FET 2WW

So I got my protocol back for the FET. I took birth control for a month and on cd 21 I started 2 weeks of Lupron injections. Then about a week later went for blood work and a baseline sono. Then started putting on estrogen patches in a very calculated plan. Building up to 4 patches changed out every 72 hrs. Then had my transfer this week where we transferred 2 beautiful blasts. I took the day of the transfer off of work and have been working from home the rest of the week. The hardest part has been that DH has been having to take DD to daycare while he goes to work and I have to wait for him to get out to see her. Luckily we work at the same company with an onsite daycare so I know it's not a long wait for her when he gets out but he works long days. I hate that she's there for that long but I cannot lift her right now and am supposed to be laying down. All day except to pee. I took a Valium before the procedure which was prescribed by the RE and I needed it! Sure did make me a little loopy but it was ok. My transfer was about 45 mins late because my bladder wasn't filling up. After 4 bottles of water we were finally ready. I should have opted for the catheter afterwards because I was FULL! Lol but we made it through. I went home and slept. I've been very bored being at home not interacting with people and hiding this secret that I'm not at work from my parents and Facebook. Lol. My beta day is May 4 which happens to be the day of retrieval 3 years ago which resulted in my DD. I'm hoping that we get lucky again and we have a sticky baby again.

Back in the saddle

I'm back! I've had some survivors guilt after my successful ivf because I know I got lucky. It doesn't work for everyone on the first try and it did for us. But getting pregnant didn't change the way my body acts... Much... I actually have semi regular periods now! They're 35ish days but much more frequent than before. But the doctor confirmed that I'm still not ovulating. Which sucks. I still have PCOS and I do not ovulate. Awesome. We have been not trying not preventing since having our miracle and then I stopped breadtfeeding when she was 18 months which is when I finally got a period. And I thought maybe I was ovulating but nope. My husband hasn't been ready to go back to the RE until my bday last month. We went to a festival and he told me there he's ready to actively try. Just when I decided to work on my weight he decided to get serious about trying again. Now I didn't gain a lot of weight pregnant and actually stayed at or below my pre pregnancy weight until the holidays! I gained about 6 lbs so I joined weight watchers to start losing weight and the next day he said to make an appointment at the RE. Work has been really busy so I kept putting it off for like 3 days of him asking if I made an appointment. And then I finally did make the appointment last Thursday and I went yesterday.

I took my BFF with me since my husband's job was busy too and I didn't want to drag him to a long consult if he wasn't neeeeeeeded. And I wanted to give my BFF an insight to what I had to go through for ivf since she always nagged about just do it. She now understands how that wasn't easy in any way and what I have to go through to do treatments.

So. I get there and it was so weird seeing the privacy wall/sign before entering the clinic. I was 10 mins late since my car wouldn't start and we had to run across the work parking lot to my friends car so I was already nervous. I left my wallet and phone in the car! So my friend went back to get it while I signed in and filled out new paperwork. The front desk lady was the same as when I went 3 years ago so that was pretty cool. After waiting a little while they called me back to a consult room. The nurse asked a few questions. This nurse looked new so I was kind of sad that I thought it would be all new people since the doctor I was scheduled to see was also new. The 2 RE's that started the clinic and did my ivf were still there but they were booked til mid to late March. So anyways I answer this nurses questions and then wait for the doctor. 

