Queer Conceptions: February 2013 - Page 7

[granite]

Lizbian, I lived in Oz for three months back in 2009, and I could *not* get over how different the light was there! After being here in the foggy Pacific Northwest of North America for so many years, I was completely dazzled by how bright it could be... And this was during a rather dreary Melbourne autumn. There's just nothing like it. I don't even know how to adequately describe it... And I really don't know how you're managing, on a foggy island that's quite similar in climate to where I live!

I'm glad you took the aspirin, that's a really high temp.

Actually, for all you potential-SAD victims out there, have you tried one of those SAD lights? I've been thinking of trying it out, but am not sure if it's worth it.

[fmorris28]

Lizbian, You're right it'll all be worth it in the end. I think wanting a baby is almost like when you want a particular car and you see that vehicle EVERYWHERE. I see pregnant women all around meeh lol! The tea ball I had was like a mesh ball with a little chain attached to hook on your cup for loose tea leaves :) i had to laugh at meeh running around chasing a tee ball lol. and yes we do have that here. Hope that your fever goes down and you get to feeling much better!

Lea, I can understand your frustration, here we are all trying are hardest to make a LO of our own and your friend is almost taking it for granted! well atleast we can safely say NONE of our pregnancies will be like that thank goodness!

Granite, it is definately nice catching up. seems like we picked up where we left of. she gushed about her husband and recent marriage and I gushed about DP and our trying to start a family. just lovely all around. Good idea on not going to the 'we're about to start trying' party. I saw that teaball and it looks like it'd be much easier than mine that comes apart. I can't figure for the life of meeh where the other half went lol.

AFM, putting in overtime at the office..sigh.

Edited by fmorris28 - 2/10/13 at 6:28pm

[KWPX2]

Liz So sorry you're sick! You can take paracetamol all through the pregnancy, just be careful not to exceed 10 grams in 24 hours (this would be entirely excessive) as it can destroy your liver. Also, I have heard low-dose aspirin is helpful with implantation. As far as cold remedies...Mucinex (guaifenisen is the generic name) with a lot of water will thin your mucus (cervical or other) and help clear your chest, pseudophed and phenylepherine are decongestants that are advised against during pregnancy but would probably be just fine while in the TWW. They are advised against during pregnancy as they are thought to reduce placental blood flow but while in the TWW there really is no placenta yet. I would advise against antihistamines as they tend to thicken up mucus and make the snot movers in your airway less active. Dextromethorphan is a cough suppressant found in things like Robutassin it is also ok to use while pregnant. When I caught the flu right after insem my Dr actually said Tamiflu was considered safe ass well. I hope this helps. Good luck to you and DP in the TWW! I am very hopeful for you for sure. Make sure to drink lots of water and rest!

Twomommy Aw darn it!! I was really feeling the excitement for you. I am very sorry AF showed up. What do you say or do except feel emotional because you're having your period, love your partner well, dust yourselves off and try again. May you both be extra kind to each other and find your plan for the next round.

Granite How appropriate to insem on family day! Best of luck!!

AFM, nothing much new here. My letrozole symptoms have subsided. Thanks for the sympathies. We are looking forward to the US Wednesday to gauge when to trigger. I am watching or O signs in the meantime. Thinking about all in the TWW and those waiting to sort things out.

[twomummies nz]

Hi Granite, thanks for the welcome. In New Zealand if you meet certain criteria you can have one IVF cycle paid for by the government. It either takes a long time of waiting or a lot of self-funded treatment to meet that criteria. And you don't get to choose when that cycle happens. So it we were to get pregnant in the March transfer and then miscarry after May 1 then we would lose that funding. It's good that it's available but we still had to pay out $35,000 before we qualified.
 

[twomummies nz]

Thanks for the welcome. I've love to talk to anyone who has done multiple IVF cycles
 

[darthtunaqueen]

***** THE MAX DOSE OF PARACETAMOL (aka Tylenol, or Acetaminophen as its known in North America) IS 4000mg or 4grams PER 24 HOURS (approx 10x325mg tablets). NOT 10g (yikes!).

