A blog post to end a very long day...

I have to say that today was my 4th IUI...therefore, I expected it to be a piece of cake. No big deal, I take a long lunch and fit in a little insemination with my cheeseburger. Nope. I'm not even gonna lie, that shit hurt. Seriously. Ouch.

This was my first IUI with Dr. M and I know everyone has their own way of doing things. The procedure itself was actually less painful than the others I have had, which I thought was a good sign. Yes, it was a little weird when he left the speculum in me while he left the too, to go get the specimen. And while it was a nice gesture to warm up the lube and turn up the heat in the room, it got a little uncomfortable. With my previous IUIs, I got up pretty much right after and got dressed and left...which is why I was so surprised when Dr. M told me to roll over onto my stomach and stay there for 30 minutes. What?? I'm on my lunch break fool!

Anyway, I laid there writhing in pain for 30 minutes (okay, 25 minutes because I couldn't stand anymore). Yes, I said writhing. Seriously, the cramps were horrendous, like nothing I have ever experienced. Really makes me look forward to childbirth haha. Luckily, they died down after 25 minutes or so and I got dressed and left. On the way out, the doc also gave me a prescription for progesterone (which I do not get to take by mouth if you were thinking that I was that lucky by the way) along with instructions to come in for a progesterone serum test on Monday blah blah blah. I stopped for some Tylenol on the way back to work and finished out my shift. All in all, it has been a long day and I am exhausted. But I know that I won't even remember the exhaustion or the pain once I get that positive HPT. Then it will all have been worth it. For now, though, I will take Tylenol and nurse my sensitive, painful, exhausted ovaries.

Goodnight xoxo

4th IUI...

Had another appointment with Dr. M yesterday morning. We had to do another post-coital test to see if an IUI would be necessary. Good news is, the Menopur did help with my CM. I didn't notice any difference, but the doctor said that it was really helping the little guys swim. However, the results still showed some problems with abnormal sperm, which is not great for our chances. It only takes one though!

Based on these observations, Dr. M suggested we abstain yesterday afternoon and do an IUI today. I expressed my concerns about this since I got my positive OPK on Sunday morning, but he said it can still up our chances. This will be our 4th IUI, so this isn't my first rodeo. Previously, we've always done it the day after a trigger shot, and obviously it hasn't worked. The doctor explained that most women release an egg 24-48 hrs after getting a positive OPK, but then the egg is viable for about 24 hours after it is released. We have always tried to catch the egg before it dropped, so now we will try to catch it on its way out I guess. It may be a waste, but I know it at least cant hurt, and each cycle we get closer to IVF. So you better believe I will do what I can to make the magic happen before that is necessary!

So now I am getting ready for work and planning out how to tell my boss that I have to leave early to get inseminated....maybe I will choose different words haha! Luckily, I work with all women, and I "came out" to them about my infertility struggles a while ago, so I don't expect it will be too awkward. Please cross your fingers, toes, and Fallopian tubes for us!

Xoxo

A better day...

Today was a much better day. I decided to take an OPK before my appointment just in case, even though I usually don't get positives until late afternoon. Color me surprised when I got a smiley face on my little ClearBlue Easy digital OPK! I ran to the other room to tell the husband that we got a smiley face...and of course he knew what that meant because he knows waaaaay too much about this stuff.

This put me in a much better mood going into my appointment with Dr. M this morning. We did a followup U/S and the two dominant follies matured even more, and measured about 19 and 21. And because I got a positive on the OPK, I didn't have to do a stupid trigger shot. Yay! Plus, I don't have to do any more shots. Score for my bum! The doctor does want me to come in tomorrow morning for another post-coital test, which I hate. However, the Menopur did not seem to help with my CM like we hoped, so it's probably a good idea. I asked if it would be too late to do an IUI I'd the test doesn't show great news, and he said no, that we could do one the next day if necessary. Lets hope it's not necessary, but I wanna do what is needed to make this cycle work. Otherwise, the husband will have to freeze some of his magic so I can use it when he is gone next month.

