The Official TTC Thread!

[tiffanytwisted]

Hi everyone, haven''t been around much lately but I wanted to chime in to Melanie and Swimmer. I''m doing follistim/ovidrel with IUI. I''ve now done 2 cycles. I have read about the cautions with exercising, although haven''t asked my RE about it. (He hasn''t mentioned anything but maybe it''s because I don''t really look like I do strenuous exercise on a regular basis!)I ended up just not doing super strenuous, twisty type motions. The concern is with hyperstimulation the ovaries are enlarged and that is a risk for torsion. Anyway, after the ovidrel both times my abdomen has been a little sore, not anything severe but enough that I wanted to limit the amount of exercising. I''m curious to see how you guys feel after the trigger. After the first cycle I had a cyst left on my ovary so we took a month off. We''ll see what this cycle brings.
Good luck to everyone and welcome to the newbies!!

 

[fisherofmengirly]

NewShiny,

Yay on the all clear to start trying again! Are you going to with the new cycle?

One of my co-workers does that yard sale every year. Then she comes to the office with all kinds of *stuff,* asking if anyone wants anything, because she has no room and no need for it, but it was just too good of a deal to pass up. It's so funny!

Trader Joe's. Sadly, my husband doesn't understand all that is Trader's, so we rarely go. There isn't really one close to us (as in where we usually go around town), but there is one about 10 minutes away from the OB/GYN so I have big plans for being a more regular customer once I have a reason to be going to the Dr. on a regular basis! I don't love Del Taco, but I L

VE their hot sauce "Del Scorcho." My mom goes in and snags packages of it all the time when she takes her grandkids there for a treat and then when she sends us something in the mail, she uses the packages as packing material. I love it! And, this is really funny because there used to be Del Taco's here in GA, but they all moved away. But we just saw a new sign up on the 85 (goes through GA and SC and GA and I don't know where all else) in SC that a new one is up there, too. So if I ever run out of sauce, I know where to go. I'm not a big fast food eater (makes me feel like vomiting afterwards), but my husband has a big love for all things greasy, so he loves the different places in CA. His fav. is In&Out, but they're not as greasy as most. I like their grilled cheese and will sometimes get that when we visit.

****
Tiffany,

Thanks for checking in! Hoping good, good things for you this round, lady!! I miss seeing your dog around here so much these days....

****
Thanks to everyone for the thoughts and well wishes for my mother-in-law. She's awesome and we're so glad to see her doing better. She's been gaining weight back (lost 57 pounds from Oct-May) and is getting stronger and stronger all the time. It's so amazing to watch her return to herself.

****
Dr. Kate,

Thanks for the breakdown on the Clomid and Femera. I'm confused as to why Drs. prescribe Clomid first, if it has more side effects and Femera does the same thing, and can cause ovulation to occur in people who didn't ovulate on Clomid. I also wonder if you take Clomid and ovulate regularly, would a Dr. be willing to try Femera before just jumping to saying you need an RE? Here's the thing, I think Paul and I have come to the conclusion (for now, anyway) that we'll not be goin any route with an RE until 2010, and when we "run out" of clomid, we just run out. The reason is because we're just really still hung up over IUI and we still think we can do this on our own, if given enough time. Haha, maybe because we're stubborn we think that, but it's a strong conviction between us. And I'm nervous about having more aggressive means of TTC pushed on us, too. So I wonder... I'll ask the Dr. about Femera if Clomid doesn't work. Hoping we don't even get to that point, though.

A little more info on the SA if anyone has any mad skills in that area, because I'm slightly confused. The results came back good, with really high count, concentration, motility was 75% which is really good the Dr. said, and they used the Kruger scale for morphology, which is where my confusion lies. The results sheet says anything over 4% is good, but I've read that you should have over 14% to be considered "good" with the Kruger scale and over 30% to be considered "good" with the WHO scale. Well, the score on the result sheet was 12%, but the Dr. from the lab included a coversheet with the results that my Dr. forwarded to us and it says that anything over 4% should not need IUI if there are no female issues involved, so that did kind of make me feel like 12% aint bad. Just wondered if anyone has any information on the Kruger scale at all....

Late for work. Again. Still trying to get back to the routine of getting up early to get on the elliptical. It's a work in progress, I suppose.

Good Wednesday to all!

 

[blushingbride]

Hi All!

Wow...this thread is bump''n!

Welcome to all the newbies...and best of luck to each of you!

Vesper - CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

Wishing you a very happy and healthy 9 months!!

