Queer Conceptions July 2012 - Page 4

[carmen358]

Originally Posted by kgulbransen 

Wishin: bummed the f*** out for you. I'm sorry.

Soto: why do family and friends have to be so difficult? I am convinced that not everyone has the "sensitivity chip" that they should have (in my personal opinion). Our society does a good job of supporting self-centeredness and selfishness. I was just listening to an infertility friend gripe last night about going to see her family at a wedding a week ago and how painful it was because it seemed like so few people in her family were taking into consideration her feelings about her TTC struggles. It's really hard to have expectations of others and those expectations don't get met -- no matter what the scenario!

AFM: I had my egg retrieval yesterday. 23 retrieved, 15 mature, 14 fertilized. For a 40-year old, that's pretty good. Let's hope that there's at least a couple in the bunch that are genetically normal! It would really suck to know I'm an egg-making/embryo-fertilizing machine but with no real output...

Krista

Great news, Krista!

[erinTNgirl]

Amy: I tried to PM you but I have to wait another week bc I am a new member. Could you tell me

where to find the tomcat catheter online?? If not that's okay.

So I know this question has been asked before, but what is the best day to POAS? I will be DPO 12 tomorrow

if I got the timing right. I should know by then right if I get the FRER? I work Monday-Wednesday and

have to leave my house by 6am, so DP would have to wake up really early with me. I am just scared

to see a BFN I guess. Then to make matters worse on timing, I leave Thursday to go to TN to visit my

family. AF should be here no later than that day, yack!

I just really want it to work out, but once again my hopes are not up yet. I wish my body would yell a sign

at me..

[Amt1015]

Erin- Here is the kind DW and I use...Hope this helps

[erinTNgirl]

Thanks Amt! Do you just use with a regular syringe?

[carmen358]

wishin: I'm sorry

darth: Good luck for your DW's appointment on Tuesday. I hope it's ok and you can get started! What sperm bank are you using btw?

lovestreet: I hope things improve and your insem goes well tomorrow. I've heard many stories on here of things improving from day to day!

outdoorsy: Hmmm is your progesterone really low? Apparently it can change from day to day depending on time, etc. Do you have any symptoms of a progesterone deficiency? Spotting, short LP, etc. I'm sorry this wasn't picked up sooner - it's an easy one to fix!

erin: For me, I feel like I would definitely know by 13 or 14DPO....but I tested positive this time on 11DPO and 10DPO with DD. If you do test and it's negative....there is still a chance you might get a positive!

Afm: Nothing too exciting going on for me. The pain I was having is pretty much gone and only bugs me once in awhile if I move a certain way while laying down. I'm trying to cope with the anxiety and although I abhor wishing my days away I wish I was closer to July 19th which is when I have my first u/s. Still pregnant as far as I know though...

[erinTNgirl]

Carmen: That makes me feel better about wanting to test this morning thank you! I am trying to wait
until DP wakes up but I really have to go ugh!

I will keep you guys posted..I have a bad feeling so we'll see.

[darthtunaqueen]

Carmen, we don't know yet!!  DW is waiting to have her test done, she doesn't want to look at donors until we know we can actually start picking them.  Genesis has a shortlist of banks they use, and there's one bank that they get so much sperm from that they don't charge shipping if you order it with the rest of the group (i.e., Genesis puts out an order once a month, I think it's the Cryobank Labs?  Not sure).  

[lovestreet13]

Can I please be moved to the 2WW list? 

Insem this morning went well!  Yesterday during my 2nd ultrasound, had a bunch of big, open follicles, and uterine lining was still at a 5b.
Today, had a bunch of CM, just like last time.  My cervix was off to the side a bit, but was still easy enough to get to, said the RN.  Good vial, they said, at 17 million.

Question for you ladies....  Do you get ovulation pain?  And if so, do you know when the pain happens in relation to your actual ovulation?  The reason I'm asking is that I woke up yesterday with a wicked headache, and it lasted allllll day.  I do get migraines, but they are usually in the same areas of my head and this was a different area.  I took 2 Imitrex, but that didn't get rid of it at all.  So I tried to just sleep and rest.  At 1:30 yesterday, I had a sharp pain in my left lower abdomen, near where my ovary is.

My concern is that I actually ovulated yesterday, and had the insems today and tomorrow.  So, during my ultrasound on Friday things just looked okay, but then on Saturday things looked really good.  And Saturday is when I got my crazy-ass headache and had that pain.  I haven't been doing any hormone tests at home, since I've been getting blood tests done at the clinic, but I suppose those might help me pin-point it.  If I did ovulate yesterday, what do you think the chances are that the insem today could still take?

