Can't believe it's time for a new thread - and here I am, just starting my cycle! :lol: Back in a sec with a status update for everyone...

Suzi: Cycle #6 - on lupron, stims start 7/9
Sarah: Confirming Annexin V IgG/IgM tests, considering SCSA testing/possibly PGD for next IVF
Kimberly: filing appeals paperwork for DE IVF
Brenda: :bfp: beta 4/19, TWINS!! :yippee: :yippee:
Amanda: :bfp: HPT 5/28, TWINS!! :yippee: :yippee:
Angela: IF COVERAGE IN CT!!! :faint: Waiting to cycle in 2006.
Carla: Taking a break for the summer.
Judy: Stimming, retrieval approximately 7/14
Andrea: wallowing in the muck of referrral-Hell
Andrea30: :bfp: beta 6/16, u/s on 7/6 :yippee:
Sarah: FET in August
Pam: Due in October :yippee:

I think I got everyone! If I missed someone, let me know - it's getting late and I am a bit bleary-eyed!

We are on a sort of roll here...looking forward to keeping that up! :lol: :crossfing

And by the way...can I say how GREAT it is that we are EXPANDING our numbers!!! I LOVE having new people join us!! :nod:

Thanks for the update Suzi:). It is great to see those BFP's. Although IF is a difficult and painful journey to have to take, I have met some wonderful people because of it. Before we did our IVF I didn't know anyone who was dealing or had dealt with IF, and it is not an exageration to say that the majority of my friends were getting pg, pretty much on command. If hadn't been for my mom and Dh I don't know what I would have done.
The day after I found out that Dh's brother and wife were pg, AGAIN and it was an accident and they were "upset" about it I simply did not have any words. What do you say to someone when you would give anything to have a baby, and they are not even happy about it ??????????? I went to work very early the next morning, and my boss (a wonderful lady) looked at me and asked what was wrong? I just lost it, and I had always prided myself on keeping it together at work. I told her and she immediately suggested I talk to someone else she knew at the bank who done IVF and had triplets.
Long story short, Dan the friend at the bank said his wife would be glad to talk to me. I didn't know their story at all other than they now had 3 babies. I decided to call Maureen and I needed to hear something positive, because I didn't think IVF would work for us, and I did not want to go thru the process for nothing.
So I called, and we hit it off instantly. However the part that made the biggest difference for me, was that Maureen had endometriosis too. She had a very severe case, during their IVF she barely responded to the meds and in fact the thought her egg quality was so poor they put back all five eggs they retrieved, and lo and behold TRIPLETS!!!!!!!!!
I apologize for rambling, I guess the point I wanted to make was for me being able to talk with some one else in the situation as me, made all of difference. I honestly consider it miraculous, that I talked to Maureen that day and she had my same IF problem , only much, much worse and IVF still worked. I don't know if I would have gone thru with it if I had not heard her story. So to all of you sharing your stories, you truly are giving a gift by letting others in to share your experience. Thank you.

Suzi - Thanks for the wonderful update and starting the new thread! Let's hope there are many more BFPs soon.
Sarah - I think we've all been there. I'm glad you've been able to find good supports.

Amanda

I'm here to :rahrah: you gals on!

I'm here too!! I second what Andrea said, Many more BFP's soon!

I am hoping we won't have to wait to 2006. It goes into effect Oct 2005 but I don't know if the insurance makes you wait to when the contract renews. I keep hearing both ways. I am just so happy we are able to do this.

Amanda~ Congrats again! You are a strong woman! I am glad you have a great nanny!
Kim~ I am going through something similar with my BF. They have 2 kids already and they have been trying for a third for about 8 months or so now. I was really shocked about the third because they have no medical insurance and have other issues that I would think would need to be taken care of first before a baby is added to the family. But anyway that's there business and I know I have no say. It's just my way of thinking. Our relationship has been strained for a few months now anyway and I think a part of it has to do with protecting myself from her telling me she is PG again. But the major issues we have, have to do with her and things her and her husband have done/said to us recently. We just have different views on treating people and her husband is a blatant liar. Anyway, she recently miscarried and I felt very bad and called her. We had a great conversation. Her husband called my husband and told him, thats how I found out, by the way. He had to call DH regarding work stuff. Its not that I don't want her to have babies and be happy its that I feel bad for me and feel inadequate compared to her. I know, seriously irrational thinking. Am I off my rocker for feeling like this? Last time she told me she was pg, I balled the whole night, not in front of her of course. She has always been supportive and positive for me. So it's not like she makes me feel bad for being infertile. I just don't know anymore.

Angela - I think we all know certain people who just don't "deserve" to get pregnant easily. I know that sounds mean but I know it's true. My best friend is pregnant with #2. She's 39 years old and is a pediatrician. Her husband makes a fortune in the banking industry. They are the nicest, most generous people I know. I was THRILLED when she got pregnant b/c I couldn't think of a more "deserving" person. On the other hand, my loser SIL whose husband hasn't had a job for more than 4 years and who was smoking pot as recently as December doesn't "deserve" to be pregnant (and yet, she's due a month before I am). I know I have NO RIGHT to "play God" and say who deserve to be a mom and who doesn't, but it's hard not to feel extra-upset when someone who doesn't seem equiped for the job is able to become a mom.

Amanda

Go Amanda!! I didn't know you had it in you! :woo: :lol2:

Amanda, I think that pretty much sums up exactly how I feel. I couldn't have said it better myself. I love my BF, but I really think adding to their family right now just makes no sense. I think if they had their S**t together I would be fine. Also, every time they have a baby I have to hear the same old sob story of how they have no money and no one helps them and blah blah blah.

Suzi - I'm actually very opinionated in real life, I just tone it down here! I guess that being a career-women, etc. makes me feel like enough of an outsider at times here without adding my strong opinions to the mix! I try to practice the "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all" mode of being here which makes me a bit more boring than in person. You should hear me with my in-laws....
Angela - Exactly!

Amanda

I completely understand this one! We backed out of adoption proceedings because we didn't want to fight with family. DH's cousin and "GF" are herion addicts, last dec she gave birth to drug addicted baby #6, and the ministry took her away for adoption. We were already in the process of foriegn adoption when DH's aunt asked us to adopt her. I refused on the basis of I dont want addicts telling me how to raise my child or showing up unannounced on my doorstep! She made a very big deal out of how terrible we were being, imagine adopting some foreign baby when her grandchild needs a home! It was turning into a huge battle and I almost stopped having anything to do with his family because of it! I try to avoid any conversation that involves the baby because I get so angry with the situation. Here there are thousands of women trying their hearts out to have babies to hold that they will cherish and she's throwing hers away! It puts me in a difficult spot because I have this habit of saying exacly what I feel and I'm very rarely polite about it. It just makes me so angry!

As if we haven't been through enough as it is, I just got a call from our center about the SA Chris took in this morning. Out of 100 fields, they found 3....YES, I SAID THREE...sperm. Not enogh to do ICSI. We may be done afterall.

My RE asked us to do another SA on Monday, maybe ( :pray: ) that will bring different results. I am just sick to death. :dead:

:sadhug: Suzi, I am so very sorry to hear this news. You wil be in my prayer's:pray:.

Oh Suzi! I'm sorry. I hope that Monday's results are better.

Amanda

Suzi, I'm so sorry! Hopefully the second test results are better. I :read:read in DH's male factor IF pamplet that men dump unused sperm, I dont know if thats just for blockages, hopefully it builds back up again. I'll pray for you guys!

Suzi - I hope that next week's results are better!!!

Hi, I have been dropping in on your conversations, here on the other side of the world and felt compelled to comment:

Suzi, I empathise with you - we start stims for IVF #6 tomorrow. When we did the first two SA's to figure out why we weren't getting pregnant, we found only 6 non motile, and then in the 2nd SA, none at all. For #3 a week later, we found 6 good ones and then a week later, a whopping 42 [which we very quickly froze!]. Each time it has come around to retrieval, we have produced enough fresh ones. So hopefully you will be like us and the 3 you retrieved are just a temporary drop in numbers. Best of luck.
Jo
PS; interested in a comment you made re: headaches - every cycle I have had a 2 day long migraine when I start Gonal F - computer use aggravates it tenfold.

Suzi, Think good thoughts! I will pray for better results on Monday!

Suzi- You are so thoughtful of everyone all the time and give so many of your prayers away. I just want you to know that you have a TON of prayers coming back at you. We'll all keep our fingers crossed for you on Monday.

Today my DH and I had our first ultrasound and just as we had thought we have one little guy inside. We got to see the heartbeat and everything else looked good. They couldn't find anything that is causing my random spotting but they are going to keep me on the progesterone shots just in case until my next U/S in two weeks.

Andrea30: Congrats on your one little guy! Glad all is well and you saw the heartbeat!

CONGRATS Andrea!

Amanda

:bteddy:Congratulations Andrea! :pteddy:

:yippee: Andrea!!! And thank you so much - to everyone - for your kind words and prayers. It came as quite a shock - we never expected to hear that. I guess it sunk in last night and I was filled with questions ths morning. Italked with the IVF coord and in addition to the new SA on Monday, we are going to test FSH/LH/testosterone on Chris. We are also going to do a fasting glucose as diabetes can be accompanied by retrograde ejaculation. Speaking of...when I told Chris about the count yesterday, he said he wasn't surprised - that it felt "weird" to him when he collected the sample (ummm....WEIRD?? :confused: ). I am hoping ( :crossfing ) that something flukey happened (retrograde ejaculation maybe??) and the sample yesterday was just an odd-ball, one-time thing. Chris had some pretty good numbers - for him - 700K and 400K last year.

So we press on to Monday. I have my down reg u/s tomorrow and AF showed this morning right on time. I start stims Saturday - we talked about me holding off on the stims until we do the second SA but the specialist who does ICSI is only here through the 22nd; I am scheduled for the 21st, we decided not to push it. ONWARD!!! :lol:

Once again, your positive attitude is an inspiration to us all Suzi!

Amanda

Andrea - congrats!!

Suzi - hugs to you and positive thoughts Monday's test :crossfing

Hello to everyone!

My u/s yesterday showed 5 measurable follies 12 and the rest 11's I go back tomorrow but so far it seems I am stiming a tad slower.

thats all!

Good luck Judy!

Amanda

I may be joining in soon. I know Suzi, Amanda and Kim from the other boards.

I'm Dana. I have one darling son concieved through IVF. He will be two next month.

My husband and I decided if we didn't concieve natually by the end of the year, we'd go back for IVF. It looks like we might be doing things sooner...

Yesterday Child magazine came out with a list of the best infertility clinics in the US. The #1 ranked is in Colorado. It isn't the one I used to concieve Owen.

So I was poking arround the clinic's website and I found some information on an IVF clinical study. It included a $5000 discount on the IVF procedure and free medication. I asked Dave what he thought, and he said I should look into it.

I called this afternoon and I have an appointment for next week. I have to pay $250 for the consultation - which I think is BS. And I still might not be accepted into the study. Dave is still supportive of going forward.

I just got the info packet from them. Which has made me really anxious. I have to call my old fertility clinic and have them send the records to the new clinic. I feel like I'm cheating on them. I loved my infertility doc. All docs should be as great as he. If this were a real life or death medical problem, I wouldn't think twice about going to the best in the nation.

So, even if I'm not accepted into the study, I think we'll be moving forward with the IVF.

Suzi - I'm so sorry to hear of your latest test results. :crossfing for better results on monday.

DANA!!!!!!!!!!! :yippee:
I am so happy to see you here!! We'd be HAPPY to have you join us...I was JUST thinking about you TODAY!!! We have a terrific group of ladies here, make yourself at HOME!! :nod:

I am curious to hear about this clinical trial the other center has going on...what is it?

Fill me in on Owen - I can't believe he is going to be TWO!!! What fun you must be having together, are you still at home with him? I'm so glad you're here!! :bighug:

HOORAY Dana! How exciting to see you here!!!! That's interesting about the clinical trial. What are they looking at???

Amanda

We had our down reg u/s today and all went as expected. :aok: I start stims tomorrow and hopefully, we are off!! We talked to our RE about the SA results from the other day and if the numbers are still way off at Monday's retest, he is going to do a urine test for sperm - no wasting any time. Keep your fingers crossed it was a fluke.... :crossfing

Good luck with stims tomorrow, Suzi... HATE that first shot. And good luck to you both on Monday too. :bighug:

Fingers tightly crossed, Suzi!!

Welcome Dana! What an awesome discount. I would have jumped on that too.

Gov Rell officially signed the bill!! So maybe we will be starting a cycle in October, which is really not that far away. From what I have been reading and hearing sounds like insurance companies will have to start covering IVF in Oct, so we will see. Won't get my hopes up until I hear it from the insurance companies myself.

I don't know much of anything about the research study. Its for a new medication. I meet the initial requirements - age, weight, and living in the Denver area. The nurse said my elevated FSH level might exclude me, but they won't know until testing is done. They seemed excited that I was interested. Of course, it seems like I'm going to have to pay for my work up, and may not be able to take part in the trial. I don't suppose too many women are interested in that. We plan to continue with an IVF cycle even if I'm not accepted into the study. That is if the clinic will accept me.

Gov Rell officially signed the bill!! So maybe we will be starting a cycle in October, which is really not that far away. From what I have been reading and hearing sounds like insurance companies will have to start covering IVF in Oct, so we will see. Won't get my hopes up until I hear it from the insurance companies myself.
Can I just say how jealous I am of anyone who gets infertility coverage? IVF would be just a little less stressful if we didn't have to worry about the money.

On the day we decided to go ahead with this (just this past wednesday) my husband (Dave) was laid off. He's the sole income for this family. He got a very nice severence package and we're confident he'll find a job. Its just one more little bit of stress. I was filling out the paperwork for the new clinic. There was a section for 'spouses' employer' I left it blank. Very strange.

Dana-that sucks that your husband has been laid off! Our company is going through lean years also but we decided the same thing regardless of lay offs we are going in Nov to do the IVF. I hope that you get accepted into the your test program, at least it would help to offset the costs! I'm glad my insurance will cover a portion of the drugs but it sure would be nice to have the procedure covered too! I too am so jealous of the IF Coverage hopefully Canada follows suit and includes IF under the health care program .

Suzi-Good luck on monday!

Angela-Thats great that you got the IVF bill coverage! If all goes we'll I'll be a month behind you on cycles! I'm so exited I feel like a kid at the start of December! It definately isn't that far away!:thumbsup:

Oh Dana...I can't believe Dave was laid off!! I'll be thinking of y'all for a new job to come along FAST!! :nod: I hope you can be included in the trial - that'd be great! :crossfing

Thanks for the good wishes for the stims this morning... We started to do the shot and endedup not being able to use any of the Gonal-F my friend gave me. I had planned on it being about 2 full shots so I was fretting a bit about having to buy more Follistim afterall. So I threw away the FOUR Gonal-F pens and went about getting the Follistim ready and discovered I have more Follistim than I thought - about TWO SHOTS' WORTH!! Guess it all works out in the end... :lol:

Been feeling a TAD achey in the head...like I'm on the verge of a headache. I guess I knew this was coming. Hopefully that my Lupron has dropped today will help some with that. :crossfing

Dana, I know exactly what you mean. We live just a short trip from Mass, where they have excellent IF and IVF coverage, and I would get so mad because if we just lived a few miles down the road we would probably be PG by now. I read today that there are many other states trying to do the same. So who knows, maybe Colorado isn't too far behind. You can check with your local Resolve chapter and ask if it is on their agenda to do. How much is your typical IVF cycle there. We paid $13k in November (not including meds).
DH has been laid off since January. He needs to find a job soon, his employment runs out in a week or two. I could ring his neck for waiting to the last minute. My DH is not very aggressive when it comes to this, he has a phobia of calling people so that is why we are at this point. So his past 2 jobs I had to find for him. This time I swore I wasn't going to help him, that he had to do it on his own. He has just had bad luck with jobs, he is a great worker, very smart and his employers love him, it's just that the business's go down the toilet. Sorry I turned this into a vent........

Andrea~I can't wait! I hear Maternity benefits in Canada are awesome. Like 9 months paid maternity leave. Is that true?

Suzi~Hope you feel better!

Gosh! I don't know where to start! :woa: So much has happened in the last few days.

Sarah~I wholeheartedly agree with you in the fact that it's so wonderful to be able to come to a place with so much support. . .and knowledge. . Suzi=:bighug: I personally, don't know what I'd do if I didn't have you guys. :grouphugg

Angela~Is it that misery loves company? Sadly, I love hearing other people's stories. You know what's totally weird? It's that while I am completely happy for my best friend, I have negative feelings of her husband. So, as am trying to get my gumption up to be on my best behavior the next time I talk to her regarding her new pregnancy, I think that the only way I can do it right now is to keep in mind that her husband is emotionally abusive. He cuts her down and has made remarks about her *stupidity*. He has lumped me into the category. . .i.e. when we were camping once and Polly and I were folding the tarp and I heard him say to my husband, "Let's watch as these girls F this up." Even before she got pregnant, there were times when I thought I should point this out to her, being her best friend and all, but there has not been an appropriate time. (I'm sorta waiting for her to mention it first). Very sad, but true. So, I think what's holding me together in some sad, selfish way, is that I fear this marriage is not going well. They have two dogs and I won't even get into thier extreme differing opinions about dog training. :nono: By the way, that's awesome that Gov Rell has signed the bill. :yippee: I so hope that you'll be able to start this journey again in October.

Amanda~I knew you had it in you. :awink: But I understand you not wanting to lay it all out online. . .as I have tendency to do. :silly: Once again, your story about your SIL just reminds me that these things don't just happen to me and within my social group.

Andrea~I completely understand your anger! On one hand, you have the opportunity of starting your family with this child, but on the other hand, what misery will that also bring for your and your husband? :furious: It is just atrocious. . .I don't even know if that's a strong enough word. And she's on baby #6? I have to admit, as much as I want a child, that personal connection you'd have to deal with would be too close and I could only imagine, too intense to manage. I just hope that they figure their S**t out and that those children fare well.

JJO~I hope you will join us. It sounds like you could always use some support. :bighug:

Suzi~I am so sorry. :sadhug: As always, it sounds like you have a protocal in action and that you will still be able to start your cycle. :yippee: I'm sure you are already aware of this, but if not, I could send some *non-western medicine* information on increasing sperm count, motility, etc. As it is the same for us women, acupunture and change in diet (and other things) seems to show improvement. I have no doubt that you'll come up with a plan, but if I can help you by passing on some information, please let me know.


Judy~It sounds like things are going well. I'm wishing all the best for this cycle. :bighug:

Dana~OMG! :bighug: It's so nice (maybe not for you) to have you back :bighug: But I do remember you and it's nice to hear from you again! I'm so terribly sorry about your husband's layoff and I have to admit that I do consider myself very lucky to live in a state where IVF coverage is mandated. The Today Show did an excerpt on the best infertility clinics in the U.S. and I remember hearing that Colorado was at the top. Unfortunately, Boston wasn't. I wish you all the best in these next steps. :crossfing:

I hate to always post and report such s*&tty news of my own but. . . .in a conversation with my 36 year old and single sister who I have to admit, is also struggling with several issues, had a theory. She says that our family is cursed. Don't laugh. We're first generation Americans and our family is traditional Cuban in the sense that "curses" are not so far fetched. So my sister, with a scotch and water in hand (she's not a drunk but had been just locked out of her office because the owner of her corporate real estate company was capsized for stealing money) proceeded to tell to tell me how our family was cursed. She pointed out how our family line was dying by not only reminding me of my conception problems, but how there has been very little childbearing (in comparision) of other families. Of course, in my rationality, I tried to point out to her that I think it has more to do with all of us first generation (siblings and cousins), who have stalled childbirth in order to have education and careers first. Of course she still argued her point.

So, as of Friday (yesterday) I thought things were going as well as they could. My Dr. decided to do a re-write on the appeals letter. The analyst working on my appeal was going on vacation as of today (Saturday). We really needed that letter submitted by the Friday 7/8 so that my appeals could go on to the next step before she left on vacation. I was able to talk to everyone involved and although the Dr. wasn't able to submit the re-write by Friday 7/8, my analyst gave my records to her associate to submit because my Dr. said he could only have it done no later than Monday. In the meantime, I had contacted the one of 4 donor agencies where I found the only woman who fit my heredity to ask if there was any way (without me paying a fee) to contact her to let her know I was interested. Mind you, I've only found one suitable donor. Well, I just read an email today from the donor agency telling me that the donor that I have requested, is just preparing work for another couple (waiting for her July period) and won't be available until October. She is willing to still be my donor as long as her upcoming cycle is sucessful. But the last cycle she ever did was in 2003 and 2 years later, at the same time I want her, someone else does? :errr: I know that I can not fully look at this as a negative, although it just reminds me of the worst rotten stupid F*in luck I've had.

Kimberly

The Company I work for tops us up for 3 months of our mat. leave because I work in a camp situation and have to leave 6 weeks prior to Baby day (I work two weeks for the equivalent of a 40 hour work week x 4). Then I can go on 1 year mat. leave thru Employment insurance. DH is entiled to 6 weeks off for Paternal leave so in total he would end up with 12 weeks off in the begining. We do have really good mat & pat benefits both thru work and EI, which will really work out in our favour as I will not be going back to work afterwards.

Suzi~Your email reminded me of something. Shhhh (secret) I have quite a bit of *stuff* in my refridgerator downstairs. It's not like I'm saving it for a rainy day. I should go down and do and do a count.

I just did a count. I have 12 vials of 75 IU Follistim, 9 vials of 75 IU Gonal-F, and 15 vials of 75 IU Repronex.

They have been refridgerated from day one. So much so, that I didn't even know how much I had because DH did all my shots for me. It has been something I never wanted to even know about.

Big step for me to actually go downstairs and count and may be of help to any of you. Please PM me. In the name of infertility, I'd do anything for anyone I could.

Suzi~Is there an expiration date for any of these?

Again, these products have all been refridgerated from day one. I've had no power outages or anything that should have disturbed them.

Let me know.

Kimberly-Sorry to hear your BF hubby is an ass. Unfortunately the world is full of them! Hopefully you'll find a egg donor and your appeal will be granted soon! Glad to hear your Doc re-wrote his letter! I've got my fingers crossed for you big time!

Just wanted to pop in and say "GOOD LUCK" tomorrow Suzi!

Kim - I am sorry to hear of the donor issue. Man you deserve a break. :crossfing that things turn around - and I'm sorry about your sister's job too. I tend to support your theory more so than hers.

Suzi - I hope the headache goes away with the lowering of the lupron. How are the stims going? When is your first check?

Angela -glad the bill was signed!

Dana welcome!

Hello to everyone!!

I (http://www.michaels.com/online/images/product/thumb/cp0023.jpg) got the word today that we will do trigger tonight and ER will be Tuesday. We are doing day 3 transfers so Friday will be ET. I am trying to be optomistic. Have almost a wierd peacefulness that this is just out of my hands. Still haven't heard anything on the immune pannel and forgot to ask today - duh I swear the follistim gives me brain rot. Must call tomorrow.

Things have been busy here all weekend!
Suzi - HOORAY for starting stims. I'm crossing everything for good results tomorrow.
Dana - I'm sorry about your husband's job. That just sucks!
Angela - I'm glad the bill finally got signed!
Kimberly - UGH! I'm sorry for all the frustration and setbacks.
Judy - Fingers crossed!!!!!!!

I FINALLY have a doctor. Nothing like bad health insurance to make you crazy...

Amanda

"Couples experiencing infertility often receive well-meaning but extremely insensitive "advice." We can all list the most popular ones: "Just relax and you'll get pregnant," or "Adopt and you'll get pregnant." Of the most painful from those who think they've got the goods on God's plan, "Maybe God never meant for you to have children." The sheer audacity of making a statement like that never fails to amaze me.

"These same people would never walk up to someone seeking treatment for cancer and say, "Maybe God never meant for you to live." However, because I am infertile, I'm supposed to get on with my life. It's hard to understand that people can not see infertility for what it is, a disease for which I have to seek treatment. What if Jonas Salk had said to the parents of polio victims, "Maybe God meant for thousands of our children to be cripples, live in an iron lung or die." What if he'd never tried to find a cure? Who could think for one minute that that was God's plan?

What do I think God meant when he gave me infertility? I think he meant for my husband and me to grow closer, become stronger, love deeper. I think God meant for us to find the fortitude within ourselves to get up every time infertility knocks us down. I think God meant for our medical community to discover medicines, invent medical equipment, create procedures and protocols. I think God meant for us to find a cure for infertility.

No, God never meant for me not to have children. That's not my destiny; that's just a fork in the road I'm on. I've been placed on the road less traveled, and, like it or not, I'm a better person for it. Clearly, God meant for me to develop more compassion, deeper courage, and greater inner strength on this journey to resolution, and I haven't let Him down.

Frankly, if the truth be known, I think God has singled me out for a special treatment. I think God meant for me to build a thirst for a child so strong and so deep that when that baby is finally placed in my arms, it will be the longest, coolest, most refreshing drink I've ever known.

While I would never choose infertility, I can not deny that a fertile woman could never know the joy that awaits me. Yes, one way or another, I will have a baby of my own. And the next time someone wants to offer me unsolicited advice I'll say, "Don't tell me what God meant when He handed me infertility. I already know."

Suzi~I just love that!!! :clap:

Judy~:thumbsup:

Kimberly

That just says it all perfectly, and it is so true:).

Suzi- That sums it up so perfectly! I hope you dont mind if I print it off and keep it with me for when I'm feeling sorry for myself. I once had a very good (not the kind you pay 2.99 a minute for ) Tarot card reader/psycic tell me that the sole purpose for me to be here in this life was to experience motherhood, that I would have a yearning so strong for children that it would break my heart and that there would be a really nice male specialist that would help us out. I hadn't even met my husband yet so I passed her off as a kook. God does have a plan for everybody, we just have to be stong enough to find it, and not give up!
Thank you so much for your letter Suzi! And good luck today!:thumbsup:

That's beautiful Suzi!

Amanda

Apparently, Chris was right and something was "WEIRD" because his counts were back to normal (for him) on today's SA. :dunno: Thank God it was a fluke!! :faint: Thanks to everyone for the extra prayers these last few days!! :grouphugg

Suzi- thank you for that. It is exactly how we all feel and it brought a tear to my eye to read it. You truly are a special person with just the right words to say.

Judy-GOOD LUCK TO YOU this week!!

Don't you love that??! I have printed several copies and I have them in with my support group materials. Sums it up very nicely. :nod:

Suzi-Great News!:woo:

Judy - Fingers crossed for you (PS Just got the login! Duh Favority author?)

GREAT news Suzi! I'm so happy!
Judy - Crossing everything for you!

Amanda

Suzi - great news!!! :thumbsup: very glad to hear it.

Thanks everyone!! I appreciate the positive wishes!!

Andrea - yup - you got it :awink:

Suzi~Phew! What great news! I was thinking of you both today

Suzi,
Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!! for good news, a positive start to the cycle.

Suzi~:banana:

Okay...I definitely have things going on. All cycles before I have said I *THOUGHT* I felt twinges in my ovaries but maybe I was crazy. Well, I'm not crazy. I can say with 100% confidence that I AM feeling things in my ovaries that are not feelings I have when I am off cycle. For the last 6 months I have felt NOTHING...no twangs, no twinges, nothing. I started stims on Saturday and I was already feeling them on SUNDAY. How EXCITING!! :yippee:

:thumbsup: YAY for twinges and tweaks!!

I'm back from my ER - things went well they (actually my RE which was nice - they rotate for ER/ET's at my clinic) retreived 13 eggs - I am hoping that is lucky number 13!! I'm home, tired, sore and nauseaus but happy to be home and able to nap.

I am off to the couch to nap and think positive for a great fertilization rate!

Suzi - HOORAY for feeling twinges!
Judy - GREAT news! Fingers crossed for the fert report.

Amanda

Judy, glad you are feeling okay! For my first retrieval, I spent the rest of the day coiled around the toilet - I was SO sick!! I am lucky enough to get the little patch for behind the ear - works WONDERS for me!! Next time you need anesthesia (for anything!), you might ask for it!! Hope you are back to new quickly and I can't wait to hear the fert report!

Things are getting rather exciting in here!! :yippee:

Suzi and Judy this is so exiting! On tenterhooks for ET and ER for you both! Everythings twisted into to good luck wishes.

We have the potential for alot of great news in the next few weeks/months. Let this be the start of a winning streak.

I agree Sarah! Let's get rolling with those BFP's!


Suzi-:banana: :rahrah: Great news! I love feeling those twinges. It makes me feel like something is really happenning and just the possibility of what could be.

Judy~ Rest up! 13 is great! I am praying for a good fert report

Okay...I definitely have things going on. All cycles before I have said I *THOUGHT* I felt twinges in my ovaries but maybe I was crazy. Well, I'm not crazy. I can say with 100% confidence that I AM feeling things in my ovaries that are not feelings I have when I am off cycle. For the last 6 months I have felt NOTHING...no twangs, no twinges, nothing. I started stims on Saturday and I was already feeling them on SUNDAY. How EXCITING!! :yippee:

Suzi~Very exciting! It's so nice to be back in the swing of things again isn't it?

