I told a hand full of friend (7 to be exact) and nobody in my family knows. I not only didn't want to keep getting asked how it was going but because I'm going it alone, I didn't want anyone (family really) raining on my parade. I figure when I get pregnant and it's about 3 months along, I'll tell my sisters and parents until then no way. Though I'm tempted, and their is a loneliness in not telling, I have to preserve my emotional wellbeing.
OH, BTW, I went today for my US in preparations for my first IUI and I have a follicle measuring 17 cm? I don't know if it's great as I only have one but since I only have one fallopian available, I'm just glad the follicle is on the good side of my fallopians. Praying to St. Gerard for help.
We kept it a secret at first from everyone, it was so hard. Especially when we would go out or go over to my mom's, it's usual that I would always have a beer or 2, and when I didn't she automatically started asking questions. Finally we caved and told them. They are very supportive but also they ALWAYS preach about money, and how kids stay forever and blah blah blah.... Well my rebutal, you had me and what would your world be without me... Then they understand.
Times have totally changed and things are more expensive but it's always going to be that way. Yes, it's draining our pocketbook to keep trying but in the end it will be worth it. Might be in the poor house by then but at least we will be pregnant! I know that's terrible but sometimes in order for your dreams to come true you have to pay the price.
I am a Field Investigation Agent for the Dept. of Revenue, big title, long story short, I collect taxes and my wife just got on with the Fire Department. She is in the academy so not making much right now. I just feel like everytime it doesn't work I have wasted our money, and set us back again. I know that's not a good way to look at it but it's just so hard. With all the surgeries I have had on top of the actual inseminations it's killing us. So RSheakoski, we feel your pain.
I tested this morning, 12dpo BFN. Tommie - I am the same way, I start giving up hope maybe too soon. All of the symptoms are just like AF, and I tell you what, I feel horrible today. Bad cramps, headache, everything just hurts. I don't want to give up hope, I think that by this time in the cycle it just really starts getting to you. You have consumed your days thinking the "what if's" and when it comes down to testing time you are emotionally drained. Not to mention all the med's we are all on that pump enormous amounts of hormones in our bodies, we are basket cases!! At least I know I am. Thank goodness for our partners, our strength.
Everyone, hang in there. I'm going to try and turn my bad attitude around today and stay positive. We will all make it thru. Hope everyone has a great Wednesday and try and smile, even tho somedays it very hard, just think of all the other great things we all have in our lives! :)
SS - all I got out of that is your wife is going through the fire academy! That's awesome! I'm a paramedic and worked for a F.D. in rural Wisconsin. Lol, anyways! Keep your heads up!!!!!
Natalie, my partner wanted to tell you that we are a lot alike. I'm like Tommie, the worry wort and nay sayer and she's the excited positive one that usually lifts my spirits thru this process.
We are expert secret keepers! We haven't told a soul and do not plan to until the 1st trimester is over. The only time I was even tempted to share my news is about a week after I got my positive on the 1st try. I wanted to tell everyone because I was so excited but now I'm sooooo glad I didn't. I would have to deal with people knowing and commenting about the miscarriage, keeping that wound fresh, and deal with constant questions about our progress. I have enough stress that I bring on myself, I don't need that kind of help! LOL
Tommie - You crack me up! She's pretty stoked to have gotten on with them. They only hire every 2 years and she was the only girl that made the cut! She has less than a month left and cannot wait to not have to study every night! She is an EMT-I right now and eventually wants to go to Paramedic school. The department she works for runs fire and medical so she really wants to do more of the medical but since they do both then it's luck of the draw. She has an Exercise Physiology degree also and in her spare time she wants to be a persoanl trainer.
Well tomorrow is test day, we shall see what happens!
Sheesh, she's got a lot on her plate! I've been a paramedic for going on 13 years. Ran the county 911 for the majority of that time in San Antonio. Now I'm in school full time for respiratory therapy, I miss the excitement though, I LOVE being a paramedic and having that rush!
Yes M - have you tested????????????? I think being "negative" can be a good thing because it protects you emotionally, but at some point you must be positive about situations. Being positive helps keep the stress away ya know?
Ok ladies... I KNOW that I said I was discounting all symptoms HOWEVER... My boobies are sore! My boobies are sore!!! LOL We've decided to test 1 day early so it looks like I'm peein' on a stick in the morning!!! I've already decided that if it's negative, it's ok. It's still early for my cycle. Monday is when I should start my period so I'll know for sure either way by then! Soooooooo stinkin' excited! How can I sleep now????
Well ladies, it's a BFN for me. Haven't started yet but feels like any minute. Ugh.....
MGALBN - my fingers are crossed for you!!!! I so hope it worked for you this time! Baby dust! Baby dust! Baby dust!
Think we are going to take a break unless the doctor says otherwise. We have no more vials so we will at least take a month break and then get back at it. I'm just worried that my cysts will come back if we break too long.
