So, Hubby and I are starting on a new fitness journey/health adventure. We have decided to try to get healthier not only for us, but for our son and for hopefully a better chance in conceiving!
It's been extremely rough trying to lose weight for me with all the crap I have medically wrong with me. If I work out, I'll lose at most 10 pounds, then when I stop working out for a few days, I gain it all back. It's so hard to lose weight but it's so darn easy to gain the weight.
With PCOS, it's ridiculously annoying to try and lose weight. It makes you feel like a failure. You try and try to push yourself to lose weight and when you do, you get so excited and happy. Then after just a couple of days of rest, you could start to gain it back slowly but surely. Losing five pounds and keeping the weight off is a chore within itself, but I'm willing to do anything to stay healthy.
Okay, so we are now going to be cutting out a lot of foods in our diet and hopefully that will help with the jumpstart on a more rapid weight loss. I have to give up rice. I love, love, love rice. I'm Asian. Of course I do. But we will be giving up a lot of carbs and cutting out sugars. Wish us luck!!
I have found so many great recipes in one of my cookbooks, so I figured that after I make the dish I will go ahead and share a picture of it and my review on how it tastes to you guys! You are more than welcome to try the recipe as well. Of course, I will credit the chef to whomever the recipe belongs to.
This next week will be hard since Hubby will be gone for a week on a business trip, but as soon as he gets back... IT'S ON! lol I'll be able to cook some dishes that look delicious and we'll be getting healthy as we do it! Hubby will also be exercising once every day. I am limited on what I can do because I gained the weight so fast that the doctors have advised me to just do resistance training for now. Nothing with my knees yet because they are afraid that my rapid weight gain will affect my knees. Hopefully I can lose some of this weight so that I can start being able to jog or run eventually :) As of right now, I can bike sometimes and I love to walk. I'm loving that the weather is finally getting nicer so that I can take K out for walks more and more.
Well, I hope you guys will follow me on this journey as well and let me know if you have any recipes we could try as well!!
Sunday, May 31, 2015
Monday, May 25, 2015
IUI #2 continued... FAIL ;(
So, I got the news from the doctor's office yesterday that we will have to cancel the cycle. For some reason my estradiol levels started dropping. Here's what happened...
Day 6: Went in for my regular bloodwork and u/s check. Had numerous follies at 7 mm. Estradiol level was at 55. Looks okay. A lil smaller and lower than what they were expecting, but we could work with it. Was told to continue with 225 IU and come back in on Day 8.
Day 7: Same symptoms as before, except my skin on my face has become extremely dry. My face was looking a dry and blotchy. Gained another two pounds. *sigh
Day 8: Early morning dr's appt. Bloodwork and U/S done. Estradiol levels upped to over 100, so they doubled! (which is a good thing, but it should've been higher than this) But my follies barely grew. They were only at 8mm. Should've been at least 9-11 mm. Boo! Same symptoms. But since the estradiol level upped, they said to continue the 225 IU and come back on Day 10.
Day 9: Tired and still gained weight again. Nothing else of significance to report though.
Day 10: *Sigh early morning B/W and U/S. U/S showed that the follicles didn't even increase in size. They were remaining at around 8 mm. It should have been way higher by now. They said they will call me when the estradiol levels come back and we will go from there.
...the phone call. Estradiol levels actually dropped to 60+. It's not supposed to do that. It's supposed to keep doubling in numbers. Something is wrong. Cycle is cancelled. This is becoming depressing. I've never had issues with the follies not growing. I've always had follicles growing right on track. Heck, sometimes I would have 6 or 7 growing on track. What do we do? They said to stop all meds and we will re-group when my next cycle starts. We will go on from there on what steps to take and what meds to take.
I'm so lost and confused as to what is wrong this time. It could be the adenoma messing with my hormones, but it could be something else or it just could be that my son was seriously the biggest miracle that will happen to us. He could very well be our only child. What I do know is that I will not give up without a fight. I will keep trying and trying unitl they tell me that I can't or should not try anymore. I was given a miracle once. Maybe we will be granted another miracle.