Tiffany - so great to hear from you. I was wondering how you were doing the other day.

Well, I FINALLY got a visit from AF last night! It''s still fairly light and dark brown in color (sorry TMI). Cara, what was yours like when you got it?

I''m very excited as now I can finally have some closure with my pregnancy/miscarriage and move forward. My RE told me to call her nurse on CD1 so, I just left a message with her this morning. She knows that I was thinking of going on clomid and so, I just want to inform her that we decided to do it. I actually dropped off my perscription this morning and will start on CD5! We didn''t want to mess around any longer with this whole process so, if this is going to help speed things up for us, we''re going to do it! I was also told to make an appt. with my RE at the end of this cycle so she can monitor me. NYbkgirl, were you ever on clomid and if so, were you on it at NY Pres?

 

[swimmer]

Date: 8/11/2009 10:40:05 PM
Author: tiffanytwisted
Hi everyone, haven''t been around much lately but I wanted to chime in to Melanie and Swimmer. I''m doing follistim/ovidrel with IUI. I''ve now done 2 cycles. I have read about the cautions with exercising, although haven''t asked my RE about it. (He hasn''t mentioned anything but maybe it''s because I don''t really look like I do strenuous exercise on a regular basis!)I ended up just not doing super strenuous, twisty type motions. The concern is with hyperstimulation the ovaries are enlarged and that is a risk for torsion. Anyway, after the ovidrel both times my abdomen has been a little sore, not anything severe but enough that I wanted to limit the amount of exercising. I''m curious to see how you guys feel after the trigger. After the first cycle I had a cyst left on my ovary so we took a month off. We''ll see what this cycle brings.

Good luck to everyone and welcome to the newbies!!

Thanks Tiffany, do you know what is going on with the cyst? That is such a fear with this stuff, that the side effects can sometimes defeat the purpose of taking it to begin with... Are you waiting for AF or for your u/s to determine stim date?

So I''m a swim/dive coach once the school year begins and yes, diving does require both fast twisting actions and impact, so will work on finding videos online for them to watch instead of demonstrating like I normally do. Hadn''t even thought about that.

Happy W everyone

 

[drk]

Fisher - I think it's because clomid is the "tried and true" long-used old standby. It's a relatively new use for femara, and it's off-label use. Many docs either don't know about it or don't feel comfortable using it. I had to sign a waiver when I went on it to say that I'd had the "risk of birth defects" explained to me. There was apparently some study that tried to claim that femara had a slightly higher incidence of birth defects than clomid/usual population. I read a lot of stuff at the time, and there were editorials that said that the claims were pretty bogus. If I vaguely remember, not a great study, and there was no pharmacological plausibility to the theory that femara was the cause. With it washing out of your system before ovulation, how could it possibly impact a fetus that wouldn't implant for days, nor would share a blood supply with Mum for a few weeks? At any rate, I decided that was absolutely not a concern for us, and signed up right away. It's more expensive than clomid, I think. My insurance was paying about $108 Cdn for 15 2.5mg pills. I was initially taking 5mg x5days, I think, then 7.5mg overlapping with gonal-F with my next doctor. That + IUI got us our "chemical pg" or very early m/c last fall. I think it's also actually supposed to have a lower incidence of twins than clomid too, which I thought was good.

Tiffany - hope the IUI works for you! The only insanely achy belly I had (aside from post IVF retrieval) was after I triggered with ovidrel with about 20 follicles growing, when we decided that the estradiol levels indicated crummy egg quality and we wouldn't be following through with the IVF, just bringing an end to the cycle. That was ouchy for a good 2-3 days afterwards, with all the free fluid from follicles floating around in there afterwards.

Melanie and Swimmer - good luck with the ultrasounds tomorrow! It's you guys who are having them, right?

 

[melz]

Swimmer yes I am using the pen as well. I'll ask about it if I get the chance, I'm curious. And what a link! Looks clever. I'm going to check out the blog. Although ... Tiffany and Drk maybe there is a reason I am staying in the dark about the complexities of the process, a sore stomach ow! I didn't know that would happen. Well, now I'll be prepared. Tiffany good luck with this cycle. Drk do you remember the estrodial levels that weren't good? Mine as of Tuesday were 700-something.

Drk thanks, yes I think it's me, Swimmer and Festy as well! Swimmer and I are in the ivf process, and I believe Festy is in an iui cycle. We are all scheduled for u/s tomorrow morning. It's so interesting to see what's grown in the past two days! And actually, am I remembering correctly that swimmer and festy are both in Massachusetts? Be funny if we were all at the same location tomorrow morning ... mine is Boston IVF.

