IUI #4

Our fourth and final IUI is complete! 

I called the office this morning at 8:00am to give authorization for them to start the thawing process of my husbands frozen sample.  Thankfully I decided to leave right after I got off the phone because traffic was terrible this morning, it took me almost an hour to get there when it normally only takes 30 minutes.  

When I called this morning to tell them the thaw the frozen sample the nurse told me they had split the sample into two vials and I could choose to thaw one or both.  I chose to thaw both because I want all the swimmers I can get!  I hope I made the right decision, if this doesn't work we will have to pay for Chris to freeze another sample.  

Follicle and Swimmer Count for IUI #4

Follicles: 2 Mature Follicles

Swimmers: 32 Million motile swimmers (pretty good I think for a frozen sample)

Giving the Swimmers a head start!
Just keep swimming, Just keep swimming!

Instructions now are to start using the progesterone suppositories on Wednesday and to test on Wednesday March 25.  So the two week wait begins again!  I am actually headed home on Wednesday for my sisters wedding!  So that will be a nice distraction =)

Have a great Monday everyone!  I will update sometime during the two week wait to let you know how its going.

XOXO 

Brooke

Cycle Day 11

There was no sleeping in for me today.  I had to make my way to the doctors office between 8-9 this morning for another ultrasound.  I did pretty good making it there by 8:30.  I had my blood drawn and another ultrasound.

Follicle Count for Today:

Right: 13mm (other smaller ones not measured)

Left: 20mm 14mm

I know it seems silly but I was a little disappointed that I seem to only have 2 decent follicles.  I'm trying to stay positive, you only need ONE right?!?

The on call nurse called around 11:00 to tell me to the plan:

CD11(today): Trigger with Ovidrel at 9:00pm

CD12: Nothing to do

CD13: 8:00am Call Office to give my permission to thaw my husband's sample, IUI 9:00am

My IUI is scheduled for Monday morning.  This time we will be using Christopher's  frozen swimmers, since he can't be with me.  It will be interesting to see what the count is from the frozen sample.

I'll update on Monday after the IUI.  Hope you're all enjoying your weekend!

XOXO

Brooke

Cycle Day 9

This morning I was off to the doctors office for my cycle day 9 ultrasound to check for follicle growth.   

Follicle count CD 9:
Right ovary: 13mm 12mm 11mm
Left ovary: 16mm 13mm 10mm

The hope is for the 16 and two 13's to become mature and to produce a few nice eggs!  Now it's onto more injections and another ultrasound. 

CD9: Gonal-F 37.5iu 6-9pm
CD10: Gonal-F 37.5iu 6-9pm
CD11: Ultrasound 8-9am

I'm hoping for nice follicle growth between now and Saturday morning at my appointment!  I hope you all have a great Friday! And I'll update again on Saturday. What do you all have planned for the weekend, anything fun?

XOXO
Brooke

4th and Final try

Yesterday morning was very busy for me. 

My new cycle started on Wednesday and when I called my nurse I was expecting her to tell me to come in on Friday for my baseline ultrasound but instead she told me to come in on Thursday between 8:00-9:00am. This would be fine on any other day but yesterday. On Thursdays at 7:30 I have a standing physical therapy appointment and I also had to drop my dog off at the vet to have her teeth cleaned and pulled.  So I was up by 6:25 out the door by 7:00 dropped Barklee at the vet by 7:15 made it to PT just a few minutes late and then I was off to my doctor appointment by 8:00 making it there by 8:40.   I feel like I got a lot accomplished before 9:00am. 

Another appointment with my old friend!

At my appointment I was given the all clear to start my 4th  (and final) IUI cycle. During the ultrasound they check my uterine lining to make sure it is thinning properly, which it is, and they check my ovaries for cysts, 0 cysts for me.  

After the ultrasound I met with my nurse to get my protocol for this cycle. 

