Infertility is a shit sandwich.

Just so you know.

No matter whos side holds the "card", it sucks for everyone. Both parties involved suffer.
When you are a kid and you dream of your future, somehow, nobody ever imagines the doctor say Oh guess what? You're gonna need a lot of help to reproduce!. I come from a long line of breeders. So does my husband :) The thought never even crossed our minds. Thats all I had for today. I just wish things could be simpler. We were supposed to start our IUI cycle again this month, but when the pharmacy called, they quoted us $967 JUST for the injectable medication. Lots of other medications go along with it, as well as the actual procedure. We are unsure of our insurance coverage at this point, so we decided to wait it out for a month, so we can get Christmas firmly behind us.

As a side note, I had a wonderful Christmas. Hubs got me a new laptop with WINDOWS (which, until you try Ubuntu, you cant fully appreciate windows, trust me), AND a kodak gallery, which means I can once again edit, publish, print..whatever I want, with all my pictures. Im STOKED! Mom got me a new camera (Kodak Z981), 26x optical zoom, 14mp.. And, I cant WAIT to really take some pictures. Its incredible. I had a wonderful, wonderful Christmas....but I think I mightve mentioned that. With all this mention of Kodak, they should start paying me.

Hope everyone has a wonderful day! - K

A pretty cool cat err..goat!

I always get sooo excited when I heart faces does a pet theme!! I love taking pictures, but I REALLY love photographing my animals. I dont think this picture is going to win any awards, but it makes MY day better to see it, and I definitely need a dose of better day.

This is my goat, Maybel. She is a nearly 2 year old Saanen doe.

(doe, a goat, a female goat..)

Our plan for Maybel was to enjoy some quality goat milk. What I didnt realize when I excitedly picked her out was goat season is the spring, and when you get a goat in the summer that doesnt have any milk, it wont miraculously DEVELOP milk. I was saddened by this, so we spent our free non-goat-milking time bonding with sweet Maybel. As an extra fun thing, shes very tolerant of what we dress her in, and she CRACKS me up when she wears sunglasses. My husband has to hold them on her head, because, well, her ears are sorta weird (no offense to anyone with weird ears), but she totally doesnt mind! ADORABLE! And makes just about anyone smile :) Enjoy! And, since this week is the pets week over at I heart faces, head on over to their blog and check out some pretty amazing photographs!!

I know a man who drinks beer.

Seems relatively benign, I suppose. He is a warm man, with love and laughter. He is a hard worker, to a fault even. He is tolerant. He is fairly easy going. He is mostly non-confrontational. He snuggles like no other. He warms up the bed when its super cold. Sounds wonderful, right? Well, it is, except he is a husband, too. A husband that has a sperm count problem. A count which, to date, has prevented the couple from fulfiling our dream their dream of becoming a parent. A count which they have spent money trying to correct. A count which has cause the wife mental anguish, sadness, fear of the future, dismay, depression, anger...

Seems easy to correct, right? One truly invested in the baby making business, a husband that truly wanted to produce a family with his wife would simply say 'No beer for me!". Especially when his wife has come to him numerous times, in anger, in sadness, in pleading, to please stop drinking beer. Even if its only one. Documentation shows that even one beer is harmful. This man is intelligent. He can read up on the negative effects of having a sperm donor. He can spout off reasons why having a child from a donor would be harmful for the child and the future family. He says all this with conviction, with fear, with anger.

Additionally, he forgets to take his medication. When he is reminded, and the wife admits, she reminds angrily (there isnt much rope left!), to take the medication, he can never be at fault. It is HER fault that she forgot to remind him.

What I want to tell this wife is simple, but hard to hear. The signs are clear. The husband isnt interested in being more than a husband. No "daddy" in his future. Im not sure how she will handle this information.

Im not sure she'll be ok.

A question asked by 99% of men who have been diagnosed as having infertility problems, is does alcohol effect sperm?

The truth of the matter regarding alcohol and sperm produciton is that it does have a negative effect on a mans ability to father a child.

The effects of drinking alcohol causes a noticeable decrease in sperm count, as well contributing to an increase in abnormal sperm and lowering the proportion of motile sperm. Alcohol also drastically inhibits the bodies absorption of zinc, which is one of the most important minerals relating to male fertility.

Research has shown that the more alcohol a man consumes the bigger the effect it has on his ability to produce quality sperm. For those many men out there who have fertility problems, your alcohol intake doesn’t just need to be reduced, but must be totally eliminated. By doing so it will increase your chances of being able to father a child. For those men that truly want to improve their sperm produciton to the level where they can father a child giving up the booze isn’t too big a hardship.