Queer Conceptions: February 2013 - Page 5

[granite]

KWXP, hurrah for great follies, and a number of them to boot! I'm sorry about your father's dementia: That really sucks, especially with him being only in his 60s. Looking forward to seeing what next week's u/s shows, and sharing the TWW with you!

So crappy about the delays from the bank, Darcy! I love the idea of not eating foods with more than 5 ingredients... Hmmm, now I'm analyzing all that I ate today... Yep, I think I'd do pretty well in general on that diet, though I do have a weakness for the occasional chocolate treat (and not always the fancy, few-ingredient stuff!).

Yay for a great HSG, SanDiego! FX for open tubes...

Spring cleaning is well-underway at my place, fmorris: The focus right now is on clothes, and getting rid of all the ones that don't make us feel awesome. It's harder than it sounds, especially when something's in great shape but just not particularly flattering! What are you focusing on? Or is it a general household scrub-down?

Thrilled to hear about the marriage news in the U.K., lizbian! And wondering about your potential PCOS diagnosis: Was it "string of pearls" on the ultrasound, from too many ripening follicles?

Sorry to hear about you having to wait even longer to chat with the RE, escher. What kind of fats did the chiropractor suggest to add to your wife's diet?

I've still got my FX for you, twomommyfamily! That BFN isn't definitive yet!

Welcome, jam51212! I hope your stay here is short and sweet.

I'm glad that so many of you are already getting or looking into acupuncture... I think it can make a huge impact on fertility!

AFM: Oh wow, I totally smashed the tip of my index finger at work today, and typing this is *so* slow and painful, it's ridiculous. Like, how can one finger hurt so much?! But that's all I have to report from my small island city... Looking forward to Saturday's u/s, and stalking all your FF charts!

[darthtunaqueen]

Good fats for pregnancy are things like avocados and coconut oil. The concept of eating foods with no more than five ingredients is intriguing, but we eat a lot of curry (yay for living in Vancouver) which has a dozen ingredients! One of my coworkers got her hands on a medical textbook from1953 and has been gleefully posting bits and pieces, and one of the recommendations was to never eat a food that was advertised. How absolutely perfect is that???

I ovulated yesterday, right on schedule. So frustrating to know that my cycles are *perfect* and we're not actively TTC. Having fantasies about trying with our KD without DW knowing, but that would be an epic recipe for disaster!! But it's fun to dream....

[Friederike]

SanDiego - great to hear that the HSG went so well. I read that you're extra fertile after doing the procedure, so fingers x for your next try.

Darcy - wow you've changed a lot of things and it is all so healthy. I applaud you for sticking with it, it will be great that you're already used to a super healthy lifestyle once you or DP are pregnant and later when you have a child. I am sorry to hear that the best guy is sold out, but perhaps it won't matter at all because this month already worked and instead of a break you'll have a baby on the way .

Liz - what great news about the British vote! I was so excited to hear about it. It is a great signal even beyond Britain, because unlike France right now, it happend under a conservative PM. Those countries in Europe that have complete equal rights were all social-democrat/left-wing governed. If the conservative right supports us now too, there really is no stopping the political change. I wish Germanys chancellor would take this example, here the conservative and liberal party coalition voted against full equality again, just a couple of months ago.

KWPX - 5-7 eggs, oh my, that is a lot... one of them has to work, right?

fmorris, Granite - spring cleaning? I am jealous; we just had another snow storm overnight. I wish it was warm and I could start cleaning and start planting the balcony. I did find a 50€ bill under our couch though today when vacuuming, so maybe even a boring old winter cleaning has its benefits. Hope your smashed finger heals up quickly Granite!

Darthtunaqueen - I've had those fantasies as well. It is so frustrating to wait if you could be trying. But good to know, your body is doing excactly what it should be.

Also, I think the 5 ingredient rule doesn't mean 5 ingredients in a receipe, but what is in a single food product. Like the supermarket cheese that has a 10 item ingredient list or breads with lots of sugar and food dye or artificial drinks and such. Home made curry with tons of different veggies and spices sounds delicous! The recommendation to never eat an advertised food is also hillarious. Our local water plant advertises the high quality of our tap water, which we drink exclusively especially as we are car-free and live on the 4th floor without an elevator so I am not going to drag any bottled drinks up there ever. If I followed that rule I would have to die of thirst.

[escher]

Hi Everyone,

Twomommyfamily: My wife usually uses a face wash that contains salicylic acid and a face cream that contains benzoyl peroxide, and since neither of those are recommended for pregnancy she is choosing not to use them during the TWW each cycle.

