First OB Ultrasound

On Friday April 3 I got to have my first OB ultrasound!  It was very early I was only 5 weeks and a couple of days, but my nurse had told me that they just wanted me to come in to make sure everything was where it was supposed to be.  I was excited that my husband was able to come with me, he just happened to be off from work!  

The doctor came in to do the ultrasound and the first thing he says after starting was "I see you went for the advanced package.  I see two in there!"  He saw two sacs!

There isn't too much to see at this time.  But my doctor said it was exactly what he would expect to see at this point. My husband and I are SO EXCITED! Two Babies, this is an amazing blessing!  I can't wait for what is to come.  These two babies would explain my high hcg levels!  I was feeling good up until last Thursday, then I started feeling sick to my stomach and it has only gotten worse.  I am taking this as a good sign and am reminding myself to be thankful for this feeling because it means my babies are growing well.  I am trying to eat small meals/snacks through out the day, but nothing seems to help.  Thankfully I haven't actually been sick yet, but my stomach is continually churning and the thought of food is blah gross.  I have been trying to eat bland food: eggs, toast, grits, pretzels.  Sweets have no appeal and don't sound appetizing at all.  I am trying to stay hydrated and drink lots of water.  Any tricks on how to beat this feeling would be greatly appreciated!

I go back on Friday for another ultrasound which I'm excited for!  I'll update again after the next ultrasound.

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

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

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

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