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Archive for February, 2007

This feels like deja vu all over again

Posted in IUI #6 on February 12, 2007| 1 Comment »

Last night I took a Flexiril (muscle relaxant) and codeine along with my nightly medications. The good news is that I woke up without much of a headache, but the bad news is I’m not entirely convinced that I’m even awake yet. Flexiril always does this to me, and yet I never learn my lesson. All I really want to do right now is curl up into a little tiny ball and sleep for a few more hours. Hard to do in a desk chair at the office. Bah.

Something about my monitoring appointment this morning felt “off”… like I’d already done this before. Oh wait, I had… just yesterday! Same bat room, same bat channel. Today’s ultrasound was promising, but troubling. I’ve got a lot of good growth, which is great, but unfortunately, there may be too much. The doctor covering monitoring today said that they’ll have to balance their options after getting my bloodwork results back, but that right now it’s a choice between triggering tonight, possibly a little too early or going in for one day of monitoring, risking too much growth and having to cancel due to too many follicles. Here’s where things are right now:

Right Ovary: 15.4, 14.2, 13.4
Left Ovary: 16.4, 14.2, 14.0
Lining: 15.23mm (huhwha? I’ve never had a lining that thick. Is that good or bad?? I know in theory the thicker the better, but isn’t that getting a little ridiculous?)

There are some other follicles, but I’m not so worried about them. I suppose I’ll know more after today’s phone call with my E2 level. I expect it’s likely that I’ll trigger tonight and have an IUI on Wednesday. I’m hoping the weather cooperates with these plans. If that is indeed the case, it won’t interfere with us going to Florida on Sunday, which is good news.

An IUI on Wednesday would put Beta day on March 1st. According to the normal timeline, I’d then be on BCPs for 3 weeks and start stims. However, that would possibly conflict with Passover, which can’t happen, which means I’d have to be on BCPs through April 11th or so before starting back up with the Follistim. I am not loving this timing, but I don’t think the solution is to squeeze one more IUI in, even though that would still end up around the same timing. I think I’m best off trying to stick as closely to the original plan as possible. So on March 1st, I expect to start taking BCPs, which is going to mean a lot of migraines for all of March and much of April. Especially when you factor in the Lupron, which tends to cause headaches as a side effect. Yay!

Well, hopefully I’ll get some definitive news this afternoon. Here’s hoping.

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This feels like deja vu all over again

Posted in IUI #6 on February 12, 2007| 2 Comments »

Last night I took a Flexiril (muscle relaxant) and codeine along with my nightly medications. The good news is that I woke up without much of a headache, but the bad news is I'm not entirely convinced that I'm even awake yet. Flexiril always does this to me, and yet I never learn my lesson. All I really want to do right now is curl up into a little tiny ball and sleep for a few more hours. Hard to do in a desk chair at the office. Bah.

Something about my monitoring appointment this morning felt "off"… like I'd already done this before. Oh wait, I had… just yesterday! Same bat room, same bat channel. Today's ultrasound was promising, but troubling. I've got a lot of good growth, which is great, but unfortunately, there may be too much. The doctor covering monitoring today said that they'll have to balance their options after getting my bloodwork results back, but that right now it's a choice between triggering tonight, possibly a little too early or going in for one day of monitoring, risking too much growth and having to cancel due to too many follicles. Here's where things are right now:

Right Ovary: 15.4, 14.2, 13.4
Left Ovary: 16.4, 14.2, 14.0
Lining: 15.23mm (huhwha? I've never had a lining that thick. Is that good or bad?? I know in theory the thicker the better, but isn't that getting a little ridiculous?)

There are some other follicles, but I'm not so worried about them. I suppose I'll know more after today's phone call with my E2 level. I expect it's likely that I'll trigger tonight and have an IUI on Wednesday. I'm hoping the weather cooperates with these plans. If that is indeed the case, it won't interfere with us going to Florida on Sunday, which is good news.