Judy~That's awesome. What great news. Relax because you can, smile because you should, and keep postive thoughts. :thumbsup:

Yep, we truly need some BFPs to get this thread rockin'!

Kimberly

Now I'm starting to think I must be nuts. I got up this morning and my ovaries are uncomfortable. I have only been uncomfortable ONCE before and that was the morning of retrieval. I got about this morning and the longer I thought about it, the more I thought I needed to call the IVF coord and let her make the call. When I talked to V, she said that I better come in tomorrow for my scan instead of Friday since I am feeling my ovaries and they *POSSIBLY* expect me to stim faster this protocol/cycle.

I feel like I am possibly being an alarmist but I just never feel this on cycles - considering I'm on my 6th, I think I know what's normal. I'm going to feel REALLY bad if I go in there tomorrow and there's nothing unusual going on - or worse yet, nothing going on at all! :rolleyes:

I feel like I am possibly being an alarmist but I just never feel this on cycles - considering I'm on my 6th, I think I know what's normal. I'm going to feel REALLY bad if I go in there tomorrow and there's nothing unusual going on - or worse yet, nothing going on at all! :rolleyes:

I'm so like that myself, but nonetheless, wouldn't you feel worse if you didn't get it checked out and there was something to be concerned about? And you're right, you are the best one to know what's normal for you and what's not.

Kimberly

Hi..just found this site. I had my 1st mtg with my RE b.c I havent gotten my period since i went off the pill (was on for 10 years for irregular periods) 6 months ago. He checked my ovaries and said they were "gorgeous." His first plan for me was to start Gonal F shots as soon as we find out if my husbands semen is ok. Any recommendations, advice, etc to a new person just starting out?
many thanks!!
Loric

Hi Loric!! :welcome: Glad you are here, make yourself right at home!!

I have to ask you - what has your RE done to make sure you are ovulating? Have you charted? I'm curious why your RE is starting off with injectables rather than Femara or Clomid...any idea?

IF involves a LOT of things...ask questions either with your RE or here. It can be overwhelming so lean on us as much as you need to!! We've all been where you are now, we understand how it feels!

Welcome again! :wavey:

thanks for being so welcoming!
well...maybe im dumb but if you dont have a period, doesnt it mean you arent ovulating?
My gyn gave me provera twice in the past 6 months which made me get a period...
When i came to the RE, he did a pelvic ultrasound which determined that my brain wasnt communicating with my ovaries...he also took blood but i havent gotten results yet.
he didnt mention the pills, he just said the shots were the way to go...
hmmmmmmm....

I guess I'm confused about your RE's decision to skip the least invasive treatment (and cheapest) and go right to injectables. :dunno: Did he say why? :confused:

Hi Loric! I'd ask ask the RE for more information along the lines of what Suzi is talking about- also before beginning any treatment you might want to have DH checked as you might want to get the whole picture of what you are dealing with.

Suzi - glad you moved the u/s up! You might be stimming faster!

I'm just waiting for the fert report... My clinic does not call until the end of day 2 - though caller ID today showed their number but no message..ugh It may have been just to check in but LEAVE A MESSAGE! Instead I am sitting here thinking the worst has happened - and knowing that probably isn't the case but :silly: ugh again

The nurse did call last night about the immune panel I had a borderline APL result - which the RE said indicates being more prone to a clot that could impact a pregnancy but would not affect conception. So he was advising using lovenox when I get a bfp. It is a low dose blood thinner - so I'm glad I asked for the panel!

Suzi - I always think it's better to be alarmist rather than laid back! I hope the sono shows good activity!
Loric - WELCOME! I've done 3 cycles with injections (2 with Gonal F) over the years (not to mention IVF). If you have any questions, ask away!!!
Judy - Crossing everything for the fert report.

Amanda

From my journal:
Okay...back already and I'm not sure of the number but I am happy with all the clicking I heard going on (they click the mouse on the u/s screen to measure the follicle size). My RE did the scan and he is FAST and gives less info than the IVF coord does, but from what I followed, I have about 8 follicles ( :yippee: ) and most are really good size - 14/15/16. So I was right, I am in a day earlier than normal and the sizes are a bit bogger than normal (usually on first scan they are 12/13/14). Now I wait for the E2 numbers and hopefully they are nice and strong. I should have them by 2pm...

I am so excited that it seems we've tapped into a good cycle for me! I just KNEW that my body was not tolerating the drugs last year and that's why I was not stimming like I had previously. SO FAR SO GOOD!!! This is ME!!----> :banana:

YAY Suzi!!! So you'll probably go back in tomorrow and begin frequent monitoring!!!

I will hear my fert rate this afternoon and get my ET time to show up tomorrow!!

We're doing 3 day..Just curious what are everyone's experiences with 3 days or 5 days?

Judy, I have only done three day. Five day transfers are typically more successful and REs will transfer fewer blasts than they will embryos (usually only 2 as opposed to 3/4/5 embryos depending on age). My RE's embryologist would have to do some REALLY fancy talking to get me to do a 5-day transfer because we have never had any embryos make it to day 5 before - they all die on day 4. Damned if I'm going to pass up a possible day 3 transfer that has a good shot at working, for a 5-day when I may not have anything to transfer!

Of course, this is just MY experience - plenty of women don't have a problem with getting their embryos to day 5, I know several.

DRUM ROLL PLEASE........

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v

My E2 is 700!!:wow: This is even better than I'd hoped for!! :yippee: These are Day 6 numbers and the best I've ever had on Day 7 numbers is 1000! I am on track for having one of my best cycles so far!! :rahrah: :woo:

I go back for another scan on Saturday at 9:15am. My best GUESSTIMATE is that I will go to retrieval on Wednesday (Tuesday, MAYBE). :banana:

GREAT news Suzi! That's AWESOME!
Judy - We did day 3 transfer also. My RE didn't want to risk our embryos by waiting. GOOD LUCK!

Amanda

Yippee for Suzi!!!! I bet you feel great!

Judy - we did a three day transfer and the result was Owen. Good luck!

We have our inital appointment in less than two hours. I'm so nervous, I think I'm going to barf. Wish me luck.

Dana, don't barf...BAD GAMMY!! ;) :lol: Be sure to let us know how it goes!!!

BTW...I am SO EXCITED I'm about to pee my pants!! :yippee:

Suzi,that is FANTASTIC news!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I think we have some good karma in this thread right now:). May the cup runneth over!

Oh I so hope it does!!

Suzi - that is wonderful news!!! a great indicator :nod:

Dana - thinking of you!!! no barfing!!!

Thanks for all the info about the 3days! - it makes me feel better to see these sucesses!!!

and drumroll for me tooooooooo

7 fertilized So since we are looking for 2 good ones this will hopefully give us a nice selection. Please keep hoping and praying that they will continue to divide and grow as I go in tomorrow morning at 10:10 am :crossfing

I have decided this time to take Monday and Tuesday off of work so I am able to relax for a few days. I'm wondering if I should take some additional valium to keep my uterus relaxed after I get home...The thing is I'm afraid it shouldn't be too relaxed and I should just go back to normal :silly: can you say obsession? I'm going to try to do a modified bed rest tomorrow and Saturday - my clinic does not require it but I wonder :scratch: crap I have to just shut up and relax. I'm actually planning on hammock & chaise rest lol

Lots of luck for us all!!!

Judy...STOP TORTURING YOURSELF!!! :lol: I will tell you this: when I got PG with Julia, I spent most of the day of transfer on the FLOOR in front of the toilet...DRY-HEAVING!! The next day I returned to normal activity...ten days later, BFP! Your activity has very little to do with BFP/BFN. It is ALL out of your hands as soon as transfer is done. :nod: Hang in there...

I am really upset today because I called RE's office and spoke with the woman who handles insurance and the financial aspect of IVF and all the rest that goes with that. I asked her if she knew when IVF would actually be covered. She said that it becomes effective OCT 1 , BUT if my policy renews in January it would become effective then and then I would have to be on the policy for 12 months. So what it comes down too, is that I will not be able to do an actual IVF cycle to Jan 2007. I almost started balling my eyes out on the phone. She is so nice and agreed it was total crap. I told her I had this policy for about 3 years now, why do I have to wait another 12 months? She said it's just the way it was written. Now what happens if Jan 2007 my company switches insurance carriers? Then I have to wait another 12 months. This is such BS. What the hell am I paying insurance for? Why can't we win this battle. Why would anyone agree to this kind of've coverage. I agree it's a step in the right direction but come on. Also, I feel so bad for women who are in their late 30's or 40 even that by the time they are eligible, they will be too old and then they will say, Oh sorry now you are 40, you are out of luck. She told me to call the insurance commission and voice my thoughts. She will be sending me a packet out with phone numbers. I am seriously thinking of getting a job in Massachusetts, just wait the 30 days and then I will have unlimited coverage. I am so disappointed, words can not even beging to describe. I just want to crawl in bed and hide under the sheets and never come out. fook

Suzi~ Yeah! :thumbsup:
Dana~ Good luck today! I hope you nerves settled down.
Judy~ Awesome report! Enjoy those days off! Fingers crossed for a smooth transfer tomorrow!

Oh Angela... :hug99: I am so sorry!

Angela - I'm sorry about the insurance crap.
Dana - Fingers crossed for your appt!
Judy - Sounds like GREAT news! Don't make yourself crazy. If taking it easy for a few days will ease your mind, do it. Otherwise, don't sweat it! I'm sending lots of sticky vibes for you!!!
Suzi - HOORAY again!

I'll give a quick update since there's been mostly good news here (sorry Angela). I FINALLY had an ob/gyn appt today. It wasn't too exciting but at least I have a doctor. I'm scheduled for a "viability" sono next Friday and a nuchal translucency on July 26th.

Amanda

:welcome: LoriC!

Angela- I 'm so sorry about your insurance company! That really sucks I know how much you were looking forward to october.:hug99:
Suzi:yippee: that is such good news!
Judy-Everything is crossed big for you!:crossfing Good luck tommorow!
Amanda-Awsome news!

Well we went and saw a new Doctor today, I burst into to tears when she asked me how long we had been trying to get pregnant. It was pretty bad at first. She had no Idea what ICSI ot TESE was or which clinic to send referals to. I think she'll be doing some research on ART. DH was good but I had to give her all the details. She went through our files and then recomended therapy as in shrink. At first I was little insulted, and then she went into her reasons why and it didn't seem so negative. I thought because I burst into tears that she thought I was nuts and therefore not a good condidate or something! At the end she asked if there was anything else she could do for us and i almost lost it, all I could think is we aren't getting our referals! Then she says "I'll talk to the gyno office and see where the best place to send a referal is and get them off right away!":woo: She's going to call if she needs any more tests done but she thinks she has everything! I was so happy I almost fainted before we left! We're on our way to starting cycles! God I am so exited! Gotta go "Talk" to you all later!

Angela - sorry about the insurance. What a bunch of crap!

The appointment went well. I liked the doctor and nurse we met with. It was just an initial consulation. Pretty much what I expected. Given my history, the doctor saw no reason to start from ground zero - we should just jump right to IVF. I was disappointed my records from the other clinic hadn't arrived. They told me they were sent on Friday.

I would love to be able to get into the study. It is just testing a new delivery system for progesterone during and IVF cycle. This is a clinical trial for some kind of quick disovle progesterone supositories. Apparently not as messy. Its already approved in Europe. So its nothing scary. The financial discount for the cycle is significant.

I would have to go off my anti-depressants if accepted into the study. I don't think thats a problem. I don't have to go off them forever. If they said I couldn't use them post partum, there is no way I would do it. I'll have to talk with my shrink. I can't immagine she'll say that I can't discontinue, even though it will only be short term. Its not like I'm suicidal or manic without them. I'm just better on them.

The first big hurdle is the 'clomid challenge test'. If its too high, I'm out. Out of the study and possibly out of the game for ever becoming pregnant with my own eggs. My FSH was elevated three years ago, and it doesn't go down once its up. But, there is a chance it stayed the same. We'll just have to see.

We'll do the clomid challenge test the beginning of August. If that is ok, we'll proceed with more testing the following month.

My E2 is 700!!:wow: This is even better than I'd hoped for!! :yippee: These are Day 6 numbers and the best I've ever had on Day 7 numbers is 1000! I am on track for having one of my best cycles so far!! :rahrah: :woo:

Suzi~Awesome stuff happening. You go girl! :banana:

Judy~How wonderful :bighug: I'm so excited for you. Good Luck today! :crossfing:

Ang~You know what! That does suck about your insurance! It's always frickin' something with these rules and regulations isn't it? :rolleyes: I'm so sorry that you're having to go through this. :sadhug:

Loric~Welcome! Hope your stay is short and sweet.

YKmama~I'm glad you're getting your referral. I'm so used to dealing with IF Dr. right now that I can't image a Dr. not knowing about ART. It must have been so hard for you and your husband to have to retell your whole story. . .good luck with getting a Dr.

Dana~Good luck with everything.

Well all my appeals information is in and it's being "processed" at it's next step. I hope to hear something in the next two weeks. My Dr. did a nice long re-write which explained more clearly that I would not have waited this many cycles to go the DE if I hadn't been told over and over that I had a good chance of getting pregnant via IVF with my own eggs. I sent both him and his admistrative assitant thank you letters.

Some sad news about my friend. . she had a miscarriage. That whole thing. . .it brought up all these feelings about how mean I was feeling about her pregnancy and did I wish this upon her?? :crazy: I got upset with her good news and upset with her bad news. I just want to have one full month where I have no emotional anguish. :silly:

Kimberly

Some sad news about my friend. . she had a miscarriage. That whole thing. . .it brought up all these feelings about how mean I was feeling about her pregnancy and did I wish this upon her?? :crazy: I got upset with her good news and upset with her bad news. I just want to have one full month where I have no emotional anguish. :silly:

Kimberly

Kimberly, you did NOT wish this upon her!!! So many PGYs end in m/c...the number is staggering...and it only goes higher as technology improves because we impatient women find out so much sooner! Nothing at ALL you did/said/thought - and now you can be there for your friend, you know her pain all too well. :hug99: for you AND your friend!!

Thanks everyone!
My dh is getting checked this week so we'll have the full picture before we begin. We LOVED the RE, hes the head of reproductive surgery at one of the top fertility hospitals in nyc...so I think we should trust him no? Ill ask about the pills before I start the shots...
Schwanda, any side effects, etc? or anyone else?
Also, when youre on the drugs whether clomid or shots...are to avoid eating certain foods, fish , alcohol, do exercise?etc???
Please let me know.
Thanks again!!

Well all my appeals information is in and it's being "processed" at it's next step. I hope to hear something in the next two weeks. My Dr. did a nice long re-write which explained more clearly that I would not have waited this many cycles to go the DE if I hadn't been told over and over that I had a good chance of getting pregnant via IVF with my own eggs. I sent both him and his admistrative assitant thank you letters.
Kimberly, I hope you hear something soon. You've been through so much! :bighug:

How much is ICSC at everyone's clinics? At our new clinic its an additional l$2600. I think it was more like $900 at our last clinic. We didn't need it last time. The new doctor said they were more thorough and ICSI might be neccessary.

How much is ICSC at everyone's clinics? At our new clinic its an additional l$2600.

:jawdrop: Thought I was going to CHOKE on that number...our center charges $1000. And they fly in a nation-wide top embryologist to do it, too. Sounds like a possible rip-off to me. :dunno:

We had our check this morning and I am going to retreival MONDAY!! I have never stimmed in 8 days before - 5 cycles before and it's always been 11 days. That's great - ends up I have drugs leftover in case we have to do this again (God please...not again). I was a bit off in my click counting Thursday...there are 5 follicles but they are terrific size - 17/19/20/21/24. We *may* lose the 24 but since I am stopping drugs, we may be okay on that one. We *should* have at least 4 embryos out of this....and we will PUSH for getting all 4 put back. Our REs don't transfer back 4...their success rate is too high (last cycle it was just under 70%). I think that we can go with 4 though.

So now I am waiting for my E2 from today, my trigger time, and which doc is doing my retreival - should have all that in the next 20 minutes or so...I'll post when I get it!

:yippee: I am so excited!!

E2 is 1063...PERFECT for 5 follicles!! Retrieval is Monday at 10am, I check in at 9am. I should be home by noonish, provided I don't get sick from the anesthesia. If I do, they make me stay for a full bag of IV fluids so I'll be there for an hour or so extra.

:yippee: :banana:

Suzi, this is very exciting. Congratulations. I'll be thinking of you!

:jawdrop: Thought I was going to CHOKE on that number...our center charges $1000. And they fly in a nation-wide top embryologist to do it, too. Sounds like a possible rip-off to me. :dunno:
I don't know if its a rip-off, or they just know they can charge more since they have such a good reputation. Bastards.

DH has decided he doesn't like the new doc. He thinks if I don't get into the study we should go back to our original clinic. *sigh* Such a hard decision. I loved my original clinic and doctor. I wouldn't have my precious son if it weren't for them. But the new clinic has the best success rate in the country for women in my age group. I wanna cry. Which is suppose is better than wanting to throw up, which is what I wanted to do earlier this week.

Suzi!!! Wonderful news!! I'll be thinking about you Monday!!! :crossfing for a smooth retreival

Kim, I am sorry about your friend, you are in no way connected to any of those events I know you know that I'm just repeating it ;) praying that the appeal documents do the trick!

Angela, I'm so sorry about the delays. I am hoping maybe becase it is so new everyone doesn't have the full story? Hang in there thoughts are with you!

Dana tough choice, I hope you and DH come to a decision soon.

I am resting sort of ;) trying more to focus on positive thoughts and being relaxed! Its been beautiful here (read hot) and I've just been laying low.

I don't know if its a rip-off, or they just know they can charge more since they have such a good reputation. Bastards.

I don't know how good I'd feel working with people who charge TWO AND A HALF TIMES normal...just because they can. I mean c'mon...the docs are filthy rich as it is... It is a hard decision but I'm sure you and DH will make the right one for you both. :nod:

BTW...we told MIL that we are going to retrieval on Monday so she can keep Julia. I told Chris it'd be okay with me since there's nothing SIL/BIL can do about it now. If they end up PG in three weeks, someone is going to be hurt.

Suzi~ Good luck on Monday! 5 Follies is great!
Kim~ I am so sorry about your BF.
Dana~ We were charged $2,000 for ICSI. Expensive!!
Judy~ Resolve confirmed it all. :( Sticky thought coming your way!!

I have been down the past few days. I am really so very disappointed. I always told DH maybe I should just go get a job in MASS 'cause we are so close to there. So I looked online for jobs in Springfield and there were quite a few bank jobs. I have been in banking for 9 years. So I said to Ryan let's take a ride up to Mass, We will go to the Ingleside mall, have dinner and see exactly how far we really are. Well, we are exactly 12 minutes from the MAss border and another 10 minutes to get in to Springfield. This is shorter than my commute now!! So we talked about it and I am going to be looking for a job in Mass hopefully we will only have to wait 30 days for coverage and then will have access to Mass's unbelieveable coverage. Now for you Mass ladies in here, do you have any info on Mass IF benefits. It has to be offered by all employees, correct? Any exclusions? Do you have to wait longer for these benefits? I figure too if I don't like the job or get PG soon, I can go back to my old place. If I am back by January I still can fo IVF in Jan 2007, so I am not pushing that back at all. I know they would take me back in a heart beat. I really like the place I work at . I have 4 weeks vaca and a great boss. So there are some really good benefits. I would just tell them I need to leave for awhile for personal reasons and that when I am ready I would like to come back. I have the day off July 28, So I am going up to Mass, with resumes in hand and if I get a call back and get a job, then it was meant to be.

Angela, that sounds like a great plan!!! I hope it all works out for you - I will be praying!! :pray:

Angela - plan sounds great - the only thing you might want to check is some HMO's require 3 IUI's before moving to IVF. I wonder if you could contact BCBS MA, HCHP/Pilgrim, Tufts and Fallon and ask about MA mandated coverage. Then when interviewing you'd have a good sense of what is offered. Those are the big ones.


I have UHC but my employer is also self insured which I think could have excepted them from the MA requirement but thankfully they honor the coverage. My coverage will extend to 6 lifetime attempts and includes ICSI, GIF, AZH etc. It does not cover cryopreservation.

ETA - HAPPY BIRTHDAY:party3:

Thanks Suzi

Just some random thoughts...
Wonder if I need to be a resident of Mass? Will my insurance exclude me because I live in CT? So will I have the same insurance as my co workers who live in Mass? Hmmm... Can't find anything in the net to clarify this.

Thanks for the info Judy. I will definitely check those out. I think I may call those companies and say I am doing research for a paper or something like that. So it's not that obvious.
This is my last birthday....hahaha Thanks!

Lots of stuff going on here.
Suzi - GREAT NEWS! Fingers crossed for the retrieval!!!
Kimberly - I'm sorry about your friend. Good luck with the appeal!
Angela - HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I hope the insurance stuff works out.
Dana - It sounds like a tough decision. If you get into the study will the cost savings cover the more expensive ICSI?
Judy - Fingers crossed!
Lori - I was pretty mellow about stuff until the IUI or retrieval date. From then I was careful about not drinking alcohol and eating as if I were pregnant.

Amanda

This is what I found under Tufts Health:


The Member must be a resident of Massachusetts or Rhode Island, except when
this limitation is not found in the member’s benefit document.

Suzi- Good luck tomorrow. :crossfing

Hi Ladies!! :wavey: Thanks for all the good wishes and prayers - I'll take everythng I can get!!

I am nervous about tomorrow...not the procedure, not what's going to happen - I am nervous about this cycle working. I feel good about it, this has been a good stim for us (besides that there's only 5 follicles, which seems to be all I am capable of producing anymore). I am afraid that we'll have fewer than 3-4 embryos to put back, I am afraid of having poor quality embryos. I am beginning to feel desperate that this cycle HAS to work - we just can't afford it any more. We can MAYBE squeeze one more out (BIG maybe), but that'd be it.

On the other hand, I am excited for tomorrow. I am excited to see the nurse anesthetist who does all my retrievals! I am excited to get this moving. I am excited to find out how many eggs we get. I am excited for the fert report Tuesday. I am excited for the beta to come. I am scared as HELL for the beta to come.

What a jumble of emotions.

Suzi-Good luck today! Hopefully you wont be sick afterwards and you can sit back and relax looking forward to successful transfer!

Angela-Hopefully everything works out on the job front to enable you to get coverage I'll cross fingers for you!

Kim-I'm so sorry about your friend, and dont feel like feelings you had caused it, thats medically impossible.

Judy-when do you find out if your BFP?

Dana-The clinical trail sounds interesting, crossing my fingers that you get in!

Here the cost for ICSI above the IVF cost is 2500 if we weren't a resident of the territories it would be another 500 and that doesn't include the TESE! Man they really have us over a barrel. I went back to the genesis site, to look up why we have to have ICSI because new Doc thought perhaps we could do IVF or even IUI. I hate second guessing the things we have already been told but I thought there was a chance we could save some $$$$. Nope, no such luck! Still gonna kill all the savings, but man is it ever going to be worth it if it works! Well gotta go, we're ripping and replacing our decks and DH is waiting for me to start concrete forms!:silly:

Suzi I am praying hard that everything goes well today and you have a great fertilization rate!! I've been thinking about you today!!

Andrea - I think some of the cost discrepancy may be that your dollars are on Canadian right? I think the ICSI cost Suzi was referring to was US. I just thought that when you said territories. You guys didn't need TESE did you? I was thinking it was just ICSI you were costing out. I won't be going for beta for a while yet 7/27 I think is my date.

Hope everyone is doing well!!

Suzi - I'm anxiously awaiting your news. I hope everything went great!
Andrea - ICSI is expensive where you are!
Judy - Thinking sticky thoughts!

Amanda

Amanda - I meant to ask, how have you been feeling?

Judy - Much better, thanks!

Amanda

From my journal:
Hi all!! :wavey:

Thanks for the good wishes, it was a terrific retrieval. They were able to minimize my drugs (oh so important since the IV anesthesia shows up in folliclular fluid within 2 minutes of getting it) so I remember most of the retreival but the pain was QUITE manageable. They got 5 eggs from 5 follicles - perfect! I did pretty well but hit a rough patch a while after I got home, freaked Chris out a bit (my poor husband!!). We'd been home around an hour or a bit more when I suddenly got VERY clammy, cold and white, started DRIPPING sweat literally, had a bit of nausea. Chris called the center and the IVF coordinator told him that we need to watch for temp, that's a possible sign it's coming on (meaning infection). I really thought I was fine, I layed down and woke up...two plus hours later! Feeling much better now.

I am more sore than I have been with other retrievals, not sure what's up with that. It's not bad enough for me to take pain medication, although my RE gives up the good stuff, I've never taken it. I am HAPPY with the results and now we wait for fert report tomorrow by 2pm (Vicki usually calls me in person earlier than that - I think she is on pins and needles for mine as bad as I am!!). I will update on that as soon as I get it!

Thanks to EVERYONE for all the well wishes and prayers - it means SO muich to me!! IVF success has been shown to be affected by PRAYERS so keep 'em coming......I BELIEVE!!!! :pray:

Suzi, Great news! Glad you are ok and feeling better. I strongly believe in prayers so you will definitely have some from me!

GREAT news! I've been on pins and needles all day waiting to hear your news!

Amanda

Suzi~Oh gosh! I missed all of the excitement. It happened so quickly. Well. . . .:thumbsup: Rest up. :pray:

Judy~Stay positive. That's all you can right now and it's the best thing you should be doing. :bighug: I know I'm sending positive thoughts your way.

Ang~I am so sorry about what you're going through. :sadhug: I'd have to do some checking around to get information for you. I'm with Harvard Pilgrim. I did have to do a series of IUIs before the IVFs, but I would think that if you start with records that show that IVF SHOULD BE your next step, then I can't imagine why you'd need to do IUIs first. But you need to find out whether you have to be a resident or not correct? I've been to the Ingleside! My mom lives in Amherst, not far from Springfield, MA. I'll see what kind of information I can dig up.

I've decided to get counceling. I think I've been dragging me feet on this because of it feeling too overwhelming, so I asked DH to help. Today he called around to get some names of therapists who specifically councel women with IF problems, who are covered under my insurance, and who practice close by my home. I tried! I really have. I decided it was time for me to get some help. Being depressed when and if this donor thing happens (I'm still waiting for an answer on the appeal) won't be any good for me or my baby. :awink:

Kimberly

Kimberly, I think this is a GREAT idea!! I have seen a therapist a few times as well - I think anyone who suffers repeated roadblocks at this level needs someone to help them make sense of it all. :nod: It is a great step towards making yourself the best MOM you can be!! :aok: :bighug:

Kimberly - Good for you! I think you need to put yourself in the best possible mind frame before starting.

Amanda

Suzi, great news we will keep you in our prayers:).

Kim, good for you, I think you are very wise. IF is so all encompassing, it makes so much sense to treat the emotional as well as the physical.

As I said before let this be a POSITIVE summer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kimberly, I think the counselling idea is great. I think it will be one of the best things you ever did for yourself. I saw a therapist a few years ago ago and it really helped me get through the worst part of my life I hope to ever go through. As I look back, I think just hearing myself express my feelings and listening to myself was the most helpful. I found it very encouraging and supportive. Any info you can get for me would be most helpful, even if its the 1-800 number to your member services dept of Harvard Pilgrim. The 3 big questions I need to know is, 1. Do I need to reside in MA to get the same IF benefits as residents, 2. Would I be excluded because I have already been diagnosed and am now considered a "previous condition?" 3, How long do I have to be employed till benefits kick in? I am sure I will think of others questions as I go along. I have done 6 IUI's before now, I would like to think that they would be compassionate on me and not require me to do those all again. I love the Ingleside Mall. I can't believe we are only 15 min away. I think it just sounds farther away than it really is.

DH accepted a job with Fed Ex today!:yippee: I wonder if they offer IF benefits??? I have been having major trouble sleeping the past few weeks.Tossing and turning and waking up a couple of times during the night. I feel tired but I just toss and turn. I think because I constantly have stuff spinning in my head I just cant relax and fall asleep. It better end soon, I can't take it anymore.

Suzi great news!!! Prayers coming your way :pray: looking forward to a great fert rate!! I had no idea anethesia impacted the follicles!!

Kimberly - counselling is a fabulous idea I too found ity very very helpful at an earlier difficult time and yes great move in getting ready for your baby!!

Congrats to DH Angela! I hope they do have IF coverage - I tend to think they might being that they are so big.

Hoping/praying flor a positive summer too!!!

Hello to everyone else!!!

Just laying low and trying to beat the heat!! I am trying to plan a busy weekend for us to stay occupied.

Suzi - sounds great so far. :crossfing for an excellent report today.

From my journal:



We are in absolute shock - we have nothing to transfer back on Thursday. Still reeling from the news, haven't spoken with the RE yet - he wanted us to have time to ourselves before talking about it with him. Please keep us in your prayers, we are devastated.

:tear: Suzi....I am so sorry :sadhug: my heart goes out to you both

Oh no Suzi.

Amanda

Suzi,

I am so sorry, my heart is breaking for you and Chris.

Suzi - :sadhug: I am so sorry

oh honey. :( I'm so sad for you guys.

