Queer Conceptions: November 2012 - Page 7

[fmorris28]

Granite, The crazy thing is, mye state has mandated coverage for fertility treatments nd such (specifically IVF), BUT mye job's HQ is based out of FLorida, so we have florida insurance! UGH!! I can't remember if mye clomid was covered, but it cost meeh $17 (5 pill 50mg). You're right about the principal, you would thing we'd get a break for trying sometimes multiple attempts. I think the more you try the cost should go down! Two thumbs down for all the health insurance that doesnt do what we pay it to do!

Sotohana, Welcome back! I remember seeing you around when I first joined a few months ago. Glad you're getting back on the TTC train though! I don't know much about lengthening your LP, but i'm sure one of these amazing ladies knows! Lise helped meeh out earlier..i was curious about fertilitea. Good luck on the upcoming cycle I hope the best for you all!!

I'm still waiting on word back from mye OB on her thoughts...i've sent her 3 emails in 2 days lol! I keep thinking of different things to ask about switching up the protocol!

[sotohana]

Originally Posted by fmorris28 
 

Sotohana, Welcome back! 

Thank you Fmorris! Did she say fertilitea was good or bad? What are your thoughts on it now?

Another thing I forgot to mention to y'all is that since the last time I was on here, I've started writing for a website that y'all might like. It's called The Seattle Lesbian. You can find it here: www.theseattlelesbian.com 

[carmen358]

Originally Posted by sotohana 

So, with that, I'm wondering if anyone can tell me what they've done to lengthen their luteal phase. Mine is only 9-10 days long. Other than that, I think I'm doing okay. I have good cm and am very regular with my period. I experience normal pms symptoms and I just got off caffeine- finally! I do acupuncture currently and am taking some herbs that she prescribed me- three pills three times daily (so, 9 pills total). 

Have you tried vitamin B6? You should take a larger than normal dose to see effects but it's pretty consistent in helping out in a lot of cases. My LP was short the first few post partum cycles. I took 100 when I was still nursing DD. B6 can have some side effects with really large doses though so check with your health care provider if you aren't sure what you should take.

[joyseattle]

lisedea - I used to drink that brand back in the day when we were ttc three years ago, and it didn't have an impact that I know of. This is a naturopathic dispensary blend of just three, so I wonder if it was more potent…or maybe still just a fluke (although I believe otherwise and I'm not willing to risk it).

granite - you get the tank refilled by taking it to a place that sells liquid nitrogen. I went to a air/gas, welding supply specialty place. It cost $20 and they said three other people had brought in cryobank tanks. The woman wished me luck and told me to come back when I'm pregnant! The tank was still cold when he they guy opened it, but it was totally worth the peace of mind to know it's good until next Thursday.
 
It surprises me that clomid is $100 per cycle as it's available her for $5-10 per cycle at most big pharmacies. My non-covered progesterone is expensive though.

sotohana - welcome back! For short-ish luteal phase and low/declining temps half way through, I've done acupuncture, tried a new tea (see above for info about the negative results), in the past did TCM herb pills, selenium and B6 supplements, and now with this cycle I'm planning to use progesterone suppositories.

[Friederike]

Sotohana - I have 9 days as well. I tried Vitex for many months (my charting starts in 2008) with no effect, I am taking vitamins B (currently 300% the daily dose) but don't notice any influence either.
Since I am afraid to waste a lot of money by creating fertilized eggs that just can't implant properly due to such a short LP, so we decided to get it fixed by heavier stuff; progesterone pills that I'll take after ovulation. A hcg trigger short also helps produce more progesterone. I had a blood test run two days after O that confirmed my low progesterone levels and we also ran an ultrasound to make sure I am actually producing an egg. I was told that sometimes a short LP and a weak temp spike mean that the woman makes eggs but they don't ripen enough to get to the stage where they can be fertilized properly. I wanted to rule that out.

[lizbian]

Hi ladies,

Sorry I haven't been around much- teaching 11 hour days as well as doing lots of photography is keeping me busy  I promise to do better next month!

I saw the specialist yesterday to find out what the process for us TTC here in Guernsey. The news unfortunately wasn't what I wanted to hear. The only clinic on Guernsey is now not doing IUIs anymore as the regulations were getting too complicated for them so we have to go to England and the cost is ridiculous - close to £2k each time we try which is prohibitive as well as we can't use the donor we wanted to. The good news is that we can try at home but it looks like I have PCOS and which I'm still waiting for confirmation on. The doctor isn't sure if he can prescribe Clomid if we're looking for home insemination as he can't be seen to be supporting it so we have to look at our options.

