IF /testing check-in week feb6

kaitlink33

Thanks @laurad75 I've never bought a fresh pineapple before so thanks for the tip!

blackrose-9

So I went back yesterday for my ultrasound luckily the two follicles on the right are big enough. They took their sweet time, but they got there. My RE decided she wanted to do IUI this month instead of TI. So she had me trigger last night and IUI tomorrow morning. My DH isn't too happy about it though. We didn't get much of a say in it and he wasn't there so he's upset that the decision was made without him She did tell us befeore we started treatments that we made do this so its not a total surprise, but I understand why he's upset.

Bababatty

@LadyMillil Glad the day is finally here! Can't wait to hear how it goes.

@BlackRose Good luck with your IUI tomorrow. I'm sorry that your H is unhappy with the situation. Are YOU ok with doing the IUI instead of TI? Your RE cannot and should not make you do something you don't want to do, so if you're on board, that's good. Can I ask why your H is so adamant against it?

blackrose-9

@Bababatty I'm okay with it. It just caught me off guard. It's our 2nd cycle with her and she said we would do at least 2 TI before switching over. My H is okay with it he's just upset that he didn't get any say in the matter. He wasn't there and worked late the night before so I didn't get to talk to him about it until I was home and he woke up. And I think he's a little upset that "its not going to be him" kind of thing. I think it hurt his pride a little that TI wasn't good enough.

hartmich

@blackrose My H is the same way about things - he hates surprises, in any form, no matter how minor or major. It's just a hard pill to swallow sometimes as you go down the IF path that we may not be able to get KU the old-fashioned way. Hopefully he'll warm up to the idea after having some time to digest it, but you guys have my sympathy - this journey is rough for those of us who like to plan out every aspect of our lives  

Bababatty

@BlackRose That makes a lot of sense. It is super weird to try to get KU this way. Like DH is in the room, but not actually a part of what's going on. And that would feel like an abrupt shift if you weren't planning on IUI. I hope all goes well tomorrow!

blackrose-9

@hartmich We are the type of people that likes to plan everything out and none of this was definitely planned. I'm hoping that he'll be more okay with it after today. I figure after having yesterday to think over and go on a little rant he will probably feel better about it. Probably not exactly happy, but more okay with it.

@Bababatty it definitely took me by surprise. She finished the ultrasound and was like "everything looks good so we will schedule you for IUI on Saturday!" Like I said earlier she talked to us about it before treatments, but said nothing about it until yesterday which was day 15. It was very last minute.

heatherdubrow

@BlackRose good luck tomorrow!!

Aurora1973

@laurad75 and @LadyMillil I'm thinking of you both today!!  So excited your follies grew, @laurad75...I have everything crossed for you, my fellow DOR/AMA friend

@BlackRose good luck tomorrow!  I know it wasn't the way you wanted it, but glad that your RE is feeling good about things!

TravelingCouple

I just called my RE and scheduled a meeting for Wed afternoon to discuss next steps, which will be Clomid. I feel like we gave the progesterone a fair shot (this will be 3 months) so if this month isn't it, we'll move on to Clomid next month. It scares the hell out of me due to the risk of thinned endometrial lining and increased risk of multiples, but it would scare me more to not give it a try.

[Deleted User]

@TravelingCouple Sorry if you've already talked about this - but have you had an ultrasound done around ovulation to rule out PCOS? My bloodwork was just a teeny bit off - almost not even worth mentioning, but when they did the ultrasound I had 15+ cysts in each ovary.  

adirat

@travelingcouple Hugs. I get the fear, but this is a great next step toward your take-home baby. If you haven't already, consider asking your RE about letrozole. Mine told me it's better for many women because there's no Clomid-like risk of severe thinning of the lining. You can also have a lesser dosage to reduce the risk of multiples. (We have a fear of multiples because of a family history so this was a question I asked, and he said letrozole can have half-doses that rarely, rarely produce two eggs.)

TravelingCouple

@antoto I did have an ultrasound done but it was not around ovulation, it was around CD3 when they did all the blood work too. The ultrasound I did have came back normal. They really didn't check much around ovulation. Would treatment be different if I did have PCOS? I don't know much about it at all.