Thank you all for your kind words and for sticking with me through my pity party the other day. I'll keep you posted as this cycle progresses :)

Just a prick...

First shot of Menopur down, 9 more to go. Actually wasn't as bad as I expected. I should give credit to the husband for that because he didn't flinch at all and because of him, my bum doesn't hurt too much right now.

In other news, I became a hypocrite and got an iPad Mini today. The husband wanted to get me a tablet for my birthday, so I went into research hyperdrive this weekend trying to figure out what I wanted. This isn't an advertisement and I'm not a techie, so I won't go into details about what I was considering. But I will say that I am usually against Apple products because of all the hype that surrounds them and the fact that I think a lot of it is overpriced. However, I caved today. The Mini just had everything I wanted and more and we saved some money by buying it on post at the PX. So now I am really testing it out by writing a blog post from it. Not bad at all.

I will keep you all posted as my Menopur cycle continues...let's hope I don't get any crazy side effects.

Please keep reading and following me. Don't be shy :)

Stick it to me...

After our hiatus last month, the husband and I are moving on to the wonderful (we hope) world of injectables this cycle.

Yesterday was CD3 and I went to see Dr. M for my baseline ultrasound.  Many of us infertiles refer to it as the "dildo cam" because it is an internal ultrasound.  What can be worse than having the doctor do an internal ultrasound while your husband is sitting right next to you?  Having one done while you're still on your period. I guess I should be used to just throwing all modesty out the window at this point anyway, right?  Wrong.  Still embarrassing.

The baseline ultrasound is used to make sure that everything is in working order and that there aren't any cysts before starting a new medication.  This was the first one I have had done with Dr. M and it was much different from the appointments I used to have with the clinic on post.  For one thing, he actually had a screen near my head so that I could see what he was looking at.  To be honest, most of it just looked like shadows to me, but he tried to point out the uterus and the ovaries, and you can even see all of the potential follicles hanging around.  The only concerning part was when he pointed to a strip that he said looked like possible endometriosis...which I didn't understand because I just had a laparoscopy in September to rule out endo.  But the doctor didn't concentrate on that, so maybe I heard him wrong or he just wasn't that concerned.  He did point out that my lining looks great and showed "all the great places for a baby to grow."  He is so odd, but sometimes says the nicest or funniest things.

After the ultrasound, the nurse gave us (the husband) a lesson in giving me the shots.  Now, I thought that Menopur would be given subcutaneously (subQ), since that is what is on the box.  I had read the instructions and was all prepared to do a little subQ shot in my abdomen.  But no, the doctor actually wants us to do intramuscular (IM) shots.  So I had to lay back down on the table and get a practice shot in my bum.  Yup, in my bum.  Not fun, let me tell you.  That practice shot was just saline, and my bum hurt the rest of the evening.  And, it was given by a trained nurse.  So, how will it feel when it is full of hormones and is being given by a slightly-but-not-really trained husband?  Let's hope I am just being a wimp.  And that this same husband is not turned off by my bruised ass at the end of this.  After the appointment, we headed to Target to fill a prescription for the syringes and also picked up alcohol wipes, cotton balls, and bandaids.

Ah, the romance of TTC!

So the plan is that I do the injections once a day for 10 days starting CD5, which is tomorrow.  I go in on CD10 for an ultrasound again to make sure that the medicine is doin its thang and that my ovaries are not overstimulated, which is bad.  I also have to do another post-coital test this cycle to decide whether we need to do an IUI or if we can stick to timed intercourse.  The Menopur should make my CM "really flow" as the doctor put it, so hopefully that will solve one of the biggest problems we have and let us stick to timed intercourse.  Or, if there are a lot of follicles maturing, we may need to switch to an IVF cycle to avoid having too many eggs be fertilized.  I do not want to risk the danger of carrying multiples (we're talking like 5-6 babies here...I would be fine with twins and would even risk triplets if it came down to that.  But carrying more than that is just dangerous).

So that is the plan, and I will keep you updated as we go.