The good news is that he did a scan yesterday and thinks I should be ovulating next week so we quickly put in an order last night for next week, the complication that DW is away in Sweden for work so I'll be on my own!

I'm sure things will work out but they look to be even more complicated than I had first thought.

That's about it I think - as I said I promise to be more responsive to others soon once I have a moment to breathe!

[Sphinxy]

Welcome back, sotohana!  I hope your stay is short and successful!

How goes the OPKs and insems, darcy and joy? FX for you! I am looking forward to having some company in the TWW.

Afm, sitting here at 9DPO. Waiting, doubting, hoping, repeat...

[pokeyAC]

joy- I would make sure you are getting the generic progesterone.  One time my prescription was for the brand name and I paid $70, another time it was the generic and I paid $7.  I pay 50% for fertility meds.  They looked exactly the same.

[scorpioma]

Sphinxy:  I bet you are getting ready to test here pretty soon... Thanksgiving isn't too far (or the day before!) Is that your 14DPO? Really hoping you graduate this round!!

Also, I am with you, and thank god for what easttowest said about temping... I hate it! I guess everyone does it differently and as long as there is enough data to go on we should be good. Some people like to have a full month of temps and that's good for them!

mrsandmrs: That guy sounds awful. I'm sorry he was arrogant. And awesome on the open adoption meeting- I totally get you- just need a baby in this house!! 

As far as my eating plan, I am not really doing anything specific but using fitnesspal to count calories and eating healthier. Lost 5 lbs so far! It's been about 5 weeks. So that's good.

Seems healthy and I feel better. 

sotohana: looking forward to getting to know you!

[sotohana]

Ooh! thanks for all the suggestions y'all! Right now I take 9 pills daily of an herb called Woman's Treasure: Nu Bao Pian. My acupuncturist gave it to me. It includes fluorite, cistanche (cistanche salsa), curculigo, tang-kuei, peony, rehmannia, cynamorium, deer antler, red peony, salvia, astragalus, cyperus, ligustrum, hoelen, epimedium, cuscuta, and licorice. How's that for a long list of nonsense! lol :) I have absolutely no clue what it is supposed to do for me. Basically I just smiled and nodded when she handed it to me. 

I think I will check with my regular doc, though. Perhaps they can test me for my progesterone levels and give me a trigger shot or something. I am just so tired of waiting, waiting, waiting. Maybe if I was 25 then I could be patient, but I just turned 31 and I know I don't have forever to wait. 

Sphinxy- fingers are crossed super hard for you!

Lizbian- that cost is super high. I'm so sorry about all of the barriers you've been experiencing, but I'll send up some prayers that none of it will matter and you'll get your positive test very soon.

[Sphinxy]

scorp - Thanksgiving would be 15DPO for me, my first day of actually being "late". DW is getting AF today, and we keep telling her cramps not to give my uterus any ideas (my cycle is longer than hers, last month we got AF the same day!). Anyway, yes, I am getting close to testing. Right about now (9DPO) is when I start biting my fist because I want to test SO BAD but I get all crazy thoughts about jinxing it by testing too early, or what if I get a false negatie/false positive, yada yada I just want this wait to be over! I forgot who it was last month who starting chanting "do it, do it!", but I can hear them again this month, and the voice is coming from the direction of the storage cabinet in my bathroom...

[easttowest]

Good luck Sphixy, and hang in there!  Not to start anything, but we got our BFP on 9 dpo last month, and someone else (Erin?) got hers the next day.  But I completely understand the appeal of waiting, too.  Whatever you decide, I hope it's  an even happier Thanksgiving for you.  :)

[Sphinxy]

Question for people who like the Brill book - do you have a preference of "The Essential Guide" (2002), or "The New Essential Guide" (2006)?

[SanDiego78]

I hope everyone is doing well, I feel like I haven't been on the board for a week or two now, I can't keep track!

Good luck to all in the tww & everyone tcc.

afm - our meds & "goods" are ready to go for our next try, now we're just waiting for AF to arrive so we can have our cd3 u/s and start the process. AF should be coming within the next 2 weeks or so. We chose a new donor for this round which I'm pretty excited about.

[joyseattle]

Sphinxy - Thanks for checking in. We're still in the opk (and cervical position, and fluid and temping) phase, hoping to insem sometime this weekend. I have a phone consult on Monday with a nurse practitioner at the fertility clinic we plan to use within a couple cycles. If I haven't ovulated by mid-week we'll call this cycle a bust and see about storing our vial locally or shipping it back to the bank.

