Let's check-in!!! everyone please - lurkers, graduates, regulars, first-timers

BeckyM · #1 August 10th, 2009, 06:02 AM

Let's check-in! I know life is busy, busy, busy, but I hate seeing our board get so slow lately. I know that dealing with MFI isn't easy, but I also know that it helped me tremendously having other ladies here to discuss it with, get support from, and most importantly hope. So, let's have a check-in for everyone - new members, long-term regulars, lurkers, graduates and first-timers - sign in here!

Name:

DH/SO's Name:

Children/Furbabies:

How long TTC?

What are you dealing with in your TTC journey?

What are you doing this cycle? IUI/IVF/NTNP/etc.

What do you think we can do to get this board moving?

-------------------------------------------------------------
For our graduates!!!

It gives me alot of hope to see that others have gotten successful!!!

Name:

DH/SO's Name:

Children/Furbabies:

Are you currently pg? When are you due?

What were you dealing with in your TTC journey?

What did you do to get that beautiful BFP?

What do you think we can do to get this board moving?

#2 August 10th, 2009, 11:51 AM

Name: Aimee

DH/SO's Name: Adam

Children/Furbabies: Not yet/ 2 mini-lop bunnies

How long TTC? 11 months

What are you dealing with in your TTC journey? We're not exactly sure yet, we just got the results from Adam's first s/a saying he had zero sperm, we are getting another s/a done at a more reliable lab in a fertility center and are praying for better results. So far, everything seems to be fine with me.

What are you doing this cycle? IUI/IVF/NTNP/etc. I'm taking Clomid to make my O stronger and Adam has been taking FertilAid and avoiding anything and everything that may cause problems with sperm, I'm trying to convince him not to drive himself crazy worrying about it though.

What do you think we can do to get this board moving? I'm pretty new, so I'm not sure. I don't know how many people are even on this board, so I'm looking forward to seeing who responds here. But I would love to see this board move a little more!

-------------------------------------------------------------

Clare · #3 August 10th, 2009, 12:45 PM

Name: Clare

DH/SO's Name: Tim

Children/Furbabies: Children - 0/Furbaby - 1, a chocolate labrador called Max

How long TTC? Way too long - since Nov 2006

What are you dealing with in your TTC journey? Up until recently fine but now its really starting to get to me and seeing as im in the UK the waiting list for us to have IVF is between 18 weeks to 4 years!

What are you doing this cycle? IUI/IVF/NTNP/etc. I had a HSG on CD11 and then we went on holiday. We stayed with friends so it was difficult to bd near o time. In fact my cycle has been messed up. I usually have 26 day cycles and now im on CD32. Its the longest its been since i started charting over 2 years ago.

What do you think we can do to get this board moving? If im being honest - i dont really know. I know i just pop in to see if there are any new posts and then go, if there arent i dont usually post anything unless its for advice. Its becuase im new over here and dont really know many people..

BeckyM · #4 August 10th, 2009, 01:00 PM

Thanks Aimee & Clare for responding! I hope to see more of us checking in.

Name: Becky

DH/SO's Name: Tony

Children/Furbabies: just our kitty, Precious, for now.

How long TTC? since December 2007

What are you dealing with in your TTC journey? me - PCOS and general age. DH - Klinefelter's (extra X chromosome) which resulted in zero spermies.

What are you doing this cycle? IUI/IVF/NTNP/etc. IUI using donor sperm.

What do you think we can do to get this board moving? I'm not sure either. I try to check in daily, and respond to posts. I still consider myself fairly new to MFI though, as we just found out about DH's infertility this year and his is a non-fixable issue. I also don't have a lot of knowledge about the ways to improve sperm quality/quantity, so don't know how to answer some of the questions.

Perhaps we can all work together on this, and if we each post 1-2 topics a week (on or off topic of MFI) and respond to each others' posts we can get some more members to start participating. I know we are not the only ladies going thru MFI here on JM, and I hope that if others can read about our situations, it can help them deal with their own situations. Just my thoughts on this.