Natalie - She likes the rush as well, she lives for it! Well keep in touch ladies and I will keep checking to see if you guys get your BFP's!!!! My email is sss6960@gmail.com if you wanna keep in touch!
M - you haven't tested at all? You did your IUI Saturday right? Wow, you actually waited the WHOLE 14 days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Have you had any more symptoms? Cramping or anything?
SS - you did your IUI Friday? I just don't get why you aren't pregnant. You took the trigger shot right? How long after the trigger did you inseminate???? I should go back and re read to find all this but I'm sooooooo tired! (It's like 200 degree's and I just mowed 3 acres). Maybe you need to switch donors? I have just seen so many people get the BFP after they've switched. Have you had everything tested? Your fallopian tubes are open (did you do the HSG test?), have you been checked for polyps on your uterus? OMG I don't know how you do it!!!!
EVERYTHING, I mean everything has been tested and all is good. 12128 was our second donor already and we only purchased 2 vials. Our first donor we used was 11438 and we used him 3 times. When they went in and did my surgery in April to remove my cyst they wnet ahead and blew out my tubes and everything and looked great. Who knows what it is but its damn frustrating! Triggered Wednesday at 8pm was inseminated Friday at 9AM.
Well, we have some great news. We actually did inseminate this cycle, we told a fib about skipping a month. All the stress was getting to us and we felt it was impossible to focus on anything but the TWW and all that. So we did our IUI on Sunday! The day after M and 2 days after you Sarah.
Anyways, on D10, July 10th that Wed. Tommie came home from work and she went into our room then came out with a pregnancy test...and motioned to me she wanted to do it. I was hard working on something so wasn't really thinking that it was ONLY day 10 and what was she thinking? She like 2 mins later I screamed to her to not do it but she already had...but like 10 mins went by and I hadn't heard anything. So I got up and went into our bathroom to find her SOBBING on the toilet. Ughhhhhhhhh I consoled her telling her it was ONLY D10 and it was WAY too early! So outta curiosity I pulled the test out of the trash and squinted, did a back flip, land on my head and some other stuff just to see the faintest line you could ever imagine! But it was still a LINE!!!!! Tommie didn't believe me. So she took 1 more test and even I took one just to show her the difference between a negative test. (as if we hadn't gotten like 20 of those before)...so that was wed night. Thursday morning we tested, thursday night we tested, fri morning and again fri night, lol and sat morning. SO we have the progression of tests all getting darker and darker.
We told my mom what all was going on but that was the only person who knew. She demanded we take one of those digital tests so we finally gave in and took it. It said "pregnant"! We were so nervous because our prego tests were just lines, and faint lines still...we also did a blood prego test on our urine test (ours is both, you can pee on it or put blood) and that too came out BFP!
Anyways, so we have an appt on monday to get our HCG levels drawn. Tommie has been cramping and stuff, swore she was going to start her period but now she just keeps saying there is this tugging/pinching feeling. It wakes her up sometimes a few times at night (she says it is very uncomfortable) and her tummy is tender.
The whole reason she wanted to test on D10 was she got nauseated at work for like 15 mins and I think she felt that tugging feeling on the way home too.
Ok so now the scary news. We did clomid 200mg day 1, 2. 150mg 3,4 and 5. (I can't remember if we did it starting day 3 or day 4) but we also did the estradiol the day after the clomid was done untill the day of the IUI ANNNNNND we too Bravelle, the injections. We did those once a day starting I think the day after clomid ended, for a total of 4 days (maybe 5 i can't remember now).
So when we went in for our US on Fri, we had 5 freaking follicles!!!!!! 23mm, 2 that were 21mm, 19mm, and one 14mm. Tommie was FREAKING out! Our RE left it up to us if we wanted to insemintate, even discussed a procedure to suck some of the follicles out "follicle reduction" prior to the insemination. I said HECK NO!!!!!!!!!
So here we are. The possiblity of 5 babies!!!! OMG!!!! We are still in disbelief about the whole thing. We feel like it's been one hurdle after the next, disappointment after disappointment. There is a light at the end of the tunnel.
But we aren't sure which is more stressful. Trying to get that BFP or worrying about STAYING pregnant!!!!! No chemicals and no m/c!!!! We are praying like crazy!
M - what's the news? Hopefully good!
SS - your time is the same as ours, about 38 or 39 hrs after trigger...ours is usually 39 because they run late every time. Maybe you need to get one these bravelle injections. Our RE said it increases your chance of getting pregnant by 5-10% (every little bit helps!) What it does is helps make a better quality egg, helps your lining as well.
Anyways, we are praying for you guys, and for us as well!!! We will still be hanging around but would love to keep in touch!
