We are in another waiting phase of the infertility journey. That’s what this whole thing seems to be, hurry up and wait. We had another ultra sound on Friday to see what the progress of the most recent large cyst is. I had had some lower abdominal pain a few days prior that was a bit concerning, but it went away after a short time, so we are figuring that it was just a muscle pain of some kind. The ultra sound showed that the cyst was completely gone!
Continue reading “Hurry Up and Wait”
Tag: doctor visits
And Yet Another Cyst
We had another doctor’s appointment with Dr. Amols last week. During the ultra sound we found that while my uterine lining is fine, which was a possible concern as the fertility meds can possibly cause the uterine lining to thin over time. Continue reading “And Yet Another Cyst”
Back to the Drawing Board
This cycle was a failure as well so now it’s back to the drawing board. Dr. Amols wants to do more testing to find out why the IUIs are not working. What we are going to be testing for is my prolactin levels again and my AMH levels. AMH stands for anti-MĂĽllerian hormone which can indicate if I have premature ovarian failure and can be used to figure out what my egg supply looks like. If the AMH levels are low it can indicate that the likelihood of me conceiving and/or carrying to term are incredibly low. This would greatly limit our options for having children. I have had a couple of friends offer to donate eggs as well as to act as a surrogate. Matthew and I have talked about it and are praying about it.
So Many Hormones
Like the title says, I have taken so many hormones this cycle. Beyond the 3 doses of 100ui of Gonal-F that I was scheduled to take, I also ended up taking an additional 75ui of Gonal-F and 225ui of Follistim. The additional hormones were because during the 2 ultrasounds following the baseline ultrasound showed that the follicles weren’t quite growing as well as we wanted. With the additional hormones it looks like I will have 4 good follicles for tomorrow morning’s IUI. We are hopeful for this cycle and thank everyone for their continued support. I hope we will have some good new to share in a few weeks 🙂
All the Marbles
I made a phone call yesterday that changes the tone of this cycle completely. I called our medical insurance company to find out if they will cover IUI. Unfortunately, the plan we have does not cover the fertility treatments themselves, and the plan that does cover fertility treatments is not only double the cost, but has a deductible that is over 2x what ours is now and basically doesn’t cover anything else. Our current plan will cover the ultra sounds and such before the procedure itself but we will be responsible for the labs directly related to the IUI and the IUI itself. As a result of this, this will probably be our last attempt at fertility treatments for a while. Thankfully, God has brought us to Dr. Amols who had already said he is willing to work with us to make this last cycle happen. Because this is probably our last cycle we are asking for prayers that this will be the cycle that finally gets us to our goal of having a baby. I have another appointment tomorrow to see how the follicles are growing and hope that the new injectable medication is working to get them growing quickly. Thank you all for your support through this whole process.
Third Time May Be The Charm
So we are now officially in the third cycle of treatment. Last cycle was another BFN and we are hoping this cycle will be the one. Dr. Amols said that if IUI is going to work, most couples will conceive by the third cycle. Since last cycle with 4, count them 4 follicles didn’t work and we had to do 2 more injections past what was originally planned we are going with a slightly more aggressive treatment plan with a different injected hormone at a higher dosage. Before I was taking Follistim which is a follitropin beta injectable hormone, and I will not be on Gonal-F which is a follitropin alpha (or alfa as the box spells it) injectable hormone. In doing my own research I’m not finding a lot of difference between the two medications. I have found 1 study (so take the results with a grain of salt) that says the follitropin alpha can have a higher chance for success than follitropin beta, but I’m also finding a lot of people that didn’t have success with alpha but did with beta. So it may just be how your body reacts to the different types of follitropin. Continue reading “Third Time May Be The Charm”
New Year, More Waiting
It’s been a while since I’ve given anyone an update on the whole fertility thing. I finished the medications for this cycle and had 4 good follicles, yay! The follicles were all growing a little slower than Dr. Amols would like so we did the injections for a little longer than last time and they were a good size when I did the trigger shot on Sunday. Our second IUI was yesterday which is awesome since our insurance changes next year because the company my husband works for bought another company and for some reason is switching everything over to the other company’s stuff including the benefits. The coverage should be about the same, but we don’t know for sure if they will cover all of the medications and everything else the same, so we are really hoping this cycle works out for us 🙂 My work is going to be super busy for the next month or so, but that can be a good thing since it will help me keep my mind off of the two week wait and stressing over whether the IUI worked or not. My sister posted a meme on Facebook a few weeks ago of women’s names who will get pregnant/have a baby in 2016 and my name was on it, so I’m hoping it is a sign that this will happen for us this year 🙂
We want to thank everyone for their continued prayers and for keeping me sane though this whole process and hope everyone had a blessed Christmas and has a happy New Year!
Not the News You Are Looking For
The two week wait has come and gone and sadly the pregnancy test was negative. It was harder on me than I thought it would have been and I spent a good deal of the day moping and periodically crying. Church was hard because we weren’t telling anyone it was negative yet and so I wasn’t able to get any support. A good friend of mine came over and we talked and she got me into a positive mood and ready mentally for the next cycle. We have now had some time to get used to the negative test, and wanted to let people know before Christmas to avoid being a downer at the family gathering. The odds weren’t great for the first cycle as it was with only two mature follicles. It is not uncommon for the first cycle to fail as the doctors are still trying to figure out what combination of medications will work best for you. Continue reading “Not the News You Are Looking For”
The First IUI
We had our IUI today! It was a bit more painful than I had expected it to be, but we got it done. Dr. Amols is really good about taking your mind off of what is going on during the procedure. we also had an awesome sample to use. Dr. Amols said we needed 5 to 10 million sperm for good chances of pregnancy. Matthew must have heard 5 times 10 because we got 50 million sperm to use for the IUI. This is great because with only 2 follicles we need all of the help we can get and more sperm means higher chances of success. Continue reading “The First IUI”
No More Waiting
Finally! I have two good, mature follicles at about 20mm each so we are good to go with the IUI! I will be doing the trigger shot tonight at 9pm on the dot so that 36 hours later at 9am on Sunday morning we can do the IUI. I am so excited that we finally get to do the procedure because it feels like we are actually moving forward with the process instead of just more waiting. And yes, I am quite aware that there will be even more waiting after the IUI to see if we are pregnant, but that is waiting for an actual result rather than waiting so we can wait some more. For the shots, I only had a panic attack the first time I tried to give myself the shot. the second time was much easier, and the nurse at the office said that the trigger shot is just like the hormone injections needle size wise. Continue reading “No More Waiting”
Are They Twins? 