TTC Check-In (July 27)

[crazyaunt84]

Happy Monday!



Please let us know where you're at - and feel free to share any milestones, frustrations, etc.



Note: If you have a BFP to share, please create a new thread on the main board. Please do not share BFPs in this thread, as we wish to keep it a safe space. Thank you!



Roll Call:

mahler5

esquette

kona

shemarie82

bmorecharming

03mrstn

luckypanda

dannigirl

jazibel

crazyaunt84

JustJudy

klake42

morveng

bexincanada

humorme00

honigbiene


QOTW: If you could change something about your home, without worry about expense or mess, what would you do?

[crazyaunt84]

So, a quick confession. I've checked the board like 3 times this morning for the check-in to be posted, and I keep saying "Sheesh, wittyandwaiting is normally all over this. Where is she?!" Then it occurred to me that she doesn't go here anymore.

Get on with your bad self, witty. Just know we miss ya!

I'm hanging out in the TWW. (for those that didn't follow the other thread, we had ER on Tuesday, had 28 eggs retrieved, discovered Wednesday that only 5 were mature but all 5 fertilized, transferred 2 3-day embryos on Friday.)

Beta is a week from tomorrow, so I've still got some time to kill. I have a blood draw tomorrow morning to check E2 and P4 levels, and I intend to HOUND the nurse until I know the state of our remaining 3 embryos. The doctor was going to let the lab decide whether to freeze at day 3, or let them go until today and freeze at day 6. I'm dying to know.

QOTW: We live in an almost 200 year old house, and I want an old farmhouse country kitchen. Custom wood cabinets, stone counters, wide plank barnwood flooring - the whole 9. Its a $50k project, so it's not happening - but I'd do it if I could!

[honigbiene]

witty, I am glad you are graduated, but yes-- we're going to miss you here!


I took my last clomid on Saturday. I was really relieved and was all, "yay, that wasn't that bad at all" Then on sunday I felt like complete and utter crap. Tired and headache all day (although not sure that part was the clomid) and then what started off as a slight, sharp pinching in my right lower groin area progressed to both sides of my groin and then wrapping around my sides up towards my back in my kidney area. It's not intense enough for me to feel urgently concerned, but it sure is uncomfortable. I can especially feel it if I take a very deep breath. I spent most of the day in bed yesterday, and will probably do the same today.
I have my 2nd ultrasound on Wednesday.

QOTD- a fully fenced back yard, no question.

[bexincanada]

Had a great weekend, but think that I was dehydrated (music festival in the sun), so had a bumpy start this morning - didn't drink enough water for my full bladder ultrasound, frustrating after the hour long drive... then on the way home someone cut me off to turn right from the left lane!

... back at it tomorrow morning, AF is here so we're beginning the next cycle and our second round of inseminations. I think we're going to do two again. I've seen various reports on the increasing odds of adding the second insemination; it doesn't increase the odds significantly but I still think we'll try two again at this stage. Thoughts?

QOTD: If money were NO object, an addition - less grass to mow and more space, we have a tiny 100+ year old house. A little more attainable, but still not saved up for: finishing the basement.

[honigbiene]

crazyaunt84- I hope your 2ww goes as quickly as possible!!

bexincanada- if we were relying on OPKs for ovulation window, I would more heavily consider 2 insems. But because we're triggering and will know our window fairly precisely, I don't feel like I can justify adding the additional $1,100 for an extra insem

[shemarie82]

Hello! I just got to read through our home assessment before it gets sent in to the state. It is interesting when you have to put a 15 year relationship into words. It was clunky to read through, but how can someone know how to express what coming out to family is like, for someone else? It is such a small and huge part of our story at the same time.

Anyway, that should be going in today, and we are at the mercy of the government to approve us. I hope it is quick, but nothing about this process so far gives me any hope that it will be the case.

We get the twins on Thursday night for the weekend, I can barely contain myself I am so excited to see them again!

QOTW: If money were not an option, I would tear this house down and build a new one that can be "ours". I don't mind the house, but it would be nice if it was something we had picked out together.

[honigbiene]

shemarie82 How exciting! Do you have anything special planned?

[crazyaunt84]

honigbiene - hope you feel better soon. The side effects from meds are such a giant pain.

bexincanada - for what it's worth, we did 2 insems per cycle for 8 cycles. 4 were at home ICI's that we timed with OPKs. 4 were medicated and triggered IUIs with the RE. (The 5th IUI was cancelled before insem). In hindsight, we felt like we totally wasted that money, and wished we hadn't bothered for the tiny percentage of an increased chance it gave us. Obviously had it worked, we would have probably felt differently.

shemarie82 - so glad things are progressing!! Love on those little ones extra hard this weekend

[shemarie82]

Jul 27, 2015 12:33:11 GMT -5 honigbiene said:

shemarie82 How exciting! Do you have anything special planned?