Suzi ~ :hug99:

We have an appointment with our RE on Thursday, not sure what he can say/what we can do differently to fix this. I think a part of me is hoping against hope that he will give us a free cycle - I know they won't/can't. I just don't know how we will pay for another cycle - we haven't even paid for this one yet (you have to pay in full prior to retrieval. We did some balance transfers on credit cards and since we stimmed so fast, we got caught with balance transfers not being fully credited on either card yet). So when we go in on Thursday, I have to pay them $5500 for NOTHING. We didn't even get a CHANCE to get PG. OY...that hurts.

Oh Suzi! It's so unfair. I hope that the appt is helpful in some way.

Amanda

Suzi,
I am so sorry , I hate the fact that money even has to be a factor in IF, a couple has enough to deal without worrying about finances. This just breaks my heart.

Oh no! I'm so, so sorry Suzi. :sadhug:

I think a part of me is hoping against hope that he will give us a free cycle -
Suzi - I was thinking thesame thing last night. I hope they can do something for you.

Again, I am so sorry :sadhug:

Suzi

I'm so sorry. You guys are in our hearts and prayers:pray:! Hopefully they can do something for you. Thinking about you. :hug99:

Judy-We have to cost out TESE because DH has blockages from a surgery when he was a baby. CDN to US the rate is stopping me from shopping across the border! Fingers crossed for the BETA!

Kim-I think it great that you are going for therapy! I also love the way you ended the letter on such a possitive note! :thumbsup:

Kim-I think it great that you are going for therapy! I also love the way you ended the letter on such a possitive note! :thumbsup:

I'm still trying to make contact and set up to meet with a therapist. I knew it would take time just setting this up. Well, I sure do need it. . .no positive thoughts for me today. :nono: I was just told that I was denied coverage on my appeal. :banghead: I'm going forward to the next step. . .which is basically bringing it to another committee. I just can't give up yet. :bawl:

Kimberly... :hug99:

Kimberly...I am so sorry yes definitely appeal to the next level. What is wrong with the insurance system....

Thanks Suzi :justahug: Can we have a cryfest party? Any occasion for a party is usually fine with me these days. . .:silly:

And I'm just so angry. WHEN I WAS FIRST DENIED I WAS TOLD THAT 95% OF THE PEOPLE WHO APPEAL WIN. WHY DO I ALWAYS HAVE TO BE ON THE NEGATIVE END OF THE STATISIC?!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGG. I WANT TO SCREAM RIGHT NOW.

Oh Kimberly! That's just not right.

Amanda

From my journal...



Much as we could've expected, our consult with our RE left us with no concrete answers. What happened COULD be a sperm problem, it COULD be an egg problem; it COULD be temporary, it COULD be permanent; it COULD be recurring, it COULD be an aberration.

All he could tell us for certain is that this situation RARELY happens. Go figure it happened to us.


So we are left with a decision whether we will go again or not. Chris and I had prepared ourselves for this LIKELY being our last cycle, had we transferred three good quality embryos back and ended up with a negative beta. Since we didn't even get a chance to transfer embryos back, neither of us feels prepared for this to be the end. We are setting our sights on January as our next (and likely last) cycle and in the meantime, we will do some testing that may/may not help us decide that January is a good time to go.

Onward and upward...and check back with us in January.

Suzi~Again, I'm so sorry. :sadhug: But may I ask, Why January? Is that the next time your clinic will do this?

Suzi, I'm sorry to hear your appointment with the RE didn't give you any answers. :sadhug: Do you still have confidence in this RE, or have you thought of finding a new one?

I'm sorry you didn't get any answers Suzi.

We had a good news/bad news kind of day. I went for a "viability" u/s today to see how things were going. The good news is we saw one healthy baby measuring exactly on dates with a h/b of 145. The bad news is we've lost the other baby. In the grand scheme of things we are thrilled to see a healthy-looking baby but we had gotten so excited about twins that we are definitely disappointed.

Amanda

:bighug: Amanda :bighug: I'm sorry to hear about your loss

Oh geez Amanda. .:sadhug: I'm so sorry.

Kimberly

Amanda, I am SO sorry! :hug99:

Suzi~Again, I'm so sorry. :sadhug: But may I ask, Why January? Is that the next time your clinic will do this?

Our center does IVFs in cohort groups five times per year and there are cycles in October and December of this year. We have decided to do some testing - Chris's sperm count was still pretty low - 5ml in volume but only 30,000 sperm per ml (for 150,000 total sperm). The sperm counts of some of his more recent samples have been 400K, 500K, 700K...but in 2-3ml of semen. So to compare apples to apples, had his most recent sample been on target with other SAs, he'd have had more like 1 million sperm instead of 30,000. Those results lead us to believe there MAY be something going on there.

So between now and our next cycle, we are going to do a few things:

Freeze a semen sample to see how it thaws (they expect about a 50% thaw rate but if we have less than that, there's no use freezing a good sample to thaw for later and then be surprised when no sperm survive. Kinda like a trial run at freezing.
Chris will do bi-weekly SAs beginning in two months. Since it takes three months for sperm to generate, our RE figured that if we start watching SAs in two months we can figure out of there is some kind of trend occurring.
If we DO get a satisfactory result from thawing, we will start testing each bi-weekly SA and when we get a GOOD one, we will freeze it for possible thawing during IVF time if the sample Chris gives for fertilization turns out to be a poor sample again (just in case).
I am seriously considering getting FertilAid or some other vitamin/supplement for Chris He has a poor diet (not pointing any fingers 'cause mine isn't the best, either) and I wouldn't doubt he is missing essential vitamins/nutrients that just MAY help - and it surely wouldn't hurt.
My RE wants to establish once and for all if I have this clotting disorder. We will retest me in the next few months, see what the results are, and treat accordingly.
We could probably go again in December but I figure we will push it to January for one last reason - our FSA renews January 1. Chris's employer takes just over $100 pre-tax from each check and puts it in the FSA. If we do our IVF at the beginning of the year when Chris has paid LITTLE of the $3000 into the FSA, we STILL get the $3000 reimbursed to us. That kinda lets us pay for the cycle all year long (kinda like lay-a-way!) - tax-free and interest-free.

Luckily, I have figured out tricks of the treatment and us going in January will benefit us the most. Not only with the FSA but also with the IVF expenses from January/February in the same year as any L&D expenses (since the potential due date would be around November 15th). Gotta maximize those medical $$!!!

Suzi, I'm sorry to hear your appointment with the RE didn't give you any answers. :sadhug: Do you still have confidence in this RE, or have you thought of finding a new one?

Nope, no thought of a new RE. Our problem is all male factor and there's very little to be done about that - it's highly unlikely that any other RE could do any better.

Our lack of success is due to "bad" sperm. Chris has a genetic condition that is causing our problem; it is my guess that he has a great deal of DNA fragmentation in his sperm. Unfortunately, Chris's sperm count is so low that we can't even do an SCSA to test the DNA fragmentation of the sperm. :dunno:

Anyway, doctors told Chris when he was young that he'd never have children - I guess that we have Julia really is a miracle in itself. There is a bit of a disconnect between me and Chris because he grew up knowing that he wouldn't have children, I didn't. As a matter of fact, I didn't know it was a problem for Chris until several months after we'd married. So he's had a lifetime to get used to not having children and all my life I knew I wanted several kids.

And if you want to know just how cosmically funny this whole situation is (don't ever tell me Karma doesn't exist) - the last two men I was serious with before Chris - I left BOTH of them because they couldn't have children. How's THAT for fooked up???!!!

Oh gosh Suzi! I sounds like you've really thought through this plan well. I'm sorry that this has happened at all and I'm also sorry that you have to wait so long.

Thanks for the good thoughts everyone. I feel a little guilty even posting here since we still (mostly) got good news today.

Amanda

Thanks for the good thoughts everyone. I feel a little guilty even posting here since we still (mostly) got good news today.

:nono: Don't you EVEN feel guilty for posting here! You lost a baby - YOUR BABY!! - for goodness sake!! You have every right to be sad and while I am thrilled that you have one healthy baby, I am SAD for you and your loss!! :hug99:

Don't ever hesitate to share you news - good or bad - with us! :nod:

:nono: Don't you EVEN feel guilty for posting here! You lost a baby - YOUR BABY!! - for goodness sake!! You have every right to be sad and while I am thrilled that you have one healthy baby, I am SAD for you and your loss!! :hug99:
That's exactly what I wanted to say only I'm not nearly as articulate as Suzi.

Amanda, I'm so sorry. :(

:nono: Don't you EVEN feel guilty for posting here! You lost a baby - YOUR BABY!! - for goodness sake!! You have every right to be sad and while I am thrilled that you have one healthy baby, I am SAD for you and your loss!! :hug99:

Don't ever hesitate to share you news - good or bad - with us! :nod:

Amanda-I'm so sorry for your loss. :hug99: Dont feel guilty, I third exacly what Suzi said. You have still suffered a loss, and I really feel for you!

Kimberly-Definately take your apeal higher! I'll do what my mom does, I'll write letters to the Angels and St. Jude for you (sounds stupid but I swear it works!)

Suzi-Sorry about Chris' SA viability, it sucks I know. If things don't pan out with the SA will you consider other options such as sperm donors or adoption? When we found out that our chances of getting PG naturally were 0% we decided if ICSI doesn't work we would move to donor sperm/IUI. At first Mike didn't like the idea at all but the need/want of children is great in us and outweighed the problems with adoption. Chris knew from a young age that he probally wouldn't have children? How sad to grow up thinking that you wouldnt have children. Mikes mom told us after three years of trying that we should get a hold of the doctor that did his surgery when he was a baby because they were warned that it could cause a vasectomy. A week later the Doc called and said there was no sperm at all in his sample so we must have done something wrong. Turned out the doctor 36 years ago was right about causing a vasetomy, unfortunately it couldn't be reversed.

Well got good news from the clinic in YK today! I am booked on the 4th to see the gyno from the foothills fetility clinic who is coming up for a week! One more test and then we are on our way! I think this means we go to Foothills in calgary instead of genesis? They are a little more expensive according to the website, but it looks like they have a great fert. rate.:up: God I just cant wait to give this a go, November is 3+ months away!

Gotta go, everything is sore from construction, must enjoy glass of wine and book...
Goodnight All!

Thank you, thank you, thank you everyone. We're still a bit sad but we're trying to focus on the good. I'd always wanted twins so we were really excited but I also know that it's easier (and safer!) to have them one at a time. I guess we'll just be going back to the RE a few more times after this...

Amanda

Suzi - I've been away so long I forgot your only issue was male factor. Going to a new RE makes no sense. I can't believe you didn't know about Chris' issues until after you were married. I would have had a breakdown.

Kimberly - I agree, continue to appeal. I once heard that the forst time a claim is filed, it is always denied. I guess insurance companines hope we are lazy and will just give up. :bighug:

YKMama - (Sorry, I'm still learning names) How exciting to get things started.

My period started today. Just like clockwork. Time for the Clomid challenge test. I have my first blood draw and ultrasound on monday. I am so hopeful that my FSH hasn't risen. Everyone concentrate/pray/meditate on the number '9' (or lower, if you wish).

I had my first accupunture appointment on Thursday. She is an American woman who specilizes in fertility. I really liked her. She is very positive, but not all new-agey. I liked the guy I used last time, but there was a bit of a language barrier (and fertility was not his specialty). She reminded me that if my FSH is high, not only will I not get into the study CCRM (the clinic) won't accept me at all. I'm trying to prepare myself for that.

Amanda~ So Sorry to hear of your loss. :(

Dana~ Good luck!!

Dana - Good luck! I'm thinking LOW FSH thoughts!

Amanda

Dana good luck!

Suzi - I have had my DH on a supplement cocktail for about a year now and we have seen some improvement with motility and count. We have a hot tub and when he has abstained from that we have had improvement with morph. Here's his routine - poor guy has no idea what I give him just knocks back the cup.
Fertility Blend for Men
Pycnogenol (and antioxident) 2 60 mg capsuls
Zinc - 50 mg
Selenium - 200 mg
Fish Oil - 2000 mg (2 pills) its important to get good quality fish oil to make sure there is no mercury etc
B-50 capsul
Multi

I'm just waiting out the wait. I don't want to get too hung up on what could be phantom symptoms but I don't think I've lost any of my bloat from the day after trigger and my bb's are tender and I think I am feeling pulling/tightening sensations in my abdomen - all could be from the progesterone however so I am trying not to get too worked up. I test Wed and I am thinking I will stay away from the evil pee sticks if possible but have the nurses leave a message at home so I don't get potentially bad news at work.

Judy, I am PRAYING MY HEART OUT that Wednesday brings GOOD NEWS for you!!! :pray:

Dana, ~~~LOW FSH~~~

Judy - I am sending all of my positive thoughts to you!!!!

Amanda

Suzi~Wow! It sounds like you have a really good plan organized. I've always wanted to do more "testing" between cycles.

And if you want to know just how cosmically funny this whole situation is (don't ever tell me Karma doesn't exist) - the last two men I was serious with before Chris - I left BOTH of them because they couldn't have children. How's THAT for ed up???!!!

What a strange and crazy place this world is. . :crazy:

Dana~"9", "nine", "nueve". . .:pray:

Judy~Sending you positive thoughts! :crossfing

Kimberly

Judy~Sending you positive thoughts! :crossfing

Me too!

Judy... :pray:

Judy - I'm still crossing all crossables and sending lots of prayers!

Amanda

Thanks all!! one more sleep!! so far I have managed to resist POAS!

Judy, STAY STRONG!!! :pray:

Fingers crossed tightly, Judy!!

Just needing to vent!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We are at the point where people are starting to ask when we are going to have another baby. The question in itself is so annoying, but I just hate the way it makes me feel. IF is so incredibly unfair it just makes me sick.I can't even imagine what it must feel like to think, hey I want to have another baby, we try and after a cycle or two, we are pregnant.Because our IF was mild endo/unexplained I would love to think that could happen, but if it didn't happen after a year of trying and 2 IUI's I don't think it will magicaly happen this time around. I want to be optimistic, but I need to be realistic as well, AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Anyway, I am sorry for popping up with this vent, but after hearing a co-worker with severe endo telling how she had 2 kids and only used clomid, it just brings out the "why me's". Thanks for listening.

Kimberly-Definately take your apeal higher! I'll do what my mom does, I'll write letters to the Angels and St. Jude for you (sounds stupid but I swear it works!)



Andrea~OMG!!! That's so sweet! Thank you so much. :bighug:

Just needing to vent!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We are at the point where people are starting to ask when we are going to have another baby. The question in itself is so annoying, but I just hate the way it makes me feel. IF is so incredibly unfair it just makes me sick.I can't even imagine what it must feel like to think, hey I want to have another baby, we try and after a cycle or two, we are pregnant.Because our IF was mild endo/unexplained I would love to think that could happen, but if it didn't happen after a year of trying and 2 IUI's I don't think it will magicaly happen this time around. I want to be optimistic, but I need to be realistic as well, AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Anyway, I am sorry for popping up with this vent, but after hearing a co-worker with severe endo telling how she had 2 kids and only used clomid, it just brings out the "why me's". Thanks for listening.

Sarahgrace~I agree, it is so incredibly unfair. I can write a book about how many women I know who had serious issues regarding getting pregnant that I thought my problems were nothing compared to them. Guess the joke was on me. :thumbsdow: Very early on in my attempt in get pregnant, I had a friend tell me that she rarely got her period and found out that she didn't ovulate and not knowing that there are drugs to correct that, I thought "Oh geez, that must be tough. I'm so glad that I've never missed a period and I ovulate every month." That friend is pregnant with her second child. Then I had a friend tell me that they found several fibroids on her uterus and how bad it was and that she was told that she probably wouldn't get pregnant. I thought, "Oh my God, that's so sad, thank goodness that I don't have any sort of fibroids and that my uterus and tubes are clear." That friend now has two children. My sister's friend had Epstein-Barr (or something like that) after she had her first child. She was so sick that she had to live with her parents for a while so they could help her and her child because her selfish husband couldn't deal with it. She had been taking lots of medication. I thought, "That's so sad, she probably won't be having any other children at this point since she has to take so much medication. I can't imagine that she even could get pregnant at this point considering the fact that I eat so healthy and take such good care of myself and I can't get pregnant. . ." She had her second child a few months ago. My male co-worker (and friend) told me that his wife (who is also a friend) would probably have a lot of trouble getting pregnant because of some childhood thing that happened to her and that they were going to wait a while before trying to make sure her health was in order. I thought, "That's such a bummer to have gone through life knowing that there's a chance you may not be able to have children of your own. At least I know I can get pregnant." They are now expecting their first baby in October. . .she got pregnant "accidently".

So now that I've ranted and shown that I clearly have some negativity. . .I must ask that you don't give up hope. Stranger things have happened.

Kimberly

I guess no news is good news.

My appeal went to the next step yesterday. My analyst called to let me know that they hadn't made a decision. What they plan to do is to contact my Dr. directly to ask him some additional questions. Then next Tuesday (and after they make contact with my Dr.), my case will be brought to the table again to decide on. Since they didn't just say NO and have intended to ask more questions before making a decision, I think that's a good thing. :pray:

Kimberly

My appeal went to the next step yesterday. My analyst called to let me know that they hadn't made a decision. What they plan to do is to contact my Dr. directly to ask him some additional questions. Then next Tuesday (and after they make contact with my Dr.), my case will be brought to the table again to decide on. Since they didn't just say NO and have intended to ask more questions before making a decision, I think that's a good thing. :pray:

Kimberly
It sounds like good news. I know your Dr. is on you side, so he should be able to convince them :crossfing

Kimberly - I think that's good news! I'm sorry that you're still waiting for an answer but it sounds positive.
Sarahgrace - I think we've all been there. It just plain sucks. It's not fair and there's no rhyme or reason to do. Getting pregnant easily obviously has NOTHING to do with merit, as we all know people with lots of kids who are terrible moms! I hope that your journey to have another child goes more smoothly and easily than you expect!

Amanda

Kimberly and Amanda- thanks for the support:). The more I learn about IF and all that goes with it, the only thing I know for sure is how consisitently inconsistent it is.Somedays it just gets so frustrating, I would just love to know what life without this stress feels like, KWIM?

Anyhow Kimberly, I truly hope this appeal goes thru for you, I certainly do not know you well, but from reading your posts and responses I can tell that you will be a great mom. Whatever path you choose to take to become a parent, a child will be incredibly blessed to have you as a mother.

Sarahgrace - Yup!

I see that Judy hasn't posted here but since I'm also on BOLU (where she has a journal), I thought I'd share her GOOD NEWS! She got her BFP today! She hasn't posted details yet but CONGRATS are in order.

Amanda

:yippee: for Judy!!!

:pteddy: CONGRATULATIONS MOMMY!! :bteddy:

JUDY! HOW EXCITING!!! Congratulations!!!:ura1:

Amanda, I say Judy's news too. I am so thrilled for her.

Man, if I had a dollar for every time someone asked us when we are going to have a baby, I could pay for another IVFcycle.

One of these days, I am going to be mean and make them feel like crap by saying, "Not everyone can just pop out babies"

After my closing, I am calling the Mass insurance companies to see if I can get any info. I will let you know what I fid out

I too know how hard it is not to retort with a sharp tongue when someone asks about a brother/sister for Julia...so many times I want to but it's not really their fault. Until your life is touched by IF, you don't realize how painful it is.

Twice in the last two weeks I have been asked about when we are having another baby and I just smile and say "Oh, I don't know..."

Congratulations Judy! Many wishes for a happy healthy baby!

I'm the queen of snippy when it comes to the question of when are you guys going to have babies? Didn't I hear that you've been trying for years now is another one I hate. I now respond with "Still practicing and enjoying it!" Most of the time the person laughs uncomfortably and changes the subject. I guess only those who have been through fertility issues knows how much the comments cut. I went to see my cousin the other day and I was telling her about meeting with the doc and all the issues I've been having. I'm comfortable discussing this with her because she's got PCO and was told she would never get pregnant. She was lucky as her daughter is 6 months old now, another one of those miracle people. She is probally the only person I am comfortable discussing our fertility issues in person with because she is in a similar boat and doesn't make the assinine comments that I'm tired of hearing from everyone else including my dad.

I wrote a letter to the angels today and I included everyone in the forum in the prayer. My hand hurts from writing it, and then casting it to the wind. It felt strange at first writing a letter to a non-person but then I just couldn't stop, and afterwards I couldn't believe how light I felt. Fingers crossed that the angels were reading and can pass the prayer on...

Sarahgrace - Yup!

I see that Judy hasn't posted here but since I'm also on BOLU (where she has a journal), I thought I'd share her GOOD NEWS! She got her BFP today! She hasn't posted details yet but CONGRATS are in order.

Amanda

Thank you Amanda!!! I had a horrible time getting on last night with all the lightning stoms to update you all.

I'm still totally in shock. I realized I don't know how to handle a BFP I am just so used to negative results! Pretty sad huh? I am keeping my fingers crossed for a strong double to my beta as it was not as high as I was hoping it would be (it was 106 at 15DPO equivalent) The nurse seemed to be comfortable with it so I am trying not to second guess. I tend to think due to the IF, I will be a little worried for a while like I don't trust it :crazy:

I had arranged with the nurse to have her leave a message on the home machine - which I do not have the code to so that I knew I had to make it through the end of the day before learning the result. Well DH called me at work and said "I'm going to have to get you a sign" We have a running thing about doing something selfish and getting a "one way" sign so I was racking my brain to see what I might have done and he said "One that says Baby on Board!" It was cute. Goofy but cute. The funniest to me is that I will have a unique answer to how did you tell your husband you were pregnant. - He told me!~

Good luck Angela with the MA insurance providers. I hope you get good news!!

Kimberly - it sounds encouraging so far with the insurance appeal. Making it through the next hurdle and the next is definitely the way to go!! I am thinking positive thoughts for you!!

Andrea how wonderful of you to think of us all in your letter!

Sarahgrace - I just hate that people can't just keep their questions about private stuff to themselves. But Suzi you made a great point about how if IF never affected you, it may never occur to you how painful those questions are.

Thank you all so much for the support through the cycles and for celebrating with me. It means a lot.

Judy - congratulations again! :twirl:

The funniest to me is that I will have a unique answer to how did you tell your husband you were pregnant. - He told me!~

Thats our case as well. I was too scared to answer the phone when the doc called with the results, so I made my husband answer.

I wrote a letter to the angels today and I included everyone in the forum in the prayer. My hand hurts from writing it, and then casting it to the wind. It felt strange at first writing a letter to a non-person but then I just couldn't stop, and afterwards I couldn't believe how light I felt. Fingers crossed that the angels were reading and can pass the prayer on...
That is rwally beautiful. :bighug:

Dang - I can't edit my post. That should be 'really' above :blush1:

I'm usually very honest when asked the question of when we are having another baby. (or before Owen was born when we would have a baby). I let people know Owen is a medical miracle. We desperately want another child and we're seeking help for baby #2. I guess it helps me to talk about it. I don't think I've ever recieved a response that was hurtful. Most will say 'good luck' or 'we'll keep you in our prayers'

I am keeping my fingers crossed for a strong double to my beta as it was not as high as I was hoping it would be (it was 106 at 15DPO equivalent).

Who in the world told you that 106 wasn't high for 15DPO?? 106 is a TERRIFIC beta - just PERFECT!! Put your worries about it being too low to rest, girl - that is a good, solid beta number...TRUST THE NURSE!! :lol:

Judy ~ CONGRATULATIONS!!!! Suzi is right about the numbers :nod: so try not to worry about them. So cool about your husband telling you & the way he did it :supergrin:

Reeeeeallly? Ok then feeling a bit better...I read that it should be over 135 well then :crossfing and I am feeling a bit more positive!

plus I ran out last night and bought 3 FRE's plus the one I had been avoiding and I saw the line get darker this morning than yesterday afternoon and even though it wasn't FRE, I was up twice to pee so I think it was pretty comprable.

I had to get the tests, I've never been able to make one positive before :nod: it was cool

Anyhow Kimberly, I truly hope this appeal goes thru for you, I certainly do not know you well, but from reading your posts and responses I can tell that you will be a great mom. Whatever path you choose to take to become a parent, a child will be incredibly blessed to have you as a mother.

Sarah~You're so sweet. :bighug:

Judy~
:pteddy:CONGRATULATIONS! :knitting: This is exactly the kind of news we need around here. :yippee:

Ang~Good luck with getting all the information regarding insurance. . .and I hope it's GOOD news. :crossfing

Andrea~Gosh! We're so lucky to have you as a thread buddy! :grouphugg

I have my first session with a therapist this afternoon. I was anxious last night and I couldn't figure out why until a little while ago. It's this appointment. I'm looking forward to it, but I'm also nervous. . .nervous about how much of my sadness and pain will rear it's ugly little head.

Kimberly

Good luck today Kim!!! Plan something nice for yourself after like take out and a nice bath :thumbsup:

Judy, Congratulations on your BFP!!!!!!!!!! Let this trend continue:).

Kim, Good Luck at your therapy session.

Kimberly, I second Judy's advice - do something nice for yourself! Hope your appointment went well!

Reeeeeallly? Ok then feeling a bit better...I read that it should be over 135 well then :crossfing and I am feeling a bit more positive!

Judy, you can do more than feel a LITTLE better, the average hCG levels at 15DPO are only 59 with a typical range of 17 to 147!! Beta ranges (http://www.conceivingconcepts.com/learning/articles/hcg.html) I'd say whatever you read was a little off! RELAX!! :nod:

I had to get the tests, I've never been able to make one positive before :nod: it was cool!

:lol: :rotflmao: Feels pretty good, doesn't it? :lol2:

CONGRATS again Judy!!!
Kimberly - Good luck today!

Amanda

Oh Judy How AWESOME! Again, I'm happy for you. It's neat how DH told you and not the other way around!

Kimberly-I hope your session went well. My mom always says the best way to get through something is to talk about it and get it off your chest so you can concentrate on positives. And Judy is so right about doing something nice for yourself afterwards, your bound to feel emotionally drained from releasing your thoughts.


Andrea~Gosh! We're so lucky to have you as a thread buddy! :grouphugg



I'm lucky to have found you guys! Before OUAL I had no one who has been through this to talk to so I was completely confused about all aspects on IF!

well Suzi was right again!!

my numbers actually more than doubled by a little. 2nd beta was 247.

well Suzi was right again!!

my numbers actually more than doubled by a little. 2nd beta was 247.
:yippee:

well Suzi was right again!!

my numbers actually more than doubled by a little. 2nd beta was 247.

Ye of little faith... :lol2:

GREAT!! (but I already knew that... :biggrin: )

Only one more day of Clomid. And two more sleeps before the next blood draw. I'm optimism on my FSH levels flip-flops about every second. One moment I picture getting a call on Tuesday and the nuse says my numbers haven't changed since my original test. The next second I imagine getting a call saying my numbers are sky high. . I remind myself that my eggs were on rest for about 27 months - pregnancy and breast feeding (didn't have a period the enitre 18 months I breast fed) . Maybe I've only been throwing eggs away since January.

I'm loving the accupunture. I've started listening to my IVF meditation CD. I've cut out the caffeine (except occasional chocolate - I'm only human), I've cut out the alcohol, I'm eating better and I am taking care of myself. I know I'm doing everything I can. Most of this is out of my control.

I am thinking about trying accupuncture for our next IVF in September. For those of you who have done it before, what should I expect? How often have you gone & how soon before IVF would your recommend starting? How long does the accupuncture part of the appointment usually last?

Dana-FSH Prayers for you!!!:crossfing

You guys are so brave going for acupuncture! I'm a big sissy when it comes to needles! Does it hurt? I know its supposed to do the body a world of good but I just cant get past the needles!

I am thinking about trying accupuncture for our next IVF in September. For those of you who have done it before, what should I expect? How often have you gone & how soon before IVF would your recommend starting? How long does the accupuncture part of the appointment usually last?
I find accupunture incredibly relaxing (something which is oh so important during an ivf cycle). During your first session you'll probably spend time talking with the accupunturist and answering all sorts of odd questions about your heath. Here is a link to the forms my acupunturist uses for new patients http://www.insightacupuncture.com/htm/Fertility.htm .

My current acu and I spent about 1/2 an hour talking before the first session. Follow up vists we usually talk for 10-15 minutes. Then its off to the acu room. I've never had to strip down - just roll up my clothing so my arms, stomach and legs are availible. The acu's table is much like a massage table. Usually I lie on my back. the acu needles are very thin. i've never felt any real pain when they are inserted. An occational twinge, but nothing more. I've bruise really easily, so I've been left with some marks. The first time it happened I showed it to my RE, and he said it was nothing to worry about. After the needles are inserted (I think my current acu uses about 15-20 on me) the lights are dimmed and soft music is put on. Sometimes a warming lamp may be put on. The acu leaves the room. My current acu leaves me for about 45 minutes. The guy I used to concieve Owen only left me for 20-30 minutes. I fine this time very relaxing. My entire appointment takes one hour.

The cycle where i concieved Owen I went for about 5-6 weeks prior to retrieval. I went twice a week. That acu thought that was just the right amount of time. I've heard some suggest you start three months prior to IVF.

the acu may suggest you use tradional chinese herbs. I never have. I am not comfortable taking them, especially while being on other IVF medication. Both acupunturists I've used have been supportive of this.

