TTCA35 Weekly update: 10/2/17

Momifbysea

Status (WTO/TWW/Benched/in process of testing or treatment): 

CD, CD/DPO (if applicable):

What are you doing this cycle? (Testing? Treatment? Vitamins/supplements?):

Rants/Raves:

Questions for the group:

GTKY: What's the most interesting thing that happened to you last weekend?

vlagrl29

Status - WTO CD1 yuck!

This cycle I'm going to use OPKs again and get 1 more prog test.  Last time it was tested was back in Feb after my loss.  OB wants to do it on cycle day 21 but I'm going to push for 7 days past O since I O a bit later.  Going to use my FF app again to confirm O.

I'm taking PNV CoQ10 Vit C Maca Root Fish Oil

Rant - uh Vegas shooting how horrible!  Rave - DH and I have been married 8 years tomorrow!

Geez I had a busy weekend. Attended a dress rehearsal and played a wedding Saturday.

Momifbysea

@vlagrl29 sorry about CD1 blah! But hooray for the next opportunity right? I thought about you as I drove to/from Lawrence this weekend. Between that trip and Work is why I’ve been a bit MIA around here.

Momifbysea

Status (WTO/TWW/Benched/in process of testing or treatment): IVF 4, started stims this morning!

CD, CD/DPO (if applicable): CD5

What are you doing this cycle? (Testing? Treatment? Vitamins/supplements?): Follistim, Menopur, baby aspirin, prenatals, vitamin D, started CoQ10 today, dexamethasone, red raspberry leaf tea, Brazil nuts, berries every day!

Rants/Raves: 2 raves today: last night I found gummy CoQ10 so started them! I’m terrible with pills so this makes it possible!

rave 2 is public libraries with free fertility books! Neither of the two I go to had It Starts with the Egg but I checked out 8, yes 8, I know I’m crazy, and really like two of them, plus another is a book of fertility recipes! The ones I got are fertility plans that I think are probably similar to the other book, focus is on egg quality and how you can dial back the clock. Loving this new hope that is really empowering that we can have some control in this with our lifestyles.

Questions for the group: What dose of CoQ10 do you take?

GTKY: What's the most interesting thing that happened to you last weekend? I’d have to say the trip to my home #2 for the moment to visit DH and an impromptu trip to have a quick visit with my parents (my mom just had eye surgery so it really cheered her up)!

vlagrl29

@Momifbysea - I was actually in Lawrence last week Wens playing an event for their hospital at the double tree hotel.

CD 1 does suck but AFs don't really bother me anymore because I even get them the first month I'm  pregnant.

ndz2018

NEWBIE HERE
Status (WTO/TWW/Benched/in process of testing or treatment): WTO 

CD, CD/DPO (if applicable): CD 2 I FEEL YA YUCK @vlagrl29

What are you doing this cycle? (Testing? Treatment? Vitamins/supplements?): PRENATAL, Zinc, COQ10, Maca root 
My SO is taking a multi vitamin, maca root, zinc, l-tyrosine ,vitamin d ( he was deficient his last blood work) AND DOSAGES, not sure how much we should be taking advice on that would be super too!  
this cycle I bought the digital Opk( clear blue easy)  bc the other ones SUCK never got a positive! Faint lines only:( I also drink a lot of water maybe that is why?? 
, also been charting my BBT for the last 3 months using Natural Cycle app to chart


Rants/Raves: other than being annoyed with the OPK faint lines and getting AF yesterday


GTKY: What's the most interesting thing that happened to you last weekend?
my nieces birthday party on Saturday! Watching all the children and babies really confirmed to my SO and I we are ready to take this serious this month.. we were just kinda going with the flow before now we are ready! 

ndz2018

@Momifbysea what fertility recipe book did you look at? Curious to look into it!

artemis618

@vlagrl29  Sorry about CD1, But as Momifbysea said, Yay for another opportunity.

Momifbysea  Yay for starting stims!  What protocol are you doing?  I tried natural start MDL flare with the new RE and stimmed really fast/RE reduced my doses - I still have 6 gonal-f 450 pens left (I only used 5 and I had one leftover from last cycle - and used only 6 vials of Menopur).  If I’d paid cash for them and wasn’t planning on doing more cycles, I’d have been kind of upset.