An IUI on Wednesday would put Beta day on March 1st. According to the normal timeline, I'd then be on BCPs for 3 weeks and start stims. However, that would possibly conflict with Passover, which can't happen, which means I'd have to be on BCPs through April 11th or so before starting back up with the Follistim. I am not loving this timing, but I don't think the solution is to squeeze one more IUI in, even though that would still end up around the same timing. I think I'm best off trying to stick as closely to the original plan as possible. So on March 1st, I expect to start taking BCPs, which is going to mean a lot of migraines for all of March and much of April. Especially when you factor in the Lupron, which tends to cause headaches as a side effect. Yay!

Well, hopefully I'll get some definitive news this afternoon. Here's hoping.

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Trigger Time

Posted in IUI #6 on February 12, 2007| 6 Comments »

Trigger tonight (CD20).

IUI on Wednesday (Valentine's Day, which I find somewhat irrelevant since we don't celebrate Valentine's day, but it's still an interesting coincidence).

I am ambivalent about triggering tonight. I think it's too early, to be honest. I forgot to ask what my E2/LH was, which might have made the difference. If my LH was surging, there may not have been a choice. If my E2 hadn't gone up much, it might have indicated that I did, indeed have only one lead follicle. But I was in the middle of a meeting when my nurse called, so I didn't run through my normal list of questions. Anyway, on the one hand, I fear that it is too early to trigger and that it's a waste of time. But on the other hand, who cares if it's a waste of time? I'm done with IUIs as of Wednesday.

I have scheduled a followup appointment with Dr. Amazing, at his request, to review the IVF protocol going forward. Follow up is this Friday, Feb. 16th. It's sooner than I would have expected, but my only other option was to wait until March 8th, which is after I would have started BCPs, so may as well meet with him sooner rather than later.

Beta will be March 1st. I should start BCPs around March 7th at the latest, assuming I even make it that far (remember that CD3 of this cycle fell on the day that my original Beta for last cycle was scheduled, so it could be I start BCPs earlier.

Oh, I mean, I suppose it's possible I won't start BCPs at all, since, well, this IUI could theoretically work, but that's crazy-talk. So there you have it.

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Maybe not so useless after all?

Posted in IUI #6 on February 11, 2007| 5 Comments »

Is it possible that my formerly-useless left ovary might actually be the producer this cycle? That might, indeed, be a first. Well, a first in the last 6 IUI cycles, anyway. Probably not the first time in my life, though I suppose that’s possible. Anywhozit, I had an early-morning monitoring appointment today. It would probably have been more pleasant had I not been babysitting for a friend (I know, I’m a saint) until 1am. I got to sleep around two and was NOT happy when the alarm went off at 6. Oh well. I figured I’d better, you know, shower and all, since I was pretty sure Margaret would be there today (I was right!). Gotta look nice for Margaret.

I got called back for my scan first (No! Throwing off my whole routine! I always get bloodwork drawn first! No fair confusing me!) and after I’d undressed and climbed up on the table (seriously, have they never considered that their patients might be short and fat? Why are those tables so frickin’ high?), I briefly considered turning the stirrup covers inside out a la Julie, but changed my mind when I heard the door opening. (I swear, Margaret is desperate to see me in all my glory… she keeps giving me less and less time to get undressed and has walked in a couple times before I’ve done so successfully. Sheesh! Like she doesn’t see enough of me??)

Ahem. Back en pointe. Focus, people! Margaret breezed in all cheery and happy, as always. Dear heavens how does that woman manage cheery at 7 in the morning on a Sunday? Sheesh! She said “We’re going to get you pregnant this cycle, gosh darnit.” Meh. I shrugged. I’m not counting on it, gave my usual shpiel about how I never count on any individual cycle. And besides, IUI is so last year, don’t you think? I’m so not into this cycle, no matter how hard I try to pretend that it’s got any chance of success. I mean, it DOES have 20% odds, and that’s better than zero, right? Margaret said she likes to tell people she’s not a pessimist, she’s just an optimist who’s been disappointed a lot. Heh.

And so, all pleasantries aside, on to the show! My ovaries, as per usual, were perky and eager to please. Today we saw a dramatic shift in dominance. The useless left ovary seems to be a little insulted at all the nasty things I’ve been saying about her (her? it? Certainly not him…), and she is rebelling by actually showing some positive growth. In fact, it seems that she is racing against the formerly useful right ovary in a fight for dominance. Observe:

Right Ovary: 13.8, 13.1, 12.2, 12.2
Left Ovary: 15.3, 14.4, 12.9, 8.5, 8.0
Lining: A beautiful 13.77mm today!