LV good for you for being on top of your insurance coverage! I was sort of hoping you would do something like that. That way if you had to be trying for six months or whatever you could fudge a bit if you wanted to ... anyway sounds like with a little persistence, per Laila, you can get it done anyway.

Someone had an acupuncture appointment this week, can't remember Swimmer maybe? In Cambridge? How'd it go? I have one after work today which I am so looking forward too. She does craniosacral as well which I've heard interesting things about.

Okay, back to boring work. Happy Wednesday everybody!

ETA: Fisher, I don't have any information about sperm counts but I am glad to hear that one doctor at least thinks you don't need iui. Especially as you want to continue on the path you're on for a bit.

 

[drk]

Melanie - Here are my stats from the two cycles. E2 (estradiol) is in Canadian units, which I think are 3.671 times higher than the US units. Things moved quicker all around with the second cycle, as you can see from the E2 and number of follicles over 10mm.

Stim day E2 #follicles >10mm
IVF1 (OCP downregulation, >30 antrals. Antagonist cycle.)
Day0 62 0
Day4 263 0
Day6 524 1
Day7 432 ?5
Day8 993 9
Day9 939 9
Day10 1512 12
Day11 1908 13
Day12 2488 18
Day13 3155 Trigger - No IUI/BD. Cancelled. E2 very low for the number of follicles, likely indicating poor egg quality. Proceeded immediately to IVF2 with AF.

IVF2 (Antagonist. No downregulation, waited till CD17 to start stims due to cysts and big exam, >20 antrals)
Day1 147 0 (this was CD17)
Day4 486 0
Day6 1833 5
Day7 2789 7
Day8 3204 11
Day9 5647 14
Day10 8576 18 (12 "mature size") Ovidrel. No more stims.
Day11 13000 (they didn''t give me the exact number, but it was a good sign that the E2 was still rising after trigger and without more stims)
Day12 Retrieved 16, 14 mature, 13 fertilized, 11 day3, 6 blasts on day5. Transferred 2, froze 4. Beta 955 July 2nd (20dpo). Beta 3900 24dpo. U/S at 7wks showed 6wk5d baby with FHR 127. U/S at 9.5 weeks showed 9w3d baby with FHR 175.

 

[Loves Vintage]

Laila - Thanks for the info. Have you had your u/s already? Has your DH gone for his test yet? I didn''t realize that our drs. would be able to order tests for our DH''s. That''s good to hear. Getting my DH to go to the doctor is very, very, very difficult. I cannot get him to go for a regular physical. It is maddening. I have wanted him to go for a while, completely independent of TTC, just to make sure he''s healthy!! He makes every excuse to avoid setting an appointment!!

 

[Festy]

I just want to say off the bat that I''m so glad to see some new "joiners" on this thread! I was slightly worried for a few days that the only people left on the thread were those of us who''d started fertility treatments and that our tales of woe might scare the newbs away! Glad that wasn''t the case, and welcome Ice Kid! If I could give one piece of advice to those just starting to TTC, it''s to HAVE FUN. This is the fun part. Really! Even though we''ve not been successful yet, I know that DH will look back on this time with fond memories. There were some times when I did my best to suck the fun right out of it: "Um, pretty sure I''m ovulating right NOW, so let''s get to it buster!" But I soon realized the error of my ways. If you''re charting, try not to let it occupy your thoughts. If, after say 3 months of temping you see that you are ovulating regularly and can read your fertility signs pretty well, put the thermometer away! Lecture over.

Yup, I''m one of the USers tomorrow. I''m not at Boston IVF, but I''ll be thinking of Swimmer and Melanie.

Fisher - The whole morphology thing is very confusing. 12% is a good number - you have nothing to worry about. IIRC, the Kruger scale is a much more in-depth analysis of morphology and stricter too. My DH''s numbers were 3% the first time and 4% the second - much more in the gray area when you want something to be black and white! When our RE saw the 4% he said, "that''s good, but the volume is a little low." Well, looking at the lab report, his volume was technically within the normal range, but on the low side. So I think our RE was trying to paint an overall picture for us, while being extremely sensitive to DH.

Tiffany - thanks for checking in! Keeping my fingers crossed for you this cycle.

BB - we''re gonna be Clomid buddies! I start tomorrow, CD3, and stop on CD7.