Natalie, I know I don't know you personally and maybe it's just my hormones (we got our second BFN on Thrusday so AF is making me emotional) but I am literally tearing up for you two! I know how this journey goes and I'm just so damn excited!!!! I will send you all the best, happy, positive vibes I can! I wish you an extra sticky pregnancy and a happy and healthy 9 months!!! Keep us updated on HCG levels!!! And I think you will be fine. I highly doubt you will have 5 babies, but maybe two for the price of one! ~Rebecca
P.S.- I KNEW you didn't take a month off when you started talking about secrets! We didn't tell anyone this month hoping for a positive and now we have a negative. I don't know how to tell my mom. She knows we only had four vials and now it's two. I feel like she should know, but it makes her sad. She thought we took this month off and keeps asking if I need money. I'm pretty sure she thinks we skipped due to the cost.Now I'm not sure I did the right thing keeping it from her because I feel like I have to tell her we did inseminate, we didn't get pregnant, and now there are only two vials left of our retired donor. My parents live 8 hours away, but are coming to visit this weekend. I'll explain it to them in person. My family is so supportive and so excited, but somehow it makes it even harder because when we get that negative I feel like I'm letting everyone down. I know it's not the case, but to get a negative on top on menstrual hormones... yikes! LOL Oh well. I teach and school starts next month so I think I actually will have to take a month or two off. Such is life!
It was so hard to keep it a secret when every inseminated around the same time! So hard. But it made the two weeks go by so quick.
Ya know it's strange, I hesitated to put on here that we are pregnant because I feel bad. Feel bad for Sarah and RS and everyone else that got a BFN. We know how that feels to be the ones get the BFN and feel like everyone around us is pregnant.
But have faith! Before i would pray like crazy, "please please let us get a BFP." every night...this time i prayed "when you are ready for us to get pregnant and start a family, you will let be pregnant, no sooner no later." and that's it. I just stopped begging and let be what was going to be. i know that sounds corny but I don't know. It was kinda peacefull not stressing and just let whats going to happen happen.
But we are definitely firm believers in bravelle, I would suggest bringing it up to your RE. We did it in combo with clomid!
RS - we felt the same way, initially we kept it from my parents, but that was a mistake...my mother can hound and hound until she gets her way, lol....so we finally broke down and told her cuz she was so sad and upset we were taking a break! She thought we were on a roll and were wasting an opportunity.
And we know exactly how you feel. My parents are the best. They live in Cali right now but my mom is moving here in Dec of this year and my dad will soon follow mid year (after he officially retires)....I think he will move sooner now that we are prego though. My mom is so invested in this process with us, when we got bad news she was there crying with us...so not only for our sanity did we keep it a secret, but we wanted to give my parents a rest too.
Why would you have to take a break because you are a teacher? Shoot - that's what vacation time is for!!!!! What does your partner do? Or is it just you?????
HAHA .. My wife is a graphic designer. She's the boss so taking time off isn't so hard for her. She just leaves the intern to it. I can't take time off in September (but it is my birthday month, I'll be 30!!) because it's just too busy for me. Even half days to get the US and inseminate. I teach in a regular ed. elem. classroom, but I am both the gifted and special education inclusion room which leaves me with A LOT of meetings and work the first month to make sure the support staff, the gifted and special ed teachers, and the parents all know the goals for the year and get them in motion ASAP. Not to mention I am also the Science chair.. so it's a little busy the first month back!! haha
Please do not feel bad about sharing your positive on here. I am truly thrilled for you. It's crazy, but I've been "meeting" some amazing folks on this board and the CCB Friends FB page, and I feel like we are all in this together.
Right now we are only doing the fermara since cycle one I was not medicated and had five decent follies!!! Two were all around the 14-15 range by CD 11 and the others 10-12mm. Then cycle two, I had one nice big 24 mm follie. Since I seem to naturally produce a lot of follicle I think the RE wants to focus on helping them mature and not producing more.
Summer break is a hard time for me to stay relaxed about this whole thing because I have way too much time to think. I started my masters this summer hoping to keep busy, but it's not working!
I think it's great your family is supportive. It really helps. We are extra lucky because we met a couple at church who is using this cryobank and on the same cycle and # of insems as us.
I'm going to check out your blog. I hope we hear from 'M' soon because her silence is worrying me.Have a good one! ~Rebecca
Tommie & Natalie that's SO great to hear! How exciting!!! I wish nothing but happiness and smooth sailing the next 9 months! I read the blog too, nice job! Love the pics! You guys look exactly how I pictured in my mind! Pretty ring BTW....
Rebecca, I teared up reading it too, darn hormones! :) Good luck with talking to your parents this weekend... I'm sure they'll understand completely!
SS - I'm in the same boat. I haven't started yet but feel like I probably will :( I had a one time spotting event Friday evening and I thought it might be implantation bleeding but then Saturday evening I spotted again. Today I've been lightly spotting all day and my 3 tests have come back BFNs. I'm due to start tomorrow so we shall see if this picks up to AF or stops. I haven't had cramps yet and that is a tell tale sign that my cycle is a bust. I had all the symptoms with no cramps when I was prego but I didn't spot so I think we'll be moving on to our #5...
