Queer TTC January 2008!

[simplelah]

Thanks to Frog for keeping last month's thread!

November Queer TTC can be found here

December Queer TTC can be found here

Queer Taking a Break from TTC is here.

:A Rainbow of options!:

Waiting to O
mahrens77
2happymamas
tigermiep
mhiccup
MujerMamaMismo
JennM1021
burtsgirl
simplelah
twylightdove
knit_grrly
frog
Sugerson
astraphell
travelgirlz
simcon

Waiting to O on a day when swimmers can actually be shipped
Zyla

Waiting to Know... Braving the 2WW
baby_baby_mommy
Amigone
JenInMpls
smartycat
tiggerkong22
kjm
pranava
Coco99

Waiting to Implant
starling&diesel

Taking a Break
osker
Sprout's futuremom
FtMPapa
ktcl (and DP megincl)
QTRANDI
Sugersen
Hulahoop

Waiting to be Ready
katharinerose
lemurmommies
wannabemoms
erthe_mama
snoopy13

Waiting to be healthy / WTF is going on with my Body?...

January BFP!!!
cookie70

Past BFPs:

December BFP
Scalpel

November BFP
mamimapster
AngelaM
solejean
lmh222

[snoopy13]

some early january questions...

hi everyone --

hey am i supposed to be taking the vitex (chasteberry) if i got a HPT+? i thought you weren't supposed to take it during pregnancy but i read in an article on mothering.com that it can raise your progesterone level which could help prevent miscarriage?

i have an auto immune condition and there is some thought that progesterone can decrease symptoms and that's why some women feel better during pregnancy, so that makes me wonder if my progesterone is low?

also i have a previously scheduled 1st appointment with a midwife for jan 14 where i was going to arrange for the day 20 progesterone test... now that i had a + test hopefully that means my insurance will actually pay for my medical care since they cover ZERO for pre-conception anything for non-heterosexually-married people... but do you think i should try to get the appointment moved up since i had the + test?

i'm pretty excited and now i have a whole new set of questions and thoughts and worries than i did just last night... thanks!

and CONGRATS TO mamimapster!!!! hope to be in your shoes in early april!

jd

[JenInMpls]

snoopy congrats

When I got pregnant I wasn't expected for an appointment until I was 6 weeks along. I'd say call your midwife to find out. As for the vitex, I've read sources that say discontinue it in the 3rd tri, and some that say discontinue when you're pregnant. I discontinued it when I got pregnant but I wasn't under the care of an herbalist, so *shrug*

happy new year everyone!

[Sugerson]

Congrats to all!

I will be continuing my break - seems the timing will not work out. Last month I had another 12 day luteal phase - it's been awhile...so weird...my luteal phase changes to 12 days when I am not inseming...

During these months I have felt like giving up more than ever - what a let down. I am trying to stay positive, but what a disappointing way to start the new year. We found out yesterday that our KD would be out of town when we are ovulating. Bummer! I spent New Year's Eve totally frustrated and upset. I hate not having access...my DP keeps reminding me that it will all come together when the time is right. I hope she is right...

Congrats Snoopy...how wonderful! I have heard mixed reviews on the vitex as well! Mostly I have read not to take it during the last trimester - early contractions...I was told not to take it...at all. My midwife is suspicious of it - so I had not asked her about during pregnancy.

[kjm]

::: :::C ongrats Snoop
::: :::

[mamimapster]

Originally Posted by snoopy13

also i have a previously scheduled 1st appointment with a midwife for jan 14 where i was going to arrange for the day 20 progesterone test... now that i had a + test hopefully that means my insurance will actually pay for my medical care since they cover ZERO for pre-conception anything for non-heterosexually-married people... but do you think i should try to get the appointment moved up since i had the + test?

i'm pretty excited and now i have a whole new set of questions and thoughts and worries than i did just last night... thanks!

Hoorayy and Congrtatulations!
As for the appointment- I would advise moving it up, and asking for a progesterone test asap- if your progesterone is low, there are a variety of ways to bump it up( I've been on ALL of them in the 3+ years of TTC this babe). It will help with a sticky babe.

[aminxx]

congratulation to all those with bfps... I'm new on here and have been ttc for 4 months with a KD. This cycle will be the last with this donor as he is going to China at the end of Jan... I wondered if anyone knew if using egg whites to improve EWCM was a good idea.... (i hardly get any at all and am 33 years old). Does anyone have any other good tips that would help? We havent used a speculum yet and have relied on 10 ml syringes... ty and babydust to all

[Coco99]

Hello everyone ! Well this is the month that things will start for us ! I guess we should be changed to the "waiting to O" category ! Actually, I guess I am waiting for my cycle to turn one more cycle, I will O in a few days and then, when I menstruate again is when the process starts at the clinic and that O will be it ! If things are as stable as they have been, we should be trying that first insemination on the 31st of this month !!

Has anyone gone through IUI in a fertility clinic ?
How was it ?

Babydust to everyone !

Coco

[QTRANDI]

Trying Again!

Yesterday was day 1 of AF......on to our next round of trying.....(and hopefully not making my gazillion eggs again!)

