Fevers, Follies, and Factoids

S's fever broke in the middle of the night. She seems to be doing a bit better at this point. Still has the aches and pains but on the mends.

Our ultrasound this morning went well. The follie on the left ovary is now 18 and ready to go. The NP was exstatic! Lining looks good. Temperature dipped (that is how we know the fever was gone too) to 96.18 and the CM is right on. The lab results weren't in yet but our NP said they found some HCG in the office and were saving it for us! No cost! She gave S the shot and we decided to come in at 8 the next two mornings. Then the E2 came back a bit low, 153. We were surprised. NP said it was still good just on the low side. We changed insemination appointments to 4:30 pm tomorrow and noon on Friday. Here we go!

Now....for factoids.....
If the amount of water in your body is reduced by just 1%, you'll feel thirsty.
Our eyes are always the same size from birth.
Eskimos use refrigerators to keep food from freezing.
An exocannibal eats only enemies. An indocannibal eats only friends.
80% of millionaires drive second-hand cars.

There you have it! Thank you to www.didyouknow.cd/fastfacts/

Turns out...

it might have been the flu. So, I got into work today to find out that 4 other co-workers had gone to bed Friday night feeling fine only to wake up to run to the bathroom. Sounds like the symptoms are all similar and the duration it close. I still have some rumbles in my belly but nothing too bad. A few of them even went to the doctor who said a 20-72 hour flu was going around. Hmmmmmmm.....

Today we have an ultrasound to check on follie growth. Fingers crossed!

CD1: Thank you all

Thank you all for your support, hopes, and comments. Today is CD1 as AF arrived today. S stopped the progesterone 3 nights ago and sure enough AF was released from her confines.

CD1: reflections of a negative cycle

· We now know what evil P has to offer in false signs of pregnancy. We are on to you evil P.
· NO testing on CD 10 – CD 14
· NO reading into signs
· Injectables make good follicles
· HCG at home = sure thoughts of timing
· We are ready for the next go round
We really are ready. I think we are going to change a few things about the cycle but that we are definitely on the right track for once. This was our best chance and we are determined to continue to make it get better.

Thank you all for staying on for the ride.

We go in today for a CD1 ultrasound to see what S's ovaries look like. Checking for cycsts and a baseline for follicles.

Update CD11 U/S

Well, what to say? I wrote earlier today about three possibilities that could come from our u/s. The three options have, as this exact science seems to do, changed to four. Our follicle that was around 13mm on Tuesday is now probably around 9mm. WHAT?!?! They aren't supposed to shrink!!!!

Well, S’s E2 came back in the 160s, which is pretty good. They found another follicle in the left ovary that is growing (was about 6mm on Tues and is now 9mm). NP thinks this is what is putting off the E2 and so is upping our dose of FSH from 100 to 150. We are scheduled for an u/s on Monday at 8:30 am. S will have her E2 drawn again and then we sit in the tiny tiny room to wait for results.

Fingers crossed on this one. Hopefully over the weekend S will have some symptoms that ovulation is coming and Monday will show us a beautiful big follicle with lots of E2! Come on God, help us this one…

P.S.
S's SOs were hiding and so she had to have the u/s twice. What a saint!

P.P.S
Remember if you don't know what something stands for check out our handy dandy glossary on the bottom of the column on the right!

Ultrasound CD 11

Today we are going in for our CD 11 u/s at 1:30. We are hoping to see that follicle around 18 mm and S's Estradiol levels are above 200. If it is we will get a prescription for hCG. Then, we will set our alarms for the am (depending on the time of the inseminations) and I will give S the shot (I'm a pro now!) telling her "stubborn ovaries" (SO) to release the egg. If the follicle is not 18 mm we will go back tomorrow for an u/s to see if it is the right size. The worst thing that could happen is that the follicle is gone and we somehow missed ovulation or it wasn't a good follicle. I love this exact science bull.

S and I are both not really feeling like today will produce the results for which we are hoping. Perhaps it is the continued disappointment that has bred a completely jaded outlook on all appointments regarding fertility. S doesn’t seem to have any symptoms that ovulation is close and previous follicles and estradiol levels have taken a crap on us just as we started to get hopeful. Just not feeling it this time.

To boot, we are having one heck of a week. The beautiful weather we had last weekend has left us with cold rainy windy grey days. Our neighbor is re roofing their house and start working far to early which, makes Gladys bark (this better not be the case over the weekend). Work is about to give me a complete meltdown. S is frustrated with the business world. And, we are obsessively looking at moving home to be closer to our families. I will be applying to jobs this weekend in MI and S has hardly come up for air from her job searching.

IF ANYONE KNOWS OF ANY JOBS FOR AN MBA OR MSW IN MICHIGAN LET US KNOW!