The new doctor comes in and introduces himself and asks me a few more questions. I've been tracking my periods and was able to tell him the typical cycle length but lo and behold my current cycle is LATE! I'm on cd 38. I think it's a good thing? lol so he tells me he wants to order a full new patient panel and check my progesterone and estridol levels to see if I ovulated and get an idea why I didn't get my period yet this month. He also wants to do a sono so he takes off while we wait for a room. Finally the same new nurse comes and takes us to a room and tells me to undress and wait on the table. Doc comes back and does and exam and we look at the sono and there are my same old PCOS ovaries. Covered in folicles. I was mostly dissappointed to see that they are still covered but it was what I was expecting. I get dressed and open the door to wait for him to come back and a nurse peeks in and asks if we were waiting for something and it's MY NURSE from my IVF and IUI rounds. She peeked fast I didn't know if she saw me but I got all excited and told my friend about her. Then the doctor came back to take us back to a consult room where he told me he didn't think i ovulated but will get the bloodwork ordered, have the billing office speak to me, and have a nurse go over my protocol. He also said he would like me to try to lose 15lbs short term goal and about 45 long term. I agreed since that was already on my agenda and he left. Then the billing lady came in and I remembered her too! Idk if she remembered me right away but while she was going over the price list there was a knock on the door and my two nurses from my IVF came in to say hi and asked if I remembered them! I was so excited to see them and showed them a few pictures and was just so happy to catch up with them and see that they were still there. They apologized for interrupting and said they'd be back after billing was done. So we finished the financial blahness and the lady said she would need to double check to see what coverage we had left. Then the nurse came back and went over the protocol which was slightly intimidating but not too bad. I'll be going over that in another post. She took me to get my blood drawn and it was the same lab lady. While we were there I saw pictures of some little girls and I remembered someone being pregnant when I went for ivf and there she was walking down the hall! Another familiar face! After the bloodwork we went to check out and I was told to call back Thursday if they hadn't called me with results and to either start provera or if my period started to schedule a saline HSG. 

The strangest thing was being back there with a different mentality. The last time I was there I was in more of a desperation mode. I was depressed and willing to try anything. This time, I really want another baby again but it's just different? I'm so grateful of everything the staff did for us to have our DD and seeing all their faces again was heartwarming. I really love my RE office and so glad we went with them. They really all have a heart for helping people and you just don't see that everywhere. I went in with so much appreciation for their office. I'm excited and nervous for my FET. I'll be calling them today to set up my protocol. I really hope we get lucky again but we have 12 embryos to try again with. I don't regret IVF one bit but my body and emotional state cannot do the whole thing again so I really hope this works. 

-mrs red

Optimistic 2WW

               Hello everyone. I hope everyone is doing well. It's been a while since I have posted an update, so I thought I would go ahead and do so now. Back in September I believe it was, I did my first month of clomid at 50mg. It was unsuccessful and my cycle day 21 progesterone test only came back a .7. My Dr increased my dosage to 100mg. First month on 100mg, my progesterone was 11.6. The second month it was a 12. Unfortunately, my doctor didn't do a progesterone test this last cycle.

            I am very optimistic about this cycle. Things so far are looking extremely well. My chart looks good (especially if you take out the first dip and rise because I was very sick those days and they effected my temps, fertility friend isn't even taking them into effect). 2 days ago, I experienced what I am pretty sure was implantation bleeding at 6dpo. If not, then I am honestly going to be completely shocked because it seemed very likely to be implantation with the consistency of it, rather than anything else. Some of my tracking apps are giving me a lot of hope because every time I enter any information (CM, some symptoms, temps and more), they always are telling me they could be a sign of confirmation that I may have conceived. So, I am trying very hard not to get my hopes too high for being set up for disappointment, but so far everything seems to be great. Only time will tell, so we will see :) How is everybody else doing right now?

Jessica's November check in!

This month was our first round of medication- It went a little easier on me than my first month of Clomid, I can tell you that for sure! There were still some side effects but they were very small compared to the mountain of side effects that clomid gave me.  I won't give you all of the icky details- Hey a girls gotta have some secrets! But here is a lay out of what was going on. 

Ironically AF showed on November 1st. When I said that we were going to start drugs in November- something took me very literally, So on November 3rd, CD 3  I took my first round of Letrozole.  

CD 3: first dose of Letrozole- Slight headache, noticed that I was a little dizzy- but not enough to bother me. 
CD4: second dose: Full on headache- enough that I took a dose of Tylenol. I was also REALLY dizzy. Had to sit down at work for a while- My head was spinning. 
CD5 :3rd dose- I knew the dizziness was coming so I prepared for it. No other symptoms to speak of. 
CD6:4th dose- I was really wishing the dizziness would end- what a stupid decision to take it in the morning when you are at work! Next month I'll take it at night! 
CD7: 5th(AND FINAL) dose: Headache, Dizziness, irritability, and a mild hot-flash at work. 