E-books from the library are my favorite - but I did finally borrow my first hard copy book last week.  Happy reading!

How much longer are you apart from DH?

Status (WTO/TWW/Benched/in process of testing or treatment):  Waiting for my day 5 (and probably day 6) report tomorrow/Wednesday after last Thursday’s egg retrieval (IVF #4) to see how many we get to send for testing.  As of yesterday/day 3, we still had 17 in the running (nutty - this is more than twice the highest number of embryos we’ve had in a single cycle before), but days 4 and 5 are the toughest.  Hopefully we have some normals in there.  I guess I’ll take this cycle off to give my ovaries a rest and plan to go again in November.

CD, CD/DPO (if applicable):  CD16 / 4 days past ER (I stimmed REALLY fast this time - only 7 days!)

What are you doing this cycle? (Testing? Treatment? Vitamins/supplements?):  PNV, ubiquinol, C, D, E, NAC, fish oil, inositol

Rants/Raves:  If this goes well, this new RE will be our favorite

Questions for the group:  None of which I can think!

GTKY: What's the most interesting thing that happened to you last weekend?  Well, on Friday we learned that 18 of 33 eggs retrieved fertilized- which is sort of insane to us because it’s higher than the total number of embryos/fertilized from my first three cycles combined.  We get a little concerned because we’ve previously observed an inverse relationship between quantity and quality (quality being the only thing that matters), but I guess we’ll see.  Otherwise I mostly took it easy (exercise restriction), went to puppy class, and planned lodging for this coming weekend (camping just one night at Yosemite and one at an airbnb in Central Coast wine country - with the dog but that’s not so interesting

vlagrl29

@Momifbysea I'm for sure interested to see how all these new things your doing impacts your egg stuff this cycle. Yea for coq10 gummy.  I just upped my coq to 400mg a day.  I love berries and eat them every day.

harleyquinn0621

@vlagrl29 happy anniversary !!
@ndz2018 welcome!
@Momifbysea yayyy fror starting stims!!
@artemis618 fx for a good report !!  

Status (WTO/TWW/Benched/in process of testing or treatment):  TWW - Beta will be drawn  on 10/09

CD, CD/DPO (if applicable):  CD20

What are you doing this cycle? (Testing? Treatment? Vitamins/supplements?): HSG#2; IUI #1 with gonal f, femara, ovidrel, PIO; metformin, vitamin D, CoQ10 and prenats

Rants/Raves:
non TTC related rant: i'm exhausted... my husband got into a verbal altercation at 3:30am with our neighbor due to extremely loud music being played (we live in a triplex... we share a wall with our neighbor.... it was so loud our bedroom wall was shaking) 

TTC related rant:  still not super hopeful for this cycle due to my non rising E2 #s so i just kind of want to get my negative beta over with. i'm starting a new position with my company next week so i don't know what this means for next cycle....i really don't want to take a bunch of time off from work when i just started a new position but then i don't want to skip a cycle either


GTKY: What's the most interesting thing that happened to you last weekend? i guess my non ttc rant would be this lol

Labluver2

Status (WTO/TWW/Benched/in process of testing or treatment): I guess Benched went in for cycle day 9 recheck bw and us. Last week CD 3 showed progestrone still elevated at 4.5. Found some folicals cysts today and even tho my progestrone came down to 1 he wanted to skip this cycle. 

CD, CD/DPO (if applicable): CD WTO trying naturally this cycle

What are you doing this cycle? (Testing? Treatment? Vitamins/supplements?): vit D, cosq10, prenatle, red rasberry leaf tea

Rants/Raves: I have a friend/coworker and all she does is complain about everything work and her home life. I get people need to vent but everyday she's so misrile I don't even want to be around her.

Questions for the group: non right now

GTKY: What's the most interesting thing that happened to you last weekend? I can't even remember last weekend lol

ndz2018

@harleyquinn0621
THANK YOU!! I'm super excited to have a community to talk to about this! All my friends are all past this stage in their lives and it's nice to know I'm not alone.  

redheadbride15

I’ll just jump right in! I did a separate into thread too.

