Updates

So we have had a very busy past few days.
On Saturday I went for my fourth monitoring appointment and I finally had a follicle that was big enough to trigger! The nurse gave me my Ovidrel injection and I was on my way. We had a Halloween party on Saturday night and we had to get up early for our first IUI on Sunday morning.

The first IUI went great. We had the highest concentration of sperm yet and they were all 3-4 quality which is great! I was in and out on Sunday morning and spent the rest of the day with my nieces and nephews who looked even more adorable than usual in their Halloween costumes.

This morning I had my IVF consult and my second IUI. The IVF consult was good but not much new information since I have really done my homework about all this I was pretty well versed in what comes next so no surprises. My Dr. did say that (if this cycle fails) he thinks we can get in one IVF cycle before the end of the year. We also talked about the number of embryos to transfer. He said because of my age and the fact that my eggs and uterus are in great shape he would only want to do a single embryo transfer and said that taking everything into consideration about me that he felt the chances of success with a single embryo transfer for me is about 70%. I was and still am a little hesitant about only putting in one because what if we fall in that 30% but I'll worry about that more if/when we get to that point.

The IUI this morning was quick and easy and so now we wait again. The pregnancy test is scheduled for November 15th and I don't really have much going on until then so I am expecting a long two week wait. I cheated the last two times with home pregnancy tests before but I think this time I will stay far far away.

IUI #2 Part 2

This morning I had my second and final IUI for this cycle. The count for yesterday's IUI was really low so I felt pretty crappy yesterday but the count was better today so we will see. It really only takes 1 so a total of 7 million should be more than enough right? I hope so. Now the waiting begins...I hope October 4th gets here quickly! For now, after a fun-filled but jam packed weekend and the treatments as well with all their early-morning appointments I am exhausted. I wish I could go home and cuddle up in bed but that is not in the cards for me today. 6 and 1/2 more hours of work...Boo!

IUI #2 Part 1

Today and Monday I am going for my IUIs for round 2. I am excited because this time, instead of one follicle at 18 I had 1 at 18 and 1 at 21! Whoo! Seriously, this is exactly what I wished would happen and I guess I responded much better to the meds this time because they were ready on time this time. It all seemed to work perfectly so far! I am excited and off now to go to the RE office!!!

IUI Appointment #2

So today was my second IUI. I feel good about the fact that we did it twice back to back. I know a lot of people (from my infertility forum stalking) start out just on a low dose of clomid and some don't even do the Ovidrel injection or IUI or some start with just an IUI and no drugs. I am happy with the approach my Dr. has taken, even with the surgery that ended up being unnecessary. I feel like we took the most agressive steps we could right off the bat and I like that.

I woke up early again this morning at 5:30 and we left the house at 6:40. We went to our drop off appointment and off Shawn went to School and off I went to grab some breakfast and clean out my car (I figured I would do something productive this morning to pass the time - and my car really needed it).

I got to my appointment at 8:15 and this time it was a little more uncomfortable since my cervix was tilted back (no idea what this means) and my RE had to try several times to get the speculum in place and then had to switch to a different kind...ouch. I wonder if my cervix is always tilted or if it was just today? I wonder what that even means? Oh well - I guess I'll have to google it later. Again it was over in about 5 minutes and the Dr. confirmed my next appointments and instructed me that we should have sex tonight or tomorrow morning to "keep things going" (a little awkward to talk about sex so much with someone other than my husband but whatever) and then after laying down for 10 minutes I was free to go.

Before the IUI my Dr. asked how I had been feeling since the first IUI and I told him that I had been crampy (not too bad but definitely noticeable) since yesterday early afternoon and he explained that was totally normal because the stuff that they use to "wash" the sperm in can sometimes irritate. He showed me the syeringe with the washed sperm in it and showed me that it looks a little pink and that was from the wash. I'm feeling crampy again this morning but knowing that it is normal I'm not worried and willing to put up with and not complain about cramps for a baby (come on the pay off is WELL worth it don't you think?!). He also went over the results from Hubby's sample this morning and the news was great! I guess all that save up your sperm talk is nonsense because all his numbers were much better today (24 hours abstinance) than yesterday (4 days abstinance). His quality was 3-4 (on a 4 point scale so this is great!) and his post-wash count was 9.5 million (compared to 6 million yesterday post-wash) plus great motility etc. All of this makes for a very happy me this morning. As I left the office the andrologist looked excited for me and told me again how great the numbers were this morning. She said that the sperm were swimming fast all over the place like they were just looking to find an egg. Well, I'm hoping they find mine today! Everyone in the office wished me luck as I left and I felt great about everything.

My next appointment is on Monday for blood tests to check my hormone levels. They frequently prescribe progesterone either as a suppository or injection so we will see how that goes and what my hormone levels are like on Monday. After that, I won't be back in the office until my pregnancy test on September 2nd...wow that is going to be a crazy day. I wonder if it does work if I will have any symptoms before the test. I wonder if I will just give in and POAS (pee on a stick). I wonder if I'll go crazy in the next two weeks. Only time will tell. I am feeling pretty positive about things today! I am officially in the two week wait.

IUI Appointment

So today was the big day. I had the first of my two back to back IUIs this morning. I am not sure what I was expecting but the procedure was simple, painless and very quick. It was seriously over before I even knew it had begun.

I woke up this morning at 5:30 to get ready for work and Shawn and I left the house at 6:30 for out 6:45 drop off appointment. We got to the office, filled out some forms and were on our way. Shawn to his big Hebrew grammar teat and me off to get some breakfast and try to kill some time before my 8:15 IUI appointment. There is not much to do between 7 and 8am. If I lived closer I would have gone home and taken a nap. Today was an early day and tomorrow will be too (I’ve been yawning all morning at work).

When I arrived at my 8:15 appointment I went into the exam room, discussed the results of the sperm wash with my Dr. (who said the numbers were a little on the low side but above the benchmark so we were good to go) and on we went. The whole thing probably took less than 10 minutes and the most painful thing was the speculum but that is not new and never any fun. Afterwards I lay on the exam table for 10 minutes and wondered if any of those little swimmers were on their way to finding my tiny little egg. I hope so. After the 10 minutes I got up, very carefully and was on my way to work. They tell you that you can just resume your normal day after an IUI and that sometimes you will have cramping but that is normal. I tried to think about all the people who just have sex, go on their way and wind up pregnant but I couldn’t help myself from trying to be extra careful and to keep myself as leaned back as possible without looking weird.

Tomorrow will be the same thing and hopefully all of this will be worth it and will work. That would truly be an amazing gift. So for now I’ll just have to wait. They say the two week wait can be torture and I am already starting to get that feeling. It is crazy that I could find out if I am pregnant in two weeks! After waiting so long that should seem like a short time but right now the anticipation is killing me. I’d really like to run home right now and pee on a stick even though I know that would be pointless. The Ovidrel shot I gave myself yesterday will show a false positive for up to 14 days after I take it so there is really no point but I wonder if I will give in and take a home pregnancy test before my September 3rd blood test…time will tell.