Dana-FSH Prayers for you!!!:crossfing
Thank you! :hug99:

You guys are so brave going for acupuncture! I'm a big sissy when it comes to needles! Does it hurt? I know its supposed to do the body a world of good but I just cant get past the needles!
Its funny, I used to be terrified of needles. I'd almost throwup at the site of them when I was a kid. I got mono in college and had to have about a million blood draws, so I had to get over that fear.

The first time I went to the acu was after a cancelled IVF cycle. I'd already learned how to inject myselft with follistim and lupron 2x a day. The acu needles were nothing compared to that.

Hey everyone! I get to join you finally!!

Our ivf will be in Sept. I should start bcp's in less than 2 weeks. This cycle will we use PGD a genetic testing on the embies. We are hoping it will show why I've m/c'd so many times. Hopefully we will get a good number of good embies to use. We had IVF to get pg with our 2 1/2 year old son.(same time as Suzi)

Like Dana I also do acupuncture. I have since November of last year. My body is all kinds of screwed up. I love it and will miss it terribly when I stop going. I travel a total of 3 hours every wednesday to go that is how much I like going! I highly suggest it to anyone here. I feel like a new person when I leave there. Even our IF clinic recommends acu. Acu has helped me sleep better(I slept terribly before), headaches, peeing too much in the middle of the night, etc. so even things that you wouldn't think have to do with reproductive parts do! All those were signs that lead to reproductive parts not running right. I don't feel pain either. some I never feel going in. Other at worse case I feel a zinger for a second or two and that is it. After that you dont feel anything.

I wish you all the best of luck. I don't have time now to read all the pages but I hope to soon. Hopefully we can all get bfp's soon!

Sarah

:yippee: Sarah - I'm so happy to hear you will be starting another cycle!

Thanks Dana it seems like forever! Our FET was in jan/feb but we had bad results with thawing so that didn't work. Then we got pg on our own RIGHT after that cycle but had an ectopic so I've had to wait for the methotrexate and the surgery to clear out before we could move to IVF. Then there is the saving money for the PGD. That has taken us awhile and we still don't have it all. But one way or another we will find it! I'm just so happy to finally be gearing up for it again. Man it seems forever. We've been trying for just about 2 years. It's been too long and we are ready to get this done with!

Judy - HOORAY for more good news!
Dana - Fingers crossed for your FSH!
Sarah - That's great that you're starting again soon. I really hope the PGD helps!

I also did acupuncture with my 1st IVF (the one that resulted in Nathaniel). I LOVED it! Unfortunately, it was pretty expensive so I didn't do it again (my insurance coverage hasn't been as good for my most recent cycles and we've had other financial issues). I would DEFINITELY recommend acupuncture!

Amanda

Thanks Amanda. It is so expensive! I pay $50 a week and it is breaking us. But I've read so many good things about how great it is for IF that we've just made due and did it. Our bills have gone up since that is $200 a month out of our pocket but if this works after the first month or two I'll stop going so that will help with our bills again.

We have no insurance coverage for IVF. Acupunture is expensive, but the hundreds of dollars we're spending there is nothing compared to the thousands we're spending on IVF. (at least, that's how I justify spending money on acu)

Sarah ~ I'm so glad that you will be able to do a PGD cycle! I believe that PGD made ALL the difference for us for this pregnancy :nod: I hope that it works as well for you guys!

We did acupuncture, as well, for the majority of my IVF cycles. This last time, we only did it right before transfer. I liked it & noticed that it helped me to relax. I personally find massage to be more relaxing than acupuncture (I tend to flinch if touched too gently & am quite ticklish).

I think I'll stay with massage for relaxation, just cant get around those needles! There is just something about that single needle that gets me! Maybe I'll try accupressure massage again, I'm in the same boat as Pam, really ticklish so I probally wouldnt relax to much being tickled and poked! We have better coverage for massage then Accupuncture through our health care so it makes more sense to go that route anyhow.

I went for my blood draw this morning. I got there at 8:50 and signed in. At 9:30 I was still waiting. I finally asked. Apparetly they lost my sign in. The whole time I was wating, I kept getting more and more anxious. Then I worred my stress would raise my hormone levels, which just stressed me out more. Finally, I got my lab order and was off accross the hall to wait. I just lost it. I started bawling and couldn't stop. I cried all the way through the blood draw. The tech said she knew I was happy to be done with the clomid. I cried all the way home.

The tech said we'd get a phone call arround 3:30 today. 3:30 - no phone call. 4:30 - No phone call. 4:45 I called them, I was told I'd get a phone call soon. Here it is 6:30 and no phone call. Safe to say they aren't calling tonight. I'm a wreck. I didn't sleep well last night. I had a nightmare that the clinic wouldn't take me, because they didn't think we were fit to be parents....

Oh Dana... :bighug: PLEASE hang inthere...the worst that can happen is you aren't accepted into the study and then you go on with your cycle anyhow. You are a GREAT mom and IVF cycles can bring the most STEADFAST mom to her knees in despair. Tomorrow is a new day and your FSH is what it is (and it's not affected by momentary stress so don't worry yourself over that!).

Owen is LIVING PROOF that you are a terrific mom! :nod:

I totally agree with Suzi. hang in there sweetie. You are a great parent and no one would ever say you aren't.:) IF just puts us thru such a roller coaster. I hope you feel better in the morning. And give um hell for not calling you back as they should!

Pam I'm so happy to hear everything is still going great for you! I remember us going thru it at the same time earlier this year. I really hope that the PGD will help us. It seems everything I read looks like we are great for it. Hopefully we'll get two good embies to use. That's all we need. Two great looking ones.

Sarah

Dana I'm sorry you are essentially getting the run around :hug99: I'm sure it isn't intentional on the clinics part but that doesn't make it any easier on you. It stinks that someone forgets to make a call or a Dr gets tied up and it leaves us out there assuming the worst.

Suzi is right hang in there :pray: for you

I got my Estrogen patches today for my my FET cycle and one of the warnings stated an increased risk of breast cancer. I do have family history with breast cancer and my RE does know this. I am planning on calling tomorrow and discussing risk factors with her. I was wondering if any of you had any additional information or experience with estrogen patches?

And Sarah I think we were posting at the same time - I meant to welcone you and wish you all the best with your cycle!!


Judy

Oh Dana... :bighug: PLEASE hang inthere...the worst that can happen is you aren't accepted into the study and then you go on with your cycle anyhow. You are a GREAT mom and IVF cycles can bring the most STEADFAST mom to her knees in despair. Tomorrow is a new day and your FSH is what it is (and it's not affected by momentary stress so don't worry yourself over that!).

Owen is LIVING PROOF that you are a terrific mom! :nod:
Thank you (all). I like to think I'm a great mom. I guess there is still part of me that just believes my infertility is a punishment.

My newest fear is they didn't call because my numbers are so sky high they're waiting for a doc to give me the news.

Dave and I will go with an egg donor if that is the case. He said today he thought that would be cheaper since we wouldn't have to buy my drugs. :lol: I don't think he realizes how much more a donor cycle will cost.

[QUOTE=DanaKnight]Thank you (all). I like to think I'm a great mom. I guess there is still part of me that just believes my infertility is a punishment.

Infertility is not a punishment for anything, being forced to watch springer or getting grounded is punishment. There is nothing in this world bad enough that you would be given IF for punishment for. Thats stinkin' thinkin'! Hopefully today those inconsiderate Lab techs who have left you hanging call with good news! Praying for you!

Dana - I'm sorry they didn't call. Even if your numbers are high, that's no excuse! They should understand the stress since they deal with IF patients every day!
Sarahgrace - For our FET cycle I did twice weekly estrogen injections. I'm sure the risks are the same, it's just a different delivery system.

Amanda

Thanks Judy.:)

Sarah I had estrogen pills and I'm pretty sure with any estrogen it is the same risk. But you are on it for such a short time I don't think it really makes a difference. I believe that is in reference to those who take it as HRT for extended amounts of time. But talk it over with your doctor he/she should be able to let you know.

Any news yet Dana?

Any news yet Dana?
No news. *sigh* they do blood draws until 9:30. Maybe they'll call after that. The posts I've read on IVF Connections on this clinic (CCRM) all say its a great clinic, but definately doesn't have the bedside manner of my previous clinic (Conceptions). I didn't want to believe it, but I'm finding that to be very true. Conception's docs, techs, office workers and nurses (except one nasty nurse) were all so wonderful and caring.

:( I'm sorry Dana. You'd think it a business as sensitive as this more people would be nicer. My OB's office is like that. The OB's are great very smart great doctors but their staff is a bunch of losers. They are rude, never call you back and it takes at least a week to get hcg results. Yep a week! They have the results the next day but it takes them an entire week to call me with them. And that was after 2 m/c's. You'd think I'd get some freakin kind of priority since my progesterone could be low, waiting a week doesn't work. But by the time I see the OB this time around I won't need blood draws so everything will be fine. I'm just so sorry you have to sit there and wait. Waiting totally sucks.:(

We actually switched REs due to issues with the staff! I just couldn't take it anymore.
Fingers crossed Dana.

Amanda

I think I'll stay with massage for relaxation, just cant get around those needles! There is just something about that single needle that gets me! Maybe I'll try accupressure massage again, I'm in the same boat as Pam, really ticklish so I probally wouldnt relax to much being tickled and poked! We have better coverage for massage then Accupuncture through our health care so it makes more sense to go that route anyhow.

Andrea~Let me tell you about acupunture! I tried it to prepare for my second IVF. Gosh, that was ages ago! I did 3 sessions and hated it! I was so tense about the needles that it took me that whole session to relax back to the point I was before I came in. Mind you, in all 7 of my IVF cycles, I've never been able to administer my own shots. (Talk about a fear of needles). I decided to try massage soon after and loved it. However, after more reading, I noticed such high statistics for pregnancy when combining acupuncture with IVF. I decided to give it another whirl and I went to another woman. I loved her and I loved every session. I definitely saw an improvement in my stress levels, my sleep habits, my anxieties, etc. and according to my acupuncturist, my pulse was much, much stronger. With all the delays with my appeal, I've taken a break from acupuncture to save money...I'm not sure that that was the best thing because now because I'm really having a hard time with day to day life. :blue: Basically, all I'm trying to say is if you can afford it, try not to let your fear of needles stop you because you actually might like it. :awink:

Sarah~Welcome back. :bighug: I'm so happy to hear you're doing PGD. I still regret not being more aggressive about pushing for that for myself and I remember how instrumental it was in getting our Pam pregnant! I'd love to hear what kind of information this brings you.

I guess there is still part of me that just believes my infertility is a punishment.

Dana~:nono: Don't you dare think that way!

Sarah (grace)~I'm sorry, I'm not familiar with estrogen patches.

Thanks all for wishing me well with my therapy appointment. :grouphugg It went well, although the majority of our first session was filling out paperwork and her asking me questions relavent with the intake paperwork. :rolleyes: I really liked her though and I'm looking forward to our next session.

Kimberly

Still no news. I posted on IVF Connections as there are a lot of CCRM patients who post on those boards. One woman said she didn't think the results from the clomid challenge test came back for a few days, and then they have to be reviewed by a doc. When I did the same test at my previous clinic, I had results the same day.

I was to mentally exhausted to call them today to get verification. My son bit one of his playmates today. He bit her hard. I feel just sick about it.

Dana-Man how awful of them not to call, what jackasses you would figure that because of the nature of there jobs they would be way more considerate! Still crossing my fingers for you that they call with good news soon! Owen's a biter? My cousin Brent was to he would get upset or excited and he would bite, until he got bit back I don't know if that helps but it sure stopped brent from biting others.Kimberly-I'm so glad you like your therapist and that your appointment went well. Theres a girl here at work that gets accupuncture done in Yellowknife I'll ask her how it is there (she has good points of references as she's lived all over and gets it done) I might give it try as you guys think very highly of it. I'll look into it when I come back from holidays.

Kimberly that is great that your apponitment we so well. I hope the next one goes well too!

Andrea I have to agree it isn't just for stress. there is a great book for using acupuncture called The Infertility Cure by Dr. Randine Lewis you might want to check it out at your local library. She also has her own clinic with AMAZING results with her patients using both IVF(or other ART) and her acupuncture. And she gets a lot of those patients everyone has given up on. It actually helps to get your body back to what it should be not just help with stress. I know it's hard. And the first month I went it did hurt a bit because my body was really resisting the needles. My acupuncturist could feel that when she placed them. But after the first 3-4 tries they went in like butter with no pain. Just something to consider. But at the least the massage therapy is nice too!:)

Dana that totally sucks. You think even if they didn't have the results they'd call you back! I'm sorry sweetie. I hope they call you soon. Riley bit me once, and hard. I didn't see it coming he bit my butt of all places. He thought it was so funny. But he never bit anyone again. And with the stopping(if he's done it many times) my sister started to bit and my mom bit her back.(no hard but hard enough to feel it) And my sister never bit anything again after that. And don't worry kids do that! I'm sure the mom understands. All kids do something to there kids to hurt them. And as long as they do it once it's ok. :)

Well Brandon told me some news yesterday about his job. He is a major project going on and has all summer. That is why our ivf needed to be pushed out so far. Well now he tells me if they don't approve the money for it then it could be pushed out another month into October and he doesn't know what that means for our ivf.:( What freakin company goes and sends these guys to Germany has a freakin large very expensive machine built and then still hasn't actually approved spending the money on it! He is supposed to go to Germany for 2 weeks this sat and now he doesn't know if they are still on. Morons!! So I swear if it gets pushed out again I'll have a freakin break down. I'm not getting upset yet because we don't know for sure one way or another. I know I start bcps next week! And I know that I really need this cycle to come and get it over with. I need to know where we stand with this all. I need to get it off my mind and most of all I need to be done with it. It's been 2 long years mostly filled with a lot of pain. I honestly need to move on one way or another and at the very least need some answers.(that the PGD would give us) Sigh~~ Hopefully everything will be ok and it won't effect our ivf. Brandon hasn't been able take off work since before the summer.(he did take 1/2 day off to go to the zoo once) Even for all my big tests and after I had surgery my family had to come with me because he couldn't get the time off. They are so swamped. And I understand and have not made a fuss but you take this away from me and I will for sure. I don't say much because I know he hates that it is running our lives and he feels bad. Not to mention he's super stressed from this whole thing. But honestly I just can't keep doing this. So I guess we'll see in the next few days we'll know.

Sarah

I left a message for the clinic this morning. They just called back. My day 3 level was 9 (it needs to be less than 10) and my day 10 level was 14.5 - this number should also be less than 10. I've been preparing myself for the past three days for these results, but it is still hard to hear. After I heard the initial number of 9 for a moment I was sure my 2nd number would be OK too.

The clinic will run another hormone test (I'm not sure what its called) which is also an indicator of egg quality. Maybe, just maybe that will give us some good news.

I am OK with using an egg donor (so is Dave). Its just sad to know I won't have another biological child. I know I am extremely blessed to have Owen. I need to go give him a hug.

Sarah, I'm so sorry Brandon's job is giving him the runarround. I know you don't want to wait at all when you are doing an IVF cycle.

Sarah~Geez, that just stinks about DH's job. I'm so sorry you have to go through this. . .:sadhug:

I've been preparing myself for the past three days for these results, but it is still hard to hear.
I am OK with using an egg donor (so is Dave). Its just sad to know I won't have another biological child. I know I am extremely blessed to have Owen. I need to go give him a hug.

Dana~:justahug: As far as doing an egg donor cycle, if you continue to hang around, you'll be in good company. . .namely me. :awink:

I finally come bearing good news. . .we were approved for a donor egg cycle!! :yippee: Finally something seems to be going MY way. I'm only approved for one cycle so you can imagine that I'm quite anxious about the fact that I'll only get one chance. . .(one that's covered at least). As soon as I found out, I left work to go home and resume where I was right before I received my denial letter. So tonight I'm back to looking for potential donors and getting that ball rolling. Unfortunately, the one donor that I really liked, is working with another couple right now. :blue: I just hope that more donors have become available since the last time I was looking. :crossfing

Kimberly

Dana - I'm so sorry that the blood test results weren't good enough. I'm still crossing my fingers that the other test brings good news.
Sarah - How completely frustrating!

Amanda

Kimberly....
:sunny: :ura1: :victory: :bowdown: :faint: :omg: :eek: :woa: :rahrah: :banana: :jump: :woo: :aok: :dude: :wow: :party3: :toast: :party2: :yippee:

I am SO HAPPY FOR YOU!!!!!!

Dana, I am sorry that your result was high on Day 10. For what it's worth, my RE puts absolutely no stock into the clomid challenge - doesn't even do it. Something to consider...

:hug99:

Kimberly~~~ Great news. I am so happy for you! This is it for you, I know it!

Dana~ I am sorry you didn't get better news. Hang in there!

Kimberly that is so so awesome!!! I hope you get a really good donor!

Dana I'm so sorry honey. :( I wish there was something I could do to help you out some. Hopefully your next test will come back good.

Kimberly - I am so glad you got some good news :toast: to this being the start of many good news calls for you and I hope you will find the perfect donor!!!


Dana - I am sorry you didn't get better news on the test results.

Sarah - how frustrating about DH's job! Hope they approve the money and it doesn't impact your cycle.

Hello to everyone!!!

I am going for beta #3 tomorrow and immediately leaving for a get away in the woods of Maine. The car is even packed now as I type. I am hoping for good solid numbers but unfortunately won't be able to post until I get back. I think that each small hurdle, test etc makes me feel more comfortable.

CONGRATS Kimberly! You must have been posting at the same time as I was. I am just SO HAPPY for you!!!
Judy - Fingers crossed and have a great trip!

Amanda

Just wanted to share some good news...finally


DH got a job!! He starts monday. I am so happy. he is so happy! And we leave for the beach for 3 days tomorrow. Life is getting better.

I called some Mass. insurance companies and I got good news too.(Thanks Kimberly for the number). I do not need to live in Mass. to get IF benefits. The only way IF wouldn't be covered is if the headquarters for the company is not based in Mass I would be subject to their IF mandate and some Mass insurance companies might stipulate that I go to a Mass RE. No problem with that. Now I just need to be brave and find a job. It's very scary for me 'cause I have been at my job for 9 years and I am quite comfy. I was thinking of saying I need to leave for awhile but would like to come back when I can. I really think they would go for that. I will miss my 4 weeks vacation every year but for a baby I will do it.

I have started WW online with a friend and we are going to the gym. I am sore as hell but feels good!

Oh I have an ultrasound on my thyroid tomorrow am. Please pray that all is well. I have a little lump on the side of my neck so they just want to make sure my thyroid is ok since I have a family history. They think the lump is no big deal just a swollen lymph node but without surgery there is no way to be sure. I would like the peace of mind of it not being Lymphoma but we are waiting and not jumping into surgery, The Doc wants to treat it with antibotics first to see if that helps.

AngCTRealtor(sorry I don't know your name) That is great news! I hope you can find a new job. I know it's scary but it will be for the best. And maybe if you could tell them you have to leave to have a child they would go for it.

Judy good luck! I can totally understand and you are right each + beta is a good step in the right direction. I would feel the same way! I hope it comes back nice and high!

At my acupuncture today we dicussed what my RE said about no heprin.(I haven't tested + so he won't give it to me though I have most symptoms) She says my body really tells her a blood thinner would be what I need. So we compromised. I will be taking an herbal supplement that works as a mild blood thinner. so that with the asprin won't be as strong as heprin but strong enough. I feel much better about that. I trust my RE totally and I understand why he doesn't want to risk the complications of heprin when I haven't tested + but I also feel much better being on something that would give me a little extra. So if I have a mild problem with clotting this will more than do it! I feel much better. Hopefully all this will work. She also put me on strong stomach herbs since mine is still a mess. Hopefully something will give. The weight loss is awesome but these problems aren't so much. But all in all a good day for me too!

:yippee: :jump2: :banana: :jump: :rahrah: :clap: :aok: :dancingpi :dude:

Kimberly I am so happy for you, that is wonderful news!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You so deserve this break, :toast: A toast to you and all good things to come.

Angela, good luck with the job hunt in Mass and :crossfing for the test on your thyroid tomorrow.


Sarah- I hope Brandons job situation gets straightened out soon, how frustrating. It sounds like physically you are on a good track between your accupuncarist and RE, you have a great team in your corner

Judy- Good luck with beta #3, :crossfing for nice high numbers!!!!!!

Dana, I am sorry that your result was high on Day 10. For what it's worth, my RE puts absolutely no stock into the clomid challenge - doesn't even do it. Something to consider...

:hug99:
Thank You

I wish fewer clinics put stock in the CCT. Sadly this one does. As does the clinic I used before. They'll run another test next week which will tell them a more complete story on my eggs. (Don't know why they don't go right to that test.)

:yippee: Kimberly :yippee: I'm so happy you got approval. I knew you would. I hope your search for the perfect donor is a short one.

Angela - I'm so happy to hear your good news!!!! I hope the thyroid stuff goes well.
Sarah - I'm glad you found a compromise that you like!
Dana - I'm crossing everything for the test.

Just wanted to let everyone know that Judy's beta was perfect (I think it was like 2300 but I don't remember exactly). It was posted in her journal on BOLU.
I'm taking my urology boards tomorrow so think smart thoughts for me!

Amanda

Good luck Amanda!!!!

You ladies are just the sweeeeetest!!! :grouphugg

It's kind of strange because I haven't really told many people what I'm going through right now so it was really nice to have so much kudos coming my way.

Dana~Sarah mentioned the Infertility Cure by Dr. Randine Lewis. I also read that book and in addition to all the statistics about acupuncture, there is also information about ways of lowering your FSH level, although she also doesn't give much stock to those numbers as well.

Judy~I used to live in Maine! Have fun.

Angie~I'm so glad you got some good news. In the name of staying positive, you might look at this job change as an opportunity for finding something that pays better and that you enjoy much more. You might even want to move to MA. :yippee: I'm only mentioning this because through my own problems, I've always tried to remember the positive in everything. Easier said than done though because sometimes I just want to feel sorry for myself. How was your thyroid test?

Amanda~:crossfing Sending you what "smart" thoughts I have. :awink:


I found a potential donor but what it comes down to is that she really is the only adequate donor--not my 1st or 4th choice, but my only choice. Her nationality is different and it may seem like apples and apples to many, but it's not to me. Perhaps in "Euro" terms it's like the difference between Irish and German. My latina roots are such a big part of who I feel I am and although I'm coming up with some African American and Biracial donors who have similiar features, it's just not the same. I called the donor agency that has the one adequate donor and asked if they ever place ads. To make a long story short, they placed an ad for me soliciting donors that better fit my heredity. There's no telling how long it will take for anyone to respond to the ad. It's no extra cost to me for them to place the ad, but now I'm feeling like perhaps I should just go with the one donor I have available. I guess if and when someone responds to the ad, the agency would still have to put her through a series of testing before they even know if she will be an adequate donor for their agency and for any woman. On Monday, I'm going to call and ask the agency (the woman there is really nice) what she recommends. I have to remember the end result and whether the donor is blue, green, or orange, I will have the potential of getting pregnant. So anyway, these will be my thoughts this weekend. DH and I were at a restaurant the other day before a movie and a young woman walked in who looked so very much like me. DH and I joked about which one of us was going to go over to her to ask her to be my donor. What a strange and crazy existence I'm living right now. :crazy:

Kimberly

I don't think it's strang at all! Of course you want someone who is as close to you as possible so your child will be more from where you're from. I totally get that. Like I have red hair and my husband has very dark brown, I of course wouldn't want to pick a blonde if I could pick someone either red or brown. That makes total sense. And really why not try. Now if no one responds or it is taking longer than you would like then go with the donor you have picked out. It certainly can't hurt anything to try to get what you'd like most. You're paying for it, you might as well try your best. And like you said should you not find someone a baby is a baby and that baby is YOURS no matter what the donor looks like.:)

And I'm so happy you can come here to talk about it all. You need someone to always talk to and well here you have many someones!!:)

Sarah

Kimberly - I also totally understand what you're saying. It's great that your heritage is important to you and it makes all the sense in the world to want to find a donor from a similar background. I'm glad the agency is so nice!

Amanda

Kimberly, I was looking at egg donor sites the other day. It is amazing how few non-caucasian donors there are. I'm sure that is really frustrating. I hope your agency can help you get the perfect match. I'm sure she's out there somewhere :crossfing

Dana~Sarah mentioned the Infertility Cure by Dr. Randine Lewis. I also read that book and in addition to all the statistics about acupuncture, there is also information about ways of lowering your FSH level, although she also doesn't give much stock to those numbers as well.

I found my acupunturist because of Randine. I found an article by Randine about FSH and acupunture. Then I searched on Randine. My acu has done some work with her. I've looked through the book while I'm at her office. I do like her philosopy on FSH and egg quality. She believes it is more of an indicator how you will respond to the IVF drugs rather than an indicator of egg quality. My first ivf I was on eight vials of follistim a day. I've never run accross anyone who has been on such a massive dose. At that I produced 8 eggs. 5 were of proper maturity, 4 fertilized and we ended up with 3 8 celled and 1 6 celled. Not huge numbers, but pretty good percentage.

I know there is a small chance I will be given the option to cycle with my own eggs. I also know its a very small chance. I flat out asked the doc at our first appointment at what point they recommend donor egg. He said if the combined CCT numbers were 20 or greater. Mine was 24.5.

We'll just have to wait and see what the doc says. If money were no ojbect, I would happily do a cycle with my own eggs. I also know if I didn't have Owen I would push much harder to use my own eggs. Being presented with the suggestion to use a donor egg is much less heart breaking how than it was before I concieved Owen.

I think I'm rambling. And I had something else really important I wanted to say....but I dont' remember.

Kimberly, I was looking at egg donor sites the other day. It is amazing how few non-caucasian donors there are.

Exactely! I think as an ethnic group, non-caucasian women are less likely to submit to being an egg donor. Mmmmm. I wonder where the agencies places their ads. . .this information may not get out to non-caucasion communities based on what newspapers they read. . .I think that's another question I might ask. (I would think this would be concern when placing ads for certain heridities. I work in TV promotion and placing our print ads based on a TV show and it's demographics and viewership is a big deal. Mmmmmm.

Yes, it's so awesome that I can come here and talk about this. When I said that it might sound like apples and apples and that you might not understand, I think that was coming from the general ignorance on race and ethnicity that I've been used to much of my life. I lived in Maine and Vermont throughout my school age years and some college and I remember knowing many *ignorant* people couldn't tell the difference between African-American, Indian, or Middle Eastern. If their skin was dark, they were "Black" period. I guess I was also hurt by a Caucasian friend who 1) Said she thought about donating her eggs to me and 2) When I mentioned I was looking for someone who fit my ethnicity, she said "why should it matter? If it's a baby, it's a baby." I didn't comment back and I think I said something like, "yeah, you're right" although she really did manage to make me feel quite selfish. But why would I think that you ladies wouldn't understand? Of course you would! :grouphugg

Kimberly

Oh it's not selfish at all. and should it not work out and you use a donor that is different you wouldn't see that child differently but there is nothing wrong with trying to match closer to start with. That is why a lot of people who adopt try to stick with similar children, they just want to blend in. And especially if you heritage is so important to you. And no matter what others think it only matters what works for you!:) And either way you'll have that baby and he/she will be beautiful!!!

Dana that is a crazy amount of stims! I've never heard anything close to that! And I hope that whatever you decide to do you'll get pg and have a great pregnancy.

Sarah

Wow lots to catch up on here!!! As Amanda posted (thank you), I did have a nice strong beta - 2300 was correct. The nurse freaked me out a bit by leaving a message late in the day telling me they wanted me to come for an u/s Friday This after I spoke to 2 different nurses telling them about the vacation plans / asking if there was anything I would need to do for testing :disbelief Anyway, when I finally reached someone they said it wasn't a big deal and they would reschedule. Now I go on Thursday :crossfing I think if we get good news then I will really breathe easy for a bit. They also added progesterone supps on top of the PIO - I asked if I could just do a second shot but the RE wants the sup - gross. I've a call into them now to make sure I should be doing 2 of these plus the shot as the nurse told me. Just seems like a lot but the Dr supposedly wanted to add it because of the lovenox (mild blood thinner)

Angela - Hope you got good news on your thyroid. I'm glad you got good information about MA insurance - I think I would tell your employer straight out what the reason was for seeking new employment and I too would not be concerned - I'll bet they would welcome you back with open arms!

Sarah - I had an interesting conversation with my accu about blood thinners, I was debating the lovenox - I got a borderline positive result, she felt very confident in the herbal blood thinners and we considered those instead.

Dana - when is your appointment?

Kimberly - I can totally understand wanting a donor of your same heritage. I think it is unfortunate that you feel so limited in your choices. Asking about where the ads are placed is a great idea. Could you even do a private donor like through a church or something? Or perhaps that brings up all sorts of new questions about anonymous donation...I am happy for you however that you are really on your way!!!

Hello to everyone! Just getting back and catching up!