We don't have anything planned for this weekend. It will be a good test run for us.  We are both working on Friday, so we will have to get them ready and take them to daycare, which is the part I am most nervous about. B has to work overnight on Friday night as well. So, we will see if we can handle the real life of having toddlers, rather than just the fun of having them around our families.

[JustJudy]

Hi all! Well, my HSG test is officially scheduled for next Tuesday. Que the anxiety. Thank goodness Tuesday is one of Js days off so she can drive me and be there the whole time. Then, I should ovulate on Friday or Saturday so we'll go straight into IUI next week too.

bexincanada, for the last two cycles we did at home ICI and did two in a row. Even though they weren't successful I am glad we upped the tries. This month I'm planning to do one IUI and an ICI at home. We did switch donors and banks though, so it's technically the same price for two tries with this donor as it was for one try with our original donor.

ETA the QOTW: if we had $50k to put into our current house and we couldn't move I'd push forward about 20 ft and add a great master suite and second living space. We have a large front yard and could definitely take advantage of that space to expand. 

[wittyandwaiting]

(Lurking: I know I don't go here anymore I just wanted to say thanks for being so awesome, you are all some of the best people around and I'm thinking of you have and sending a ton of wonderful thoughts your way. )

[esquette]

wittyandwaiting, @strings YAY!! Congratulations on your graduation!! Come back and visit any time.

Well, I haven't posted in a while, on account of being benched while I sorted out my meds and my migraines. I'm off the icky meds and the headaches are a lot better. (Just got the neurologist's bill for almost 300$. Woohoo.) We would be trying this cycle (like, yesterday), but Sweetie is in Vermont. In a month or so, we should be starting for realsies.

If I could change my house, I would move. Okay, but if I had to change my place? First order of business is a bigger kitchen. Ours is better than our first apartment, but it is still challenging for the two of us to cook in there. Its a careful waltz, really. It helps us practice our communication skills. Or something.

[honigbiene]

Glad you are feeling better esquette! I bet you can't wait to get started again. Do you feel like sharing what kind of donor you're using? (sperm bank, friend, etc)

We were originally considering using my partner's brother, but decided against it after several months of consideration. So we went with an anon. from cryobank. SO hard to pick one out! I have super wonky cycles that are hard to pinpoint ovulation, so we're starting off using meds from the get go since the sperm is so dang expensive and we want to do everything we can to increase our odds of not having to use 6+ cycles and going bankrupt!

[honigbiene]

I'm super chatty today...trying to distract myself from how nervous I am about the ultrasound tomorrow. I have myself convinced that we won't be able to do the IUI because I won't have any follicles, or my lining is too thin, or I have too many follicles, or just whatever else.

[esquette]

honigbiene, Sure! Apparently I will discuss the whole TTC business with anybody that will listen.

We were super super tempted to go the KD route and ask our married friend who looks uncannily like my partner to donate. In fact, we had decided that's what we wanted. Then we waited a month and did some more research and decided A) that we want the legal protections that a bank offers and B) that we valued the friendship too much to let anything hinky happen to it. We found a local bank that has an office in our town, which is more affordable than some of the other bigger banks. We found a donor that we like. He's completely anonymous, which is kind of a bummer to me, but not a deal breaker, since this bank doesn't even have a willing to be known option.

We'll start doing at-home ICIs in August. I have super predictable periods, and have been doing OPKs for a few months, and seem to ovulate pretty consistently too. I think we just have to get lucky!

Good luck at your ultrasound tomorrow!!!

[humorme00]

Tuesday was the end of this tww. Negative.  Again. Stopped the prometrium, so just hanging out waiting for CD1.  

This round was much harder physically.  Or - more likely - it's been so long since we've done an insem that I forgot how uncomfortable it is.  I was pretty miserable for most of the tww. I think that contributed to a bigger letdown when it didn't work. I was really hoping the discomfort was coming from a baby and not just the progesterone. POAS starting 8 dpiui wasn't the smartest move either.  But, sometimes I can't help my crazy. 

For this IUI we did Clomid cd3-7, Bravelle cd 8 and triggered cd13. But my lining was only at 4mm when they checked on cd12.  Hopefully we can do something slightly different the next go round. Getting 2 follies was nice, thin lining with LH climbing wasn't ideal.