Hoosier Kitty · #5 August 10th, 2009, 08:30 PM

Name: Aaron Nicole

DH/SO's Name: James

Children/Furbabies: 5 cats

How long TTC? NTNP in 2005 and TTC for 3 years

What are you dealing with in your TTC journey? male factor infertility

What are you doing this cycle? IUI/IVF/NTNP/etc. TTC naturally.

What do you think we can do to get this board moving? Want my honest opinion? I think MFI board should be private board... There are a few boards that are very private.. so why can't this board be private. I feel like many people outside this board lurk on our lives on this board.. MFI is very serious and emotional to go through. If enough people on this board want this board to be private.. why not request it private... I think more people would post more. Maybe have an open subforum to ask advices and for newbies while rest of us are on private board. I'm not talking about hideaway.... KWIM?

adnelg775 · #6 August 10th, 2009, 09:50 PM

Name: Glenda

DH/SO's Name: Brian

Children/Furbabies: One dog, Suki

How long TTC? since April 2007

What are you dealing with in your TTC journey? My problems: Polycystic ovaries, irregular cycles, adenomyosis, blocked right Fallopian tube, luteal phase defect. My DH: unilateral absence of vas deferens, ejaculatory duct obstruction, absence of seminal vesicles

What are you doing this cycle? IUI/IVF/NTNP/etc. waiting for our initial consultation for IVF, getting an appointment for sperm aspiration.

What do you think we can do to get this board moving? Ideally, I wish the board didn't have to be here, and that we were all somewhere in a DDC. Realistically, for me, I just didn't feel like I belonged anywhere up until the actual diagnosis.. so now I am definitely on board.
Maybe it's hard because we feel like we are helpless. Sometimes I feel like that. It's not my body. It's the body of someone I love very much, and I just wish I could magically make it all better.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Hoosier Kitty · #7 August 10th, 2009, 10:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by adnelg775

Maybe it's hard because we feel like we are helpless. Sometimes I feel like that. It's not my body. It's the body of someone I love very much, and I just wish I could magically make it all better.

That's how I feel about my DH.

Hoosier Kitty · #8 August 10th, 2009, 10:32 PM

double post

Hoosier Kitty · #9 August 10th, 2009, 10:33 PM

triple post

BeckyM · #10 August 11th, 2009, 03:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by adnelg775

Maybe it's hard because we feel like we are helpless.

It is hard, and I feel so helpless at times with dealing with this. I thought I had more then enough problems on my end, and to be hit with DH having no spermies at all was devastating. But I also believe that this has made us so much stronger then before, and I know that we will be parents, just without the biological connection to both of us.

Aaron - I don't know how I feel about this board being made into a completely private board. I know that there was a private subforum to this board before, and there seemed to be quite a bit of tension with it. MFI is emotional and private, but I also strongly feel that there are many other ladies here in JM who read our situations and are not lurking to just be nosey, but instead can learn from our situations and possibly help them deal with their own infertility. I know that I did that at first, and was so thankful to "see" others going thru MFI and getting to know them and their situations before I jumped in. I also don't know why MFI is so much harder to talk about openly then what we females go thru, but it is. Even with our doctors, they act so differently now that we know DH is completely infertile. I don't understand it, and know that alot is how our society is about MFI. I fear that by making this a completely private board, we're going to lose many members who are just beginning to find out that their DH/SO has MFI and they're feel they have no where to go/turn to for answers/advice. I felt so alone & depressed, and without my support here on JM, I'm not sure how long it would have taken me to get myself together. Again, this is just my thoughts, and I hope some others will also jump in with their opinions on this.

for all of us!!!!

#11 August 11th, 2009, 08:20 AM

I really don't know how I feel about making this a private board. I still don't really know where I belong and I don't feel like I know anything about MFI, so the only thing I have to do is read old posts on this board to try and find someone who went through the same thing I'm going through right now and see what they did to get a BFP. It does seem like a lot of people post that they got bad results, but never post updates with 2nd s/a's or what their plan is next. Maybe we could have a weekly post that asked everybody to update their situations/plan. I don't know for sure that that would make the board move more, but maybe it would at least give people new to MFI someplace to look for people in similar situations.

Hoosier Kitty · #12 August 11th, 2009, 12:30 PM

Like I said.. make a visible board for anyone to go into.. but for Private... like conservative mommies have their private board.. if you check it out.