TravelingCouple

@adirat Hmm, they never discussed that when we went through all treatment options in our last visit. I don't know anything about it - does it help with ovulation in the way that Clomid does? I am pretty confident I'm ovulating, based on my charts and a progesterone draw my OB did that confirmed I did ovulate according to my chart (before we ever started working with an RE, I had the draw done). I know Clomid is most often used for women who aren't ovulating, but the RE suggested it as the next step if Progesterone didn't work. The whole "maximum lifetime uses" is what scares me too...taking anything that I can only take a MAXIMUM number of times in my life is pretty scary.

[Deleted User]

Eh, it might change person to person but my cysts are there even on CD3 so I'm sure you're good.  Yeah I only said that because PCOS peeps can't do Clomid.  It puts you at a much higher risk of hyperstimulation.  Typically Femara is more effective.  But like I said, if your ultrasound was clear then I'm sure it was fine.  FX that this is the ticket for you and you get that BFP soon!  For uterine lining try out drinking red raspberry leaf tea starting CD 1- ovulation and just stay really well hydrated in general.  I'll be keeping an eye out for your updates!

heatherdubrow

@antoto same! I always have the 'string of pearls' around my ovaries no matter where I am in my cycle

TravelingCouple

@antoto Ok, good to know. Thanks for asking. Yessss thanks for the reminder about RRL! I love me some RRL but I ran out of my loose tea a bit ago and keep forgetting to reorder.

heatherdubrow

@TravelingCouple I'm excited you have a next step! I second @adirat in asking about letrozole.
But if you think you're ovulating then I would ask your RE to elaborate on why she thinks clomid is the next step

TravelingCouple

@heatherdubrow Thanks, I am too. Excited and scared. I was really hopeful that the progesterone would be the ticket though...It has worked wonders in lengthening my LP so at least there's that. I wonder if they'll have me continue with the progesterone and Clomid simultaneously. IF blows you guys.

Bababatty

@TravelingCouple I think it's easy to be scared by clomid, but if you're properly monitored it's pretty safe (in my extremely limited experience). Before you start it, I suggest asking your RE what his follicle threshold is for proceeding with TI or IUI (whatever you're doing) and decide if you're comfortable with that. Ask about the percentage risk of HOM for your RE's threshold.

For example, my first IUI I used clomid (lowest dose) and I developed 4, almost 5 mature follicles. The RE doing my u/s advised cancelling the cycle, but my primary RE sets his threshold at maximum of 4 and advised to proceed with a u/s right before to make sure the 5th hadn't matured. The first RE deferred to our RE. Needless to say, this sent me and DH into a panic and much googling occurred about the risks of HOM with 4+ follies. We never did find a good answer and we proceeded anyway and it was all moot because we got a BFN. Don't be like me. Know your threshold in advance. 

Anyway, we did two subsequent cycles with letrozole and got two follies each, which was fine with me.

adirat

@travelingcouple I am not an expert but here's what I know. I'm in a similar place to you -- I am ovulating but have a short luteal phase. I had a 7dpo ultrasound that showed a corpus luteum that was small, so it may not be emitting enough progesterone hence my luteal phase defect. My RE suggested trying a cycle with letrozole, which can produce a "stronger" ovulation that would produce a better corpus luteum and more progesterone. Letrozole is similar to clomid in that it stimulates ovulation, but at less risk to endometrial lining, and it can be used in smaller doses to avoid risk of multiples. He personally considers it safer than clomid given the lining impact. I know some of the other ladies here have used letrozole so they may be able to give more info -- I haven't used it yet. 

And yeah, IF blows. Hugs. 

TravelingCouple

@Bababatty Man that would really suck to skip a cycle based on follicles matured, but yeah I will discuss that with DH and the RE on Wed. Although...I think we are just meeting with the nurse on Wed to go over instructions on Clomid monitoring. I hope she will be able to answer all of these questions properly.