So I called the donor agency this morning. They don't give out information to the recipients as to where they place their ads. :dunno: That's fine, as long as it's placed! I had a nice conversation with the woman there. She told me that they have lots of ads placed looking for differing heredities and she gets responses everyday. Whether she will get a direct response to my ad in a timely fashion, of course one will never know. I think she was apprehensive about advising me since this is not something she does, but I laid it right out to her and told her that I was overwhelmed and asked her what she would do. And like you ladies have also said, she told me that I should try to get a match that I feel more comfortable with. I thought I would give it a good month, which geez, I've waited so long for everything else, what's a damn month! :rolleyes: The woman at the agency had asked me to send her some pictures of myself. She basically told me that as soon as she gets a response for my particular ad, she will get that person right in. Since she now has my pictures, she will also know whether or not the person is a close match. I sent her a few pictures, one of them was me with my 2 sisters which I thought would be good so that the woman at the donor agency could see the general family features. The other good thing is that if someone contacts the agency for the one and ONLY donor that is somewhat of a match, she will let me know. This way, if I'm not finding a match through the ad, and I'm in jeapardy of loosing the donor, I can decide that I want the donor afterall. I hope it doesn't come to that and that someone
*perfect* responds to the ad. :pray: :nod:

AF came yesterday. :blue: I still seem to be working like clockwork (so to speak) so in the meantime, DH and I will just keep trying on our own.

Kimberly

Kimberly, I PRAY that God brings the right person to your donor agency soon!! :pray:

OK I am all caught up in here.


Well I never made it to my thyroid appointment last thursday. I left on time and got caught in traffic due to an accident. I was 10 -15 min late. I finally get there and they turn me away saying I have to reschedule. I was so upset because it is 30 min away and I purposely scheduled it on my day off. I understand I am not their only patient. It was just very frustrating and I left there practically in tears.
After the wasted trip, I headed down to Old Lyme with my family for a few days. It was nice and Ryan came down on Sat.
My grandfather had a mild heart attack sat into sunday morning and is in the hospital. He is doing ok, they tried to put in a stint to help but got in there and couldn't do it due to finding another clogged artery right in front of the one they wanted to get to. So they stopped and now his only options are to have open heart surgery or just medicate him and wait. He is 92years old so either way it is scary. On one hand, at 92 years old can he go through such a surgery and then on the other hand I dont want to just wait around apprehensively waiting for him to have a massive heart attack and die. My grandfather is very sharp mentally and is just very hard to see him like this. He is going to make a decision soon. I just want to place his great grandbaby in his arms and I am so sad it probably won't happen. I just think if I could have gotten PG 3 years ago when we first started TTC, my baby would be 3 years old now and they would have known each other. My grandparents were like a second set of parents to me. I am so close with them and I still cry over losing my grandma almost 3 years ago. uhhhh I am sorry to unload on you all. I know I probably rambled on too much about this.

Kimberly~ I hope the perfect donor comes your way soon! I haven't had time to look for a job yet in Mass but I will be pursuing it aggressively soon. I know what you are saying and it makes total sense.
Dana~:crossfing
Judy~ Great numbers! I can't wait for your ultrasound.

Hi Suzi, Sarah, Amanda

Kimberly, I PRAY that God brings the right person to your donor agency soon!! :pray:
Me too!

Ang - so sorry to hear about your grandfather. :pray: ers for him and your family

Also sorry to hear about your thyroid appointment. How frustrating! At least it was only practially tears. I would have started bawling.

So I called the donor agency this morning. They don't give out information to the recipients as to where they place their ads. :dunno: That's fine, as long as it's placed! I had a nice conversation with the woman there. She told me that they have lots of ads placed looking for differing heredities and she gets responses everyday. Whether she will get a direct response to my ad in a timely fashion, of course one will never know. I think she was apprehensive about advising me since this is not something she does, but I laid it right out to her and told her that I was overwhelmed and asked her what she would do. And like you ladies have also said, she told me that I should try to get a match that I feel more comfortable with. I thought I would give it a good month, which geez, I've waited so long for everything else, what's a damn month! :rolleyes: The woman at the agency had asked me to send her some pictures of myself. She basically told me that as soon as she gets a response for my particular ad, she will get that person right in. Since she now has my pictures, she will also know whether or not the person is a close match. I sent her a few pictures, one of them was me with my 2 sisters which I thought would be good so that the woman at the donor agency could see the general family features. The other good thing is that if someone contacts the agency for the one and ONLY donor that is somewhat of a match, she will let me know. This way, if I'm not finding a match through the ad, and I'm in jeapardy of loosing the donor, I can decide that I want the donor afterall. I hope it doesn't come to that and that someone
*perfect* responds to the ad. :pray: :nod:

AF came yesterday. :blue: I still seem to be working like clockwork (so to speak) so in the meantime, DH and I will just keep trying on our own.

Kimberly

Hi Kim... Can I ask how you go about becoming a donor? I've thought about doing this ever since I was a teenage and my aunts struggled with fertility. I have one cousing who is adopted and another who was born from a surrogate. So it's something close to my heart. I would LOVE to get more info.
Jen

Nothing new to report on my side. Our appointment with the RE is next Wednesday at 10:30. I haven't heard anything about the additional blood test. Its for AMH (anti-Müllerian hormone) I can find very little info on this in relation to fertility.

I'm getting more optimistic that i'll be allowed to cycle with my own eggs. i don't know if that's a good thing or not. I don't want to be let down. I've also been researching the egg donor process and preparing myself for that. I hate waiting!!!

I got to have my first mamogram yesterday. CCRM really wants women over 35 to have one before they start an IVF cycle. The tech told me they just got new machines, and they aren't small breast friendly. Ain't that the truth. It took her four times to get the first shot of my right side. Ouch!

Hi Kim... Can I ask how you go about becoming a donor? I've thought about doing this ever since I was a teenage and my aunts struggled with fertility. I have one cousing who is adopted and another who was born from a surrogate. So it's something close to my heart. I would LOVE to get more info.
Jen
You deserve some applause and a :bighug: !

Here is the link for potential egg donors for the clinic I may use:
http://www.coloeggdonor.com/ It should answer many of your questions. If you do a google search for 'egg donor' and your city or state name, you'll probably get some matches for agencies in your area.

Hi Kim... Can I ask how you go about becoming a donor? I've thought about doing this ever since I was a teenage and my aunts struggled with fertility. I have one cousing who is adopted and another who was born from a surrogate. So it's something close to my heart. I would LOVE to get more info.
Jen

Jen~That's wonderful that you would want to do something like this. I'm sure there are a countless number of women who can't thank these women enough for helping them start their family. . .and I hope to be one of them. :nod: Since I'm planning on becoming a recipient, I don't know the details of what you must do to become a donor and I'm guessing that Dana's link will give you tons of information. Yes, if you just query "egg donor" you'll get tons of information about that. Good luck.

Ang~Oh my God. :sadhug: You've had a rough week. First of all, that really stinks that you weren't able to keep your appointment. In most of the Drs. offices I've been to, they give you up to 15 minutes to be late. After that you may have to reschedule, but at least there's some wiggle room. I am so very sorry about grandfather. I know this is such a hard thing for families. . .

I got to have my first mamogram yesterday. CCRM really wants women over 35 to have one before they start an IVF cycle. The tech told me they just got new machines, and they aren't small breast friendly. Ain't that the truth. It took her four times to get the first shot of my right side. Ouch!

Dana~I had to have my first one this year as part of my requirements for donor egg. It was kind of tramatic for me. . .I just didn't feel ready. . .I just don't know how the heck I got to be this age!! :errr: I turned my head for a moment and I wasn't young anymore. :screwy:

Things are going fine with me. I am practicing patience and positive thinking. I started back up with the acupuncturist so that I can be all ready when this DE IVF happens. But I got sad news from my cousin. She was just at the end of the first trimester when she found out she was miscarrying. The horrible thing is that she was carrying twins and knew it. What she and the Drs. didn't know (until the end) were that the twins were conjoined at the head. She was told that even if she had made it through full term, the babies wouldn't have had much chance in surviving afterwards. She had been so sweet with me regarding my own issues so now it's my time to comfort her. . .so, as I've been consoling her, I find that it's also helping me get through my own sadness. Strange how that works. :scratch:

Kimberly

She had been so sweet with me regarding my own issues so now it's my time to comfort her. . .so, as I've been consoling her, I find that it's also helping me get through my own sadness. Strange how that works. :scratch:

Kimberly

God (or in whomever one believes) works in strange ways... :bighug: to you for being there for her.

Thanks for the link Dana. I looked up info on donor clinics in my local area and am downloading applications for egg donors now.
I had always thought about doing this since my aunt used a surrogate when I was 18. I even volunteered to do it then, but they thought I was too young. I feel so blessed to have my 4 kids I would LOVE to give that gift to someone else.

:clap: Jen!!!

Wow Jen! That's great!
Brenda - I'm sorry about your bad week. I'm saying a prayer for your grandfather.
Dana - I hope you are able to cycle with your own eggs.
Kimberly - I'm sorry for your cousin but it's great that you can be there for her.

Amanda

I finally come bearing good news. . .we were approved for a donor egg cycle!! :yippee: Finally something seems to be going MY way. I'm only approved for one cycle so you can imagine that I'm quite anxious about the fact that I'll only get one chance. . .(one that's covered at least). As soon as I found out, I left work to go home and resume where I was right before I received my denial letter. So tonight I'm back to looking for potential donors and getting that ball rolling. Unfortunately, the one donor that I really liked, is working with another couple right now. :blue: I just hope that more donors have become available since the last time I was looking. :crossfing

Kimberly


WONDERFUL news, Kim. FINALLY something great happens for you.
also glad you had a good appt with the therapist. If it's who I think it is,
she's wonderful... and the 2nd session will be MUCH better than the first.
I need to get permission on Monday to go in to see her. I miss her. :lol:

Um...BRENDA!!! How the HE** did you get to be TWENTY WEEKS already??? :silly:

Brenda - How are you doing???

Amanda

HI guys!

Ang I'm so sorry for your terrible week. I hope that it will get better. And that is terrible they wouldn't still see you. Most doctors run so late that they are at least 30 minutes late. I hope you get back in.

Jen I think that is wonderful! I had thought about being a donor after our first ivf. I knew what a blessing Riley was and how some couldn't have any on their own. I even offered a friend from UB to be a donor for her.(she just wasn't ready to do that yet) And now after all my egg problems I am so glad she didn't take me up on that offer. I would have felt terrible knowing all the problems I have now. So I think what you are doing is a wonderful idea. There are lots of women out there that really need that. You rock!

Well day 1 for me!!! I start bcp's today. I'll go in for blood and my saline sono soon. Then next cycle it's our ivf! Yikes.

Sarah

:yippee: Sarah :yippee: I'm so excited for you!

:yippee: SARAH!!!!

:rahrah: Yeah Sarah!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What great news, we will :crossfing for you.

I hope this fall will bring lots of spring babies:).



We finally got our date and it looks like our FET will be on Sept 13th. I am soooo nervous. We only have 4 embies, but hey it only takes one. My birthday is the 21st, so hopefully I will get a belated b-day present of a bfp.

HOORAY Sarah for starting!
HOORAY Sarahgrace for getting a date for the FET!

Amanda

Hi all!

Angela sorry about the appointment - I can't believe they would turn you away! And prayers continue for your grandfather

Sarah - exciting news!! It will go quick now!!

Sarahgrace Sept 14th will be here soon too!!

Just a flyby to let you all know, we had our u/s today and saw 2 heartbeats!!! :crazy: I'm back to being in shock and walking around with the stooopid grin again. They emphasised that seeing both heartbeats was a great sign at this point and we go back in about 10 days to check in.

:jawdrop:

WOW!!! CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

CONGRATS Judy!

Amanda

:wow: CONGRATULATIONS JUDY!!!!!!!!!!!!! What fantastic news:).

Sarah (grace)~It's great that you have a date for your FET. It's nice to have something to look forward to.

Judy~The excitement is neverending. . .keep it up! :bighug:

I just thought I'd send along this little gossip piece for fun. :awink: It reminds me how many women rely on IF treatments to get pregnant. I just wonder how many under 30 women read stuff like this and think that they have all the time in the world. . . .I know I thought I had more time than I "evidently" did. :rolleyes:


The Hollywood Stork Report

Are you up to your ears in poopie diapers? Covered in drool and pureed veggies? Take heart -- you're living the life of many a star in Hollywood. With babies as much of a must-have item as a Maybach these days, it's time to give you a rundown on the latest bambino news:

Holly Hunter is an overachiever personally as well as professionally. The Oscar winner, 47, is set to become a first-time mom in a big way. People reports Hunter is expecting twins with her British actor beau Gordon MacDonald. The bundles of joy are due in the winter. The actress will join an ever-expanding group of over-40 stars who have had double deliveries, including Jane Seymour (she was 45), Beverly D'Angelo (49 -- dad is Al Pacino), Marcia Gay Harden (44), Geena Davis (47), Adrienne Barbeau (51) and Cheryl Tiegs (52).

Clearly, it's a slow day at work for me. Check out this new TV series slated to air this Fall on NBC.



http://www.nbc.com/NBC_First_Look/newseries/inconceivable/

I don't even have to click the link to know what it is...I was absolutely FLABBERGASTED when I saw a preview. :mope:

OMG Judy! Congrats x2!!!!

Sarah that is awesome! Looks like we'll be near each other yippy!!

Well it looks like I took my damn pill on the wrong day. I have been so overloaded with stress this week it isn't even funny. For some reason I thought I was supposed to start the bcp's right away. Well duh day 5. But it's been awhile since I've done this so I totally forgot. Actually I've never had to do bcps on day 5. My first ivf they forgot the pills totally and my frozen I just took them a full month I believe. Anyway hopefully it won't mess up my results tomorrow. I just need to get thru one more week until Brandon is home from Germany. Oh I can't wait!

And that tv show just isn't enteraining to me at all. I don't think it will do so well since there are so many of us who do not find humor in making light of all the bad things we've gone thru.

Clearly, it's a slow day at work for me. Check out this new TV series slated to air this Fall on NBC.



http://www.nbc.com/NBC_First_Look/newseries/inconceivable/
...it's positively clear that life inside this clinic is anything but sterile

Who the hell wrote that? a 6th grader? :disbelief

I can't see this garbage making it past episode 3.I just want to know what the head of programming was smoking to think that the world of IF was filled with laughs and would therefore make a great show. I mean I have a pretty good sense of humor, but so far all of the test, procedures, drugs, dissapointments, expenses,emotions, side effects, and unfairness of dealing with IF hasn't exactly had me rolling on the floor.

I can't see this garbage making it past episode 3.I just want to know what the head of programming was smoking to think that the world of IF was filled with laughs and would therefore make a great show. I mean I have a pretty good sense of humor, but so far all of the test, procedures, drugs, dissapointments, expenses,emotions, side effects, and unfairness of dealing with IF hasn't exactly had me rolling on the floor.

Clearly, it's was an ill-conceived idea. :tongue2:

Kimberly

I agree. What were they thinking???

Amanda

Um...BRENDA!!! How the HE** did you get to be TWENTY WEEKS already??? :silly:


Time flys when you're living you're own Lifetime Movie... 2 hours at a time. :lol:

Brenda - How are you doing???

Amanda


Well I've discovered that I really hate being pregnant.
bedrest annoys me
my hips annoy me
my tits annoy me
my husband annoys me
my lack of sex life REALLY annoys me
losing 30 pounds when I'm suppose to gain that much annoys me AND my doctor.

I DO LOVE feeling the babies move and kick all the time.. that's about it.

It's bad when you most look forward to the 15 minutes a day you're allowed to get up and SHOWER. :lol:

Clearly, it's a slow day at work for me. Check out this new TV series slated to air this Fall on NBC.



http://www.nbc.com/NBC_First_Look/newseries/inconceivable/


I saw a preview for that the other day.... and started sobbing when the
doc said that a soldier from iraq wanted his sister to carry his wife's embryos.

I kinda have a different opinion about the whole TV show.... I'm hoping it'll help all the asshats out there realize that IVF and infertility isn't easy.

Well I've discovered that I really hate being pregnant.
bedrest annoys me
my hips annoy me
my tits annoy me
my husband annoys me
my lack of sex life REALLY annoys me
losing 30 pounds when I'm suppose to gain that much annoys me AND my doctor.

I DO LOVE feeling the babies move and kick all the time.. that's about it.

It's bad when you most look forward to the 15 minutes a day you're allowed to get up and SHOWER. :lol:

That was my life in a nut shell the 6 MONTHS I was on bedrest with Liam. I hope chatting with us helps pass the time Bren. I found a chat group of ALL bedrest pregnant women that my OB referred me to keep me busy. It helped that we could all chat and pass the day away in bed.

Well I've discovered that I really hate being pregnant.
bedrest annoys me
my hips annoy me
my tits annoy me
my husband annoys me
my lack of sex life REALLY annoys me
losing 30 pounds when I'm suppose to gain that much annoys me AND my doctor.

I DO LOVE feeling the babies move and kick all the time.. that's about it.

It's bad when you most look forward to the 15 minutes a day you're allowed to get up and SHOWER. :lol:

Well, I've heard that some women really don't enjoy being pregnant. Obviously, the fact that you're on bedrest doesn't necessarily make this whole experience fun. Perhaps you can jump ahead several months and look forward to the birth. . .or maybe not. :awink: Or maybe to the baby in your arms. :nod: I appreciate your candidness. A friend of mine who is pregnant via donor egg was telling me that she hasn't had a good experience. I guess she's suffered a lot of heartburn, aches & pains, etc. I only hope that if and when I'm pregnant, that I can relish and even "savor" every moment of it. But only time will tell I guess. :dunno:

My guess with this new series, that I agree won't have longevity, is that there are many TV Execs out there who have experienced infertility and perhaps have wanted to try to find a way to expose the realities of it. So, how do you create a TV series that exposes a reality that so many couples face? Good question. Should it be a serious drama? Or should it be a combination of drama and comedy? Like all of Hollywood right now, I'm only guessing that it's a matter of money. . .the belief that enough people would be interested in this topic and watch the show. I think that largest viewship will probably be women who have dealt with IF and have now passed it. In other words, they may actually be able to find humor in all of it right now. I fully agree, this is not humorous to me at all. For Chrips sakes, I'm seeing a therapist over it!!! I'm not sure that women or couples who are going through it right now, will necessarily find this show appealing. But again, only time will tell. But because I do work in the TV business. . .a whole different type (Public Television), I will probably try to catch an episode to see what it's all about.

Kimberly

My guess with this new series, that I agree won't have longevity, is that there are many TV Execs out there who have experienced infertility and perhaps have wanted to try to find a way to expose the realities of it. So, how do you create a TV series that exposes a reality that so many couples face? Good question. Should it be a serious drama? Or should it be a combination of drama and comedy? Like all of Hollywood right now, I'm only guessing that it's a matter of money. . .the belief that enough people would be interested in this topic and watch the show. I think that largest viewship will probably be women who have dealt with IF and have now passed it. In other words, they may actually be able to find humor in all of it right now. I fully agree, this is not humorous to me at all.


Just what I was thinking :nod: I hate that the emphasis seems to be on the crappy practices of the clinic/center. Then again, I think I will watch out of curiosity. I can't imagine that any of the clinics that any of us go to/went to will be all to pleased by this show.

I can say that I've been very lucky so far that I've not had any morning sickness to speak of... but the other stuff (bleeding, PTL, bedrest) makes up for it.

I do know women who LOVE being pregnant.. my cousin was one. She loved the attention she got.. and she loved her new sex drive, new breasts, cute clothes she got to wear.. the whole shebang.

I don't have ANY of those things.. I can't have sex.. I get NO attention except from my husband, my breasts haven't changed... and because of my weight loss... I'm still wearing the same clothing that I was before I got pregnant.. in fact it's loose on me. I don't even LOOK pregnant at 21 weeks..
I just look like I have a fat stomach. If I didn't FEEL the babies moving, I'd never know I was even expecting. LOL

anyway.. I don't want to discourage any of you because I feel like crap. I just wanted to warn you that just because you go thru all the IVF cycles doesn't mean your pregnancy will be easy. I for sure thought it would be easy compared to the 3 years of hell I went thru to get here. Not so.

I'm sorry if I've upset anyone by talking about being pregnant.. I know how hard it is to see someone or hear someone who's complaining about the very thing you want so much. This is mostly the reason I've layed low and not posted much.. because I think I would feel a little bitter if I were still cycleing.

Love you you all...
Brenda

Brenda, I can't speak for everyone but someone who's PG and doesn't have any idea what IF means vs. having been through what you've been through...uh....not even the same ballpark. I welcome your posts, want to hear how you (and babies) are doing, and want to help support you, even if it's just to pass the time. We all walked (some of) the journey with you to getting PG and I'd love to continue that walk with you through your PGY. Afterall...Amanda still updates us on her progress and I don't think anyone feels badly about that...wish you would keep hanging with us, too! :aok:

:bighug: for having such a miserable time of it...wish I could come bring you some STARBUCK'S (decaf, of course! :) )!!

Oh Brenda! I'm sorry it's been such a rough pregnancy. My 1st pregnancy was a pleasure. I felt great and had that whole glow thing for 9 months. This time it's been much different and definitely not as fun. I haven't felt well yet (just entered the 2nd tri so I'm hoping for some improvement) and I'm exhausted beyond belief! Like you, I'm thrilled to be able to be pregnant but I can't say I'm really enjoying it. I feel a bit guilty for not being happier about it but I'm sure once the baby (or, in your case, babies!) arrives, I'll be happy! And I don't think I could handle bedrest at all so you have my deepest respect!

Amanda

and she loved her new sex drive

:scratch: Sex drive? Really? I sure didn't get that with my pregnancy!

Dana, you poor thing! :lol: I got a HUGE sex drive when I was PG with Julia! CHris is DESPERATE for me to be PG again! :lol2:

So the other day, DH tells me that we should have a "date night". You know, spend some time together. And I say, "Well, don't worry, I'll be ovulating pretty soon so we'll have a date night soon enough. He said, "Well, I meant :sex: without worrying about when you're ovulating. I was stumped. I wondered what he had meant by that?? Sex doesn't equal trying to get pregnant?? It did not compute. :awink:

Kimberly

So the other day, DH tells me that we should have a "date night". You know, spend some time together. And I say, "Well, don't worry, I'll be ovulating pretty soon so we'll have a date night soon enough. He said, "Well, I meant :sex: without worrying about when you're ovulating. I was stumped. I wondered what he had meant by that?? Sex doesn't equal trying to get pregnant?? It did not compute. :awink:

Kimberly

:lol2: I'm SO glad I gave up on that notion when we found out about DH's low/non-existant sperm count! :rotflmao:

Kimberly - Sex isn't just on command to make a baby??? What?!?

Amanda

:angel1: so uh when does this sex drive thing start? I'm feeling sort of like a full night sleep would be close to orgasmic :blush1:

:angel1: so uh when does this sex drive thing start? I'm feeling sort of like a full night sleep would be close to orgasmic :blush1:
Two years post partum, and I 'm still waiting for mine to return.

We had our regroup with the doc yesterday. The news was not good. My FSH is high, my estrogen is low and my resting follicle count is low. They ran this new AMH test and it was very low too. According to the doc, AMH has been tested extensively in Europe, and is a very good indicator for IVF success. Given all that information, he said our chances for success were about 5%. While the news wasn't unexpected, it still sucks. I cried at the docs office, which kind of surprised me. I thought I got all my crying out over the last two weeks. I guess I was starting to get optimistic that the AMH test would offer us good news.

We talked with the doc and the nurse about using a DE. It looks like that is the way we will proceed. I've put a call into the clinic I used with Owen so I could get some info on their egg donor cycles. Their success with DE is just as high as the clinic I've been attending this time. And now we wait.....

I'm so sorry Dana. We were all hoping you'd get better news.

Amanda

PS My sex drive returned when we wanted to start TTCing #2. Talk about motivation!

Amanda

Dana I'm so sorry sweetie. That has to be so hard. No matter if you tried to prepare yourself for it or not it's still upsetting. I wish I could give you a big ole hug.

Bren I'm so sorry you are so miserable. I felt great in the beginning when i was pg with Riley but my back and hip problems got so bad 1/2 way thru I had trouble walking. We needed IVF and over a year of trying before we got pg so I felt guilty about complaining when I wanted it so badly. But you know what you want those babies and that is what counts. Doesn't mean the trip there will be great and you don't have to love it. Some women do. And those are the women where most everything feels great and works well for them. But there is another group of us women who have a lot of pain and other problems that doesn't make it so fun. So you go ahead and vent. You earned it! I hope things will get better for you soon. It has to be so hard for you. Hugs to you!!

I've had the worst 1 1/2 weeks I have ever in my entire life. SIL(22yrs old) had to have a pace maker put in, I had to watch MIL's daycare so she could go down to her. Then AF and taking my bcp on the wrong day, being sick, having a leak in the shower, Riley problems and well too much more to go in to! We're finally home settled and SIL is doing better. I am on cd 8 and after this cycle I'll start stims. So we are like less than 5 weeks away from ret. I went in today for a saline sono and all is well.

Monday I went in to see my gastro for my stomach and esophagus. Well not so great news there. I need the hernia surgery. They really hate to do it but mine is so big and clearly still causing lots of problems. He said we don't have to put off our ivf. But that I need to know that I will not be able to eat meat and most likely will be on a puree only diet.(being pg makes it all much worse and right now it is terrible) I'll have to see him many times while I'm pg so he can keep track of how bad it's getting. So I have prepared myself knowing I won't be able to eat real food for a good part of my pregnancy. I guess nothing about this will be easy. After the baby is born(should everything go ok) I will have the surgery to try to fix the hernia when I recover from the c/s.

We're still saving like mad for our PGD. I still haven't sold my mom's rings yet. I had one buyer but she hasn't gotten back to me in days so I'm thinking she is out. I guess off to ebay. I hate to do that because of all the fees and the shady people there. But I have no choice. I need the money now! We have to pay up front so we owe the money at the end of the month. It's coming quickly!

Brandon is still in Germany but will be home on Saturday. Thank god! We miss him terribly and I really need him here. I can't even believe how bad this last week was. My excema is crazy!

Good news is that I lost more weight! Yippy. I was 238 in May and I am now 206!!! How cool is that! And since I won't be able to eat well when I'm pg that will help to keep my weight gain down.(I'm still very overweight so I've got some to work with) My sister works at a health foods store so she'll get me the powders that help supplement your diet.(really good I guess people rave about them) She has the whey protein and the berry greens. Not sure if they make a liquid/powedered prenatal though. I'm having a rough time getting it down now and that will be worse later.

So I guess we'll just see how it goes. I'm on twice the regular dose of prevacid and my doctor told me I have to start tapering down. It's just too much to be on long term. I started on Monday and I've been so sick since then. I still have one more pill to drop in the next week and a half. I just don't think my body is going to handle that very well. But maybe I can find something else to help My sister had some stuff from her store I will try. i have no other options right now. Other than pushing out the ivf and having the surgery. It's just nuts I just turned 27 and I've had 8 surgeries not including procedures they had to knock me out. I thought only old people had to do that!:lol:

Have a great rest of the week everyone.

Sarah

Dana - I'm so sorry about the news at the RE. I hope that being able to look forward to DE cycle.

Sarah - wow sorry about such a tough week for you, what a lot on your plate. Can I ask what your prevacid dosage is? Just curious, I was on 30 mg 2 times a day for a while...now and down to 1 time per day. Is it possible that you could have the surgery during the supression phase of your cycle? Regardless, I really admire you for making the decisions you are about the IVF and being prepared to have a limited diet during pregnancy. Very exciting that you are on your way to cycling!!

Sarah - I'm sorry about your stress! I really hope things get better for you.

Amanda

I'm on 4 30mg pills a day. Well right now on 3 for this week. And man my body is NOT happy with it. I've been so sick and each day it is getting worse. I was up for 2 hours in the middle of the night because it got so bad. The last couple days have been better for stress but today went right out the window. :( I spent all day on the phone with doctors offices and the insurance people over coverage. I was actually starting to cry at one point which I never do on the phone. I just seriously can't believe how my life has gone to crap in 2 weeks. I know that doesn't help my stomach problems and I try so hard to just let it roll off me. But too much at one time catches up fast. Brandon is coming home tomorrow so life should get much better very soon! :) I talked to my gastro's office today and they are adding an OTC pill to the mix to try to help out losing the one prevacid at least for this week. We'll see how next week works. It scared me when I had strong pain and trouble swollowing a very small amount of mashed potatoes. Not a good sign and now I am more worried than ever about needing the surgery now instead of later.

I'd need to really recover from the surgery before the IVF and that just wouldn't happen that quickly. I don't even know which of the 4-5 different surgeries they'd do. I have to see another specialist for that.(they don't do these as often as you'd think) So we'll see I guess. There is nothing I can do about that but try to relax as much as I can. So that is what my main goal is this upcoming week. and with brandon home that should be much easier! hopefully things will get better instead of worse. :)

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Sarah

I hope you feel better Sarah.

Amanda

We had our regroup with the doc yesterday. The news was not good. My FSH is high, my estrogen is low and my resting follicle count is low. They ran this new AMH test and it was very low too. According to the doc, AMH has been tested extensively in Europe, and is a very good indicator for IVF success. Given all that information, he said our chances for success were about 5%. While the news wasn't unexpected, it still sucks. I cried at the docs office, which kind of surprised me. I thought I got all my crying out over the last two weeks. I guess I was starting to get optimistic that the AMH test would offer us good news.