We can only hope, right? Baby Dust to all of you whom are trying. I'm still here for you, whenever you need me.
Day 6: Went in for my regular bloodwork and u/s check. Had numerous follies at 7 mm. Estradiol level was at 55. Looks okay. A lil smaller and lower than what they were expecting, but we could work with it. Was told to continue with 225 IU and come back in on Day 8.
Day 7: Same symptoms as before, except my skin on my face has become extremely dry. My face was looking a dry and blotchy. Gained another two pounds. *sigh
Day 8: Early morning dr's appt. Bloodwork and U/S done. Estradiol levels upped to over 100, so they doubled! (which is a good thing, but it should've been higher than this) But my follies barely grew. They were only at 8mm. Should've been at least 9-11 mm. Boo! Same symptoms. But since the estradiol level upped, they said to continue the 225 IU and come back on Day 10.
Day 9: Tired and still gained weight again. Nothing else of significance to report though.
Day 10: *Sigh early morning B/W and U/S. U/S showed that the follicles didn't even increase in size. They were remaining at around 8 mm. It should have been way higher by now. They said they will call me when the estradiol levels come back and we will go from there.
...the phone call. Estradiol levels actually dropped to 60+. It's not supposed to do that. It's supposed to keep doubling in numbers. Something is wrong. Cycle is cancelled. This is becoming depressing. I've never had issues with the follies not growing. I've always had follicles growing right on track. Heck, sometimes I would have 6 or 7 growing on track. What do we do? They said to stop all meds and we will re-group when my next cycle starts. We will go on from there on what steps to take and what meds to take.
I'm so lost and confused as to what is wrong this time. It could be the adenoma messing with my hormones, but it could be something else or it just could be that my son was seriously the biggest miracle that will happen to us. He could very well be our only child. What I do know is that I will not give up without a fight. I will keep trying and trying unitl they tell me that I can't or should not try anymore. I was given a miracle once. Maybe we will be granted another miracle.
We can only hope, right? Baby Dust to all of you whom are trying. I'm still here for you, whenever you need me.
Tuesday, May 19, 2015
Food. (Egg rolls posted in this one) :)
Food is awesome and I love love love love love to cook it!! I love to cook Laos, Thai, Korean, American, and basically any dishes that just taste good to me! I love to try new foods and try new recipes. I love to also just make up my recipes as I go. If I don't know how to get a recipe, then I will just taste the ones that I order from the restaurants and try to get the recipe off of the flavors that I am tasting in my mouth. Cooking is sometimes calming for me. I LOVE to cook for my family and friends. Feeding their bellies and seeing them satisfied is a great feeling for me. :) And so, as you are now reading my blogs, I figured I might as well show you pictures of what I love to cook and what I love to eat. I will either post pictures of what I have cooked or what I have ordered somewhere or I will just post a review of the foods from a certain establishment. I am no way in any means a food critic but I am a foodie by my standards! HAHA
So, these pictures that I post could be what I am making now or what I have made before and I just wanted to showcase them on here. Please let me know if there are any recipes you would like for me to try out :) I will maybe post a recipe here or there, BUT most of them I will probably just list ingredients but I can't say how much of what I put. I hardly measure. That's how I was taught LOL just a lil bit of this and a lil bit of that. I do apologize! But at least you can enjoy the pics!
My first foodie that I would like to post are "Egg Rolls" Love them, love them, love them. So much cheaper and better to make it homemade than purchase at a restaurant. My recipe is based off of my mom's recipe but I just tweaked it a bit to my tastes. In one of the pics, I also have a picture of my Crab Rangoons. These are just a tad better than most restaurants. Who am I kidding? These are WAY better than most restaurants. Just saying... haha
My Egg Rolls are very easy and simple to make but full of flavors! I can't say how much of what I put, but I can tell you what goes in it!
