Double IUI

Thanksgiving morning was spent at my RE's office getting an ultrasound and then we were sent over to the hospital for an E2 draw. He said it looked like I had 4 follicles that would be ready soon. He told us he would either call us that night or Friday morning to let us know what the next steps were. He asked us if we had a trigger shot at home and we told him yes.

So Thanksgiving came and went with no call. I didn't think to ask him if I still needed to stay on my 150IU of Follistim so I just took it. I figured if he wanted me to stop he would've said something. So he calls Friday around 12:00 to let me know we will be doing the IUI in the morning. I said, "But what about triggering?" He said, "Didn't you trigger last night?" and I told him no. He said he told me to trigger if I didn't hear from him last night. I never heard him say that and neither did Brad. So now I'm freaking out thinking I have screwed up this entire thing. The NK cells are low, the cytokines are low, I responded well but not too much to the Follistim and now this? UGH! So I told him I took more Follistim and he said that wouldn't really matter. Thank goodness! He said we could still do the IUI in the morning if I go trigger right after we get off the phone. I did. I also peed on a OPK to make sure I hadn't ovulated on my own yet and I hadn't. Disaster averted hopefully!

I contacted my consultant to let her know what happened and to get her opinion on my mistake. She said it might be a good idea to do a double IUI and Brad and I agreed with her. We had the first IUI at 7am Saturday morning. He did an ultrasound to make sure I didn't ovulate on my own yet and I hadn't. This time he said he saw 5 instead of 4 and that made me feel better for our chances. We asked him if we could do a double and he agreed that would be fine. He said it wouldn't up our chances a ton but it could help. I told him since I responded so well this time we would like the best chance possible, even if it only helps a few percentages.

We went back this morning, Sunday, for the second one. I was having lots of cramping before the procedure on my left side along with some CM so I was pretty sure it was happening! I had 4 out of the 5 follies on the left. I pointed to the spot that was cramping and he said that's about the right spot! Come on follies!!! I need all 5 to release in hopes that at least one or two are good eggs. At my age you just never know. ;)

So now we wait. Fortunately I will know ahead of time because I always do. I am going to start testing out the trigger in a few days so I'll let you know what's going on this time hopefully. I was just so disappointed in my response to Clomid last time that I didn't keep anyone in the loop. This time I am cautiously hopeful.

I spoke too soon!

And the drama returns! I got blood work done yesterday for my Nk cells and cytokines. The lab in CA called today and told me the tubes were labeled with the wrong name so they couldn't run the tests on them. I don't even know how this could've happened??? The girl drew my blood, asked me what needed to be written on them, I watched her write it all on them, then she handed them to me. I never imagined she didn't know my name. Oops!

Soooo long story short after several phones calls to the place where they drew my blood and the lab (all while trying to teach Pre-K students), we got it all worked out. The girl had to fax a paper stating that it was indeed my blood which she is sure of since she drew 50cc out of me. The bad news is now this puts me behind and I may not be able to get my results before Thanksgiving. They said to call them tomorrow to see if they have them done. Please pray that I get them back tomorrow and they say my immune system is still suppressed! I'm not sure if I will have time to schedule an infusion before the IUI which could be very soon.

On a good note, I think I responded pretty well to the Follistim. Here are my follicles:
R-10x16
R-13x7
L-15x12
L-13x15
L-16x15
L-11x12
L-9x11

So the nurse who was measuring said I should have 5 hopefully. I am staying on 150 and then having a repeat ultrasound on Thanksgiving Day. Should this work out, I certainly will be the most thankful mommy ever.

Back on the Saddle!

It's CD7 and I've been stimming for 5 days now. I had a clearing ultrasound and E2 draw on CD3 so they started me at 150IU of Follistim. I went back yesterday (on a Sunday) for another E2 draw and that was easier said than done.

The RE's office was supposed to fax my orders over to the hospital on Friday but when I got to registration, they had no order. There was another couple next to me that is going to the same RE that had no orders either. The ladies checked everywhere at registration and then sent someone over to the regular registration desk which is closed on Sunday. Nothing. I didn't know what to do because I had to get it drawn so they could see whether or not to adjust my medication. I decided to call the on-call physician. It was an RE that I went to years ago and left. Yeah. That'll be great.

I call him and he agrees to call the hospital with the orders. (Maybe he didn't remember me or maybe he was just being nice!) So I wait for a while and nothing. I decide to call him back because the lady at registration said they can't accept called-in orders on the weekends, only faxed orders. He wasn't happy about this and demanded to speak to her supervisor. Ouch! Apparently he was at church and did not want to leave to get to a fax machine. Can't blame the guy there.

The head RN called him back and got it all worked out. He said he could take a phone order while the registration girls could not. He hangs up with the RE and then asks me what the diagnosis code is. Huh? I don't know. That's why there are orders. They wrote the same order for the girl that was next to me and we all head to the lab.

We get there and they ask our names. Guess what they have? OUR ORDERS from our own RE! What? I guess no one thought to check the actual lab. Our office did fax them over. I was a little upset but now we can go back to the registration desk to get the correct diagnosis code.

So 2 and 1/2 hours later, my blood was drawn. The funny thing is the RE's office called me about 30 minutes later to say it was 211 and that was good so stay on 150. I got my immune stuff (NK and cytokines) drawn today to see if I'll need another IVIG or not and I go back to the RE tomorrow for another E2 and my first ultrasound on Follistim. Let's hope the rest of this cycle is stress free. So glad tomorrow isn't SUNDAY!!!

IVIG and follicle tracking

It has been a busy week both in the infertility world and teaching world! On Wednesday I went for my first IVIG infusion in Nashville. I still haven't heard if I will get any insurance coverage or not so it was cheaper to go to the facility instead of having a home health care nurse come to me to administer it. My mom went with me since Brad was out of town. Everything went great! The people at Coram are awesome and I couldn't have asked for a better nurse.

My appointment was at 10:00 in Nashville. We only got lost a little! It's not that it was hard to find, it's that my mom and I have no sense of direction whatsoever. 

It's time! I was getting nervous that it was going to start to make me sick soon but it never did. So blessed!

All done with the IVIG. Now for the water solution. 

My nurse, Mary. She was so awesome and made this experience a pleasant one.

So the infusion was on Wednesday, October 30. Halloween was the next day and since I'm a teacher taking the following day off isn't an option. Luckily I never did feel bad from the infusion. I felt a little sick at lunch on Thursday but I think it's because I didn't hydrate or eat enough the day after. Just so you can see why I needed to go to school, here's a pic!

My assistant and me, the chicken and the egg! Notice how I even incorporate eggs in my costumes!

I went to my RE on Friday afternoon for a follicle tracking ultrasound. I was a little disappointed when I only had 2 on the right and several on the left that were too small to even measure. I usually do much better on Clomid than that but it is what it is. They told me to take OPKs this weekend to make sure we didn't miss ovulation. Luckily they were negative so we are going back for another scan tomorrow. Hopefully the two on the right will be ready soon and I can trigger. I will keep you updated!

My stupid left side is always a slacker.