101 Days til Christmas Fundraising Party!

Well, we did it! We hit the $2,000 mark! YAY! I can't believe it...I'm just hoping we can keep the momentum up for September.

The next big fundraiser we have planned is a 101 Days til Christmas Party. My goal for the party is to earn $500 in donations or an average of $100 per consultant. These consultants so kind and generous to donate a portion of their profit to Mike and myself!

Head Count: So far we have 12 ladies attending and 11 maybe's!  I think we're off to a good start!

I've pasted the invite I sent out to all my Facebook friends last night and I wanted to share the event with my blog friends as well......

"I'm very excited about our upcoming IVF Fundraising Event! This fundraiser will be geared towards early Christmas shopping and will include consultants from Premier Designs Jewelry, Pampered Chef, Party-Lite, Mary Kay and Thrity-One.


Each consultant has graciously offered to donate a portion of their proceeds to our IVF Fund! This will be a great opportunity to beat the holiday crowds while enjoying a fun filled morning of fellowship and shopping. 

We have set a goal of 50 guests and hope that we can exceed that number. Each guest who attends will receive a ticket to be entered into a drawing for special door prizes. 

Door prizes will include free shipping on products purchased at the event, gift cards, free products and more!

To increase your odds of winning, a ticket will be given for each additional guest brought with you to the party! 

Mike and I have been so touched by the outpouring of donations and support we have received thus far. We appreciate all of the kind wishes and prayers from our friends and family. 

I look forward to seeing each and everyone of you. If you have prior plans or can not attend, we have catalogs available for pre-orders."

We've set an overall goal to work towards $2,000 in fundraising and donations for the month of September. Besides the 101 Day's til Christmas Party, we've got another yard sale in the works and my dad has also graciously donated a set of wheels and tires from his Jeep Wrangler for us to place on Craig's List and sell.

My mom and I will also resume Cookie Mania next weekend, which helped tremendously this month. I'm also trying to find some ideas online for items to sell related to our city's college football team. The first football game of the season begins this week and as a result of living in a college town people around here go crazy for anything UT related! Hopefully I can come up with something.

Well, I should get back to browing the web for ideas...chat again soon!

Amy ;)

Test Tube Sperm!?!

Another interesting article concerning male factor infertility. It's just amazing how far science has come in such a relatively short period of time and to think that I am living through all of this.

 I often think of what it may be like for couples facing infertility in the future. There will only be a memory of those things that once seemed impossible to us as they will become reality to them. IVF w/ICSI for male factor infertility is still considered new technology as it was only beginning to be used in the 1990's. Prior to its discovery couples facing male factor infertility we simply out of luck as no other options existed as a method of producing a biological child.

 I also have a heavy heart for those couples now who may be too old to conceive and in a sense missed their window of opportunity and for those couples now that will miss their opportunity when new technologies arise in 10 to 20 years to solve today's infertility issues.

Hope you all enjoy the article and learn a bit more about male factor infertility as well, as I have.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/8400927/Test-tube-sperm-grown-in-lab-could-cure-male-infertility.html



This is human sperm (spermatozoa), the male sex cells Photo: SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / BARCROFT MEDIA

Researchers removed stem cells and cultured sperm in the laboratory in a breakthrough that could lead to new treatments and drugs for men currently unable to have children.

The development raises hopes that young boys undergoing chemotherapy for testicular cancer will still be able to father their own children when they grow up.

The sperm was produced in a test-tube from the cells taken from a newborn mouse testicles and then injected into eggs to produce to twelve healthy babies, four male and eight female, which were all fertile and able to reproduce themselves in adulthood.

Dr Takehiko Ogawa, an urologist at Yokohama City University in Japan, said the production of sperm in the testes is one of the most complex processes in the body.

It has never been reproduced in a test tube in mammals before.

They achieved the feat by providing most of the cellular components found in the testicles in a dish and watched as the stem cells grew into sperm cells.

They then used IVF (in vitro fertilisation) techniques to produce male and female offspring that were themselves fertile.

The researchers, whose findings are published in Nature, said: "The obtained sperm resulted in healthy and reproductively competent offspring."

The testes tissue was still worked after being frozen in liquid nitrogen and could still be used several weeks later – suggesting it may be possible in humans to produce their own biological offspring years later.

Dr Ogawa and colleagues said: "We have demonstrated that the organ culture conditions, without a circulatory systems in vivo (in the living body), can support the complete spermatogenesis (sperm production) of mice.

"Therefore, extending the present results to a wide range of species by refinements and the individualisation of culture conditions to each of them seems promising."

Professor Shahin Rafii, a geneticist, and Dr Marco Seandel, an oncologist, of Weill Medical College in New York, reviewed the study for the journal and said it offers hope for young boys with cancer who, unlike men, cannot freeze their sperm before treatment.

They said the blueprint for producing mature sperm in a laboratory dish has eluded reproductive biologists for decades and the researchers "meet this challenge in mice."

Prof Rafii and Dr Seandel said: "The preservation of fertility is a major concern for patients requiring therapy, such as chemotherapy or radiation therapy, that can inadvertently destroy germ cells.