Ingredients:
Ground Pork
Carrots
Onions
Clear Rice Vermicelli Noodles (aka Glass Noodles aka Long Rice (known as such in Hawaii)
Salt
Sugar
Msg
Black Pepper
Milk
Eggs
That's it! After the noodles are soaked and cut, carrots are grated, onions are chopped, then you mix everything together and you roll, roll, roll! Then just deep fry it to a golden brown. :)
The Vietnamese style is still used with the same filling but I just use Spring Roll Wraps instead and deep-fry them. For the Laos style wraps I like to use the regular egg roll wraps in the blue and clear packaging. Note: These wraps are not the same as the chinese-style wraps. Those are a lil more doughy. I prefer the ones we've always used. Light and crispy. (You can kind of notice the packaging of the wraps in the laos-style wraps picture) I will try to post a pic of the packaging next time.
So, these pictures that I post could be what I am making now or what I have made before and I just wanted to showcase them on here. Please let me know if there are any recipes you would like for me to try out :) I will maybe post a recipe here or there, BUT most of them I will probably just list ingredients but I can't say how much of what I put. I hardly measure. That's how I was taught LOL just a lil bit of this and a lil bit of that. I do apologize! But at least you can enjoy the pics!
My first foodie that I would like to post are "Egg Rolls" Love them, love them, love them. So much cheaper and better to make it homemade than purchase at a restaurant. My recipe is based off of my mom's recipe but I just tweaked it a bit to my tastes. In one of the pics, I also have a picture of my Crab Rangoons. These are just a tad better than most restaurants. Who am I kidding? These are WAY better than most restaurants. Just saying... haha
EGG ROLLS
(left side: Vietnamese style wraps & right side: Laos style wraps)
Egg Rolls and Crab Rangoons
Ingredients:
Ground Pork
Carrots
Onions
Clear Rice Vermicelli Noodles (aka Glass Noodles aka Long Rice (known as such in Hawaii)
Salt
Sugar
Msg
Black Pepper
Milk
Eggs
That's it! After the noodles are soaked and cut, carrots are grated, onions are chopped, then you mix everything together and you roll, roll, roll! Then just deep fry it to a golden brown. :)
The Vietnamese style is still used with the same filling but I just use Spring Roll Wraps instead and deep-fry them. For the Laos style wraps I like to use the regular egg roll wraps in the blue and clear packaging. Note: These wraps are not the same as the chinese-style wraps. Those are a lil more doughy. I prefer the ones we've always used. Light and crispy. (You can kind of notice the packaging of the wraps in the laos-style wraps picture) I will try to post a pic of the packaging next time.
IUI #2 (May 2015) Here we go again... wish us luck!
So, I am on Day 3 of injections and Day 5 of my cycle. I have gained 4 lbs already but I'm not as swollen as I was last month! Thank goodness. They have changed up my protocol a little bit so hopefully this will show better results at my Day 6 estradiol and ultrasound appt tomorrow! :)
Start Bravelle 225 IU injections on CD3 and we will go from there. (I am now injecting three vials of 75 IU Bravelle each night instead of two vials (150 IU)) I hope this will help!!
Day 1: Called office to set up appt and check what protocol to follow.
Day 3: CD 3 (Cycle Day 3) appt for estradiol levels and follicle and uterine lining check with ultrasound - *everything looked okay and I am told to start injections this evening
Symptoms: The injection went well. I just felt super tired and went to sleep really early. I didn't swell up like before when I woke up. But I noticed the next day that my skin was a tad drier than before and I gained a pound and a half already.
Day 4: 225 IU injection of Bravelle
Symptoms: Even more tired and slept even earlier. Still didn't swell up like before. GREAT sign. haha but I gained another pound. I'm actually eating less cause I've been feeling nauseous. Boo!
Day 5: 225 IU injection of Bravelle
Symptoms: Injection went fine. Still stings like a B-I when the medication goes in, but other than that nothing bad afterwards. Just tired still and gained another pound. (That's four and a half pounds since I've started Bravelle. Ugh.
My next appointment is tomorrow morning! I hope that the follies are looking good and we will just keep going and hope for great looking sizes and we can move on with the IUI in a week or so! Will keep you posted!
