Respite

I am getting a little ahead of myself by posting this, but MM and I have agreed that if I am not pregnant at the end of this cycle, we are going to take a couple of months off from treatment.  We have two upcoming trips: a weekend trip to San Diego in mid July, and a three-day trip to Chicago in mid August.  Between these two trips, we will be using up the disposable income which we might otherwise use for fertility drugs and IUIs during those months, and we would prefer not to go into debt at this point. . . . especially when we may be looking at donor egg IVF somewhere down the line.

I have discussed here recently my desire to take a break from treatments.  (By the way, hats off to those of you reading who continue cycling month after month, sometimes for years, with no break.  I just can't do it . . . either because I cannot tolerate the ups and downs, or because I cannot coordinate things with my work schedule, or both.)  I intend to take advantage of our break to work out more often and more vigorously and to try and lose some weight.  I have talked about this on a few occasions but really have not followed through.  

I am still on the fence about whether to do a strict diet with medical intervention or to just go back to Weight Watchers or Jenny Craig, both of which have worked for me in the past.  I would love to have the rapid weight loss that would occur on the hCG diet or on Medifast or the like, but I'm just not sure I have the willpower to pull that off.  Plus our trips will make following a very restrictive eating plan even more difficult than usual.

MM already goes to the gym 5-6 days a week, so I could certainly just go with him.  Also, I bought a Groupon for 12 one-hour sessions of "boot camp" which must be used consecutively, three sessions a week for four weeks.  (It was a smokin' deal: usual price $249, Groupon price $29).  I could use that.  I have to use it at some point before it expires next May.

My headaches have actually already improved a lot since I have completely cut out caffeine and a whole slew of other potential migraine triggers.  That is not to say that I have had no headaches at all, but in the past two weeks, I have only had two headaches, and only one of those was a migraine.  I have only taken one dose of Excedrin.  One.  (BTW, I do realize that Excedin contains caffeine, though not as much as a strong cup of coffee.)  Two weeks with only two headaches is a HUGE improvement for me, and I had grown accustomed to taking analgesics often.  So at least that's one thing I don't really need to "work on" during our (anticipated) break.

Whether Sunday's HPT is a BFP or a BFN, I won't be doing treatment in July and August at least.  Let's hope it's the former.  If it's yet another BFN, we will start treatment again the cycle after we return from Chicago. . . . probably in September.  And if it's a BFP, I pray it will be a healthy pregnancy that doesn't end until we take a healthy baby home from the hospital about nine months later.

MM has expressed a desire to be "done with these IUIs" before the end of 2010.  I am not in disagreement with him.  (Obviously we both hope that I will be pregnant by then.)  Our insurance will only cover a portion of six IUIs, lifetime, and we have already done four as of today, so we only have two more left.  Even if, worst case scenario, IUI #4 and #5 (planned in September) are BFNs, we will still have plenty of time to fit in IUI #6 before the year ends.

It's nice to know that there is an end in sight, one way or another.