Lizibian: Hooray for gay marriage! We're veggie too, and we don't tend to eat a lot of soy, but we haven't been 100% avoiding it. What have you heard that makes you avoid it completely?

Fmorris: It's impressive that you're getting into spring cleaning already!

SanDiego: It's great that the HSG went so smoothly!

Darcy: I'm glad that the clomid is treating you well so far. I don't really know for sure that our RE will suggest clomid, but she generally likes people to use clomid if their cycles aren't super regular, and since my wife didn't ovulate this cycle (or at least not when we expected her to ovulate), my guess is that the RE will feel like clomid is the answer. I think clomid can be a great drug, but since we really don't want twins we're trying to avoid it for now. It's funny that your horoscope had advice on when you should get pregnant!

KWPX2: It's impressive that you might produce 5-7 eggs. And how cool that you have your own chickens!

Granite: I'm sorry that your finger hurts! I think the chiropractor suggested nuts, avocado, coconut, olive oil, and full-fat yogurt.

Darthtunaqueen: Not eating any food that is advertised is perfect advice. I'm sorry that you're not actively trying right now, but hooray for perfect cycles!

Hi, Friederike!

[Twomommyfamily]

Granite: sorry about your finger injury! I hope it heals quick!

Kwpx: wow!! 5-7 eggs! This could definitely be your month! Also thanks for the well wishes. I'm pretty resigned to the fact that this cycle didn't work. It's okay. Hopefully next time! Also I'm sorry to hear about your fathers early onset dementia. I hope that the progress remains slow.

Darcy: I'm so hopeful for your ultrasound next week! I hope it shows that the clomid worked and you have big healthy follies. In the meantime good luck with the bank! Sounds frustrating!

San Diego: I'm glad your DW's HSG went well!

Fmorris: thanks for the positive thoughts! I'm oddly okay with the BFN. We didn't really expect it to work our first try.

Lizbian: how incredible that same sex marriage is legal in the UK!! I hope our Supreme Court rules in our favor in the upcoming cases.

Afm, 13dpiui. Waiting until Saturday to test the last time. I got a call from CCB yesterday though. Per the request of another client at CCB, my donor was tested to see if he is a carrier for a rare genetic condition and it turns out that he is. Donors are never typically screened for this (galactosemia) because of its very low prevalence in the population. They are screened for many, more common, genetic conditions. So if I am also a carrier for galactosemia, and I conceive with his sperm then the baby has a 50-50 chance of having it and its very bad. If we switch donors, no other donor has been screened for this and I would have to pay for the screening. So now I have to present this info to my doctor and see if my insurance will cover my screening because I definitely do not want to risk it. What an unexpected complication!!

[twomummies nz]

Hi, just thought I'd introduce myself. I'm Amanda (34) and my partner is Sophie (31). We've been together 6 years and have been trying to start a family for 4 years. We live in New Zealand. We waited a long time for a clinic recruited donor and started treatment in October 2011. This is how is has gone so far:

October 2011 - 1st IUI cancelled because I didn't ovulate

January 2012 - 2nd IUI cancelled because on 50 of clomid I had too many follicles

February 2012 - 3rd IUI BFN (25 clomid)

March 2012 - 4th IUI BFN (25 clomid)

April 2012 - 5th IUI BFN (25 clomid)

May 2012 - 6th IUI BFN (25 clomid)

June 2012 - Tubes test - all clear

July 2012 - 7th IUI BFN

September 2012 - 1st IVF (3 blasts created) hemorrhaged after egg retrieval and had to have emergency surgery. Transferred 1 blast, BFN

January 2013 - Frozen transfer, BFN

So at this point we are in $35,000 of debt and feeling very hopeless. I'm hoping to find other lesbians who have had as rough a road as we have. Coming up we'll transfer our last blast in March and start our 2nd fresh IVF cycle in May which is a government funded one, which is just as well because we can't afford to keep going.

[fmorris28]

Darcy, Welcome. Crazy it's already that time again! Hate that your pick sold out, guess he wa pretty popular. You know I read mye horoscope just about everyday and am soo surprised sometimes how its spot on. I hope that your new plan proves successful!

KWPX2, How awesome to have follies on both sides! Great job ovaries! lol I took letrozole last cycle. Can't say anything bad of it either. Just wanted more follies with it..I only had 1 mature, clomid I had 3! Love that you have your own chickens, i'd love some, but have a feeling the large population of cats around meeh wouldn't be so friendly lol. They're pretty brutal! One of them got a squirrel and left it oh so sweetly for meeh outside mye door! Looks like you've got a plan down as far as diet and all..for meeh thats one of the hardest parts, bc theres so many tempting things! GL!

