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.

It's go time!

Sorry I haven't posted in a while about what's going on. Planning to teach common core to a bunch of four-year-olds is taking up a lot of my time (which by the way is crazy!!!!!). I'm on CD 6 so I've got one more day of Clomid tomorrow and I start my Lovenox injections today! I go on Wednesday for my fist IVIG injection in Nashville. They will hook me up to an IV and infuse 1,000 different donors of plasma into me for 3 hours. It really dehydrates you so you have to make sure you are eating and drinking water. They keep you for an extra hour afterward to make sure you don't have any kind of reaction to the plasma. I'm a little nervous so keep me in your prayers about this. I also haven't heard if my insurance will cover any of it or not. It's very expensive so we are hoping since they are coding it immune system disease verses infertility that we will at least get some of it paid for but we aren't really expecting it. My first follicle ultrasound is next Friday too. Things are really moving along and I'm getting excited and nervous all at once. I'll try to update when I get a moment's peace from school! :)

5-8 Chances

We went to Cincinnati today to get my follicles measured. The doctor measured anywhere from 5-8 that should be ready for retrieval on Wednesday. He said they looked wonderful and my lining was great as well. He also said we probably wouldn't have any to freeze which he saw as a good thing. I have mixed emotions on the subject: We won't have to worry about having to donate them if we choose not to use them, should this work and we get twins. But it would have also been great to have a back-up plan, in case this doesn't work. The truth is I can't help what I have so I should just accept it as what God gave us!

Retrieval is Wednesday so we are going to go up to Lexington the night before to stay with my friend, Meghan. We have to be at the clinic at 6:15am so I don't think we want to make that 4 and a half hour drive that morning! She has been so gracious to offer us her newly finished basement with full kitchen and media room. I'll feel like I'm on vacation for sure!

Transfer will most likely be on Sunday but they said to hang around the area just in case our embryos decide to grow quicker than scheduled. We are so excited about the possibilities but also scared to death. Scared that it won't work and scared that it will. With us, pregnancy isn't what it once was 4 years ago when we found out for the first time. It's now replaced with the fear of another loss. Please pray that we can get through whatever the outcome may be and trust that God is in control. We know that He is of course, but if tragedy hits we will need Him to remind us.