Tylenol overdose is the leading cause of acute liver failure in North America!! It is a dangerous medication that is not treated with enough care and attention (in my experience).

Ok, stepping off my nurse soap box now. Carry on!!

[lizbian]

granite yeah the light's completely different. Luckily it's a nice day here today & I'm feeling a bit better. Took a couple of aspirin & it's sorted me right out so will stop now I think! Probably going to move back to Oz after we've finished baby making however long that takes!   

fmorris overtime sucks - I know what you mean about babies. I know of 3 born last week then was doing a job Sat night & there were 3 women all due within 3 weeks of each other! Haven't told any of them we're trying so hoping it won't be too long. My friends are all great about us TTC as they think we'll make great mums. I've just told 1 of my friends about the weekend & she (and hubby) sent us a good luck message which was very sweet!

KWPX2 & Darthtunaqueen thanks for the info ladies! Just had 2 aspirin in the end, that's all I needed so happy days. Interestingly I know of a girl who died from an accidental overdose of paracetamol - not nice as there was nothing they could do about it once they realised.

[Friederike]

Glad to hear you're feeling better Lizbian.

KWXP - good luck for your upcoming US.

afm - I can be moved to waiting to O. Next insem will probably on the 23rd or 24th of February, which is a weekend, so great for relaxed babymaking.

[KWPX2]

Darth you're absolutely correct that the max recommended dose is 4G. I got that 10G reference from a toxicologist/MD when I used to work with the liver transplant program. At 10g or 200mg/kg body weight (this came from a reference book) you will without a doubt be damaging your liver. I didn't want you to think I just pulled the number out of nowhere. Certainly I don't recommend taking more than the recommended dose, just offering what information I know. Thank you for helping me make it more clear.

[escher]

Hi Everyone,

Friederike: I'm sorry about your bfn.

Fmorris: My wife has been using the monitor in the morning plus one or two other opks a day. I do think next cycle we'll try to make sure that she is doing at least two opks in addition to the monitor. Our RE says to test just once a day, but that seems like it might not be the best choice. On the other hand, if we had tested just once a day last cycle, we wouldn't have gotten the one positive opk that showed up mid-day, so we wouldn't have insemmed too early. It's hard to know what is best, but at the moment more testing seems better than less testing.

Lizbian: Congratulations on your insems! I'm so sorry that you got sick. I'm glad that you're feeling somewhat better!

Twomommyfamily: I'm sorry about AF's arrival. That's a tough question about waiting for the genetic testing. If you love your donor, it seems worth waiting to me, but if you don't really care then it seems like you might as well choose someone else.

Granite: Is today insem day? Good luck!

Lea: It's smart that you've been continuing your opks after the initial surge. Fingers crossed that this is the cycle for you and that you don't have to figure out travel plans with your KD!

Hi to everyone else! Anyone have exciting Valentine's plans? Anyone stuck in the snow in New England?

AFM: I think we're about 9dpo now (and 19 dpiui ), so probably just a few more days until we get to start the next cycle!

[KWPX2]

Friederike Sorry to get your news! Will you try next cycle? 

[Twomommyfamily]

Friederike: sorry about your BFN. If I try again this month, we will again be lined up- feb 24th or so. Lets both try for perfect timing this time!

Lizbian: congrats on your insems! But what terrible timing to get sick! I hope you're feeling better!

Twomummies: right now I don't think that anyone active on the board has tried IVF yet. But I could be wrong. I think there are some IVF success stories who have moved over to queer pregnant and parenting though. I truly hope this March IVF is successful for you!

KWPX: thanks for the support for my first BFN. Onward and upward, right? I'm glad the side effects of letrozole have subsided. Can you possibly tell me what is the benefit of using letrozole over clomid? Why did your doctor choose one over the other? Just curious because I may have medicated cycles in my near future and letrozole was never discussed, only clomid.

Lea: my AF started weird after progesterone. One day of light spotting while still using progesterone then when I stopped progesterone I still only had what seemed like heavy off and on spotting until yesterday. Odd. Without progesterone I have never had spotting.

