Queer Conceptions April 2012 - Page 9

[mrsandmrs]

Hey Amanda -- NW Cryobank will ship to your home without a doctor's signature. There may be one other one that will, but that's the primary one I've heard of friends using. A lot of the other banks will ship to your home if you get a doctor to sign that you are under their care. Often a midwife or your ob/gyno can sign, it doesn't have to be a fertility clinic. So if NW doesn't meet your needs, you may have other options. I wasn't crazy about NW because they didn't offer much info about the donors and the staff wasn't helpful when I called, but other people really like them.  Good luck & welcome! 

Hopeful - I've heard that you can be "super fertile" for 3-6 months after an HSG, even if your tubes are considered 'clear' because the dye can force out mucous or anything minor clogging the tubes. Depending on how much you're spending to TTC each month, and how anxious you are to have a baby, the theraputic benefits might outweigh the diagnostic ones. 

I'm waiting until June b/c we want to take a couple months to see if the metformin will help and also to save up some $$. It's also a scheduling thing - my job is insanely busy in May and I can, in no way shape or form, make it to daily blood draws and ultrasounds in May. In July, a lot of people are visiting us and we won't have time for daily fertility clinic visits, so if we're not successful in June, we'll take July off too. Ugh, I can't think about that yet. 

I'm so excited to see so many people in the TWW. I hope you all crank out a crop of graduates for us.

cananny, can you move me to "taking a break" ? thanks!

[nosreves]

granite -- WELCOME, BIENVENUE  and thanks for delurking :) .  tell us about yourself!

fishymcdarkside -- 65million is *excellent*.  with my last insem, the count was around 30mill, and you know how that worked out .    congrats on the new baby-ready pad!  i hope that room has its own occupant (even if name only) in a little more than 9 months.

mrspp -- thanks, chica!  i'm so happy to see you back among us tww'ing, symptom obsessing queer gals.  how have you been and what's the plan for next month?

invitn -- i'm sorry to hear that you're taking a break, but, at the same time, i'm glad they've figured out what's been causing the vertigo.  i hope your recover quickly, and that you are back in the waiting to O column ASAP.  

gelly --  i hope it's not a long break, and i also hope that once you come back, your stay in this room is extremely short.  take care, chica.

outdoorsy --  i'm not sure what to tell you about the clomid.  i took it for several cycles, and it totally thinned out my lining and made me an emotional wreck.  i saw the risks, but it seemed like it was more of a problem in long term/high dosage use.  i used injectables this cycle and they apparently carry a much higher risk.... i was willing to take my chances, though.  whatever you decide to do, we're here for you with crossed fingers and tons of good wishes.  

angela --  yay for getting back on the crazy train!  any sign of AF?  thanks again for you very sweet remarks, btw.

sassy -- congrats on finding a new donor, and here's hoping that that golden police gut is dead on this time around.  are you doing the shipped fresh sperm and an at-home insem again?  keep us updated.  you know i'm rooting for you two!

lise -- ow, sorry about the painful iui.... that happened to me the first time around, so i can sympathize.  did you do an u/s beforehand this time, too?  i didn't do the pineapple this month, but i did have some red wine....mostly because my father kept insisting that i join him and my stepmother in having a glass, and i didn't want to tell them why i was suddenly abstaining.  here's hoping that your LO is firmly implanted by the time you go to telluride!

pokey -- congrats on the insems!  it sounds like you have a really good shot this month with all those big juicy follicles.  you asked about false positives on OPKs, and i wanted to mention that you can get them if you test too soon after stopping the clomid.  i don't know what days you were on it, though..  in any case, you and my DP are now cycle buddies!    what kind of progesterone are you taking, oral or vaginal?  f/x for you this month!

carmen -- woohoo for peaks and inseminations!  i really, really hope that this month is when you get your sticky bean.

krista -- great to see you again.  how are you?