That being said, I'm researching as much as I can as quickly as I can about injectables. I believe my RE is going to suggest Gonal F, Bravelle or Follistim but I dont know which yet until I meet with him. We want to do a hybrid cycle like T/N did. How many shots and on which cycle days did you take them? Did your insurance cover it? If not, how much did it cost out of pocket for the shots?
long time lurker here - congrats tommy and natalie!! and 'm' - also glad that you are back! i was a little worried too without your postings!
briefly, we have had 3 iui's, the last of which got us (well, let's be real, my partner) pregnant, but just ended in a miscarriage. two years ago i never thought words like 'miscarriage' and 'iui' and ' fetal pole' and 'sperm motility' for example would ever be in my vocab, much less roll off the tongue, but here i am! i am sure much grosser terms are to come! good luck to all of us...
Hello Red! I'm really sorry about the miscarriage. But it sounds like you the right attitude! I wanted to ask you girls why you move on to other FSHs? I'm producing follicles/eggs. I take Fermera to help them mature, but if you're producing follies why move on to other meds? I'm just curious. M-I'm sorry you don't feel it took this time. I was SURE it took this last time. I was having dull cramping for six days before my period. I NEVER cramp before. I get crazy cramps day one, but that is it. My boobs were tingly since 2 dpo, also. Oh well. I have to stop symptom spotting. Have a happy week all!!!
M - we are heart broken for you. But we know it will happen! So here's the break down on bravelle. Tommie researched it and found that 99% of the people who talked about taking it, got pregnant their first cycle with it. Bravelle helps mature follicles, it can help produce more follicles and it helps keep your lining nice and thick. They said with bravelle it increases your chance of pregnancy by 5-10% because it makes higher quality follicles. We took clomid day 3-5 (Our RE had us on 150mg all 5 days, so we SELF prescribed the 200mg the first two days for 2 reasons: first was remember when our RE wanted to move us to injections after the failed 30mm follicle/iui but the other RE in clinic said that the 150mg worked cuz it produced that 30mm follicle...we were so pissed and decided we were going to take the 200mg on our own cuz we just KNEW it wasn't going to work. We ended up taking 200mg just 3 of the 5 days, but had 3 mature follicles, our lining was thin though at 6.9mm. Then IUI 3 - this one -, we decided since we took the 200mg we wanted to do it again, but this time took it just 2 days because our lining was thin last time) So like I said Clomid 200mg day 3 and 4, Clomid 150mg day 5, 6 and 7. Then Bravelle days 8, 9, 10, and 11.
(When we were researching all of this we saw a lot of ppl doing hybrid cycles. We also researched 200mg of clomid cuz that was a lot. We saw a few ppl who's dr's put them on the 200mg day 3/4 then 150 5/6/7. Exactly what we did. They got BFP as well)
So anyways, our insurance did not cover it. Our insurance doesn't cover anything accept the diagnosis of infertility. So bravelle, we took 1 injection a day for 4 days at a cost of $65 a shot. Our RE gave us some sort of card that gave us 5$ off or something, and we ordered it through them. So we don't know if you can get it cheaper.
M - and everyone else. If given the opportunity to do bravelle...DO IT! It's like a miracle drug or something!
Red - that is horrible about miscarrying...I don't know how you get past something like that. And we totally agree, we feel like reproduction pro's these days!
RS - To answer your question about FSH's, they help produce higher quality follicles. FYI - Femera only helps mature 1 follicle, like a normal cycle. Clomid and these other drugs help produce multi follicles - the FSH helps make those multi follicles clomid produced, a much higher quality.
Tommie had cramps like starting D7 or so, sore nipples again, felt just like she had the last time. But then she started having the tugging..it would get pretty bad to the point where it would wake her up at night.
We are sending baby dust all of your ways!!!! Keep us informed on what's going on, you guys have become our rock
Holy cow I guess I needed to check this more often!!! Natalie I am so so so happy for you guys!!! That's great news, and do not feel bad about posting your great news, it's just not our time yet!
M- I'm sorry to hear we were in the same boat. Ugh, well I started and let me tell you, it was horrible! We do have to take a month off because we have no more vials and have to save up some money again! I know it sounds horrible but student loans come next month so that will be a life saver. I really wanted to jump right back in but we have to do some sperm shopping first.
R- Sorry to hear your news as well. There is no way we could keep a secret from my mom, she's like Natalies she would so know we were fibbing.
For all of us that didn't get our BFP'S, WE WILL! I have all the faith in the world. Here's to #6 for us!!! I'll be on here checking for good news....
I'm very happy for you both. I do Menopur injectables which is similiar to Bravelle I believe. I do only injectables due to my age of 40. I hope to have the same benefits. I'm going to start acupuncture a month before this next cycle. I have neck/nerve pain too but worried about treating that and infertility at same time, Dr said it may cause a conflict but also the neck/nerve pain can prevent body working properly so dont know what I should do there. I'm also nervous cause I may start working (been unemployed for a long while) at a new job if hired and worried about what days my US will take place not to mention B2B inseminations and hope to not have to take off work or too much of it, also hope I dont get frowned upon or even eventually fired for being pregnant. I will try to conceal as long as possible. Just going to take it one day at a time and leave the results up to my higher power.