Afm, DP and I are seriously considering a whole different approach this cycle. Different donor (we figure we should pick a backup anyhow, thanks for the suggestion Lea) and an at home IVI. Just take a break from Kaiser all together until we do the genetic testing (which isn't scheduled till March 5th, an eternity from now) to see if I'm a carrier for the same genetic condition as our first choice donor. That's what we are thinking at the moment... Better dust off my bbt thermometer and try to remember my password for fertility friend...

[DarcySD]

lea2012 - Glad you had a better experience with the shipping this time! When I took progesterone last cycle my period didn't come until I stopped taking the progesterone. I stopped taking the progesterone, spotted for two days and then got my period. I hope you get sunny days soon.

pokey - Thanks! I am actually noticing an increase in cervical mucus and also getting it a lot earlier in my cycle than I normally do.

SanDiego - Glad everything is good to go!

granite - sorry you were having trouble sleeping with clomid. I was fine until the last night I was taking it where I had trouble getting back to sleep after DW accidentally woke me up! 18mm! What a great sized follie - so excited for you! How did everything go today?

sotohana - glad you dropped in to say hello!

fmorris - So glad to hear your mother in coming around! Is there anything you can pinpoint that caused the change? I have been struggling with my parents since 2009. Maybe I just need to give it more time..

friederike - so sorry about the bfn. Glad your next insem will be coming up shortly!!

lizbian - Glad your insems went well! If DW starts trying later this year we will be doing home insems and I can just imagine all of the funny stuff that will be going on. That's terrible about feeling so ill. I hope you are feeling better soon!

twomommy - wow that is a lot going on! I hate that kaiser is closed on Sunday and it always freaks me out that will be the day I should be inseminating. I hope something shifts a little this month so that it doesn't end up on that day. Any news from the genetics person at kaiser? I am so impatient that I would probably inseminate with an alternate donor so I don't miss the month. But that is just me. I know DW would just tell me to wait. Edit - just read that you might be trying an alternate route. That is really exciting and I can't wait to hear what you decide to do. 

KWPX2 - Glad your symptoms have lessened. Lots of luck to you this Wednesday!!

escher - I am jealous of all the snow you got!! I used to live on the east coast and I miss it terribly. I just love the cold, snowy weather! FWIW when I am using OPKs to monitor I test 3 times a day during the peak days. I am always afraid I am going to miss it!

AFM - US at 9am tomorrow to check follicles. I have a feeling I either already ovulated or that my follies will be too tiny to trigger. My temps have been really high so just going by them it appears that I ovulated. I guess I will find out tomorrow!

Good luck to anyone I missed in the TWW!

[Sphinxy]

Just popping by to say I think of you all often and I'm rooting for you! I would love some more company from you soon over in QP&P. 

Best of luck to everyone waiting, inseminating, and mentally preparing! 

Twomommy - At first I was really invested in the idea of IUIs at the midwife's office and was kind of forced into the at-home route for our second cycle trying because of hurricane Sandy (couldn't get to the office!). But I was happy to discover that it was actually really empowering and comfortable, and from my perspective it actually made the timing easier because we didn't have to coordinate with anyone else's schedule. So good luck, you can do it, I think it's a great option to try! Also, I might suggest trying to picking a donor with both raw and washed vials available, so that you can use raw at home (helps the sperm live longer in an IVI setting) and then have the washed IUI-ready samples available for your back-up donor position if you do decide to go back to the clinic in a future cycle. 

[Twomommyfamily]

Hey there Sphinxy! Thanks for the message! I hope pregnancy is treating you well! Yes, if we go the IVI route we will most definitely be purchasing the unwashed "ICI" vial. The RE said we can also buy the unwashed for IUI because they will wash it in their office. I'm kind of looking forward to the general intimacy and timing flexibility of an at home insem. But I think pinpointing the timing is going to be difficult! Were you checking cervical position or just opk/cm?

To anyone doing at home IVI: do you use preseed or anything else to help to make it sort of ph hospitable for sperm? I don't get tons of ewcm... Also anyone using instead soft cups?

[lizbian]

Amanda that is a lot to spend before getting some government assistance but you're lucky to get anything. The island I live on don't offer IVF or IUI and also don't give any assistance when we have to travel off island to do it so every little bit helps.

