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Saturday, August 7, 2010
Medicated IUI
I don't even know where to begin...I've been diagnosed with LPD (no big surprise) and they've
upped my progesterone quite a bit. I was getting one shot every other day starting 2 days past ovulation and lasting
15 days.... now I have to have 2 shots a day every single day starting 2 days past ovulation and lasting 15 days, so instead
of getting 7 shots per cycle I will now get 30!!! anyway, to make things worse, I started this cycle while on vacation, which meant we had to find a way to get
the Femara so I could take it while camping (Paul drove all the way back to Tucson and picked it up), I took the femara (2.5mg
1x per day) cycle day 3-7 (5 pills). After I started the process there was some hostility between me and my parents,
so things seemed to be getting off track and I started to panick about the IUI. I called the Dr.'s office to see what
they thought I should do and of course they said we needed to at least do the ultrasound to see how many follicles were mature
enough to release an egg (it would be dangerous to go ahead with the cycle if there were too many eggs), Thursday we
went in for the ultrasound and there were 3 follicles (12mm, 16mm & 18mm) in my right ovary. The dr. told me
that we had a good shot at it this cycle but if we were going to do the IUI we would need to do the trigger shot at midnight!
I couldn't believe it, we had to make a decision within a matter of hours or the Apothecary would be closed! I
called my dad and we discussed it, he came to Tucson and picked me up and we went back to the dr.'s office and paid for the
IUI & bought the trigger shot. Paul did my trigger shot (Ovidrel) at midnight (Thursday night) which wasn't too
bad compared to the progesterone shots. Today I had my IUI at 10 a.m.! We dropped the sample off at 9:15 and waited...
I had to pee, so I did...and when I opened the bathroom door, Paul was standing there looking forlorned... he said they tried
to stop me but didn't make it in time.. They needed my bladder full!!!!! WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME THAT BEFORE???
So, there I am sitting in the waiting room drinking glass after glass of water until I'm ready to pee my pants. Finally
they call me back and they gave us wondeful news... 22 million motile sperm after the wash! That's double what we had
on our first IUI, plus the dr. was pretty confident that I would ovulate 2 eggs!!! The actual IUI went very smoothly,
only one tiny twinge when he first inserted the catheter, no cramping and very very slight spotting. I'm resting now
and very hopeful.
3:24 pm
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Spirits are up
As I stated in my last entry, we were told to use barrier birth control so that they could do the
biopsy without risking interrupting an existing pregnancy...well... I just can't bring myself to NOT TRY.. it's not possible
for me, so I decided instead to proceed as usual and when the time came for the biopsy I would just tell them that our condom
broke and take a pregnancy test to be safe. I know, I lied, big whoop... I don't care. Anyway, I told the Dr.
and he said that out of all the biopsies he has done, 14 of them came back from the lab with placenta showing up in the tissue,
meaning (obviously) that there was a pregnancy and 13 of those 14 went full term, and there's no way to know why
the 1 miscarried. So... I feel that I did the right thing either way. Anyway, I won't know the results
of the biopsy until the Dr. gets back from vacation on July 14th or so, but I'm pretty sure I had/have LPD (luteal phase defect)
and I'm also pretty sure that the progesterone is doing it's job because this last cycle my LP was 12 days as opposed to 8
& 9 like previous cycles. So... while we were at the Dr.'s office doing the biopsy I asked Dr. H what our next move
was going to be and that I am getting impatient and depressed and he said that he is willing to go ahead with a medicated
IUI when we are ready!!! I have been waiting for him to say that for a while and he finally did! So.. the next
day I called my dad and told him how everything went and that the Dr. is willing to do the IUI and he asked me when we are
doing it, I told him that we can't afford that right now as it will be around $600 with meds, ultrasound, sperm wash &
Insem. but it's nice just to know it's a possibility when we are ready, he got all upset and told me he wants a grandbaby
NOW... well no shit! We want a baby! We just can't afford things on the spot like that, we have to save up...
so he offered to pay for the IUI. After discussing it with Paul, we've decided to go ahead with it. I can't
believe we're finally doing this, and so soon! My next cycle should start around July 22nd, so I'll start taking
femara shortly after that and I'm not really sure how the rest works, I know I'll have to do a trigger shot that forces ovulation
on a certain day, but we'll just have to see how they do things. OMG, I can't wait!