It's official, again, this cycle's a bust. AF arrived today no matter how much I prayed she'd stay away. I'm feeling pretty defeated. My partner has been so supportive and I'm grateful for her thoughtfulness, caring and understanding far more than she'll ever know. I've got to dust myself off pretty quick as my next cycle is already underway. That warming sensation I've had since 4 days after my last IUI has never gone away. Several days ago, it was more than warming, more like a burning. I've discussed this and my intent to do a hybrid cycle with my RE and I've got an US scheduled for wednesday (cd3). I may have overstimulated my left ovary and he'll be able to tell me whether or not I need a rest cycle after the US. They're suggesting 2 shots of Follistim to add after my round of clomid. The pharmacy quote is thru the roof so I've asked if I can go a cheaper route like Bravelle or Gonal F. I don't know the potentcy ratio to price and # of shots. I'm clarifying that with the RE tomorrow. For all I know 2 Follistim could be the equivalent to 4 Bravelle since I don't know the recommended dosage of either yet. Wednesday will be very informative, I'm sure. The only good thing about a failed IUI is once you get AF, you're right back in it again! It seemed like FOREVER to start my period again after the m/c but regular failed IUIs go much quicker.
I'm a little concerned about work too gsalsa. They don't know I'm TTC and I'm shocked that I've been able to have as many appointments without raising any eyebrows...
BTW... I haven't had an adult beverage in more than 7 months. I'm totally having a glass of wine tonight! If I can just take my mind off of things if even just a little while...
M - Reagrding the cost of the meds, my last cycle I was bound and determined that I wasn't going to pay the inflatted prices for the injectables so.... I came across this. I used Menopur injections and had my Dr. fax my prescription to freedomdrug.com, they were SO much cheaper than anywhere. You cen just go to their website and see what all the prices are, way cheaper than anywhere else I have found. It doesn't matter if you have insurance or not, actually they asked if I wanted to run it thru insurance but that would have made it more expensive. I said no and that's fine, they don't have to. They were super freindly and shipping is free, I got them within 2 days. Something you might look into.
Just like you, I feel so so defeated this time. I really needed a break. Will be taking birth control but just to prevent the cysts from reappearing once we are ready to try again. Keep your head up. It was a long ride this last week, it didn't help that we had a friend pass away, it was an awful thing, she was actually shot by someone who was trying to break into their garage and they happened to get home at the wrong time. He also shot her partner but she survived. The funeral was yesterday and ya know, sometimes you need a swift kick in the ass like that to remember that life is too short. Cherish all moments, hug those you love and never be afraid to say I love you as many times as you want. So my thinking, that 2WW now seems like a breeze after going thru something like that. Keep your head up. :)
Both of you need to keep your heads up! I think doing a hybrid cycle is a good thing, changing things up is a good thing. Why keep doing something time after time if it isn't workign!
That's terrible that you have go thru something like that SS. Sure puts things in perspective tho.
I stand corrected, 2 Follistim shots are the equivalent of 8 Bravelle! I've price shopped some places and compared them to the pharmacy my RE uses and then I went to freedomdrug.com just to be sure. They were actually the highest price from 3 different places. I feel more comfortable knowing the IUs I'm supposed to have vs. price and for what I'm doing it is cheapest with my RE's pharmacy. Still expensive, but isn't this whole process? I'll save $10 bucks on the trigger this way too, every little bit helps, ya know? Our semi-plan for this cycle will be hammered out ttomorrow for sure. Everyone please send baby dust to us that I don't have any issues and we do not have to have a rest cycle.
Natalie, keep us posted on Weds lab work! I hope your number is like 767868! :)
Comments
Times have totally changed and things are more expensive but it's always going to be that way. Yes, it's draining our pocketbook to keep trying but in the end it will be worth it. Might be in the poor house by then but at least we will be pregnant! I know that's terrible but sometimes in order for your dreams to come true you have to pay the price.
I am a Field Investigation Agent for the Dept. of Revenue, big title, long story short, I collect taxes and my wife just got on with the Fire Department. She is in the academy so not making much right now. I just feel like everytime it doesn't work I have wasted our money, and set us back again. I know that's not a good way to look at it but it's just so hard. With all the surgeries I have had on top of the actual inseminations it's killing us. So RSheakoski, we feel your pain.
I tested this morning, 12dpo BFN. Tommie - I am the same way, I start giving up hope maybe too soon. All of the symptoms are just like AF, and I tell you what, I feel horrible today. Bad cramps, headache, everything just hurts. I don't want to give up hope, I think that by this time in the cycle it just really starts getting to you. You have consumed your days thinking the "what if's" and when it comes down to testing time you are emotionally drained. Not to mention all the med's we are all on that pump enormous amounts of hormones in our bodies, we are basket cases!! At least I know I am. Thank goodness for our partners, our strength.