Friederike sorry to hear about BFN but glad it won't be long to wait for next time and FX for you there xx

Escher exciting - good luck with it

twomommys what a great idea. You can also do multiple inseminations more easily at home and it can be any time of the day or night. I think that sounds like a really good plan and glad you're trying to think of alternative ways to do this.

Darcy good luck with the U/S

Sphinxy hey there- hope it's all going well for you!!!!! Nice to see you on here.

[Friederike]

Hey Sphinxy, nice that you're dropping in. We're all doing our best to follow you soon It gives me hope that it only took you 4 tries. For some strange reason, I have often had a feeling that 4 times would be our lucky one too.

Twomommy - I get the exact same weird spotting you are describing!

Usually my AF starts pretty quickly but with the extra dose of progesterone the body has to work extra hard to get things going. Which makes sense, since usually the corpus luteum declines slowly if no implantation took place but with the meds you stay at an even level. For me the meds also mean extra painful periods which unfortunately make me need tons of ibuprofen. I was up for 3 hours last night because it was so bad. I guess the longer the LP the thicker the endometrium and there is also the psychological pain of getting AF together with the physical one.

About your IVI question - I am not using any products to make it more hospitable. I do use arousal though, since I read that it changes the structure of CM to make it easier for sperm to swim into the cervix. The whole process of inseminating oneself is the most unsexy thing I can think of - but mind over matter...

The soft cups, I wouldn't use those for frozen, they are big. I would be afraid of more sperm clinging to its surface that getting to where it is needed.For fresh insems where the overall amount is bigger, I would think they would be great to prevent leakage though.

Lizbian - did you use one straw for each of your multiple insems last time? How did that work? I thought about spreading them out a bit instead of using several at the same time, but I wonder if it might be more complicated with so little liquid as the syringe would only be half-full. What are you using to empty the straw into? I am using a small Ikea snaps glas

Darcy - good luck today. I really hoper neither of the two options come true, but that you have a nice big folly that is ready to pop.

Escher - when are you testing? So close!

[lizbian]

granite I think the different light in Oz could be down to our lack of ozone

twomommy I also agree with Friederike on the soft cup things with frozen swimmers - there is little enough as it is! We went to use the speculum but it was too big to easily get the syringe far enough up as we needed so ditched the idea. After a couple of wrong turns DW finally found the right route to take - you'd think she'd know by now!!!!

Friederike I feel for you with painful periods. I spent my weekend trying not too cough too much so the little swimmers weren't flown backwards on a tidal wave of coughing spasm. For the first try we decided to space out so we had the longest period with some sperm alive. Obviously the question is whether .5 mls (which is in reality only about .4) is enough to actually get fertile but hopefully we overlapped enough so there was a bit more hanging around. We used a little plastic cup tipped very carefully on its side. DW did a fab job sucking it all up in the syringe which obviously only had to be half full but then there was no air as we just pulled the trigger as far back as needed. There was a little spillage after insem but hopefully less than if we used more. Who knows if it worked, I have very strong doubts but I think we'll probably try the same method next time!

AFM quite happy as I was supposed to give a 2 hour presentation tonight which wasn't going to be easy as I can't talk without coughing. Luckily my boss took one look at me and sent me home so I can sit & write my lesbian short story. Yay!!!!

good luck to everyone insemming this week - granite how did it go? thinking of you!!! x

[escher]

Sigh. I think you might as well move me to taking a break since our RE wants us to take the next cycle off to do some monitoring. Our RE is absolutely convinced that any ovulation after CD15 is too late for TTC, and that the only solution is medication. Does anyone have any evidence to support or refute her ideas? Thanks.

[DesertSunsets]

Escher, I don't know of any scientific studies or evidence offhand to prove that later ovulation is okay, but I do know that my wife routinely ovulates on cd 17/18, and our daughter was conceived on a cd 18 ovulation. And I think she's perfect!
I think if your DW's LP is long enough, that a later ovulation would be acceptable, within reason.
I'm sorry your RE is so adamant about this! Good luck.