9:15 pm
Friday, May 28, 2010
Nope
Yesterday I started spotting, so I called the Dr.'s office to let them know, they said that it "could"
be implantation spotting, continue the shots and take a test on the 15th day... If it's neg. they want us to use birth control
(condom) next cycle and do the same regime of progesterone shots and come in 2-3 days before AF is due for an endometrial
biopsy. Well, today I had full red flow, so I am almost certain that I'm not pregnant. I called them and scheduled
the biopsy for June 18th. I just don't understand this, it hurts so much and we keep trying to do whatever we can and
we're getting nowhere.. I just don't know how much more strength I have. Now I'm terrified they are going to find something
horribly wrong with me and I can't help but get depressed.
12:04 am
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Trying another route
So,
the prometrium was awful, expensive and DIDN'T WORK. I started spotting around the same time I would have if I hadn't
taken anything, so I called the Dr.'s office and they said it was nearly unheard of for AF to show while on prometrium but
it was possible.. so I took a test on the 15th day and it was negative (of course) and then I stopped taking the prometrium.
After AF was gone I called them and said "What now?" and they said there was another option, injectible progesterone
in cottonseed oil. Here's the kicker, it's cheaper!!! And they didn't tell me!!!! And you only have to do
it every other day!!!! Sheesh people! So obviously we're trying that this cycle, Paul will give me my 4th shot
tonight. It was the funniest thing ever when he had to do the first one, he was totally nervous and he was making me
nervous, lol. Finally he did it and I didn't feel a thing, only a tiny burning sensation when the medicine went in.
The second shot however was painful as hell. I think I'm just more sensitive on the left side of my body because he
did it exactly the same as the other side. Anyway, I'm about halfway through the shots for this month and then I will
take a test. I sure hope this does it for us, I'm getting weak.
5:59 pm
Friday, April 23, 2010
Prometrium
I am on day 3 of the prometrium and I HATE IT! UGH! There are all sorts of side effects
but usually I dismiss those because they may or may not happen and usually they don't affect me... WRONG! 20 minutes
after I took the first one, I started cramping like AF was coming, looked it up and sure enough, abdominal cramping!
Yesterday I didn't have any cramping, so I thought I was out of the woods, nope! My knees started hurting all the time
and I am having mood swings.. also both listed in the side effects (joint pain, irritability, emotional instability), awesome.
There is also the very uncomfortable "what goes up, must come down" part of it... I won't go into detail but let's
just say GROSS! I will do anything to get where we are trying to get, but I'm not saying I won't complain about
some of it.
10:02 am
Friday, April 16, 2010
Testing results & update
My bloodwork all came back normal and my HSG showed both tubes all clear, thank God! I did
however realize that my LP (Luteal Phase) is on the short end and possibly could be why we aren't getting/staying pregnant.
If the LP is shorter than 10 days, it can be harder or even impossible to get/stay pregnant because the uterine lining sheds
too early to allow the egg to implant or stay implanted. I don't think this has been an issue the whole time but after
checking my last few cycles it was short, last cycle it was 9 days and the cycle before was 8 days. Luckily, this issue
is fairly easy to fix with progesterone suppliments, the doc already prescribed them and I will begin taking them 2 days after
I ovulate this cycle (in about a week or so). The only problem is that the suppliments are extremely expensive ($112/mo.),
so I'm really hoping that we don't have to keep buying them every month or we're in trouble. We canceled the cable in
order buy them for now.
The other bad part is that in order to be sure I am taking the meds at the right time,
I have to resume temping and doing OPK's. I stopped doing those things a long time ago because it consumes your whole
mind... you have to wake up at the same time every morning and take your temp and record it on your chart, and of course you
have to use the OPK's as a cross-reference. I know it will all be worth it in the end, but I definitely don't enjoy
this part of it.
