IUI #1 (April 2015) -- FAIL =(

So, this month's IUI plans failed :( The doctor cancelled the IUI due to low estrogen levels on my part. I've never had issues with low estrogen to the point that we would have to cancel a cycle, but it is what it is. *Sigh... that's why it's taken me awhile to write in the blog. I do apologize for this. I was just a tad bit disappointed, but I'm okay now. We are ready to call the doctor on the first day of my next cycle and see what he wants us to do. Who knows what's next right? 

I'm gonna do a day-to-day of what we did up until the cancellation.

April 10th (the same day that I went to the doc's for our first appt): I started my cycle! But according to most doctors offices, they do not count it as day one if it's after like 4 or 5 pm, so the next day will be counted as day one.

 

April 11th: I call the doctor's office to let them know that my cycle has started. Everyone is surprised but excited for us to start on this IUI journey again. They schedule me to go in for the following day on cd 2 (cycle day 2). 

April 12th: I go in for my appointment and we do estradiol blood draw to check my levels and an ultrasound to check the uterine lining and see if any follicles are wanting to start growing :) I am also given my medications for injections. I will be doing an injection of Bravelle starting cd 3 in the evening.

Medication: Bravelle 150 IUI (2 vials of 75) injected IM (in the arm) every evening around the same time up until the doctor tells me to stop. I will be going in every few days to check on the follies.

April 13th: I mix my first Bravelle injection and have my wonderful, not so steady handed husband give me the injection in my arm. I forgot how painful the medication is. The needle and the injecting the needle part was nothing. I barely felt a thing (except for when he was shaking. then I felt it lol) but the medication going in BURNED!! I had to keep telling him to slow down or stop for a sec. Ugh, I definitely do not miss the injections. Especially Bravelle. 

my injection that I mixed already. looks fun, huh? haha

April 14th: (cd4) I am starting to feel the side effects. Some swelling all over. Could barely put on my ring, felt bloated like crazy, and I was constipated. (tmi, i know) But I remembered from my IVF days that (also due to my PCOS) I might over stimulate the ovaries and we don't want that. So, I remembered what they had me do just in case I do show signs of over stimulation. DRINK GATORADE! Lol So, I ran out to Hy-Vee and grabbed a few bottles of Gatorade (thank goodness they were on sale haha) and I downed the first bottle with the quickness. I noticed that I finally started going to the restroom more and wasn't feeling as bloated. Phew!! No OHSS (Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome) here!! 

April 15th: (cd5) I had a doctor's appointment for another estradiol blood draw and ultrasound to check on the growth of the follicles. The follicles looked like they were growing well enough so they said they would call me back with the estradiol (estrogen) levels. I received a phone call a little bit later in the day and was told that my estrogen levels were low but the follies were looking good, so we will keep going with the Bravelle injections. Okay, good. 

April 16th: (cd6) Nothing significant to talk about except my good friend Ms. S came and made my eyebrows all purdy! I had to tell her that we had to take a break so that I could do my injection and she was joking that she wanted to give me my shot. I told her, "okay!" and she was shocked! She kept asking if I was serious and I kept telling her I had no problems with it. I gave her a video tutorial to watch on youtube and she was more than willing to give me the shot! She did an awesome job and she was not shaky at all HAHA Great Job, S!! I'm gonna miss you when you leave us!

my beautiful baby and my purdy eyebrows LOL

April 17th: (cd7) and I have my next appointment. My symptoms are still the same. Constipated, Swollen, and just tired but I'm okay. I'm still looking on the bright side of things :) I go in for my estradiol blood draw and my ultrasound. The follies did grow but I didn't see a significant change in them like I was used to back then. *sigh but hoping for great estradiol levels. I was told to go home and wait for their call. They call and give me the bad news that my levels were too low and the doctor recommends to cancel they cycle. BOO!! *sigh what can you do, right? I'm not gonna lie. I was totally bummed and I cried. I called the hubby and he came home a lil early just to console me. I just wanted hugs and kisses from the two boys in my life. That's all I wanted. I felt better after spending time with them. 

