Low Progesterone

I had my second fertility specialist appointment this morning. He explained everything to me. During cycle monitoring my follicle didn't grow in a day and I was quite worried about it. He said that it happened because it was too early in my cycle for the follicle to grow. It was 15mm on cycle day 10 and stayed the same on cycle day 11. On cycle day 13 it went to 18mm and by cycle day 14 (when I had an LH surge), it was 20mm. When I went back in on cycle day 17 it was gone which meant I ovulated. The doctor I saw on cycle day 17 said I ovulated on cycle day 16. It turns out my follicle grew just fine. All of my tests before yesterday came back normal, although the doctor did say my testosterone levels were elevated, but he didn't seem concerned.


Yesterday I went in for my 7dpo progesterone test. My doctor said that it was 5 times lower than what it should be. He said it was 2.2 and the normal was 10+ He prescribed me two different drugs that he said will help me. Serophene (the same thing as Clomid, but made by a different company) and Progesterone suppositories which I will have to take twice a day for 12 days after I ovulate.


I have to call them on cycle day one to book blood tests and ultrasounds to monitor ovulation. I'm very excited that something is being done! I hope this works. If I ovulate early this cycle, I will be testing on Christmas day! If I ovulate on CD14, I'll be 10dpo by Christmas. I know it's a little early, but I like to plan ahead. If I don't test on Christmas it will be on New Years.

Cycle Day 17 Ultrasound...Now I'm confused!

I went in for my cycle day 17 ultrasound and was sad when I saw the big white sign saying someone named dr. Jizz was the doctor of the day, (every time I say his name I laugh). Anyways, I went in to get my ultrasound done and I couldn't believe how rough the lady was. She rammed the probe up my miffy so bad that it hurt. She at first asked me if it was okay to use water instead of lubricant, but since I'm not trying this month I told her to use the lube. Thank god I did, or it probably would have hurt a hell of a lot worse. The next time I see her I will ask her to be more gentle. My husband says that she probably likes her sex rough LOL.


I went into the exam room to wait for Dr. Jizz. I was convinced that I hadn't ovulated yet because my temperature was still low. Dr. Jizz told me that my ultrasound confirmed ovulation. He said it happened on cycle day 16, and I'm wondering if there is a way they can tell when the exact day of ovulation occurred, or if that was a guess. When I went in for my cycle day 14 ultrasound I had a 20mm follicle, so I don't know if it's possible I could have ovulated on cycle day 14 or cycle day 15.


Why hasn't my temperature rised yet? It's cycle day 18 and it is still in my usual pre O temp range. Could my temperatures have been lying the whole time? Some people on forums are saying that it doesn't look like I have ovulated yet, so now I'm extra confused. Could the doctor be wrong? If I was trying this month I would be going insane. Hopefully, it rises tomorrow. Dr. Jizz was like, taking your temperature without plotting it on a graph won't work. I had to tell him that I have been religiously taking my temps for 5 months now and have been putting them on fertility friend. He then reassured me that fertility friend was wrong and ultrasounds don't lie. He told me that charting was used years ago when there was no other way to pinpoint ovulation and that it doesn't work for some people. I have been getting temperature shifts every month so I'm not sure why this month is so different. I'm wondering if maybe my temperature just takes longer to rise than normal.


I have booked my followup appointment with my doctor for Tuesday, November 29. I am super excited. I have a list of questions for him which hopefully he'll be able to answer. My biggest question is why my temperature hasn't rised after ovulation like it should have. I have all of my charts printed out and they are on the fridge so I dont' forget them. Maybe he'll be able to explain it. I'm worried that he will say there is nothing wrong with me and won't help me. He did say when my follicle wasn't growing that I would need fertility drugs and he did say when my follicle was 20mm that if I was trying he would give me an injection of some sort, so maybe he will give me something to make me extra fertile. I still haven't gone in for my cycle day 21 (7dpo) progesterone test. That's the one test that I have wanted to have for the longest time.