We talked with the doc and the nurse about using a DE. It looks like that is the way we will proceed. I've put a call into the clinic I used with Owen so I could get some info on their egg donor cycles. Their success with DE is just as high as the clinic I've been attending this time. And now we wait.....

I'm really sorry that you won't be able to continue using your own eggs. :sadhug: Could you tell me more about the AMH test? It sounds interesting and I've never heard about it. Not that this is really any sort of consolation, but at least you have someone in this thread taking the same journey. . .we can go through this together.

Dana~I'm so sorry that you're having a rough time. It sounds awful. When I'm going through rough times like this, I keep trying to remember how quickly things change and then I start imagining my future when all of this is over with. :sadhug:

My friend Polly is up for the weekend. Everything has been nice and we really haven't talked much about her pregnancy/miscarriage and what I'm up to right now. But at one point last night she asked me and when I told her that I was having trouble find a donor that matched my heredity, she couldn't quite grasp why that was so important to me. She kept telling me that I have to remember that a child in my arms will be my child no matter what the ethnicity is. Clearly, she has a very legitimate point, but when I said something like what if all I could find was an Asian woman and DH and I had a baby that looked like that (DH is German & Irish) wouldn't that be a little odd? Her response was, "What does it matter?" I think she sensed I was getting upset with the direction of the conversation and then later on, she asked if I could show her the online donor banks and how it works. I really believe that in her hearts of hearts, she is truly trying to understand. :dunno:

Kimberly - I'm glad things are going better with your relationship with Polly. I think to some people, a child is a child is a child. While that's true to a certain extent, the ideal situation would be to find a donor who more closely matches your ethnicity. We all know that when people use donor sperm, they are able to try to find a "match." Why would donor eggs be any different???

Amanda

Kimberly, I agree with Amanda. Polly is just getting through a m/c and to her, I am sure that ANY baby would be perfect, regardless of ethnicity. But you have travelled a different road to get where you are and so far as you have the chance to choose the ethnicity of an egg donor, I'd say that's exactly what you should do. :nod:

Dana, I'm sorry things aren;t working out the way you'd like. :bighug: I am glad that you and Kimberly have each other to go through it with.

Sarah, I hope you get yourself well for the IVF but please don't put yourself at risk just to keep the September time. I know how hard it is to put off an IVF cycle but if it means you being healthy... :bighug: I just want you to be well!

Thanks Suzi I know that is the right thing. But well my heart just doesn't want to go along with it. It just feels like we've been in limbo forever waiting for this chance. And while waiting another 3-6 months doesn't sound like a lot to most it is an eternity to me. I am usually a very realistic person and part of me knows doing the surgery now is best for my overall health. But I know that doing the IVF now is best for trying to get pg.(our Re has been very clear that we don't have the time to keep putting it off, I'm treated like I was a 40-45 yr old) I don't think either situation is a win win. If I do the surgery we could be putting our chances of having another baby in jeopordy but if I do the ivf and things stay the same or get worse I'm putting my health in jeopordy. Part of me feels I can get thru being pg with my condition. It won't be easy and it will suck but having another child is so important to me. I know you can understand how I feel because I know you feel the same way about yourself. So I guess we'll really see how the next 1-2 weeks go. If I get worse then it isn't my choice anymore. But should it be ok then we will go on as scheduled. I'm so torn right now as to what the right thing is to do. I'm not sure how much more I can take emotionally of waiting. I just wish things would just work in my darn body. Just one thing!:rolleyes:

Kimberly I'm sure your friend just doesn't understand everything. We've all been thru some of what you have and even though most of us haven't had to go to the lengths you have, we all still agree with your choice. I think if we all had to use donors we'd use on as close to ourselves as we could get. In fact while my sister looks nothing like me(I have red hair she has dark brown, etc) she has the same family genes as I do so she will be our donor should we need one after this ivf. If we were using an agency we would pick a donor as close to me as we could. Then should one not be available, we'd go from there. There is nothing wrong with that, it is only natural that you'd want your child to be most like you. :)

Dana I'm so so sorry honey. I can only imagine how disappointing that is for you. We are here for you whatever you need.

Next week I might call my IF clinic to have the nurse ask my Re how long he would want me to recover from hernia surgery before proceeding with ivf. Should I get worse I should really know how things will go. Since having the trouble swollowing before I haven't had that since. Just my pills get stuck but that is semi normal now for me. I have my sister looking into her suppliers to see if someone offers a liquid or powered prenatal since eventually I won't be able to swollow that one at all. So many problems and choices to make. But my hubby is home now so all is well! I rescheduled his SA for Tuesday so we could "enjoy" each other last night. I feel much better with him here. Like a weight has been lifted. So hopefully this will all help!

Could you tell me more about the AMH test? It sounds interesting and I've never heard about it.
CCRM is one of the few (if not the only) clinics offering this test. And I think they've only been doing it since June - so its very new.

AMH stands for Anti-Mullerian hormone. AMH is produced by resting follicles. (among other things. Its also essential in sex determination of a developing fetus. If you try and do any research on AMH, that's probably what you'll find) European research shows that there is a corolation between AMH levels and not only the number of eggs which will be retrieved during a cycle, but even the possible success for pregnancy during a cycle. My AMH level was .1 . A level of 1-1.5 is considered "normal". So my results were pretty bad. All of the people I've found on IVFConnections who have had the test (all three of us) have all failed. I think that is probably because they aren't doing the test on everyone, just us lucky few who's possible success was questionable.

Kimberly, I've been reading these boards since they were opened. (I just didn't post again until I was joining in) I was thrilled when I heard you were going to be pursuing DE.

We made our appointment with Conceptions (or previous clinic) for later this week. They had a cancellation :cheer: If it weren't for the stinkin' money, this would be so much less stressful!!! Dave and I have no debt (just cars and house - that doesn't count) I guess that's about to change.

Hey, one (more) great thing about DE, I can enjoy my morning coffee without guilt! :coffee:

Sarah - your hernia condition sounds miserable. :bighug: I'm sorry that it seems like you have to chose between your health and an IVF cycle. I know, when you are doing IVF, you don't want to wait a cycle! Tough choice!

Could you go on birth control pills while recovering from your sugery? Do you think that might help save those eggs until you are ready for IVF. Just a thought.

I'm sure you are enjoing having your DH home!

Dana I could go on bcp's except they can really make me sick. This time so far I'm fine but for my FET I was so sick. My problem isn't a egg quantity problem its quality. I have the eggs(as far as we know) I just have a severe problem with quality(or so this is the thinking we'll know for sure with the PGD) So I would probably just skip it. I have to say that yesterday was much better. I only had a very mild problem one I can live with. So we'll see how the week goes. I need to drop another pill this week. I'll do it tomorrow. See how today goes first. I started the pepcid ac and that seems to help. Maybe that is the good combo for me. I have to talk to my OB and my RE to see how they feel about me being on both prevacid (60 mg) and one pepcid thru pgcy. If they are ok with it and my body seems to adjust to it we might be ok! I sure hope so. Next year will be rough with recovering from a c/s and then having hernia surgery right after I recover but it will be so nice to be done then! :) And well having a baby or babies in my arms will make this all WONDERFUL no matter what problems I have!

I'm so sorry your result was so low. I know this really has to be hard. I hope that everything goes smoothly with your DE and you'll be on your way to having another baby very soon. My sister will be our donor should we need one at the end of this ivf. We are so lucky she'll do it for us. We don't have the money to pay for one. I just hope that you and Kimberly will only need it one time and they will have beautiful babies soon!

Sarah

Ooops! I reread my last post and this message was meant for you Sarah. . .

Sarah~I'm so sorry that you're having a rough time. It sounds awful. When I'm going through rough times like this, I keep trying to remember how quickly things change and then I start imagining my future when all of this is over with.

I'm just so glad that your husband is back home and helping to lift your spirits. I'm sure his being back will have a positive impact on the other stressful things going on in your life. . .and hopefully, they'll all start working themselves out. :bighug:

I just hope that you and Kimberly will only need it one time and they will have beautiful babies soon!

That's so sweet! Me too! :yippee:

Dana~Thanks for the info. Of course, at this point, it's doubtful that any Dr. will suggest that for me, but I'm going to definitely keep that in mind just in case.

Thank all of you so much for bringing my confidence back that I'm making the right decisions. :grouphugg I did show Polly one of the online websites and she definitely had a better understanding of what it was all about. I think I was talking about multiple births for some reason and since she's been hearing about so many famous woman who are 40 and older having multiple births, she thought that was just because that happens more with older women. When I told her that those instances of twins were 99% most likely due to fertility treatments, she was kind of dumbfounded. I seriously wonder how many people think that way. :confused: My friend Polly is the sweetest person, but definitely naive. So anyway, when we were on the online donor agency, I did a query for her and it's so funny because all the Caucasian women who fit her ethnicity all had blond hair and she has thick dark brown hair. I think it really helped for her to see that and imagine what she would do if she was in this circumstance and by the end, she seemed to understand where I was coming because she eventually began agreeing with me that I had to feel comfortable with the donor and when the right donor comes along, I'll know it. On that note, I called the donor agency and with the ad running for two weeks soliciting an Afro-Cuban donor, there was not one response. :blue: I decided to widen the pool and asked them to place another ad soliciting an Afro Hispanic/Latina donor. In other words, she doesn't have to be Cuban, but perhaps Puerto Rican, Domincan, or Brazialian. I know that those particular Latin cultures have a lot of African mix in them due to slave trade (just like Cuba). So we'll see what happens. :dunno:

Kimberly - I just checked out 'Having Your Baby Through Egg Donation' (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0944934323/qid=1124891016/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-9502763-4067801?v=glance&s=books&n=507846) from the library. I'm only a few chapters into it, but so far I'm enjoying it. You might want to see if your library has a copy.

Good Afternoon Everybody! I just got caught up!

Kim! I am so happy to hear you got your approvals!!!!! I completely understand your want for a DE from the same ethnic background as yourself. When we first started looking at other options DH and I decided if we had to use donor sperm we would pick someone who looked like him and from the same background so that strangers wouldn't look and say I must have been sleeping around! Same goes for adoption we skipped china and looked at countries like guatamala and russia because we wanted a baby that might grow up to look like us.

Dana-Sorry to hear about your test results, praying for you!

Sarah-Man health wise things dont seem to be going great I hope everything works out for you, and like Suzi said don't put your health at risk if you dont have to. Prayers that things start looking up health wise!

Ang-Sorry about your grandfather, I hope he's doing better! Congrats to DH on scoring a job! Hopefully you'll find something in Mass. soon! Prayers for you to!

Judy! Jumping for joy for you, may every ultrasound be great news of healthy babies!

Bren-Sorry your pregnancy is tough on you, praying that it gets better and you get to enjoy this time with your babies (it'll probally be the only time you'll have them completely to yourself!)

Hope I didn't leave anyone out there!

Well I went to my Gyno Appt 3 weeks ago, my mom came with me for support which was great. It started out terrible, she introduced herself and then said that based on DH's a-something-plastic-something in french that we are not candidates for IVF/ICSI. She jolted me and I saw red, I responded with "Can you repeat that in english please?" And she says he has no sperm. I calmly explained what the urologist had told us that yes he has sperm but due to the scar tissue that they are trapped, she asked who and when and all that and she starts going through our files and says nothing is in the folder for the last three years! I was so mad! Then she says that as long as I'm there she'll run more tests and get everything straightened out for the referals!(Thank God!) So I went for yet another pap and blood tests and now I have to do a HCG? Dye in the uterus for blockages. She's fairly confident that theres no blockages but that its a requirement, my US three years ago was during ovulation and they had really good info on chart from the first doctor. She put us in referal for both Foothills and Genesis, unfortunately there is a 9 month waiting list for foothills and she didn't know about Genesis. So much for the previous doctors assurance that we would be PG by November if thats what we wanted! After all that the good news is the referals are in to two clinics so who ever calls us first is the clinic we'll go for it! At least the money is there because we started saving for a november cycle. Well I gotta go!
PS holidays were great!

Dana-Sorry to hear about your test results, praying for you!
Thank You!!!!! I really hope you don't have to wait 9 months!!!

Our appointment with the egg donor nurse at Conceptions (the clinic we used with Owen, not the clinic where I've just had my testing) didn't happen today. The nurse called this morning and said she didn't see any record of me seeing Dr. Swanson recently. I told her it had been three years, but we'd completed initial testing at CCRM and were told donor was how we had to go. I told her we wanted to come back to Conceptions. Dr. Swanson looked at my chart and wants to see us again. He hasn't seen the results of the latest tests. So, we have to regroup with Dr. Swanson. His next available is Sept 8. I know in the grand scheme of things, it isn't that big of a deal. Its just so damn frustrating. I was bawling when I called my friend to tell her she didn't have to babysit. I want to get this started.

I told Dave I didn't know what I'd do if Dr. Swanson tells us we can cycle with my eggs. He said 'I really don't think that's going to happen'. Its so funny, because Dave has always denied there was a problem. (He'd usually say the doctors didn't find anything wrong with either of us or 'Your FSH was a little high that one time') He was always optimistic I'd get pregnant naturally this time. I guess I'm happy he's being realistic. And I am so happy he is on board 100% with going with a donor

Sarah - I hope your health stays ok so you can get thru the IVF and pregnancy!
Kimberly - I'm very glad to hear that Polly understands your situation much better and can appreciate why you want a donor from your own ethnic background. I hope you find the perfect donor soon!
Andrea - How frustrating! I'm sorry for the wait.
Dana - I'm sorry things didn't work out today but maybe you'll get different news with your doctor when you see him. I hope the time flies until 9/8.

Amanda

Dana I'm sorry you have to wait more. I TOTALLY understand how you feel. We've felt the same way for more than 1/2 this year. We just want to get going. And I hope that you are able to also. Hopefully your appointment will go well.

andrea I'm sorry you had a rough appointment. Hopefully they'll call you soon and you won't have to wait that long to get going. But that is great you have the money already. Good for you! That is on less stressor.:)

Kimberly thanks! I do feel much better just having Brandon home. And I'm not happy about needing a puree diet(hell who would be) and I know it will be very hard but I just think about the little baby I'll have in my arms afterwards and that make me ok with it all. I'll do anything to have another child. And if that means not being able to eat normal food then so be it. I just wish my body would get in line and start behaving!

sarah... a HUGE life saver for me when I was on the liquids was those Lipton cup a soups. They were good and filling and the noodles were small enough to fit thru a straw. :lol:

Thanks Brenda. I figured I could get those ramen type noodles down as long as I cook them super mushy. I'll find a way around it. Why were you on liquids? How are you feeling?

Hi Everyone,

This is my first time every posting to a board, so everyone please bear with me. My DH and I have one daughter (she'll be 2 in 3 weeks). We've been TTC since Oct '04. Have tried 3 cycles of Follistim and will now be moving to IVF. Prior to conceiving Samantha we tried for 1 1/2 years, got pregnant on Clomid (1st Cycle) then m/c at about 7 weeks. Tried clomid a few more cycles. Had laparoscopy 7 months after m/c, found endometriosis, conceived next cycle (1st cycle of Pergonal). Does anyone have any words of encouragement re: starting IVF? The soonest we'll be able to start actual IVF process is Oct '05 as I'm only 7 days into this cycle, and the dr. still needs to run the normal tests (i.e., infectuous disease screening, fsh/e2 levels, etc).

Okiejpb(sorry I don't know your real name), I'm so sorry for all you've been thru. You've come to a great place and pretty much all of us have been thru something similar to you. I'm sorry you have to come here for that reason but we're glad you found us. I'm about to go thru my second fresh IVF.I hope everything runs smoothly with your testing so you can be on your way quicly. Most RE's are pretty quick with it so you might not have to wait much at all. If you ever have any questions there are many of us here who've gone thru most anything.

HI Okie... :wavey: Welcome aboard!! This is a terrific group of woemn, offering great support. Feel free to ask away with questions...between all of us, SOMEONE will be able to answer for you! Hope your stay with us is short and SWEET! :nod:

Welcome Okie!!!

I need some advice/help. We go to Gymboree on Sunday mornings and have been going for about a year. We have made a small group of close friends in our class and we socialize outside of Gymboree. Our closest friends in the group are Wendy and Jeff and their daughter Isabella. Isabella is about 2 months older than Nathaniel. We've been over to each other's homes, gone out to dinner together, and we're all going to Cape May at the same time for vacation (not really together but we plan to hang out). Wendy and Jeff are a bit older than we are (I'd guess they're about 40). Isabella was also an IVF baby and she also started out as a twin. Wendy has had a total of at least 5 miscarriages. She lost a set of twins at 7 and 11 weeks a few months ago (I think it was December) and then had another early pregnancy loss in March. They are considering adopting for China and I think they also plan to do ONE more IVF before giving up on having another "biological" child. In short, things have been really difficult and painful for them.
We told Wendy and Jeff that I was pregnant when I still thought I was having twins. They also know that we lost one of the twins. We saw them today at Gymboree for the 1st time in over a month (and the 1st time since I lost the A twin). Our other Gymboree friends didn't know I was pregnant b/c we haven't seen them in a while. So they were asking me alot about my pregnancy, etc. Wendy totally avoided me. She barely spoke to me the whole time and seemed to go out of her way to make sure she didn't have to talk to me. We all went out to brunch afterwards and Wendy sat as far away from me as possible (Jeff actually sat next to me and asked me pregnancy questions while Wendy was walking around with Isabella). At brunch my pregnancy didn't come up at all, only when we 1st got to Gymboree.
I TOTALLY understand that me being pregnant is really awful for Wendy! I've felt that way a hundred times before (like when my SIL got pregnant right after I had the chemical pregnancy). But I also don't want to lose our friends. I know it's not really up to me but I don't know if there's anything I can do or say to help make things better. I don't mind NOT talking about the pregnancy with them but it's also a bit like the White Elephant in the room. I'm already showing and at some point it's going to be too obvious to ignore (and at some point there will be a baby). Any advice? Suggestions?

Amanda

Hmmm that is a really rough one. I would give her another week or so just to get used to seeing you pg. Then if things are still strained, I'd talk to her alone outside of all this. Maybe call her or stop by her house or something. Maybe somehow you could tell her how much you value her friendship and how you know seeing you pg hurts her since can't stay pg. But that you really like her as a friend and the pgcy isn't something you need to talk about, you've got so many other things you can talk about other than that if that is what she wants. I'm sure that she will come around soon. Maybe something happened very recently that she hasn't told anyone and that is why she was like that. Could she have possibly m/c'd recently without you knowing? I had many m/c's, 6 in total. And there was one where I had just started to m/c when there was a family party. Brandon's cousin, whom I am not close with at all was pg again with her second unwanted(not just unplanned, unwanted) child. So I just avoided her. It kills me to see people who go around telling others they didn't want this child when I can't stay pg. It wasn't obvious since it was a big party and again we aren't close at all. But I did avoid her much more than I usually would have. Or maybe she had a consult with her RE and was told bad news or something. I just wonder if there was something extra that happened to make her that way.

I hope that in the next week or two she comes around. Maybe for now just try to not talk much about it and ask her lots of questions about her life. I know it's hard when you have to be so excited for your pgcy. Especially with all the problems you've had. I never wanted my pg friends to feel they couldn't talk to me about pgcy things. I hope all will be better real soon!

Sarah

Thanks Sarah! Part of the problem is we don't see them very often. We've both missed alot of Gymboree this summer. We will see them in Cape May so I'll see how things go then. I don't expect much but I hope it doesn't ruin our friendship.

Amanda

Dana~Thank you so much for the information about the book. I'm going to purchase it. It's great that your Dr. is optimistic that you could get pregnant naturally. . .stay positive!

Andrea~Glad to hear from you again. :bighug: I'm glad you're back, but why the long wait before you can get signed up with a clinic? :confused:

Okie~Welcome :welcome: I've had many IVFs so if you have questions, you've come to the right place. Hope you're not here too long though.

Amanda~Boy o' boy, this sounds like the emotional trip I went through this summer. When I read your post, I was like, "Geez, I can't imagine what kind of advice to give. . ." Then I remembered, duh. . . This sort of happened to me. I'm not sure that I would have acted the same way as Wendy per se. I mean, she knew you were pregnant again and what your situation was and it shouldn't have been a total surprise that you showed up to Gymboree. Maybe this was not a good day for her. :dunno: It sounded like her husband tried to make up for her behavior somewhat. Like Sarah mentioned, I would give her sometime. What was really helpful to me when Polly was pregnant was that she wrote me a note letting me know that it was a bittersweet pregnancy for her knowing how sad I've been. She reassured me that she had tons of support around her and that even if she didn't hear from me for the next 9 months, she knew that our friendship would fall back into place. She put no pressure on me at all to be there for her, so in the end, I just really wanted to be there for her.

I'm on vacation. . .visiting the In-laws. We always stay in a hotel, so we have some down time in the evenings. . .it's good. It's a nice way to do these visits. :awink: Before I left on Friday however, I had to have an emergency root canal. Yes, it was at the last minute on a day where I was already running around at work trying to finish last minute things before vacation. :rolleyes: I felt really, really, really sorry for myself on Friday. My face is still a bit swollen and I'm using ice packs. Oh well, I'm just glad to be away right now! :yippee:

Kimberly

Amanda, I've been there too and Sarah and Kimberly give gerat advice. I'd give her some time to get a grip on her feelings and see if she comes around. If not, I like the idea of a card/note like Polly sent to Kimberly. That lets her control the situation and deal with it when she's ready. When you have one child it is SO hard to suffer repeatedly through IVFs, especially at her age. Maybe once things get going on their adoption she will be able to focus more on that than on her pain and loss (that all come bubbling to the surface when she sees you). What a nice friend you are for asking. :justahug:

Thank you Kimberly and Suzi for your insight. I knew I could count on you to help me know what to do! I think I'm going to wait things out for now. I tried to be careful not to talk about the pregnancy in front of Wendy but with other people asking about it, there was little I could do. If things continue to be strained and weird, I might try the card or note. The problem is that we're not THAT close so it might be overstepping the bounds of our relationship (we've only known each other a year and only because our kids are in Gymboree together). This is a family that we REALLY like and would like to stay friends with so hopefully it'll all work out. I do remember that after my FET with the chemical pregnancy, it seemed like the whole world was pregnant except me. I can't compare the stuff we've been thru with the horrors that Wendy's experienced but I think I do have a little insight into how she might be feeling...

Amanda

Thanks everyone. I don't have much to post at this time only because we don't really start anything related to the actual IVF until October. Don't want this to sound bad, but I'm looking forward to this break emotionally. It's all such an emotional roller coaster. One question I do have is has anyone ever felt that their RE is being too conservative with their treatment plan or triggering too early at 17mm on a Follistim/Ovidrel cycle? I've searched high and low on the internet and finally came to a gut-feeling conclusion that I was being triggered too early and requested that I don't trigger until my follicle was at least 19-20mm. Long story short, I only had one lead follicle and not many close in size due to the RE wanting me to start with a very low dose (50 iu) since I've responded so well in the past. I truly feel that if it wasn't in God's plan for me to get pregnant over the past several months, then it just wasn't meant to be, but at the same time think that I should have been more agressive with my RE. Any thoughts on this?

BTW, I agree with all of the ladies on their advice to Schwanda re: Wendy. I'd give her a little time then maybe ask to get together on the side and/or send her a note letting her know that you value her friendship. You just never know what's going on in her mind. She may be feeling bad about having shunned you that day and doesn't know how to approach you now.

Thanks Okie for your input! I really appreciate what everyone has to say about the situation. My 1st son was after IVF but this pregnancy was an injectible with IUI cycle. I had only one lead follicle and triggered on the early side since we were catching a plane to go to a work-related conference the day after the IUI! I was worried about it being too early but I ended up pregnant with twins (and then lost one between 7 and 11 weeks). I guess you never know...

Amanda

Amanda-I think everybody hit it on the head give her time and then make contact. Make sure she knows that her friendship is important to you and I'm sure she'll come around. Hopefully she'll come around soon. How is your pregnancy progressing? Are you really showing alot already?

Kim-Ouch I hope your recovering well from your root canal and enjoying your holidays.

Okie-Welcome! This is a great group of ladies to chat with!

Okay so I havent come online for a couple days because I was throwing my own pity party. I went online to see if I could contact both clinics to see if we are on the wait list yet, how long ect...while I was waiting for responces so I did a fertility clinic search in western canada and up came one that I hadn't previously found before VFC in victoria. So I emailed them and this morning when I opened my mail there was a message from the clinic doctor. He wants us to fill out history forms and fax them in with the medical referal from the specialist. Then he'll set up a telephone consult for Mike and I after he reveiws the info. That was fast. The next email underneath that one was from Genesis and they dont have our referal on file yet because yellowknife snail mails them and that they will call when they get it. Would it be obnoxious of me to ask for a copy of our referal and do it myself to VFC? I kinda thought when I opened their site that V is for victory and maybe I wasn't meant to find their clinic until the timing was right. Kinda silly but we were already just going to take the first clinic that called anyway. This clinic has alot of people that worked at the other two and really good qualifictions behind their names. I'm curious though should I take the cautious route and think they got back to me way to quickly perhaps they aren't that good or should I throw away caution and say lets do it?! I really think my gut is pushing me towards Victoria but this is a huge decsion and a costly one to make the wrong choice in clinics, what do you gals think? PS does a IVF cycle take about 46 days from start to transfer? I'm trying to see which sets are good for IVF for the next year so that I'm completely prepared.

Well I better get back to work....Take care
Andrea

Andrea - I am a big fan of going with your gut - but to do so I would consult with all the clinics if possible and hear what each would recommend. You may get some treatment ideas too!

Welcome Okie!

Kimberly how's the jaw feeling?

Hello to all, I have been lurking :scan:

Andrea~I don't think you can necessarily judge how good the clinic is based on the amount of time it takes them to get back to you. Like Judy said, in the end, you should probably go with your gut. If you wanted, I would think you could get more information (perhaps online or by asking the clinic directly for more information) about each clinic in terms of their success rates, testimonials from other women, etc. That might be the best "logical" way to go about it. But if V stands for Victory and it feels right, then work with them. It seems like your wait would definitely be much shorter with VFC than the other clinics. Good Luck.


Judy~My jaw is better but my cheek is still slightly swollen. I asked DH what would happen if my cheek stayed swollen like this from some wierd anomily from the root canal and he reassured me that it would eventually go down and that if I'm concerned I should call the Dr. I don't want to call because I don't want him to laugh at me and think I'm too vain, but I am worried because in fact, I am vain!! :blush1: :biggrin:

But I got some hopeful news. :crossfing I'm on vacation--visiting the inlaws, so I'm in correspondence with the donor agency via email. I was sent an email that included attached pictures and a profile of a woman who responded to the ad!! Her mom is Carribean and her dad is from Panama, so that fits well within my own heredity. :clap: So I responded by basically asking what we do next to get this ball rolling? So we'll see what happens. :dunno:

Kimberly

Andrea - I think Kim makes an excellent point about choosing a clinic.
Kimberly - Great news on a potential donor!!!! I hope she's the ONE!

Amanda

OH KIMBERLY!!! I am so (cautiously) excited for you!!! I hope this is the right person for you!! :crossfing

Kimberly-I'm crossing everything that shes the right donor for you! How exiting for you to have a possible donor! It's so wonderful "seeing" things happening for you!

Thanks for the advice ladies, I'm turning into a real research whiz kid now. I went back online and printed off the success rates for four clinics (one is in the east) to see how VFC compares and the rates are quite similar. We have decided to send our information to VFC and see how the phone consult goes, it doesn't hurt to talk to them and it wont cost anything. Mike also has a good feeling about VFC and it doesn't hurt that he was born in Victoria and still has family that we havent seen in a while there. We will still keep our options open with Genesis and foothills and where we can get in we will. Has anyone had a HSG? I have an appointment for next friday and I've never had one before (another test that should have been done three years ago!). Is it about as comfortable as the internal ultrasound?

Suzi-Technical question??? nasal Suprefact for ovarian suppression is it as effective as the shots? I noticed two clinics list it as the first drug they use for the suppresant and then the shots are listed as a may be used drug. (If I can avoid shots I will!)

Judy-How are you doing?

Andrea - I found the HSG to be quite a bit worse than an internal sonogram. I recommend taking advil or motrin before the test because you can get cramping. Some people have no problem with an HSG but I didn't like it much!

Amanda

Andrea I've had several HSG's before. They are worse than u/s. I won't lie they hurt, a lot if your tubes are blocked.(for one of mine they were and it really hurt) But the pain is very short. Only for less than a minute then you are just crampy after. It helps to take some tylenol an hour before it. But if your tubes are open it hurts far less.:) I hope V is a great place for you!

Kimberly that is so awesome! I really hope that things work out well for you guys. She sounds just perfect!

Today was our consult and I have our schedule. I'll start lupron on the 4th, stims the 13th then ret will be the 23,24 or 25 and finally transfer on 28, 29 or 30. It has to be one of those three days because of the PGD. It's so nice to at least have a three day window to work with. I'm on a different protocol this time around so I really hope that it will still work well. It makes me nervous to change since the other one worked so well but I guess lots have changed since then. And due to my allergy to PIO I'm on both vag supp and pills. But the good news is that they have prenats in a chewable! Who knew that would be exciting. I'm having trouble getting my pills down so this will take one large pill out of the problem.