hopeful -- i'm happy to hear that you're seeing an RE and getting good help.  my DP and i both had an HSG back in january.  i'm awfully glad i did, because it turns out one of my tubes is blocked (or at least it seemed to be).  in fact, the dye wasn't going through either tube in the beginning.  i can't help but wonder if the procedure opened up one of my tubes, and i know if both had shown up as blocked, we wouldn't have wasted our money on IUIs.  it is *not* a fun procedure at all, but like other people, i've heard it increases you fertility for a while afterwards.  let us know what you decide to do.  *hugs*

mrs² -- congrats on surviving the HSG and moving on to injectables. like others on here, i had a *lot* fewer symptoms on follistim than i had on clomid... i think the main thing i noticed was some weird but mild headaches every evening.  as you can probably imagine, i've become a big fan of the follistim.  i know all that monitoring sounds annoying, but to be honest, i wish we had had that option.  DP and i both got 1 or 2 ultrasounds a month (no bloodwork at all), it was a bit scary to have to wait until day 9 to find out how we were responding.  in any case, a couple of months of happy and healthy sunbasking sounds like the perfect recipe for a june bfp.  

amandawant -- WELCOME!  tell us more about you and your DP.  i think a lot of us have experience with at-home inseminations, so feel free to ask any and every question you have.  it's daunting at first, but you'll be a pro giving out advice to newcomers before you know it.

cananny -- again, CONGRATS on those beautiful follies!  i guess it's a good thing you've got so much experience with twins .  good luck tomorrow with the insemination.  i'm hoping our names will be right next to each other on the front page under april grads :D .  speaking of which, do you mind holding off for a bit longer on moving me?  if all is well, i'll definitely have you do it before your tenure as threadkeeper is up.

afm...we made what we hope was our final trip to belgium yesterday.  DP had been on clomid and injectables this month, and given our ages and our desire for more than one LO, there was no question of not going.  as much as we love that sweet little town and the staff of the fertility center, spending two entire days a month traveling there and back has gotten old.  hopefully, we won't be returning until we take our future children to see where they were created....  i'm doing well.  i've had two good (but slightly scary) betas, and i'll probably lurk here until the first u/s.  i hope that's okay with everyone.  i never thought that there could be something more torturous than the tww, but i was wrong.  

tons of  and  to all you fabulous gals.  

[mrsandmrs]

nos - are you worried about twins? or is it more than twins that concerns you? i'm still so excited about your lil easter egg(s).

[darthtunaqueen]

Wow, Nos... That is epic!!! Your bean is really stuck in there.... Slowly sucking away your nutrients.

Mrs^2, sorry to hear you're taking a break. So hard. but I wish you a quick bank account refill and that May isn't TOO stressful for you and that June works!!



Question about temping: the past couple of cycles, DWs temp has taken FOREVeR to rise above the cover line after she ovulated. She definitely ovulated on Monday (cramping, ferning, EWCM, soft cervix, positive OPK the day before, followed the next day by a withdrawal of all of those symtoms) and her temperature didn't go above the cover line until today... It happened last month too, but in the 14 months we've been charting, it's never happened before.

Thoughts?

We are 6DPO today, with nary a sign. Although DW did feel kinda sick this morning. It's interesting to realize that it's already day 6... I haven't had time to obsessively watch the time pass. Anyways, I'm off to bed, work is brutally exhausting (it's not even a full moon and we have SO many sick sick sick babies in our unit, poor babies.).

dusting to all.

[carmen358]

lise: Ouch, sorry your IUI was awful. I hope it's worth it!! I eat a whole pineapple (core and all) starting on 1DPO pretty much every cycle we try...yum!

pokey: Yay! Lots of us are cycle buddies...good to hear your second IUI went well :)

Hopeful: It's a tough decision to do the hsg or not....here's what I would do...if my cycles were quite regular and everything seemed "normal" and I had only been trying a few times I would wait (especially if I had to pay for it). I know normal cycles are not necessarily related to open tubes. When your gut tells you to do the test...I would do it then. Not very scientific I know and no stats to back that up....just my opinion and following what feels right for your body.