CD2: Baseline Ultrasound

CD3: letrozole 2.5mg 6-9am

CD4: letrozole 2.5mg 6-9am

CD5: letrozole 2.5mg  6-9am. Gonal-F 37.5iu 6-9pm

CD6: letrozole 2.5mg  6-9am. Gonal-F 37.5iu 6-9pm

CD7: letrozole 2.5mg  6-9am. Gonal-F 37.5iu 6-9pm

CD8: Gonal-F 37.5iu 6-9pm

CD9: Ultrasound, possible blood work 

I will update again soon!

XOXO

Brooke

IUI #3

This morning we went in for our third IUI.  It went well as far as I can tell and like I always do on IUI day I feel optimistic.  Chris actually got to stay with me this time instead of having to leave right after his part for work, so that was a wonderful change.  Sometimes it feels so strange to think we could be making a baby while I'm laying on a table at the doctors office and he's off at work.  This time we were at least together and able to talk, hold hands and just enjoy the fews minutes I had to lay on the table before leaving.  

FOLLICLE AND SWIMMER COUNT

Follicle: 2-3 mature follicles

Swimmers: 38 million motile (Best numbers so far!)

Foot Five while waiting for the timer to go off!

My instructions now are to begin progesterone suppositories on Sunday and to take a pregnancy test 2 weeks from then, on Sunday February 22.  Oh how I hate the two week wait.   I'm going to comprise a list of activities to help pass the time during those weeks.  If you have any suggestions they would be greatly appreciated! 

As for now I'm going to try and enjoy the rest of my day, thinking about trying not to think about the IUI.  I will be back soon with a list of ways I will plan to try and survive these next few weeks without going crazy!

Hope you all are having a great Friday!

XOXO

Brooke

Cycle Day 11: Ultrasound and Blood work

I went in this morning for another ultrasound and blood work to see how my follicles were growing.  I think I had one, maybe two decent sized follicles with lots of smaller follicles.


FOLLICLE COUNT
Right Ovary: 17mm, 15mm, 13mm, 12mm
Left Ovary: 13mm, 13mm, 12mm


My nurse called with my instructions:

CD 11: Trigger with HCG injection at 5:00pm
CD 12: 9:00am: husband stops at the lab to provide his swimmers
             10:00am: IUI #3 with be done! 


We are headed into the office tomorrow for our third IUI!  We are excited and ready for tomorrow.


Will keep you all updated on how tomorrow goes!


XOXO
Brooke

Cycle Day 9: Ultrasound

I went for my ultrasound this morning at 8:00.  No better way to start the day then with a transvaginal ultrasound!  I was a little surprised with the results of my ultrasound, I didn't have any mature follicles =(   This is the fourth cycle I have done with the combination of letrozole/gonal-f and the first cycle I haven't had to have a blood draw on cycle day 9.  

FOLLICLE COUNT
Right Ovary: 14mm, 13mm, 12mm, 11mm
Left Ovary: 11mm, 11mm, 11mm, 10mm  
(lots and lots of little follicles)

My nurse called me this afternoon with a new game plan for the next few days:

CD 9: Gonal-F 12.5iu
CD 10: Gonal-F 12.5iu
CD 11: ultrasound and blood work

I will keep you updated on how the ultrasound on Thursday goes.


XOXO
Brooke

Starting again

My doctors appointment last week went very well.  I was able to get tons of information and have my questions answered.

1. Should I be concerned that I have had 2 miscarriages? (Because I am)
My doctor told me that at my age he expects 10% of pregnancies to end in miscarriage.  He was explaining to me that an early miscarriage is normally our bodies way of protecting us from something that wasn't right;  either the egg or sperm wasn't normal or there was a problem with the cells dividing properly.  So he told me he wasn't too concerned and that my next pregnancy had a 70-80% chance of being normal and carrying to term.    