Now, I know you’re all aquiver with excitement, just like I am, but lest you forget who we’re talking about, my E2 and LH levels aren’t back yet. For all I know they’ve plummeted into the depths of despair again. But odds are good that they haven’t plummeted, but are rather on the rise, so I might just hold my breath for my next phone call. (though I really would do well to remember that I’m rarely on the GOOD side of fertility odds)

Since I know you’ll all be refreshing your screen madly awaiting the E2/LH update, I promise, you’ll be the first, er-second, er-third? to know after I receive my daily phone call. I expect to return to Shady Hell tomorrow, but I suppose we’ll see. I’m a little irritated at having to return tomorrow, actually, because the earliest appointment they had available was 7:45. I’m normally at work by 7:30, so a 7:45 appointment is REALLY FREAKING ANNOYING. Plus, traffic’s a lot worse then. But I’m not bitter.

Edit! Holy Shmoly! Could it be? Could this cycle be turning itself around? at 10:30 my home phone rang and it was Shady Hell. Slightly annoying since the contact number I supplied today was my cell phone number in case I was out when they called. But I’m just happy I was home to get the call. Either way, the numbers are in and they’re looking good!

E2: 302 (!!)
LH: 4.38 (up from 2.54)

Holy Cow! I’ve never, ever had an E2 that high. Seriously. The cycle that worked (sort of) my E2 only got to 113 before I triggered. I’m still not expecting this cycle to work, but the good thing about my levels going up is that it suggests an end in sight. This is a phenomenally good thing, because I’m hoping this means trigger and IUI before Sunday, since that’s when we’re supposed to be leaving for Florida. Yippee!! End of Edit

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Maybe not so useless after all?

Posted in IUI #6 on February 11, 2007| 6 Comments »

Is it possible that my formerly-useless left ovary might actually be the producer this cycle? That might, indeed, be a first. Well, a first in the last 6 IUI cycles, anyway. Probably not the first time in my life, though I suppose that's possible. Anywhozit, I had an early-morning monitoring appointment today. It would probably have been more pleasant had I not been babysitting for a friend (I know, I'm a saint) until 1am. I got to sleep around two and was NOT happy when the alarm went off at 6. Oh well. I figured I'd better, you know, shower and all, since I was pretty sure Margaret would be there today (I was right!). Gotta look nice for Margaret.

I got called back for my scan first (No! Throwing off my whole routine! I always get bloodwork drawn first! No fair confusing me!) and after I'd undressed and climbed up on the table (seriously, have they never considered that their patients might be short and fat? Why are those tables so frickin' high?), I briefly considered turning the stirrup covers inside out a la Julie, but changed my mind when I heard the door opening. (I swear, Margaret is desperate to see me in all my glory… she keeps giving me less and less time to get undressed and has walked in a couple times before I've done so successfully. Sheesh! Like she doesn't see enough of me??)

Ahem. Back en pointe. Focus, people! Margaret breezed in all cheery and happy, as always. Dear heavens how does that woman manage cheery at 7 in the morning on a Sunday? Sheesh! She said "We're going to get you pregnant this cycle, gosh darnit." Meh. I shrugged. I'm not counting on it, gave my usual shpiel about how I never count on any individual cycle. And besides, IUI is so last year, don't you think? I'm so not into this cycle, no matter how hard I try to pretend that it's got any chance of success. I mean, it DOES have 20% odds, and that's better than zero, right? Margaret said she likes to tell people she's not a pessimist, she's just an optimist who's been disappointed a lot. Heh.

And so, all pleasantries aside, on to the show! My ovaries, as per usual, were perky and eager to please. Today we saw a dramatic shift in dominance. The useless left ovary seems to be a little insulted at all the nasty things I've been saying about her (her? it? Certainly not him…), and she is rebelling by actually showing some positive growth. In fact, it seems that she is racing against the formerly useful right ovary in a fight for dominance. Observe:

Right Ovary: 13.8, 13.1, 12.2, 12.2
Left Ovary: 15.3, 14.4, 12.9, 8.5, 8.0
Lining: A beautiful 13.77mm today!