Right now I''m wrestling with whom to tell that we''re doing IUI. And if people ask what our diagnosis was, I truly will not have an answer so I''m leaning toward inconclusive. Do you ladies have any advice on this? I''m planning on waiting to tell my mom. I think she was not wild about the idea of using drugs.

 

[melz]

Date: 8/12/2009 11:18:54 AM
Author: drk
Melanie - Here are my stats from the two cycles. E2 (estradiol) is in Canadian units, which I think are 3.671 times higher than the US units. Things moved quicker all around with the second cycle, as you can see from the E2 and number of follicles over 10mm.

Stim day E2 #follicles >10mm
IVF1 (OCP downregulation, >30 antrals. Antagonist cycle.)
Day0 62 0
Day4 263 0
Day6 524 1
Day7 432 ?5
Day8 993 9
Day9 939 9
Day10 1512 12
Day11 1908 13
Day12 2488 18
Day13 3155 Trigger - No IUI/BD. Cancelled. E2 very low for the number of follicles, likely indicating poor egg quality. Proceeded immediately to IVF2 with AF.

IVF2 (Antagonist. No downregulation, waited till CD17 to start stims due to cysts and big exam, >20 antrals)
Day1 147 0 (this was CD17)
Day4 486 0
Day6 1833 5
Day7 2789 7
Day8 3204 11
Day9 5647 14
Day10 8576 18 (12 ''mature size'') Ovidrel. No more stims.
Day11 13000 (they didn''t give me the exact number, but it was a good sign that the E2 was still rising after trigger and without more stims)
Day12 Retrieved 16, 14 mature, 13 fertilized, 11 day3, 6 blasts on day5. Transferred 2, froze 4. Beta 955 July 2nd (20dpo). Beta 3900 24dpo. U/S at 7wks showed 6wk5d baby with FHR 127. U/S at 9.5 weeks showed 9w3d baby with FHR 175.

Kate this is fabulous thank you. You''ve motivated me to keep my own records. Using the conversion number you provided, it looks like I''m right around where you were the second cycle. I''m counting day one as the first day of Gonal F. So your retrieval date would be my Sunday, I hope it works out to be that day!

Swimmer I wonder if the differences in our doses has something to do with the other drugs we might be taking. I''m also using syneral (which I believe is equivalent to Lupron).

 

[blushingbride]

Yay Festy for clomid buddies! Are you taking 50 or 100 miligrams? Also, what''s the reasoning behind some people taking it on day 2 or day 3 or day 5, etc?

 

[Laila619]

Date: 8/12/2009 11:22:43 AM
Author: Loves Vintage
Laila - Thanks for the info. Have you had your u/s already? Has your DH gone for his test yet? I didn''t realize that our drs. would be able to order tests for our DH''s. That''s good to hear. Getting my DH to go to the doctor is very, very, very difficult. I cannot get him to go for a regular physical. It is maddening. I have wanted him to go for a while, completely independent of TTC, just to make sure he''s healthy!! He makes every excuse to avoid setting an appointment!!

I didn''t know my OBGYN could write a presciiption for my DH either, but someone on another TTC board told me it''s pretty standard when a couple is TTC. Who knew? Yes, my DH did his semen analysis right away. We dropped it off on Saturday (was a bit embarrassing for him, the poor guy!) and now we''re just waiting on the results.

He thinks it''s all his fault that we''re not getting pregnant, so I hope the results will relieve his fears. I just hope his sample will be ok, because we dropped it off 40 minutes after he, er, did his thing. I hope too much time didn''t elapse for the results to be valid.

I''m doing my ultrasound soon.

 

[Laila619]

Date: 8/12/2009 12:10:47 PM
Author: Festy
If I could give one piece of advice to those just starting to TTC, it''s to HAVE FUN. This is the fun part. Really! Even though we''ve not been successful yet, I know that DH will look back on this time with fond memories. There were some times when I did my best to suck the fun right out of it: ''Um, pretty sure I''m ovulating right NOW, so let''s get to it buster!'' But I soon realized the error of my ways.

Festy, I am guilty of this too. There have been plenty of times I''ve told DH, "I''m ovulating now, let''s have sex." I know he doesn''t like knowing this because it puts too much pressure on him. However, if I don''t tell him we need to do it now, then sex might not be timed right, and it''s a wasted month. So how do you ensure sex happens without telling your DH it''s O time?

