Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Clomid Day 2

Our trip to the RE went well, nothing unexpected.

I started Clomid yesterday and the doctor suggested I take it at night before bed to lessen the effects. 
Fortunately, Clomid is only for five days but I have heard that it can make you very emotional. 

Next Wednesday we go back for another ultrasound to see the effect the Clomid has had. At that point they'll tell me when to do the trigger shot.

Speaking of trigger shots...
I know I said in my last post I wasn't going to be doing that but I misunderstood the terminology.

One of the options we were offered was Gonadotropin which is a series of 8-10 shots. This would be instead of Clomid. Either way, you still do a trigger shot to make ovulation happen.

I thought by choosing not to do that option, I was declining the trigger shot completely. I'm glad to know that's not the case.

If we don't have success this first time, we may try to Gonadotropin as it does have a better success rate. But, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.

I'm still going to use my CBE Monitor and OPK's this cycle knowing that the reading could be thrown off by the Clomid. 

Of course, the idea of the trigger shot is nothing short of petrifying. I got the kit in the mail yesterday I looked through the contents. Talk about intimidating! 

Take a look at this picture and you'll see what I'm in for...
Gulp!

Sunday, February 23, 2014

It's almost time to start!

After a bit of a wild goose chase pursuing something else last week, we're back in the IUI saddle and tomorrow is the first appointment to get going this cycle.

Tomorrow will be CD 2 and as I understand it, an ultrasound will be done then I'll get a prescription for Clomid. I plan to ask if Femara is a better option because it works the same with less side effects. We'll see what his thoughts are on that.

I'm choosing not to do a trigger shot the first cycle so I'll have to use OPK's and go in when I get a positive result.

We're very excited and our hopes are high!

It's been an emotional week with some unnecessary drama but we've put it behind us (and also learned a valuable lesson).

I'll update tomorrow after the appointment - so excited!

Sunday, February 9, 2014

Sending out a "thank you" or two

There hasn't been much to write about because now we're just in the "wait-and-see" phase.

I'll stop taking Prometrium on the 2/19 and then I'll either be (by some miracle) pregnant or my cycle starts over.

As mentioned before, as soon as my cycle starts over, I call the RE and we'll go in to get treatment started for the IUI.

I'm very fortunate that I have a strong marriage. I can see how infertility could easily break apart a fragile marriage. I know we still have a long road ahead of us and it's nice to have a partner supporting me along the way.

I also fortunate that James is a very active part in all this and feels comfortable to ask the doctor questions I hadn't thought of.

My friends have been... spectacular! I have so many people, all over, rooting for us. I can't thank them all enough.

And to my new friend, Jen L, who just did an IUI late last week; my fingers are double crossed for you.


So many people have reached out to me through Facebook and forums; I appreciate every single word of support, comfort and luck.

Have a good week!

Thursday, February 6, 2014

By the numbers

As promised, the SA results came in the mail today.

Below is the comparison from the first SA to the one done last week and also what the normal range is:

Volume: 3.0ml
Volume: 2.0ml
Normal Range > 1.5ml
(this number changes per ejaculation so the decrease doesn't mean a thing as long as it's in normal range)

Motility: 20%
Motility: 62%
Normal Range >=40%

Morphology: 16%
Morphology: 20%
Abnormal Range: less than 4%

Progression: 2
Progression: 3
Grade: 1=Poor 2=Moderate 3=Good 4=Rapid

Total Motile Sperm: 36 million
Total Motile Sperm: 70.06 million
Normal Range: Greater than 9 million

Viscosity: Abnormal
Viscosity: Normal

We're so pleased with these numbers!


I had to do a little research on the CBE Monitor today because this morning I got another "peak" reading and I felt fairly certain that wasn't accurate.

It turns out that the monitor is programmed to automatically give you another day of a "peak" reading, then a day of "high" before going back to low after it detects the first "peak" reading. In other words, the test stick means nothing at all.

So ladies using this product suggest you just stop testing after you get a "peak" reading to save yourself some test sticks.

My next concern was whether or not it was going to make me start testing every month on CD6 which, for me, is a waste.