Re: Brill, I haven't read the 2002, but I have the 2006. I'd go with newer info as fertility research changes rapidly.

pokey - Thanks for the advice. My rx is for Endometrin which is new and not generic. I could ask for generic, but I did some research and feel comfortable with the additional cost, which through my HMO is less than most folks pay.


 

[DarcySD]

Sphinxy - Both inseminations went well! We did the first yesterday at 3:30 and the second was done at 10:45 this morning. This morning I got a positive on my OPK at 5am and I just tested when I got home at 3:30 and it was negative. Also tested positive yesterday morning at 9am. Hopefully the timing was okay. I felt dull cramping on my left side in the middle of the night last night so I am not really sure what that was. The nurse told us our samples were good. The first one was 17 million and today it was 18 million. I am still having some mild cramping and very light spotting. How exciting that you will be testing shortly! What do you do to help pass the time?

How early can I test? I am not sure when I ovulate because I don't temp.

[nosreves]

Herzlich Wilkommen, Frederike!  freut mich dass Du uns gefunden hast.  i graduated from this room about 8 months ago, but i wanted to come by and welcome you, because a) we're neighbors (bin Amerikannerin wohne aber in Frankreich), b) my DP and i went through a lot of the same difficulties you're having while TTC  c) we used a Danish donor and d) i have a very long history/love affair with Germany and the German language.  here in France, we have absolutely no access to assisted reproduction (it's completely illegal for doctors to help lesbians get pregnant), and they won't even let you ship sperm into the country.  my wife and i ended up going to Belgium after a very frustrating year of inseminating at home with a known donor.  it was a pain in the ass having to take off work and drive to another country twice a month, but after three months, it worked out for us.  i hope the at-home inseminations work for you.  and wouldn't it be funny if our kids had the same donor?   anyway, 

[granite]

Welcome back, sotohana! Good luck with the luteal phase.

Joy, I love your story about filling the tank... You totally have to go back to see them once you're pregnant!

I'm am so sorry for the news about your TTC options, lizbian; it seems so crazy that you'd have to travel to England. If there's one thing I've learned from these forums, it's that home insemination really does work, and it sounds like you're going to make it  happen.

Sphinxy, FX for you!!! My copy of Toevs/Brill is 2002. When I bought is (secondhand, online), I already knew that we'd be doing IUIs at the clinic, so decided it didn't matter if I had the most up-to-date version.

Glad you found a new donor that you like, SanDiego!

AFM: I just found out (like, an hour ago!) that my company needs me to go to the interior to do a project this upcoming week... Leaving Monday morning, driving to a far-off mountain town with my foreman and another guy, and working our asses off until the job's done, which will take at least four days but maybe 6 or 7. 

Days during which I am likely to ovulate.

It's possible for me to refuse, but I'm a "foreman-track" apprentice and the only remaining member of what used to be a crew of 8 (the others got laid off or moved to crappy construction sites)... Not to mention that I'm one of two women in the whole district, the only out queer, and a decade older than most apprentices, therefore have something to prove (whether I like to or not!).  Construction projects have slowed down for the winter, and I'm struggling to get more than 20 hours of work each week... So a week of overtime pay would be extremely helpful.

Still, I'm frustrated. Is this cycle going out the window? Tomorrow's u/s will show if the clomid worked this time... Maybe it didn't... And maybe it did but I won't even ovulate until I get back... Or maybe I'll just miss out on this try, and hafta get over it

[fmorris28]

Sotohana, She hasn't come back yet...normally 2 days she's followed up..looks like i'll be waiting till monday. I am anxious to hear what she thinks! I'll definately let you know! And i'm going to check out ur site too! Just won't let meeh right now at work lol

Lizbian, Sorry to hear all the hurdles you're having to jump through to make a liddle one! 2k Pounds is a lot! Thats about $4000. Just try to stay positive because this is indeed a journey. Good luck with everything and hopefully you'll have some great news for DW when she comes back!

Sphinxy, Hang in there! You're close to the finish line. I've got fingers crossed for you!

Sandiego, Good luck with the new donor! Hopefully that'll do the trick on ur upcoming cycle!

Granite, Sorry about the frustrations. I understand how it is when things come up at work like that. You have things planned then here comes something unexpected that you really cant shirk off. Hope your appt. tomorrow shows you what you've been wanting nd that the clomid started a party in your ovaries! Keep you're chin up, bc its not over until its over!

[Sphinxy]

Woke up at 4:30am, took a test, BFN. Does anyone out there have an example of someone who got a BFN at 10DPO and was still actually pregnant?