Status (WTO/TWW/Benched/in process of testing or treatment): WTO... 

CD, CD/DPO (if applicable): CD16

What are you doing this cycle? (Testing? Treatment? Vitamins/supplements?): temping, OPKs, prenatal vitamins, trying to stay fit and avoid catching daycare plagues from my DS

Rants/Raves: Ugh, I always hate sex by about this time in the cycle... can’t wait to take a few days off.

Questions for the group: for those who started fertility treatments... when did you initiate a referral? I know that they say after 6 months if you’re over 35, but that is next cycle for us and I’m not sure I’m emotionally ready for that yet...

GTKY: What's the most interesting thing that happened to you last weekend? 

My DH bought me a gift certificate for an 80 minute massage on Sunday as a birthday present. Wow, my body feels amazing after that!

artemis618

@harleyquinn612  Congrats on your new position!

Welcome @ndz2018

@redheadbride15 Welcome back & happy belated - I’ll be 40 in a week and a long massage sounds fantastic! We got married last June (2016 - not this past), *TW* got pregnant last July, then mc in October *end TW*.  So I asked for a referral (unofficially since not required for PPO) in November because December would have made 6 mos trying without a successful pregnancy.  A lot this was b/c I had coverage for two IVF cycles, so we jumped straight to IVF because we wanted to PGS test to try to avoid another *TW* loss.  It’s been a little rougher than we expected (we’ve now paid for two more cycles OOP - and only gotten one normal from our first three cycles), but unfortunately these things tend not to get better with age (not to scare you), so if you’re thinking about it, the sooner the better to at least go for a consult.  It can also take a cycle or two to get started if you haven’t had all the required bloodwork done and depending on protocol (at least for IVF - I’m not familiar with IUI requirements).  The way I see it, it is unfortunately a numbers game for a lot of us at this age and the ART just gets us through more eggs at a time/more quickly.

vlagrl29

@redheadbride15 it's really personal preference. I wasn't even going to question clomid until it had been a full year. Got pg and had a loss 6 months in. The entire process has been too stressful for me.  We are waiting until a year mark post loss to move forward. That will be in January. We don't have RE coverage so it'll be oop for us and the most I'd want to try is femara. I'm still hoping it happens natural. We don't have much extra cash for an RE right now. Guess if I didn't care about monitoring and was ok with clomid my OB can do that which we are covered for.

Momifbysea

Glad to have you here @ndz2018 and @redheadbride15!

@vlagrl29 yeah my nurse said the same thing she’s curious what the food changes will do to my IVF outcome, meaning egg quality since that’s what they identified as my issue. I’m down 7.8lbs as of 1 month today of the new eating plan. I have more energy!

vlagrl29

@momifbysea - that's great about the weight loss!  I know personally with myself if I eat bad several days in a row I can really feel it in my body.

redheadbride15

@Artemis0685 @vlagrl29 thanks for your advice! I’m pretty sure I have IVF coverage but I have not confirmed that yet. I think for me I’m just not ready to accept the idea of my aging body quite yet. We were lucky and did not have difficulty conceiving 2 years ago. I had a pretty easy, healthy pregnancy and I sort of assumed the same would be true this time around. But maybe 40 vs 38 really does make a difference. I think I’m going to plug away for the next 1.5 cycles before I start talking about it. 

vlagrl29

@redheadbride15 - I completely understand waiting.  Pretty much why I will consult with an RE next month because if we are going to do it then it will be after the holidays.  In case they have a wait they will be ready for me.  Even with RE though I'm not going further than Femara - we already have a child and don't have much cash flow extra.  Also mentally speaking I don't think I'd have it in me to keep doing this for much longer.  I would consider us one and done.  I suggest getting all your fertility tests done now for peace of mind.  That's what I did when I was 6 months in.  All came back normal so there's that.

