House is SOLD...now living in South Jersey

So, for those who might not know, our house in Colorado is sold. We closed on it last week, so we are down to owning just one home. (Thank you Travis for your help with the closing!!!!) Whew! That makes life a bit better and easier to handle. Now we are in Haddon Heights putting together our new home. We are getting there! The main floor is completely put away, set up, and decorated. The upper level is a work in progress, but we are close! The guest room and master bathroom are complete. The office is Matt's project, but it is at least halfway done. The master bedroom is decorated and is not too far from being complete. At least all the boxes are gone! That is a start, and certainly not bad for one week's work!

I will take pictures of the house once it is all done, and I will post a link to our Picasa web album.

Batman LOVES his new yard and screened in porch. He thinks squirrels and chipmunks are the coolest toys ever! If only he could catch them. He has nearly ripped my arm off a couple of times while going for a jog in the morning...stupid squirrels!

Matt is back to work after his relocation period, but it is great just getting to see him every night and every weekend! Woo hoo!

Outside of that, not much to talk about. We will be enrolling in our new benefit program this week, so we will have fertility benefits again. Guess we will be exploring that sometime in the near future. We will keep you up to date as we move forward!

Aruba, Jamaica...oooooo, I want to take you to Bermuda, Bahama...

Ok, so it was only Aruba...but we will take it! We just enjoyed the most fabulous "vacation", generously provided by Subaru. It was a part of a sales contest / reward trip for the Subaru dealers, and Matt got to go as the RSM for the Mid-Atlantic region. We stayed five days / four nights at the Marriott Renaissance Marina hotel. This hotel has its own private island! This private island also just happened to be the location for Timbaland's (music industry mogul) big wedding! There were up to 300 people invited to this wedding. It is rumored that the following were actually at the wedding: Mary J. Blige, Missy Elliott, Beyonce, Maddona, and more! Most of his guests were staying at our hotel, and the day after the wedding we just happened into conversation with Timbaland's uncle (Marcus) at the pool. This uncle is also the president of Timbaland's record company. Marcus' girlfriend, with whom we were also speaking, is a fashion / wadrobe person for network TV. She does a lot of work on Mark Burnett shows (as well as others), and she just recently spent time at fasion week in Paris. So, yup...just hob-nobbing with the rich and famous as usual!

One of the highlights of our trip was a half day snorkel trip which inlcuded three snorkel stops (lots of tropical fish, a shipwreck, and more tropical fish), lunch, and the ever-importatnt open bar. What a blast!! And, you just can't believe the color of the water in Aruba. It is surreal.

In addition, we also went on a submarine ride. We went as low as 132 feet under the water. We got to get even better views of all the underwater life, the corral reefs, and the shipwreck. We were lucky enough to sneak a peek at an eagle ray (huge underwater creature!) and another smaller ray, as well.

We had two amazing meals. One was at The Flying Fishbone. They actually set up tables out on the beach and serve you dinner while watching the sun set. AMAZING! Another great meal was at Pincho's. This restaurant sits on stilts out in the water. You walk down the pier over the water to get to the restaurant. Everything is open-air seating directly overlooking the water.

Lots of pool time, drinking time, shopping time, casino time, etc. Exactly what a trip should be!

For the picture slideshow of the trip, feel free to visit our web album:
Matt and Megan's Aruba trip

Now (sniff, sniff) I am back in Colorado, and Matt is back in New Jersey. We are both in earnest preparation for our big move to Haddon Heights. Must get in gear to finish all the chores! I will be sure to post more after we have settled in!

Updates!

To start things off...I lied in my last blog. Not intentionally, but I did. We are moving to a gorgeous little home in Haddon Heights, NJ...but it is 78 years old, not 40. Sorry!

I finally got to see the house for myself one day prior to closing. It is an oldie but a goodie. Very charming with a plethora of unique features. Certainly not cookie-cutter! It will be interesting living in an older home since we have always lived in new homes...but I am excited about it!