"In men, this problem can be mitigated by banking sperm before treatment. The solution is less straightforward in prepubescent boys.

"In this scheme, boys would undergo testicular biopsy before chemotherapy or radiation therapy, to obtain tissue for cryopreservation (freezing).

"If infertility occurs, the testicular fragments could be thawed and sperm obtained from organ culture for IVF."

Dr Allan Pacey, an expert in infertility at the University of Sheffield, said it was "a small but important step".

"This is a very interesting study," he said.

"There have been several attempts to create or 'grow' animal sperm in the laboratory by various different approaches.

"However, none have been wholly successful and when the sperm have been used, the pups born have not been healthy and have soon died.

"This could help discover new drugs or treatments to stimulate infertile men to produce more or better sperm. It also may help preserve the fertility of some males.

"I think this study is a small but important step in understanding how sperm are formed which may, in time, lead to us being able to routinely grow human sperm in the laboratory."

The Roller Coaster of Life

Ever had one of those days where your body is at work, yet your mind is elsewhere? Of course! Right? We all have those days and sometimes we have them several times a week!

Just so happens today was that day for me and it was a weeks worth of days rolled into one. I'm feeling just plain drained at the moment as it seems as if I've been on an emotional roller coaster all day.

Even as I type, the coaster continues as I anxiously check my phone for word from Adam, my friend Whitney's husband, with an update as to how she is progressing and if their precious little one has made it into this world yet...can't wait to meet her! I know they will make wonderful, loving and fun parents!

Rewind back to early this morning, crazy traffic, running late to work, radio playing in the background. I pull up to a red light and am reminded by the ever so helpful Facebook of a birthday of a long lived yet missing friendship. Its days like today in which I would normally take comfort in our friendship knowing that I could confide in her and that she would inevitably be able to cheer me up. Instead, I reminisce of our past friendship and wonder if we'll ever be able to get that back as so much has happened between now and then.

Once to work, I find it difficult to concentrate as my mind wanders during my fourth day of training. I was just recently promoted and will be starting my new position on September 1st. So much new stress, so much to learn, so much to see, so much to do and practice...too bad we can't telepathically transfer all that information from her brain to mine...it sure would make things a lot easier. Lol.

My mind drifts to fellow IF's, former co-workers, friends, a sweet couple whom I have a heavy heart. Infertility is a lonely disease and I find comfort in their encouraging words, wisdom and strength.  As I know they too have fought this unfair disease and won! I pray for comfort and healing for them as she has been in a medically induced coma for more than a week after undergoing an emergency cesarean section. My heart breaks more for her each day she remains sedated and unable to hold her precious child, as I know how hard she fought, how much she's endured, how many up's and down's she struggled through in order to have those first few hours, days, weeks, those priceless moments of motherhood.

I've shed more tears than I would like to admit today. Candice had the pleasure of witnessing one of my moments and so kindly offered to give me an after breakdown hug if needed even at the risk of going over her allotted lunch break time...haha!

My mom called late in the afternoon to share news of another great blessing headed our way. She meet up with a family member whom unknown to us had struggled with infertility herself and graciously gave a $100 donation to go towards our IVF Fund with only a mere dozen cookies in return. I am so overwhelmed with emotions and so grateful to her as well. My heart is full of cheer and I only hope that once day I can pay forward the kindness she has shown to us. Thank you so much.

Well, for now the roller coaster has ended. Until next time.

Amy :)

Yard Sale!

Today's yard sale, our 3rd fundraising event, went well! Thanks so much to all of our friends, co-workers  and family for all of the yard sale donations! We ended up with a GRAND TOTAL of $180.15! YAY! 

Our morning began at 8am and ended around 2:30pm. We still have so many great items left for our next sale (date yet to be decided) so there is definitely more money to be made! 

We ended the sale a bit early because we all had a bit too much sun and fun for one day...Lol :) I know one thing for sure, I will definitely will be bringing sunscreen next time! 

I also wanted to make quick mention of a few donations we received this week. We received a $100.00 donation from one of my aunt's co-workers. We were so surprised and extremely appreciative! 

Also, I wanted to give a big thank-you to Rebecca and her mother/sister for helping with the Premier Party Fundraiser. We had a wonderful night enjoying the company of sweet friends, great food and beautiful jewelry. Thanks to Lisa as well for her kindness and support! We love you all! 

Let the mowing begin!

Because its YARD SALE time! Our 3rd Fundraiser is already in the works. We will be having a yard sale this Saturday, August 18th and we are asking all of our friends and family to dig through their basements, storage rooms and junk drawers! Anything that you have been wanting to get rid of and would like to donate would be much appreciated! :)

If anyone is interested feel free to email or message me on Facebook. We will be happy to meet up or come pick up donated items.

$1,000 Baby!

Good afternoon!

I'm here in the kitchen once again making cookies and I wanted to take a few minutes to update everyone as I take cookies out and place more in the oven.  Over the last week I have become quite the efficient little baker...lol :) I've got 9 minutes and counting so I'll try to make it quick.

I have very few words to express how I feel at the moment. I can simply say that we are so very grateful for all the love and support we have received since we began this new chapter of our lives only 2 short weeks ago.