Granite, Clothes are a HUGE part of mye spring cleaning. I like to go area by area. Start with the kitchen and then move room by room. I will clean out each area COMPLETELY so it sometimes takes a day or two to do a certain area. I'm sorting through mye clothes to donate to the battered women & childrens shelter by mye house. I've got a lot of clothes in great condition they could use! But the house will be scrubbed down as well :) Are you better cleaning on your own or does DP help? I have to send DP out of the house for some reason lol..i think she might mess up mye cleaning flow! I like it done MYE WAY lol. Hugs for your finger nd hope it feels better!

Darthunaqueen, I know the feeling, knowing your cycle is doing what it should be (for once) and you're sitting on the bench...no worries, we'll be back in the game soon enough! And you're right, it might be a slight epic disaster in trying with your KD without DW knowing!

Friederike, More snow?! I can only imagine. I talked to mye Nan and she's in the West Midlands in England and she was telling meeh she hadn't left her flat in 2 weeks due to all the snow! Its actually been crazy here, one day it was 45 and today its nearly 70...mye wardrobe is so confused! LOL Look on the bright side 50 euros and you didn't even know it was there! Love when that happens!!

Escher, I try and stay on top of it because it sure can get out of control when you work a ton and when you get home you just want to sit! Hope all is well with you!

Twomommy, Glad you appreciated it! I've got to send communications to mye team at work and I put inspirational quotes in there, and apparently the guy over meeh didn't like them and asked for them not to be in there. Sorry for trying to motivate the team so thanks for appreciating once again lol! Glad that you found that info out on your donor though. It seems almost similar to sickle cell anaemia. Usually one parent is a carrier of the trait, but if two people that have it conceive a child that child WILL have sickle cell anaemia, but if only one parent has it they will just have the trait and won't have to experience the hardship of the disease. Hope you get everything figured out!

Amanda, I see you've had a rough time, but you've come to the right place for support, advice, and anything else you need. This is a great community. We share a lot of tips and tricks for TTC as well. Glad you found a government funded IVF cycle, thats awesome, mye primary insurance covers nothing for IVF :( Hope your stay is short and sweet!

AFM, doing more research on things to improve chances during TTC. Needless to say, there are a ton of resources! I did look into the acupuncuture. I did find one so far, initial visit is $120 and each one subsequently after is $70 with a $10 discount for cash or check. What are the prices you ladies have paid, if you don't mind sharing? Not sure if that's high or normal.

[lizbian]

fmorris yes the CoE are exempt from having the law applied to them - typical! Churches will be able to opt in/out as they want so I suspect in reality it's not going to make a massive difference in practical terms. I'm there with you re spring cleaning - I'm also having a massive clearout trying to get ready for moving. It's quite exciting looking at houses where we're going to start the new phase of our life with a little one, having to think of things like school catchment areas which we've never had to do .

sandiego yay for the DW - did you reward her?  hope the results are all good for you.

darcy so many frustrations for you! Is there another good donor you can use? Probably good for DW to start charting & lovely she's willing to move forward her timetable if needed. That's a supportive DW!!! Re the polys. Some of the blood tests have been borderline for PCOS re hormone levels. My ultrasound had one enlarged ovary & a few follicles, almost like a half string of pearls. Again indicative rather than a definative sign of PCOS so I'm not sure what other tests they'll have to try to determine. I think it might just come down to symptoms rather than being able to tell one way or another.

kwpx yeah it's exciting for the UK. Guernsey is a separately governed island so they need to pass their own laws. A new 'States' (their word for government) came into power at the end of last year. They're trying to raise the issue of Gay Marriage but it's still a long way off. Unfortunately even if we get married (which should come in 2014 in the UK) they still won't recognise it in Guernsey. Good job on the follies, glad things are going along well at the moment. Sorry to hear about your dad, it's nice he's so supportive and I hope for both of you he's a grandad soon. I'm with you on the kitty litter thing - I'm glad my cat now goes to the toilet outside, especially as the dogs like to eat it! 

granite kind of a half string -5 or 6 which isn't loads but more than there should be. Other ovary seems fine. Good luck for u/s on Saturday! ouch to finger!

friederike yep it's a great step forward. Unlike Australia who won't even entertain the idea of a 'vote of conscience' as to whether they should bring Gay Marriage (or civil partnerships) up as a potential law change. Soooo frustrating!

