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

Getting ready for my doctor appointment

Tomorrow I'm headed back to the doctor to just meet, kind of regroup and find out where do we go from here. I have so many questions that I feel like I need to write them down and organize my thoughts so I don't forget during my appointment. 

When my husband and I first met with our RE (reproductive endocrinologist) he diagnosied us with unexplained infertility. He explained to us that on our own we only have about a 4% chance of conceiving each month, that blew my mind those are not good odds. He also explained that just adding medicine to help with ovulation wouldn't up our chances, but combining medication and iui would up our chances to about 20% each month, that would at least increase our chances to that of a fertile couple. And if we were to get pregnant using iui the first 3 cycles would be our best bet after that the percentage of pregnancies decreases significantly. 

This past cycle was our 2nd iui. Now I'm wondering if we count it as a success since I did get pregnant or as a failure since the pregnancy ended in miscarriage.  

I have compiled a list of questions I hope to remember during my appointment:

1. Should I be concerned that I have had 2 miscarriages? (Because I am)

2. Are there tests we can run for repeat pregnancy loss (RPL)?

3. Where do we go from here?

4. Do we continue with iui? If so, how many?

5. Do you think the miscarriages could be dur to poor egg and/or sperm quality?

6. 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?

Those are my questions so far. I'll keep you updated on what I learn at my appointment. Have a great night. 

XOXO
Brooke

Still Dropping

I went this morning for another blood draw to check my hcg levels again. And as awful as it is I was glad to hear that my levels are dropping on their own, now down to 18.  This means I don't have to worry that this was an ectopic pregnancy or about having to have a d&c. 

I will be headed into the doctors office on Tuesday to talk with my doctor about where we go from here. 

For now I'm going to enjoy my frozen yogurt, Pitch Perfect, and snuggling with my husband on the couch (since he'll be working all weekend).

Will keep you updated, hope you all have a great weekend!

XOXO

Brooke

Excitement followed by disappointment

On Sunday morning I took a home pregnancy test as instructed by my doctors office and was shocked to see a SECOND line appear!! I quickly found the stash of clearblue digital tests I had been saving for this moment and used one. The word PREGNANT appeared on the screen!  I was in total shock. I hadn't thought this cycle had work, but thankfully I was wrong. I couldn't wait for my husband to get home from work ( he's currently working the night shift) to tell him! He was so excited!

I went to the doctor on Monday to have my blood draw to check my hcg levels and my first beta was 110. Which was a good number since my nurse said they like to see at least 80, so my number was above that :)

Today I went for my second blood draw to confirm that my hcg levels were rising appropriately. Unfortunately the news I received was not what I wanted to hear: my levels had dropped from 110 to 73.  My nurse said I have to go Friday for another blood draw to see what the levels are doing. 

I am at a loss for words. I tried to remain cautiously optimistic but I couldn't help getting excited. I have been able to get pregnant twice now, once last March whcih ended in a miscarriage at 7 weeks, and now almost a year later, which seems to be a chemical pregnancy or very early miscarriage.  I am trying to remain positive that one day I will get to be a mom but it is hard when I feel like my body is failing me. 

Will keep you updated on my numbers Friday and where we go from here.

XOXO
Brooke 

Time to wait

I have finished my medicine for this month. No more pills, no more shots!

On New Years Eve I spent my morning back in the doctors office having another ultrasound.  This time they were looking for follicles to see when we would be scheduling my iui. I was looking forward to this ultrasound with high hopes for multiple follicles since they had bumped up my dose of Gonal-F. The results were okay, but not exactly what I was hoping for:

Right Ovary: 19mm follicle 13mm follicle 

Left Ovary: 19mm follicle 12mm follicle

So I had two really good sized follicles (meaning I had to have my blood drawn) which was good but the other two were too small and won't be mature enough to ovulate. I was really hoping for 3-4 mature follicles just to up our chances. (Last cycle they told me we had between 2-3 follicles, so we are starting this cycle off with possibly 1 less follicle already.)  

After the ultrasound I had my blood drawn to check for my lh level. The nurse called me in the afternoon letting me know I would be triggering that night at midnight and coming January 2 for the iui. What better way to ring in the New Year than with a shot in the belly! 

We had friends in town with us for New Years Eve which was great fun we spent the evening playing cards against humanity and laughing our butts off! And after counting down to midnight and kissing my hubby I enjoyed a nice shot of ovideral :)

On Friday my husband and I made our way to the doctors office by 9:30. My hubby completed his part by 9:50 and was off because he had to go to the base to study.  So I relaxed in the waiting room  for about an hour while everything was prepared for the iui. 

I was taken back by 11:00 and on my way home by 11:30.  I am always so surprised how simple the iui process is, no pain or discomfort and over in minutes.  So this month we have 2 good looking follicles and 29 million swimmers to hopefully make some magic happen.  I have now enter the Two Week Wait. This might be the most difficult time of the cycle. There are no doctor appointments, no medicine to take, just time to sit around and wonder, wish, hope, and pray! 

I hope everyone is having a great start to 2015! I hope and pray these weeks go by quickly and there are positive results at the end! 

XOXO

Brooke