We have been blessed beyond belief by the success of our first fundraising event. Thus far we have received a GRAND TOTAL of $932.00 in cookie sale orders! Yes, I said $932.00!!! We are only 13 dozen orders away from $1,000!

We definitely owe a huge THANK-YOU to all of our friends and family! We could not have met this goal without your help!

My mom especially deserves credit for all of her help baking cookies. She spent several late nights and early mornings baking away, delivering cookies, shopping for supplies and did it all without a complaint and with a smile.

My parents also graciously offered to donate all of the cookie baking ingredients for any future bake sales and provided the majority of supplies used this last week as well.

Thanks to my sweet uncle Mike who donated dozens upon dozens of eggs to help with our baking needs and offered to supply anymore that may be needed in the future!

Also, just this week we un-expectantly received an donation of $100 to put towards our IVF Fund. It is hard to fathom the out pouring of love we have received on our behalf. We will forever be grateful and only hope that one day we will be able to pay it forward. Much love for you and your family!

One last big THANK-YOU to a dear sweet friend who has been through many of the same struggles as Mike and myself. We appreciate the support and encouragement you have provided over the last few years.  I definitely let my emotions fly when I opened up our mail and saw that check for $100! We are sending much love and baby dust your way!

Well, the oven is now beeping and cutting me short on my awards speech. Stay tuned as we still have many more fundraisers in the works and updates to follow.

Amy :)

Double D's Please!

On Tuesday, August 7^th, I went for a follow-up appointment with my urologist to review my current medications and to set up a game plan during the next few months leading up to our IVF procedure. One of the main questions I had for my Urologist was the long term effects of my use of the fertility medication Clomid.

Clomid is a fertility drug marketed towards women to help with ovulation disorders. However, it is occasionally used off-label to help treat hormone imbalances and low testosterone in men.

While taking normal testosterone replacement therapy might seem like the obvious answer, it actually causes sterility in men, the opposite of what we are trying to achieve.

Many doctors do not advise women to stay on the medication for more than 3-6 months, and we were originally told I should not be on it for more than a year due to possible side effects.

Common side effects include but are not limited to; vision issues, male breast tissue enlargement, swelling in the extremities, weight gain, mood swings, etc.

My Urologist must have had an inkling of my concerns, because he started right off the bat citing a study done recently on the long-term effects of Clomid use in males. While the study said that long term use of Clomid is safe, he did take care in checking me for swelling and enlargements. Hmm, I’m suspicious Lol.

To be honest the appointment was rather uneventful and in the end we decided that for us the benefit of Clomid for the time being seems to out weight the possible side effects, as we do not want my sperm count to drastically drop during the next several months it may take to save for IVF.

On a side note, I have scheduled a bra fitting at Victoria’s Secret on Monday. Just in case.

Mike 

To Commemorate the 2012 Olympics...Just a Little Fertility Humor

http://www.facebook.com/AttainFertility

Events Update

Upcoming Fundraising Events:

Thursday, August 16th 7:00pm

-Lisa Littleton Deal and Rebecca Sue Napier Forgety have graciously offered to turn Rebecca's Premier Jewelry Show into a Fundraising Event w/25% of sales going towards mine and Mike Durham IVF Fund!

Mike and I are very appreciative of these ladies generosity and would love for all of our friends and family to attend.

However, if you have plans or are otherwise engaged we will be planning another Fundraising Event on.....

Saturday, September 15th Time to be set

101 Days til Christmas Event will include the following vendors;
Premier Jewelry, Pampered Chef, Party-Lite and will be themed towards early Christmas shopping.

101 Days til Christmas Event is still in the works so more details will follow.

Hope to see everyone at one of the events and don't forget Lisa and Rebecca both have catalogs if you would like to place an order and can not attend.

Thanks again for all the support!

Amy :)

Making A Lot of Dough!

The last few days have been a whirlwind of baking, packaging and delivering so I've only now had the chance to sit down and update everyone. 

Our first IVF Fundraiser which I have now dubbed "Cookie Mania" began on Wednesday and in three short days it has grown from what I thought might be a good way to earn an extra $100 towards our IVF fund into a HUGE success!

Thanks to all of our wonderfully supportive and loving friends, family and co-workers we have raised $229.80 to date after expenses and baked well over 50 dozen cookies (some of which we're eaten by Mike and myself, but strictly for quality assurance of course...lol)!

We still have approximately 15 dozen worth of orders in the works and a few IOU's to collect on so by my calculations we should be close to $350 when all is said and done.

I hope we can keep the momentum up....and for those still interested we will continue to take orders next week as well. My sweet mother who also deserves a shout out for graciously helping me bake, package and deliver cookies has yet to tell her work about Cookie Mania thus I see at least a few more week nights of baking in my future.  :)

Mike and I are overwhelmed by the out pouring of love and support shown to us by everyone. I know I was hesitant at first to open up and share such a personal aspect of our lives, but I am so thankful we did. The emotions I feel can not be expressed by words alone. I love each and everyone of you and will continue to keep you updated throughout our journey with infertility.