Everyone, hang in there. I'm going to try and turn my bad attitude around today and stay positive. We will all make it thru. Hope everyone has a great Wednesday and try and smile, even tho somedays it very hard, just think of all the other great things we all have in our lives! :)
We are expert secret keepers! We haven't told a soul and do not plan to until the 1st trimester is over. The only time I was even tempted to share my news is about a week after I got my positive on the 1st try. I wanted to tell everyone because I was so excited but now I'm sooooo glad I didn't. I would have to deal with people knowing and commenting about the miscarriage, keeping that wound fresh, and deal with constant questions about our progress. I have enough stress that I bring on myself, I don't need that kind of help! LOL
Well tomorrow is test day, we shall see what happens!
MGALBN - have you tested yet?
Yes M - have you tested????????????? I think being "negative" can be a good thing because it protects you emotionally, but at some point you must be positive about situations. Being positive helps keep the stress away ya know?
MGALBN - my fingers are crossed for you!!!! I so hope it worked for you this time! Baby dust! Baby dust! Baby dust!
Think we are going to take a break unless the doctor says otherwise. We have no more vials so we will at least take a month break and then get back at it. I'm just worried that my cysts will come back if we break too long.
Natalie - She likes the rush as well, she lives for it! Well keep in touch ladies and I will keep checking to see if you guys get your BFP's!!!! My email is sss6960@gmail.com if you wanna keep in touch!
SS - you did your IUI Friday? I just don't get why you aren't pregnant. You took the trigger shot right? How long after the trigger did you inseminate???? I should go back and re read to find all this but I'm sooooooo tired! (It's like 200 degree's and I just mowed 3 acres). Maybe you need to switch donors? I have just seen so many people get the BFP after they've switched. Have you had everything tested? Your fallopian tubes are open (did you do the HSG test?), have you been checked for polyps on your uterus? OMG I don't know how you do it!!!!
M - WELL?????????????????????
Anyways, on D10, July 10th that Wed. Tommie came home from work and she went into our room then came out with a pregnancy test...and motioned to me she wanted to do it. I was hard working on something so wasn't really thinking that it was ONLY day 10 and what was she thinking? She like 2 mins later I screamed to her to not do it but she already had...but like 10 mins went by and I hadn't heard anything. So I got up and went into our bathroom to find her SOBBING on the toilet. Ughhhhhhhhh I consoled her telling her it was ONLY D10 and it was WAY too early! So outta curiosity I pulled the test out of the trash and squinted, did a back flip, land on my head and some other stuff just to see the faintest line you could ever imagine! But it was still a LINE!!!!! Tommie didn't believe me. So she took 1 more test and even I took one just to show her the difference between a negative test. (as if we hadn't gotten like 20 of those before)...so that was wed night. Thursday morning we tested, thursday night we tested, fri morning and again fri night, lol and sat morning. SO we have the progression of tests all getting darker and darker.
We told my mom what all was going on but that was the only person who knew. She demanded we take one of those digital tests so we finally gave in and took it. It said "pregnant"! We were so nervous because our prego tests were just lines, and faint lines still...we also did a blood prego test on our urine test (ours is both, you can pee on it or put blood) and that too came out BFP!
Anyways, so we have an appt on monday to get our HCG levels drawn. Tommie has been cramping and stuff, swore she was going to start her period but now she just keeps saying there is this tugging/pinching feeling. It wakes her up sometimes a few times at night (she says it is very uncomfortable) and her tummy is tender.
The whole reason she wanted to test on D10 was she got nauseated at work for like 15 mins and I think she felt that tugging feeling on the way home too.
Ok so now the scary news. We did clomid 200mg day 1, 2. 150mg 3,4 and 5. (I can't remember if we did it starting day 3 or day 4) but we also did the estradiol the day after the clomid was done untill the day of the IUI ANNNNNND we too Bravelle, the injections. We did those once a day starting I think the day after clomid ended, for a total of 4 days (maybe 5 i can't remember now).
So when we went in for our US on Fri, we had 5 freaking follicles!!!!!! 23mm, 2 that were 21mm, 19mm, and one 14mm. Tommie was FREAKING out! Our RE left it up to us if we wanted to insemintate, even discussed a procedure to suck some of the follicles out "follicle reduction" prior to the insemination. I said HECK NO!!!!!!!!!
So here we are. The possiblity of 5 babies!!!! OMG!!!! We are still in disbelief about the whole thing. We feel like it's been one hurdle after the next, disappointment after disappointment. There is a light at the end of the tunnel.
But we aren't sure which is more stressful. Trying to get that BFP or worrying about STAYING pregnant!!!!! No chemicals and no m/c!!!! We are praying like crazy!
M - what's the news? Hopefully good!
SS - your time is the same as ours, about 38 or 39 hrs after trigger...ours is usually 39 because they run late every time. Maybe you need to get one these bravelle injections. Our RE said it increases your chance of getting pregnant by 5-10% (every little bit helps!) What it does is helps make a better quality egg, helps your lining as well.
