BOTW, edition 3.

Oh my, time flies when you’re procrastinating and sleep deprived…..Although I am feeling somewhat better today after unleashing my Now Not-So-Inner Vile Cow yesterday. Moo. With HORNS on.

And so it begins again, the third edition of BOTW. Not sure what I’m talking about? Click on the logo to be taken to the reasoning behind my unsolicited blogaviews and previous BOTW’s.

BOTW. An unsolicited admiration of blog-ness. An acknowledgement of the road travelled. Putting my excessive Google Reader activity to good use. On some level, we all write to be read, don’t we?

This week(ish! don’t forget the ‘ish’, it’s important. I am nothing if not scrupulously honest about my likely inability to keep strictly to my intended weekly frequency), I choose to review:

A Little Pregnant*

I’m a bit jittery, because Julie is a writer I am positivey in awe of. One of the Big Guns in this corner of the blogosphere. You know the concept of gateway drugs? Well Julie’s blog is my gateway blog. Hers was the first IF blog I ever read, long before the words ’severe male factor’ ‘pcos’ ‘IVF/ICSI’ and ‘anencephaly’ ever entered my personal space.

Even though I’m sure you know all about ALP*, I just can’t resist because if by chance you DON’T, well you should be reading.

Sorry, I’m all gushy. I do that when I’m nervous….

Firstly, the quickfire version:

In a nutshell?

Over the infertility rainbow. Parenting an IVF son and a DE IVF son.

The clever search terms version?:

Tubal factor, endometriosis, male factor, IVF, poor responser, ectopic pregnancy, miscarriage, pregnancy, HELLP/Pre-eclampsia, preterm delivery, thrombophilia, NICU, donor eggs, parenting, sons.

In more detail:

Again, I shall not over-revise her history (In case I stuff it up. Check out her blog for her story in her own words rather than my clumsy paraphrasing), but…

Julie (who to get all gushy again, I started reading years ago) went through four fresh IVF cycles in the conception of her first son. Four complicated fresh cycles, and by complicated I mean with the heartsinking double whammy of poor response = dissapointingly few eggs at each retrieval surgery = not much to work with in the embryo department AND the titular ‘a little pregnant’ twice i.e. an ectopic pregnancy and miscarriage (with early oligohydraminos and fetal demise) thrown in for good measure. I consider this proof positive that on some level the universe really likes to kick us when we’re down.

I also have to say in a small aside that the way that Julie can make anything alternately emotional, enthralling, sarcastic, witty as hell and as funny as heck is impressive.

Her fourth fresh cycle had me biting my nails as I vicariously lived the reproductive life of an utter stranger through my computer. It was a cycle that ended in an encouraginly healthy positive beta.

I bit my nails again when Charlie was born at 30 weeks, a result of HELLP syndrome. Thank you, in all probability, previously undiagnosed factor V Leiden for that twist.

Needless to say when Julie bravely ventured into the land of IVF again, she handled more failed cycles with her own eggs (before turning to donor) with customary aplomb. She also got pregnant from her donor cycle, and despite a higher risk pregnancy due to her thrombophilia and gestational diabetes, delivered her second son at term. Healthy.

I’ve personally only just breathed out.

She now blogs about parenting her boys. She writes well people. Damn well.

Care to read?

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Want to see YOUR blog featured? Like to be in my blogroll? Let me know in the comments section below and I’ll gleefully add you, after all a girl can never have too many hyperlinks in her sidebar.