OMG part 2

Thanks for all of your comments yesterday. I sit here still incredulous that I, of all people, am currently pregnant without the help of any doctors.

My beta came back yesterday at 1400, which my nurse seemed happy with. I did a little googling and it seems to be a good number. Based on my last period and the knowledge that I ovulated sometime before Day 20 of my cycle, I look to be 5 weeks along. My progesterone level is at 16 which is fine, but my nurse said that I could supplement with Endometrin just in case. (I figure that I already have it on hand so I might as well.)

My nurse suggested an ultrasound next Monday but I pushed back a little. Since we don't know what day I ovulated I could be 6 weeks along that day and therefore should see everything (fetal pole, gestational sac, yolk sac, heartbeat, etc.), but I could also be a day or two less. So I decided to wait until Friday the 11th (I know it is going to KILL ME). This past spring was hard, having to go back to get more ultrasounds because maybe it was slightly too early, and then hearing bad news over and over. Instead of prolonging that, I would rather just know for sure with one ultrasound appointment.

So now the waiting game starts.....

OMG

Soooo.....the turkey did not usher in my period this weekend. But this could be the reason why....

HOLY SH*T I AM PREGNANT!

Let me back up. As you all know, I went in on Day 20 of my cycle to my RE to make sure that I had ovulated. Once I did I started putting on estrogen patches and doing Ganerelix injections. I was so frustrated when I had a bit of blood on Day 25 (now maybe it was implantation bleeding?) and then nothing since then. Well...um...being pregnant would be a reason why I wouldn't get a period!

This weekend I was so pissed that I wasn't getting my period and that I wouldn't be able to cycle that I had two glasses of wine and took Nyquil so that I could sleep despite my never-ending cold.

So this morning I went into my RE's office to find out what was going on in my body. The ultrasound tech was very quiet the entire time and when she was almost finished she asked "Have you taken a home pregnancy test?" I said no because there was no way that I could get pregnant naturally. CP and I literally had sex once this month and while it was around ovulation, that wasn't on purpose. The tech said, "well, see this on the ultrasound? It's either a gestational sac or a cyst. And your lining is really thick- like 23 mm. I guess we will have to wait for your bloodwork to come back."

I tried my best to temper down my potential excitement because the month before we did an IUI and I didn't get pregnant, how the hell could we do it naturally? I got on my train, trying not to think about it, went into the CVS on the way to work to buy a pregnancy test, the whole time saying that I was just going to be disappointed. I found a plastic cup to pee into in my work bathroom and waited for the result. It took about a minute for the "pregnant" sign to come up and I about sh*t my pants. Then about a minute later, the 2-3 weeks popped up (today is Cycle Day 39).

Talk about no symptoms this time. No cramping in my uterus. No sore breasts. The only thing that has changed a bit is I am a bit constipated. I'm not even that tired. Maybe a lot of the early symptoms are mostly from the drugs that I am usually on? 

CP was shocked when I called him up. I had to email my nurse to see if she could switch the blood tests that they were running today. Obviously I don't need my baseline numbers.... I need a beta and my progesterone level!

Today, well, today I am ecstatic. CP and I got pregnant naturally. It is literally a miracle- especially after the past month where I have been super stressed at work. Continue growing little one!!

Oh body how I hate you

Remember how I was worried that an early period while on the flare protocol would screw up my cycle? Well it turns out that I had a bit of bleeding for part of a day but my full period never came. It's currently Day 34 and nothing. ARGH. Usually I'm a Day 28 kind-of-girl so the flare protocol must have screwed up my system. 

I have an appointment on Monday for bloodwork and ultrasound to see what is going on. If I don't start stims prior to December 4th I am going to have to wait until January to cycle because the lab closes for Christmas.

While it is helpful that it doesn't look like I will have to drive into Chicago from my parents place in MI this weekend for my baseline, I am beyond frustrated that I can't get a stupid period. JUST BLEED ALREADY.

The one piece of good news (but also sad in a way) is that it looks like I have blown through our medication deductible this year with our insurance company. This year I have spent at least $5000 on meds which means that I have my RE ordering the meds for the next cycle now even if I don't cycle until January. Might as well save myself a few thousand dollars, right? 