After that all seemed to go just as normal. I've had more headaches this month than I normally would have, that can easily be blamed on the weather changing. I got a + OPK on Sunday November 9th. On November 15th I went in for a blood draw to see if I actually ovulated. I haven't heard back from the Dr's yet about the blood work, I'm trying not to get my hopes up before I hear back on the blood work in case it isn't all good. 

Sheila's update

So, it has been a very long time since I posted, so I figured I would update now that I have finally started some real treatment (of course last years being nothing but a joke). I still feel really foolish that I didn't start seeking better treatment much sooner. I feel like although I have technically been trying for approaching six years, it's nothing compared to what you ladies have been through. Don't get me wrong, I am not saying it's a competition or anything, I just feel guilty for everything you ladies have been through, and I haven't endured near as much and I am so sorry for all those hardtimes you have been through in this journey. I also am feeling kind of nervous about how late I started seeking treatment, wondering if I have alot more years ahead of me before I really meet my end goal: a precious baby in my arms. Then I am feeling a lot of guilt when being hopeful thinking "What if this treatment does work? That is so not fair to these other women who have endured so much more than me and are still struggling". Ladies, my heart is truly going out for you. You don't know it, but I really pray for you every day. Really, my heart is more for you to obtain your precious baby more so then me. I can't imagine the pain that your heart holds through all the failed treatments. I am so sorry. My first "real" treatment wasn't successful. The stress of going through everything was so much more overwhelming than I anticipated, and this is just a baby step compared to what you have been through. I am truly so sorry.

So, this was my first cycle taking provera to induce AF and first cycle taking clomid to attempt to make me ovulate. This was so much more overwhelming than I had anticipated. Of course those of you have been on provera, I am sure you know what the period is like....so yeah that was...."fun" but still I did anticipate that, so I knew it was coming and honestly although it isn't that pleasant, it wasnt that bad although my cramps were horrendous and had to be in the bathroom every 5 minutes. I took clomid on days 3-7, and got a little bit of mood swings but weren't as bad as I was expecting, so that was good. The more overwhelming parts were, charting (getting mixed signals with my cm, opks, and bbt on opposite days of each other were making me paranoid and drove me up the wall), we are also fighting the insurance company on coverage of my doctor's office visit. However, the MOST overwhelming part, was the doctor's office receptionist. She has NO CLUE what she is doing. Let me explain further.

Don't get me wrong, I think my doctor and especially his nurse are truly great. This receptionist however, has caused me  nothing but headaches. So my doctor sends me a card in the mail after my first inital visit and tells me my bloodwork labs came back normal, and to continue the provera and clomid as mentioned in his office and to schedule a 21 day cycle appointment. So the wording on the card makes me think I need to schedule an appointment. I call my doctor's office and the nurse answers and tells me that normally its just a blood test, but my doctor did have it in the system as an actual appointment, so she needed to check and make sure. I called back 6 hours later, and they still had no answer. So then, I call back the next day and tell the receptionist all of this, and she disregards what I say, cuts me off and says "You don't have to make appointments for 21 day tests, you just go to the lab and get your blood drawn". So whatever, for some stupid reason I decide to take her word for it. I go on CD 22 for my blood work (CD 21 was a Sunday). I first go up to the doctors office and ask if there is paper work I need to take down to the lab, she tells me no it should already be down there and if not to call and she would send it down ( Note: I did inform her that I was there for a day 21 progesterone test).
Then I proceed to go down to the lab and they tell me they have no paperwork, so I tell them what she said and she calls upstairs. So then they are talking forever, and based on the conversation I can tell they are struggling to find my information, and the lady at the lab desk tells the receptionist upstairs to fax it when she finds it. So I assumed they finally did find it, because they called be back for my lab draw. They take the blood draw and I ask when I can get my results- they tell me 24 hours. I call back two days later, only for the conversation to go as follows
Me: Hello, I was calling about my progesterone test results
Receptionist: Okay give me a few minutes to look that up
*wait several minutes*
Receptionist:Okay well we find your results but it looks like they did the prolactin, thyroid and blood pregnancy test
Me: I already had that done like a month ago...
Receptionist :One sec
*wait several minutes*
Receptionist :Okay well you were supposed to call us and make an appointment and then we would know which lab you were going to
Me: I called and tried to schedule an appointment and you told me I don't call anyone just to come get the labs done.
Receptionist: Oh, I am sorry about that. Let me connect you to the nurse