Only 1 vial of sperm left since the bank ran out of our donor. Only 1 IUI left as well.  If that one doesn't work, we're giving up on this sh*t and moving on to IVF.

[humorme00]

Forgot the qotw: )

We live in a small 100 year old house.  I would love a second bathroom.  And a closet that is deep enough to hang hangers in.  And a kitchen with more than 3 total feet of counter tops.  A bonus would be wood floors that don't give me splinters.  I really do like our house, I'd just like it more after a remodel : )

[klake42]

Hey y'all!
I'm gearing up for IUI #4.

This round, I'm doing acupuncture and TCM herbs, with femara and brevelle, and trigger shot. I'm anxious about the fact that my next ultrasound will be day 10, and historically, I've had early LH surges with the drugs, so I might be surging and will have to skip the trigger shot (and I feel like the shot helps pinpoint timing for ovulation).

Oh well, whatever happens happens. I'm wavering between excitement and dread. This is all so hard, you know?

edited to add: I love our tiny little bungalow, with it's tiny little carbon footprint and low utility bills. And I wish it had another bedroom and bathroom (it's a 2/1).  

[honigbiene]

esquette We were also bummed out at first that our donor was not an open donor. Although, it benefited us in that anonymous sperm is cheaper. My partner's mom was adopted through a closed adoption, and will never know her bio parents. I think this is kind of the same thing, but at least our kid will know half their lineage! She's never once had a problem with it or felt the urge to find her bio parents. I'm hoping our kid feels the same. Our clinic required us to attend a counseling session to discuss those types of issues, and it really reassured me when the counselor (who is the only one who specializes in this issue in my state) told me that the only time sperm donor children have a problem is when the parents kept it a secret and then they found out about it later on.

humorme00, I'm so sorry about the BFN I'm terrified of our bank running out of sperm before we are successful, because it was so hard for us to pick him out. I will be hoping SO hard for you for this next try!!

klake42, Best of luck with to you for a great cycle! I have heard awesome results with acupuncture!

[honigbiene]

Ok, so I'm somewhat freaking out a little. Today I was CD 11 at my scan. I normally ovulate on day 14 and I was thinking IUI would be saturday, maybe friday or sunday.
They told me that they would measure my follicles, and figure that they would grow a certain mm each day. And that they would calculate when the "lead" follicle reached 18mm and have me trigger on that day, with the IUI 36hrs later.
Well, today I had 2 monster follicles on my left ovary (24 and 25, so well over the 18) and many other follicles on the right ovary but all around 10-12.
The NP said, "Looks like we're doing this IUI tomorrow!" Go home and take your ovidrel and come back tomorrow at 2:30. I expressed concern that the IUI would only be 24 hours after I got my shot, when everything I've read and what the doctor said, was that it's important to do the IUI at 36 hours. She told me it would probably be okay because the sperm can live "for up to 3 days". I've read that frozen sperm can only live for 6 hours.
I'm trying not to panic and tell myself that they know what they're doing. Too bad I've worked in healthcare for too long to forget how many of them DON'T actually know what they're talking about.

Anyway, I raced home and took my injection as fast as I could; didn't even let it warm up (owie!) All I can do now is hope for the best. At least we're getting this show on the road and we can get on with the TWW...I've had a lot of anxiety leading up to this point.

[wittyandwaiting]

(Lurking: sorry I'm here again. @honigigbiene my doc does 24 hours some docs do 36... Don't sweat it! Good luck tomorrow)

[bexincanada]

Try not to sweat it honigbiene, I know it's easier said than done, but try to relax and go with it - good luck tomorrow! Our 1st IUI was last month and I remember the call that we were going the next day, panicked and calling to cancel clients/co-ordinate everything with H.

RE started me on Clomid this cycle (taking it CD's 4-8). I've been reading up on side-effects, wondering about alcohol interactions as the long weekend is coming up and I don't want the sideways "are you pregnant?" glances while everyone else is drinking. We should be ready to go for try number two next week. I'm feeling good now that I know what to expect, to this point I've felt a bit herded around... it's always the nurse at the u/s appointments who says "Dr. ___ wants you to start taking _____ (Dostinex/Clomid)" She's always open to questions but there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of explanation or reasoning up front.

Ah well, fingers crossed!

[honigbiene]

wittyandwaiting, bexincanada, Thank you so much for the reassurance. It's good to know your doc does 24 hour, witty, especially with your recent results!