Cycle Day 14 Ultrasound

Yesterday I went in for my cycle day 14 ultrasound. My follicle grew 2mm like it should have grown. It was at 20mm. The doctor told me to come back on Tuesday to see if the follicle released an egg or not.
I'm sad that I can't go in today because I really wanted to know if it was still there or not. I thought for sure I was ovulating yesterday, but my temperature didn't rise today. I hope it rises tomorrow because if it doesn't I will be so confused.

Repeat Semen Analysis Results

I have some great news! Yesterday we went into the clinic to give a sample of my husbands semen and when we got the results today we were so happy that everything appeared to be normal. There are some things that are borderline normal, but normal!


Volume: 3ml Normal: >1.5
Viscosity: Low Usually it's moderate
Concentration: 28 million/ml Normal: >20 million/ml
Motility: 50% Normal >50%
Progression 2 Usually it's 2+-3+
Total Motile Count: 42 million Normal: >20 million/ml


I'm not sure why, but the morphology was missing from the report. We will ask the doctor about that when we see him next.


I know that the count is still a bit low, but at least it's normal. From my research, it seems that lots of men have over 100 million/ml sperm so hopefully 28 is good enough.

I'm ovulating!

I just got a call from the fertility clinic. The nurse told me that my blood work this morning showed an LH surge, so I could go ahead and have intercourse. I had a rubella shot this month, so I can't try.


I'm so confused! I never ovulate this early! Despite my fertility monitors peak and my blood work, I don't think that I will ovulate. It's just too early lol.


The nurse told me to come in on Tuesday for an ultrasound to check to make sure that the egg has been released, but I want to go in tomorrow to see how big the follicle is and to see if has been released or not. I have no idea when I'm actually going to ovulate. My temperature spiked today and my ultrasound showed that I didn't ovulate today so I can't go by what fertility friend says. I have been having period cramps this afternoon, and I usually get them after I ovulate. Maybe I ovulated today after my ultrasound.


I'm going to call the ultrasound department to see if I can come in tomorrow.

Cycle Day 13 Ultrasound and CBFM Peak

I went in for my third ultrasound today and I was so happy when I saw the usual technician. There are six technicians in the clinic and it's a bit weird having people stick things up my vagina. I would be happy if it was always the same technician because I'm very shy.


I didn't get to see my RE today. All of the doctors at the fertility clinic rotate, so I will be seeing different doctors all of the time. I guess I was just lucky that I saw my RE for the first two times. I liked the doctor I saw today, but he didn't give me the same information as Dr. E did. He wouldn't tell me how many follicles I had. All he said was that it doesn't matter because only one matures. He said there's a 1% chance of two maturing without medication.


My mature follicle grew from 1.5cm to 1.8cm in 3 days. This concerns me because I have been reading online that it is supposed to grow .2cm every day. The doctor said that I should be ovulating today or tomorrow. I didn't believe him because I thought my follicle would grow slowly and not release, but when I got home I decided to POAS for my monitor, and to my surprise it got a peak! I'm only on cycle day 13 so this  is a complete shocker! I always get my peak on cycle day 15 or later. I'm so curious to see what happens at tomorrows ultrasound appointment. I also wonder if because I'm ovulating super early this month if maybe my luteal phase will be normal, or if I'll just have a shorter cycle.


I also forgot to mention that I'm ovulating from my right ovary. I think I might always ovulate from my right side because I feel the most discomfort there when I ovulate.

Cycle Day 11 Ultrasound :(

Yesterday when I went in for my CD10 ultrasound I was really confused. My doctor told me that I would probably ovulate in 2 days. This was confusing because I usually don't ovulate until day 17, so day 12 seemed a bit early to me. Yesterday the doctor said that everything looked normal and all was okay, but today he said something different. He told me that my 1.5cm follicle is still 1.5cm. He said they are supposed to grow every day, and that I will need fertility drugs. He also cancelled tomorrows ultrasound and told me to come back on Friday. The doctor told me that I would most likely ovulate by the weekend, but that's still too early for me usually.


