Queer TTC October 2008 - Page 5

[Twylightdove]

Tested this morning and got a bfn. I'd still be hopeful if I hadn't started getting a few cramps over the night.

I know I felt different than other tries. Who knows why I felt the way I did. This process is such a mindf***k.

[smartycat]

Twylightdove: Boo on the BFN : Hopefully it is still a little early and your BFP is yet to come. Not to enable you or give you false hope... but Quasar had some AF like cramps before her BFP so I will still : for you

[starling&diesel]

twilight... I've been lurking and rooting for you. Sorry to hear about the BFN.

[lexbeach]

Oh, twilight! A couple of years ago, I was *absolutely* sure that AF was coming due to cramps, but instead I was pregnant with Zeben. I think I was as surprised as I could have been (for a lesbian who's ttc) to NOT get AF! Maybe you O'd a day later than you thought, and thus the timing of the second insem. was perfect, and the BFN was just due to testing too early? I hope. :

We are definitely bursting over here with the not knowing. But we will not test before Wednesday. If dw hadn't had the trigger shot I'd be feeling really optimistic based on her symptoms. But all speculation flies out the window with the shot thrown in the mix. I keep thinking back to how long the sperm were thawed out before we got to do the IUI. And how dw didn't O until cd 25 so maybe the egg was too thick-skinned. And the idea that she could be pregnant just seems ludicrous, or at the very least unlikely. But then I think about how AMAZING it would be if did work, for so many reasons (the sperm donor, the money, the timing of the due date), and I can't help but try to convince myself that maybe she really IS pregnant. So, I go back and forth convincing myself that she's not pregnant, and then convincing myself that she is. Neither side is very fun because if I convince myself that she's not pregnant, then I just start to dread the arrival of AF. And if I convince myself that she is pregnant, then I start to worry that I'll be even more upset if I'm wrong.

Sigh.

Two more days.

Lex

[FtMPapa]

Twilightdove - hang in there! It's still early!

Lex - good luck! Just a few more hours and y'all can test!

I am impatiently waiting to O. It was looking good, but now it's looking like I might just toss some sperm up there and wait, because I can't get a line on the OPKs and my donor is out of town as of Thursday. So maybe sperm today and Wednesday, and hope I O soon.

I've added Vitex and Robitussin to my arsenal. I kind of can't believe how much crapola I'm taking - EPO, Vitex, Robitussin, folic acid, a B-complex, a prenatal vitamin, RRL, red clover, and nettle leaf tea, plus I'm drinking lots of grapefruit juice, with plans to add a pineapple once I O. Where is my freakin' partridge in a pear tree???

I know all this stuff is supposed to take months to work, so I figured start now and see.

I saw KJM's BFP yesterday, folks, it looked so pretty! And she really is glowing.

Then I saw AngelaM and her lil' Ocean, who is two whole months old now! They were adorable.

[megincl]

Keeeeeeeeellllllyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!! Super congrats to you! :::::

You so deserve it after all of this time. It sounds like you had a great plan this time 'round.


As for us, we're at 9 days post IUI. I think we'll test on Saturday. Katie always tests positive rather late. No idea on symptoms, since she's taking progesterone. So, she's moody. She's extra gassy. She's fickle. Could be pregnancy. Could be the drugs. (Or just my dearest wife ....just kidding!)

be well all,
megin

[lexbeach]

Sounds promising, Megin! I hope you guys had fun in noho this weekend.

I think your plan sounds good, Papa. Those freshies can live a loooong time, especially if you have fertile CM. Is this the same donor as last month, or is it the one you were planning to use all along?

Dw is leaning towards testing tomorrow (12 dpo). I am nervous about it. :

Lex

[lexbeach]

Dw just took her temp (for the first time ever this cycle), at 10:00 p.m. and it was 99.2. That has to mean something, right? Now we're trying to hurry up and fall asleep so that she can poas in the morning.

Eeeks!

Lex

[FtMPapa]

Whoah, TMI warning ahead!!!

So, I think the Robitussin might be working.

I am using "Mr. Cuppy" - my DIVA cup to see if I can catch some CM to see what it's looking like. My cervix has gone from high and closed to high and soft and OOOOOPEN over the course of the evening, and I had a blob of CM in the cuppy that was like snot. Like a giant loogie, in fact.

But kind of dryer, but very stretchy. Like one of those slimey hand things with the tail that kids love to pitch at walls.

Has anyone had CM that looked like that? It's way stickier and way bigger than I'm used to! Maybe I'm dehydrated, though I drank probably around two quarts of liquids today, maybe more, I suppose it's possible.

OPK in the morning...I took one tonight (no peeing for 4+ hours) and it had no test line at all. They only seem to work for me first thing in the AM. I think I'm going to insem tomorrow and Wednesday - assuming my guy has no sperm count issues, that should be pretty good and not bad timing wise.

Lex - good luck, y'all! I'll be checking for updates tomorrow!

And, yeah, I'm switching to the local donor from last month, I like him better than the other donor I had originally lined up.

[Twylightdove]

Papa, I get that really thick, kinda dry but super stretchy CM at the beginning of my fertile time. For me it usually gets looser within 24hrs.