Here's to hoping for a 2008 baby............

Randi (and Kauleen)

[JenInMpls]

Originally Posted by Coco99

Has anyone gone through IUI in a fertility clinic?
How was it?

Hey, Coco I conceived my son doing IUIs in a clinic (ob/gyn, not fertility) and am now doing the same trying to conceive #2. How was it? Pretty much a non-event, a lot like a pap smear, I thought. I guess some women experience cramping but I never have. What always happens at mine: they verify the donor #, go over the motility and count, whoever is doing the insem comes in (ob/gyn on call, now, used to be a CNM who always did them but she's off doing regular well woman care now), verifies the # and my DOB again, draws sample into syringe, flushes air out of catheter, inserts spec, makes a comment about fabulous mucus (every time! Without fail! ), inserts catheter, pushes sample in, flushes catheter with a small amount of saline, takes everything out, adjusts the table so my hips are up and tells me to relax for 15 minutes and then I'm free to go. Always seemed pretty unamazing/uneventful to me, must just be my luck.

[frog]

Originally Posted by aminxx

I wondered if anyone knew if using egg whites to improve EWCM was a good idea.... (i hardly get any at all and am 33 years old). Does anyone have any other good tips that would help?

People seem to swear by Preseed, though you have to order it online in most places, as it's not widely stocked.

[KnittingTigers]

: : Congrats Snoopy!!! : :

I'm so happy for you guys, and selfishly quite happy for myself, since it means more queerspawn in Rhode Island!

Big, big hugs!

[erthe_mama]

Hi everyone! I'm still happily lurking about (though I had some catch-up to do since it's been a busy month.)

Congrats to all the mamas with BFPs!!! :

Originally Posted by frog

I know I'm totally putting the cart before the horse, here, but what do you all plan to do in terms of giving birth? (A colleague had her baby today, so it's on my mind...)

Personally, I'm planning to have a home water birth with the same midwife who attended my last one. That is if my rommates don't object. Although I'm thinking about taking the hypnobabies course as well. Should be interesting at least.

[MujerMamaMismo]

: congrats Snoopy...and congrats again minimapster! :

[MujerMamaMismo]

Shameless cross posting --- just posted on my blog too

Frog, others, help me out here! The rage I am still feeling about this has me struggling to be clear and coherent.

How can I improve?

Dear Dr H,

On Thursday 20th December ’07 I had an appointment with you that left me feeling disrespected and very disappointed.

You will recall that the primary reason for the appointment was to check my latest round of thyroid test results but that I was also concerned about my ovulation/fertility chart and questioned my low, erratic temperatures.

As we discussed my efforts to conceive via home insemination I was shocked and incredibly distressed when you suggested I consider having sex with my sperm donor. Whether it was meant in jest or not, I found your suggestion to be incredibly inappropriate and plainly homophobic. I imagine however, that such a suggestion would be equally as abhorrent to a heterosexual woman trying to conceive with donor sperm. I’d also like to point out that most research suggests that inseminating with fresh sperm results in almost the same level of success as intercourse.

I am a relatively new patient of yours and was attracted to your practice because of your progressive approach and your respect of complementary and alternative modalities of healthcare. Perhaps naively, I made the assumption that your progressive approach would carry into social relations and that you would have had some experience treating lesbian and same-sex attracted women in a sensitive and appropriate manner.

The healthcare needs of lesbians require the same level of respect and sensitivity as do those of any other woman. Those needs, however, can be vastly different. I would like to direct you to the volumes of research completed by a local GP, Dr Ruth McNair on lesbian healthcare needs. A dedicated website can be found at http://www.dialog.unimelb.edu.au/index.html. You may be particularly interested in the fertility and parenting section. Though currently on maternity leave, you may also be able to contact Dr McNair through the Carlton Clinic.

I will not be returning to your practice but know of other lesbians who do see you and think they’ll greatly benefit from your greater knowledge and sensitivity.

Yours sincerely,

[frog]

I think it's just perfect, MMM. Are you sending it just to her, or others, as well?

[KnittingTigers]

MMM, I think the letter is great. Good for you for managing to be so articulate in the midst of what is, I'm sure, lingering anger.

[JenInMpls]

If you feel like you couldn't ever recommend her practice to friends who are lesbian for the treatment you received, throw that in... I put (honestly) in my letter to the PA I saw that I couldn't recommend him to friends or family because my trust in him had been ruined.

I think it is a very controlled, honest, professional and respectful letter. And I do hope that you send it to someone other than just her! Checks and balances!

Happy back-to-work day... my wife begged me for a ride to work this morning but I think it was harder for us to pack up child, etc and drive downtown than for her to bundle up and walk to the bus stop...! (It's currently 2F / -16C here).

[frog]

Originally Posted by JenInMpls

... my wife begged me for a ride to work this morning but I think it was harder for us to pack up child, etc and drive downtown than for her to bundle up and walk to the bus stop...! (It's currently 2F / -16C here).

Heh--spoken like the woman who doesn't have to stand at the bus stop! :

[Coco99]

Hey thanks Jen !

I hope mine is as uneventful as yours !!

Coco
xx