I just can't believe that Sunday I start my lupron. wow that really just starting to hit me how close we are.

They girls LOVED seeing Riley again. He's such a charmer! It will be nice to see them again now. I really like this newer office they are just so nice it really helps things run smoothly.

Sarah

Thanks for the advice ladies, I'm turning into a real research whiz kid now. I went back online and printed off the success rates for four clinics (one is in the east) to see how VFC compares and the rates are quite similar. We have decided to send our information to VFC and see how the phone consult goes, it doesn't hurt to talk to them and it wont cost anything. Mike also has a good feeling about VFC and it doesn't hurt that he was born in Victoria and still has family that we havent seen in a while there. We will still keep our options open with Genesis and foothills and where we can get in we will. Has anyone had a HSG? I have an appointment for next friday and I've never had one before (another test that should have been done three years ago!). Is it about as comfortable as the internal ultrasound?

Andrea~I'm glad you're doing this research. Since you are so concerned about making the best decision, I think this is important. I didn't want to have to say this, but like Amanda and Sarah, I didn't too much enjoy the two HSGs I've had. With the first, I was in so much pain that I throw up my breakfast right after the catheter came out. :rolleyes: And with the next, I had built up such a fear, that at the slightest touch, I jumped. (And I was already given valium because I had warned them). So anyway, they wound up giving me some sort of local anesthestia in "that area" and I was fine after that. I have heard other women say they've been fine with it. . .right?

Sarah~All the best with everything. :bighug:

Kimberly

Holy S%&T Sarah I didn't realize that you were that close to retrieval! Praying good things for this cycle for you!

Thanks for the good advise on the HSG I'll definately take some tylenol before hand. Well September 18th we have a telephone consult with the Dr. for VFC, I'm so giddy right now I could just about do back flips! Gotta fly, Andrea.

Andrea, take MOTRIN, not Tylenol...three of them. Tyloenol will not help with the cramping.

Wow Sarah! I can't believe you're starting so soon!!!
Andrea - I agree with Suzi. Tylenol won't help the cramps. Take motrin or ibuprofen or alleve or advil.

Amanda

Thanks I've got some motrin at home so I'll pop a couple of those. I am so stoked right now I can't concentrate. My SIL faxed us release forms and her friend in med. records is going to copy all of our records for us so when we get home we can pick up the envelope and fax it to VFC. Plus I'll get the referal for the other two clinics so I'll know when they were sent out. THis is really starting to be a real thing and not just a plan! Have a great evening everybody!

Andrea

Andrea that is great! I'm so glad that the ball is rolling so well. :)

I still can't believe that I start lupron on Sunday. Wow. I guess since we've had all these delays I really thought this wasn't going to happen now. My stomach has been so queezy lately. So I might have to try something different in my meds. I'll give it thru the weekend and see. I might have to go back to taking the pepcid at night and the prevacid twice a day.(Now I'm taking the prevacid twice and taking some herbal pills throught the day which have worked well for awhile) Oh and I lost another couple pounds. I'm very happy with my weight loss. And I know it can only really help our ivf chances. I'm only a few pounds away from 40 total pounds. I am now 13 lbs under what I was for our ivf with Riley. So even my maternity cloths are too big.:)

Sarah

Great news Andrea!
Sarah - Sorry your stomach isn't feeling better. Great news on the weight loss!

Amanda

Sarah so exciting that you are starting to cycle!!! Hope the tummy issue settle down for you!

Kim! Wonderful news!!! I hope hope hope that everything continues to move smoothly with this donor!! I think it is perfectly fine to be vain :blush:

Andrea - My HSG was pretty uneventful a few sharp cramps but the pills ahead of time I think really helped! Good luck!

Suzi - how are you?

Hi Amanda!!

I am doing pretty well, seem to have escaped the m/s bug so far and I feel so fortunate! I am looking forward to my first OB apt in 2 weeks. In the mean time have moved the PIO shots to every other day which feels like a big step. Though truthfully I'd rather the needle than the freaking sups but happy to do it all.

Scratch that I am now 200 lbs!!! I haven't weight myself in several days so after I posted that I jumped on the scale. I've lost the 40!! Today we are going shopping with my mom and Gap is having a huge sale. I had just bought a pair of jeans last week but I tried them again and they are too big. So I'm exchanging them for a smaller size. Yippy! Totally made my day! Those are the only jeans I'm buying since I'm hoping that I won't be able to wear them too long.;) All my other jeans are huge on me so I really need something.

I'm really not looking forward to the supps either. I hate wearing pads, I mean HATE them. I will be on 2 a day and 2 prometriums too. I wish there was better absorbsion with the pills.

I got the rest of my meds today. What a pain it will be to mix them. Last time I was just on gonal F this time I'm on follistim pen and menopur. So I have to mix the menopur then dial up the follistim and inject that into the menopur syringe and finally inject that to me. I could just do two different injections. I just was lucky with how easy it was to only be on gonal F last time. That was it just mix it and go. At least you get a nice kit with the pen so I can hold everything in there for times when I'm not at home.

For anyone especially those without insurance coverage for IVF, Freedom Drug sent me a card for a special number they have with Serono. They offer all kinds of help and send you a free kit including a subscription to Conceive magazine. But most importantly you will get coupons for Serono products.(gonal F,etc) The number is 866-538-7879. The name is Fertility LifeLines. And anyone can call to sign up no matter where you buy your meds from.

Suzi, what stims were you on? Hopefully it's at least one of the ones I'm on so if I have leftovers you can have them. I know I have PIO for you I just have to find it. It put it somewhere to hide from Riley and now I can't remember where that is. I know I had at least 2 if I remember right.

Sarah

Sarah, you are too sweet! yes, I use Gonal-F/Follistim and I'd sure appreciate any you have left over! :nod:

We are doing well! We haven't started any of the testing (SAs and my Annexin V IgG/IgM) that we're going to do, we'll start that in in about three weeks. We'll do SAs every 2-3 weeks until we see results like what Chris has had previously. if he has good results right off, we will freeze a sample and thaw to see if any sperm make it. If they survive the thaw well, we'll do another sample (quickly) and freeze it for future use, just in case. Hopefully, the first SA will just be back to normal and we won' thave to worry about all this.

Me...I need to get cracking a lose some weight. I have four months and I'd like to lose 40 pounds (for now) so back to the gym I go come Tuesday. If I can get rid of 30 pounds I'd be happy (and where I was when we did Julia's cycle) but my goal is 40. Hoping I can stick to it... :crossfing

Judy - Glad things are going so well!
Sarah - I took menopur this last cycle and it's much better than some of the other drugs. I know Gonal F isn't bad but some of the others can cause swelling at the injection site. Menopur didn't do that at all! I hated the suppositories, too.
Suzi - Good luck with the weight loss. I hope you don't have to use the frozen sperm but at least you'll have a back up!

Amanda

Dana~Thank you so much for the information about the book. I'm going to purchase it. It's great that your Dr. is optimistic that you could get pregnant naturally. . .stay positive!

I must not have worded that very well. Trust me, no Dr. is optimistic I'll get pregnant natually!

At this point, I don't even want to get pregnant natually. I'm terrified. I figure my eggs must be so degraded, any pregnancy I achieve would end in heartbreak.

Congrats on your potential donor. I'm crossing my fingers that she is the perfect match for you!

Sarah - Wow! Its happening so soon. I'm so excited for you! And congrats on the weight loss. That is really something to be proud of.

I'm still just waiting. Our appointment is this Thursday. I just want to get this started! I called the clinic last week to see if there was any paperwork I could fill out before my appointment. Since its been three years, I'm considered a 'new patient' I got to fill out that boat load of paperwork again.

I had the clinic where we did the testing this summer send my chart over to this clinic. They called to let me know they had sent it. They also wanted to know if they could have done anything different, or if there was anything else they could do for me. They let me know their door was always open for me. They were so nice, it made me feel awful!

Suzi great I'm glad I have something for you. I checked my progesterone and it expired in July. Must have a very short shelf life. Sorry about that. But I should have some follistim for you. And I got an extra pen kit since I knew you might be able to use it.;) And good luck with the SA's I hope they go really really well and you'll have a good back up should you need it.

Amanda thanks! I had no problems on gonal f. Since I have PCOS that is all I took and it was fine. It was nice to not have to keep it cold and worry about that. But I'm sure it will all be just fine. I still have to find a pharmacy to get the darn supps from. the ones near me don't make them.

Dana I hope that everything goes really well with your old clinic and they can get you nice and pg soon.

I think I'll get af in a day or two. I just can't believe it is so soon. My stomach has been getting a little worse. I'm just sick all the time. But my food is going down fine so that is the important part. My voice is still more horse than it used to be but that might never change now. and that is fine. I just got in a couple new cookbooks I ordered from my neighbors Southern Living party. There are a few good recipes for gourmet like smoothies. Like chocolate banana. Easy but they sound yummy just what I need. so if any of you gals have good recipes for smoothies or soft foods I'm interested!

Sarah

Suzi great I'm glad I have something for you. I checked my progesterone and it expired in July. Must have a very short shelf life. Sorry about that. But I should have some follistim for you. And I got an extra pen kit since I knew you might be able to use it.;) And good luck with the SA's I hope they go really really well and you'll have a good back up should you need it.


Thanks Sarah! Don't sweat the progesterone...my RE is picky about it anyway and he wants me to use a certain brand name (Watson). Aside from that, it's only like $40 anyway...nothing like the Gonal-F/Follistim!! :eek:

so if any of you gals have good recipes for smoothies or soft foods I'm interested!

All mine have alcohol in them... :lol2: Actually, I can probably come up with a few for you! :aok:

If any of you ladies are going to be needing estrodial patches for FET... or estrace.. please let me know. I have TONS of patches that I need to get rid of before they expire... I think I have .05 and .10 strengths. I have 4 doses of recently expired antagon as well. Doc said they should be good for 6 months past the expiration date and I've certainly stored them properly. :)

If any of you ladies are going to be needing estrodial patches for FET... or estrace.. please let me know.
Kimberly or I will need them for a DE cycle. But who knows when that will be - they may be expired by then.

Kimberly or I will need them for a DE cycle. But who knows when that will be - they may be expired by then.

We're all praying that's not the case!! :nod: I hope you both find the right donor SOON!!!

Suzi that would be great. Any good smoothies that are as healthy as possible.( I don't care about fat and calories those can be high, just good protien, vitamins, etc) My nieghbor has a smoothie cook book so I'll have to borrow that and copy some. I want to try to get as many as I can so I won't get sick of them in a week. Or any soups that use veggies that is good too. If I cook them all day the veggies are so soft you don't even need teeth to chew them.:lol: And on the progesterone that is good. I don't know what brand they were. It was weird they just had a computer generated label on it with the info not the usual prescription ones I had before. They were from Freedom Drug and they were sealed the same but the label looked a bit homemade. But at least you can use the follistim and I have an open ended prescription on that.;)

I hope Kimberly and Dana can use those patches before they expire too. Hopefully they will both have good donors soon.

Things seems to be going well. . .so far. I mean, so far this donor seems to be interested. DH and I filled out our donor profile. It's a fairly long document. . .one half goes to the donor agency and contains all of our contact information, etc. and the other half goes to the donor to read over and that contains tidbits about DH and myself. . . .what we do for work, our education, why we want to use a donor, etc.

Although I didn't want to go out of state, this donor lives in RI. It's not far at all from Boston, so it didn't feel like such a big deal. If the donor we found lived in AZ or something, we'd have to pay for her plane flight during her monitoring. What I found out yesterday that was really nice is that this donor is planning to move to Boston in the next few weeks and has been driving here while looking for jobs. I hate to have to think this way, but I'm thinking that a young woman who is looking to settle in Boston is definitely going to need some money. I would think this would make her even more eager to get this process started. The *small* downsides (and I don't want to focus too much on this) is that this will be her first time so she does not yet have any experience with giving herself shots, taking the IF drugs, and even though she is only 22, there is no *real* proof that she has known infertility. I'm going stay positive with this and believe that she is as fertile as most 22 year olds.

The woman at the donor agency told me that most important thing is that she is responsible and from the fact that she's returned phone calls promptly and seems eager, means a whole lot. At this point, she needs to read (and like) our profile, and then she would still have to do some testing as required by our IVF clinic. . .fill out family history paperwork, blood tests, pap smear, etc. This whole process may take another 4-6 weeks, but in the whole spectrum of my IF history, it doesn't seem so bad. :dunno: I got AF while I was on vacation last week and brought my newly prescribed birth control pills with me just in case. Because it looks like there will still be more than a months time before we can get going, I've put off taking the Pill for this cycle. I don't like being on the Pill and I still want to make sure that DH and I still take every opportunity to continue to try on our own. :awink:

Kimberly

Kimberly that sounds really good. I hope that the ball keeps rolling quickly and all her testing goes well. Everything really sounds like it's falling into place for you! How exciting.:)

Well today is DAY 1!!!! I got af this morning. I'll go in for baseline tomorrow. Then on to stims next Tuesday. Holy cow this is real!!

Sarah

Sarah~Awesome! :banana: You're on your way. . .finally.

Kimberly

Kimberly, that is great! I hope all continues to go well. Remember...MOST women do not have ANY trouble with conception. We get a skewed view of how many suffer from IF because that is all we know. A mere 1% of the population has to use IVF to get PG and in the last 20 years, there have only been 250,000 IVF babies TOTAL born in the ENTIRE US!!

Oops!! Hit submit too soon! Sarah, :yippee: for you!

Kimberly, that is great! I hope all continues to go well. Remember...MOST women do not have ANY trouble with conception. We get a skewed view of how many suffer from IF because that is all we know. A mere 1% of the population has to use IVF to get PG and in the last 20 years, there have only been 250,000 IVF babies TOTAL born in the ENTIRE US!!

That's exactely what I needed to hear. See, I know where to come for good information. Thanks Suzi! :bighug:

Kimberly

That's exactely what I needed to hear. See, I know where to come for good information. Thanks Suzi! :bighug:

My pleasure!! And can I say...I am getting antsy about this donor POSSIBLY working out...I don't know HOW you are keeping yourself from busting at the seams!!

:yippee:Kimberly!!! Things are sounding so positive - fingers crossed for you!!

:yippee:Sarah!! How was baseline today?


:yippee: I wish I had half the energy of that smilie :rotflmao:

Thanks Suzi and Kimberly. Finally is so right!:lol:

Judy baselines will be tomorrow. But I'll be back in the afternoon to let you all know how it went. I'm sure it will be fine. Nothing I'm worried about. It's the PGD that I hold the most worry for. And speaking of, I just got off the phone with the director of the PGD lab. He will personally be calling me after both rounds of genetic testing to let us know how the embies are rating. I love that he will be calling us not some nurse who doens't know half the story. He will personally be doing our testing and talking with me. How cool!:)

Kimberly - the donor sounds promising so far. :crossfing Its so exciting!

Sarah - :yippee: for day one. We wait forever for an iver, then the cycle is over before you know it!

Our meeting with our old clinic went well. I love that doc. He is so kind and compassionate. Its obvious he really loves what he does. He didn't say we couldn't cycle with my eggs, but he certainly didn't encourage it. He gave us the same 5% chance for success. With a 50% chance the cycle would be cancelled before retrieval. Dave wants to think about it some. I told Dave I was afraid Dr. S would let me cycle with crappy odds. Dave didn't think we were going to be given that option, so he was shocked when it was presented.

Dr. S really encouraged us to go straight to a DE cycle. Dave and I will talk it over tonight, but I think I'll be calling the donor nurse tomorrow to set up an appointment.

Sarah - Fingers crossed for your cycle! Hope the baseline goes well tomorrow.
Kimberly - I'm cautiously optimistic about this donor!!! I know you've been through alot already but I'm really hoping that she's the ONE!
Dana - That's great that you had a good appt. It sounds like both clinics in your area are good and have nice people who work there. I'm sorry that you have to make such a difficult decision between cycling with your own eggs or going straight to donor eggs.

Amanda

Thank you all for your optimism! :grouphugg

I know that I should be busting out of my seams right now, but (and I'm saddened that I feel this way) I don't want to get too excited just yet. I have had a string of what I consider just plain old bad luck and I don't want to get too hopeful. . .not yet. (This is contrary to the advice I would give others by the way :rolleyes: ) So as I write this, I should mention that the donor has read our profile, she's good to go, and tomorrow we are writing the check and signing the donor agreement form. . . .O.K. . .so I AM PEEING IN MY PANTS. . .and what of it? :dunno: :awink:

Sarah~All the best to you. I think it's great that you're getting more of a one on one with your Dr. In retrospect of my own situations, I can't tell you how awesome that is. :thumbsup:

Dana~I'm so glad you love your Dr. I wish you and your husband all the best with making this major decision. :bighug:

Kimberly

Kimberly- :rahrah: I am SO happy for you! Awesome news on the Donor!

Dana-:pray:Praying you find the right donor for you soon.

Sarah-Man things are really rolling now! :pray:Praying for your cycle and :crossfing crossing everything for you! Smoothies: I found some really good ones at my grocers juice section they are called Bolthouse farms and they are terrific! The only one that is different is the Kiwi and if you can get past the ugly color (Dark Green) it's pretty good also. As well Atkins makes a protien shake powder (chocolate is the best) that I mix with fruit and whole milk that taste good. The Atkins premixed shakes taste like playdoh smells so unless your really brave I'd skip on those! Good luck wth the liquid diet, hopefully the health issues settle soon!

Well I just got back fro the HSG appointment. Thank you guys so much for the advise on motrin, I think I would have :faint:passed out if I hadn't taken them! The doctor was really nice and so were the two nurses so it made it a little easier. I think my nerves were so shot by the time I got in there that I was ready to passout any way! Thank god that test doesnt last very long and the cramps are almost gone now. Mike went with me and when I came out of the X-ray department he looked a little green. Good news is that everything is open and clear! No blockages! Then we sent the medical packages to VFC and I talked to the Receptionist everything is set for the 18th! I cant wait! My SIL asked the doctors in her clinic about VFC and they said if we can get in it's one of the top new clinics in Canada. They even do accupuncture before procdures to ensure maximum relaxation and they seem to have a good mix of modern and alternative medicine. I have such a good feeling about them! On top of the ball rolling for our first Cycle I'm going to be an Aunty:biggrin:! My little brother and his girlfriend are expecting their first child together, they are thinking of getting married in December to celebrate! I don't even have a twinge of jealousy, I think this is the first pregnancy close to me that I havent felt green! Well I'm gonna go lay down and let Mike pamper me, it's cold and gray here and snow will be here soon so I kinda want to live like a cat and just snuggle and rest! Take care Ladies,Andrea.

Kim -- I am so glad to hear that things are (hopefully) moving along for you. This has been such a long road. It's hard to believe that only 1% of the population has had to use IVF. I have a bunch of friends & family going through inferitility right now.

Sarah -- That is great that you are getting started. We will be about a week ahead of you, we started stims on Monday. We just got back into town a week ago after being gone 3 weeks to visit family, so it was kind of a shock to come back & have to get into this mode so quickly.

Things are going good so far. I had a scan & bloodwork today & everything looks good. We've had 2 cancelled & one failed cycle this year, so it is kind of anti-climatic to start again. I'm actually not stressed out yet. I think that part of that is that I've had a failed cycle & survived it. Maybe another thing is that we have had a bunch of things go wrong the last month & a half (multiple broken appliances, emergency root canal for me, jumper cables that started on fire when my husband tried to jump one of our cars -- our neighbor saw the fire first & called 911, so we got to meet our friendly neighborhood fire dept -- it melted part of the headlight cover & bumper on both cars.) I figure that everything can't go wrong, can it? I actually got pregnant with my daughter (also IVF) right after my dad died & my husband lost his job the day after we did the transfer for her, so maybe all these bad things are a good sign?????

Maybe I'm just optomistic about this because we've decided that this might be our last cycle (or MAYBE one more after this,) so I don't feel like this stress will go on & on if it doesn't work -- there is an end in sight.

Or maybe its just that I'm only 5 days into stims & my stress level hasn't gone that high yet. We'll see how I'm doing in a week or two! I know that all these hormones can make me CRAZY!!!!!

Thanks for letting me ramble. It is so nice to have someone to talk to who can really relate to what it is like to go through this!

Carla

Things are going good so far. I had a scan & bloodwork today & everything looks good. We've had 2 cancelled & one failed cycle this year, so it is kind of anti-climatic to start again. I'm actually not stressed out yet. I think that part of that is that I've had a failed cycle & survived it. Maybe another thing is that we have had a bunch of things go wrong the last month & a half (multiple broken appliances, emergency root canal for me, jumper cables that started on fire when my husband tried to jump one of our cars -- our neighbor saw the fire first & called 911, so we got to meet our friendly neighborhood fire dept -- it melted part of the headlight cover & bumper on both cars.) I figure that everything can't go wrong, can it? I actually got pregnant with my daughter (also IVF) right after my dad died & my husband lost his job the day after we did the transfer for her, so maybe all these bad things are a good sign?????

:lol2: Glad to see I'm not the only freak who would see something GOOD coming out of all the BAD things that have been happening to you lately!! I have my fingers crossed and I am saying prayers!! :crossfing: :pray:

Carla I really hope that things work out for you this time! It seems so many bad things hit at once. I agree I hope this is that one awesome good thing that comes out of it!!!

Andrea that is great your hsg came back good. I couldn't get pg for over 8 months, then I had my hsg and I could get pg everytime we tried after that.(the test showed no blockage but it cleaned everything out) I have a history of blocked tubes but they were open. And the test I think just pushed anything out. So I hope that you get pg soon! I think the new clinic sounds really great. I totally believe in acu and think it's awesome they do it there for you.

Kimberly that really is great news!!:) I am so happy that things are really going well for you. I hope everything else goes just as smooth.

Dana it's really nice that you like your RE so much. We love ours too and it really makes the world of a difference when you have someone you like and trust. I think whether you cycle with your own or donor it's good to talk to the donor nurse. At least you can have some extra info on how to get started and what to expect.

Well baselines went well! Not that I thought that would be a problem. I start stims on Tuesday and my first progress check is Friday! Holy cow. I'm very anxious to get this going. I can't wait to find out what our PGD shows. When I talked to the director of the PGD lab we went thru some stats for PGD. There is less than 1% chance of damaging the embie when ret. the cell and 4% chance of mosiacism.(when some cells are defective and some are normal so the embie might test ok but not be ok) So all in all there is an error rate of less than 5% due to mosiacism so the results we'll get should be pretty acurate. And he said our ivf lab is one of his top choices and they do an excellent job with taking the cells. I really do feel positive that we have the best working with us and we are given the best odds we can because of it.

Sarah

I made the appointment with the donor egg nurse. We'll be seeing her next Wednesday :woo: I'm so excited! They told us the average time from first meeting until embryo transfer was 3 months. That sounds a bit optimistic to me. I'm just happy to get things rolling.

Maybe another thing is that we have had a bunch of things go wrong the last month & a half (multiple broken appliances, emergency root canal for me,
Carla
Carla~I had an emergency root canal too! We had cars break down, appliances break, sick animals. . . .. What the heck was going on last month? :dunno: :scratch: But I'm so glad that you're feeling optimistic. That's so important. Wishing you well for this cycle. :crossfing

Andrea~Great news for you. :clap: Both with the fact that your tubes checked out great :thumbsup: and that you're going to be an Aunt. That's funny that your husband turned green. My husband was also with me as I gripped his hand tightly in pain. . .but he thought it was cool. :rolleyes: (Not me in pain, but watching the ultrasound machine).

Sarah~Today is your first day of Stims. :banana: All the best to you.


I made the appointment with the donor egg nurse. We'll be seeing her next Wednesday I'm so excited! They told us the average time from first meeting until embryo transfer was 3 months. That sounds a bit optimistic to me. I'm just happy to get things rolling.
That's great news! Although when you say first meeting do you mean with the DE nurse or donor (not that we meet our donor)? With my clinic, the shortest amount of time is 6 months. . .not the average. I wonder why the big difference? :dunno:

I've been incredibly swamped at work. . I work in TV and with the Hurricane and all :blue: there have been a lot of changes in our programming. The good news is that I got an email from the donor yesterday (that I just got a chance to check this evening). She said they've recieved our check, our IVF clinic has been contacted and been told that we've found a donor, and the donor is ready and good to go. So, we'll see what's next. :crossfing One thing is for sure, I know I have more testing to do because some of the required tests had to be done within a 6 months period and from when I first took them until now, that time has passed. Wow. . .:disbelief:

Kimberly

Kimberly - Glad to hear that things are moving forward!
Dana - Great news! Fingers crossed.
Sarah - Hope the stims are going well.
Carla - Sorry for all the bad stuff happening but maybe that means that you're due for some good news!
Andrea - Glad you survived the HSG and everything was good. Your clinic sounds great!

I had an amnio and sonogram yesterday. It went pretty well, except that they found something called choroid plexus cysts on the baby. Apparently it's pretty common and usually resolves on its own. I'll feel better when the amnio comes back normal!!! And I'll get a repeat sono at 28 weeks to make sure the cysts are gone. Oh, it's a GIRL! And we're thrilled!

Amanda

Oh, it's a GIRL! And we're thrilled!Amanda

Amanda~OMG! How exciting. :jump: :yippee:

Kimberly

OH Amanda that is awesome! Congrats on the girl!!! I hope the cysts are all gone by 28 weeks and that amnio comes back just fine!

Kimberly that is wonderful. Wow things are really going smoothly. I hope you can get your tests done quickly and you'll be doing your cycle in the near future.

day 2 of stims for me.:) Friday I'll go in for my first progress check. I can't wait. Hopefully everything will be right on target. I'm not too worried it's so early. And I've never had a problem with Oing for a normal cycle. My ivf with riley I stimmed well so hopefully that hasn't changed. Brandon's working insane hours and 7 days a week. It really sucks to only see him for an hour a day. riley really misses his daddy. I guess that is it for me. Oh I lost one more pound. I expect that to stop because of the meds so we'll see. But I'm very happy with my weight loss and if I don't lose another pound I will still be super happy.

Have a great week everyone!
Sarah

Sarah, not much longer - it goes so fast!!! :yippee:

Amanda, I am SO happy for you!! Exciting news that all seems to be well (surely those cysts will go away)!! And what a blessing - a GIRL!!! :pteddy:

Kimberly, it's be nice if you didn't haev to re-do any of the testing. My center lets me slide on that kind of thing if I have been in the works the whole time... :crossfing ANd WOW...a donor so QUICKLY!!! I was getting ready for the long haul! I am so happy for you!!!

Carla, hope all is well with the stims!! When is your progress check??

I have a bit of news myself!! Remember when we had the very strange results with the SA on our last cycle (they found almost NO sperm on the first SA). My very first thought was Chris' motorcycle and I suggested it immediately. Makes sense to me....100+ degrees, on a motorcycle twice a day for 20 minutes, black leather, hot metal... The boys gotta hang low to keep cool - surely they are getting FAR too much heat, right?? Everyone kept telling me there was no way, that wasn't it...the IVF coordinator and the RE BOTH told me that. Well, I feel somewhat vindicated...last night at my fertility challenges support group meeting, THE male urologist in town was there to talk about male factor IF and I asked him about the motorcycle - he said ABSOLUTELY!!! Now this guy is a specialist in IF - he is one of only a handful of urologists around the country who have done a fellowship in male factor IF - I am guessing he knows a little better than my RE does what will affect sperm quality/quantity. Anyway, this gives me a much better feeling about moving forward with our next IVF in January (actually, it is Feb but the cycle starts in Jan so I cal it Jan). He did say that he's advise us to skip the sperm freezing - with Chris' sperm count, they just aren't going to survive the thaw in any meaningful numbers (really I knew that but I was hoping). he said we have a perfect treatment course.

One thing Chris and I decided to go ahead and do - I made an appointment for him with Dr. Gilbaugh (made it today and the first he can get in is November 18th :rolleyes: ). Chris' hormone levels were off slightly when we did a blood panel on him at the end of our IVF cycle in July. My RE said that it is treatable with testosterone but that we didn't want to do that during an IVF cycle because that will shut down production of the few sperm he DOES have. They can however, administer clomid to Chris and fool the pituitary into increasing testosterone without decreasing sperm production. We figure it's worth a shot since this is our LAST chance at having a baby. So there it is...hurry up and WAIT!! :lol:

Thanks everyone!!!
Sarah - Fingers crossed that you're responding well to treatment!!!
Suzi - I'm not at all surprised that the motorcycle would cause a problem. It totally makes sense! Another piece in the puzzle... My husband has used clomid on some male patients, too. The results haven't been dramatic but every little bit helps!

Amanda

Suzi that totally make sense. Years ago when we first trying(couple years before Riley) I made Brandon switch to loose boxers. Now he's never been the problem but I figured it couldn't hurt anything. I think seeing that other doctor would be good too. In the long run doing a treatment like that might really help your next ivf. Gotta put everything into it. So good job!

