Welcome IComLeavWe

Hi, ya'll!

I'm Jem. 41 years old. Just got a positive beta yesterday (325 at 14dpo - yippee!) and I'm walking on air. Actually, I'm a more than a little uncomfortable, as I stim really really well - Not to brag (okay, maybe just a little),  but I had 13 follicles on my right side and 5 on my left while stimming. I feel very, very full. My IUI Coordinator, Nurse S, explained that all those follicles are filled with fluid (thus the full feeling), secreting progesterone, thus the cramping. I'm to take it easy (no rigorous exercise, no sex).

We've already done a slew of IVFs, plus one FET, and because of Mr. Jem's severe male factor IF, we're now using donor sperm. I couldn't face another IVF, so we did IUI.

So anyways, here I sit, in between my first and second betas. I'm on pins and needles until my second beta tomorrow. I was a bit afraid the number was "too high" and I might have an ectopic, but Nurse S reassured me.

Wow, it feels like this is all happening so fast - okay, not really, when you consider Mr. Jem and I really started TTC Jan 2007, when I was 37. All the same, this is blowing my mind. 

IF has been really hard on Mr. Jem and me, on our marriage. We are working hard to communicate better, to share more, to really be there for each other. We're seeing a marriage counselor once a week, which really helps.

So, you are all caught up now.

Question for you: How has IF actually BENEFITED your relationship with your significant other (assuming you have one), or with yourself.

My answer: I used to be ambivalent about becoming a mom, but now am 100% sure that I want to parent, that I'll be a great mom, that this is what I want for my life, for my life with Mr. Jem. I had a very chaotic childhood and it took years of personal counseling and work to be at peace with it. Now I want to be a mother myself.

~Jem