 

[drk]

Melanie - I''m just a control freak - needed to know my numbers. I''m still kind of annoyed they didn''t give me my exact day-before-retrieval E2 result (not that it was important), or that they didn''t tell me my exact beta on 24dpr. Oh well. It went up appropriately, and I tried to just care about that. Knowing my numbers (like that my LH was basically 0 through most of the first IVF cycle''s stims) made me able to have better discussions with the RE about what to change for cycle #2. E2 taking a long time to start rising? Maybe I was oversuppressed from the pill they had me take to fit me into their usual IVF cycle slot. E2 staying low and looking like crap eggs? Made me wonder if my LH might just have been too low (it was usually 2-4 on previous IUI/GonalF cycles). The second cycle we did a mix of menopur and gonal-F to have some LH activity. I think they were a little nervous because the LH hovered around 8 most of the way through, and I was on an antagonist cycle, so that level was the one at which they usually worried that someone was surging prematurely. So far (fingers crossed and praying hard), it seems to have worked, whatever it was that we changed.

Festy - I''m actually finding it nice to not feel like I''m one of the only ones needing fertility help around here. It seemed like so many people popped on to say they were about to TTC, then came back the next month to say they''d gotten their BFP already. Hope you also have a great U/S tomorrow! My Mom was bugging me for the last 3 years about "filling my body with drugs", and kept trying to claim that if we just took a vacation and relaxed, it would happen. Me telling her I have PCOS and LPD and DH has MF didn''t seem to change her mind that all the drugs were superfluous. She kept telling me I should take a break and forget it all for a while. And then she ended up giving us money for IVF - that came out of the blue. I did tell a few people that we were doing fertility treatments, but didn''t tell too many details usually. I usually left it at "we both have issues". I''m sure you could always say you''ve got unknown fertility problems, and are using clomid to boost your chances.

BB - I think it''s sort of your doctor''s preference. Studies that I looked at didn''t seem to show any real difference in outcomes between a day3 or day5 start. I think day3 start might grow more follicles on average because the FSH gets bumped up before any one follicle is already selected to be the lead by your body, day5 was maybe supposed to get you one great follicle. I''m sure you can end up ovulating more than one with either method though.

Laila - the lab usually makes you say when the specimen was collected, so it''s taken into account. As long as it was kept warm (not hard this time of year), I bet it''ll be fine. DH and I rushed down his first SA to the lab to make it in their 30min time limit, only to have to stand in line for a while and see the desk clerk put it to the side to just let it sit on the counter. I figure the time of arrival really couldn''t be all that critical if they didn''t have to immediately pop it in an incubator.

 

[cara]

Blushing, yea for being done with the m/c! And yea for drugs. Well, they aren''t for everybody but for you it probably feels good to be doing something different for the next try. My post m/c period was a bit shorter than usual but did have bright red flow at the beginning, however I bled a heck of a lot longer than you on the miscarriage so I think you are doing fine. A lot of my miscarriage bleeding was dark red/brown old blood stuff, which sounds like what your period is this cycle? It just has to get out one way or another, and maybe you didn''t build up a good new lining this cycle to shed. Which makes sense for a post-miscarriage cycle. While I think I ovulated in the post m/c cycle as I saw a distinct temperature shift, there was not a lot of time between the miscarriage bleeding and ovulation, and the LP was short, and the period was short, so I think things were still getting settled. Good luck for you!

This cycle for me, however, may be a bust. I probably ovulated yesterday with husband on the wrong coast

And now we''ll have to have the timing conversation again about whether to take a few months off TTC for hubby to start fellowship next summer without a newborn. Argh. This is what we get for trying to sneak in a baby prior to losing husband to his hospital-mistress. Best laid plans.

 

[cara]

Lv, ugh, my hubby is a dr and he is the same way! Though if there were a real valid medical reason for which he is not trained or a test were warranted maybe it would be different. But for routine checks, he says they are completely unnecessary for men in his decade, and he hasn't had a sickness or injury that he thought needed treatment in at least 10 yrs. I guess that's a good thing. But for the SA (if you aren't successful very soon!) it just seems like that is useful in the process of elimination needed to spare you more invasive tests unless necessary.

Hey fisher, your optimism is impressive! I'm thinking good things for you and your hubby for 2009! But I forgot- did you have the (forgot word for test with dye to look at your plumbing)? Cause that is the other half of the equation for iui is if for some reason there is a more complex path that the swimmers have to navigate. And basically I'm asking if there are other diagnosting tests that might provide useful information before iui (as I know you are reluctant to go there) or are you holding off on further testing as well?

ETA: oh LV, he's already done his SA! Ok, you can't complain much. You two are on the ball!