I gave notice to my employer on Monday. My boss is sad, which is nice...if she were happy then I probably had not been doing my job very well! My cube mate ("officle" mate") would like to kill me, but she will get over it in time. My last official day with Great West will be July 3rd, but I have made myself available on the 7th and 8th for training purposes / emergencies. We will see how it goes. The rest of my group (and hopefully my other boss and his region that I support) will find out tomorrow.

I just whacked all of my hair off again. Super short and funky just suits me, I guess. I keep going back to it, so it must!

Matt and I will be going to Aruba with Subaru in about a week and a half. Submarine ride and other fun adventures are planned! Yay! I am looking forward to that for sure. After that...it is practically move time. It is wonderful to think about living with my husband again, and it would be even more wonderful had we already sold our house in CO. Oh well...it will happen one day.

That is the scoop for now! Thanks for checking in!

Here we go....again!

Here is a picture of our new house in Haddon Heights, NJ. Gorgeous 40 year old home with a BEAUTIFUL yard. Batman will be thrilled!

For those who don't know (which there can't be many), Matt has accepted a new position as a Regional Sales Manager for Subaru of America. He is overseeing the Mid-Atlantic region for the company, so he is based out of Westampton, NJ. He is in charge of a team of District Managers, and has responsibility for sales at 96 dealerships in the region. This is a big job, and a great challenge for Matt. So far, he is loving it.

We are still trying to sell our house in Parker, and we are hopeful that that will happen soon. I am staying back in CO until we have a contract on the house. During that time I continue to work at Great-West as a Corporate 401(k) Sales Assistant for the Southeast region. The job is fine, I have a great co-worker, and the money is a big help.

No other big news for the moment, except we will have fertility benefits again after the move. NJ is a "mandate" state, so we will actually have fertility benefits covered at 100%. Not sure how many IVF attempts that gets us, nor do I know if they cover PGD...but something is certainly better than nothing!

Wish us luck in selling the house and in yet another new adventure (this one appears to have lasting power)!!!!!

We have great neighbors!!!

We really really do. Our neighbors Ken and Ginger coordinated a 1970s themed Murder Party. There were four couples total, and we each had an assigned role. The players: Polly Esther Stuffincupp, Manny Baritone, Belle Bedham, Knight Feevah, Brady Bunsch, Angina Palpatori, Vinny V. Divichi, and Chaka Moon. Matt played Vinny,and I played Chaka Moon. Turns out that I was the murderer! Bad me! Anyway, the party was a total blast, and the theme was taken so seriously that Pabst Blue Ribbon was even being served. Nice!

A link for some photos of the evening follows, enjoy!

http://www.picasaweb.google.com/ritter911


There are now actually two albums from the party on the web page now. One is for the pics that Matt took, and the other (take two...) album is the pics our neighbor took. They are probably the best ones....OMG....way too funny!

Interview # 2 - Job Offer

Well, I received a call for a second interview. I interviewed yesterday with a Regional Vice President for the company, and it went really well. He told me that some of the answers I gave were the best that he had heard yet. He also mentioned that I had a really good personality, seemed fun, and would fit in really well. He told me that he would give me a "thumbs up" to the hiring manager. At the end of the interview he noted that they had done first interviews with 45 people already, and I was one of four people brought back for a second interview. Of the three other people, one of them was not hired.

Well, the good word was put in, and I was offered the job today. So, being in a group of three people chosen from 45 candidates is not bad at all. I will take it! The starting pay is decent, and the company seems really solid and employee / family-focused. I will start my new position (Sales Assistant for Great-West Life and Annuity, FASCore Division)on Monday, March 10th. I will be giving my two-weeks notice to the school on this coming Monday. I am allowing myself a two week break prior to starting back to work full-time. I deserve that, right?

Outside of that...not much to report. We are all doing well. Skiing has been ultra-fantastic. Dog is goofy. Husband is handsome and lovely-as-ever. Life is good!

