Queer Conceptions: March 2013 - Page 7

[KWPX2]

Escher Holy Smokers! What exciting news! I am keeping FX that this little bean sticks good! Early yes but hopeful out the wazoo!! 

Liz What crazy making with the shipment and seemingly delayed O! Hopefully your planets have aligned and synchronized your O with the slow to arrive swimmers!

Sphinxy and Granite Good to see you both. Hoping pregnancy is treating you well!

Fmorris  How exciting with the upcoming insem! Wishing you the best!! 

AMT Congrats on the successful and sweet insem! Best wishes there and I will keep FX for you!

AFM - So i went for my early US Tuesday,2 days after stopping letrozole. I had several follies on each side and they were all around 9-11 mm. I have been taking dexamethasone as well to inhibit my adrenal glands (which allows for higher FSH) . The dex continues for about 3 more days to continue ripening the follies as letrozole has to be stopped after 5 days.  I am going back for another US in about an hour. We will recheck the follie size and depending on the growth we will either stimulate them further with low dose hCG for a few days to coax them into the 20mm and above range then trigger them for insem. The idea behind dexamethasone is that it inhibits DHEA from the adrenals. DHEA inhibits FSH, so beating the DHEA back a bit augments the stimulation of the follies.  Follies up to 14 mm are susceptible to FSH only (as opposed to LH). After 14 mm the follies become susceptible to LH as well. This is why we will use hCG in low doses (200 units) to further increase egg size for a few more days before we trigger (hCG 10,000 units).  -- This is the really nice mini-lecture (with pictures) I got from the RE the other day. I find it fascinating! WIll keep you posted about this afternoon's news. 

[escher]

Hi Everyone,

Is everyone in the right place in the first post? We've had a lot of insems lately (hooray!), so please let me know if I missed moving you!

Lizbian: I'm so glad that the swimmers arrived in time! Silly follies, being a bit slow this month, but it's nice that you're going to be able to do the insems on a day that isn't so busy. I agree that it is pretty funny that the tank weighs so much for such a very small amount of material.

Fmorris: Good luck figuring out the trigger shot! It sounds like you've gotten some good advice here. I moved you to the TWW, since you'll be there so soon now!

Amt: I'm glad that the insem went so well. I have my fingers firmly crossed that this is the cycle for you!

Granite: Thanks!

Friederike: I'm so glad that the IUI is affordable! How did it go today?

KWPX2: Thanks for your excitement. It sounds like you have a smart (if slightly complex) meds plan. I hope your US goes well!

AFM: Second line slightly darker on internet cheapie this morning. Blood tests for hCG and progesterone tomorrow. I feel like initial betas don't really tell all that much (in my mind it is the doubling rate that really matters), but I'll be interested to see the progesterone, since it was low at 5dpo.

[fmorris28]

Drive by posting.. Thank you ladies for the help. I went to Walgreens and got the right needles. After I showed DP the needle we both decided to call mye mum, whose an RN that wrks at the hospital 5 mins from meeh. So she took a break nd we did the shot lol. So, mum gave meeh mye trigger . So trigger was at 1205 nd at 1255 I took a couple of OPKS. Would the hcg be in mye system already or are they just super positive?

[Twomommyfamily]

Fmorris: I don't think the HCG would be in your system yet. You are surging naturally and hopefully the trigger will just make it a nice strong O. GL with the insem later today! Also my mom is an RN too, I'm hoping our trigger day is one when she is off work because DP hates giving that shot!

Escher: I'm so happy for you and DP!!!

Kwpx: the hormone interaction is so interesting! Insem will be soon and sounds very well thought out! I've heard of dexamethasone used sometimes for IVF protocols, but didn't really know what it did.

[KWPX2]

Post US update....I have several follies in both ovaries all measuring right around 12 mm. This is good news as we used estradiol in the first days of my cycle to synchronize follicle growth. Evidently it worked. in past cycles I have had one egg dominate and grow much faster than the others. (which is how it is supposed to work in humans...why we don't have litters i guess). it seems like my egg growth is stalling out a little so we are going to forge ahead with "micro hCG" supplementation. The RE gave me a very interesting study citing research that compared clomid alone to clomid with micro hCG. (This was a study conducted before letrozole was used)  Basically 67 patients were studied and it was found that 57% of the combo therapy pts ovulated compared to 7% of clomid only pts. Also, the pregnancy rate jumped from 0% in the clomid alone group to 18% in the combo therapy group. They conclude that micro doses of hCG in the late follicular phase increased E2 levels, ovulation, and pregnancies. PM me if you want the article citing info. 