Anyways, we are praying for you guys, and for us as well!!! We will still be hanging around but would love to keep in touch!
nmwartick@gmail.com or tommiejspivey@gmail.com
I know I don't know you personally and maybe it's just my hormones (we got our second BFN on Thrusday so AF is making me emotional) but I am literally tearing up for you two! I know how this journey goes and I'm just so damn excited!!!! I will send you all the best, happy, positive vibes I can! I wish you an extra sticky pregnancy and a happy and healthy 9 months!!! Keep us updated on HCG levels!!! And I think you will be fine. I highly doubt you will have 5 babies, but maybe two for the price of one!
~Rebecca
Ya know it's strange, I hesitated to put on here that we are pregnant because I feel bad. Feel bad for Sarah and RS and everyone else that got a BFN. We know how that feels to be the ones get the BFN and feel like everyone around us is pregnant.
But have faith! Before i would pray like crazy, "please please let us get a BFP." every night...this time i prayed "when you are ready for us to get pregnant and start a family, you will let be pregnant, no sooner no later." and that's it. I just stopped begging and let be what was going to be. i know that sounds corny but I don't know. It was kinda peacefull not stressing and just let whats going to happen happen.
But we are definitely firm believers in bravelle, I would suggest bringing it up to your RE. We did it in combo with clomid!
RS - we felt the same way, initially we kept it from my parents, but that was a mistake...my mother can hound and hound until she gets her way, lol....so we finally broke down and told her cuz she was so sad and upset we were taking a break! She thought we were on a roll and were wasting an opportunity.
And we know exactly how you feel. My parents are the best. They live in Cali right now but my mom is moving here in Dec of this year and my dad will soon follow mid year (after he officially retires)....I think he will move sooner now that we are prego though. My mom is so invested in this process with us, when we got bad news she was there crying with us...so not only for our sanity did we keep it a secret, but we wanted to give my parents a rest too.
Why would you have to take a break because you are a teacher? Shoot - that's what vacation time is for!!!!! What does your partner do? Or is it just you?????
http://tommalie.blogspot.com/
if anyone wants to check it out
Please do not feel bad about sharing your positive on here. I am truly thrilled for you. It's crazy, but I've been "meeting" some amazing folks on this board and the CCB Friends FB page, and I feel like we are all in this together.
Right now we are only doing the fermara since cycle one I was not medicated and had five decent follies!!! Two were all around the 14-15 range by CD 11 and the others 10-12mm. Then cycle two, I had one nice big 24 mm follie. Since I seem to naturally produce a lot of follicle I think the RE wants to focus on helping them mature and not producing more.
Summer break is a hard time for me to stay relaxed about this whole thing because I have way too much time to think. I started my masters this summer hoping to keep busy, but it's not working!
I think it's great your family is supportive. It really helps. We are extra lucky because we met a couple at church who is using this cryobank and on the same cycle and # of insems as us.
I'm going to check out your blog. I hope we hear from 'M' soon because her silence is worrying me.Have a good one!
~Rebecca
Rebecca, I teared up reading it too, darn hormones! :) Good luck with talking to your parents this weekend... I'm sure they'll understand completely!
SS - I'm in the same boat. I haven't started yet but feel like I probably will :( I had a one time spotting event Friday evening and I thought it might be implantation bleeding but then Saturday evening I spotted again. Today I've been lightly spotting all day and my 3 tests have come back BFNs. I'm due to start tomorrow so we shall see if this picks up to AF or stops. I haven't had cramps yet and that is a tell tale sign that my cycle is a bust. I had all the symptoms with no cramps when I was prego but I didn't spot so I think we'll be moving on to our #5...
That being said, I'm researching as much as I can as quickly as I can about injectables. I believe my RE is going to suggest Gonal F, Bravelle or Follistim but I dont know which yet until I meet with him. We want to do a hybrid cycle like T/N did. How many shots and on which cycle days did you take them? Did your insurance cover it? If not, how much did it cost out of pocket for the shots?
Again, congrats T/N!
briefly, we have had 3 iui's, the last of which got us (well, let's be real, my partner) pregnant, but just ended in a miscarriage. two years ago i never thought words like 'miscarriage' and 'iui' and ' fetal pole' and 'sperm motility' for example would ever be in my vocab, much less roll off the tongue, but here i am! i am sure much grosser terms are to come!
good luck to all of us...
Have a happy week all!!!
(When we were researching all of this we saw a lot of ppl doing hybrid cycles. We also researched 200mg of clomid cuz that was a lot. We saw a few ppl who's dr's put them on the 200mg day 3/4 then 150 5/6/7. Exactly what we did. They got BFP as well)
So anyways, our insurance did not cover it. Our insurance doesn't cover anything accept the diagnosis of infertility. So bravelle, we took 1 injection a day for 4 days at a cost of $65 a shot. Our RE gave us some sort of card that gave us 5$ off or something, and we ordered it through them. So we don't know if you can get it cheaper.