So then my nurse is SUPER ticked off about what happened, (but very nice and professional to me, she just felt bad about what they did to me) but after several phone calls between her and I that day, she cleared it up and found out she could still run my progesterone test with my previous sample.

A few days later I try to call and find out my results again. Conversation as follows
Me: Hello, I am calling about my progesterone results
Receptionist :(after getting my name and dob) Okay it says that it's .7 , It says your labs are normal. I don't know anything about the number but since your labs are normal that means you ovulated.
Me (confused after hearing the number .7 thinking that sounds incredibly low) Oh it was .7? And this means I ovulated?
Receptionist: Yes
Me: Okay thank you, bye.
(I got this card in the mail just yesterday, so later than these phone calls)

Then after thinking about it a while longer, I know this sounds low and theres no way this lady could be right so I decided to call back and demand to speak to the nurse to clear things up. The nurse then confirms what I already knew, that my progesterone is low, and moving forward we are uping my clomid dosage. So anyways, I was just incredibly annoyed that the receptionist first tells me I dont need an appointment, then sends the wrong paperwork down making me get the wrong blood work, then tells me its my fault for not making an appointment after she is the one who told me not to, then tells me the very wrong thing about my progesterone. If I wouldn't have known any better or called back, I would have just continued to think the medication worked even though it didn't. So yeah....that was annoying but could be worse so I am okay with it. So thats where I am at now. Af hasnt started yet, so will need to call and get more provera ordered along with the higher dosage of clomid, and that's where I am at as far as now. Sorry for the very long post. I truly hope all is doing well with everybody! Where is everybody else at on their journey? My thoughts and prayers are truly with each and every one of you :)
Sheila

Shannon's Update

It's been awhile. Sorry for that. Life has been crazy and I haven't taken the opportunity to update the blog.

In April I had ovarian drilling surgery. I found out I was accepted to start nursing school this fall the day after my surgery.

In May I had a clomid cycle that worked!!! I even ovulated and believe I got pregnant but had a chemical pregnancy, where I lost it at 3-4 weeks. Hadn't gotten the + because I don't think my levels got high enough for that.

In June another failed clomid cycle. My right ovaries were trying to react this time but just couldn't get there.

July we started another cycle (today actually). I'm taking Clomid 100mg for 5 days (Tuesday-Saturday). On Wednesday and Friday I will be taking follistem shots (sp?) in replace of Bravelle and if everything works I will take Ovidrel to ovulate.

Yesterday my SIL also announced she was pregnant again.

My birthday is coming up on the 13th.

Nursing school starts on August 25th.

My summer in a nut shell. I may elaborate more in another post, I feel like I owe our readers that much. :)

Playing Catch-Up

I owe many posts updating about my fertility treatments since AUGUST.

Amazing how time flies between two jobs and holidays and fertility treatments. But I have a new laptop now and will be able to keep up more often. So, this isn't quite an update, but a heads up that I will update, LOL!

I'm not pregnant after the fertility treatments this fall.

Molly, previous author, had her baby on her birthday, November 30th. A little boy named Jonah.

If you are interested in being a guest, part-time, or full-time writer please fill out the form above or send an email to shannonw@fighting4fertility.org.in . I am getting emails now so I should be able to respond much quicker than every 2 months!