Interview

Well, I have an interview for a fulltime/ "real" job. It is scheduled for Friday at 2pm. Should take about an hour. Not going to get into all the details, because if I don't get offered the position, or if I don't take it....what difference does it really make? I am very well prepared. I have done my homework on the parent company as well as the specific division with which I am interviewing. I have an updated resume and references prepared. I have a company / job specific cover letter ready. The company application has been printed and filled-out. I even typed up a list of questions to ask the hiring manager. If nothing else, I am a good little interviewer!

Outside of that, just going skiing this weekend and having a small SuperBowl party (think chili-cookoff). Fun!

More posts as anything interesting happens....

Not much going on....

I know we haven't posted anything for awhile. I guess there isn't a lot to post about. We are still loving life here in CO. The skiing is fantastic this year...powder, powder, powder. It has been a beautiful winter, and we always seem to have some snow on the ground. Not a bad sight to see.

I am still working at the elementary school, although I am not sure what I really want to do at this point. I may look into going full time, either at the same school, or at another school in the district. I also might try to get a corporate full time gig. Who really knows. Mostly I am looking for an opportunity to make, and therefore save, more money. More money will allow us to be able to attempt IVF with PGD. So, we will see what happens.

Batman is still the best dog in the whole wide world (completely unbiased statment, I assure you).

Looking forward to a new year with new prospects and possibilities!!! Well-wishes to all!!!!

IUI Failed...no big suprise

So, another attempt and another failure. Not a big suprise to us given the odds of success that we were given, but still not a happy thing for sure. I think we have decided to not do any more IUIs given that the more you do without success, the worse your odds become of succeeding. I feel it would be somewhat foolish and irresponsible to spend a $1000 here and there just to give us a sense of hope from time to time. I feel we are better off trying to save the $21,000 that it will take to do the fertility treatment that all of the REs recommend for us (IVF with PGD). Given the amount of money it will require to even try, it will be a VERY long time before we move forward with this process....we'll see when we can actually make it happen. Time is not going to be kind in this equation since after the age of 35 (for women) the odds get worse. Oh well. We will continue to try on our own in the interim and hold onto hope for our chance at a miracle.

IUI

Well, it is all done with. The IUI took place this morning. This wasn't the greatest IUI cycle for us by any means. It wasn't horrible, either. I had two follicles which should have been mature by the IUI today. Our sperm count was a bit low, especially compared to all of the other cycles we have done. They want a washed motile sperm count to be at least above 5 million for IUI. Our final washed motile count today was 7.6 million. An ideal count for IUI would be between 20 and 30 million, although anything above 10 million is pretty good. So, our chances are not the best for this cycle to have worked....but then again, things have never worked out great for us, so this wouldn't be any different. At least this cycle wasn't too invasive or too expensive. I will have a progesterone check in one week. Outside of that, we just wait and do a HPT in two weeks to see if we are pregnant or not. Stay tuned...but don't get too excited...we aren't...

IUI Update

RE appt. for monitoring on Friday was a bit disappointing. I only had one large follicle...and one smaller one. I was told to shoot up one more ampule of menopur and come back on Saturday for more monitoring.

Well, today (Saturday) is of course Ohio State / Michigan game day. Matt ended up dropping me off at the doctor's office for my bloodwork appt. at 7:30am and my u/s appt. at 8am. He left from there to go to the Ohio State alumni bar...he needed to secure parking and then a seat for us for the game. The bar was opening at 8am. Well, while he was doing that, my appointment went just fine. I now have two good follicles for my IUI. After my appointment I had to call a cab company to come get me and then drop me off at the bar. Nurse called and left a message. Apparently my estrogen is high, so they are having me do my IM trigger shot tonight. My IUI will then take place on Monday morning (36 hours after the shot). Well, after all of that....BUCKEYES WIN!!! So, all in all, a very good day. Oh, the things we go through in an effort to start a family AND for the love of football!