Momifbysea

@redheadbride15 I am so much relating to what you said about it being easy at 38. I conceived naturally on month 2 of trying but this time around, we started trying again when I was 41 and I just turned 43 and have 2 failed IUIs 3 failed IVFs under my belt. If I could turn back time I would have gotten help sooner but it was so easy the first time around, healthy pregnancy, no issues...it has been a whole different story after 40! Just my story though.

angelbea

Hello - just thought I would join the group, as I am planning to TTC naturally after deciding to stop IVF treatments due to a complication I had after my last (3rd) ER.  I've actually never actively TTC, as my DH and I went straight to IVF after marrying (each for the first time) in our 40s, so will be looking for all tips and tricks!  I'm a bit worn out after our IVF experience, and needed to recover from my surgery, so I didn't really "try" this first month following the ER.  I plan to start using the ClearBlueEasy digital test for my next cycle, which should start in mid-Oct.  But frankly, I'm not sure if I can really go "hard core" with the charting, etc. yet -- still a little worn out.                  

Momifbysea

Welcome @angelbea! I personally love the CBE digital ones, used them before IVF and iui’s and liked knowing my 4 best days so we had a few chances! But I know others haven’t liked it so it’s a personal preference.

vlagrl29

@angelbea - welcome and sorry to hear about the crazy ivf story.  I use to use CBE digital but at this point I'm cheap and buy dollar tree OPKs.  I buy 5 per month so it's only $5 and works just the same except not digital.  We have a plan to BD EOD CD 12-22 that way we know we will hopefully hit it either way.

ndz2018

So it's official... today I turned 37 and pretty sure AF just ended( barely there) CD 4 and all prepped with my clear blue easy opk( for the last 3 months I never got a positive with the cheap ones hoping the digital works), charting my BBT, taking all the necessary vitamins,  and so is my SO. This is the first time we will be really trying! I'm excited and nervous.. we've discussed our plan if we can't naturally and we will 100% do IUI or IVF if need be.
I'm so glad I joined this community.... I love my SO and we talk about everything but there are just certain things he can't , as a male, understand. Have a wonderful night everyone'

Momifbysea

Happy birthday @ndz2018! Any fun plans?

ndz2018

@Momifbysea THANK YOU!!
Spent the day with my 3 year old niece(her birthday was the day before) and had a nice relaxing night with my family. SO got me a Apple Watch and a gift card to Victoria Secrets gift card (told me to go get something sexy) getting ready for the BD  
So he has ED(sometimes it works fine, sometimes no) we are all set with viagra and he has an app with the cardiologist tomorrow, also has heart palpations, as soon as we get the green light that taking the viagra is ok we'll be all set. I'm hoping he doesn't need it as 3 times last month he was fine and had no issues! I think it's more in his head thinking he can't more than anything. We had a long talk last night about it.
ANY ADVICE ON THIS WILL BE SO APPRECIATED!!

vlagrl29

So I'm cray and decided I just can't anymore with the control of ttc. I was going to temp this month but only 4 days in I deleted the app off my phone. I'm still going to continue with the supplements and BD but there comes a point in my mind where it keeps me from being in the present moment and that's what I need for my own sanity.

Labluver2

@vlagrl29 Im with you even tho I'm trying naturally these two months I'm not stressing not charting not opking just relaxing and if it happenes it happens. I'm hoping the break will trigger something and by miracle I get a bfp naturally.

vlagrl29

I hope the natural route works for you @Labluver2 - our new puppy follows me around everywhere and I love it.  My fur baby just brings me so much joy.

Labluver2

@vlagrl29 Aww puppies are the best. We adopted our foster we had since January she's my shadow and when I'm upset she lays across me. She came at a time when I was very depressed going thru the infertility journey and I was just starting out. I'm in a much better place mentally now. I think we both needed each other. 

vlagrl29

Shes already grown a bit since this. An old boppy pillow. She's my baby.

Momifbysea

@vlagrl29 omg she’s adorable!!!

vlagrl29

Thanks @momifbysea - she's a black mini schnauzer we named Lucky.  Never had a black one.  She has a bit of white on her chest.  She's by my side at all times unless she's playing with our other dog.  It's definately helped me with this process.

ndz2018

@vlagrl29 LOVE THE PUPPY!! SO CUTE! What is she?