I'm surging so there won't be an HCG trigger this month

The fertility clinic called to tell me that my blood work from this morning is LH surging. I have 3 good follicles this month and now I'm worried that only 1 will ovulate. I have read somewhere that HCG releases all mature follicles, but when you ovulate naturally only 1 follicle will release an egg. I know it only takes one, but I think my odds of getting pregnant would be better if I ovulated more than one. The internet gives too much conflicting information because I also read that trigger or no trigger once you ovulate you will ovulate all mature follicles. I don't know what to believe. It's something to ask the doctor. We are going in tomorrow morning for an IUI. We have to give them the sample at 730 and then go back at 1030 for the IUI. This morning I had 3 follicles that were 21, 18, and 16mm. My lining was 8.3. 8.3 isn't good, is it? I'm looking forward to find out what DH's post wash sperm count is tomorrow. He quit smoking, so I can't wait to see if his numbers have improved. 

CD11 monitoring update...3 good follicles on Femara/Letrozole

I was under the impression that Femara wasn't supposed to give you more than one mature follicle, but I was wrong. After looking it up, I have discovered that lots of women who took Femara had more than 1 mature follicle and ended up with multiples. I went in this morning for my cycle day 11 monitoring appointment. I have 3 follicles. 20, 17, and 16mm. This so far has been the best count yet. On my gonal-F cycle I had 3 mature follicles, but they weren't this big this early. I am having crazy ovulation pains on both sides which is unusual. I am going in again tomorrow, and I'm assuming that the doctor of the day will prescribe HCG. Usually on Saturday my own doctor is working and I'm sure if my lead follicle is more than 20 mm he will want me to trigger. They changed how they do the IUI's at my clinic so I am assuming that I will have my IUI the day after my trigger shot which would be on Sunday. 

High cycle day 3 FSH and Femara side effects.

My day 3 FSH this cycle was at an all time high of 10.7 :( It has never been this high, so now I'm super freaked out. The doctor of the day today told me that because of my age I shouldn't be worried. I disagree with him though because my AFC is always low and my AMH is too low. With an FSH of 10.7, an AMH of 1.2, and an AFC of only 6, there is definitely something wrong here. It's funny how my own doctor never seems concerned about my FSH or AFC, but is concerned about my AMH, whereas, the internet says my AFC and FSH for my age is bad, but my AMH isn't too bad. How confusing. I'm very worried about myself. If this doesn't happen soon, it never will. My biological clock is ticking way too fast for my age, so this better hurry up! I'm running out of patience and so are my ovaries, apparently.

There is some good news to share, I have 3 big follicles on cycle day 9! I took 7.5mg of Femara this month. I found it very odd how for the last 2 days I have been having ovary pain on both sides. Usually I only get ovary pain on one side. The 3 follicles growing inside of me would explain it. I have a 17mm follicle and 2 15mm follicles. Yesterday my 17 was a 16 and the 15's were a 12 and 13. I'm hoping that they continue to grow and I have all 3 of them by the time we have to trigger. I'm assuming with a 17mm follicle that I will be having my IUI on Friday or Saturday. We will see. I have to go in daily for ultrasounds and blood work now.

I also have been experiencing bad side effects from the Femara. I didn't have any side effects when I was on a lower dosage than 7.5mg. I have been getting excruciating headaches, hot flashes, night sweats, bad ovary pain, abdominal discomfort, and bloating.

1 IUI instead of 2 IUI's and sperm DNA fragmentation results

The other day I said that I was giving up. Well, that's not true of course. I say that a lot especially when I'm on AF. Sometimes I just get so frustrated.

I went in today for my cycle day 3 ultrasound and I was not happy with my AFC. It was only 8 in total. That's menopause for you. We also discovered that our fertility clinic is only recommending 1 IUI instead of 2 back to back IUI's. Before it cost $400 for a back to back IUI cycle and $200 for a single IUI. Well now they are charging $350 for 1 IUI or $450 for 2 IUIs. It's only $50 more than before for 2, but they are saying that 2 doesn't increase your odds anymore than 1 does and they only gave us 1 cup. So we are going to do 1 IUI instead of 2 this cycle. I'm taking 7.5 mg of Femara.