Now, to work on my updates...

Today is the Day

So, today is the day I go see Dr. Luck.

I'm excited... and very nervous.

I am always worried that my condition will be worse or that I will get bad news. With infertility there is so much "bad" already that it is hard to think of any positives.

But, I did my research on my doctor and on the facility. They are closer to my last and I am still hoping that their pricing is reasonable (that wasn't included on the website).

I'm also excited that she might help me to get my period to STOP. I've been having bleeding (anything from spotting to light to medium) since June 26th and am SOO tired of having to always be prepared when I go to the bathroom. And I miss my husband, if you know what I mean ;)

I can already hear some of what the doctor will say: "your weight is too high" "if you lose weight your cycles should start to normalize" etc. I know I have a weight issue.

My high was in 2009 and I weighed in at 245. Earlier that year we had done 2 cycles of clomid. Then in the spring we moved into my FIL's house while we worked on our credit to get our own. In the summer I registered for a fall class at the local community college (only Yoga, as a way to get back into the swing of classes). That summer I also started to take some Japanese diet pills that my SIL had wonderful success with. The first month I lost 10 lbs. The second month I lost another 10 lbs. I was so excited! I continued to lose 10 lbs per month for the next 2 months. So in 4 months I had lost 40 lbs. And I stalled in the progress. We moved into our house in November with some issues. January I went to see my OBGYN and while there she prescribed a diet pill. Within the next couple months I lost another 25 lbs. I had gotten down to 180 and, as much as I wanted to be at 160, I was very happy. Kept it off for a year. Then had some really hard science classes with late night studying and lots of stress. BAM 30 lbs in 2 lbs back on. Once that dam broke it ALL came back. Now I am sitting at around 245/250.  (see more in my weight blog)

It's hard.

So, as excited as I am about the appointment, I am very nervous and any ridicule I will receive while there. I am hopeful that they understand the weight can be VERY hard to lose for PCOS peeps.

I will keep you all updated :o)

So impatient!

Recently dh and I have been talking about when to start fertility treatments again. Due to the fact that we have different insurance and that clomid is the evil drug that flips the crazy Jessica switch, we aren't ready to jump in head first again. We've decided in a year... But now that we've decided to wait a year and see if we can get things to happen naturally, I'm getting impatient. I'm being surrounded with pregnant women, impatient women that are complaining about it taking 4 months and still nothing. I've just ran out of patience. I want this NOW!! Im sure that everyone can relate.

So with my impatience I've been researching things to help things along without flipping the crazy switch!

I've looked at pregnitude- according to their website (http://www.pregnitude.com/content/what-is-pregnitude) is 2 grams of myo-inositol and 200 mg of folic acid that you take twice a day- something that I already do. So for 41.28 a month on amazon I've crossed that out.

Fertile aid - supped up multi vitamin with vitex. I'm already taking a multi vitamin and I'm taking vitex daily At 28.95 a month I've crossed that out.

Several others that I've researched have been crossed for the same reason. I guess I've made my own supplement and I just need to have some more patience and hope things happen soon! I hope things get better when it warms up and I can get outside and work on the fence and flower beds! It'll at least keep me from watching so much tv with all the hpt commercials and pregnant women everywhere!

Finally, a plan!

So today was our first meeting with a Reproductive Endocrinologist and it went better than I could've hoped for! They were so thorough and genuine! When my next cycle starts, I'm supposed to have a bunch of blood work done. Then my husband and I go in for my hsg dye test and another semen analysis for him. Then we do a trigger shot and IUI eventually! It feels so good to have found great doctors who are going to help us through this!

Treating PCOS Naturally (With a bit of help)

First off, if you have PCOS it is really, really important to get your thyroid tested as that can also impact fertility as well as menstrual cycles.  For me, I function best when my TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) is between .5 and 1.5.  Currently, I'm sitting at 1.0.  When you do get your thyroid tested, be sure to have your doctor run a FULL thyroid panel, not just TSH.  I take levothyroxine to control my hypothyroidism.