I often see many topics posted and I see the view numbers and i see over 100 views.. that turns me off.. when I post a topic, I only get very few replies yet I get over 100 views. so I stopped posting.

adnelg775 · #13 August 11th, 2009, 03:33 PM

Quote:

I often see many topics posted and I see the view numbers and i see over 100 views.. that turns me off.. when I post a topic, I only get very few replies yet I get over 100 views. so I stopped posting.

I must say that as someone who used to be a LURKER ONLY, I would read all the posts before I ever even thought about posting. I have been a member for a while, and I am addicted to this site and it's message boards, and look at how many posts I've made. I am just shy...and felt like I didn't have any answers, and that all the gals in whatever room seemed to be best friends, and that I was just an outsider.
I knew that I had infertility issues, but I was in limbo as to what they were. Now, I feel like I belong here, with you gals!!!

I read birth stories to torture myself with the WANTING to be pregnant and to give birth, I read BFP posts and imagine what it will be like the day it's my turn. I read Playroom stuff.... to learn about the practical side of having a child. But all the time, I just never put my

in, hardly ever. So as far as where do 100 readers come from....count me in as one.

bethsbabydream · #14 August 11th, 2009, 05:18 PM

Name: Beth

DH/SO's Name: Charles

Children/Furbabies: 1 cat

How long TTC? 19 months

What are you dealing with in your TTC journey? We just found out that DH has very low sperm quality/count.

What are you doing this cycle? IUI/IVF/NTNP/etc. DH is having a 2nd SA done soon to confirm the results of the 1st SA. His doctor suggested some supplements that may help improve sperm quality/count. I am having a HSG next Monday. If sperm improves my dr wants to try IUI for a few cycles but said we will most likely need to do IUI with donor sperm or IVF

What do you think we can do to get this board moving? I am a big lurker on this board so I am sorry to everyone when I read your posts but do not respond. I just feel so helpless right now that I just do not know what to say.

-------------------------------------------------------------

BeckyM · #15 August 12th, 2009, 04:33 AM

Beth! - I hope you don't have to wait long for your DH's 2nd s/a and that you get much better results!! I completely understand about feeling helpless.

Good luck with your HSG!!

As far as lots of viewers and few posts, I too can be counted in the 100 readers group. Even now that I've been a member of JM for a while, a co-host of one board, and active member of multiple others, I still sometimes lurk & view posts but don't respond. Especially here with our MFI board, I don't know or don't have answers/advice/etc for many of the issues we're facing. But I am willing to discuss what I & my DH are going through in hopes it'll answer anyone else's concerns and educate others as well. There seems to be so many misconceptions that infertility is almost always the woman's fault. And for reasons I don't understand or agree with, it seems that in our society MFI is considered shameful and not to be discussed. Perhaps my DH is different in how he's handled his MFI, but he's been completely supportive with everything. He's undergone multiple tests that were quite invasive & painful, seen a counselor with me, and has no problems talking about having MFI with others. Our family & friends all know what we're doing, and we will be informing our children. Infertility hurts, regardless of which part of the couple is experiencing it! I never thought I would be going through it, as my family has always seemed very fertile. And with DH, his brother has a child as does his cousins & extended family, so we didn't expect to have problems on his end either. But we do, and I know that we're not the only ones. That's what I love so much about having JM to go to - just reading about others going through similar situations helped me greatly. Yes, once I decided to come out of lurkdom and join in, I felt even better, but I know that it is hard to jump in at times and every person is different in how much they participate. It can be shyness, not feeling like you have knowledge or experience to share, and I know that for me just the exhaustion of TTC gets me down at times and I don't respond to much and instead just read thru the posts. So for me, I don't mind seeing lots of views and few responses. Yes, I'd LOVE to see this board become more active, but I don't mind others viewing and not responding. I see this as educating and hopefully helping others who may be dealing with similar situations.

RainyDayGirl · #16 August 14th, 2009, 09:45 PM

Name: Abbey

DH/SO's Name: Casey

Children/Furbabies: None of either

How long TTC? About a year and a half.