 

[Festy]

Blushing - I''m taking 50 mg. The RE originally prescribed 100 then asked, "you''d be ok with twins, right?" Um, no. So he reduced it to 50. It''s funny, I suppose in his business he assumes people are prepared for twins? I was really glad he asked. (I would have brought it up had he not). I''m glad DrK chimed in about when Clomid is taken. I didn''t ask why those days and not others.

Laila - It''s definitely a trial and error thing. DH and I got to the point where he knew that if I was initiating, it was time to do it. I think. I also had to let go a little and not freak out if we missed a day that I thought might be important. I should note that it was easier to take this relaxed approach after I''d stopped charting and using OPKs. I''d done enough of that to know that I generally O''d between CD 13 and 15 and so I put us on a "regular" schedule of DTD on days 12 and 14. Obviously it didn''t work, so take this all with a grain of salt!

(DTD every day for us was not ideal).

DrK - Glad we could give you some company! It''s been so helpful to have your expertise around here.

Cara - Bummer about the timing. As to your earlier post, I am irritated all the time by children! All the time. [Scratches head].

 

[swimmer]

I love it when this thread moves fast!
Festy has a great point, I hope that ladies new to this don't get stressed because some of us are taking the more scenic route... When i first started here it seemed that all someone had to do was post once here and they got preggo. So so so happy for those who do get there fast, actually I have been looking around for buttercup she should be having her baby soon.

For the record I'm doing an iui cycle...but my RE said "be open to this switching to an IVF situation pretty quickly" she is just being realistic. The scar tissue on both ovaries plus pcos makes it pretty hard to figure out what is going to work. And my estradiol levels keep being super low, which yeah, Drk, is a bad sign indeed. So I'm just doing gonal-f shots and then a trigger ovidrel, HA, not that there is any "just" to it, but I had been thinking that was a ton but it seems there are lots of us in this boat.

Festy, I go to Fertility Centers o' NE across from Jordan's, is that where you go? I need to look up your ring so i can id you in the waiting room. Mine is a sapph center ec 3stone if you are looking

ETA: I will recognize you from that excellent drawing of you that is your avatar. Oh, and just so you know, I am annoyed by other peoples' children constantly (occupational hazard of being a teacher), but our own children will be enchanting. Right? Otherwise how do those parents deal with theirs?

Melanie, I have heard great things about IVF Boston, a friend got her little boy through them. Hope that you have an awesome acu session. Mine was totally relaxing, but i fall asleep on the red line regularly, so that could just be me. It is funny that we are all in Boston! perhaps we are faster to go to ART because it is mandated coverage by our insurance? Or we are bitter old broads? Red Sox fans never accept defeat, we just move on to the next season/cycle.

BB, yay for AF! What a relief and now you are on to a new chapter. Good luck lady!

Cara, bummer about your timing. I know that frustration! I threatened DH with jumping a friend of his who looks a lot like him if he did that again. I was totally kidding, but he has been doing more videoconferencing since that little convo...

DrK, thank you for posting your data. I always feel weird asking for the numbers...but will bring my pen and paper in tomorrow because last time I thought there were three good follies and it turns out there was only one, but with nada for lining and estradil...there was no reason to get my hopes up. Thank you for sharing about your mom. Mine is at that initial phase of being opposed to trying. I just realized that she is also thinking of a dear friend of mine who was pregnant when her cancer returned so declined treatment and left her husband to raise an infant alone. Not sure what I would do in that situation, how could anyone? But treatment won't necessarily "bring back" my ovarian cancer and we all deserve a shot at trying to have a baby. So yes, I agree, it is very good to know that there are others out there with the same struggles. There is something so unusual about if. It isn't life threatening, but to not function properly as a female member of the species is very difficult.

 

[blushingbride]

Cara - thanks for the support and yea for having the chance to finally try again!

Yes, the drugs aren''t for everyone, but my mom got pregnant with both my sister and I using clomid so, I''m hoping I am as successful as she was! Plus, we''ve been trying LONG enough already!

I''m just excited for the next step in all this.

My flow is still mostly brown - with the occaisionally pink spots here and there. I''m only wearing panty liners - not even a pad. Interesting about our miscarriage bleeding - mine was shorter and bright red the entire time except for the last day (complete opposite of yours). I wasn''t temping during that cycle so, I have no clue if I ovulated or not. I remember feeling lots of twinges down there last week so, not sure what that was.