Welcome, Amandawantbaby.

nos: Great numbers! Crossing my fingers for your DP :)
 

darth: Do you have a chart online to share? I'd be suspicious that your DP didn't actually O on Monday if she didn't have a temp rise until 6 days later. Did any of the O symptoms come back on the weekend? Or it could be a "weak" O - I'm not sure how to define that other than perhaps she released an egg but didn't have the hormone rise associated with it? Strange that it's happened 2 months in a row. And she's always had the temp right right after O before?

Afm: FF gave me crosshairs for the O day I expected. I did get a temp jump...not a huge one like I've had on other pregnant cycles but a good one and it's still going up. So, I'm 3 DPO, eating pineapple, started the progestrone suppositories yesterday and I actually keep forgetting that we just insemmed (if you can believe it!?). This will sound weird but when I feel "good" about an insem I have actually felt some very mild cramping pain in my cervix immediately after the insem...even though we aren't doing IUIs. I didn't feel anything this time. My cervix was very open though which was good. And basically I just sometimes have this feeling that it was successful (I'm proving to be very unscientific lol). When I was pregnant with DD I knew it at 7DPO (I looked back in the forums on here and saw my post where I guessed!) - I get lots of AF type cramping right after implantation so it's a fairly solid symptom for me. Last pregnancy though I was convinced that there was no way I could be pregnant...until about 10 or 11DPO when I started having lots of cramping again. I never get cramping before AF starts so again, it was a pretty good indicator.

[KnittingTigers]

Happy Monday!

I feel hopelessly behind on everything. I've been reading along on my phone over the weekend, but it's hard to keep up!

Amanda, welcome! And, congratulations on your upcoming wedding! My DP is also ftm, so I'm always happy to see other trans families here! In terms of conceiving on your honeymoon, several thoughts. First, it's not crazy to hope to get pregnant on the first try! When I was TTC the first time around (I have a three year old daughter, and we're currently trying for one more), I got pregnant, at home, with one vial of frozen sperm, on the first try. Unfortunately, that pregnancy didn't stick, but it was good to know that at least I was fertile. What might be more challenging is the timing- I'm not sure how long your honeymoon will be, but if you're using frozen sperm, you've really only got a 24 hour window of fertility during the month. Are you charting now? If not, you might consider starting. If getting pregnant at home is a priority, you'll need to gather as much information as you can about your cycles and when you ovulate. Have you read Stephanie Brill's "Essential Lesbian Guide to Lesbian Conception and Pregnancy"? I found that really helpful, along with "Taking Charge of Your Fertility." In terms of banks, we used The Sperm Bank of California (TSBC). They do require a doctor or NP signature, but it doesn't have to be a fertility doc, or even an OB/GYN. Last time around the nurse from my student health clinic signed the form for me (I was a broke grad student at the time, so a fertility clinic was out of the question), and I had the sperm shipped directly to my house and did everything at home. I like TSBC because they'll tell you the sperm counts over the phone ahead of time. Especially if you're doing it at home, you want to know that you're getting the highest sperm count possible. And, I just think they're a great bank. I'm happy to give more detail if you'd like, and give you more specifics about our at-home process.

Nos, twins? twins? twins?? (Though I've known lots of people with high betas who have singletons too.:)

Darthtuna, now I feel like I should change my name! Hope the TWW whizzes by, and ends in a BFP.

mrsandmrs, happy break! Injectibles sound like a ton of work. There's no way I could do that during the academic year. Hopefully you'll only be doing it once!

Cananny, this is IUI day, right?!? Fingers crossed! I have a really good feeling about this cycle for you.

AFM, I'm on cycle day 28 and there is no sign of my period. On the one hand, that's nice, because I worry a bit about my sometimes-too-short cycles. This time, however, I just want to get started! Also, I'm really bummed, because I bought train tickets for me and DD to go to Washington, DC at the end of next week to visit my BFF. Now, I realize, that that was really stupid, because I'm almost certainly going to need to be here for my CD 10 ultrasound and then IUI. I can use the tickets another time, but this was the only weekend that we're both free for months out. I was thinking that AF would come early, as she always does, and that it might work out, but at this point, unless she holds off til Thursday, I think my trip is going to get nixed. Oh well...

