Updates

Well The new year started off with Jon and I getting a letter from our mortgage company saying we have to pay more into our escrow because property tax went WAY up again. Our property tax has doubled since we got the place 3 years ago!!! it goes up significantly every year... Unfortunately it raises our mortgage by over $100 so we will have to pass part of that onto our tenant. It's been 3 years and she has never had a rent increase. As a matter of fact one year I paid her utilities to help her out since she was in a bad spot. Now it's Jon and I that are in a tight spot (thanks to the holidays and unexpected expenses). I guess that is what savings is for though. Now we just have to build it back up again. I don't like not having a savings account (we spent ours on the heating systems). It makes me nervous.

I went to the doctors this morning but got there late (thanks snow). The blood won't be sent out till tomorrow so I have to wait for the results. :( The ultrasound tech left just as I got there (she has a second job) so I have to have that done tomorrow too. I also get another biopsy tomorrow to check to see if the endometritis is gone. Jon had to reschedule his SA because we forgot what time he needed to be in. he went with me this morning and they said he wasn't scheduled till noon. I had no appointment card and no way of calling them yesterday so Jon opted to reschedule but he has to wait till 1/23 since they only do SA's once a month or so. By then I'll be on the BCP for IVF #4. It's ok though because we really don't NEED those results to decide what protocol I will be using.

I know 2008 will be a good year. 2007 was by far the worst year I've ever had. I'm determined that I will get pregnant and have a baby in 2008! Here is an over view of 2007.

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It's officially 2008. I have to admit that I'm extremely glad to see 2007 gone. , To be honest. It was the hardest year I think I have had thus far. Don't get me wrong I could have had a LOT worse happen to me and I'm grateful for that. I didn't really get to take vacation time t his year since I used most of that and my sick time for all my IVF appointments. I did get to take 1 nice family vacation though. :)

My year really revolved around trying to get pregnant, scheduling doctor’s appointments, getting test results back. Literally every single month I was on some kind of drug (with a few breaks in between).

In January we started our 3rd IUI. We used gonal F 150. I stimmed for 7 days. BFN: We had 13 possible follicles that month. We were crazy to go through with it but we did. I trusted my doctor. You can imagine my frustration and sadness when I found out the cycle didn’t work. I thought for sure if I couldn't get pregnant with that many eggs I was doomed.

February we were on a forced break because I get cysts after every single medicated cycle. For some reason my corpus lutea don’t' know how to disappear with AF. (I think the progesterone messes that up). We tried on our own that cycle and of course BFN: I was doing IUI's till mid way through the year. In April I started the process for my first IVF. At the end of June we found it didn't work. We were devastated. I couldn't bear the thought of another IVF but somehow we trudged through it.

March brought our 4th and final IUI. We did 150iu of Gonal F again. (IUI #1 was50mg clomid and IUI #2 was 150iu gonal f. ) The only reason I went through with it was because my doctor wouldn't refer me to IVF unless I did...I had no idea I could have switched doctors and moved on myself. We had 8 follicles and of course it didn't work. (We did double IUI's with all our IUI cycles)

April was a break due to cysts again. I also set up a consultation with my new doctor. I started the BCP for my first IVF in May.

June & July was IVF #2. Unfortunately I had a bad response to the lupron and was over suppressed. I only had 3 eggs and 1 fertilized with ICSI. Our only embryo was very bad quality and ended up not making it to transfer.

August was our family trip to Utah to see My BIL and his wife with their new baby. It was wonderful to have the time away from home to spend with family. It was nice to leave everything behind for a week and just relax and enjoy family. August also brought is a much needed break from the IVF treatments. We were tired. I needed time off to get my sanity back. We took 2 months off.

September we were on a break from IVF still. However my car decided to roll down my driveway and total itself. I was not quite ready to get rid of my car. DH and I wanted to wait till he graduated then sell mine and get a new car. The insurance company offered me $2,900 which is a lot more then I would have sold it for. Needless to say we took the money and ran. We ended up getting a good deal on a 2008 Carolla S edition. We didn't plan on getting a brand new car (vowed we wouldn’t) but we didn't pay to much more for it then we would have for a used car so it just made sense.

October I started the BCP for IVF #3. My response to the meds was not as good as they could be. We had 9 follicles on our ultrasound but only 3 eggs retrieved. I was a mess. I cried for the rest of the day. I was sure they had gotten me mixed up with someone else...Luckily all 3 fertilized with ICSI. 2 made it to a 3 day transfer but none of them brought us a baby. The embryo quality this time was not as great as it was with my first IVF. My Re suspected egg quality and said he would be willing to do 2 more cycles with me.


November we decided to switch doctors and we are very glad we did. In December I started testing and found out I had endometritis. It's a condition in which the uterine lining is enflamed and is not good for implantation. It is caused by a bacterial infection and DH and I were both put on antibiotics for 10 days. I also found out that my TSH has risen more so my doctor is doing more tests.

It is now January and we are in the middle of our Clomid cycle. I'm taking Clomid for the Clomid challenge test. My Re wants to see what my FSH will be. I go in for some blood work tomorrow so we will see.

We are hoping that IVF brings us our first child. I only have 3 months left to get pregnant if I want a 2008 baby. We'll see. :) Either way I fully plan on being pregnant for the majority of the year. I have a feeling 2008 is going to be a GREAT year!

Jonathan graduates in May and already has a job lined up. He is working for Liberty Mutual and LOVES it! He has a company lap top and will be working on the corporate servers. He will have a black berry so that combined with the lap top will make him available to work from home. However it also means he is on call as well.

On a good note I made $15 k more this year than I did in 2006! So 2007 was good financially!! We got both the heating systems in our apartment building replaced and also got the new car.

January started off well. I got a 15% raise which is nice. :) There are also lots of changes are happening where I work. If you noticed I didn't talk about work much above. That is mostly because nothing major happened. Same Ole, same Ole. The stress wasn't quite as bad as it was in 2006 so it was a slight improvement. :)

2008 has already started: We are starting the year off with new teams at work. I have a whole new territory so it is VERY scary. However I have a feeling it is going to work out great. The two people I work with are wonderful. :)

On a down note today we got a letter saying our escrow went up. It was underpaid by almost $800 because our property tax went up AGAIN. It is now up to $4,500!!!!! It was around $2,500 when we got the place 3 years ago! Our mortgage payment has thus gone up by $114.82! Needless to say we are going to raise the rent. Our tenant has lived there for 3 years and has not had a rent increase. As a matter of face it was kind of decreased in 2006 because we agreed to pay her electricity and heat to help her through a tough year. We are not sure how much we will raise it by. I'd like to raise it by $100 but I'm thinking that might be kind of steep. I checked pricing for the area. 3 bedrooms range from $1000 a month to $1600 a month. The apartment we rent out has3 bedrooms with a 4th room that COULD be considered a bedroom. It is small but has a closet. The unfortunate part is you walk through it to get to the 3rd floor where the other 2 bedrooms are. The other 2 bedrooms have a 5th room for storage or a play area. Technically the city (since she is on their support system) won't let us use that as a room at all since there are no windows.