IVF Protocol

I just spoke with my RE nurse and she said I'll be doing a microdose Lupron protocol. I've never done it before, but from what I read the Lupron doesn't start until I'm done with the BCP's. And it's a much lower dose than the long lupron protocol. Less Lurpon is good for me...I'd love to avoid the headaches and clouded-head feeling that comes with that drug.

I've never met this nurse before and so far I'm not a fan. She was too quick and didn't explain anything to me. I'll have to call back in a day or two to talk to one of the other nurses that I like to get all of my questions answered.

In case you haven't heard...the very first IVF baby born in the US (28 years ago) just had her first baby. She had a little boy and she conceived and delivered "the normal way" as she put it. Another poster said she'd wished the woman used any other word but "normal". But I can kind of see how she'd like to say something in her life was "normal" after all the attention she's gotten in her life because of how she was conceived. Anyway, it's great to know that IVF babies can/will go on in their lives to be proud parents. I hope EJ's life is at the least "normal" but I'd rather it be "extraordinary".

EJ is doing great. He's having a great summer swimming almost daily in my parents' pool. We're eating lots of ice cream too :) He's a super picky eater. He won't try anything new. He'll eat a ton of his favorites, but I really wish he'd try more "big people" food. He can't live forever on the jarred baby stuff and grilled cheese. LOL.

I've been terrible at taking pictures ever since he started walking. It's just to hard to keep a camera close by when we're running all over the house. Here are a few I've managed to take over the past few months...

Whiplash

I'm not exactly sure what just happened. I called my RE to say today is CD1 (AF arrived soon after my last post) and that we'd like to move to IVF. He said great...come in tomorrow for your baseline and we'll get you started on BCP's. I told him we'll be away for vacation at the end of this month and he said no problem, he'll give me two packs of pills so I can continue them while I'm away. The day after I get back I'll go in for more b/w and u/s. I already have a projected ER - 9/12. HOLY CRAP.

Now, I just hope Ed is ok with jumping into this so quickly. We'd assumed that we'd have an extra month to prepare for it. Plus, my RE's office will be closed in October so it's either now, or I start the pills in Nov with ER in Dec...not sure I'd like to wait that long.

RE also told me he would cut the costs since we're paying OOP. I'll get those details from him a little closer to ER.

Wow. Just wow. I really hope Ed doesn't put the kibosh on this. LOL.

12 dpiui

The brown spotting has stopped. Should I test or just wait for AF on Friday??

If this fails, we've decided to move ahead with IVF. We figured that we'd spend a lot of money on IUI cycles, and we don't have a very good record of them working for us. So we thought our best best is still IVF. We'll have to work out the finances of it all, but one of my very favorite (knocked up) people has already said she'd donate her leftover meds to me :) xoxo to her!

10 dpiui

Brown spotting.

Haven't POAS yet, but DAMMIT.

This feels like the beginning of the end.

IUI#1 (take 2)

We had our first IUI for baby #2 on Friday. It all went smoothly on my end, but DH's end could have been better. His count was only 400,000. We had the on-call RE and he said that the cut off is usually around 800,000, but he's seen IUI success with 300,000. So we did it anyway, but we're not too hopeful. I've said the mantra "it only takes 1" and I know that, but I'm still not planning on getting a BFP. Instead I'm planning a trip with DH to the urologist in a few weeks. Depending on what is found there, I'm sure we'll have to think about IVF again. The sucky part is that we have new insurance as of 8/1 and we have ZERO coverage for IF. Not even bloodwork or u/s that have always been covered before. And certainly no coverage for IUI. So that would be a waste of time and money to keep trying that route. Instead we'll have to investigate if we can get any kind of discount for the IVF cycle and see if I can find some donated meds.

In the end, baby #2 now seems like a dying dream and I'm going to have to come to terms with that some day. It just doesn't make sense for us to eat into our savings when we have EJ to take care of. If it was just the two of us, then we'd make sacrifices all over the place, but we're not sacrificing anything for EJ's sake.

Please keep us in your prayers that we find our way through this mess (once again).

Oh, I'm not exactly sure when I'll test, but it would probably be Friday 8/6 at the latest if AF doesn't show up before then. Luckily we have a dollar store around here so I can POAS and get my BFN for only a buck. LOL.

Hysteroscopy #2

This hysteroscopy wasn't nearly as bad as my first one. It was over in about 7 minutes. Aside from some cramping, there wasn't too much pain either. My RE said my uterus "looks like nobody has even been in there". Kind of an odd thing to say, but I get what he means...nothing residual after my last pregnancy with EJ.

CD 14 is Thursday 7/22 and it's my appt for an u/s to decide when our IUI will be. I'm back on Clomid and getting serious night sweats and mild headaches. In general I've been bummed to start this process all over again, but it got worse when we found out our insurance coverage is changing 8/1. Nothing IF related will be covered. Luckily we'll get one IUI in this month before the coverage changes. After that, it's all OOP for us. I know many are in the same sucky boat and it just blows. That makes IVF almost non-existent as a possibility for us now (not that Ed would ever want to do it again).

So, here's to hoping we get lucky on our first IUI. Seriously though, I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you. LOL.

On your mark. Get set...

I had my appt with my RE on Friday and he gave me a plan. Many of you know that I thrive on "plans". They give me purpose and a sense of direction. We went over my history since I last saw him two years ago and he wanted to hear every detail of my pregnancy, delivery, and postpartum. As I type this, I am spotting and expecting AF to arrive in a day or two.

And then...

--Set up hysteroscopy for one day next week. I had one a few years ago and you can read about it HERE if you like. I'm seriously hoping it's not that uncomfortable this time.

--Clomid 100 mg days 3 & 4.
--Clomid 50 mg days 5-6-7.
--Sex for "fun" (as my RE put it) on days 1-11.
--No sex day 12.
--Sex on day 13.
--Scan on day 14.
--Day of IUI depends on what the u/s shows.

If that IUI doesn't work, then he'd like to do another HSG to be sure my tubes are clear. If they are, I guess we'll do more IUIs. If not...who knows what we'll do then.

This is one of those rare times in a TTC journey when you WANT AF to show up, and I'll bet you all $5 that she's late.