Happy May ICLW!

Welcome ICLW'ers! No idea what ICLW is? Learn all about it here! I normally would start my post out with a welcoming picture or gif but I'm a bit rushed today so you'll have to forgive me.

For those who are visiting for the first time, my name is Tasha but I pretty much exclusively go by the name FrozenOJ or Frozenorangejuice online (unless I'm gaming, where I use the character name Jaliyah). Why? Because I needed a screen name for something and it's the first thing that popped into my mind. It's been working for me for probably 15 years so no point in changing it now. I am a stay at home wife as my endometriosis is too bad for me to work. Josh, my DH, is a graphic designer who is currently going to and working at the local branch of FSU. He also did some work for a movie and he's supposed to be included in the credits when it comes out which is really cool! We don't have any live children, but we do have an adorable Yorkie.

Everybody say, "Awww!"

I have PCOS and Endo, and after my laparoscopy in 2011 was cautioned to try now if we wanted kids before it was too late. So we started trying in October, and by February I was on Clomid. I did not respond well. Finally in October 2012 after ovulating just three times we got our BFP only to miscarry three days later. I was on either Clomid or Femara until March of 2013 when we stopped trying to focus on my endo. Things had been getting worse and finally it got to the point I was in pain all the time and on too much pain medication for TTC to be safe.

Shortly before this we found out we were dealing with MFI as well due to low testosterone. We made the decision to go on testosterone therapy even though it would make Josh at least temporarily sterile as having bio kids doesn't seem to be in the cards for us anyway.

Now we are looking forward to trying out embryo donation/adoption. We are waiting until I can come off the pain medication, but are hopeful we can start that process in the next few months. I called the clinic today to find out some information and see what we needed to do when we are ready to get things started, but unfortunately the person who deals with that was off. So I'm waiting to hear back. People I've talked to who have used this clinic said you can start cycling within a month or two of contacting them, but I've also heard there's been a run on embryos lately so the wait time might be longer.

I have recently started selling 550 paracord awareness bracelets to fundraise for the embryo donation. I'm normally not a very crafty person but I've enjoyed making these. I'd love to eventually be able to turn it into a source of income and not just a fundraiser. Right now I'm selling them in colors representing infertility, miscarriage, infant loss, PCOS, and endo. The pink could also be potentially used for breast cancer and the yellow for the armed forces. I'm thinking of branching out into things other than bracelets, like ribbon shaped keychains or dog collars or something. If you like one you can go through Etsy (linked above) or just email me what you want since they do charge a transaction fee.

My endo is doing some better, but there hasn't been as much improvement as I'd like. I started out taking a tramadol about every four hours and now I'm down to about two a day. When I put it that way it seems like things are going quite well, but it doesn't feel like things have improved that much. I'm tired of being in pain. I have a little over a month before I'm estimated to be relatively pain free and that cannot come soon enough.