I am again very confused and don't know what's going on. I would like to know why the follicle isn't growing and what kind of fertility drugs I will need. The doctors seem like they are always in a hurry so I can't ask any questions.


Tomorrow we are going into the clinic to give a semen analysis. We figure that maybe if we give the sample at the clinic maybe the numbers will be higher. I'm thinking some died on the trip to the clinic. There was also a tiny bit that didn't get into the cup and the paper that the clinic gave us said that the first drops have the most.


I am making an appointment with my doctor in two weeks to go over all of my test results and talk about treatment. I can't wait.

Cycle Day 10 Monitoring

I went into the fertility clinic today to get my cycle day 10 ultrasound and blood work.


I had three follicles, or eggs?. The doctor said they were eggs. They measured 1, 1.2 and 1.5. The doctor said that once it gets to 2 I will ovulate. He said that would be by Thursday which would be cycle day 12! I never ovulate that early. I always ovulate around cycle day 17, so I'm kind of confused.


I have to go back every day this week. I wonder if there will be anymore follicles. I wonder if I really will ovulate on cycle day 12. This is all so confusing. I guess I will understand it more as time goes on.

My Saline Sonohysterogram Experience

I have read a lot of bad experiences about this procedure. I was really scared of having one. I have never had any procedure where they had to stick any kind of probe up me so I didn't know what to expect. At first the doctor gave me a pap smear which was fine. It felt a bit weird when he was scraping my cervix, but that was it. Then the ultrasound tech did a vaginal ultrasound and that was nothing. It was the easiest part.


Then they did the saline sonohystergram. I felt a bit of weird pressure cramp in my uterus when the saline was injected, but it only lasted for 2 seconds. It was funny because when the doctor said that he was done I asked him if it was time to do the saline sonohysterogram, and he said, "I did it already." LOL. When I felt the weird pressure cramp I wasn't sure what was happening. I thought it was a part of the ultrasound. The worst part of this procedure was the anticipation. The procedure itself was fine and WAY easier than I expected it to be.


The best part of the test is that everything was normal. I'm very happy that nothing was found.

Scary Tests and Semen Analysis

It's Friday today which means that I have to go in for the scariest test I have ever had on Monday at 1pm. It's a saline sonohysterogram. They will stick a long probe up my vagina and insert saline into my uterus. I'm FREAKING out. I have never had a test as scary as this before. It's even causing me to have nightmares something that I never get. I have read so many horror stories online that I'm seriously considering cancelling the appointment. The only thing is, if I cancel the appointment, the fertility specialist won't help me because of the stupid protocol, so I have no other choice.


He also mentioned something about a laparoscopy. I really don't want to be put under and cut open. This whole baby making process  scares the crap out of me. Why couldn't we just conceive naturally like everyone else I know. I'm very scared and I feel all alone. I have no one to talk to and no one who understands. I'm so desperate for someone, anyone to talk to about this whole situation but I have no one. I even went as far as going to trying to conceive forums, but no one ever gives me the time of the day.


I'm so sad that this is all happening. My husbands semen analysis came back and it isn't good. Everything is low. It's all borderline low, but it's still low. His sperm count was 18 million, but his motile count was only 8 million and the normal is 20 million. I have seen women say their men had 200 million, so this is a bit scary. My husband has stopped smoking as of yesterday and he's doing such a great job. I'm very proud of him even if he is extra cranky. He also switched from boiling hot baths to showers. He's taking zinc every day too so hopefully his numbers will go up. He's going back on Monday to get tested.

My Dog Can Predict AF

He does it every month. A day or two before he will get extra cuddly. He's very cuddly to begin with, but before AF comes he gets extra annoying. He will lean in towards me and he must be touching me. If I move away he will follow me. This is the only time he ever gets like this. It's very weird, and I can't explain it, but I'm assuming maybe he can smell it.


I'm 9dpo, so I guess I should expect AF within 1-3 days :( At least I'm getting closer to treatment.