On the road again

I had a baseline ultrasound on tuesday and the cyst was gone! Now I am back to the drawing board. I am taking 150mg clomid this round and guess we will see. Only had it two days now and the hot flashes are in full swing. I have decided not to temp this month as I think it only increases the anxiety level for me. Will go for the cd12 u/s and see what kind of follies we are dealing with this month. I was discouraged as the RE told me that my body would react the same way as last time to the clomid. Translation: I will get more cysts if I don't get pregnant and will be the every other month regime.....That is not cool!

Guess we will just hope for the best this time so it won't be an issue. Wouldn't that be a lovely 30th birthday present for June!!

A Terrible Day

Yesterday I called the RE's office to let them know I was cd2 and was expecting them to call in my increased dose of clomid to try the next round when I was told for the first time I needed to have an u/s cd2 or 3 before going to the next cycle. Would have been great to know! Not cool in the middle of the day when they tell you to come within the hour to get you in when you called their office as soon as it opened to tell them your part of the deal. Whatever I guess.

So I go in for the u/s and apparently now have cyst on my right ovary from the clomid. Again, never even told that this was a possibility of a side effect. Apparently this is a common side effect, but we were never told about it. The best part is that I have to totally sit out this month and wait to let if hopefully go away on it's own. A was at work while this went on and I just sat and cried in the RE office. No one was even close to being empathetic and it totally sucked. I am pretty burnt out and had enough for right now. I really hope this is gone so we can try again next month.....

And the chicks win

After horrid cramping and a slight bit of spotting, I started yesterday much to my dismay. I guess I should be ready to push ahead, but I am starting to get very discouraged. They were going to almost double the clomid this month. I am not looking forward to any part of that. I have placed the call to the office and am waiting for the nurse to call me back with the next steps...

On the flip side, my baby chicks did hatch and are adorable. We now have 5 cortunix quail and today when I work up, 6 Bobwhite quail had hatched!! They are too cute. I guess I can hatch something, just not my own eggs....

Which will hatch first: mine or the quail's eggs?

We went in for the IUI yesterday (March 24) and it was fairly uneventful. I was having a slight twinge the night before in my ovaries. I read this is common with Clomid. After the IUI I came home and then started to have the worst cramps and ovulation pain ever! I guess Clomid worsens this pain. ( I also am thinking this is good timing wise though) However, I was in a ball on the couch and in quite a bit of pain. Would loved to have taken about 800mg of Ibuprofen, but am told I am not allowed to touch the stuff during the TWW. My RE said that there was actually only 1 folly, not 2 like we were previously told, and that if there was next time, we would increase the dose of Clomid to 150mg. Just great! As if my head didn't hurt bad enough this time! Can't wait to feel the pain of multiple eggs popping!! Hopefully this is it and we don't have to worry anymore.

The chicks note.....Every year I pull out an incubator I bought years ago. There is a company in Georgia I purchase quail eggs from and then hatch them in the spring every year. It was become a tradition and they have about a week left right now. It' s fun to watch them hatch and then watch them grow a few weeks before we release them on a farm close to us!! Happy Spring!!

Headaches and Hotflashes oh my!

Well after much reading of information after taking the Clomid, I realized the side effects you have aren't necessarily going on during the time you take it, but all of the rest of the month as well. I have been fairly moody, but have had the worst headaches of my life this last couple of weeks since taking that medicine. Not a medication in the world seems to even dim the pain. I am enjoying the hot flashes in the evenings. (I am always cold and have never been hot in my whole life!) Poor A, she is taking a beating with my moodiness! Hope we are successful this time!

I had an US this Saturday (cd12) which showed I had two follicles ~20mm on the left and a few smaller ones on the right. The nurse practitioner seemed happy with the results of the clomid and asked how I felt. I told her about the headaches and hot flashes and she said those were common.

Luckily being a nurse, I have a friend that I work with that gives me the HCG shot. I took this last night and we are planning an IUI in the morning on Tuesday. Maybe this will be the time!!

Wish us luck!

Redo

So the wait is over. I am not a patient person and this really gets to your self worth fast! It's more hard for me to not have control over something directly. I just can't stand not knowing what's going on behind the scenes. Amy is a much more patient person and is all about it will happen when it's the right time. I envy her calm and easy demeanor. She definitely complements me!
Because of me being impatient and not having an unlimited supply of our donor, we decided to ask about other options at this time. I opted after much debate to taking clomid. Of course my RE is out of town when we needed his advice. We spoke with the NP and she was awesome. So 100mg Clomid days 3-7. Seems like a high dose to start from what I read. Guess we will see!

