2 WW

I think I am about to begin the DREADED 2WW.  I have been using OPK's since my trigger 3 days ago and have been testing every night.  Not sure if I ever noted a "surge", the test line was "almost" as dark as the control line but last night it was definitely much lighter. I will check again today.  I want to make sure we don't stop BD too early. I am determined to catch this egg.

SO the first 2days I had alot of abdominal cramping.  Not sure what that means exactly.  Today not so much.  NO real symptoms from the ovidrel. I started my progesterone suppositories today, and I am to take them 2x/day. so I will be wearing panty liners with them as they can get really messy.

I had a pt. I treated last night who's meds consisted of lovenox, asprin and endotrim.  I knew too well what that combination of meds meant.  She was 10 weeks pregnant, I wanted to hug her and congratulate her and let her know I know exactly what she went through.  From that combo, I can assume that she has had at least one miscarriage in the past.  I did ask what she was on lovenox for and she said...she had the "MotherTHFR" gene.  But she made it, now 10 weeks.  It gave me hope.

Anyway, trying to figure out how to wait out these 2weeks.  My test is april 12.   I plan not to test until, at least no earlier than the 11th.  I don't want any surprises nor do I want to be waiting anxiously for the "phone call".  Soooo, until then, i'm going to try not to do anything related to baby searching..No blogging, unless something amazing happens, no googling, no harping over twitches and such. 

What I plan/hope to do is...catch up on some TIVO, do some CME, research more about natural hair, photography, exercise and spend time with hubster.  That sounds enough to keep me busy...And oh yea...sleep.

And the wait begins..

Its trigger TIME:

YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

LH: 62.6
E2: 267
Folly #1: 19.1

Symptoms:  I am having some lower abd. cramping and back pain...Come on egg, lets flow!!!

So I am almost ready to surge: 
-I take trigger tonight between 6pm and 12AM.
-Start Progesterone in 2 days
-Beta for BFP on 4/12/2012


Let the BD'ing begin!!!!!

CD 16: Monitoring #5

Another monitoring day. Starting to get tired of these and its depleting my finances.  I don't know how these women do it over and over again for years.  My goodness.  I can't imagine the emotional nor financial strain it must be on the them.  This is a multi-dollar industry because these women are so desperate to be parents, so they will come in daily and pay whatever to do so.  I can sort of empathize.  I don't know what I'd do if I didn't have the abiility to get extra income.  There were so many women at the office this AM and over the weekend, all hoping that this is their time, this will be their month.  All knowing that we are all there for one reason and one reason only, to bring home a baby. There were ppl who looked too old to be having kids, there were young looking people, fat people, skinny people, blacks, whites, asian..all walks of life, on the the same journey.

Dr. K did my US today.  I don't know if he is all that great at US.  He started off with my lining which he said was thin....however he said 2.??mm.  So I interject and tell him that it was 5.0mm on sat and 5.5mm Sun. I really cant forsee it getting thinner seeing as my estrogen was 300 the last time.  SO he takes a "better look" and i'm about 8.9mm...Yay!!!!

The other 2 follies seem to be going well.  Folly #1 was at 19.1 and Folly # 2 was averaged about 7cm.  His 1st measurement was 17.1 and the 2nd was about 4.9mm.  Hmmm, I'll go with the 17.1, as it seems US is not his forte.  Also he had a hard time finding them on my right ovary. So he THINKS it may be due to some scar tissue....so we will see.  No one else has had trouble finding it So depending on my labs, I may either trigger tomorrow and/or see him again tomorrow.  I told him I did not want to see him again, as he is draining my pockets. He told me to blame it on my ovaries...LOL...

I took an OPK last night, and no surge in sight. I saw a very faint line.  So we will see.   Hoping for some good lab results.

CD 14: monitoring #4

Another date with Wanda. Wasn't too happy about today's visit. The follies didn't grow as much as I wanted. I was confident that today would be the day. 364 days ago today I got my first BFP. I remember it so vividly. I went to an event and noted some spotting. Thought it was too early for AF. Decided to POAS although I KNEW it would be negative. I was shocked when it was BFP. I was so happy yet so cautious. I didn't know what to do with myself. I thought how cool would it be to get a do over, a whole year later. I prayed and I hoped, but God always has other plans.

Results for today:
Folly #1 (on right): 17.0mm
Folly #2(on right): 14.1 mm
Small follies on left, largest 7.7mm
Lining: 5.5mm
LH: 8.09
E2: 300

Not quite there but progressing. I have another check on tues. thank goodness it's not tomorrow. Hopefully that will be the day!

The nurse said they are hoping to get more progression with folly # 2.

CD 13: monitoring #3

Had a monitoring visit today. Everything's looks like its progressing except my damn endometrium lining. I had a hunch that it was on the thin side. So today's measurements are:

Folly 1: 16.8 mm
Folly 2: 13.2 mm
Endometrium: 5.0mm
LH: 6.6 (15.6 - 80)
Estrogen: 190 (80 - 400)

So seems I'm not quite ready yet. Folly #1 is progressing really well. I hope folly #2 comes along in time. How cool would it be for 2. Hmmmmmm.

So, I have to go back in the AM at 7:30AM. Urrrgggghhh. Everyone that knows me knows that I am NOT an early person. My appt today was at 7:45am and I got there at 7:30.....GO MEEE. I also got a prescription for estradiol to take the night of trigger to help with my lining.. It's almost time. Most likely will trigger tomorrow or monday.

Results are in!