New Dress / Updated 'Do

This was before going to the CSU wine tasting event at the historic Oxford Hotel in Lodo. Finally found a stylist who knows how to deal with my hair...she can bust a thick wig like no other. So, my hair is all cleaned up and shaped properly for the first time in about 6 months. Matt and I had a great time at the event downtown. Very fun! On a separate note...already experiencing hot flashes and extremely vivid dreams thanks to the clomid. Only my second day on it, too. This will be fun for sure!

IUI - November 2007

The baseline ultrasound took place today. Perfect as usual. All is quiet on the uterine and ovarian front. I received all of my prescriptions today, and things kickoff tomorrow. I will start the clomid tomorrow (taken cycle days 5 through 9). Two pills once a day...total of 100 mg each day (hot flashes, moodiness, and other side effects go along with this med). On cycle days 9 and 10 I will do one ampule of menopur (one subcutaneous shot each day in the belly). I go back one week from tomorrow for monitoring: bloodwork and u/s. Turns out that I will be doing a trigger shot, and unfortunately it will be an intramuscular injection (think huge needle / butt shot). Just one IM injection isn't too bad, though. So...here we go. Wish we were more excited, but this time we are just sort of going through the motions because the IUI is our cheapest option. Stay tuned....riveting, I know!

Happy Halloween 2007

Haven't updated for a little while. Not much to share, I guess. Just living life in beautiful Colorado. Thought I would put a couple of our Halloween pics on the blog for fun. Batman was an awesome sport, per the usual. Such a good boy!

Gambling in Vegas...or the equivalent of it in the IF world

So, after really no thinking at all, we decided NOT to do the IVF with genetic embryo testing. $20K is way too much money to spend on a possibility. We just aren't into flushing that much money down the toilet at this point. Not sure we will ever be into that, actually.

Dr. Surrey at CCRM told us that in our case doing an IUI would be like gambling in Vegas: the odds are certainly stacked against us. We figured, using his analogy, that there are also circumstances where people beat the odds and win big. So, that is what we are going to do....gamble.

We are all set to do an IUI (with injectables) cycle in November. My biggest hope at this point is that it does not affect the travel that Matt has scheduled for that time. It will be within days of his planned trip, so we are cutting it close. At Kaiser, though, they do not do IUIs in December....and I plan to travel to Chicago in January. It is now or not for quite some time. We chose now.

Here is the rundown:

call the clinic on CD 1

go in anytime prior to CD 5 for ultrasound and bloodwork

take clomid on CD 5 through CD 9

do injections of either menopur or repronex (FSH) on CD 9 and CD 10

go in on CD 12 for ultrasound and bloodwork

wait for natural LH surge (no trigger shot for this cycle!)

after surge is detected, schedule IUI for the following day (I think)

We are not putting a lot of faith or hope into this cycle working. We do know the odds. Even if it does work, I would have at least a 30% chance of another miscarriage. We are willing to take all of the chances, though, because an IUI cycle will only cost us about $1000. I like betting in small amounts.....

We will keep you posted. This cycle will be completed prior to the Thanksgiving holiday. Keep us in your thoughts and wish us luck. We could use some....

Appointment with Dr. Surrey at CCRM

So, we really didn't learn anything new. It was basically what we were expecting. Our best option (and the one Dr. Surrey is recommending) is IVF with genetic testing of embryos prior to putting them back. PGD costs about an additional $4000. They are also doing a study right now at CCRM on a new genetic testing procedure where they test all the embryo cells for all the most common abnormalities. This testing would take 3 to 4 weeks, so all the embryos would have to then be frozen for a later transfer. Because it is a study, it would only cost an additional $1000 (versus the $4000 for PGD). Sadly, they don't discount the cycle itself. You don't have to pay for a full FET cycle, but you still pay for the transfer. He would have us repeat a TON of testing (including FSH...which I JUST DID!), in addition to doing some new sperm tests. All in all, a cycle would cost us at least $20K. Hmmmm...doesn't sound so great to me! Dr. Surrey said even if all the embryos turned out to be bad and we couldn't do a transfer, at least we would have one answer.....yeah, for the low low cost of $20K. Not bad!