Okay, back to work! Hope everyone's week is off to a great start.

[outdoorsy]

Krista, I couldn't open that Clomid link. Nosreves, what was the dose that thinned your lining? We've decided that since we're traveling this month and could be out of state at o time (especially if the Clomid were to shorten my long cycles), we're not going to start Clomid this month. This will give us a chance to do a little more research and thinking. I'm still going to temp to see if it shows ovulation. Question: If my temps follow a typical pattern, is it pretty much definite that I'm ovulating? Or could I have normal temps and still not ovulate? I still have to decide, if I surge when we get back from travel, whether I am going to insem this month or wait for the clomid.

[kgulbransen]

Hopeful: An HSG will determine whether your tubes are clear and open (important to conception and if both are blocked, conception is not going to happen) and it will help to determine the shape of your uterus to see if you might have a septum or fibroids.

In my personal opinion, you could spend money trying to get pregnant and not even know there is an issue. Or you can spend the money for the HSG and check that off the list. I would think much of it would have to do with how much you're spending per month trying to get pregnant. If it's equivalent to the cost of the HSG out of pocket, then go with the HSG. If not, you could keep trying and give yourself a specified amount of time.

[mtnlisa]

Nos -- Totally get you on something more tortuous that the TWW--you make it to the little plus sign and suddenly you are responsible for an entire little person for the rest of your life--I think there are times throughout the pregnancy that feel that way because we just have to give it so much faith and trust. Hoping things get less scary for you!

AngelaM -- Hoping your timing works out both for having some fun and getting closer to getting pregnant!

Carmen --  congrats on your cloth diaper pic! Remind me again the reasoning and protocol for pineapple?

Darthtuna -- at 7dpo here and I am going back and forth between, 'yes that is totally an early pregnancy sign' and, 'why on earth would I think I was pregnant!' Can't believe its already been a week and can't believe I should wait for a whole week to test...

AFU -- bought an e.p.t. at the store today, might not have been my best idea--now it is sitting there in the cabinet calling out to me.  Ahhh, the tww is its own kind of torture for sure!

[Cananny]

Nos.. Your bean is def snuggling in for a stay.. Are you excited it could be twins or scared?

Welcome Amanda..NW will ship without DR signanture.. I second Angela about TSBC.. we love them!! a plus for me is they are local.. and I can pick up!

Sorry for missing others.. I am pretty tired today~

AFM.. IUI was today at 830.. my cervix was completly open!! and the sample went right in! Re warned me with this many follicles the chance for multiples goes up to about 60%.. we talked about reduction of there were more than 2.. ... lets hope we never need to cross that bridge~  The IUI hurt today.. not going in, but def when she was just about done the speculum pinched me or somehting.. YOWZERS... but i got through it.. Sadly DP was not there .. she could not get away from work :(  So now the 2x a day progesterone starts.. for 2weeks.. Oh YAY

[junebug1]

cananny - sounds like a great insem, good luck!!

 for everyone in the tww!!

[carmen358]

Argh, tried to add a "smiley" and lost my post.....

Angela: Argh for bad timing! Any sign of AF today?

outdoorsy: Do you track other O signs? If your temp rises after O and you have other signs that line up...and it's fairly consistent each month then it's likely that you are indeed O'ing. (If you have no known issues) Of course, nothing is absolute!!

mtnlisa: The bromelain in pineapple is said to aid in implantation...and it's yummy so can't hurt, right?

cananny: Sounds like a great insem! Minus the pinchy part...

Afm: 4DPO over here, heading for acupuncture this afternoon. Thanks to everyone who 'voted' for my DD in the cloth diaper photo contest on here...she (and 2 other babes) won!

[lisedea]

Carmen--Yea! Congrats! I thought you might win!

Welcome Amanda!

