no more secrets but one big rule

well now everyone pretty much knows what's going on! no more secrets :) once it came down to IVF.. i was ready for everyone to know. esp. after we learned all the details of what it entailed!

my only rule - don't ask me .. let me bring it up. somedays i might be a little freaked out by the process or the meds or whatever

of course.. sometimes its all i talk about so that might not be such an issue.. lol

IVF education, Saline Ultrasound & more

Ladies.. be warned, if the nurse says 'saline' before she says 'ultrasound'.. then you're in for a treat. This is not the same as the lovely vaginal ultrasound we're alread used to.. it's very similar to the HSG (maybe my memory is a little fuzzy now but I'd say it's a close call on which was worse). Basically they insert saline thru a catheter into the uterus to see something in there better. Anyway.. I had to have this done as part of our prep for IVF. Last week I came in for some blood tests (a whole slew of tests including HIV,etc) that have to be done b4 going thru with IVF. Then DH had similiar tests done today before the class.

The class was an eye-opener. We came out of there completely overwhelmed! We watched a video on how to administer all these crazy injections, passed around sample needles, got a sample schedule (wow is all I can say on that), asked lots of questions, & signed a ton of documents. Oh and of course I was the only idiot that stabbed herself with one of the needles they passed around. It bled like you would not believe & was all swollen. That'll be fun tomorrow. I knew there was a lot involved in IVF ... but this is just crazy!

turkey day fun (aka IUI#2)

so every now & then, my birthay just has to fall on thanksgiving (thanks to being born on thanksgiving)... this year was one of those. since we always have thanksgiving with DH family.. that's what we did for my bday. i enjoyed it a lot.. DH fried a turkey for the first time with help from all the guys and MIL did most of the rest of the indoor cooking. i did a lot of chatting & handing things to the ones actually doing all the work :)

then on saturday after tday, i had an ultrasound. they said i was ready for IUI2 either sunday or monday. we chose sunday (today) so it'd be easier on us both, no ditching work monday. we kinda made a morning of it (a lot nicer than last time where we didn't even go to the clinic together). DH had to be there early for his part, and then we went out for breakfast. ended up at a waffle house b/c we didn't know where else in cary on a sunday morning to go. i ate like i was already preggers! then we went on back for my IUI. DH was at least in the same room with me this time if we conceive :)

IUI #1

I had my first IUI today.. DH had to come in about 1.5 hours b4 me to do his part. Then, I was surpised to find out that a different doc would be doing my procedure. It was a little awkward but no worse than the HSG test. I had to stay there on the table for about 10 mins b4 I could get up. DH was headed back to work after his part, so while I waited to get up, I had to laugh that if this works, our child would be conceived while we were in different cities.. very possibly different counties if DH went back to the Lillington office. Won't that be something to tell the kids one day.

PCOS

Apparently I have PCOS. DH & I went to the fertility clinic for our first consultation and Dr. Toma quickly determined that I had PCOS & that it's the cause of my infertility. The more I read about it, the more I realize how many warning signs I had. But apparently being overweight & hairy are 2 of the big symptoms that indicate this disease (for those of you that can't see me, I'm a little thing & hopefully not too hairy!).

DH was upset that I'd been going thru all this for so long & no one else had diagnosed this (esp. since doc found it so quickly on the first appt.). I agree.. but it's just nice to know there really is a reason that we've had all this trouble. So we went thru our options and we came up with a treatment plan. 2 rounds of IUI with clomid (lovely.. more of my favorite) and then onto IVF if necessary. The financial side is terribly scary.. which is part of why we're trying IUI first. It's both less expensive & less invasive.

Clomid #6

well.. here we are on CD 2 of try number 6. doc says this is it. well, this is it on clomid anyway. he says we should try naturally for 3 months.. without doctor appts, drugs & schedules. it will be nice. i'm getting a little sick of living by my calendar. plus i'm always having to hide it when family comes over. anyway he says the meds can stay in your system as long as i was on it & could still work.

if not preggers in 3 months, he'll refer us over to the local fertility clinic. i know one girl that had a baby in february who'd gotten pregnant from this clinic via IVF. so they come highly recommended.