Dr. Surrey equated us doing an IUI cycle with gambling in Vegas. It COULD work, but the odds are certainly against us. Yes, but at $1500 a pop, it seems like a nicer bet to take! I think dh and I have decided to do an IUI through our carrier /doctor(Kaiser) in November. I am going to ask him about taking baby aspirin and steroids just as a precaution going into the cycle. If it doesn't hurt, why not?

Anyway, that is the state of the union. His only thought on the miscarriage issue is that it is just bad luck with chromosomal abnormalities of the embryos. Each cycle / batch is different, so we still have hope. No second thoughts on my endometriosis, except he doesn't recommend another surgery, which is good.

So, there ya have it!

More to come down the road, I am sure......

Skydiving - Megan

Skydiving - Matt

Happy Anniversary to Me!!!!

Well, yesterday (September 12th) was our 4 year wedding anniversary. Yay! I celebrated the occasion by taking Matt out to dinner at Maggianos in the DTC (Denver Tech Center). Great wine, food, and company!

Matt one-upped me for sure with his present....we are going sky-diving on Saturday!!! We will be sky-diving with Mile-Hi-Skydiving in Longmont. We will free-fall for approximately one minute at 134 mph. Wow! There will be views of the mountains from where we drop. I have wanted to do this forever, so I really cannot wait! We will update with photos/ video when we can!

On a completely different note, we are going to see a specialist at CCRM on October 4th. Dr. Surrey is an internationally recongnized researcher / specialist in endometriosis. He also works for the #1 fertility clinic in the US. Not bad. If nothing else, knowledge is power. We are looking for insight into our miscarriage issues / the possiblity of success with additional IUIs or other tx. We shall see. We will update after our consult.

In addition, I am leaving on October 5th to meet up with my other "Infertilty Warriors". For the partakers, we are SUPERSTARS AND SURVIVORS! You all know who you are, and I love you dearly! I can't wait to meet you in Mystic, CT!!!!!

Onward and Upward!

Truncated version of the letter sent to the Oprah Show

The Oprah Show wants to know what you have to say in 2000 characters (including spaces) or less, so this is what it had to be:

Part of me will be forever empty without being able to create and bear a child with the man I love. In 4 yrs. my husband and I have done 3 rounds of Clomid, 3 IUIs, 1 fresh IVF cycle, and 2 FETs. I have been pregnant 3 times through treatment, but have lost all 3 pregnancies. When the proliferation of what I am feeling at a certain moment seems overwhelming, I have to remind myself every day that I am nowhere near alone in my suffering. I am one of a countless number of women or couples who have similar stories. Infertility does not discriminate, and it is surely not kind. It affects people of all races, ages, religions, and socio-economic backgrounds. Look at ANY face that you encounter in your life on any given day, and that could be the face of infertility. I attribute my “survival” to my husband and a special group of women whom I have never met face to face. We were all brought together by our similar circumstances and found each other on Fertility Neighborhood website. We come together because we all know what it is like to be asked every day, do you have children? And we all try to nicely shout out “CHILDLESS NOT BY CHOICE!” We have all experienced the same insensitivities put upon us by others who have not walked in our shoes. We come from the US, Trinidad, Greece, and Australia. We have decided to meet for the first time in Oct. in what we are calling a reunion. The whole group can’t come, but we will ALL be there in spirit. I guess if I never get to realize my dream, I can at least say that I found the silver lining in my dark cloud: my other infertility warriors. I would not have known them if not for my struggles. Sometimes we have to dig deep to find our purpose in life, but this group all believes that we have found this out through each other. Brought together by sadness, but triumphant through the unwavering support that we give and receive every day. We wish for peace for all of us in whatever form it comes.