**Note: I gained ten pounds last month from Bravelle alone. As soon as the cycle was cancelled, within a week, I was back at my old weight. So, I'm pretty sure it's the Bravelle that is making me gain weight. I have not changed anything else in my day to day life. Just a bad side effect for me, I guess. I really hope this is the month for us! Baby Dust to ALL!!
Start Bravelle 225 IU injections on CD3 and we will go from there. (I am now injecting three vials of 75 IU Bravelle each night instead of two vials (150 IU)) I hope this will help!!
Day 1: Called office to set up appt and check what protocol to follow.
Day 3: CD 3 (Cycle Day 3) appt for estradiol levels and follicle and uterine lining check with ultrasound - *everything looked okay and I am told to start injections this evening
Symptoms: The injection went well. I just felt super tired and went to sleep really early. I didn't swell up like before when I woke up. But I noticed the next day that my skin was a tad drier than before and I gained a pound and a half already.
Day 4: 225 IU injection of Bravelle
Symptoms: Even more tired and slept even earlier. Still didn't swell up like before. GREAT sign. haha but I gained another pound. I'm actually eating less cause I've been feeling nauseous. Boo!
Day 5: 225 IU injection of Bravelle
Symptoms: Injection went fine. Still stings like a B-I when the medication goes in, but other than that nothing bad afterwards. Just tired still and gained another pound. (That's four and a half pounds since I've started Bravelle. Ugh.
My next appointment is tomorrow morning! I hope that the follies are looking good and we will just keep going and hope for great looking sizes and we can move on with the IUI in a week or so! Will keep you posted!
**Note: I gained ten pounds last month from Bravelle alone. As soon as the cycle was cancelled, within a week, I was back at my old weight. So, I'm pretty sure it's the Bravelle that is making me gain weight. I have not changed anything else in my day to day life. Just a bad side effect for me, I guess. I really hope this is the month for us! Baby Dust to ALL!!
Sunday, April 26, 2015
IUI #1 (April 2015) -- FAIL =(
So, this month's IUI plans failed :( The doctor cancelled the IUI due to low estrogen levels on my part. I've never had issues with low estrogen to the point that we would have to cancel a cycle, but it is what it is. *Sigh... that's why it's taken me awhile to write in the blog. I do apologize for this. I was just a tad bit disappointed, but I'm okay now. We are ready to call the doctor on the first day of my next cycle and see what he wants us to do. Who knows what's next right?
I'm gonna do a day-to-day of what we did up until the cancellation.
April 10th (the same day that I went to the doc's for our first appt): I started my cycle! But according to most doctors offices, they do not count it as day one if it's after like 4 or 5 pm, so the next day will be counted as day one.
April 11th: I call the doctor's office to let them know that my cycle has started. Everyone is surprised but excited for us to start on this IUI journey again. They schedule me to go in for the following day on cd 2 (cycle day 2).
April 12th: I go in for my appointment and we do estradiol blood draw to check my levels and an ultrasound to check the uterine lining and see if any follicles are wanting to start growing :) I am also given my medications for injections. I will be doing an injection of Bravelle starting cd 3 in the evening.
Medication: Bravelle 150 IUI (2 vials of 75) injected IM (in the arm) every evening around the same time up until the doctor tells me to stop. I will be going in every few days to check on the follies.
April 13th: I mix my first Bravelle injection and have my wonderful, not so steady handed husband give me the injection in my arm. I forgot how painful the medication is. The needle and the injecting the needle part was nothing. I barely felt a thing (except for when he was shaking. then I felt it lol) but the medication going in BURNED!! I had to keep telling him to slow down or stop for a sec. Ugh, I definitely do not miss the injections. Especially Bravelle.
my injection that I mixed already. looks fun, huh? haha
April 14th: (cd4) I am starting to feel the side effects. Some swelling all over. Could barely put on my ring, felt bloated like crazy, and I was constipated. (tmi, i know) But I remembered from my IVF days that (also due to my PCOS) I might over stimulate the ovaries and we don't want that. So, I remembered what they had me do just in case I do show signs of over stimulation. DRINK GATORADE! Lol So, I ran out to Hy-Vee and grabbed a few bottles of Gatorade (thank goodness they were on sale haha) and I downed the first bottle with the quickness. I noticed that I finally started going to the restroom more and wasn't feeling as bloated. Phew!! No OHSS (Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome) here!!