escher we don't avoid it completely - just trying to reduce around the time we're insemming as I've heard sometimes it can slow things down a bit but it's not proven - thought that if it didn't make much of a difference it would be worth doing if possible.

twomommy wow that is an unexpected complication but good you know about it now, right? The law will come in next year which is actually not as long as I thought so maybe have to plan a wedding when babies are old enough to take part? dreams for the future...

twomummiesnz yay! Glad you've joined. Ladies, she's had such a hard time of it lately thought it would be good for her to get some good support from you wonderful people.

pafm DW is getting a cold. I've told her to STAY AWAY as I don't want to be sick for my first insem! grrrrr. Other than that all good, the flat we own has gone on the market today so hopefully we can sell it soon & will have money for any IVF. Yippee!!!  Ps if any of you ever want to know about Guernsey read the 'Guernsey Literary Potato Peel Pie Society' written about WW2 in Guernsey by an American. I am in the process of writing a lesbian based book in the same time period so hopefully it'll get published sooner or later.

[DarcySD]

KWPX - That is such a great number of follicles! Love the cat box mention - DW is in charge of it and has always been but now it's official that I am not doing it. 

Granite- Hope your finger is feeling better. Ouch! Such a sensitive area. Much luck to you on Saturday!

Friederike - Thank you and you are right about the 5 ingredient thing. That's exactly what I meant. I got inspired from the blog 100 days of real food. They are a great resource for eating simply. 

escher - Thanks! I am loving the clomid so far. I just hope it helps!! And yes, my RE had me sign a form saying that their was a 10% chance of twins. 

Twomommmy - I am so glad your bank contacted you regarding the donor and will be curious to see what your doc says. FX for you testing on Saturday! 

Welcome Amanda - I am so sorry this has been such a long and costly process for you. I hope you get some good news in March. 

fmorris - I just started looking into acupuncture and found two community places that have a sliding scale. The initial visit is around 40 and then it's between 15-45 for every other visit depending on your income. 

lizbian - Thanks for explaining all of that and yes we have chosen two other donors but I am still not sold on them. I will keep checking to see if anyone else that we have on our list releases any vials but in the meantime would anyone here be interested in looking at our two options and weighing in? If so, PM me and I will send you the link to their profiles. I am concerned about health history for one and for the other it would just not look anything like my DW or myself which is something we were trying to match up at least with hair/eye color. Much luck to you on selling your home and I hope DW feels better soon. 

AFM - Has anyone here who has taken clomid noticed a difference in cervical mucus? I am only on CD8 and starting to notice changes which is freaking me out just a little. Would it be possible to ovulate a whole week sooner while taking clomid? I am not due to see RE until Tuesday CD14 because I usually surge CD19-23. 

Thanks everyone! 

[Friederike]

Okay, guys, I've gotta talk about this - I have been feeling nauseaous several times over the last two days and had lower back pain both last night and this morning. Only 10DPO, so I won't test until at least 2 more days but it is a really strange feeling. I don't expect to be preggo because timing wasn't that ideal and it was only the second try, though of course I can't help but wonder. argh.

[carmen358]

Originally Posted by fmorris28 

AFM, doing more research on things to improve chances during TTC. Needless to say, there are a ton of resources! I did look into the acupuncuture. I did find one so far, initial visit is $120 and each one subsequently after is $70 with a $10 discount for cash or check. What are the prices you ladies have paid, if you don't mind sharing? Not sure if that's high or normal.

Threadcrashing...I paid 70 for acupuncture + extra for herbs. The second one I saw was 66 and I didn't take any herbs by her direction. Both women were TCM doctors and registered acupuncturists that only work with fertility issues. Oh, I should add that I'm in BC, Canada in case you didn't know - that may cause a difference in price :)

[Twomommyfamily]

Friederike: oh wow!! I think you are in for a BFP soon!! Those are great signs! You are a vision of self control by not testing earlier. Since I'm totally convinced of my BFN I have very little temptation. But if I were feeling nausea, I would so totally sneak a test in there. FX for you!! I'm so jealous! 

Amanda: I'm sorry your process has been so difficult so far. I hope that March is successful! Do you have any indication what may be impacting your fertility? Any hormonal issues that the RE has identified? 

Escher: as for avoiding soy. Its a phytoestrogen and can throw your hormones out of balance if consumed in large quantities. I think occasional soy is no big deal. 