Clomid #5

Today is CD2... U/S still looks fine. We're on try #5.. who knew it'd go this long??

Clomid #4

AF showed again on 2/10. So back to the doc. U/S still looked good, so stickin to the same schedule. CD 21 test progesterone level & call with period. boring...

Clomid #3

Somehow I made it through the holidays. It's hard keeping this whole thing quiet since I like to talk. But I know that it's for the best. Well.. I have of course told my friends, just we're not ready to tell family yet. Just too much pressure.

Anyway, today was another daty with the lovely OB. CD2 so I had to have an ultrasound. The good news is that AF came on her own this time & I don't have to take anymore progesterone. Apparently that plus my increased CD21 progesterone levels tells us this dosage works. So that's a good thing. The level went from 0.9 up to 25.4. For me that's a big jump. So we try again with cycle #3.

This Clomid is getting the better of me though. I already had a bit of a temper, but now.. man I flip out pretty good. Not just at little things but I really go nuts, yelling & screaming. Woa.. plus I'm hot all the time. Why do they call it hot 'flashes'? I'm just always hot. I know January in NC is not exactly frigid, but it's still odd for me to be this hot in January. I even crack the windows in my car sometimes!

Clomid #2

My test was negative.. so not preggo this time. I had really hoped we'd have good news to surprise everyone at Christmas. On to try #2...

Last try was at 50mg daily for days 3-7 which is apparenlty the lowest dosage. So he bumped me up to 100 mg this time. AF didn't show on her own though, so I'm stuck waiting another two weeks for my progesterone to kick in.

From China to the UK & back

So my DM got married in Scoltand & IBM wanted me in China around the same time. This meant I flew around the world (literally all the way around the world, no backtracking) in two weeks. It was a crazy trip but I had fun! But, this blog is about fertility.. the only reason I bring up this trip is that I had to postpone taking my new meds because of this trip.

I needed to take my progesterone to start off a cycle before I could take the Clomid. But, I also couldn't be on Clomid and away from home. So to be sure I didn't have timing issues, I held off til I got home before taking any of it.

hysterosalpingography

So I had my HSG test a few days ago.. I'd been a bit worried about it based off the testimony of the only other victim I'd known who'd been through this. Then another girl had hers the day before me, thankfully she called to let me know it was not that bad. And she was right.. it's not comfortable by any means, but geez if we can't get through something this easy, we're not meant to have kids :)

They said to take some aspirin or something beforehand, but I didn't bother. We went in a big room with a doc & nurse who were really nice. They prepped me & inserted the catheter up into the cervix (that stings) and then filled me up with dye (ok technically it's 'contrast' but looked like ink on the screen to me). The neat part was that I was able to watch too.. it looked like an xray but it was moving instead of still. I was able to see the dye as it spilled out of my tubes (a good thing, means no blockage). All in all, they didn't find any problems here.

Turns out that my progesterone levels (the blood test back at the OB) were REALLY low. Like post-menopausal low. Apparently this is an indication that I'm not ovulating on my own. So with all the results, doc says lets try Clomid. So now we are into fertility treatments...

my background

So my DH graduated in May from law school. He doesn't have a job yet, but that's okay, he'll find one. So we decided we're 'ready' for a family ( we think ) and are going to start trying. Of course we know I already have 'issues' so I had to check with the OB to see what's going on. He calls it amenorrhea (not having cycles normally). I'd already talked to him back in April about this after my last doc couldn't figure out the cause either. Best guess they are giving me so far is that it's related to taking DepoProvera. But I'm not so sure, I've never been exactly normal in that arena, even before any drugs.

Anyway, he says we've got to be tested in three areas 1-sperm, 2-eggs & 3-tubes/uterus.. this results in a blood test & a HSG for me plus a semen analysis for DH. So we're off for tests & will see where we get..