Cycle Day 8 Follicle

I usually go to get monitored on cycle day 10, but because sometimes medication makes me ovulate early I go in on cycle day 8 on medicated cycles. It turns out that I didn't need to come in early this cycle because I only have 1 small follicle at 13mm. I usually have more than 1 this early, so I'm hoping that it doesn't disappear and other ones appear. The doctor of the day told me to come back on Wednesday. I forgot to ask for my cycle day 3 FSH and other lab numbers. I'm going to see if they can give me a print out of all my cycles that were monitored and all of my blood test results with DH's SA's. I don't have much hope for this cycle, or any future cycle for that matter. I'm having a very bad day, actually I have been depressed since last week and I can't seem to snap out of it :(

My IUI with injections failed :( Now waiting for IVF.

Well, my 5th IUI cycle didn't work. Deep down I knew it wouldn't work, but I still wanted to take the chance. I was really hoping that I would have had a better response to the injections and that after taking a multi vitamin and quitting smoking DH would have a better post was sperm count than usual, but neither of those things happened and worst of all I got AF :( For whatever reason my LP was only 9 days even with progesterone support. I don't think that I took enough progesterone (200mg/day) and I also don't think that I started it early enough. I usually start it on 2 dpo or whenever the clinic tells me to, but this time something came up and I couldn't start it until 5dpo. I didn't think that would matter, but obviously it has. I wasn't sure if it was the HCG shot or the Femara that gave me a normal LP of 16 days, but since I didn't take Femara last cycle I'm assuming that it was the Femara that was responsible.

I'm on CD5 right now and on my 3rd day of Femara. I went for monitoring on CD3 and what a nightmare that was since AF was extremely heavy that day. Let's just say it got kind of messy LOL. TMI, but when I was finished there was blood all over my legs and paper gown they gave me, it was quite messy. The ultrasound tech said that the next time I should empty my bladder before the ultrasound to avoid the messiness. And of course I only had 7 follicles :( 4 on my right and 3 on my left. My AFC is always so low which concerns me when it comes time for IVF. The doctor prescribed me my usual 7.5mg of Femara so I'm hoping that 2 of those 7 follicles mature. Sometimes Femara makes me ovulate 2 follicles which is odd since women online have said that Femara is usually prescribed to people who want to avoid multiples. So, the medication that's not supposed to give you more than 1 mature follicle does and the injections that are supposed to give you more than 1 doesn't? What's wrong with that picture? If I do happen to get more than 1 mature follicle DH has agreed to do another IUI this cycle. The chances of it working are slim, but chances of timed intercourse working are even slimmer. I go back on Monday for a follicle check and blood work. They usually tell patients to come in on CD10, but because I sometimes ovulate before that I go in on CD8.

Our IVF information session is on May 7 and I made an appointment to see my RE on May 29. I would have made it for sooner but he's away for like 4 weeks that month :( After the IVF information session we are going to do IVF as soon as we can. However, after doing some research I have noticed that some women are put on IVF waiting lists which would really suck. One of them waited for 7 months! Because of my low ovarian reserve, I don't have much time to be waiting. I have noticed that my AFC keeps getting smaller and smaller which isn't good at all. I have no idea if my clinic has a waiting list or not. I guess I will find out on the 7th. If IVF doesn't work, then I have no idea what we will do. Probably start the adoption process.

IUI cycle 5 part 2.

I had my second IUI today. The doctor of the day was Dr. C. Every time this guy does something to me it hurts and today wasn't any different. My IUI hurt and I had some cramping for about an hour after.

 DH's sperm count was worse than yesterday after the wash it was 1.7 million and 42% motility. Before the wash his count was 61 million/ml and 21% motility and his volume was 1.1. Usually that's all the information they give us, but this cycle they added more numbers to his analysis, numbers that I have never heard of. I'm not sure what they mean and google isn't being very helpful lol. Here's what they were:

Progressive (A+B): 38% 
Track Velocity (VCL): 47 μm/s 
Linear Velocity (VSL): 17.3 μm/s 
Path Velocity (VAP): 23.5 μm/s 
Lateral Head Amplitude (ALH): 2.5 μ m 
Linearity (VSL/VCL): 36.6%
Straightness (VSL/VAP) 73.6% 
Beat Frequency (BCF): 8 Hz 