Thanks for your help!  I'm still such a newbie at this.
 

[sotohana]

Lovestreet- Your signs sound so good that I think your insem was probably excellently timed. We can never know 100% right? To me, though, your signs from this morning were very promising. 

Afm- this was a really great weekend. So nice in comparison to the past week! I blogged about it and my friend and I are actually making a blog contract with each other too so we can get back into writing. It always makes me feel so much better to write. I'm really excited about it. :)

[outdoorsy]

Carmen - My progesterone was 2.98 on 16 DPO, six days after the surge started. I hope you're right that it's an easy fix, but she said the low prog indicates ovulatory dysfunction, and it's not clear to me whether the low prog in itself is the problem or whether it points to some unidentified problem. I have a re-test Thursday, and then she's going to tell me what she thinks we should do.

[erinTNgirl]

Hopeful- Can you add me to the TWW please? Thanks!

So I chickened out and did not take a test..I am really scared to see BFN like my DP did. It hurt enough just to see hers.

I am going to try to get up the courage to take one tonight. I am 13DPO with no signs of AF but my luteal has been

as long as 15 days. There's no way it could have worked the first try! I don't have luck like that!

Anyway, I guess I will just hang until I can figure out what I want to do.

[outdoorsy]

Erin - some people do have luck like that. It could be you. Or, it might not. I hope it's you. Good luck!

Some more news from me --- AF arrived this afternoon. A 19-day cycle! This is a record low after last month's 28-day cycle on Clomid and my usual 35-39 day cycle over the last two years. I called the RE and she said this could actually be good news in a way, because it means my progesterone was more appropriate for the time of my cycle than we thought, and we must have caught it on the way down. The question remains, though, why the cycle was so short and whether I'm truly ovulating. I asked if it could be from the Clomid, and she said probably not. I have an u/s and bloodwork set for CD 9.

[Hopeful22]

Hey all. Busy weekend around here!

I believe I have moved everyone where they need to be. If you need to be moved please post in bold to make sure I see it. Thanks!

I have a lot to say but really need to be working so I will try to post more later tonight or tomorrow. 

[carmen358]

Originally Posted by outdoorsy 

Carmen - My progesterone was 2.98 on 16 DPO, six days after the surge started. I hope you're right that it's an easy fix, but she said the low prog indicates ovulatory dysfunction, and it's not clear to me whether the low prog in itself is the problem or whether it points to some unidentified problem. I have a re-test Thursday, and then she's going to tell me what she thinks we should do.

I hope it's an easy fix too! It's a good first step that they've identified it :)

Afm: It's looking like I'm having another miscarriage. I posted already on the queer & pregnant thread but thought I'd update here too. I had some spotting and cramping this morning and was still afraid of an ectopic pregnancy so I went to the ER. They did an u/s and saw a gest. sac and a yolk sac but no fetal pole. My hcg is on the low side too. Both of these things *might* not mean anything bad but with the mild symptoms I've had I'm not feeling very hopeful.

[pokeyAC]

I'm so sorry Carmen.  It's so difficult that you have to go through this again.  It's so unfair.  I'm still hopeful that everything will be ok.   

[lovestreet13]

Ohhh, Carmen!!    I'm so sorry...  I'm so hoping those symptoms are just something else happening.  But it sounds like you know what you're experiencing.  I'm so sad about this!  I loved reading your posts and knowing that the process worked for one of us!  All I'm thinking about getting those little swimmers to do their job, and I haven't really wrapped my head around "What if it doesn't stick?"  Can't do that yet.

I don't know what else to say.  I'm so sorry, Hon.  We're really pulling for you to feel better!  For whatever this is to go as smoothly as possible, without too much trauma to you.

I'm sending good vibes and a big hug!! 
 

[KnittingTigers]

Oh Carmen, big hugs to you. I am sending you all the hope and love I've got right now.

[kgulbransen]

Carmen: I'm so sad. I'm not going to try to convince you otherwise because I know ou know these signs all too well. All I can do is send you lots of hugs and pray that you get your answers sooner rather than later.

AFM: ultimately, we wound up with 7 embryos biopsies and frozen. Two "are stellar" and the other five "would make a healthy pregnancy." of course all that remains to be seen once we get the genetic results back in a week or so.