What are you dealing with in your TTC journey? Hubby is, as far as we know, completely sterile. He has a genetic disease that causes 99% of men with it to have no vas deferens. I am basically fine, although have a slightly short luteal phase and my cycle isn't as regular as I'd like it to be.

What are you doing this cycle? IUI/IVF/NTNP/etc. We have just gotten back into TTC after a 7 month break, which was really nice. Doing at-home self-inseminations with a known donor, and I just started acupuncture, which I'm really excited about!

What do you think we can do to get this board moving? I personally don't feel like this is an especially private topic, but I can respect that others do. I think the board is slower because we're simply a smaller percentage of TTC women, and also once you get into discussing MFI it can get really technical. We may know all about our own partners' issues, but know very little about the other posters'. So I think it'd be nice to have more topics about the broader aspects of MFI, like "How do you feel about using/not using a sperm donor" or "Do you tell the people in your lives about your struggles or not", that kind of thing. Now that we're trying again though, I'll be sure to make an effort to reply to people's threads, even if I don't know a ton about the specifics.

~April04~ · #17 August 14th, 2009, 10:05 PM

Name: April

DH/SO's Name: Jeff

Children/Furbabies: one on the way and 2 puppies

Are you currently pg? When are you due? Yes! Jan 22, 2010

What were you dealing with in your TTC journey? We tried for 18 months in total. My DH has a low sperm count along with low morphology/motility

What did you do to get that beautiful BFP? We did two IUI's (1st one Jeff had a postwash count of 357,000 and second the count was 950,000 - they both didn't work). What finally did work was IVF w/ ICSI - we transferred two blastocysts and one took.

What do you think we can do to get this board moving? Well, first ya'll need some co-hosts!

Then just post topics every day to try and get things moving - I know I still stalk this board pretty often and try to offer advice when I can.

I just wanted to let ya'll know that I think of all of you often and pray that all of you get your miracles soon. MFI is so incredibly hard to deal with, it's really nice to have some people to talk to who know what you're going through with it - I know this board helped me a lot.

Jessie0505 · #18 August 19th, 2009, 08:57 PM

Name: Jessie

DH/SO's Name:
Santos (DH)

Children/Furbabies:
Pugsley

How long TTC?
2 years
What are you dealing with in your TTC journey? mf 0% moprhology

What are you doing this cycle? IUI/IVF/NTNP/etc.: ivf

What do you think we can do to get this board moving?hmm..im gonna have to agree with what the other girls said..we need more topics more often!!

LBinDesMoines · #19 September 2nd, 2009, 03:37 PM

Name: Libby I'm a newbie

DH/SO's Name: Darrick

Children/Furbabies: Charlie (our silly black lab) Mia ( our crazy pound cat)

How long TTC? 2.5 years

What are you dealing with in your TTC journey? a little bit of both - DH has low motility morph and count ok not great just ok... I don't ovulate w/o drugs- clomid works for now.

What are you doing this cycle? IUI/IVF/NTNP/etc. nothing much we took a year off from TTC (took a much needed break) headed to the RE in 2 weeks!

What do you think we can do to get this board moving?
I agree MFI is tricky- as women we would jump through hoops of fire and walk across hot coals
to have a baby. When we were meeting with the urlogists and learning about some of the treatments I thought my husband was going to pass out.
I don't know about most of you but I am a control freak and I stress out about the things I cannot control. Infertility has been hard for me because I can't control it and I don't know what to expect.

I don't know that making this board private would help. I learn a lot from other people's stories and opinions. I lurk for a long time in message boards to feel them out. How tight knit is the group? How friendly are people? What treatments work or don't work?

missmaggimay · #20 September 5th, 2009, 04:20 PM

Name: Maggi

DH/SO: Chris

Children/Furbabies: 1 dog (****zhu) 3 yrs old named Trinity

How long TTC: 2 years

What are you dealing with in your TTC journey? Well I have PCOS and don't ovulate at all on my own which we kind of knew from the beginning that I would be needing some kind of assistance in ovulating. DH has a son from a previous marriage but we just recently found out, after 1 IUI and 3 cycles of TTC that DH has a low sperm count.

What are you doing this cycle? Well as far as my end I am taking a break. The RE wants DH to see a urologist before we go any further with my treatments. Hopefully he will be able to get in this month.