All this to say it looks like I will start injections tomorrow, re ultrasound Sunday and look for insem Mon or Tues next week. 

I hope this technical stuff is helpful to others. I know I find it fascinating and it really blows my mind that so many folks get pregnant like falling off a log. It seems like it would be such a crap shoot when you begin to consider all the hormones that have to harmonize just so. Factor in timing and it seems like a lottery drawing has decent odds.  It is a testament to primal instinct I believe! 

[KWPX2]

Fmorris I forgot to respond....I agree with Twomommy. Too soon for hCG to be in your system. It looks like you are surging naturally and the hCG will just boost your O. When I took the last trigger I didnt get a positive OPK until 28 hours post trigger. According to my RE the trigger will induce O within 36-48 hours. Hang on to your wig, it ought to be a bold O! Good luck with the insem!! 

[fmorris28]

I'm officially in mye wait ..just left the docs and am at home relaxing.

[Twomommyfamily]

KWPX: I assume that study is with women who have PCOS, anovulatory cycles, or some other type of fertility issue? Many women, like myself, ovulate naturally but are still using clomid in order to increase the number of targets, not to induce ovulation. It would be very surprising to me if I didn't ovulate because of using clomid alone.

[lizbian]

kwpx2 wow it's all very interesting - glad the US went well & good luck with the insem x

escher good luck for the blood test.

fmorris yes!!!!! good luck, can't wait to join you in the TWW today. Also Friederike and Darcy - busy month x

AFM well surge has happened!!!!!! Insem tonight & tomorrow, can't wait to be in TWW being a bit healthier. Yippee!

[Friederike]

Is there anything more hillariously akward than dragging a sperm tank, that is very clearly recognizable as one, all the way across town on two trams and a bus while encountering ones university students? Anyway, I am now in my TWW.

[escher]

Hi Everyone,

KWPX2: It sounds like things are progressing well for you. Good luck with the injections!

Fmorris: Congratulations on being in the TWW! How did the insem go?

Lizbian: Hooray for a surge! What nice timing. Good luck with the insems!

Friederike: That sounds hilarious, if also somewhat awkward. Congratulations on being in the TWW!

AFM: I've been trying to be calm about this waiting to know if we have a viable pregnancy, but I'm having more trouble with that today. Part of it is that my wife went in for the hCG and progesterone tests, and we'll hear those results tonight. Part of it is that the second line didn't look darker today than yesterday. Part of it is that I got my period and I worry that my hormones will throw hers off. Blah. I'm trying to just accept that right now we don't know if we'll have a baby in November, and I'm trying to enjoy that possibility ("love the questions themselves" as Rilke would say), but at the moment I would rather just skip ahead a week and see if we have doubling betas. The last time we did a series of betas we did end up with our son, but the time before that the non-doubling betas were our first clue that the pregnancy wasn't going to stick around. Anyway, I'm clearly a bit gloomy today. I hope everyone else is feeling more positive!

[DarcySD]

Just popping in to give you a hug, escher.  Thinking very sticky thoughts for you and DW today. 

[Friederike]

Escher, that sounds hard. And very understandable if you've lost pregnancies before. It's not wrong to be anxious. We're all only human and want this so much, so if we aren't calm and rational that's okay, too. Maybe you can plan something nice for your wife and you over the weekend to take your minds off things a bit? I don't think the fact that the line didn't get darker means much though. I have once played around with several internet cheapies and one same sample and got different results in darkness. Heck, some people never even get positive urine tests until weeks into their pregnancy. I wish you sticky vibes and doublings in your results.

KWPX - just wanted to say, that your long post on hormones is very interesting to me. I've read all studies I could get my hands on during this process so far (even one on bovine insemmination just for fun). More knowledge never hurts, even if it doesn't direcly apply at the moment, you never know where this process leads us. It is one of the things I love about this board, everybody is so knowledgable about the human body and the ttc process.

Liz - happy insemming tonight!
If we become preggo today the babe would be due on 12/6 (the day I started TTC ast year).