Maybe the tryptophan in the turkey tomorrow will not only put me to sleep, but also induce a period? One can only hope....

Microblog Mondays: Men

Once I knew our IVF cycle #2-turned IUI cycle was a bust, I started taking my doctor-recommended fertility supplements again. Prior to cycle #2 I had been a little lazy and had only been taking the main supplements- DHEA and CoQ10. Prior to cycle #1 I had been taking almost all of the recommended supplements (except for Pycnogenol because I couldn't find it at my local drug store) and that resulted in Izzy. 

I remember how prior to cycle #1 I said that I didn't want to regret anything, so I was doing everything in my power to make it a successful cycle. Why wasn't I doing that again? So back on the supplement wagon I went and I have been faithfully taking all of these (some of them twice a day) since I got my BFN from the last cycle.

What is so frustrating is that here I am taking 10 pills and 2 gummies a day with 4 of those pills being huge horse pills all to help increase our chances of a good cycle. The doctor has asked CP to take a multivitamin and CoQ10 twice a day. That's it. Yet he complains because CoQ10 gives him loose bowel movements. 

Let me get this straight. I'm taking all of these pills, injecting tons of drugs into my body, having a needle pierce through my uterine wall during retrieval, going through countless vaginal ultrasounds and blooddraws and you can't handle some loose bowel movements?

You have got to be kidding me. Men are so ridiculous.


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Clowns and IVF

Did you guys see this TIME article on how the use of "medical clowns" increased pregnancy rates?  

"A study of 229 Israeli women undergoing in-vitro fertilization (IVF) to treat infertility found that a 15-minute visit from a trained “medical clown” immediately after the embryos were placed in the womb increased the chance of pregnancy to 36%, compared with 20% for women whose embryo transfer was comedy-free."

First off, what is a medical clown? 

Secondly, I have already emailed CP to start preparing for his routine next month. :-)

Schoyer protocol

This morning I saw blood after I went to the bathroom. I am not sure if this is going to be an issue as I haven't finished my protocol and I am only on Day 25 of my cycle.

Let me back up. At the end of last month I met with my RE to discuss the failed IVF-turned IUI cycle and gear up for the next one. My doctor decided based on my high FSH level at my baseline last month that the flare protocol (also named the Schoyer protocol) would be the way to go (sorry ladies, she did not come back from the conference with a miracle protocol- but I did ask!).

The protocol looks like this:
11/13- put on Minivelle patch (this was Day 22 after a Day 20 blood test to make sure that I ovulated)
11/14- 250 dose of Ganerelix
11/15- take off old patch, put a new one on and 250 dose of Ganerelix
11/16- 250 dose of Ganerelix
11/17- take off old patch, put a new one one
11/19- take off old patch, put a new one on and keep it on until it falls off or HCG trigger

The hope is to make my body produce more antral follicles for the next cycle. But my body may have screwed things up with a period at least 3 days early. Now I wait for my nurse to give me the good or bad news.


*UPDATE- My nurse finally got back to me and it's not a big deal if my period has started. I just may have my baseline appointment a few days early....

Microblog Mondays: Mom fail

Yesterday I had a total mom fail.

At the last consignment sale that popped up near my house I found a lot of Izzy's 3t winter clothes. It's hard to find clothes that are not all pepto pink so I thought that I had scored by finding a navy blue sweatshirt.

It wasn't until last night when I went to put it on Izzy that I realized that it had writing on the back of the sweatshirt- 'Juicy Girls Club.'

Juicy girls club? REALLY? So much no by having that phrase on the back of a 3t sweatshirt. It makes me sad that some mother even bought the sweatshirt for full price at some point.

This sweatshirt will never see the light of day as it will never be worn outside (or really ever again- at least on Izzy). I only kept it on her last night because I needed to do her laundry and she was cold. 

And here I thought I was doing well yesterday in terms of toddler clothing as Izzy wore a green dinosaur tshirt that I had found in the boys section of the consignment sale.

(Pictured trying to take it off in order to take a bath)

*sigh*


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