I also take 2000mg of metformin daily to help with PCOS (and as an aside, many women with PCOS go on to develop diabetes.  I developed diabetes as a result of an infection caused by an HSG in 2008.  They didn't catch it until 2009 and that caused some damage to my pancreas and caused diabetes.  My A1c is now 6.1, due to diet and exercise, so they don't really consider me diabetic anymore.

For the herbal treatment, I take the following:

Maca - 1500mg per day.  I take 1000mg in the morning and 500mg at night.  This is taken from CD 5 through the start of my period.  

Maca is an adaptogenic compound, which means it adapts to what your needs are.  It works on the hypothalamus, which in turn regulates the pituitary gland, which helps control the hormone system, encouraging hormonal balance.  Maca helps control estrogen in women and men, leading to better hormone balance as well.  Maca also helps improve fertility in men.  It is safe to take 1500 to 3000mg per day.

Vitex - 1000mg per day.  I take 500mg in the morning and 500mg at night.  This is taken from CD 5 through the start of my period.  Vitex has many properties that improve fertility in women.  This great site highlights most of them.

Rhodiola Rosea - 500mg per day.  250mg in the morning and 250 mg at night.   This is taken from CD 5 through CD 14.  Rhodiola, like Vitex and Maca, is an adoptogen and has been shown to be useful in treating infertility and menstrual irregularities.  Here is more information on Rhodiola.


Tribulus - 1000 mg per day.  I take 1000mg in the morning.  This is taken from CD 5 through CD 14.  
You want to find tribulus with at least 40% furostanol saponins.  Tribulus also shows benefits in treating infertitliy, especially in women with PCOS.  It also is shown to help with male fertility and libido as well.  You can find more information on tribulus here.


Female Balance - 1 capsule per day.  Here is the information on this supplement.

With this, I have ovulated regularly.  I also have increased my luteal phase from 9-10 days up to 12 days.  I also ovulate closer to the beginning of my cycle, than before (CD 20 versus CD 30).

I also, on the advice of my former OB/GYN, take a daily baby aspirin (81mg).

I take a vitamin D supplement, evening primrose oil to ovulation, fish oil after ovulation, and a prenatal.  I also take calcium and magnesium in the evening.

Jessica's diagnosis

In August 2007 I met my husband. He was an active duty soldier stationed at the base near my home town.  We were married that December. I was ready to start TTC right away. Daniel wanted to wait and enjoy being by ourselves for a while.

Two months before our 1st anniversary Daniel got orders to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He would leave 20 days before our anniversary and be gone for a year. During the year that he was gone Daniel decided that he was ready for us to start our family when he got home. I stopped taking my pills right away and started researching “how to get pregnant”.  He also found out that when he got back he would report to Ft. Sill, OK. I moved ahead of him to get everything settled before he got back. During that time I noticed that my periods weren’t regular.  I told Daniel that I was worried that we would have problems conceiving. He tried to tell me that everything would be ok and I was probably being a worry wart.

8 months later I made an appointment with my PCM (general Dr.) for some other issues (I suffer from migraines and a torn rotator cuff) and mentioned that my periods still weren’t regular. She put a referral in to see the OB on post. When I saw the OB on post he told me that I was too young (21) to have fertility issues and that it was probably all in my head. But that he would put an order for an ultrasound and blood work to “clear my mind” That week I did my blood work and ultrasound. That following week the nurse called to tell me that everything had come back normal. If I felt that I needed anything else to make a follow up appointment. Several months later I went back to see my PCM and asked for a referral to on off post fertility specialist.

My new RE wanted me to get copies of my ultrasound and blood work that I had done on post. When I went to get my records I got nosey. I looked at the ultrasound report. In the report it said I had polycystic ovaries. I was furious! I had been lied to! When I went to my first appointment it took my new Dr. fifteen minutes to say that I had PCOS.  I had my answer. I was upset and relieved at the same time.