For now, we are hoping that the prometrium (suppliment) is the answer, we will continue to try
naturally for a couple of months and then if need be, we will do another IUI.
11:26 pm
Monday, March 15, 2010
Here we go
Everything is going according to plan with the testing, we got our money without issue and they told
me to call on cycle day 1 to start the testing. Today is that day and I have scheduled the HSG test for the 24th of
this month, the blood work will be done either tomorrow or the next day. I am getting more and more nervous as it gets
closer. I will post the results when I have them.
2:00 pm
Friday, February 19, 2010
Still waiting...
We have been trying to keep our chins up and focus on
other parts of our life while we've been waiting for a baby, but so far nothing has come to pass, so we decided with our tax
return we would go ahead and see the RE again and have some tests done on me just to be sure. We should have our money
by the 26th of this month if child support doesn't screw us over again. This time I told Paul that if they don't take
what is owed we will walk into the office and MAKE them take it and give us something in writing that shows a zero balance.
So... when the money is in the account I will go ahead and call the RE's office and schedule the HSG test and talk to them
about what day of my cycle I need to come in for bloodwork. I am nervous but excited at the same time to find out if
there's any reason that we aren't getting pregnant. I think that even if we get bad news it will be a relief to me just
to have a reason... and if there isn't anything wrong, we will keep trying and possibly start doing medicated IUI's to increase
our odds. Statistics show a high percentage of women get pregnant shortly after having the HSG test simply because it
"flushes" their fallopian tubes, so that's a little extra bonus. I will post more when we have some results.
4:28 pm
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Delayed update
It's been a while since I posted,
trying to relax about the whole situation before I lose my marbles. I have absolutely wonderful news to share, no we're
not pregnant.... Our last 2 SA's have been phenomenal. Paul started taking clomid awhile back and we were under
the impression (as were ICVR) that it had no impact on his counts, but we went for a SA on May 12th just hoping his numbers
were around 20 mill motile and we got a huge shock.. 108 million total, of that 57.24 million were MOTILE!!!! That's
double what it's EVER been!!! So... we were pretty happy about that one, so happy in fact that yesterday Paul looked
at me and asked when he was due for another SA and I said "Oh shit! I totally forgot to schedule it!"
So I called ICVR and they told us to come on in! On one hand that was cool because it didn't give us time to stress about
it, but on the other hand we hadn't BD'ed in 2 weeks because we were both sick and then I got AF....you are not supposed to
abstain longer than 5 days for a SA because the sperm will die and you'll end up getting low motility that isn't the true
result... so when we got there I told them that we had 2 wks of abstinance and I wasn't expecting a good result. When
Amy walked in and I read the paper I about fell out of my chair. It was 192 million total and of that 99 million were
MOTILE!!! We are both over the moon with these results and have a renewed sense of hope. We don't have to go in
for another SA for 2 months now and in the meantime we are taking a camping vacation and relaxing for a bit. I hope
next time I have even better news to post, like a BFP!
10:42 pm
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Break
So far, the break is doing my psyche some good, I have not been as obsessed with everything and I'm
able to focus on other aspects of life. I am however very worried about our upcoming s/a as the last total motile was
8.61 million and that's low. Our motility was 82% which is extremely high, so I'm trying to keep that in mind
and I'm hoping it's just some inflammation that has been reversed by the prednisone and aleve, but after seeing our
friend's scar tissue after their redo surgery I can't get the thought out of my head "What if he's scarring
over??" I realize that our situation is NOTHING like theirs and we are probably fine, but that picture is in my
head and I can't help but worry. The other part that bothers me is that I can't go with him to this s/a because
I will be working my nanny job that day, and god forbid it's bad news I will have my "breakdown" on the job
which is never good. I think I will just talk to them about what's happening and explain that I might have to cry
alittle but I'll be ok. UGH! I'm so tired of this whole thing!!! Why does it have to be so damn hard!
I just want a baby of my own.. is that too much to ask??? Ok.. rant over.
4:49 pm
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