip that we will both remember forever! 

So, I guess it's fair to say that after the 1st year we are still deeply in love and are truly looking forward to the years to come and all the adventures that are still out there for us!  Hopefully next year we will be talking about the beginnings of our own little family!  Here are a few more photos from the trip that I liked!  We took so many and more can be found on Facebook!

Love, Lacy and Rob Hester!

Minnesota Trip 2011!!!

Rob and I are very excited that we finally booked our tickets for our trip to Minnesota!  I have never been so I am thrilled to be seeing another part of America!  :o)  I love to travel!  We will be leaving San Diego at 7am on Wednesday the 25th of May and getting into Minneapolis around 4:15!  We have a lot of family to get around to see and get some local sight seeing in for me!  I CAN'T WAIT!!!  We will be staying for almost a week and leave on Tuesday May 31st at 10am and get home to San Diego around 2pm!

I finally get to meet Aiden and Baby Dylan!  And I am sure there are a ton of other family that I haven't met yet!  It is also Rob's grandma's birthday weekend so we will be celebrating with her in her small town of Blooming Prairie!  I'm sure its going to be beautiful there!  Rob says its very green and pretty!  I will be packing my camera for sure!!!  :o)  It's hard to tell through a blog how excited I am but I am sooooooo excited!  Can't wait!   I will be counting down the days!!!

Love, The Mrs.!

Ps.  My next blog will be about our 1 year anniversary trip!  Yup it's been 1 year!!!  UNBELIEVABLE!

It's been a while!

Life goes on....and on...and on.   Rob and I have been very busy lately.  I finally have picked up some work and have been working a lot more.  Rob is still at the local high school as their "on-site substitute".   Spring break is coming up for Rob.  I believe he has April 11th off and it goes for 2 weeks!

Our 1 year wedding anniversary is coming up in less than one month!  I can't believe that it has been a year already.  I feel so mixed about how our first year has gone.  Rob and I have been doing great...but it kind of feels like some of the joy and excitement of it being our first year married has been robbed from us because of all the drama going on in my family.

Rob and I have been working on the idea of starting our family now since late 2010.  And amazingly we are approaching the ominous 6 months TTC(trying to conceive) mark.  According to Dr.s you officially have an infertility issue if you have been TTC for 6-12 months without getting pregnant.  Although we already know that I have some amount of infertility issues as a side effect of PCOS (Poly Cystic Ovary Syndrome), it just really sucks when you realize that you couldn't beat the odds and get pregnant without much medical assistance. 

Lately I have been researching alternative fertility treatments for PCOS patients and discovered a natural herb called Vitex (Chaste Tree Berry).  It is supposed to promote hormone balance and ovulation.  Both things are issues I face as side effects of PCOS.  I have anovulatory cycles (VERY long cycles 50+ days long and no ovulation occurs).  And I have elevated hormones and deficient hormones.  I have read a lot about Vitex over the past week and have heard ALOT of success stories from other PCOS patients that are TTC. 

Also during my research about fertility options I discovered that a long term side effect of Clomid (very common drug used for PCOS patients to force ovulation/pregnancy to occur) is increased risk for ovarian, uteruan, and breast cancer.  As many of you know cancer is prominent in my mother's side of the family.  My mom had breast cancer(she took Clomid with all 3 pregnancies), my aunt had lung cancer, my grandma had a type of skin cancer on her lip, and my great grandma had breast cancer.  I'm thinking that since I'm already genetically at a high risk for cancer that I don't really want to do the Clomid thing except as a last effort.

So that just about brings everyone up to speed about me (and Rob too of course)!  I will try to be better about my updates.  It's just been so crazy lately that I haven't sat down and taken the time to do it! 

~Mrs. H.

Update on Me

In my last blog I had explained my diagnoses from my Dr. and had said that the Dr. wanted me to take 2 new medications.  I took the Provera for the 10 days and amazingly it did start my cycle!  So after a week of horrible cramps and all that fun stuff I am wrapping it up and hopefully have a new fresh opportunity to get pregnant.   The other medication, Metformin is supposed to eventually help me regulate my cylce and allow ovulation to occur.  It may not be in full effect till the 2nd or 3rd  month of taking it but I'm almost done with 1 month!   They say 1 out of 3 women with PCOS achieve pregnancy with Metformin.  So everyone, keep your fingers crossed!  We will be trying, trying, trying!  I HOPE THIS WORKS!

~Lacy

Starting My New Meds...

So I took my new medications last night.  Im not sure if it was the Metformin or the Provera that kept me up all night but I tossed and turned and woke up about once every 2 hrs.   I had to wait till ALL of my blood work to come in before I could start the Metformin.  Yesterday when I called the Dr. office they said my labs all came back "normal" and that I could start the medication.   I'm excited to be moving forward with all of this. 