I wouldn't stress about the OPKs. I never use them with fresh or even with our shipped, cold packed sperm. I rely on my cervix and my CM to tell me what is going on. For me a pos OPK happens as my CM is drying up so it wouldn't be optimal with fresh anyway. I've become very minimalist with my tracking since the one time I did get pregnant I didn't track anything but CM!

[kjm]

Thanks ya'll for the well wishes. I'm headed to the doc now to get the proof, so i can get the paperwork rolling--just in time too because my health insurance (state subsidized) premuim just DOUBLED this month--My family size is now 2 suckas!!! lets see that premium drop and watch as the WIC and mayeb food stamps?) roll in.
I was gonna do the beta today and thurs--but I've decided that I need distance from the fear---if my numbers aren't gong up there is NOTHING I can do about it so I've decided just to prove that I'm pregnant!! And hang on to this baby via letting fear go!!! I must let it go--I couldn't control the first leg of this journey--and at this point I have to give over all control to my little Kale sprout---it'll stick or not, but no beta can make it stick.

Twi--hang in there, that BFP s coming

Meg & Katie---Good luck--I have been on progesterone for over 1 year and I'll tell you I was never as gassy or moody as this month!!!!:

[lexbeach]

:



:

After last night's high temp we could hardly sleep. At 6:30 this a.m., dw peed on a digital PG test and then casually came into bed and said, "um, love? I'm pregnant." And I screamed (silently, since the kids were all in bed with us), and ran to the bathroom to see for myself.

I do put a lot of our success rate on our donor's sperm counts. I don't know what the counts were for this particular vial, but I do know that in general he has *amazing* numbers (like 60 million or something). Several of the mothers in our donor sibling group got pregnant on the first try.

Otherwise, dw has been taking:

- Juice Plus (in place of prenatal vitamin, but the same idea)
- Fish oil
- Ume Plum balls (I stress this one because I got pregnant with Zeb the month I started taking them, per my acupuncturist's advice. She has seen many women get pregnant when they start Ume).

We did one IUI, 36 hours after an hcg trigger shot (done on the day that the follicle measured 18mm). Aside from the shot, it was a "natural" cycle.

Her symptoms were somewhat difficult to track due to the hcg shot. But she was crampy and tired and slightly more hungry than usual ever since the IUI. The past few days, she began to notice an increased need to pee, lots of gas, acne in new places (i.e. on her forehead, which isn't typical for her PMS), irritability (just like PMS), and increased sensitivity to the smell of cigarettes.

We're wishing so much luck to the rest of the ttcers on this list. Thank you all so much for your support, advice, and reassurances.

:

Lex

[megincl]

Lex -- I JUST came on here to check in on you guys.......waHOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!


Super duper congrats to you!!!!! :::::::::: ::::


Amazing how calm Lena could be. I love it!

Wow. Just wow.

Happy, healthy, calm, and amazing 9 months to you. Enjoy being on the other side of the pregnancy -- I tell you, it's quite the ride!

be well,
megin

[indigoscot]

OMG lex!!!!!!! HUGE congrats to you and dw. this has totally made my morning. stick to the pole little bean! (when i got my bfp i was trying to explain to dp that we had to hope there was a fetal pole and a heartbeat and she turned that into "stick to the pole"...it worked for us!!)

in our news, dp got peak on the cbem this morning, her first ovulatory cycle since taking synthroid. it went from low to peak but she has had ewcm for the last couple of days. w00t! since she has to have the cannula aspiration at the beginning of next cycle, we have to sit out november but are now planning our first try in december!!!! eeeeeek! lex, i think i will have to buy some of those plum balls!!!

g

[JennM1021]

Congrats Lex!!!! ::::

[2happymamas]

::::

I came here first thing this morning, Lex, to see the news. I am so happy for both of you. Are you guys beyond excited, or what?

[FtMPapa]

Wow, Lex - unbeliavable! Y'all really do have some baby ju-ju!

[lexbeach]

Originally Posted by FtMPapa

Wow, Lex - unbeliavable! Y'all really do have some baby ju-ju!

I think it's called "super sperm," lol.

This whole attempt seemed rather serendipitous, what with Lena suddenly deciding that she wanted to look into getting pregnant, basically having her PCOS diagnosis reversed, finding out that there was one last vial of our donor's sperm out there, and then being able to buy it without too much trouble. And the odd delayed-O this cycle, like our baby-to-be was trying to pick a conception date or something. And the fact that generally all of the local pharmacies don't carry the HCG trigger shot and you have to order it at least a week in advance, but we happened to find it at our local pharmacy so we could buy it the day we needed it. And my last-minute intuition telling me to give dw the shot earlier than the doctors had said to.

But I agree, it's all totally unbelievable. I'm in awe that such a teensy vial of sperm is all it takes to make a baby, and even more humbled by the fact that it worked for us this go-round, with so much (a genetic relationship between all of our kids) on the line.

Lex

[kjm]

: Lex and Lena welcome to the club!!!!!:::

[indigoscot]

lex,

a question about the plum balls - do you keep taking them after a bfp? i know there are some supplements that you don't so i thought i would ask.

our donor also has great counts - our son has 13 1/2 sibs that we know of - so we are very hopeful that dp can get pregnant quickly. outside of all her other issues, her fsh is 3.1!! we only have 3 tries though.

g