Friday, November 13, 2009

IVF, Here We Come

So much has happened since our BFN and I have had zero motivation to post.  I kept thinking, "Man, I should really write about this", but I never did... This may be a long one, feel free to skim until something catches your fancy.

I finally went back to work again after my wreck. It's exhausting! 3.5 months off really affects your strength and stamina. I did nothing but work and sleep the first week back. I could barely stay awake long enough to eat. Luckily it's getting much better now. 

The day after Trina started her period, we had a tearful consultation with our wonderful RE. He said we basically had 2 options. We could do a 3rd injectable cycle, then move on to IVF if it didn't work, or we could just jump to IVF. He said first 3 injectable cycles all have about the same rate of success, but starting with the 4th, the success rates drop drastically. Having lost all confidence in basic infertility treatments, we chose to jump to IVF. He scheduled Trina for a hysteroscopy so he could look at the exact spot he'd place the embryos. If the spot was clear, we could start this cycle. If the spot had scar tissue that needed to be removed, we'd have to sit out a cycle so she could heal. The procedure showed that she didn't have scar tissue, but that she did have a uterine polyp that had to be removed. This caused some cramping and bleeding for a few days, but wasn't too terrible. At her post op appointment, Doc said the polyp was small enough that we could start this cycle if we wanted to. Between my work schedule, the holidays and a planned trip to Arizona in Jan, we decided to hold off for now. She'll call them when her Dec cycle starts to begin suppression. In the mean time, I plan to do an obsessive amount of research, pay off as much debt as possible, try to decide who's eggs to use and win the lotto if at all possible...

We went to a patient education seminar dealing with a spectrum of infertility causes and treatments put on by our fertility clinic. They were giving away a free IVF cycle at the end. We didn't win, of course, but it was nice to dream. The seminar was great. The doctors are all so laid back and answered everyone's questions in detail. It was so much fun to people watch there. Infertility really affects a wide variety of folks. I liked listening to how people phrased questions. Some of them acted like the questions were hypothetical. They'd say "What if "someone" had a blocked tube blah blah blah", like they were asking for a friend or out of pure curiosity. I was thinking "You're standing in an infertility seminar, we know it's your tube that's blocked, it's ok, we're all in the same boat." Then there were the people who were over sharing in a major way. One girl rambled on for 5 min about her whoas. Apparently she knows her boyfriend isn't the problem because he's gotten 2 other girls pregnant and she's never been pregnant even though she's never used protection and that's how her cheatin' ass ex boyfriend gave her chlamydia. Wow. Then there was the guy who guzzled wine throughout the whole thing and cringed at all of the pictures and diagrams on the power point presentation. He says, slurring,  "I've had quite a bit to drink so I'll be honest, we got mobility problems, her parts are fine..." It was hilarious. Who would have thought hearing about infertility would have made for such an amusing night?


Tuesday, October 27, 2009

BFN#12

Not even pr0gster0ne could keep AF from coming 2 days early.


Sunday, October 25, 2009

Not Looking Good

We've been so hopeful this cycle. Optimism has run rampant in our house. Even when her temp plummeted yesterday, we tossed around the idea that it was a REALLY low implantation dip. This morning's temp eroded our confidence and the spot of blood around noon has it pretty much shattered.

Friday, October 23, 2009

Two Sets of TIny Little Baby Parts

Our very good friends welcomed their beautiful twin boys into this crazy world on Monday. Trina & I have spent every possible moment in the NICU gazing at them in all their 4 pound glory. Those little boys are amazing in every way. I couldn't be prouder of them or their wonderful parents. Being around them makes our baby fever palpable. Please, please let this be our cycle...






Saturday, October 17, 2009

Spread The Love

Thursday, October 15, 2009

IUI Cycle #12

OK, I'm over my minor freak out about timing. :) I think the pressure of this cycle just got to me. With the cost of these injectable cycles being so high, I just don't know if we can afford to do this again. At least not for a while. We'd have to pay down our TTC debt a bit first. Anyway...

Wed morning as we drove down to the RE's office, I was still on edge about timing and such. When we got there I asked the Dr if we could check Trina's progesterone to see if she had ovulated overnight. If she had, we'd still do that morning's IUI, but we'd skip Thurs's. He said he was sure our timing for both IUI's was perfect. That her Tues morning LH showed she was "surging" not "surged". He even drew a diagram (I heart diagrams) showing that the LH goes up to 60 or 70 at it's peak. Her LH was only 33 pointing to a true surge scheduled for Tues night. We also triggered Tues night so her body should have all the umph it needed to ovulate all 5 follies. I felt much better and apologized for being such a freak. He waved it off and said if I ever had ANY questions I should ask him. Otherwise how would I learn? Then he flashed me one of his killer smiles. I swear he should patent that thing. I know I've mentioned this before, but I LOVE our RE. :)

Once again both of the IUI's went smoothly. Barely any cramping and no spotting at all this time. Trina's cervix was open for the first IUI but closing or closed for the second. That points to her ovulating sometime between the two. Her temps have been all over the place since we started using FSH, HCG and Progesterone so we no longer have any clues for when she ovulates other than cervical opening. So far I feel really good about this cycle and our chances. I hope I can hold onto this optimism for the next 2 weeks. 


Tools of the trade.

Post-insem grin. 
   
The cute sperm-dialed timer set for her required Post-insem resting period.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

New Numbers, New Questions

Around 10 last night Trina made mention of her 2 days of copious EWCM. I asked her to use one of the OPK's on her next trip to the restroom. Sure enough it was positive. Damn, she's surging before the trigger. I tossed and turned all night dreaming about her ovulating before we had a chance to inseminate. I was up long before the alarm went off. Much to my despair her temp rose .4 overnight. I was a little less than cautiously optimistic on the way to our u/s appointment this morning. Steeling myself for the worst, I was surprised when the nurse said everything looked good. I asked her if she would've been able to tell if Trina had already ovulated. She said that the follicles would have been hazier and that they would have looked "deflated" instead of round. My fears were eased for the moment and there was nothing to analyze until the numbers came in later. I really wish I was one of those people who could operate on blind hope or faith or whatever it is that happy "ignorance is bliss" people function on. Alas, I am not one of those people. I'm a person who analyzes numbers and any other form of information made available to me.

The numbers came in around noon. They are as follows:
Estradiol- 861
Progesterone- 3.3
LH- 32.8
Left Ovary- 14.22, 14.65, 14.65
Right Ovary-17.46, 17.88

I was VERY pleased to see the progesterone under 10 indicating no ovulation as of yet. I know I should've taken the nurse's word, but I'm just not very good at that. I still can't stop myself from worrying that she'll ovulate today or tonight before we inseminate. On a more positive note, I'm thrilled to see those 2 large follies. They are both bigger than the one we had last cycle. I can only hope that they will make us some twins. :) Tonight we trigger, tomorrow morning we have IUI#1 then Thurs morning IUI#2. In the meantime I'm going to try VERY hard not to "what if" myself to death...