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.

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.

(In)Fertility Glossary

One of my dear friends back in MI has suggested a glossary for those of you not mired in fertility lingo every day of your lives - fair enough! I'm going to start it here, and we will add to it when we think of other things. Those of you who are familiar w/ the jive, feel free to comment and add more. (We don't know what lots of it means either!) Good idea, Kay!

• AF = Aunt Flo, which of course means getting your period.
• ART = Assisted Reproductive Therapy
• BFN = Big F***ing Negative
• BFP = Big F***ing Positive
• CD1 = Cycle Day 1
• Follicles = Eggs not yet released from ovary
• Follies = Lingo for 'follicles'
• FSH = Follicle Stimulating Hormone. This is the hormone responsible for growing the follicles during the follicular phase of a cycle.
• IF = Infertile or Infertility
• IVF = InvitroFertilization
• IUI = inter uterine insemination, a catheter is inserted through the cervix into the uterus to deposit sperm. Supposedly this increases chances of conception - because the sperm has a much shorter journey.
• Progesterone = hormone that spikes during luteal phase, or second half of a cycle (TWW). This hormone is responsible for all kinds of things, including sustaining an early pregnancy
• TTC = Trying to Conceive
• TWW = Two week wait, specifically the time between ovulation and waiting for the results.