Hope this cycle isn''t a bust for you - wishing you all the best!!!

Drk - thanks for the explanation on the clomid. I''m anxious to get started. I''m guessing that if you are younger, that doing days 5-9 makes sense since you don''t want to increase the odds of having twins unless the clock is really ticking. Doing days 3-7 might be more of an option too if you''ve had several unsuccesful cycles going days 5-9.

GOOD LUCK to Festy, Swimmer and Melanie tomorrow!!!!!!!

 

[Loves Vintage]

Date: 8/12/2009 1:56:36 PM
Author: cara
Lv, ugh, my hubby is a dr and he is the same way! Though if there were a real valid medical reason for which he is not trained or a test were warranted maybe it would be different. But for routine checks, he says they are completely unnecessary for men in his decade, and he hasn't had a sickness or injury that he thought needed treatment in at least 10 yrs. I guess that's a good thing. But for the SA (if you aren't successful very soon!) it just seems like that is useful in the process of elimination needed to spare you more invasive tests unless necessary.

Hey fisher, your optimism is impressive! I'm thinking good things for you and your hubby for 2009! But I forgot- did you have the (forgot word for test with dye to look at your plumbing)? Cause that is the other half of the equation for iui is if for some reason there is a more complex path that the swimmers have to navigate. And basically I'm asking if there are other diagnosting tests that might provide useful information before iui (as I know you are reluctant to go there) or are you holding off on further testing as well?

ETA: oh LV, he's already done his SA! Ok, you can't complain much. You two are on the ball!

Oh, Cara! Yes, sometimes men can be so nutty this way. Unfortunately, with my DH, I do think at age 38, with a family history of heart disease that he should definitely at least have a physical and cholesterol screening. From what he tells me, his father was just as stubborn, and unfortunately, he ultimately died quite young from a massive heart attack. All the more reason why my DH should go for a physical. It is maddening that he won't go!!

Oh, and I think you've confused my and Laila's DHs. Laila's DH had the SA already. (I know this thread is moving fast today. I don't know how you guys keep up.) I was just happy to learn that my own dr could order the test for my DH because that would be one less dr for him to procrastinate seeing!! Ultimately, he will have to have the SA done if I am not preggo soon, and I'm sure he will, though probably after a little drama!

And, in case anyone out there is wondering, I am now CD35 (longest recorded cycle) and no AF. Strange, yet, I guess, not that unusual. 97.7 this morning.

 

[Festy]

Swimmer and Melanie, good luck tomorrow! Swimmer, my doc is in Kenmore Square so sadly we won''t be able to stalk each others'' rings tomorrow. And, to make things more complicated, you have to know my other PS "identity" to see my rings. I promised a ways back to merge the two when I''m KTFU. Keep holding your breath!

 

[swimmer]

Date: 8/12/2009 3:11:50 PM
Author: Festy
Swimmer and Melanie, good luck tomorrow! Swimmer, my doc is in Kenmore Square so sadly we won''t be able to stalk each others'' rings tomorrow. And, to make things more complicated, you have to know my other PS ''identity'' to see my rings. I promised a ways back to merge the two when I''m KTFU. Keep holding your breath!

mmmm, i was hoping you would let a clue slip! So you are at MIT...I will figure it out eventually. Hmmm, can you tell me if we met at the get together at Fajitas and Ritas?

 

[blushingbride]

So it looks like now I''m starting to flow more red blood (as opposed to the spotting brown from yesterday). Does yesterday still count as CD1 for me as far as clomid goes or does not really matter that much?

 

[Festy]

Date: 8/12/2009 3:21:13 PM
Author: swimmer

Date: 8/12/2009 3:11:50 PM
Author: Festy
Swimmer and Melanie, good luck tomorrow! Swimmer, my doc is in Kenmore Square so sadly we won't be able to stalk each others' rings tomorrow. And, to make things more complicated, you have to know my other PS 'identity' to see my rings. I promised a ways back to merge the two when I'm KTFU. Keep holding your breath!

mmmm, i was hoping you would let a clue slip! So you are at MIT...I will figure it out eventually. Hmmm, can you tell me if we met at the get together at Fajitas and Ritas?

Kenmore, not Kendall.

I was not at the Boston GTG. I think it happened on my birthday, if we're talking about the January one.

ETA: other folks here have me figured out. I bet if you do a search for Boston I'll pop up here and there. I first joined in 2004 under my "old" name and don't post often.

 

[Festy]

Blushing - CD1 is usually the first day of full (red) flow. So today may in fact be 1 for you.