My IUI Experience

Today I had my 7th IUI (5 cycles). Sometimes IUIs can be painful and uncomfortable for me, but today I felt no discomfort or pain at all so that was good. We were going to do the semen sample at home, but the weather was so horrible that we weren't sure if we could get it there within the time period. I think they say that it has to be there within 45 minutes of producing the sample. After that we came back home we had to leave 30 minutes later to go back for the IUI. I asked the doctor if we could do a back to back IUI and at first she said that there's no point because they recently discovered that it doesn't make a difference, but then she looked at DH's semen analysis and said because it was low that she would have no problem with letting us do another IUI tomorrow. I'm happy that I can have another IUI, but a bit concerned about the SA. Before the wash the concentration was 20 million with 25% motility, and after the wash the concentration was 6.5 million with 49% motility. That's kind of low I think. I know that the normal motility is above 50% pre wash, so 49% post wash scares me a little. I'm not sure of his exact numbers because I only looked at the paper for a couple of seconds, but I'm certain that his post wash was 6.5 million with 49% motility.  I'm curious to see if it's any better tomorrow. I also found out that my lining was very thin yesterday. It was 6mm. I know they say that anything over 6mm is good, but I am not okay with that number. I hate how we always end up with borderline low numbers because I know that it's affecting us, but the doctors don't seem to think having borderline low numbers is a problem. Clearly it is a problem or I would have been pregnant by now. Since I didn't respond to the medication this month had a thin lining and with DH's low count, I think it's safe to say that this cycle is a bust already. The doctor of the day said that I won't need progesterone because I had an HCG shot, but I was under the impression that you always need progesterone with injections. Because I have had progesterone issues in the past and a luteal phase defect, I am going to take progesterone this cycle anyways. They are so disgusting and gross, so It was amazing to have a break from them for awhile. I'm going to pee on a pregnancy test on 14DPO. That should be enough time for the HCG to be out of my system. Last cycle I tested on 13DPO and the test was stark white, so I'm pretty sure 14DPO will be accurate. The nurse told me to come back on April 26 for a pregnancy test, but I never make it to the date they give me. Usually they tell you to come back for an ultrasound and blood test the day after the IUI, but this cycle they said there was no point since I had an HCG shot. This clinic always changes their policies lol. It's a bit annoying because I never know what's going on when I go there and they expect me to know all of the changes without ever telling me.

I will be back tomorrow to give an update about my second IUI.

My Dominant Follicle Grew 5mm in One Day. IUI tomorrow

So, I went to the doctors today to have the usual ultrasound and blood test. I think the doctor said that I have 4 follicles? He said that 3 of them are too small, but my dominant follicle is 24 and ready to go. Yesterday it was 19 and the next day it's 24? That doesn't make much sense to me. I don't understand why medication makes one of my follicles grow super fast, but the other ones hardly grow at all. I thought that the medication was supposed to give you more follicles, not make one of them go out of control and grow rapidly. I'm only on cycle day 8, isn't this too early to be having a follicle that big?  It's funny that I ovulate too early on mediation but ovulate late without any medication. I don't know what is going on with my body, but I don't think it's doing what it should be doing.

My doctor told me to trigger today and have the IUI tomorrow. I'm pretty sure that my LH started to surge before my HCG shot because this morning my ovulation test looked positive. I wanted to wait one more day to trigger because I was pretty sure that my blood test this morning would have shown an LH surge, but the doctor told me not to wait just in case. On CD 3 I told the nurse that I wanted to do a back to back IUI, but when we went up to pay, the receptionist told me that they don't do that anymore and that if I wanted it I would have to get permission from the doctor. I thought that since I told the nurse what I wanted to do and that she was fine with it that it wouldn't be a problem, but I guess I was wrong. I'm going to ask the doctor who is doing the IUI tomorrow if I can come back the next day for another one, but I have a feeling that they will say no. Maybe there's no point in doing a second one anyway, it could be too late. I don't know why I want to have 2 IUIs since I'm 99.99999% sure it won't work. I would say 100%, but nothing is 100%

DH quit smoking in the summer and started taking vitamins a few months ago. I'm pretty sure that I'm the problem and that my eggs are just too shitty for a successful pregnancy, but I'm curious to see if quitting smoking and vitamins has helped my DH's sperm count. It's always less than 10 million after a wash. We will see.

