IUI, Wednesday 11-10-2010

Not much to report on other than having the IUI! Very exciting. There really isn't too much to talk about, which I suppose in these instances is a great thing.  Everything went just like she said it would, she made comments throughout how great everything looked (haha) and how it was the perfect procedure.

Basically, now we are just playing the painfully long, 2 week wait game. That puts us at Thanksgiving to test.  I'm wondering if I should even test on Thanksgiving. I don't want to ruin the day if it's negative, so I might just wait until the next day.  Though at the same time, you know I'd be preoccupied the entire day thinking about the test, so I don't know! What do you think?

My period is unpredictable at best, so that makes things less awesome.  A normal woman would just wait for her period, if it doesn't come then the chances are better (obviously).  Mine may or may not come regardless of being pregnant or not. Either way, it's just two weeks! :)

If my period starts before the two weeks, we'll have the same drill as last time. I'll call on the 2nd day of my period, go in for an ultrasound and talk about using Clomid again or injections and go from there.  If it's positive after the two week waiting period, then I go in for a blood test I believe twice in a weeks period to see if some pregnancy hormone has doubled (like it should in a healthy pregnancy).  Then, some time after that we'll check for a heartbeat at which time I believe I would go off of my Metformin. I'll know more details on all this when the time comes.

Thank you for your positive thoughts, well wishes and prayers.  I believe they just might be working!

egg progression

Had my 'egg check up' this morning. There are two eggs (one on each side) that are growing, but not all that great. She figured they'd be farther along now, but she was happy that they were at least bigger than before the Clomid. They're at 6mm and they were at 4 or 5 last week.  They need to be about double what they are now to receive the trigger shot and IUI.  So, here's hoping they double by Friday! I have an appointment Friday at 9:30a to check their progression again.  She's thinking they'll be 11 or 12mm by then, and we'll do the trigger shot Sunday and have the IUI Monday. If things don't look bigger and better, then we know that no amount of Clomid will work for us and we'll move to the injectable medications.

I'm a little bummed, but still hopeful.  You're supposed to ovulate 5-10 days after your last Clomid pill (read it online, not from Dr) which would put us in a range for between this Wednesday and next Monday. I also read that people need trigger shots when they are on high doses of Clomid (150+) but that some people don't need them.  Dr Chen seems to think that I do, and I trust that she knows what she's talking about!

So keep your fingers (and toes!) crossed that we get some serious egg growth by Friday!!

She'll let me make payments!

So! Day one of no BC. I'm already getting cramps. So weird how fast it works on me. Anywho, we were trying to think of ways to come up with the $800 for this cycle, and we're great with saving money in general but we had very little time to come up with darn near $1000. $800 may as well be $1000 in my book. I think I had my last appointment and pap about a week ago. Actually.. exactly a week ago today. So I essentially had to come up with $780.00 in a week, if I get my period tomorrow or Thursday.  Knowing it's only been a week actually makes me feel a bit better about being stressed on where this money is coming from.  I called the office and talked to someone in billing. I got them (the Dr had mentioned they'd made slight payment arrangements for people in the past) to take two payments of $390.  One the first day or second day of my period/ultra sound and the next payment the day of the IUI.  Seems fair.  It's hard for them to take payments because if someone defaults on their payments, they are left with zero money since insurance doesn't cover fertility procedures.  If someone were to default in the OBGYN sense, at least they'd have something from billing the insurance.  Apparently, when she used to just bill you for her fertility services, people would get pregnant and then just find another OB so they didn't have to pay.  How awful!  So I understand.. and we'll be able to swing it.  Fingers crossed it works this cycle though, as I mentioned the next is $980, but includes the injectable meds. Still, not incredibly easy to come up with for us these days, but I'm sure we'll figure it out and cross that bridge if/when we get there.

Kind of random but the people I work with/for also have fertility problems.  She doesn't have PCOS, she has unexplained infertility.. which personally, I think is even more frustrating.  When I was originally diagnosed with NOT having PCOS a year ago, I was so incredibly frustrated. I didn't want it or any other real problem of course, but not knowing what the problem is, well that's just an awful feeling. You can't explore homeopathic remedies, you can't take meds that you know will benefit you.  The poor thing. They've done cycle after cycle of IVF with no success.  No miscarriages either, which is actually disheartening because at least with a miscarriage, you know you're able to get pregnant.  I think they have just a few embryos left and are trying to figure out what to do with them.  She's just over 40 now I think, so her eggs that she has now are most likely not viable. Her embryos are from when she was 38, I believe (and they are healthy).  I've suggested (nicely) maybe trying surrogacy, as her eggs are great, the embryos they have ready to go are perfect.. and they so desperately want a child.  I think she's actually thinking about it.  Either way it's really nice having someone who understands what you're going through, and if I ever need to run to the Dr,  it's never a big deal at all. So that's nice. :)

Okay kiddies.  Talk soon.  Oh. And if we conceive this cycle, our estimated due date would fall on about July 28th.  Yay for being pregnant during the summer!! Oy vey.. ;)