Lizbian: I looked up Guernsey online and it is so beautiful! And so much closer to France than England. That book sounds really good and gets great reviews, I want to read it!

[escher]

Friederike: Those sound like hopeful signs!

Lizbian: Good luck selling your flat! I love The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. I've read it twice!

Fmorris: Those acupuncture prices sound like what I paid ($70 per session plus herbs, more for the initial session). I know that community acupuncture is much cheaper, but I worry that it wouldn't be as effective for fertility since then they don't do needles in your abdomen or back.

Amanda: Welcome! I'm sorry that you have had such a hard process so far.

Twomommy: I'm sorry that you're having to consider genetic testing. I hope that there is some easy way to deal with that.

Hi to everyone else!

AFM: I think my wife did end up ovulating this cycle, just a good week after we did the insem. Still, late ovulation feels better to me than no ovulation. But we need to figure out how to get better timing if the opks aren't going to be reliable. Suggestions?

[Twomommyfamily]

Escher: What type of OPK are you using? You could check with the RE to see if they do blood work for estrogen testing to determine when she will ovulate, estrogen peaks 72 hours or so before ovulation. You get an estrogen peak followed by the LH surge. Also saliva ferning detects estrogen levels. Clearblue Fertility Monitor tests for both estrogen and LH. Whats interesting though is that she got an LH surge with a much later ovulation so I would be curious whats going on with her hormones because the LH surge is supposed to trigger ovulation not much later than 48 hours after. I think persistently high LH (which I don't know that she has) can be a sign of other fertility issues. 

[escher]

Twomommy: It is a good suggestion to ask our RE about blood estrogen testing. Like you, I've read that constantly high LH levels can be a sign of low ovarian reserve, but I don't think my wife has persistently high LH levels since she got just one positive opk and all the ones before and after that were negative. It's possible that the opk was just defective, but who knows. We're using the clearblue smiley face opks as well as the clearblue monitor. I never had luck with saliva ferning when we were TTC our son (my saliva never ferned!), but maybe we should try that with my wife. Thanks for all these good questions and ideas!

[lizbian]

Friederike - oooooooooooo, it's exciting!!!!!!!! FX for you. x

twomommy yes it is a beautiful place except when we have gale force winds & fog & none of the transport off the island is going! The book takes a while to get into but it's a good reflection of the island.

Escher glad you liked it. I have no suggestions re timing other than you do all the charting etc right? Can you do an U/S a day or so before as they can usually tell when they think the right time to insem is? I had an U/S and he told me based on the size of the follie how long it should be until I O'd.

AFM nothing to report, say 'hi' to the swimmers every morning, freezin' their l'il butts off  have Sunday & Monday off which will be great for our insems. Yippee. xx

[lea2012]

Just a quick update - I inseminated this morning (was hoping to yesterday but our KD forgot we wanted it Wednesday so earliest he could get it shipped here was this morning). Other than timing, which may have been a little off, I think we did a better job this time - KD packaged it properly, and I had a lot less leakage (sorry if that is tmi). Only bummer is that DP couldn't be here this morning with me because she got a sort of unexpected promotion yesterday and was asked by her boss to go to Olympia to testify for the legislature about a bill that is up for vote - she couldn't exactly say she had other plans. I'm just hoping that her good fortune at work will lead to good fortune in other parts of our lives.

I'll start progesterone tonight and will try to wait as long as possible to test, but may get some Internet cheapies to humor myself. In the meantime, please move me to the tww.

Quick question for those who have taken progesterone w/bfn - did it delay the arrival of AF for you? If so, for how long?

Thanks for all the ongoing support - I'll be back later for personals.

L

[pokeyAC]

Darcy-Clomid can dry up your cervical mucus if that's what you are noticing. 

lea-Progesterone did not delay my AF when I was not pregnant.  It started right on time.

[Friederike]

Progesterone (200mg) delayed my LP for about 4-5 days, but that is because I have a very short natural LP of 9 days due to low progesterone. If I didn't take progesterone I would probably have my AF by now for this cycle. For me it also changed how AF starts, I got spotting for a whole day, which I usually don't have, so kinda like it was trying to break though in spite of the meds.

So now you have Pokey and me with totally opposite answers *lol*

Good luck for your TWW Lea!

[Twomommyfamily]

Lea: FX for you!!! my AF would have started 6 days ago if I were not currently taking 200mg of progesterone daily. I have a very short LP due to low progesterone. My sister uses a birth control pill that is 100%progesterone and she only stops it for AF every 6 months so yeah, it can delay AF.