Traveling Time

GO SPERM, GO! It is out of our hands and there is nothing our NP can do from here. Now we just need our swimmers to work hard and make the baby!

In the mean time, we are happy to have our first weekend home with no plans since May 4th! So far we think we might go for a bikeride, kayak, go to the farmers market, play with the dog, look for a new job for me, and shop a little! OR we might not do any of that, it is totally up to us!

Have a great weekend. GO SWIMMERS!

TWW

Finally - we are in the TWW!! IUI #2 down, and our NP was reasonably sure that I ovulated since yesterday, so that's good. I kind of thought I was ovulating this morning, but either way... the timing is good.

My biggest concern is that the next two weeks are going to be gruelingly slow, AND I'm going to interpret absolutely everything as a possible sign. Luckily, E's dad will be in town this weekend - that will be a good time, and good to take our mind off of things too.

Green Light

WE GOT THE GREEN LIGHT TODAY! S's SOs decided to show their little faces and their follicles! There are two follies, one at 18mm in the left ovary and one on the right at 20mm. Her E2 came back at 460!!! This means that there is at least one follicle that is mature and producing the right amount of estrogen to be viable. Our NP looks for 300 E2 for each follicle over 18mm but we have heard some say that 200 is the number their doctors look for. Needless to say we are excited that they both might be mature and ready to go but are pleased with one!

I got a quick tutorial on how to give an intramuscular shot while at the doctor's office. We have decided to do the hCG at home this time versus at the doctor's office. This will allow us the opportunity to have a better-timed insemination than before. We go in tomorrow morning at 10 am for the first insemination so I will likely be shooting S up tonight around 9 or 10 pm (probably 10 because I have a conference call tonight that will likely go until around 10). We will also pick up one of the ICI sperm vials tomorrow at the doctor’s office around 5 pm and do an at home insemination (we have them anyway). On Wed. we will do another in office insemination at 9 am.

Here is the breakdown:

4/2: 10 pm hCG shot to force ovulation (should happen within 24 hours of the shot).
4/3: 10 am in office IUI insemination
- 12 hours after the hCG
4/3: 5 pm at home ICI insemination
- 18 hours after the hCG
4/4: 9 am in office IUI insemination
- 35 hours after the hCG

How does this regimen look to you all? We think this covers a pretty good amount of our window. Input?

On another note, Gladys woke me up at 3 am (very strange for her) needing to go outside. Since it was strange I walked out with her. She immediately did #2 with no doggy magic poop dance, then #1, then puked. I came back in as she was still wandering the backyard to find two piles of puke (food and sticks) in the dining room. I cleaned it up and G came back in. Acting a bit strange but ok. She got up a few minutes later and puked in the dining room again. This time we decided to let the clean up wait till the morning. Well, the little lady left us 6 piles of bloody puke on our brand new carpet. She is doing better now but has to be closely watched. Looks like she probably ruptured blood vessels in her stomach from puking, sounds like a long night of drinking is the same as a long day of eating sticks!

Well, we are really really excited about the coming days and then looking for the TTW to go fast. My dad will be here for the Easter weekend so that should help some of the time go by quickly.


Come on swimmers, Easter is the time for egg hunts!!!!!!!

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Edited at 3:46 by Erin

S just called me and swears she have movement on the left side. We are going to add an ICI to the schedule for tonight. Why not throw everything we have in our arsenal at this one? The rest of our protocol is staying the same.

As luck would have it....

The predicted dates for the IUI will be Wednesday the 21nd and Thursday the 22rd. I have to leave for Chicago on Thursday afternoon. They were thinking a late afternoon Wed insemination and a late Thurs insemination. This means I may not be present for one of them..... :( I have a meeting at 4 in Chicago so have to leave no later than noon. We are just thinking that we will be successful with the first insemination and the one I might not be able to be there for is just insurance!!!

The timing of this stuff really stinks. It seems like we can't catch many breaks. S's cycle looks great for Jan with no med help and that is good news. What I want to know though is why oh why can't the timing just be one day earlier? I am not willing to skip this month and would rather have a BFP (Dad, that means a big f***ing positive pregnancy test) than be at the insemination. Afterall....it's already taking a village.

Let if flow, Let flow, Let it flow

Nothing like the beginning of a period to get your in the holiday spirit! AF came last night setting us off on a joyous evening of laughter, smiles, and cheer not to mention hope. Like with every new year every period during a bout with infertility brings hope and disappointment. This time around we are filled with hope as we already knew we were not pregnant but were stuck as we couldn't move forward with out AF. She is here and let the next try begin!

I got out my trusty journal and counted backwards. Yup exactly 14 days ago S said she was sure that she ovulated. This was day 31 and we inseminated on the believed ovulation day which was day 9! Yup, looks like was used $800 worth of good sperm 22 days late! Shit. Anywho, we also realized that it seems like all of S's long cycles (this one 43 days) are when the left ovary is the one producing follicles. What does this mean....I'm sure we will not get a definite answer unless they give S an autopsy. So, we will just stick it in our journal and hold that knowledge closely with all the other conflict bits.

I may sound jaded but I'm actually excited. It looks like her BBT was consistent (even though she was sick with a fever during the cycle) with ovulation 14 days ago. This makes me see that if we keep tracking the BBT, doing the blood tests with the NP, and ultrasounds we may just get it right after all. I think the next step is to make an appointment with the NP to tell her about our new findings and develop a plan for the coming days.

Unfortunately it looks like if Clomid works right, and it is the right ovary we will be looking at an insemination date of 12/24/06 or 12/25/06. Even if we weren't going to be 380 miles away from the NP....do you think they charge more for IUI insemination on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day? I'm glad God is being picky about finding the perfect baby for us but come on....give us one break!!!!!!

Where is the clock's pendulum?

It seems to me that we are always searching for the clock's pendulum. Not becuase there is one but because everyone seems to have a different idea as to where to look or how to look. The other day I was trying to read up a bit more on the whole basal body temp (BBT) stuff and found a suggestion to take the temperature vaginally. I have also always read that the person is not to move at all for fear of raising the temp even slightly. Answer me this...how would I ever get S to lay still at 6 am while trying to take her BBT vaginally? This is absurd. Needless to say we continue to take it every morning at 6am orally!

Still there seems to be no consistancy in how we can actually tell if she is ovulating. We had three months (Aug., Sept., and Oct.) that her cycle was 28 days exactly with a good estrodial reading and an ultrasound showeing follicles that were "almost" the right size. Our Clear Blue Easy Monitor never peaked but then we were told that she definately ovulated. This month we are on day 43 with no period, negative preg tests, and statements such as "you may not ever get a peak on the monitor due to the PCOS". That all coming after always being told to use the montior!!!! GRRRRR......

This was our first IUI after 8 ICI trys. S has been on Clomid since June 2006 with no absolute positive no nonsense ovulation. We thought we had that but now we aren't sure. Our NP is now suggesting IVF. We have our expenseive consultation in Jan. to hear our options! Yeah us.

Let's just pray for Aunt Flow to show and get the next try going!