Now, I know you're all aquiver with excitement, just like I am, but lest you forget who we're talking about, my E2 and LH levels aren't back yet. For all I know they've plummeted into the depths of despair again. But odds are good that they haven't plummeted, but are rather on the rise, so I might just hold my breath for my next phone call. (though I really would do well to remember that I'm rarely on the GOOD side of fertility odds)

Since I know you'll all be refreshing your screen madly awaiting the E2/LH update, I promise, you'll be the first, er-second, er-third? to know after I receive my daily phone call. I expect to return to Shady Hell tomorrow, but I suppose we'll see. I'm a little irritated at having to return tomorrow, actually, because the earliest appointment they had available was 7:45. I'm normally at work by 7:30, so a 7:45 appointment is REALLY FREAKING ANNOYING. Plus, traffic's a lot worse then. But I'm not bitter.

Edit! Holy Shmoly! Could it be? Could this cycle be turning itself around? at 10:30 my home phone rang and it was Shady Hell. Slightly annoying since the contact number I supplied today was my cell phone number in case I was out when they called. But I'm just happy I was home to get the call. Either way, the numbers are in and they're looking good!

E2: 302 (!!)
LH: 4.38 (up from 2.54)

Holy Cow! I've never, ever had an E2 that high. Seriously. The cycle that worked (sort of) my E2 only got to 113 before I triggered. I'm still not expecting this cycle to work, but the good thing about my levels going up is that it suggests an end in sight. This is a phenomenally good thing, because I'm hoping this means trigger and IUI before Sunday, since that's when we're supposed to be leaving for Florida. Yippee!! End of Edit

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Dragging Along Part II

Posted in IUI #6, my stupid body on February 8, 2007| 6 Comments »

Lest you think that today’s E2/LH levels will shed any more light on my peculiar puzzle, I should update you on my call from my nurse this afternoon.

Three more days, two more clicks of the pen. I’m up to 108 IUs for the next three nights. Apparently Dr. Amazing is bored and ready to move on to IVF, which is good, because I’m ready to move on also. I return on Sunday for more ultrasound fun! Whahoo! I asked Mary (my nurse) what my E2/LH levels were and she said she didn’t want to tell me because it was only going to irritate me. I promised her I could take it.

E2: 110 (down from 113, but that’s really just a plateau)
LH: 2.5 (it went from 2.5 on Sunday, to 2.2 on Tuesday, back to 2.5 today)

Mary is pleased with my LH because she doesn’t want it spiking yet because that would mean I was about to ovulate on my own and that would be bad, since apparently my eggs are too immature. They’re like teenagers trying to break out into maturity, but still stuck with some rather childish behaviours and development. Curses!

I forgot to tell you all the funniest part of my ultrasound this morning. After Dr. S. left the room I was talking to Margaret, sonographer extraordinaire, and she said (JOKINGLY), “gosh what IS going on with those ovaries of yours? Whatever they tell you to take, you should take double and see what happens.” I told her I’d considered it, but that would be wrong. Wrong, I say! Do I sound convincing? I reminded her that doubling my meds was probably the easiest way to land myself with a canceled cycle from overstimulation. “True,” she said, “but they can’t stop you from having lots of sex!”

Of course, sex has never helped us have a baby before, but if I had four perfectly mature, ripe, beautiful follicles ovulating all at once, you can be damned sure this would be the one time I’d end up pregnant. With quadruplets. And I gotta tell you… I really don’t want quadruplets. Not even a little bit. Seriously!

Anywhozit. The point is my ovaries are doing absolutely nothing. I think I ought to have S provide a “sample” for cryopreservation, because I suspect what’s going to end up happening is that I’ll end up needing an IUI when I’m supposed to be in Florida. At least if we had some swimmers on ice, I’d be able to stay here while S and J go to Florida without me (or maybe just have me catch up with them later or something). And anyway, if I plan for that contingency, I won’t end up needing it, and all this worrying will be for nothing, right??