April 15th: (cd5) I had a doctor's appointment for another estradiol blood draw and ultrasound to check on the growth of the follicles. The follicles looked like they were growing well enough so they said they would call me back with the estradiol (estrogen) levels. I received a phone call a little bit later in the day and was told that my estrogen levels were low but the follies were looking good, so we will keep going with the Bravelle injections. Okay, good.
April 16th: (cd6) Nothing significant to talk about except my good friend Ms. S came and made my eyebrows all purdy! I had to tell her that we had to take a break so that I could do my injection and she was joking that she wanted to give me my shot. I told her, "okay!" and she was shocked! She kept asking if I was serious and I kept telling her I had no problems with it. I gave her a video tutorial to watch on youtube and she was more than willing to give me the shot! She did an awesome job and she was not shaky at all HAHA Great Job, S!! I'm gonna miss you when you leave us!
my beautiful baby and my purdy eyebrows LOL
April 17th: (cd7) and I have my next appointment. My symptoms are still the same. Constipated, Swollen, and just tired but I'm okay. I'm still looking on the bright side of things :) I go in for my estradiol blood draw and my ultrasound. The follies did grow but I didn't see a significant change in them like I was used to back then. *sigh but hoping for great estradiol levels. I was told to go home and wait for their call. They call and give me the bad news that my levels were too low and the doctor recommends to cancel they cycle. BOO!! *sigh what can you do, right? I'm not gonna lie. I was totally bummed and I cried. I called the hubby and he came home a lil early just to console me. I just wanted hugs and kisses from the two boys in my life. That's all I wanted. I felt better after spending time with them.
So, yes, this was a failed cycle but with every failed cycle there will be a chance to right the wrongs and find out what we need to do next to make this baby thing happen!! So, i'm ready for the next month and i'm hoping for great results. If not, it's okay. We will figure out what needs to be corrected and we will just try again. I'm determined and I'm ready for this. This first time around before Kaleb was born, I just kept crying and kept feeling that I was a failure. But now that I have him in my life, I know that just one more child will be a great blessing but even if we don't have another... then it's okay. I was blessed with our miracle baby and I am just meant to love on him for the rest of his life.
I wish for all of you who are trying to never give up and just keep smiling. I'm here for you if you have any questions or even if you need to vent. I'm here for you. I'll be your shoulder. I've been there. I've done that. So, yes, I do feel your pain. I do understand. BABY DUST TO YOU ALL!!! and sweet dreams!
-Vivy
Friday, April 10, 2015
Starting on our new fertility journey!
So, I had my appointment with Dr. C today. He is my Reproductive Endocrinologist and we decided to just jump back into it and get things started with the IUI process! He gave me three choices on where to begin. I can either do Clomid or Femara for one more cycle with timed intercourse (you just have sex when you are ovulating). Choice two was to do Femara with IUI or choice three, which was my choice, injectables with IUI.
When doing injectables with IUI, it is a whole lot of ultrasounds, monitoring, blood work, injections, and then we have the hubby (or sperm donor) provide the sperm and they wash the sperm and take the best sperm, put it in a catheter which is then inserted into your opening and injected into the uterine cavity. From there you hope and pray that your egg (which was hopefully released by the HCG trigger shot that you had to inject yourself three days prior to the IUI) will release and meet the sperm and make a beautiful baby for you and your spouse!
It's all about making sure you stimulate the right amount of eggs to the right size and then you trigger the HCG shot at the right time to release the egg and then IUI at the correct time so that the sperm will be there to meet up with the egg. If you overstimulate or under-stimulate then the cycle is cancelled. Over stimulation can cause multiples and that is a high risk that you do not want to take. Twins is great, Triplets are good as well, but more than that and the risk factors aren't something you want to worry about. You've tried so hard to make one baby and trying to carry that one baby to term is hard enough and when you risk your health and have to carry more than your body can handle, will harm you and the babies. Either way, every baby who is brought to us is a miracle and deserving to live a wonderful life. So whatever happens, I am ready to proceed in whichever direction I have to take. We have nothing but love to give and we can't wait to hopefully provide a brother or sister for Kaleb.
