Life Right Now [November]

Happy belated Thanksgiving! I just love the holidays and am so excited that we are officially in the thick of it. We have yet to decorate for Christmas but are hoping to head to the tree farm on Saturday to get a tree. Last year we went to a place where you take a sleigh ride to pick out your tree which was super cool…except that in order to get a tree you had to go on Black Friday. That was a little too long for our little tree so by Christmas it was mostly dead. We are hoping this year to get one a bit fresher and avoid all the dry needles everywhere.

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There are only really three things that happened this month that are worth writing about:

Switzerland

We got our tickets to Switzerland. We were able to get two tickets from SLC to Zurich for 138k points and $314 for fuel surcharges. It definitely is not the lowest point redemption I have seen for Switzerland, but given we are going during peak season I feel pretty good about it and it is a fairly direct route with minimal layover times 🙂

Here is our itinerary:

Day 1 – Arrive Zurich Airport and head to Appenzell: Sleep in Appenzell

Day 2 – All day in Appenzell and Ebenalp: Sleep in Appenzell

Day 3 – Leave early for Luzern: Sleep in Luzern

Day 4 – All day in Luzern: Sleep in Luzern

Day 5 – Travel to Lugano along Gotthard Panorama Express route: Sleep in Lugano

Day 6 – Take the Bernina Express to Upper Engadine: Sleep in Pontresina

Day 7 – Explore Upper Engadine (Pontresina, St. Mortiz, and Samedan): Sleep in Pontresina

Day 8 – Take Glacier Express to Zermatt: Sleep in Zermatt

Day 9 – All day in Zermatt and hikes, Matterhorn-view lifts: Sleep in Zermatt

Day 10 – Spend the morning in Zermatt and then travel to Lusanne: Sleep in Lausanne

Day 11 – Take the Golden Pass to the Berner Oberland: Sleep in Gimmelwald

Day 12 – All day for lifts and hikes in the Berner Overland: Sleep in Gimmelwald

Day 13 – More time in the Berner Oberland: Sleep in Gimmelwald

Day 14 – Travel and explore Bern: Sleep in Bern

Day 15 – Morning in Bern, then train to Zurich Airport to fly home

We are SO excited, but currently we are holding our breath to see if we actually get to go as planned because…

Infertility Treatments

Last month I shared a little bit about our infertility journey and mentioned we would be meeting with an infertility specialist. We had that appointment at the beginning of November and she jumped right to action. I had expected that she would have us do a bunch of testing before starting any treatments but she recommended we do the testing and infertility treatments at the same time. That means this past month (November) we did IUI (artificial insemination).

Here is how the process works for those of you not familiar. The first thing they have you do is take a high dose of Clomid starting day 3 until day 7 of your cycle to see if they can get you to superovulate (drop 2-3 eggs). Then you do a mid-cycle ultrasound on day 11 or 12 for them to check to see if the Clomid worked. When I went in for my mid-cycle ultrasound they also did the testing my doctor had ordered. They checked my egg reserve, some different hormone levels, and performed a hysterosonogram. The testing for me (and Dustin) all came back normal – which we figured would be the case.

Then based on what they see in your midcycle ultrasound they tell you when to take your Orvidel shot and when to come in for your IUI procedure. It is possible to do IUI without doing Orvidel, but we opted for that route because I don’t always get a positive ovulation test when I am actually ovulating. The Orvidel causes your body to ovulate so that the doctors can time the procedure correctly.

The timing of everything put us coming back on Black Friday to do the IUI. It wasn’t horrible. I have had friends tell me it is super uncomfortable. I thought giving myself a shot was way worse (my heart goes out to all you IVF moms!).

Here is the kicker though, if the IUI works it puts me due right when we are supposed to be in Switzerland…lol, I guess we didn’t think that one through. But when you are struggling to get pregnant waiting even one cycle doesn’t really feel like a privilege you have. So time will tell if we will be able to do our Switzerland trip as planned or if we will have to postpone until 2025. I am supposed to take a pregnancy test on December 8th so fingers crossed.

The doctor said she recommended doing only 3 cycles of IUI and if that doesn’t work to move on to IVF. Unfortunately, given the high cost of IVF (and our lack of infertility treatment insurance coverage) we will not be doing IVF if the IUI doesn’t work. So here’s praying it does and we can complete our family.

The Eden Utah Mom Retreat

Registration for our February 2024 retreat has opened. With all the excitement and appointments this past month I haven’t done much marketing so if you want to learn all about it and/or claim your spot, here are some great blog posts to answer all of your questions. You are also welcome to email me directly with any additional questions you have (anne@adventures-after-kids.com).

Enrollment is Open for the Eden Mom Retreat

Eden UT Mom Retreat – Alll the questions (& and answers too!)

Book Recommendation

I don’t know about you, but one of my favorite times to read is over the holiday break. So if you are looking for a fun read to curl up with by the fire I would recommend

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks

Don’t let the title fool you, this is a fiction novel, not a biography and it is one of those books that grabs you right from the beginning. If you get a chance to read it, you will need to let me know what you think.

Until Next Time

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season and enjoy some much needed time with your family.

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