They say that 1 out of 3 women with PCOS are able to achieve pregnancy while taking Metformin.  At first I was dissapointed with those odds but then one of Rob's  Tony said that if he had a 1/3 batting average in baseball he would be pretty happy...lol  He said with a 333 batting average he would be playing allstars!  LOL....So I guess I need to think positively like Tony....  I told him that I was impressed that he could relate a women's ovulation to baseball!!  :o)  Silly boys! 

I guess the best thing I can do at this point is take the medicine, relax, eliminate stress, and continue to have a positive attitude.  My priority right now is to eliminate stress.

Thank you to all my friends and family for all of the support.

~Lacy

Blood Work Results...

So as part of my plan with my dr. to start these new medications I needed to do some blood work.   I went to the lab yesterday and the results are already trickling in on my Kaiser online account.  Everything has looked great, right within "normal" range except my Billirubin which was only 0.1 over the higher side of normal....and my Testosterone which was through the roof.

  I knew that my Testosterone levels would be high.  That is a VERY common sign of PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome).  So in a way it is good news to know that all the pieces are matching up and all pointing at the same diagnosis.  So I will be calling my Dr.  this morning to see if it is ok for me to start taking the Metformin. 

The Latest From My Dr. Appointment Today 2/8/2011

Well,  today I went to see the reproductive endocrinologist to see and learn more about the posibility for a diagnoses of PCOS (Poly Cystic Ovary Syndrome).  Today is cycle day #67 for me and my last cycle was 42 days long.  When I arrived at the appointment they had me take a urine pregnancy test, which of coarse came back (-) negative...  :o( .... But I aleady knew I wasn't pregnant (but it is still sad).  After that the Dr.s came in and asked me what seemed like a million questions and I shared my ovulation charts with them and discussed my basal body temperature changes and the MANY "daily ovulation kits" I have been doing.  After this they told me that based on all the information I had provided it appeared that a diagnosis of PCOS was pretty likely.  But before they could diagnose me for sure, they needed to do an internal ultrasound of my uterus and ovaries....(ok, I will admit...I was a little nervous about this part!)...It wasn't that bad and I actually thought it was pretty neat to see MY ovaries and uterus up on the screen!  The Dr.s said that I have "TEXTBOOK PCOS OVARIES".  In the pics I will post at the bottom you can see that there are a bunch of little circles inside of the big circle.  The big circle is my ovary and the smaller circles are follicles that mature and become the egg that will be released(ovulation).  In "normal" ovaries all of those follicles would be in the center of the ovary....whereas my follicles all cling to the outer rim of the ovary(this is what is typical in PCOS patients).  I have also posted a pic they took of my uterus.  PRETTY COOL!(I think..!)

        So at the end of the internal ultrasound I was diagnosed OFFICIALLY with PCOS.  The Dr. said that I need to do blood work tomorrow AM and then pick up two prescriptions.  One prescription is Provera, it is taken for 10 days to "force" my body to start my period and begin my next cycle.  It is pretty much designed to clean out my uterus for a fresh clean start....(kinda gross, I'm sorry).  The second prescription is Metformin.  This drug is used my a lot of PCOS patients and about 1 out of 3 women achieve pregnancy while taking Metformin.  For most women they need to take Metformin  for at least a few months before they notice it really working.  It should help with regulating my cycles, reducing abnormal hair growth, and possibly even help with loosing some more weight.  The Dr. also encouraged me to focus and living a "healthy lifestyle" but not to do anything drastic or major as that can stress your body out internally, and can throw off ovulation.  Many patience with PCOS see a decrease in symptoms when body weight is decreased.  Also the Dr. instructed Rob and I that we need to BD(baby dance...wink wink) about 3-4 times regardless of whether or not I am currently ovulating...because if my body does decide to ovulate you want to always have the "little swimmers" ready and waiting for it!  :o)

        All in all, I'm pretty happy with the appointment.   The only down side is that they will not be able to prescribe Clomid without it being considered "infertility treatment".  My insurance plan does not cover infertility so it would be 100% out of pocket for us.  So for now we will try this and probably give it at least 6 months before considering other options.

I am just happy that the ball is continuing to roll in the right direction, and that the possibility of Rob and I starting a family is still in the rehlm of possibility!   I will continue to keep you posted as we continue this journey!  Thank you to all of our family and friends for your love and support! 

 Love, Mrs. Lacy Hester!

My Right Ovary.  Here you see the small round follicles all around the wall of the ovary.

This is my uterus.  Dr. says it looks perfect and normal!