We have to go in between 7-8am to drop off the sample and then go back at 10am for the IUI. Then I go back for an ultrasound and blood test the next day to see if I have ovulated.

Gonal-F isn't working :( Femara worked better, why?

I don't understand why medication that cost $6 worked better than the one that cost $1000. Does this make any sense whatsoever? Last cycle with Femara I had 2 mature follicles and some smaller ones, but this cycle with Gonal-F I only have 1 mature follicle and one very small one. The biggest is 19 and the smallest 13. I have been taking 150IU for 4 days, shouldn't I have more follicles? The doctor of the day said that they aim between 2 and 4 follicles, so this is a bit discouraging. A year ago when we did Gonal-F I started out on 100IU and finished off taking 125IU and got 3 mature follicles so I don't understand why I got less follicles with a higher dosage. I also don't understand why Femara works better. The scariest part of all this is that the doctor said Gonal-F is used for IVF, but what's the point if I'm only going to get 1 egg when usually they transfer 2 embryos. I have seen online that there's a certain protocol that is used for women who don't respond well to injections, but apparently my clinic has never heard of this and will treat me like they treat everyone. Is this normal, or should I get a second opinion before we move on to IVF?

The doctor of the day told me to take 150IU tonight and come back tomorrow. He said that my 19mm follicle is mature and could rupture at any time. They took my blood and will call me if my LH is surging. If it is, we will do an IUI the next day. He said if I don't surge and the follicle gets too big they will trigger me. I'm not sure if I even want to have the IUI with only one follicle because it could be a waste of money, but the odds of an IUI are better than TI so we're going to do it. I am never taking injections again unless we are doing IVF because I don't see the point in having needles in my stomach every day and spending that amount of money on something when there's something else (femara) that works just the same and is WAAAAAAY cheaper.

I didn't ask what my lining was, but while I was getting the ultrasound I could have sworn I saw her enter 7.9 into the computer.

I'm convinced that there is something seriously wrong with me. Compared to what I see online, I'm not normal. I have a bad feeling that we will never have a child of our own. I think my eggs are too bad and I will be going into menopause in 5 or less years. It runs in my family. My grandmother was only 35 and my aunt was only 39. I know that other relatives were also in their 30s. I suggested to DH that we skip trying and go straight to adoption, but he said hell no lol. He wants to do at least 2 IVF's before we think of going down that route. I don't even think IVF will work with my crappy eggs. Donor eggs are as expensive as adoption, so I think that's out of the question. On the fertility clinic's website it says that donor eggs are $23,000! YIKES!

What the hell is wrong with this world, why do people who don't want kids or shouldn't have them pop them out like crazy, but others like DH and I are going through hell and back trying? This really makes me question things.

IUI and Gonal-F Cycle Day 2

Today I went to Isis where I had an ultrasound and blood work done. I had an AFC of 8, 4 on each side. I'm going to take Gonal-F 150 IU for 4 days starting tomorrow. On CD7 I go back to see how the medication worked and to see if it needs to be adjusted. The last time I had injections I think I started at 75IU and then they had to raise it to 100IU and then to 125IU? It was something like that anyway. My doctor said that this time they would start me on 150IU because I have low ovarian reserve and the last time I was on injections my follicles weren't growing together. We bought a 900IU pen wich cost $972, but luckily DH's new insurance covers 80%. I have to mail them the receipt today.

Once I have mature follicles we will have a back to back IUI. They say it doesn't make a difference whether you have 1 IUI or 2, but I want to anyway because the more sperm there the better. I also want to make sure the timing is good. What if the first IUI is too early?

When we went to pay for Gonal-F, we were reminded that we needed to pay for our annual cycle monitoring payment. We were supposed to pay for it in October, but they must have forgotten until now. Cycle monitoring for the year is $300 which isn't too bad. It's covered by the government, but our clinic likes to charge $300. It's only covered by the government if you see a doctor, so most fertility clinics aren't covered because they don't have doctors to see every day, only nurses. The government won't pay for it if you see a nurse and not a doctor. Our clinic has a bunch of doctors and every day you see a different one.