@adirat Ok thanks, I have it written down as one of my questions for Wed. It's an ever growing list of questions haha.

laurad75

Hi gang. Thanks so much the kind words. ER went just fine. They were only able to retrieve 3 eggs and we were prepared for that but it's still disappointing. Hopefully those 3 are rockstars. We are doing ICSI and will get the fertilization report tomorrow. 

 The process itself was very quick (bc only 3 eggs) and I don't remember anything between lying back in the OR and waking up in recovery. Im feeling fine. Minimal discomfort and I've been sleeping all day.  

Now we wait. 

TravelingCouple

@laurad75 I'm glad you're home and it went well!! Come on eggs! All you need is 1 so fx those 3 are some seriously kickass eggs.

Bababatty

@laurad75 I'm glad it went well! FX the eggs are little overachievers. 

@TravelingCouple Can you leave a message for your RE and ask him or her to call you?

wabash15

@TravelingCouple its exciting that your getting started but I get being nervous. Ask questions and you can always stop if your not comfortable. GL

@laurad75 I'm so glad it went well today.  Fx you have 3 little fighters there! rest up and keep us updated

Everycol0r

@TravelingCouple I did 3 rounds of Clomid and 2 round of Femara (letrozole) and the difference was astounding. I had a MUCH better response with Femara and my ovulation was much stronger (which meant intense ovulation pain but oh well). I second Femara over clomid. I was on the max dosage of 10.5 and only got 2 follies split between ovaries (which meant only 1 counted). 

Marley629

@laurad75 keeping everything crossed for your 3 embabies! 

TravelingCouple

@Bababatty yes, he did call me back once before so I'll do that Monday. I haven't seen him since our original appt in Sept. Everything else has been with the nurses, aside from the consultation to read results on everything which was with the other RE in the practice. Do you see your RE every visit?

@Everycol0r so why do so many doctors go to Clomid first as their knee jerk choice.. Very odd. I'll definitely be asking about it.

Thanks @wabash15

wabash15

@TravelingCouple at my last RE I saw him at every visit and he did all my scans and IUI, at my current place I have only seen the RE on the initial appointment and the rest of the time its been the ultrasound techs/nurses

Bababatty

@TravelingCouple I don't see my primary RE every visit, but I do see an RE each time. They do all the u/s monitoring and IUIs.

JuneRoseRuby

@laurad75 fingers crossed for those embies! 

Hey ladies, if Clooney and Amal can get pregnant through IVF, we can do it too!! 

Everycol0r

JuneRoseRuby said:

@laurad75 fingers crossed for those embies! 

Hey ladies, if Clooney and Amal can get pregnant through IVF, we can do it too!! 

Where was it confirmed they used IVF?

JuneRoseRuby

@Everycol0r H and I heard it on Extra news tonight. So of course it must be true. 

Everycol0r

JuneRoseRuby said:

@Everycol0r H and I heard it on Extra news tonight. So of course it must be true. 

Totes magoats

tamalahoops

@laurad75 Glad your retrieval went well! 3 eggs are better than no eggs and it really is quality over quantity that matters. Case in point: of my 23 eggs, 14 fertilized, only 3 made it to freeze. We are anxiously waiting and hoping and praying that those 3 are PGS normal. This process is a roller coaster. Treat yourself to something nice over the next 5 days while you wait for updates. My doctor always says that she will take care of my reproductive health but I have to take care of my head and my heart. I try to remind myself of that everyday. 

laurad75

Great advice @tamalahoops.  Thank you.  

LadyMillil

The appointment went well. The new RE actually trained my old RE which makes me feel much better because I had heard not so great things about this clinic. (Reminder that this is the only clinic in the whole province so there aren't any other options). I need to repeat my hormone panel to check that everything is still good and to give the RE an idea about the dose for meds. DH needs to have a sperm penetration assay done to help decide if we need ICSI. Once the tests are done we will go in the IVF list. The IVF wait time seems to be 2-3 months. I can take Femara + progesterone with TI while waiting for IVF if I want because medicated cycles seem to stop the bleeding problem.

laurad75

I got some good news today. All three eggs fertilized. It's just one more hurdle out of many but it's the first piece of legitimate good news we've received in a while so I will take it!

saralee797-2

@laurad75 @LadyMillil yesss all good news!!!