Try Try again

February 21
We had an U/S on CD 12 to check out the follicles situation. I had one large one measuring 16.3 at this time. My doctor wants to do the HCG trigger and feels its too early at this point. Everything is looking good though.
Feb 23-We have a repeat U/S on CD14 and follicle now measureing 21.3mm. I had back to back IUI's (per my request) on Feb 24 and 25. Also had the HCG trigger shot on the 24. And again the waiting ensues. Again no real symptoms to report. Motility was a good number whereas the first try it was a little questionable. Maybe this is it....

The Infamous TWW

Febuary
I had no symptoms anywhere during any of the two week wait and was fairly positive that they waited to long for the IUI. As expected, that was confirmed and we were on to the next cycle. I was disappointed, but not as much because in my mind I knew it wouldn't happen the first time for most.

My first IUI

Finally my day is here. No medications of any kind. I have been temping all along. My LH kits have had no trouble detecting my "o" in all the previous months. I got the surge on Jan 26 and had the first IUI on Jan 27 in the afternoon. I am feeling pretty good about the timing as it fairly mimics my previous cycles. The whole process was undaunting and over in 5 minutes. Then they leave you in that room alone with a little sperm timer. I don't even think it set in what I actually just did. Amy and I just started at each other and smiled.....

Our First Order

January 12
We ordered our sperm to be shipped to the RE's office in hopes of trying in a week or so. We are so excited, but realize that it doesn't usually happen the first time or first many times for some. I think the prospect of actually being able to begin the process is what is so exciting. Guess time will tell!

Last Blast

November 2008
We spent the greater part of November deciding on our donor. We made our decision and orders a few vials to keep in storage when we were ready in January. We really didn't have too much debating and agreed fairly easily on our first choice. In an effort for sort of a last blast, we planned an Olivia cruise. If anyone has never been, it was one of the most enjoyable experiences! We had an awesome time. The people, entertainers, and even wait staff made it great! The pic on the main site is from our committment ceremony we had while cruising the Carribean! I had an even better time knowing everything was in place to start the process after the holidays.
We do have a four year old daughter that is biologically Amy's. She wants a sibling, but obviously has no clue as to the time frame involved since all time is the same to her! She is so much fun and full of energy! We would love to have another sometime soon!

Prolactin, TSH, and a us with dye of uterus

October 2008
So, if you don't know me, you will soon learn that I am the overachiever and read and research everything possible about my current topic at hand. So I have already read and reread A Donor Insemination Guide, The Ultimate Guide to Pregnancy for lesbians and even the fictional novel Buying Dad.
With this in mind, I brought all of my charts with my temps, o's, mucus etc. to show the RE. He wanted nothing to do with them and just said "I don't see any reason I can't get you pregnant." Ok, odd phrase coming from him. But Amy and I were both a little floored by this after all the time I had spent tracking it all.
My prolactin level was a little high and he wanted me to have it redrawn. (great, the first problem rears its head already.) He asked if my nipples had been stimulated more lately. I thought, hey buddy do you really need to know that? Of course they have, we live in Ohio and it's freezing outside!
The U/S of the tubes and the uterus with the dye was the worst pain I have ever had so far. That was horrid!! Luckily, no problems with tubes or uterus. Shew!
Now, just have to repeat Prolactin draw on CD 7 next month.....

And the Journey Begins.....

Well the first few entries of the journal are going to be somewhat retro in order. I did not decide to do a separate blog for our TTC until after reading many others and being inspired to do my own. We have already been a few months into the process, but I will do a quick view of what you may have missed already.

Last fall and into winter, we both had separate houses (we lived together in one) and had to sell both and bought a bigger house together instead. We had decided to wait until the first of the year and after both old houses sold. We were fortunate enough to sell both quickly and met with our RE first at the end of October '08 for a consulation. He was nothing but accepting and willing to work with us and wanted me to have a few tests prior to trying to make sure everything was in working order.

He gave us a few months to get the tests done and said we would meet again at the first of the year.

Here we go! We were both excited and nervous after this appointment. We had a lot of other decisions to make along with this new goal.