Two things that have interested me in this since I had an outstanding number of eggs and a high fertilization rate for a woman my age.... First, I have been taking DHEA, CoQ 10 and Royal Bee's Jelly for some time now. I know they are just starting to do larger studies on DHEA and improving egg quality. Secondly, if this is a numbers game and you believe the theory that it's only a matter of time before your number comes up, and you pair it with the fact that at 40 about 65-70% of my eggs are "bad" then I've actually done just slightly better than the average 40 year old. I had about a 50% bad egg rate. So if it is a numbers game, then my good egg just hadn't come forth yet in all my other cycles. And if we wind up with even two genetically good embryos, who is to say how long and how many cycles it would have taken to get there or how many more miscarriages I would have had to have. My journey is far from being over or having it's final ending but I get closer to understanding everything conception related that I ever have! My friend and I are actually thinking of starting an UVF and conception coaching service with a focus on lesbians and single moms. :-)

Krista

[Hopeful22]

Oh Carmen- I am so very sorry for everything that is going on. I am really hoping and praying that this pregnancy will stay and you won't have to go through this again.  

Wishin- I am sorry about your BFN.

Outdoorsy- I am glad you are getting care from an RE. I hope all your questions can be answered and your cycles can be figured out so you can get your BFP!

Erin- Good luck with testing or waiting it out. I hope you get beginners luck and are able to graduate this forum quickly!  I agree with what the others have said about practicing with a speculum. My DW and I got really good with it during the three months we tried at home. You had also asked about doing things at home vs. with a RE- the advice we have been following is three times at any given stage. 

Soto- Go Ducks! We should totally take our babies to a game together!  My DW loves getting baby duck stuff for our future fan and I am sure she can't wait to be able to take our babe to a game. I am so sorry about your family. They sound incredibly rude and insensitive but I am glad that you and your DW are doing better and you are able to get an appt with a therapist. It can do wonders to talk to someone who isn't wrapped up in your life. Enjoy your trip to the hot springs for your anniversary. We got back on Sunday. It was so nice to get away and the weather was perfect!!

lovestreet- it sounds like your timing is right on. Do you or have you temped before? That is usually the easiest way for me to pinpoint O. If you haven't done it I hope you don't have to start!

Darth- I can't wait to move you guys out of the waiting to be ready section! 

Krista- Way to make those eggs! Congrats on the great number of fertilized eggs. When do you find out more?

AFM- DW and I had an amazing time in Central Oregon this last weekend. We really needed time to get away and be able to have fun together and relax.We went hiking, kayaking, to the museum, floated in the river, toured breweries and ate some amazing food. Here is a picture we took while hiking: 

We also got some time to talk about things that we have been putting off talking about. Mainly TTC. We decided to take a break this month for two reasons. The first being that we were planning on starting Clomid this cycle and with that my RE wants to do an ultrasound on CD1-3 and CD 1 started after we left to go out of town for a few days so there was no way we could get in for that ultrasound without cutting our trip short. The second reason being my DW. I think she is having a hard time with this whole process. She seems pretty removed from TTC and she has suggested a few times that maybe a break would be good for us. I think this is coming from a lot of places. We have been in this process of planning and TTC since last Sept. ( I just had to look back at my FF to see when I started charting daily and I can't believe it has been almost a year!) Another part is that my DW is turning 30 soon and is one of those people who is slightly freaking out about it. I think she may be seeing it as the end of an era or something. I am not sure it has anything to do with the actual birthday but more to do with the fact that she just finished school, is starting her career and starting a family. I think she is feeling like she needs to soak up all the time that she has of being young and free or something. Its really odd for us because we aren't into drinking or partying or doing things that she couldn't do when she is 30 with a career and kids. All I know is that I have to respect her wishes and make sure that we are on the same page about this whole process. And really since deciding to take a break I have felt a huge sense of relief. It will be nice not to think about it so much or to not worry if I may be pregnant. I got to enjoy several glasses of wine and several cocktails and a hot tub over the weekend! Things I wouldn't be able to do if we had been in the TWW. Anyway, I am totally rambling now. So as of right now we are at least taking this month off and then seeing how we feel at the beginning of August. I will continue to check in and update positions since I have signed up to be threadkeeper this month. Sorry for taking all the luck and not even using it but I will send a little to each of you! 

[erinTNgirl]

Carmen- I am really sorry...I am sending good thoughts your way.

Hopeful- Thanks for your encouragement! Did you mean it takes an
average of 3 times? Or did I misunderstand? That seems about right.

AFM- well I got the courage alright...on DPO 14 tonight I took a test
against my better judgement bc I feel AF coming on. BFN. Gosh it is
really hard to see that one dark line staring at you. Very depressing
but my first time so I guess I am not surprised. I will try again after
practicing with the speculum at the end of July.

So hopeful could you move me to waiting to O? thanks.