 

[HOUMedGal]

Is it silly that I''m super excited to go to the OB/GYN tomorrow for my yearly exam just so I can talk about having babies?!?! LOL. Part of me wants to just take my ring out and get started TTCing right now, but my less impulsive side is making me wait at least a few more months...because if I were to get pregnant within the next month, I would be due in June, and I''m scheduled to be working in our Pedi ICU in May (at one of the biggest and busiest children''s hospitals in the country)....soooo that would be a bad time to have a huge belly. Would be better to be in the 2nd tri at that time.

Question for everyone....any fave prenatal vitamins?? The less nausea-inducing the better.

Blushing, congrats on getting ready to start trying again!! Best of luck!!

And I''ll second the good luck to Festy, Swimmer, and Melanie for tomorrow!!!

Cara, sorry your hubby''s too far away to BD right now. I''m assuming he''s a resident starting fellowship next year? What will he specialize in? I definitely understand the whole "my life is controlled by the hospital" thing, except it''s me instead of hubs that''s the MD. Lots of things have definitely been on hold for us because of what I chose to do for a living...it''s a good thing I love my job.

Laila, I was wondering the same thing....i.e. how do you let your DH know that it''s "go time" without totally removing all romance and spontaneity from the equation?!?!

 

[LaurenThePartier]

I''ve been lurking this thread for a few months, but thought that since my 34th birthday is fast approaching, DH and I have decided we''re going to start TTC in the next few months.

I can imagine that this is going to be a hugely valuable thread, and I look forward to chatting with you ladies.

Hello all of my friends from other parts of PS!

 

[HOUMedGal]

Yaaaaay Lauren!! It''s so much fun to see other people that I was a LIW with several years ago showing up in the TTC thread at the same time as me!

 

[LaurenThePartier]

Vesper, congrats on your BFP!

Swimmer, Melanie, and Festy - best of luck to you ladies! Although I haven''t been vocal about it before I decided to join the thread, I''ve silently cheered you on from lurkdum.

Date: 8/12/2009 5:48:44 PM
Author: HOUMedGal
Yaaaaay Lauren!! It''s so much fun to see other people that I was a LIW with several years ago showing up in the TTC thread at the same time as me!

HMG, so glad to see you in here! I''ve felt I was pretty far behind the rest of the ''04 - ''06ish LIWs and BIWs, so it''s so reassuring to see you in this thread!

I haven''t even gone so far as to decide on an end date on my BC, but I''m thinking at my next appt. in September, I''ll have "the talk" with my OB/GYN.

 

[tiffanytwisted]

Date: 8/12/2009 9:34:19 AM
Author: swimmer

Date: 8/11/2009 10:40:05 PM
Author: tiffanytwisted
Hi everyone, haven''t been around much lately but I wanted to chime in to Melanie and Swimmer. I''m doing follistim/ovidrel with IUI. I''ve now done 2 cycles. I have read about the cautions with exercising, although haven''t asked my RE about it. (He hasn''t mentioned anything but maybe it''s because I don''t really look like I do strenuous exercise on a regular basis!)I ended up just not doing super strenuous, twisty type motions. The concern is with hyperstimulation the ovaries are enlarged and that is a risk for torsion. Anyway, after the ovidrel both times my abdomen has been a little sore, not anything severe but enough that I wanted to limit the amount of exercising. I''m curious to see how you guys feel after the trigger. After the first cycle I had a cyst left on my ovary so we took a month off. We''ll see what this cycle brings.

Good luck to everyone and welcome to the newbies!!

Thanks Tiffany, do you know what is going on with the cyst? That is such a fear with this stuff, that the side effects can sometimes defeat the purpose of taking it to begin with... Are you waiting for AF or for your u/s to determine stim date?

So I''m a swim/dive coach once the school year begins and yes, diving does require both fast twisting actions and impact, so will work on finding videos online for them to watch instead of demonstrating like I normally do. Hadn''t even thought about that.

Happy W everyone

Swimmer, I did the first follistim/ovidrel cycle in June. When AF arrived I went for the baseline ultrasound and they discovered the cyst. We took that cycle off, at the beginning of the next cycle I went in for the baseline ultrasound and the cyst was gone. He told me it wasn''t uncommon to have to sit out a cycle in between due to cysts left over from the follicles.
I triggered with ovidrel last Friday and had the IUI on Sunday. So now we wait.
Oh how I wish I lived in MA. I think that''s wonderful that IVF is covered for you guys!