Shannon's Update on CD30

(I'm doing a 7pm-7am shift at a client's house... so while they sleep I just have to stay awake!)

Today is CD30. Last Wednesday, CD24, I called my Dr to find out the result from the progesterone draw (CD19). She said I was in the follicular stage. :/

Kinda disappointing because my OPK test strips have been really dark most of this cycle (pictures to come later).

I asked if she wanted me to go do the draw on CD 26 for the pregnancy hormones or wait a week. They still had me go in.

I don't want to call them about the results yet. I know they have them but I don't want to hear it. This Friday I take the HPT that came in the OPK. Figured I'll see the negative then and then call the doctor to confirm.

Here we go on another round of clomid!

Back to Day 18

So today is day 18 which means that tomorrow I go and get blood drawn to check my progesterone levels.

This cycle I have been doing the at home OPK (ovulation predictor kit) like last time. Here is a comparison from last cycle and this cycle (so far):

50mg Clomid Cycle

100mg Clomid Cycle

I did a second test on 8/8 in the afternoon just to see how results varied. Really wish I hadn't forgotten on 8/2 and 8/3 but I only like to use the first urine sample of the day. My temps are still all over the place.

Don't know what to expect about the blood draw for tomorrow and I hate that it will take me almost a week to find out the results!

Shannon's Basal Temp Chart May-July

Here is my basal temp chart from cycle 1 of clomid (Mid-May) until cycle 2 of clomid (Late-July)

My temps are all over the place. The first few, before the big gap in time, is with my first thermometer that broke on me. And as you can tell, I am horrible about charting on weekends, lol!

Any thoughts or opinions on my chart? Other than it would be a wicked-awesome roller coaster?? I never know what these would look like for a normal person.

AF Only Arrives With an Invitation

Yesterday was officially the end of Cycle 1 of Clomid as I started Provera again.

Doctor had called and confirmed on July 5th that the pregnancy blood draw came back negative so she went ahead and sent the increase dose of Clomid (100) and the provera to my pharmacy.

When I start taking Clomid I will begin to track my LH with the ovulation strips again.

I hope you guys are having some good luck out there!!!

Progesterone & Ovulation

For those of you who have been following the blog (THANK YOU!!!), you know that I am on a cycle of Clomid at 50mg. (Is it mg?? IDK, but you know what I mean!)

Day 19 was a blood draw for the progesterone level, which determines if you have ovulated. I've also been tracking temperature and using those home ovulation predictor kits.

As of today, Day 26, I have had no significant spikes in temperature and my ovulation strips don't even come CLOSE to the control. (Day 24 was the closest, but only about 3/4 there.)

Yesterday I called to schedule my blood draw for the pregnancy check. Having been tracking all that I also asked what my numbers were. She told me but I didn't have any clue as to how that compared to with what amount was desired.

PROGESTERONE::: From here

• Follicular phase (eggs growing in ovary):  0.2-1.4 ng/mL
• Luteal phase (post ovulation):  3.3-25.0 ng/mL
• Mid-luteal (plateau after ovulation):  4.4-28.0 ng/mL
• Postmenopausal:  Less than 0.7 ng/mL

• Pregnant 1st trimester: 11.2-90.0 ng/mL
• Pregnant 2nd trimester: 25.6-89.4 ng/mL
• Pregnant 3rd trimester: 48.4-422.5 ng/mL 

 And my numbers were..... 0.3 ng/mL

So nothing. I mean, I was pretty sure nothing happened, but I was still hopeful. And then if it there was no ovulation, I was hoping the levels wouldn't be at the BOTTOM of the "nothing" bracket.

I don't know what to think at this time. I had prepped mentally that it may not work this round but it still sucks. I think I teared up for a minute but then felt stupid for doing so since I had been sure that it didn't work.

Oh well. Here goes another month at a higher dosage. And yes, I will still check LH until I run out of strips for this cycle.

And starting to add ALL my vitamins back in... But will save that for another post :)

Ovulation Help

In the last 24 hours I have heard of TWO new myths that are supposed to help ovulation. I want to try them.