Estrogen is at a whopping 74.2, which i'm UBER excited about
LH is at 5.60, less than it was 2 days ago...hmmmmm
Therefore I'm nowhere near ovulation, although I can feel that my cervix is rising (high is increased fertility, low is decrease fertility)

Either way, I go back in 2 days which works out great with work.  

Monitoring #2/CD 10/11/fears

Had my second monitoring appt today. DH thinks all this is a scam to get money.  His take is that I can find out when i'm about to ovulate on my own, instead, i'm paying someone to tell me.  He said I should pay him instead. LOL. He is such a conspiracy theorist.

So I saw the tech today. Last time I saw Dr. K. Follicles are a little bigger.  She saw none on the right ovary but 2 on the left, measuring 12.4mm and 14.3mm.  At first I was bombed because what happened to my 8 other "babies", but was quickly reminded that I only need one or two.  I am grateful for the progress of the lil' follies.  My endometrium measured about 2.63mm.  This seems a little low to me.  I have always been concerned that the reason for my miscarriages was because my lining was too thin. Since getting off BCP's, I've found that my periods are SUPER light.  I get a light flow the first day, a heavy flow the second day, the a light/medium flow the 3rd day, then spotting....YIKES. 

I am trying not to worry myself about the what ifs.  But it is soooo hard. I googled (shame on me) to try to find out about normal ranges at the CD i'm on, I should be between 3-5mm, termed stage 2.  I'm sure there is variations in this, and I only read one article, and i'm not sure how fast its suppose to grow. For example, a follicle can grows on average about 2-3mm/day. In the event that I do have a thin lining, I pray the progesterone I'll start taking at day 2/3 after trigger will do the trick and produce a lovely environment for my little nugget.

As I was starring at the monitor, I was amazed at how beautiful the process of conception was.  I am excited and nervous about what is to come in the next 2-3 months. I will probably be triggering soon, since my follies only need to be ~20mm.  I am hopeful and forever grateful for this experience.

As of now, i'm waiting for word on my labs and when to go back for another meeting with wanda.

First Day of Monitoring..CD9

Went in for my first day of monitoring for my natural cycle.  Yahoooooo.....Had another enccounter with Wanda.. So used to her by now.  I am cycle day 9 today/or maybe 8 depending on how you are measuring it. SO there were 10 follies all together.  7 on left and 3 on right...yayyyyy....they are quite small, under 10mm per Dr. K.  So i'm no where near ovulation.  My next appt is in 2 days.  Co-pay was a monster...Hot damn.....50%.... I had to pay about 18 bucks for labs to check for e2 and LH so that they can correlate with follicle growth.  I asked if it can be sent to labcorb since I get free labs.  But I guess with times BD/IUI, they need labs same day to determine when the right time is.. So basically a whopping 128.?? EVERY time I go in for monitoring.  Oh boy...I guess I really do need a baby fund. 

So here are my day 8/9 levels:
LH  6.30
E2  39.4
10 tiny wheanie follies

Basically I am no where near ovulation...so back to the drawing board in 2 days...YIKES!!!

Prolactin...

So apparently my prolactin is slightly elevated. With my inital labs, it was 24.?, at my last appt, I had it repeated fasting, and now its 25.5. hmmmmm....so have been started on some meds.  Not too worried about it.  Meds are 2x/week and I only have to take it until I'm officially preggo.

Making Moves

DH and I met with Dr. K today to go over all of our results. Everything looks great. He was a little concerned about my prolactin level. It was on the upper end of normal. I will be getting it repeated tomorrow fasting. So tonight, no breast fondling, LOL. Anyway, Dr. K thinks my miscarriages were due to the fibroids, so now that I'm all tuned up, it's baby making time. I'm so excited. I just feel really good about this process. It's like "God's got this". I am in a much different place than I was just a year ago. Hubby and I are on the same page and he has been SUPER supportive. Dr. K would like us to try a natural monitored cycle with a trigger, after that we will go to IUI if it's unsuccessful. He wants to only try 3 IUI's then off to IVF. I am down for whatever it takes, although DH would prefer au natural, but he is being a great sport. I do hope and pray that this first cycle will do the trick.

Genetic counseling

DH and I met with a genetic counselor today. Apparently we both have hemoglobin c trait. Not the worst thing in the world. We, well more he than me, may also have alpha thalasemia, again, nothing to worry about. We were offered more testing,, but we thought whats the point. If there are no medical complications, then it doesn't matter. I don't need to know every ounce of my genetic make-up. DH agreed. It's amazing how many normal deliveries ppl have considering all that could go wrong. I'm thankful that is all we have. We have our f/u appt next week. I pray we get the green light to proceed. I pray for patience on this journey. I pray that I won't get so obsessed with ttc that it takes away from the intimacy DH and I have built. One day at a time.....

Annoyed...

I started this bog about 5 days ago but never got a chance to finish. 5 days later I'm feeling better. It goes to show that whatever you are dealing with, life moves on. I was frustrated because DH and I are carriers of hemoglobin C trait, hence a 1/4 chance of us passing it on. In doing my research, if a child has hemoglobin c disease they suffer mild anemia if that, however my RE wants us to see a genetic counselor. Are you serious? Anothee hoop that we must go through. I was able to find one for Monday, so that has been taken care of. Also DH's SA was normal...YAY. Hopefully, all hurdles have been cleared.

I was getting anxious because I wanted to start whatever plan by my next period which is in about a week and a half. However I've decided to take a step back. I don't want to obsess like I did before. I don't want to bd just for the sake of doing it. Regardless of when we meet with our re or what his suggestions are, I will not waste march. How wonderful it would be for me to get a BFP with my next cycle. That is when I had my first BFP a year ago...I will look to God. I am feeling very optimistic.