[lizbian]

san diego forgot to say you'll also be in the TWW - yippee!!

friederike that is hilarious!!!!!! hope you guys aren't shy! I think this process pretty much knocks most of your self consciousness/shyness away. Good luck for a sticky one. Wow that would be some kind of karma to have a babe due the day you start trying. Let's hope it works. Swim little Danish swim team!

escher that's completely natural. Waiting is so hard, isn't it? I think it might be one of the most stressful things in life. FX it is all good news x

finished a very long week & waiting for wife to come home after zumba with her mum as had a romantic night planned. Oh well!

Thought you all might like to see a pic of where I live. Took this last night shortly before I took a face plant on the grass (lucky wasn't the asphalt) after tripping up a kerb in the dark. Whoops!

[fmorris28]

Twomommy, thanks for the help yesterday..it was a wild day for meeh lol.

KWPX2, Glad you had some nice follies at ur u/s. Hopefully your injections are a breeze. And you were right about that bold O. I had some intense O pains on mye left ovary (the one that had the 3 nicely sized follies) last night around midnight (12 hrs post trigger).

Lizbian, that was a lovely photo!

Lizbian and Friederike, Glad you'll be joining meeh today!! FX and sticky baby dust to you! x

Escher, Thanks! I'm glad to be there. The insem wasnt too bad, had a bit more discomfort than last time..but I took it like a champ bc I know its for our future LO(s) lol. I'm sorry your feeling a bit down, but don't count anything out..you haven't had any news to make you thik otherwise. I'll keep everything crossed for you.

AFM, 1dpiui and I feel pretty relaxed about this cycle thank goodness. I'm hoping it'll go pretty quickly. In the meantime...im thinking of getting out the knitting needles :) ..oh nd BTW...I've learned I really don't like the taste of pineapple core  lol (is that smiley new haha?)

[lizbian]

fmorris lol we don't have fresh pineapples over here bur I love the smiley! good luck for getting through the TWW x

[fmorris28]

Lizbian, lol the things we do for TTC! Thanks for the luck! I'm sending loads your way as well. I had to sit it outside yesterday and this morning to help ripen it a bit, but I noticed a little furry creature (maybe a groundhog or something) coming out the woodwork and eyeing mye pineapple! Needless to say I chased it off and snatched up the pineapple lol. I know why they take the cores out now though lol! I thought the smiley would be appropriate because I did gag a bit lol

[lizbian]

escher can you move me to the TWW please? slight stress as the vials were hard to get out, needed tongs that we didn't have & a bit of gas puffed up in DW's face but insem went well

fmorris I love it - I'll be waiting for a chance to use it.

[KWPX2]

Twomommy  You are correct in that the study was dealing with women who were on clomid who had previously failed to ovulate on clomid alone. The purpose was to see if the addition of hCG would induce ovulation or increase pregnancy rate (which just by inducing ovulation stands to reason would increase pregnancy). The article is in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology (2005) 192, 1890-6. The authors are Branigan and Estes. I injected myself with the first 200 units this evening. The follicles which were 12 mm yesterday are hopefully 14 mm today and will boost to 17-20 mm by Sunday! I noticed that today my CM is beginning to change and my cervix is beginning to move higher. I hope I don't O early just so I have time to ripen some more follicles. 

Friederike I am enjoying the imagining your trip with the tank! How can you go through all this and not have a fabulous sense of humor and ability to laugh at self!?

Fmorris FX!!

Escher Wow! Hang in there! I don't pretend to know what it is like to go through this whole TTC process and have a chemical pregnancy or a miscarriage and I sure hope I never have to. But sure you have reason to feel like you do! Friederike is so right, you're human and you are normal when these feeling of doubt and concern creep in . Try not to let it consume you and steal your joy. Focus on your partner and your relating to each other. Keep looking for positive signs. Our FX for you both!

AFM, no news. US on Sunday. Hopefully we can trigger then or insem with a natural O on Monday. 

[sotohana]

OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG!!!!!!!!!!

AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!! We're pregnant!!!! This is the best thing of all time!

Beta at 11DPO (this morning) was 18.75 and I got this test this evening! Progesterone was 25 this morning too. 

Holy crap! 

I know I haven't been posting because this process has been so tough, but now I feel so blessed that it happened exactly as it did. I just know this is going to stick and everything's gonna be perfect! Yay!!! Thank you all so much for your support. It has meant more to me than you know.