Edited to Add: Anonymous makes a good point in the comments that I could always go for the well-timed intercourse in Florida idea in lieu of the IUI. The IUI itself doesn’t really increase our odds, since our whole problem appears to be me not ovulating naturally, so well-timed intercourse COULD do it, except for a couple things:

1. We’ll be staying at my dad’s … and well, GAH!
2. Timing has never worked out particularly well for us, but we could still give it a shot.
3. I need to find out whether my RE would count this as one of my 2 last IUI cycles before moving on to IVF if I skipped the IUI part. I suspect he would, but I’m not entirely certain. But I am NOT doing another one of these cycles if I don’t have to. It’s time to move on. My insurance coverage for IVF runs out in September or October. After that, I start fighting an uphill battle. Bleh.

Still, I haven’t entirely ruled out the possibility of just resorting to “the old fashioned way” if necessary
End of Edit

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Dragging along

Posted in IUI #6, my stupid body on February 8, 2007| 2 Comments »

Last March I had the longest IUI cycle in recorded history. Or at least in MY recorded history. And since it was only my second IUI cycle, my recorded history wasn’t very extensive. That cycle went on forever. hCG trigger was on CD 31. Thirty One! IUI on CD 33! Dr. S. called me a “two-pager” meaning that in the old days of paper charts, I would have been one of those patients whose cycle notes went on to the second page.

Not to worry, he assured me. Because historically, two pagers had a remarkably high pregnancy rate compared to shorter cycles (you know, the cycles where trigger happens on Day 12 and IUI is on Day 14 like a textbook?). I remember I really appreciated his reassurance (actually, I still do), but the long cycle was slightly problemmatic because I had a one-day trip scheduled to go to Florida (to see my father and a friend from Scotland) when I figured I’d be in the two week wait, but was actually not even close to IUI day. Dr. S. said no problem and let me push off my next monitoring appointment an extra day, figuring it wouldn’t be too big a deal. It wasn’t, and the cycle dragged on another week or two after I got back before I triggered.

That cycle ended horribly and dramatically while I was away for Passover. It was probably the worst bleeding I’d ever had until that point, and that’s saying something. It was unbelievable amounts of pain, componded by the fact that I was away from home, living in a hotel for a week, not able to start a new cycle because I was nowhere near my fertility clinic (a 10 hour drive each way seemed extreme just for CD3 monitoring). I snapped a lot at my husband that week, had very little energy most of the time, suffered from migraines throughout the trip, and cried a lot. (Believe it or not, I still had a tremendously good time on that trip, especially considering the circumstances)

Do I have a point? Not really, actually. But fast forward to today’s CD16 monitoring appointment. Last cycle I triggered on Day 14 and had an IUI on Day 16. This cycle I am not anticipating triggering anytime soon. Dr. S. was covering monitoring today, so I needled him about the fact that Room 1 doesn’t have a mobile. He said they were waiting for a donation and I said that for what I’m paying this place… he chuckled. On to the ultrasound, the funnest part of the day!

Follicle growth is weird. The follicles on the Right Ovary seem to have stalled, while the follicles on the Left Ovary (previously known as the completely, utterly, evil, underperforming, useless ovary) made a little bit of progress.

Right Ovary: 12.3 (down from 12.6), 9.6, 9.4, 9.0
Left Ovary: 12.0 (up from 10.7), 11.0 (up from 10.0), 9.4
Lining: 11.41 (down from 11.75, should I be worried?)

No word yet on my E2/LH, but Dr. S. was not worried about the lack of growth of my follicles. He said that I had a beautiful jump in E2 on Tuesday (67.5 to 113!) and that we should expect to start seeing some more growth soon, based on that estrogen jump. I trust him, I believe him. I mentioned that I thought this was going to be another two-pager cycle and he laughed that I remembered that, but reminded me that historically two-pagers have relatively high success rates. When I told him that my last two-pager cycle was a resounding disaster he said, “and that’s my cue to exit stage left!” (except he was wrong, it was stage right)

Anywhozit, the bottom line is that there is very little progress happening in Ovary-Land, perky or otherwise, so I’m sorry to give you such a boring update. Not to worry, I’m sure I’ll have some dramarama for you soon!