I am at much more peace this morning. Yesterday after my 1pm injection, I started testing on OPKs every 4 hours. My 5pm one was negative, but my 9pm was positive. I got another positive this morning (not even my FMU, but 2 hours after my FMU). I know that the OPK is only picking up the trigger shot, but it gave me peace to see how quickly it was going to work in my body. And well, I have a strange addiction to wasting sticks

I also had "morning sickness" this morning after my first bite of breakfast, so that's a good sign that it all absorbed well into my system.

My IUI is at 2:30 today. Come on, ute, let's DO this!!!

[bexincanada]

Sorry to hear about the BFN, humorme00.
Thinking of you this afternoon honigbiene.

The day is dragging today. As I said, I started Clomid Tuesday night, since Tuesday (prior to Clomid) I've had a sore throat, last night I had trouble sleeping because of how congested I was, and this morning I was nauseous and threw up. Left a message at the RE's office to see if any OTC's are off limits. Looking forward to resting up this weekend and hopefully getting healthy before next week's insem. (By the way, thanks to your advice and the nurse's inability to provide convincing evidence otherwise, we're going with one insemination this cycle.)

[honigbiene]

Bexincanada- I drank several glasses of wine every night that I was on clomid (as I do, most every night) and I never had any side effects. I also don't remember seeing any kind of warnings in the pharmacy printout.

I had my IUI yesterday and it went smoothly (didn't even feel it) but I'm having some anxiety about how long the sample sat out. Apparently my IUI got mistakenly double booked with a new patient consultation. My sample sat there for about 45 minutes while I waited for the dr to be done with that appt.
I'm also not very sure the sample had good numbers. The prewash was 50 million, but the post wash was only 8.5 million. Is that decent?? The motility was 55%.
Oh yeah, plus within several hours of the IUI I was loading everything I own into a U-haul because we have to turn the key to our house in today. The paperwork says to rest and not doing anything strenuous for the rest of the day, but that just wasn't an option. I'm sure they only suggest that out of an abundance of caution, but it's still giving me anxiety that I affected my chances.
At least I will have all kinds of unpacking and organizing to keep me distracted in my 2ww.
Hope everyone has a great weekend, I don't know how soon I'll be able to log on again.

[bexincanada]

honigbiene, I think you're right about the paperwork being precautionary, our RE asked if I was going to work after the insemination. I know for myself I get anxious about a lot of the details, which probably doesn't help my chances, but it's a stressful experience. I'm glad you'll be busy during your TWW!

Got a call this morning, and another new medication - my DHEA-s came back at 385, apparently "slightly elevated" so they want to treat it. It's odd going from natural cycle last time, to Dostinex, Clomid, and whatever this new med is to lower DHEA-s, with no diagnosis or explanation of cause. Our RE has a high success rate so I'm not going to argue, just wondering if I should follow up with my GP for any underlying issues that might be causing the levels to be out of whack.

And I will never take antihistamines for granted again - I may post more about that in Friday Feels. *lol*

[honigbiene]

bexincanada- my dr never even checked me for that; actually I'm not sure I've ever heard of it! Hopefully the new protocol does the trick for you!!


Well to add to the list of things that is making me feel negative about this cycle: it's been 3 days since my trigger shot, and my temp still hasn't budged yet. I have a VERY reliable textbook bbt chart where my follicular phase is 97.2-97.4 and my luteal phase is 98.1+
My temp this morning was still 97.2. Today is cd 14 for me, and I usually ovulate on day 14 or 15. So we'll see if I even ovulate naturally.
I read on some forums that taking ovidrel will mess with your temps and to not bother bbt. That doesn't make sense to me because what causes the temp rise is the progesterone that is released from the corpus luteum after the egg is released. I'm thinking of asking my doc to draw a progesterone level to make sure. I at least want to know if I need a stronger trigger shot next time.

[klake42]

honigbiene, my RE also leans towards doing the trigger shot 24 hours before the IUI, since you really want the sperm ready and waiting when you ovulate. And it's true that the trigger shot can mess with temps. My RE even told me that your temp might not rise for 2 or 3 days after the actual ovulation! Which goes against what TCOYF says, so I don't know what to believe.

But you've done everything you can now. Yes, if you want to get your progesterone levels checked, you can ask for that. My RE just has me take progesterone supplements starting a few days after the IUI. But other than that, all you can really do now it wait.

Letting go of control is a real challenge for me, but this process has sure been giving me some lessons in it!


edited to add-- I recently read a study where some people can increased chances of success by doing the trigger shot the same day as the IUI!  But I believe that was with fresh sperm, not frozen, so they had the benefit of the longer lifespan.  But it takes time for the sperm to swim up the tube to meet the egg, so it makes sense that you want to give the sperm a head start before ovulation happens.