I will keep updating you guys on the process. Tomorrow will technically be day 1 in my cycle, so I will call the dr's office and they will bring me in for a baseline ultrasound or blood draw and we will go from there on what days to start injections and how many injections of what.
I'm so excited. I know I shouldn't be because the chances of this cycle not even happening or working are so high, but just a little sliver of hope makes me smile. Baby Dust to all whom are trying to conceive and I'm here for you if you need anything!
When doing injectables with IUI, it is a whole lot of ultrasounds, monitoring, blood work, injections, and then we have the hubby (or sperm donor) provide the sperm and they wash the sperm and take the best sperm, put it in a catheter which is then inserted into your opening and injected into the uterine cavity. From there you hope and pray that your egg (which was hopefully released by the HCG trigger shot that you had to inject yourself three days prior to the IUI) will release and meet the sperm and make a beautiful baby for you and your spouse!
It's all about making sure you stimulate the right amount of eggs to the right size and then you trigger the HCG shot at the right time to release the egg and then IUI at the correct time so that the sperm will be there to meet up with the egg. If you overstimulate or under-stimulate then the cycle is cancelled. Over stimulation can cause multiples and that is a high risk that you do not want to take. Twins is great, Triplets are good as well, but more than that and the risk factors aren't something you want to worry about. You've tried so hard to make one baby and trying to carry that one baby to term is hard enough and when you risk your health and have to carry more than your body can handle, will harm you and the babies. Either way, every baby who is brought to us is a miracle and deserving to live a wonderful life. So whatever happens, I am ready to proceed in whichever direction I have to take. We have nothing but love to give and we can't wait to hopefully provide a brother or sister for Kaleb.
I will keep updating you guys on the process. Tomorrow will technically be day 1 in my cycle, so I will call the dr's office and they will bring me in for a baseline ultrasound or blood draw and we will go from there on what days to start injections and how many injections of what.
I'm so excited. I know I shouldn't be because the chances of this cycle not even happening or working are so high, but just a little sliver of hope makes me smile. Baby Dust to all whom are trying to conceive and I'm here for you if you need anything!
Update from the Dr's about the test
Hi Everyone!
I know it's been awhile. I do apologize, but I did get news from the Dr.'s office that after the 24 hour urine test, Mayo Clinic said I do not have Cushing's! YAY! But it still sucks cause I do still have the adenoma and PCOS. But i've lived with those two for so long, I can do this. Time to try to get back to the gym again. I can't run because of the weight that I carry cause I gained it so fast and the doc is worried it might ruin my knees, so resistance training is what the Dr. ordered! I can do this. Even if it's five pounds that I lose, it's better than carrying those five pounds every day. I keep losing five to ten pounds at a time, then I'll gain it right back when I go on other meds. Or I get too tired and all I do is sleep because of the meds. I'm trying my best to do whatever I can so that I can be an awesome mom to Kaleb and the best wife to Nam. Wish me luck guys!
I know it's been awhile. I do apologize, but I did get news from the Dr.'s office that after the 24 hour urine test, Mayo Clinic said I do not have Cushing's! YAY! But it still sucks cause I do still have the adenoma and PCOS. But i've lived with those two for so long, I can do this. Time to try to get back to the gym again. I can't run because of the weight that I carry cause I gained it so fast and the doc is worried it might ruin my knees, so resistance training is what the Dr. ordered! I can do this. Even if it's five pounds that I lose, it's better than carrying those five pounds every day. I keep losing five to ten pounds at a time, then I'll gain it right back when I go on other meds. Or I get too tired and all I do is sleep because of the meds. I'm trying my best to do whatever I can so that I can be an awesome mom to Kaleb and the best wife to Nam. Wish me luck guys!
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