(You know, for example, the fact that I have a trip scheduled to go to Florida for three days Feb. 18th-20th…Since I figured this cycle would be similar to last month’s I figured this IUI would already be over, at the end of the 2ww, and failing by Feb. 20th. Now I’m wondering if my IUI is going to end up being scheduled right smack in the middle of that trip, meaning I have to cancel either the cycle or the trip. I haven’t seen my father in almost a year and my father hasn’t seen J in a year and a half so I really, really, really don’t want to cancel this trip, but I also don’t want to skip this IUI. DRAT, DRAT, DRAT!)

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Dragging along

Posted in IUI #6, my stupid body on February 8, 2007| 2 Comments »

Last March I had the longest IUI cycle in recorded history. Or at least in MY recorded history. And since it was only my second IUI cycle, my recorded history wasn't very extensive. That cycle went on forever. hCG trigger was on CD 31. Thirty One! IUI on CD 33! Dr. S. called me a "two-pager" meaning that in the old days of paper charts, I would have been one of those patients whose cycle notes went on to the second page.

Not to worry, he assured me. Because historically, two pagers had a remarkably high pregnancy rate compared to shorter cycles (you know, the cycles where trigger happens on Day 12 and IUI is on Day 14 like a textbook?). I remember I really appreciated his reassurance (actually, I still do), but the long cycle was slightly problemmatic because I had a one-day trip scheduled to go to Florida (to see my father and a friend from Scotland) when I figured I'd be in the two week wait, but was actually not even close to IUI day. Dr. S. said no problem and let me push off my next monitoring appointment an extra day, figuring it wouldn't be too big a deal. It wasn't, and the cycle dragged on another week or two after I got back before I triggered.

That cycle ended horribly and dramatically while I was away for Passover. It was probably the worst bleeding I'd ever had until that point, and that's saying something. It was unbelievable amounts of pain, componded by the fact that I was away from home, living in a hotel for a week, not able to start a new cycle because I was nowhere near my fertility clinic (a 10 hour drive each way seemed extreme just for CD3 monitoring). I snapped a lot at my husband that week, had very little energy most of the time, suffered from migraines throughout the trip, and cried a lot. (Believe it or not, I still had a tremendously good time on that trip, especially considering the circumstances)

Do I have a point? Not really, actually. But fast forward to today's CD16 monitoring appointment. Last cycle I triggered on Day 14 and had an IUI on Day 16. This cycle I am not anticipating triggering anytime soon. Dr. S. was covering monitoring today, so I needled him about the fact that Room 1 doesn't have a mobile. He said they were waiting for a donation and I said that for what I'm paying this place… he chuckled. On to the ultrasound, the funnest part of the day!

Follicle growth is weird. The follicles on the Right Ovary seem to have stalled, while the follicles on the Left Ovary (previously known as the completely, utterly, evil, underperforming, useless ovary) made a little bit of progress.

Right Ovary: 12.3 (down from 12.6), 9.6, 9.4, 9.0
Left Ovary: 12.0 (up from 10.7), 11.0 (up from 10.0), 9.4
Lining: 11.41 (down from 11.75, should I be worried?)

No word yet on my E2/LH, but Dr. S. was not worried about the lack of growth of my follicles. He said that I had a beautiful jump in E2 on Tuesday (67.5 to 113!) and that we should expect to start seeing some more growth soon, based on that estrogen jump. I trust him, I believe him. I mentioned that I thought this was going to be another two-pager cycle and he laughed that I remembered that, but reminded me that historically two-pagers have relatively high success rates. When I told him that my last two-pager cycle was a resounding disaster he said, "and that's my cue to exit stage left!" (except he was wrong, it was stage right)

Anywhozit, the bottom line is that there is very little progress happening in Ovary-Land, perky or otherwise, so I'm sorry to give you such a boring update. Not to worry, I'm sure I'll have some dramarama for you soon!

(You know, for example, the fact that I have a trip scheduled to go to Florida for three days Feb. 18th-20th…Since I figured this cycle would be similar to last month's I figured this IUI would already be over, at the end of the 2ww, and failing by Feb. 20th. Now I'm wondering if my IUI is going to end up being scheduled right smack in the middle of that trip, meaning I have to cancel either the cycle or the trip. I haven't seen my father in almost a year and my father hasn't seen J in a year and a half so I really, really, really don't want to cancel this trip, but I also don't want to skip this IUI. DRAT, DRAT, DRAT!)