It turns out that it makes everyone test on CD 6-9. As it gets to know your cycle it will move to 9 if that's the best course of action for your normal cycle.

There were two suggestion to circumvent the "ten test sticks" requirement:
1. Save one used test stick and repeatedly use that until you are closer to the days you normally ovulate
2. Refuse to test until you are closer to the days you  normally ovulate.

In both cases, you take a chance of potentially missing your ovulation date if you happen to ovulate early that month.

Also, in my view, that could skew the pattern the monitor is trying to get to know.

And, the thing that annoys me the most about this monitor is that it will ask for test sticks in sets of ten even after you reach your peak. I got my first peak day on my 11the test day. Which means that it will ask me for 9 more test sticks after that. Not going to happen! So the suggestion was the same as above, just insert a used test stick for the rest of the required days.

All in all, I think the OPK system is probably better because you can use as few test sticks as you want. However, I say this about the CBE Advanced OPK only.

But, I own the monitor now so will continue to use it

And speaking of OPK's...

Out of curiosity I took another OPK this morning. Remember, with the CEB Advanced OPK's you get a blinking smiley when you have a "high" reading, a solid smiley at "peak" and a open circle for a "low" reading.

You might recall from my post yesterday that I got a "low" reading when I came home from work.

This morning I got this:

Since I got another blinking smiley here, we'll add another day of BD to cover all bases.

My thought is that when you're taking these CBE (OPK and Monitor) tests, you're supposed to use first morning urine. Obviously, that's not what I used when I got home so maybe that's why I had the "low" reading.

I don't think I'll have much to talk about tomorrow so there may not be a post.

Have a great Friday!



Wednesday, February 5, 2014

PM Update

Today I have my fourth acupuncture session and I'll say that even if this doesn't help me get pregnant, it has eliminated my back pain. That alone has been wonderful!

I have two sessions left in my 6 pre-paid package I paid for. I'm not entirely sure I'll continue, I'm still pondering that.

This morning I posted pictures of my two ovulation tests showing "peak" readings. All day today I had a feeling ovulation had passed due to a nearly total lack of CM whereas the last three days I had it in abundance.

When I got home I took another OPK and it was completely negative. I think, had I taken the OPK last night, I would have gotten a "peak" reading. I believe that ovulation started last night and is done now. 

The OPK and CM would certainly indicate that. Unfortunately, you can only us the monitor once a day at a designated time so I wouldn't have been able to take that last night  but I could have taken the OPK and now I wish I did.

Not because it would have changed any BD plans, we have that covered, but mainly because I'm interested in how long my LH surge lasts. 

One last thing to note but first here is the picture of my negative OPK taken just a moment ago:
The open circle indicates a negative result.  I have the test stick ejected and even though I KNOW you're not supposed to read the stick, we all know that we can usually eyeball the stick and agree with the digital reading. 

When I look at this, the test stick looks positive. IOW the test line (line on the right) looks as dark as the control line (line on the left). 

However, since the instructions tell you to ignore the test stick and only go by the digital results, I'm calling this negative as the open circle indicates.

But, I'll get another BD in tonight... just in case.

A well informed patient

One of the things I forgot to mention yesterday was how my RE said more than once how well informed I am. He didn't say this like he was annoyed or even amused, he was glad that I had taken the time to understand what he'd be suggesting, what the test results meant and that I was taking time to understand my reproductive health.

I can't stress enough how important it is to gather information, ask questions and BE YOUR OWN ADVOCATE! Don't sit idly by and be afraid to speak up about things you want clarification on.

You are not pestering your doctor, this is what you're paying him for. Be an active participant in your medical care. Your doctor will not mind. And if they do, get a new doctor.


On to other news:

CD 16 and finally "peak" readings on both the monitor and the OPK! That mean I will most likely ovulate in the next 12 - 24 hours. I never did get a "high" reading on the OPK (that happened last month too).
On Saturday I start the progesterone so that if sperm meets egg, it will have a greater chance of sticking.

Even though the odds are against us, I'm still hoping for a miracle.