The first one I heard about was LICORICE (or licorice root). Yes. Supposedly taken for five days in your cycle and it is supposed to help. But they say it doesn't matter WHEN in the cycle.... I haven't found it yet but going to Walmart tomorrow and will look there. I know they sell it online (I don't like the flavor of licorice, so would rather take a vitamin). Supposed to help with depression too... Maybe something some of us could use after years in this cycle.


Second was a swig of Robitussin a total of 6 days (five before ovulation and the day of). Even says you can take it with Clomid but to take it after you take the last pill. It is supposed to help the cervical mucus become more fertility-friendly, especially since Clomid tends to do the opposite. Read about it here!!


Since I take my last Clomid tomorrow, I might buy some Robitussin and give it a shot. I can't STAND liquid medicine but I'm sure I can make a sacrifice for this goal :o)

Shannon: CD 1

So today is FINALLY CD1 (cycle day 1). Gotta love when AF waits 4 days to come! LoL

Here are my instructions for the Clomid (50mg):

• CD5 start Clomid and take on CD5, 6, 7, 8, and 9
• Intercourse every other day for five days (CD 10, 12, and 14)
• Blood draw for Progesterone level on CD 19
• Blood draw for Q-BHCG on CD 26

Steph recommended the ovulation test + pregnancy test kit at Walmart for $20 so I will buy that later this week.

And I am tracking my BBT too. 

Now if I can just get these allergies under control...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/evelynized/6880361201/

Medication cost

I posted a while ago about insurance non-coverage, well here's some numbers I wish we're easier to find, since the mail order pharmacy is shady about giving out this info:

Gonal-F ( I needed 3 900 iui pens)
$1380 each!!! If you can get the discount card for cash paying patients, it's $744 each. If u have insurance coverage you can get for free but u can only use either card once in 28 days so try to get all ur medication at once.

Microdose or low dose HCG (an injectable compound)
$95 at the local pharmacy out of pocket plus the cost of syringes -__- which were $4 each bag of 10.
Mail order from freedom pharmacy was $70. This was one my pharmacy couldn't do because it was an injectable compound.


Certatide (I needed 3 of these but was prescribed and paid for 4 :-/)
From freedom pharmacy $86 each for a total of $344, the maker back orders it for smaller pharmacies.

Novarell
$89.90 from freedom, it was discontinued for my pharmacist to purchase. The alternative is Ovidrel which is $95

Vivelle dot (estrogen patches since I have estrogen issues)
This one has a discount program that is free with insurance, but freedom told me they were 67.81 for a box of 8, or 9.51 each. Which stinks because these are estrogen patches meant to be changed once every 72 hours, however the longest mine have gone is 48 hours...

Doxycycline (antibiotic and typically covered by any insurance)
Freedom said copay was $10.67, idk how much it really was but my pharmacy got it for me for a $5 copay.

Methylpredisolone (idk what this was but took 16mg once a day for 4 days after the retrevial)
Freedom said the copay for this one was $4, again idk how much it was for real because my pharmacy got it taken care of for me, so I think it's one of those on a discount thing. It was 16 mg a day for 4 days.

Progesterone in oil (so far just 2 vials)
Freedom said $55 each vial.

Apparently some of these medications have discount cards that can get the medication heavily discounted or free when used with insurance! Big thanks to Raj and the staff 15RX pharmacy in San Antonio who worked for 2 days straight to help me pay as little as possible! They were like angels from God when I needed stress relieved.

Freedom pharmacy said I would pay $3090 out of pocket (mind you this is with insurance)
Shopping around I paid $1792 out of pocket. Could have been less if I didn't wait for the last minute to order everything (mind you this is the EXACT SAME FREAKIN INSURANCE!) I'm grateful for the insurance coverage I have but still think its ridiculous how little it pays and how my lifetime max is $5k! Thats one cycle!

Anyway, I hope this helps people get an idea of out of pocket costs