2. Are there tests we can run for repeat pregnancy loss (RPL)?
Yes, we could run a repeat pregnancy loss panel.  This would include taking blood from me and my husband, checking for chromosomal abnormalities in both of us, and also checking for immune and clotting problems in me.  

3. Do we continue with iui? If so, how many?
Yes.  When I first met my RE he told me that with IUI your best chances for getting pregnant are in the first 3 IUIs.  My early miscarriage was IUI number 2, does this mean we only do one more IUI or do we start over counting to three?   My doctor told me he would support doing 1 or 2 more IUIs since the process had actually worked for us, but the choice was up to me.  

4. Do you think the miscarriages could be due to poor egg and/or sperm quality?
Possibly was the answer I heard. My doctor had stated that early miscarriages are your body protecting yourself from something that wasn't right; either caused by poor egg or sperm quality or the cells not dividing properly.  

5. If the miscarriages were due to poor egg/sperm quality, would IVF be a better choice since the development of the embryos can be watched?

My RE stated that he would support a decision to move on to IVF if that what we chose.  With IVF they would be able to see which embryos were developing properly and if we had great concern we could test the chromosomal make up of the embryos before transferring them to make sure they are normal and healthy.  


What have we decided and where are we going from here?  After talking to my doctor and my husband we have decided to try 2 more cycles of IUI before moving on to IVF.  I was given the go ahead last week to start a new IUI cycle since my hcg level was back to 1 which is considered not pregnant.  

I am now cycle day (CD) 8 and have been following the same protocol as last cycle:

CD 8: Hopefully last night of injections

CD2: ultrasound and blood work: I was given the all clear to start a new cycle
CD3: Letrozole 2.5mg (6-9am)
CD4: Letrozole 2.5mg (6-9am)
CD5: Letrozole 2.5mg (6-9am)      Gonal-F 50iu  (6-9pm)
CD6: Letrozole 2.5mg (6-9am)      Gonal-F 50iu   (6-9pm)
CD7: Letrozole 2.5mg (6-9am)      Gonal-F 37.5iu  (6-9pm)
CD8: Gonal-F 37.5iu (6-9pm)
CD9: ultrasound and possible blood work


Tomorrow morning I will be going in for another ultrasound to check for follicles.  If any of the follicles are close to being mature I will have blood work done.  In the afternoon my nurse will call and tell me what the next step will be.

I will keep you all updated

XOXO
Brooke

Cycle Day 2: Baseline

Well I got up extra early so I could make it to my appointment by 8:00.  My doctors office is usually only 35 minutes from our house but with traffic in the morning it can take up to an hour. So I was out the door by 7:00, thinking the rain would cause extra traffic, not so much  I made it to the office by 7:40! 

This appointment was just a baseline ultrasound. They check my uterine lining and to make sure my ovaries are clear of cysts. Everything was good and I got the all clear to start a new cycle. 

Fun way to spend Christmas Eve

After the ultrasound I met with a nurse who gave me my new medication schedule:

Cycle Day 3-7: letrozole 2.5mg

Cycle Day 5-6: Gonal-F 50iu

Cycle Day 7-8: Gonal-F 37.5iu

Cycle Day 9: ultrasound follicle check

I'm excited to start this cycle. The doctor is upping my meds this cycle so I will be interested to see how that effects my follicles.

I'll be back soon to update again!

Merry Christmas Eve!!!

XOXO

Brooke

A New Start

After going through 2 years of infertility I am getting ready to start a new month of trying and have decided to try and keep track of what I (and my husband) are going through on this journey trying to have children.  

So far we have tried for 24 months: 12 unmedicated, 5 with oral medications, 1 with oral and injectable medications, 1 with oral and injectable medications plus an IUI, and have suffered 1 miscarriage.   

Today starts a new month and we will be starting another IUI cycle.  I will be off to the Dr tomorrow morning for my baseline ultrasound and to get my medication calendar.  

Will update tomorrow after my appointment.

Have a great night!

XOXO
Brooke