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Some very good news

Finally some encouraging news!

The SA James had done last year gave us some grim numbers such as:
20% motility
20% morphology
Not good!

Today we got the results from the SA done last week and holy cow! He now has %65 motility! I can't remember what the morphology was but it was an equally impressive number. In fact, all his numbers were in normal or better than normal range - hoorah!

I'm crediting these results to FertilAid for men and Motility Boost for men. James has been taking them for over a month and I believe they work.

They weren't able to print off the results because the printer was down but we'll get them in a few days via mail for our own records.

We received more answers from my blood work, too.
I definitely do have high prolactin am now on a medication for that. A few other things came to light that are kind of boring but it's all being treated and that's the important thing. 

He gave us two IUI options going forward to conceive and we're discussing which one to start with. One is more medicated but also more aggressive. It also has the added benefit of having a better success rate. 

We have time to decide as now we just wait for AF to show up and then we'll go in with our decision and schedule the treatment of our choice.

Speaking of AF... GRRRR!

Still only a "high" reading on the monitor and "low" reading on the OPK. 
This doesn't completely match up with my CM which is very fertile indeed. 

And since today was the 10th test stick day on the monitor, I have to start another pack of 10. What I'm not clear on is if I do get a "peak" reading tomorrow, if I will still be prompted to take another 10 whole tests. It wouldn't make sense but who knows.

I don't like that I'm ovulating so late but I guess I shouldn't worry about it since I really didn't have much hope we'd get pregnant this cycle on our own anyway.

He does want me to start taking progesterone 3 days after my LH surge and for 12 days after. I'll do that this cycle... just in case.
Yes, always hopeful!





Does Clearblue Sell stock?


Monday, February 3, 2014

Moving on up

Today was my third acupuncture session and I couldn't have been more uptight.

My appointment was at 5PM and I expected it to be over by 5:30 and we'd be on our way to get Ryan.

At 5:20 I was still in the waiting room getting very annoyed. By the time I got into the room I was frustrated and tense. I tried to relax but the very, very stupid waves & seagulls sound machine combined with the fact that I was worrying if I'd get Ryan from pre-school on time was making me just too tense to relax.

I'm writing this off as a wasted session.

As for my CBE Fertility Monitor, today I was happy to have it.
Day 14 of my cycle showed a "high" reading on the monitor. What's interesting is that the CBE Advanced OPK didn't show a high reading (meaning no blinking smiley).

(See picture below)

The point of these two products is to give you as much warning of impending ovulation as possible so you can BD leading up to ovulation and on the day you ovulate.

Both of these products claim they're testing for the exact same thing so it's interesting they don't match.

I agree with the monitor based on the CM I've had yesterday and today. I expect both will show "peak" tomorrow.

My major complaint with the monitor is that it made me start testing on CD 6 which means today I've used the 9th test stick. If I don't get a "peak" reading tomorrow then I'll have to use an 11th test stick. They're meant to be used in sets of ten each month.

Requiring me to start testing on CD 6 was a waste of at least 1 stick. If I don't peak tomorrow, I'll be super annoyed at how this system works.

Of course, all of this is my last ditch effort to get pregnant on our own before we start fertility treatments next cycle.

Tomorrow morning is our consultation to go over all the test results and his suggestion on what treatment to pursue.

Wish us luck!


Saturday, February 1, 2014

One vitamin, two vitamins, three vitamins, four

Nothing new to go over today really.
CBE Monitor still showing a low reading which is expected since I'm only on CD 12.

I've added two more vitamins to my regiment:

Royal Jelly* 3x a day
CoQ10 200mg 3x a day
DHEA* 25mg 3x a day
Prenatal vitamin 1x a day
Super B-Complex 1x a day
Triple Omega 1x a day
Vitamin E 400 I.U. 1x a day
Vitamin D3 1000 I.U. 1x a day
*are new ones I just started

That's a lot of pills and I have no idea if they will help but all have shown to improve fertility health in one way or another.

I'll probably skip tomorrow because I can't imagine anything worth writing about popping up.

That's it for now.
Have a good weekend!