M - and everyone else. If given the opportunity to do bravelle...DO IT! It's like a miracle drug or something!
Red - that is horrible about miscarrying...I don't know how you get past something like that. And we totally agree, we feel like reproduction pro's these days!
RS - To answer your question about FSH's, they help produce higher quality follicles. FYI - Femera only helps mature 1 follicle, like a normal cycle. Clomid and these other drugs help produce multi follicles - the FSH helps make those multi follicles clomid produced, a much higher quality.
Tommie had cramps like starting D7 or so, sore nipples again, felt just like she had the last time. But then she started having the tugging..it would get pretty bad to the point where it would wake her up at night.
We are sending baby dust all of your ways!!!! Keep us informed on what's going on, you guys have become our rock
M- I'm sorry to hear we were in the same boat. Ugh, well I started and let me tell you, it was horrible! We do have to take a month off because we have no more vials and have to save up some money again! I know it sounds horrible but student loans come next month so that will be a life saver. I really wanted to jump right back in but we have to do some sperm shopping first.
R- Sorry to hear your news as well. There is no way we could keep a secret from my mom, she's like Natalies she would so know we were fibbing.
For all of us that didn't get our BFP'S, WE WILL! I have all the faith in the world. Here's to #6 for us!!! I'll be on here checking for good news....
I'm very happy for you both. I do Menopur injectables which is similiar to Bravelle I believe. I do only injectables due to my age of 40. I hope to have the same benefits. I'm going to start acupuncture a month before this next cycle. I have neck/nerve pain too but worried about treating that and infertility at same time, Dr said it may cause a conflict but also the neck/nerve pain can prevent body working properly so dont know what I should do there. I'm also nervous cause I may start working (been unemployed for a long while) at a new job if hired and worried about what days my US will take place not to mention B2B inseminations and hope to not have to take off work or too much of it, also hope I dont get frowned upon or even eventually fired for being pregnant. I will try to conceal as long as possible. Just going to take it one day at a time and leave the results up to my higher power.
I'm so sorry MGALBN
It's official, again, this cycle's a bust. AF arrived today no matter how much I prayed she'd stay away. I'm feeling pretty defeated. My partner has been so supportive and I'm grateful for her thoughtfulness, caring and understanding far more than she'll ever know. I've got to dust myself off pretty quick as my next cycle is already underway. That warming sensation I've had since 4 days after my last IUI has never gone away. Several days ago, it was more than warming, more like a burning. I've discussed this and my intent to do a hybrid cycle with my RE and I've got an US scheduled for wednesday (cd3). I may have overstimulated my left ovary and he'll be able to tell me whether or not I need a rest cycle after the US. They're suggesting 2 shots of Follistim to add after my round of clomid. The pharmacy quote is thru the roof so I've asked if I can go a cheaper route like Bravelle or Gonal F. I don't know the potentcy ratio to price and # of shots. I'm clarifying that with the RE tomorrow. For all I know 2 Follistim could be the equivalent to 4 Bravelle since I don't know the recommended dosage of either yet. Wednesday will be very informative, I'm sure. The only good thing about a failed IUI is once you get AF, you're right back in it again! It seemed like FOREVER to start my period again after the m/c but regular failed IUIs go much quicker.
I'm a little concerned about work too gsalsa. They don't know I'm TTC and I'm shocked that I've been able to have as many appointments without raising any eyebrows...
Just like you, I feel so so defeated this time. I really needed a break. Will be taking birth control but just to prevent the cysts from reappearing once we are ready to try again. Keep your head up. It was a long ride this last week, it didn't help that we had a friend pass away, it was an awful thing, she was actually shot by someone who was trying to break into their garage and they happened to get home at the wrong time. He also shot her partner but she survived. The funeral was yesterday and ya know, sometimes you need a swift kick in the ass like that to remember that life is too short. Cherish all moments, hug those you love and never be afraid to say I love you as many times as you want. So my thinking, that 2WW now seems like a breeze after going thru something like that. Keep your head up. :)
Both of you need to keep your heads up! I think doing a hybrid cycle is a good thing, changing things up is a good thing. Why keep doing something time after time if it isn't workign!
I stand corrected, 2 Follistim shots are the equivalent of 8 Bravelle! I've price shopped some places and compared them to the pharmacy my RE uses and then I went to freedomdrug.com just to be sure. They were actually the highest price from 3 different places. I feel more comfortable knowing the IUs I'm supposed to have vs. price and for what I'm doing it is cheapest with my RE's pharmacy. Still expensive, but isn't this whole process? I'll save $10 bucks on the trigger this way too, every little bit helps, ya know? Our semi-plan for this cycle will be hammered out ttomorrow for sure. Everyone please send baby dust to us that I don't have any issues and we do not have to have a rest cycle.
Natalie, keep us posted on Weds lab work! I hope your number is like 767868! :)