DH got his DNA fragmentation test results today. I was very worried about this test. I thought that if it didn't come back bad it would come back borderline high, but it came back perfectly normal. He's in the excellent fertility range when it comes to that test. It was 13.8%, and anything under 30% is normal. Anything less than 15% is considered excellent. I'm curious to see what his post wash SA is.

I go back to the clinic on cycle day 8 because of how fast my follicles grow while I'm on medication. Usually you're supposed to go in on cycle day 10. 

AF is coming, so it's time to call the fertility clinic.

Yesterday my bbt dropped and then today it dropped some more. I have had bad cramps since yesterday. I definitely expect to see AF today which also happens to be my little cousins birthday. She's turning 8 and I can't believe how fast time flies by. I remember visiting her in the hospital when she was just a few hours old. Her mom got me to take care of her for a few minutes while she went down to sign birth papers. I remember being so frightened thinking that something bad would happen to her while I was watching her, but nope. She was a little angel and didn't make a peep for the entire time her mom was gone. It was my first time ever taking care of a newborn baby all by myself. I was single at the time and remember thinking that I would never find a man worthy enough to have kids with, well I was wrong about that.

In about an hour from now I am going to the pharmacy to get my medication for this cycle. I need to get Percocets for my excruciating period cramps. At times like this I wish I could get a sex change. I also need to get Femara. I will be taking 7.5 mg again this cycle along with a HCG trigger shot and a back to back IUI. As soon as AF gets here I will call the fertility clinic and book my cycle day 3 ultrasound. Because my follicle got so big so fast last cycle, my doctor wants me to come in on cycle day 8 to start the monitoring instead of cycle day 10. As soon as my lead follicle gets mature I will get the HCG trigger shot and then hopefully my uterine lining is thick enough to do an IUI. The first time I was going to do an IUI my lining was too thin so we cancelled it. I am very curious to see what DH's post wash sperm count is. I'm hoping since he quit smoking that it has improved. Hey, I just noticed something for the first time LOL. DH are my husbands actual initials. All of this time I have been referring to him as my darling husband without realizing DH is his name....huh. 

Fertility Specialist Appointment~AMH Test Results

We went to see our doctor today. He said we have to be speedy and don't have much time left because my AMH is low at 9 pmol/L. He said I have a low ovarian reserve. This scares the crap out of me because my aunt and my grandmother both went into menopause when they were in their early 30's. It looks like I'm following in their footsteps. Why did I have to get the bad gene? I have no idea how much longer I have, but I hope it's not as early as them. They both had kids, but they were young when they got pregnant. By the time they were my age they were done having kids. 

So with my crappy eggs and my husbands low sperm count, we are going to take my doctors advice and move quickly. The plan so far (the plan could always change, however.) is to have 2 more IUI's. One with Femara and one with Gonal-F. If they don't work we will try Femara on it's own for a couple of more months and then go to IVF. Will we even have a chance at IVF? It looks like adoption may be our only hope.

I Tested This Morning...

...and of course it was a BFFN (big fat fucking negative). I wasn't expecting it to be positive because it never is. I usually don't test this early, but today is my birthday and what a great birthday present it would be to see a second line on a pregnancy test. Oh well, maybe next year.

We are going to the fertility clinic today to talk to our doctor, Dr. Ewok to plan next cycle and to see if my AMH test results are back. I also want to ask him about my big follicle on CD10. The doctor of the day that day said it was too early to be that big, so we will see what my own doctor has to say. I have come to learn that if I want to know anything at all I have to do is ask my doctor because it seems like the other doctors sometimes don't know what they are talking about. I will post about what happened at the doctors later.