Well I can't even believe I'm typing this but it looks like I am having an allergic reaction to my stims. :( First PIO and now this. Last night was my first one. And today I have a large swollen red welt where I did it. I had no problems doing the injection and it is in my tummy where all my lupron ones are and I never had a problem with that. It was itchy today but I just tried to ignor it. At acu I mentioned it to her and when she lifed my shirt she said she could see the irritation. But by the time I got home a couple hours later it was a full on welt. We'll see how tonights goes. In the morning I'll call my nurse and see what she says. I go in on Friday to check progress anyway. But man I just can't believe this. I seriously can't believe how retarded my body is. It can't do one thing right! :rolleyes: Lets just hope it was a one time thing.

Sarah

Amanda - Congrats on your little girl! How wonderful!

Suzi - Happy to hear you've got an appointment for Chris. Waiting stinks!!!

Sarah - I'm so sorry to hear you've had possible allergic reaction. Yikes! You certainly deserve a break.

Our meeting with the donor coordinator went very well. I am a little disappointed in their small donor pool.
I'm kind of on the tall side. I'm just shy of 6 feet tall. Their tallest donor was just over 5"8'. Dave's mom was short, my mom is only about 5"8' - so short genes are already in the mix. I'm comming to terms with that. I'm also a redhead. No red haired donors. (Although, that's not that important)

We're picking up some full donor profiles today. I suppose if we aren't happy after seeing those, we'll have to look at a third party agency. Which will add another obscene amount of money to this process. Oh, joy!


I was surprised to hear I'd be on Lurpron for about 2 1/2 months (between the 'mock' cycle and the real cycle). At least lupron is easy to administer. I'll also have to take PIO, which kind of freaks me out. I didn't take it with my previous cycle. I did all of my shots myself for my previous cycles. I don't like that I have to rely on someone else to do my shots. If Dave gets a job (still unemployed - don't get me started) and is traveling, I'll have to find someone to assist. One of my friends is a trained EMT and said she'd help.

Dana I'm sorry they don't have many donors to choose from. I hope you can find someone who works for you. I'm a red head too and I'd probably want to find someone with similar coloring too. But I guess that's hard. And for the PIO you could give it to yourself in your leg if you had to. I've heard your leg gets sore afterwards but I've never done it there myself to tell you. But you could do it yourself should you need to. PIO's suck no matter where you give them.:lol: I hope once you read thru the profiles you find someone you really like.

Today is my first scan. I'll be back later today with the results. No more hives so I don't know. I split my menopur and follistim last night so they were in two different sites. No welts. Suzi was telling me she had that when she first started and it was just the first time and never again. I hope that is the case. It seems that way so far. I might keep them seperate for the weekend to see what happens but so far so good.

Sarah - Glad the welts are gone! I got welts with follistim but not with menopur.
Dana - Sorry that the donor pool is so limited. I hope you're able to find a good match. I gave myself the PIO injections. I got a prescription for EMLA cream (it's a topical numbing medication) and I'd put it on about 30 minutes before the injection with an occlusive bandage (I got them from the hopsital where I was working but I'm sure you can find something at a drug store). I still got lumps and some stinging but at least the needle stick didn't hurt at all! I didn't use it with the smaller needles because I didn't feel like I needed it. But it made a HUGE difference with the PIO!

Amanda

Yep...got welts - they itched like crazy, too. Only happened with the first IVF though... :dunno:

Can't wait to hear the results today!! I won't be around until tonight (or tomorrow) so I will check back then. :crossfing

Kimberly -- There was just some serious bad luck going around last month, glad that we didn't do our IVF last month!!!!

Amanda -- Congratulations on the girl!

Sarah -- I hope everything went well with your scan & bloodwork today.

I can't believe how quickly this cycle has flown by. I think that we've been doing infertility stuff so much this year that shots & frequent MD appointments just seem like a normal thing to be doing! I go in for my retrival tomorrow, so keep everything crossed for me! I don't have a lot of eggs, hopefully 5. I have stimulated soooo differently this time. Usually my right ovary just goes to town & I have a bunch of follicles, most of which are too small to use. This time, there is only one big one & one small one on that side, but there are 4 large & 1 small on my left side, which is usually an underachiever. The other thing that is really different is that 5 of the 7 follicles that I have are big enough that they are possibilities. I think that I had almost 20 last time & only 4 were big enough. Anyway, it is just strange how differently your body can respond with different cycles.

I should probably try to get to bed soon since I have an early morning tomorrow.

:crossfing for you Carla!!! Check in when you are feeling up to it!

I'm finally awake & sitting up. We only got 2 eggs, so we're pretty disappointed. I wish that my body would make lots of eggs! I'm pretty nervous about the fertilization report -- I really hope we have something to put back in. I'm feeling pretty yucky today, which isn't helped by the low count. I'm probably going to spend the rest of the day laying around & hoping & praying that they both fertilize & are really sticky!

Good Morning Ladies!

Kimberly-:ura1: I am so happy to hear everything is going well with your donor, and the process is starting up for you!
Amanda-:pteddy: Congrats! Hopefully the cyst clears quickly for you so your pregnancy is as stress free as possible.
.
Suzi- That makes total sense! Glad to hear that the urologist agrees and praying hard that the new SA results are 1,000,000 times better!:nod:

Carla-Sorry to hear that things have been a crap storm for you! I'll pray for your fert report to come back with great news! Take care and relax you deserve it its been a hard year for you and your husband! Everythings crossed for your embryos right now!:hug99:

Sarah-Ouch I hope you dont get welts again with your injections! Hopefully it was just a one time reaction to your shots! praying hard for your cycle!:hug99:

Later today I'm going to write another letter to the angels for us all! :angel1:
Well we just got off the phone with Dr. Hudson (this man is going to help make our dreams come true!) (they resceduled us for today instead of tommorow! Which was a huge relief because i've been so anxious!) Mike is being scheduled for the TESE in November and we will be doing the orientation when we go down there at the same time! After the orientation we will be put on the wait list and early in the new year we will start our cycle! I knew the minute the phone rang that this was it, and he sounds just awesome! we went through all our workups with him and he explained everything in detail. he says that for my age and health I have the choice of transfering one or two embryos but that anymore than that would be risky for a large multiple and they prefer to see healthy twins or singletons. We're gonna try two when we get there because of the twin factor and the higher sucsess rate. We have already called our mothers and they are just as exited as we are. I seriously want to cry right now and it's not the usual unhappy tears! I'm at a loss here and I'm shaking! Goodness next year at this time I will hopefully be hugely pregnant! Heres to praying for healthy babies for us all in the new year!

Andrea that is awesome!!!

Carla I'm so sorry you only got 2 eggs. I hope that they will both be strong and perfect little embies. I'm praying that they both hold on really tight.

My first progress check was just ok. Not great. I have 6 follies and they are pretty darn small. My E2 was only 82. They are hoping I'm a late starter. I go back again on Monday. Hopefully more will be there and my E2 will be higher. Our ret will be Friday, Saturday or Sunday due to the PGD so hopefully my body kicks into gear soon. We really did so well with our IVF with Riley. I had 13 eggs, 12 of which fertilized. I was hoping that it would happen that way again but it doesn't look like it. We need at least 3 embies to do PGD. Otherwise it's just not worth it.

Sarah, I said as much in your journal but don't be too disappointed with E2 of 82!! You had only completed three days stims...give yourself a chance! Of course the NUMBER of follicles is lower than your last attempt but again...you were only starting your fourth day of stims (wasn't your first progress check with Riley timed the same as averyone else - after a week of stims?? :scratch: ). Hang in there...it is MUCH better for PCOS women to have a slower start because they typically take off somewhere in the middle of the stim cycle! :nod:

Carla, I've worn the shoes you are in. I am sorry you only got two eggs, that is SO frustrating. :pray: that you have perfect fert rates!! Let us know whan you find out! :hug99:

Andrea, TERRIFIC news!! :yippee: Before you know it your cycle will be here and you can be as crazy as the rest of us! :silly: :lol:

Carla - I'm sorry you're disappointed with your retrieval. I'm crossing everything for your fertilization report!
Sarah - Suzi said it all but I'm very optimistic for you!
Andrea - I'm so glad that things are looking good for you!!!!

Amanda

Just popping in quickly!

Sarah ~ They told us that we would need to have 3 embies to do PGD but you can push for PGD on fewer than 3.

Suzi I know you're right. it's just hard to not be disappointed, KWIM? But I think you're right on the slow start, at least I hope so!

Amanda thanks!!!

Pam we don't want to push to do the PGD with less than 3. It's just not worth it. It's extremely hard for us to pull that money together and we still would need at least three since we are pretty sure some if not most will be bad. And not every embie can make it to day 5. So we'll stick with 3 and hope for the best. Hopefully I'll be joining you very soon!

Today is my scan. And I really think that something better is happening. Last week I had discomfort. Starting yesterday afternoon I had pain! It hurts to walk more than a minute and hurts to do anything like cleaning up the house. My belly is firmer now and even just laying in bed is uncomfortable. I'm praying these are all good signs that my body kicked into gear. Last time I stimmed well right away but that was 3 1/2 years ago so something's clearly changed. But as long as we do well who cares right? So please keep your fingers crossed for us that today will bring better news.

Carla, how did your fert report go? Your are in my thoughts and prayers. I hope both those are big strong embies!!

Fingers crossed Sarah! Let us know!

Amanda

I am still waiting on my fertility report. I'm supposed to have my transfer tomorrow & don't even know if I have any embryos. I'm feeling a little frustrated with my doctor's office. I called an hour ago & the nurse was busy & hasn't called me back yet. I've held off on making too many arrangements for this week because I'm worried that we won't have any embryos. I've got a lot to do today if we are a go, but am having a hard time being motivated to do too much until I know. I really think I might go crazy if they don't call soon!

Oh I really hope they call you really soon. I can only imagine how hard this must be to sit and wait. I'm sending extra prayers your way. Keeping my fingers crossed that all is good for your transfer.

Amanda thanks. I'll get here as soon as I can but it might not be until much later in the evening. I have to go to MIL's today/tonight. But I'll see if I can jump on her computer.;)

Sarah

Sarah... :crossfing :pray:

And for you too, Carla!! :crossfing :pray:

I finally talked to my doctor's office (after 5 hours of waiting & 3 phone calls) & guess what??? We have 2 embryos. We've never had 100% fertilization, so I am as thrilled as I can be! Now I've got to get busy making arrangements for this week!

Suzi~I can definitely understand the motorcycle connection. Good for you for getting things going your way.

Sarah~From what you describe, it sounds like you've got some nice follicles growing. :nod: I usuallly stimmed slowly. I never produced a lot of follicles overall, but there was once cycle where I was told that we might have to cancel (because I only had two) and they'd give me a definite answer on my next ultrasound. Well on that cycle, I eventually wound up having 7 eggs retrieved.

Dana~Lupron for 2 1/2 months? What's a "mock" cycle? At my clinic, they start us off on BCPs and then go to Lupron. Also, I'm so sorry that the donor pool is not that big. You know I know how you feel. Even though my clinic suggested 3 donor agencies to select from, the good thing is that I could choose another clinic without it costing more. . .it would only cost me more to choose a donor who lived out of state because I'd need to pay for her transportation and lodgeing during monitoring. By the way, I've ordered the book you recommended. I can't wait to get it and start reading.

Carla~I'm crossing my fingers and thinking about you. :pray: It's disappointing that they make you wait for so long. :scratch:

Andrea~It sounds like things are moving right along. That's excellent. :yippee: And hopefully we'll all be pregnant or having babies at this time next year. :pray: Keep writing those letters to the angels. Thank you so much. :bighug:

Well I have my blood tests scheduled. DH and I just both have to re-do our infectious diseases blood tests. It's not so bad. I'm pretty much just sitting tight and wishing for the best. Our donor :crossfing still needs to fill out family history paperwork, be thouroughly tested, meet with the clinics social worker, and be trained to administer her shots. . .so, I just wait and hope that things continue to go smoothly. :crossfing

Carla, that's terrific news!! :yippee: :pray: for those embies!!

Kimberly, hope all goes as planned...FINALLY!! :crossfing

GREAT news Carla! I'm so happy for you!!!
Sarah - Still crossing everything for good results.
Kimberly - I'm still holding my breath that everything continues to go well for you!!! Crossing everything and praying and anything else I can think of!

Amanda

I finally talked to my doctor's office (after 5 hours of waiting & 3 phone calls) & guess what??? We have 2 embryos. We've never had 100% fertilization, so I am as thrilled as I can be! Now I've got to get busy making arrangements for this week!

Carla~You snuck in there while I was posting. (With a melody). . .. You go girl! You go girl! Uh huh, uh huh. :banana:

Kim

HI Suzi, Kim, Andrea, Amanda, Pam, Sarah, Judy! Welcome Carla! Did I miss anyone? Hope not!

It's been so long since I posted, but I do pop in here and try to stay update. Life has been so busy for me. I made a huge decision and decided to go back to school for nursing. I am currently taking Anatomy and Physiology I and it is keeping me on my toes. I am really enjoying the class and have learned a ton so far. I have been thinking about doing this for awhile now but thought I would be PG and it wouldn't be possible. So no more putting my life on hold for a Pg'cy, I wasted too many years obsessing about it. So now when it happens it happens. I can't be consumed anymore with it. I am not giving up just need to stay busy till it does. So anyway I am rambling I know but it feels good to vent. I really have been thinking about being an IF nurse. I really feel it pulling me in that direction and heck I would have 1st hand experience on how to deal with an IF patient. So I am just taking it one step at a time and see how it goes. The best part is my work will pay for my classes under their tution reimbursement program. And when I get PG, I will just put it on hold till I am ready to start back up again.

Amanda~ Congrats on your baby girl!! I love the name too. Yep, I popped in your journal!
Carla~Fingers crossed!! 100% fertilization is really good news!
Sarah~Not too much longer now! Fingers crossed!
Kimberly~I am so excited that you finally have a possible donor! Things are really shaping up for you and DH! Before you know it, you will be PG!

That's great that you're going to nursing school! I think it's so cool!!! The patients will be lucky to have a nurse like you.

Amanda

Amanda, Thank you! That is the nicest thing anyone has said to me regarding my decision. At first DH thought I was crazy to want to do this. He says "I have it made with what I do now", Yeah it's a comfy job and I make a good living but my heart is just not there, it never was. I have always wanted to do this. This is probably the only regret I can change.

Angela I am with Amanda I think you would make an amazing IF nurse! Congratulations to you for making that decision and taking the big step!

Kimberly - glad to hear things are continuing to do well!

Sarah - I sending positive thoughts your way!!!

Carla - wonderful news on fertilization!!! :crossfing

Hi to Suzi and Amanda!!!

Think of you guys alot! And I lurk :tongue2:

Angela, I am SO glad that you stopped by - and I am SOOO HAPPY for your news!! Your experience with IF will give you an empathetic edge and connection with patients that many who work in the field will never have. What a blessing you will be in people's lives! :aok:

Judy :wavey: Nice to see you!! Hope you are feeling well!

Dana~Lupron for 2 1/2 months? What's a "mock" cycle? At my clinic, they start us off on BCPs and then go to Lupron. Also, I'm so sorry that the donor pool is not that big. You know I know how you feel. Even though my clinic suggested 3 donor agencies to select from, the good thing is that I could choose another clinic without it costing more. . .it would only cost me more to choose a donor who lived out of state because I'd need to pay for her transportation and lodgeing during monitoring. By the way, I've ordered the book you recommended. I can't wait to get it and start reading.
A mock cycle is pretty much the same as a real cycle, but no transfer at the end. They'll do all the blood draws, ultra sounds, estrogen suppliments and pio injections. They want to make sure I respond properly to the estrogen, and pio. They need to make sure my lining builds properly. They don't want any surprises in the real cycle. If any tweaking of meds needs to be done, it can be done during this cycle.

We selected a possible donor. I told the clnic the other day. I'm waiting to hear back from them.

Dana that is great. I hope your mock cycle works well.

Angie I do think that is great. You'll make a wonderful nurse!!!

Well no good news here. Our cycle has offically been dropped. We would have had only 2 follies to ret from. the others were mostly not big enough with one being too big. I knew that right at my appointment. I didn't even need to know what my E2 was. So we are done now.I will start right back up again with my next af. Pills and then stims the cycle after.Hopefully that one will be better, can't get much worse I guess.

The thing that I worry about is I'm in SO much pain. So much more than my first IVF and I have less than 1/2 the follies. I am a bit worried how bad it will be if I actually stim well next time. It hurts so badly to walk that most times I have to hold my belly so it isn't so bad. Damn body!

Dana - That's great that you've found a possible donor!
Sarah - I'm so sorry!

Amanda

Dana, good news!! I am getting excited for you!Sarah, I am sorry!

Ang~What a wonderful decision you have made. :clap: Where your heart is, is where you should be. :thumbsup:

A mock cycle is pretty much the same as a real cycle, but no transfer at the end. They'll do all the blood draws, ultra sounds, estrogen suppliments and pio injections. They want to make sure I respond properly to the estrogen, and pio. They need to make sure my lining builds properly. They don't want any surprises in the real cycle. If any tweaking of meds needs to be done, it can be done during this cycle.

We selected a possible donor. I told the clnic the other day. I'm waiting to hear back from them.

Now why don't they do this at my clinic?? :scratch: I've often wondered about my own lining because my periods are so incredibly brief. I may just call the nurse at my clinic and ask about this. By the way, I recieved the book today! :yippee: I can't wait to read it. I'm so excited that you found a possible donor. :yippee: It looks like we're on this ride together.

Kimberly

Oh, Sarah, I'm so sorry! :bighug:

Kimberly - Both the clinics I talked with about an ED cycle required a mock cycle. I had to give the book back to the library. Someone else had a hold on it so I couldn't renew. I had finished reading it, but there are parts I'd like to re-read as I go through the cycle. The copy I had was obviously a first edition. I kept finding typos. :lol:

Yesterday was CD 1 for me. I'm not sure exactly what that means this month. I just know I was told to call on CD 1. I haven't heard anything about the donor. She just donated in August.

Sarah~I'm really so very sorry. :blue:

Sarah -- I am so sorry. We had a canceled cycle in February & it was incredibly frustrating.

Angela -- That's great news about nursing school. You would make a wonderful nurse. I think that going through all the IF stuff would make a person a lot more empathetic to their patients.

When it rains it pours, very literally! Today is my last day of bed rest & we are trying to get ready to evacuate from Houston. We live on the north side of town, so we're are still debating whether to leave. It is rather poor timing. I haven't been able to do much to prepare, I didn't even hear about the hurricane until I was waiting in the OR for my transfer Tuesday morning! I'm just laying on the couch & my husband is running around, taping windows & everything else we need to do to prepare. I am sooooooo relieved that we aren't trying to do IVF this weekend! If we do IVF again, I'm not going to do it during hurricane season!

Carle, my prayers are with you - hope Rita misses you altogether!! :pray: Oh yeah...and prayers for the BFP you'll hopefully get!! :crossfing

Dana and Kimberly - It sounds like things are moving forward for both of you!!!
Carla - I'm sorry that you have to worry about hurricane drama in the middle of all of this. Fingers crossed for your BFP!

Amanda

I never heard back from the clnic regarding our potential donor. I've never had a problem with them calling back, so I don't know what's up. I left a message yesterday, but I think it was after closing.

Dave and I have our meeting with the counselor next Wednesday. I have many questions and things I need to talk about.

I am concerned that my periods have been so light since Owen was born. I used to have a very heavy period for a few days and at least three light days. Now its one medium day and maybe two very light days. I need to have a good uterine lining for implantation. I'm afraid recent periods indicate a less than ideal lining. Hopefuly with acupunture and the estrogen suppliments we can get it built up properly.

So did anyone watch Inconceivable last night? It was on at 10pm.

I have mixed feelings about it. I think some of it is ridiculous, like the nurse trying to steal the RE's sperm. I don't want to say too much more in case someone still has yet to see it.

No I totally forgot about it. I wonder if they'll rerun it. I'll have to check our listings.

I am incredibly insulted that a TV show like this was even considered. I intend to watch it once to make sure that my opinions are founded and from what you said Angela, it is not looking good. If I still find the show distasteful, I plan to write the networks and local affiliates about it. I don't see any TV shows about people suffering with AIDS or cancer, why should infertility be any different? Personally, the thought revolts me...but that's me.

I am concerned that my periods have been so light since Owen was born. I used to have a very heavy period for a few days and at least three light days. Now its one medium day and maybe two very light days. I need to have a good uterine lining for implantation. I'm afraid recent periods indicate a less than ideal lining. Hopefuly with acupunture and the estrogen suppliments we can get it built up properly.

Dana~Your periods sound so similiar to mine--although mine have been like this from day one, well before I ever got on the IF train. Over and over again I would ask my various Drs about it, and they always have said that my lining is fine. My intuition is that it isn't. . .but what do I do? :scratch: That's why, like you, I hope that my acupuncture is helping with that. :dunno:

I totally forgot to watch that new show "Inconceivable". I also wanted to check it out to see what this show is like. I'm going to have to TIVO it.


Kimberly

Hello ladies!

Sarah-So sorry! Your in my thoughts...

Dana-Great that you found a donor! Hopefully your clinic gets back to you soon!

Carla-Hopefully Rita skipped you guys! Its just sickening how you (Southern Coastal States) are all getting buffeted by these terrible hurricanes! Congrats on your 100% fert rate and transfer! :crossfing Crossing everything for your Betas!

Angela-Congats on your decision to go back to school! You'll make a great nurse! Screw what other people say your never crazy or to late to do what you want to do!

Kim-I read in a bunch of literature that our clinic has posted that they do mock cycles in some cases to....When will your donor have all her stuff together so you can really get this ball rolling? I'm so exited for you and Dana!

Well I started a new diet as per instructions to lose a little of the heat saver weight I've been keeping for the long cold winters (we already have snow and its -5C right now!) I've lost 2 pounds but I'm pretty sure its just water weight from AF. If I can just keep losing two a week by the start of the new year I'll be down enough to put me back at my ideal BMI for conception. I went on another site (IVF.CA) and they have these little calendars for figuring cycles and pregnancies for IVF couples. I figure if I stay cycling at 28 days (which is already thrown out by one day this cycle) we could be transfering at the begining of march which puts our first ultrasound around my birthday, I'm looking at this as a sign that it's meant to be then rather than its taking so long to get our first cycle started! Still waiting to hear when Mike's appointment for the TESE is in November. I ordered some more literature and one of the books I ordered was A couples guide to Maximizing your chances of a successful IVF cycle from Amazon. Anyone heard of this book? It wont be hear for a month or two but I'll let you guys know if its any good when we get it. Well I've neglected my journal for way to long so I better get on it while I have the chance!
Take care, Andrea

Andrea, great news!! Sounds like you and I will be cycling right about the same time - I'll be maybe a week or so ahead of that. Good luck with the weight loss - I need to lose whatever I can between now and then. If I could lose 30 pounds between now and Jan/Feb I would be REALLY happy - that'd put me when I was when I got PG with Julia (not that that's my ideal weight either 'cause it's not!).

I didn't watch Inconceivable either. I'm a little curious so maybe I'll get Tom to TiVo it for me...
Andrea - Sounds like you've got a great attitude!!! I hope the timing works out perfectly.
Suzi - Your cycle's coming up, too!!!

Amanda

Hey Susi-Have you heard of the GI diet? It's basically lots of vegtables and fruit (raw is better), protein and complex carbs, (no sugar) to boost your metabolism. I know the brownies would be out then but chocolate isnt! He actually recommends that dark bittersweet chocolate in small quantities is good for you! I love when dietitians have their priorities straight! Man its so exciting that we are going to be cycling so close! I'll know more when we go to Victoria about the when! I can believe its coming up so soon! We're on our way Babe!

Amanda-Did you catch this Inconcievable show? I'm on nights so i missed it.

Dana~Your periods sound so similiar to mine--although mine have been like this from day one, well before I ever got on the IF train. Over and over again I would ask my various Drs about it, and they always have said that my lining is fine. My intuition is that it isn't. . .but what do I do? :scratch: That's why, like you, I hope that my acupuncture is helping with that. :dunno:

Barging in uninvited, hope noone minds (some of you may know me from the UB IF days!)

Kimberly - my RE told me the only way to really test the lining (not just measure the thickness but *really* test it) is to do a mock transfer. I don't know if you've done that already since I haven't kept up with you in a long time, but that's what I was told. I'm not sure it's worth it, but I know you've had a really long, tough journey through IVF so a mock just might be worth it if it means you could find out more information.


Okay, back to your regularly scheduled postings :biggrin:

Andrea~Wow! It's great to be able to put a face to your name! It sounds like things are moving along for you. I'm so happy that you're in good spirits. I haven't heard of the book you are buying from Amazon and I'd love to hear what it says. . .but it takes that long for an order from Amazon to get to you in Yellowknife? And can I just say, Brrrrrrrrr. Cooooold.

Michelle~Hey there. Thanks for the tip. That's interesting. I'm definitely going to ask more about this. But I wonder, do all my failed IVFs count in terms of a "mock" transfer? Because if that's the case, considering I always had good fert rates and two ectopics that grew and grew (but in the wrong place) could my lining be the issue? But geez, shouldn't/wouldn't I have been alerted to that long ago? Wouldn't that be something that I would have been told about if it was an issue. :scratch: I'm so confused. :blue:

Kimberly

Well, we survived the hurricane. We actually evacuated to Boston this weekend, since my husband's company's main office is there. They offered to fly us up there & I'd never been. It was a lot of fun! We lost one tree in the storm, but that was about it. Our house was only without power for about 5 hours, which is not bad at all.

It has sure made my "waiting" time fly by! My doctor does blood work every couple of days starting 4-5 days after transfer to monitor hormone levels. He tries to make the hormone profile mirror that of pregnancy, including HCG, so I took an HCG booster shots of 2,500 units on Friday & am taking another today. My retrival was a week ago last Saturday, but my HCG is only 14. I am day 11 from transfer & that doesn't sound very good to me. Does anyone know when HCG usually starts showing an increase. I know that an HCG shot of 2500 units usually stays in your system for about 7 days, so that 14 is probably all from the shot. I will know better after my next bloodwork, but I'm not feeling very hopeful.

I'm just not excited about having to decide if I want to try again or if its time to give up. This cycle has been my easiest one so far, but I am getting tired of this. We've put a lot into the IF thing this year, with no results & no real hope for things to get any easier. I just don't make a lot of eggs, even with a lot of stims, so we don't have incredible odds.

I think that I'm just really frustrated right now & my husband is out of town all week (of course,) so thanks for letting me vent a little!

Kimberly, I think a mock cycle is more for when you haven't used ART previously or when it's been a long time (or there's been a PGY) and the uterus may have changed significantly. The mock transfer actually has nothing to do with the lining, it is only for the RE to insert a tiny plastic catheter into the uterus, allowing the RE to measure the depth and direction of your uterus.

An endometrial biopsy on the other hand, is the test for the quality of the endometrial lining. An endometrial biopsy is a procedure to remove a small sample of the endometrium. the sample results will tell the RE whether the endometrium is going through its normal stages of change during the menstrual cycle and will also determine the quality of the endometrium.

Kimberly, have you had this done with one of your ectopics? It may be worth looking into...

Hi all just lurking away here and thinking positive for all of you!

I must admit I am curious about Inconcievable. I think I will either hate it for the reasons you mentioned Suzi or like it because it is making the issue of IF more 'mainstream' but I can see how it could get horribly misrepresented - I will try to take it with a grain of salt since they have to add some 'drama' not like there isn't enough in the real world! I did check though and Bravo is rerunning the pilot on Friday.

Just wanted to let you all know I was here.

Suzi~Thanks so much for the information. I talked to one of the RNs at the donor clinic today and expressed my anxieties about this upcoming donor cycle and that I wanted to be sure that everything has been checked physically on me that needs to be checked. Specifically, I brought up my lining and the fact that my periods are so light and brief and wondered if there should be a real concern there. The RN told me that before they do transfers, they put donor recipients on estrogen tablets twice a day and are also to be using an estrogen patch. After 7 days, they'll bring me in for an ultrasound to make sure my lining is at least 6mm. If it's not, they'll increase the estrogen and bring me in again after a few days, and so on. That made me feel so much better.

One of the other things that I had realized was that I haven't had a physical in at least 3 years! I've had pap smears, and blood tests and everything related to my reproductive system, but because I've been dealing with all this IF, I failed to keep up with making appointments for a yearly physical. So I also made an appointment with my PCP for a physical.

I just want to be in tip tip shape for this. . .mentally, physically, and emotionally.

Kimberly

Michelle - you can butt in here anytime. You are a veteran, afterall!

Kimberly - it sounds almost like a mock cycle. I'm sure that's a relief. You know, I haven't had a physical in I'd say 15 years. Annual gyn exams, but never a good 'ol physical. I suppose its because insurance doesn't always pay for them.

We had our meeting with the egg donor counselor, it went very well. Dave wasn't too excited about going, but after we left he said 'I'm so glad we did that'.

I had my mock embryo transfer and sonohystogram yesterday. Everything was A-OK there. Things are moving ahead much faster than expected. At this rate, we're looking at a late November embryo transfer! Yikes! I was expecting January or February.

Carla - Sorry you're feeling down.
Kimberly - Glad you felt better after talking to the nurse.
Dana - I'm glad things are proceding so quickly! That's really exciting!!!

Amanda

October has arrived....come join the new thread!

IVF Buddies - Oct/Nov/Dec 2005 (http://www.onceuponalife.com/forums/showthread.php?p=625120#post625120)