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.

12dpo: hope...what hope?

Well the BBT dropped a bit today. Not enough to show that AF was coming but definitely enough to mar the hopes. We didn't even POAS today.

AF just get here so we can put ourselves through this again.

On a more positive note, we feel like the injectables really did work. We are pretty confident at this point that this month was our best look at getting pregnant. That means 3-6 months we should be there! See I have some hope left!

Oh, and thank you all for your supportive comments. We know it may be early yet but the signs just don't look all that good. We are so grateful to all those that read us and send comments of support. Ya'll rock!

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!!!!!!!

***************************************

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!

The Deeds Are Getting Done

I just wrote a really really long post about our entire weekend and the injections. It got lost in dark black hole that is the internet.

We had a great weekend. The injections are going well. No bruising. I am certainly not the best at sticking people with needles but it'll do.

If I ever feel the inspiration to attempt the old e-mail again I will certainly write it again. Now is definatley not the time.

Enjoy Spring....it is here.

Jetting Off

We head out today to Boston. Life is such a whirlwind sometimes. Just yesterday we were sitting in sterile green room waiting for information on new ways to get pregnant and tonight we will be checking out one of the most historical cities in our country. What a journey.

I am totally overwhelmed with things to do at work but the vacation will be a well timed one. We will have some time just to ourselves to figure out our course of action. As of now we have set a tentative deadline for reconsidering out approach to getting pregnant, June. If we haven't been successful with our NP by then we will most likely move on to IVF. We think 1-2 more tries with Clomid and HCG and then if that doesn't work 2-3 cycles with Injectables.

Whatever the process is we are excited that S is ovulating and the cycles are beginning to line up.