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Dragging Along Part II

Posted in IUI #6, my stupid body on February 8, 2007| 9 Comments »

Lest you think that today's E2/LH levels will shed any more light on my peculiar puzzle, I should update you on my call from my nurse this afternoon.

Three more days, two more clicks of the pen. I'm up to 108 IUs for the next three nights. Apparently Dr. Amazing is bored and ready to move on to IVF, which is good, because I'm ready to move on also. I return on Sunday for more ultrasound fun! Whahoo! I asked Mary (my nurse) what my E2/LH levels were and she said she didn't want to tell me because it was only going to irritate me. I promised her I could take it.

E2: 110 (down from 113, but that's really just a plateau)
LH: 2.5 (it went from 2.5 on Sunday, to 2.2 on Tuesday, back to 2.5 today)

Mary is pleased with my LH because she doesn't want it spiking yet because that would mean I was about to ovulate on my own and that would be bad, since apparently my eggs are too immature. They're like teenagers trying to break out into maturity, but still stuck with some rather childish behaviours and development. Curses!

I forgot to tell you all the funniest part of my ultrasound this morning. After Dr. S. left the room I was talking to Margaret, sonographer extraordinaire, and she said (JOKINGLY), "gosh what IS going on with those ovaries of yours? Whatever they tell you to take, you should take double and see what happens." I told her I'd considered it, but that would be wrong. Wrong, I say! Do I sound convincing? I reminded her that doubling my meds was probably the easiest way to land myself with a canceled cycle from overstimulation. "True," she said, "but they can't stop you from having lots of sex!"

Of course, sex has never helped us have a baby before, but if I had four perfectly mature, ripe, beautiful follicles ovulating all at once, you can be damned sure this would be the one time I'd end up pregnant. With quadruplets. And I gotta tell you… I really don't want quadruplets. Not even a little bit. Seriously!

Anywhozit. The point is my ovaries are doing absolutely nothing. I think I ought to have S provide a "sample" for cryopreservation, because I suspect what's going to end up happening is that I'll end up needing an IUI when I'm supposed to be in Florida. At least if we had some swimmers on ice, I'd be able to stay here while S and J go to Florida without me (or maybe just have me catch up with them later or something). And anyway, if I plan for that contingency, I won't end up needing it, and all this worrying will be for nothing, right??

Edited to Add: Anonymous makes a good point in the comments that I could always go for the well-timed intercourse in Florida idea in lieu of the IUI. The IUI itself doesn't really increase our odds, since our whole problem appears to be me not ovulating naturally, so well-timed intercourse COULD do it, except for a couple things:

1. We'll be staying at my dad's … and well, GAH!
2. Timing has never worked out particularly well for us, but we could still give it a shot.
3. I need to find out whether my RE would count this as one of my 2 last IUI cycles before moving on to IVF if I skipped the IUI part. I suspect he would, but I'm not entirely certain. But I am NOT doing another one of these cycles if I don't have to. It's time to move on. My insurance coverage for IVF runs out in September or October. After that, I start fighting an uphill battle. Bleh.

Still, I haven't entirely ruled out the possibility of just resorting to "the old fashioned way" if necessary
End of Edit

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Just a Point of Clarification

Posted in fertility shmertility on February 7, 2007| 1 Comment »

No, I most certainly did NOT want quadruplets. I have a completely irrational fear, in fact, of having triplets or quadruplets. To be honest, for a first pregnancy, I’m even adamantly against having twins, even though I’ve always wanted twins.

To repeat: I’m positively terrified of high order multiples and even twins make me wary right now. So um, yeah. I was definitely joking about losing my chance at quadruplets (because even if I’d had four mature follicles… the odds of ending up with quadruplets were infinitessimal).

I’ve actually made it clear to my RE’s office that twins are acceptable, but anything more than two is their responsibility. (JUST KIDDING ABOUT THAT ONE TOO!)

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