So, yes, this was a failed cycle but with every failed cycle there will be a chance to right the wrongs and find out what we need to do next to make this baby thing happen!! So, i'm ready for the next month and i'm hoping for great results. If not, it's okay. We will figure out what needs to be corrected and we will just try again. I'm determined and I'm ready for this. This first time around before Kaleb was born, I just kept crying and kept feeling that I was a failure. But now that I have him in my life, I know that just one more child will be a great blessing but even if we don't have another... then it's okay. I was blessed with our miracle baby and I am just meant to love on him for the rest of his life. 

I wish for all of you who are trying to never give up and just keep smiling. I'm here for you if you have any questions or even if you need to vent. I'm here for you. I'll be your shoulder. I've been there. I've done that. So, yes, I do feel your pain. I do understand. BABY DUST TO YOU ALL!!! and sweet dreams!

-Vivy

Starting on our new fertility journey!

So, I had my appointment with Dr. C today. He is my Reproductive Endocrinologist and we decided to just jump back into it and get things started with the IUI process! He gave me three choices on where to begin. I can either do Clomid or Femara for one more cycle with timed intercourse (you just have sex when you are ovulating). Choice two was to do Femara with IUI or choice three, which was my choice, injectables with IUI.

When doing injectables with IUI, it is a whole lot of ultrasounds, monitoring, blood work, injections, and then we have the hubby (or sperm donor) provide the sperm and they wash the sperm and take the best sperm, put it in a catheter which is then inserted into your opening and injected into the uterine cavity. From there you hope and pray that your egg (which was hopefully released by the HCG trigger shot that you had to inject yourself three days prior to the IUI) will release and meet the sperm and make a beautiful baby for you and your spouse!

It's all about making sure you stimulate the right amount of eggs to the right size and then you trigger the HCG shot at the right time to release the egg and then IUI at the correct time so that the sperm will be there to meet up with the egg. If you overstimulate or under-stimulate then the cycle is cancelled. Over stimulation can cause multiples and that is a high risk that you do not want to take. Twins is great, Triplets are good as well, but more than that and the risk factors aren't something you want to worry about. You've tried so hard to make one baby and trying to carry that one baby to term is hard enough and when you risk your health and have to carry more than your body can handle, will harm you and the babies. Either way, every baby who is brought to us is a miracle and deserving to live a wonderful life. So whatever happens, I am ready to proceed in whichever direction I have to take. We have nothing but love to give and we can't wait to hopefully provide a brother or sister for Kaleb.

I will keep updating you guys on the process. Tomorrow will technically be day 1 in my cycle, so I will call the dr's office and they will bring me in for a baseline ultrasound or blood draw and we will go from there on what days to start injections and how many injections of what.

I'm so excited. I know I shouldn't be because the chances of this cycle not even happening or working are so high, but just a little sliver of hope makes me smile. Baby Dust to all whom are trying to conceive and I'm here for you if you need anything!

Update from the Dr's about the test

Hi Everyone!

I know it's been awhile. I do apologize, but I did get news from the Dr.'s office that after the 24 hour urine test, Mayo Clinic said I do not have Cushing's! YAY! But it still sucks cause I do still have the adenoma and PCOS. But i've lived with those two for so long, I can do this. Time to try to get back to the gym again. I can't run because of the weight that I carry cause I gained it so fast and the doc is worried it might ruin my knees, so resistance training is what the Dr. ordered! I can do this. Even if it's five pounds that I lose, it's better than carrying those five pounds every day. I keep losing five to ten pounds at a time, then I'll gain it right back when I go on other meds. Or I get too tired and all I do is sleep because of the meds. I'm trying my best to do whatever I can so that I can be an awesome mom to Kaleb and the best wife to Nam. Wish me luck guys!