Cannany--Yea for good timing! So, how do you feel about multiples?

mtnlisa--When are you planning on testing??

5DPO today. That's about all... Totally boring part of the TWW.

[outdoorsy]

Congrats, Carmen, on your cloth diaper pic win! To answer your question, I do track other o signs, but mucus and cervix have not been definitive. Truthfully I don't look at my cervix often enough, but I have started doing it more this month. Temps seemed to show I was o'ing fine, but my long cycles (sometimes 30 days for a few months, sometimes 36-39), were causing some concern. Then last month my temps suggested anovulation. My midwife suggested Clomid, which I have very mixed feelings about, due to the health risks to me and the risk of actually making it harder to conceive by thinning my lining, etc. I'm going to see how my signs look this month before I try Clomid. The thing is, what if my signs appear normal this month but somehow I'm not really ovulating? I could keep pumping sperm in there month after month with no real chance of pregnancy, and never know it. I guess if I'm not pregnant soon it will be time for a more medicalized evaluation. The medical practice I go to, even though it is totally traditional medicine, takes a low-intervention approach in the early stages. So I have not had any hormone testing, ultrasounds, or any of that.

Good luck to everyone in the TWW!

[kgulbransen]

Outdoorsy: you could consider Femara which does not typically thin the lining but I thinking getting to the root of the problem first is a better choice. Have you been evaluated for PCOS or checked to see if you exhibit three or more of the symptoms? Have you been checked for a thyroid condition? BTW, when the lining is thinned, there is the use of Estrace inserted vaginally to help plump it up. Plus, if you're doing an HCG trigger shot, that also helps to plump the lining so sometimes getting over the thinned lining hurdle isn't too difficult. But it seems as though you're concerned about possible effects of using medication so you'll probably feel more comfortable if you explore why you're possibly not ovulating rather than just jump to drugs.

[outdoorsy]

Krista - thanks for replying. My blood tests at the inital appointment did include thyroid, and it was OK. But in general my clinic does not start looking for problems until you've done three or four insems with them. It's normal to take this long to get pregnant, they say, and they don't want to medicalize it early. I have not been evaluated for PCOS, but it looks like we're getting to the point where I should discuss it with the midwife. From what I've read about the symptoms, though, I think the only thing I'm displaying is irregular periods. I don't know if I have cysts. The meds would probably be a worthwhile risk *if* I don't have another condition that would prevent them from making a difference.

[outdoorsy]

Krista, I see your sig says you are moving on to IVF. Though it won't be easy, it could mean good things for you. I hope it does! Best of luck with it! 

[carmen358]

Had my very first experience with "almost cried cuz you're pregnant and I'm not" today at work *sigh* I'm very happy for my co-worker - I knew they had been trying the same time as us but it still made my eyes water slightly and my heart ache a bit. It passed fairly quickly though and I let myself be absorbed in how exciting it is for her family (it's her second too) - she knew about my m/c so I know it was awkward for her to tell me and I appreciate that. Plus, I get stupidly happy when around pregnant women cuz it's just so exciting! lol I had actually guessed she was because she's been sick A LOT the past little while but it wasn't confirmed until today.

So, I'm ready to be pregnant again now too!!

[texayorcarodn]

Hi everyone... So glad there is a safe space to come back to. I signed up to be a part of this wonderful group earlier last year but when things didn't work out I disappeared.  I'm nervous to come back to a space where there are others feeling so nervous and anxious and hopeful to start a family.  

That's all for now, but thank you for this space and I'll be back!

Smiles, 

f

[carmen358]

Welcome back, texa!

Wow, the progesterone is really causing me some grief this time....very unlike last cycle I took it. I'm SUPER emotional and moody, lots of cramping and dizzy....good times. My DP suggested (in a rather heated, snarky way) that maybe I should stop taking it. I replied (equally as snarky) that fine, then I'd just keep having dead babies not my finest moment....

5dpo.....read above for "symptoms"! Great acupuncture yesterday so that was a good thing.