I mean it we have no shame and will apply to everything! It is a pity that we thought we needed to stay here in Madison to protect our baby (if it ever comes). Now that WI has the same amendment as MI what is the difference. Besides, if we are closer to family when/if someone challenges one of us we have lots of people that will stick up for us near by. Not true here. We have just come to the conclusion that we may have to fight harder in MI to protect our family but we will have the refueling of family members close by to help us to keep moving forward. We just don’t have anything keeping us here in Madison anymore.

Anywho, I will post after the appointment and let ya’ll know what the follie is up to.

What is what

What is NOT holding us up on the baby deal:
*Thyroid
*Progesterone
*Fallopian tubes
*FSH


What MIGHT be holding us up:
*Timing
*Egg quality
*Medications
*Lack of medications
*George Bush
*Type of medication
*Luteal phase
*Egg meets sperm moment
*Implantation
*Luck
*The heavens
*Estradiol levels
*Jerry Falwell
*Follicle size
*Cysts
*Polyps
*The cosmos

What IS holding us up:
*???????????????????

Can anyone tell me what IS holding us up? I'm really getting sick of this. When will the NOT column out number the MIGHT column and there no longer be a IS column.

In addition, does anyone know what the Estradiol level requirements are per follicle? We thought it was 150 but S had an ultrasound on CD26 (yesterday) and they found a 20mm follicle but wouldn't do the hCG because Estradiol was only 170. NP says it is probably a cyst.

Getting Creative in the Creation

Well, today did not go as we had hoped. Turns out we have one follicle that is 13 and a few that are much smaller. Our NP didn't seem too discouraged by the news but we were. As S says, "it just seems like more bad news every time."

NP suggested coming back on Thursday for another ultrasound. She seems to think by then the follicle will have grown to around 19 and S can get the hCG shot. However, this is where the kink is thrown into the plan. I have to leave at noon for board meetings in Chicago all weekend. If in fact S's follicle has grown to larger than 19 the insemination dates will be Friday and Saturday.

This poses two problems. One, I will not be able to be in Madison during those days as I have about 12 hours each day of meetings. Two, S will have to be in Madison alone while trying to get pregnant. Neither of these options work very well with our co-dependant neurotic desperate lesbian selves.

Soooooooooo, what is a co-dependant desperate lesbian couple to do......well, we can't let a month pass with out trying to make sperm meet ovum.....on to plan #6,000.....

1. We ordered two ICI (this is used for at home insemination) of Bernard for delivery tomorrow.
2. We scheduled the ultrasound for Thursday
3. Pack the sperm and liquid nitrogen container in the car with two of my co-workers, S, myself, and suitcases and drive to Chicago.
4. S will pack the sperm and liquid nitrogen container and take the train to Grand Rapids (GR) to see her family.
5. S will inseminate in GR by herself (stay away Betsey and Katie!)
6. S will pack the sperm and liquid nitrogen container on the train again on Sat. and return to Chicago
7. We will inseminate in Chicago on Saturday.
8. We will then drive the liquid nitrogen container back to Madison to ship it back to Virginia.
9. We will start the dreaded two week wait (tww).


Here is the approximate size of the liquid nitrogen container....not really all that easy to move around with! (This picture is from 1.5 years ago when we thought we were introducing Leah and her cousin! Time does fly.) S is on her knees in this picture but the tank is not a small item!

This is all if the Thursday ultrasound gives good answers. If not.....who knows what we will do with the Bernard's ICI sperm.....I guess we'll just have to get creative.

All this and board meetings has left me drained....but I'm still going to work till about 10 pm tonight.

The meeting

We got back from Michigan yesterday just after noon. We ended up going in to get S's blood drawn early for her Estradiol and come back at 3 for the ultrasound. While S was having her blood drawn they said they could do the ultrasound early if we wanted. We decided to go with it as we woke up at 6 am to drive the 5.5 hours back to Madison. Gladys (our dog) was in the car but we figured better to get it all done now and spend more time with her back at home.

Well, the ultrashound, blood work, and day went wonderful! We for the first time ever have all the ducks falling into a row. Granted we aren't getting too excited but things are looking good. Our NP consulted the triage nurse from home and told her to go ahead with the HCG shot. S had 2 (19x24 and 18x20) great follicles and one other that might be ready. Her Estradiol was up to 385!

We walked over to the pharmacy, got the hCG, had it injected and went home. I spent the evening talking to the little ladies and asking them to release soon. We scheduled inseminations with a different NP in our NP's office (ours is out for vacation)for Wed. and Thurs!

This morning S's BBT was up a little and we are hoping it will spike tomorrow morning. We went to the appointment and I had the pleasure of pushing the plunger of the syringe in. While doing so our luck seemed to have run out. the catheter end of the syringe can disconnected front the syringe and Bernard got loose!!!! We did get most of it in but some of the escaped. We'll surely get'em all in there tomorrow! Fingers crossed....for the little ones to meet up.