Injection Day

Today is Injection Day #2 on this round. Friday will be injection #3. The injection on Monday was easy, breezy....Which is not normal. The FSH injections usually are painful because the needle is small and the solution is hard to inject through it. The needle itself is never the issue and I'm not afraid of needles either. However, for whatever reason that one was easy. I'm crossing my fingers that tonight and Friday are easy too! This month is an easy month to remember where we are at with the cycle. Day 1 was on November 1st so it correlates with the month. Usually I'm all over my calendar counting out the days each time I have to look at it, maybe that means it's lucky.

Last night I was blessed to capture newborn photos for a new client. They were an amazing family of five. 3 little boys, ALL FROM IVF. I was so excited to hear some amazing stories from them and some comfort from mom about the entire process. I'm crossing my fingers I don't need to know any of it but knowing my luck from the last 6 rounds of IUI's I will need it. It was a joy to hear their success stories and 2 successes off of frozen cycles! Such darling little boys, so Happy for their family.

I heard from our Videographer last night and we need to cut out more of our interview. We'll pick up the flash drive to watch it tonight and will need to cut out about 5 minutes! Yikes. Apparently I talk too much :)

Ready for injections, Round 3

We started our 3rd round of Cycles with the injections this week. Injection Wednesday night and another one tonight. These two injections are pretty painful. The fluid does not go in easily so even though the needle is super small it takes a while to get the fluid pushed through and it hurts. 

After tonight we have an apt Monday morning and then likely a trigger shot injection that night. 

Here's to hoping for a great weekend! 

Baseline Testing, Month 24

Today I headed down to RCC for another round of Baseline testing. They got us right in at 9 am. In fact, they called me back before I was done checking in at the front counter and making a payment on our account. Super fast. We were done in 30 minutes and off on our way home. They are quick.

Ultrasound was up first. They checked the uterus and both ovaries. Neither side had cysts this time, yay! That means they could send down the blood work for the Ovarian Assessment Report. She said there were about 8 and 9 small follicles on each side that are normal. If you have over 4/5 then you are usually doing good and are more likely to get pregnant.

Blood work came next. They drew a small amount of blood for the OAR. We should have the results back in a few days. If this month doesn't take then we will likely shoot for IVF next month since it's a down month in Photography but that's only if my OAR comes back good.

What is an OAR?

The Ovarian Assessment Report (OAR)™ provides the most accurate available assessment of a woman’s ovulatory egg supply using a single blood sample.

OAR Benefits:

• More accurately identify patients likely to respond poorly to stimulation.
• Quantifiably outperform the predictive power of AMH or FSH testing alone.
• More accurately identify likely egg retrieval numbers in egg donor candidates.

By combining multiple hormones & age factors into one algorithm, the OAR increases the overall sensitivity of the test.

The OAR combines age with blood serum levels of various ovary related hormones such as AMH and FSH into a proprietary mathematical algorithm to provide the Egg Retrieval Score™ (ERS).

The ERS is calibrated to the most definitive measure of ovulatory egg supply:
the number of eggs retrieved through ovarian stimulation.

So we wait for results while continuing on our plan.

Plan for this month:
Day 4 - Ultrasound and Bloodwork (This was today)
Day 3 through 7 - Femara
Day 7 & 9 - FSH Injection
Day 12 - Ultrasound & Follicle check
Day 12 - Trigger Shot
Day 14 - IUI 


Last night Andy's parents came over and brought us dinner. Andy hasn't ate much so Chicken Noodle soup sounded great... and it was! They brought me flowers and a super perfect card. Julie and I were both in tears. Such a thoughtful gesture and one that means so much. There aren't too many people that can know what we're going through but they do. It's all too familiar and they get it. 

First Injection Down

This weekend was a busy time. We headed to Evanston Wyoming and spent the day/night there at a wedding for a client of mine. It was a beautiful building and wedding and we actually had pretty fun. Andy hung out the entire time with me, which doesn't usually happen. It was a relief to have someont to talk to and hang out with in between shooting and he also took over for me occasionally so I could sit down. We headed to the hotel at about 11:15 PM. I took my nightly cocktail of 5 prescriptions and up next was the injection. Done and Done. One more of this type and then Ovidrel on Thursday if the Ultrasound looks good.

A panic Attack

I may have had a slight panic attack last night. I was going through the papers the clinic gave me on Tuesday and apparently I did not read them very well if at all. They only gave me like 10 pages, but still.

The Hysterosalpingogram (HSG) Testing procedure they are doing TOMORROW is a lot more invasive than I expected. What is this procedure? I'm sure you are wondering... where's what I found online.

A hysterosalpingogram, or HSG is an important test of female fertility potential. The HSG test is a radiology procedure usually done in the radiology department of a hospital or outpatient radiology facility.

• Radiographic contrast (dye) is injected into the uterine cavity through the vagina and cervix
• The uterine cavity fills with dye and if the fallopian tubes are open, dye fills the tubes and spills into the abdominal cavity

The warnings on the paper they gave me say:

• Start the Antibiotic the day before the Procedure. Take 1 pill in the morning, one pill in the evening the day before, day of and day after procedure. If Fallopian tubes are blocked during the procedure the Dr will prescribe more antibiotics 
• They recommend taking 800 mg Ibuprofen 45 minutes before the procedure AS WELL as the 1 Valium 45 minutes before the procedure. 
• They recommend NOT going back to work after the procedure
• Heavy bleeding may occur for a couple of days. No tampons can be used. 
• Common effects of the procedure are dizzy, faint and nauseous. 
• Fever up to 100 deg is normal
• It is common to have cramping discomfort for 24-48 hours
• No showering or getting in water for 24 hours or the next day. 

Oh boy. We have a Photo Booth event tomorrow night AND a wedding in Evanston the next day with the Photo Booth. I'm sure hoping I survive this with minimal pain and suffering. I'm selfish like that. 

Last night I ordered a new box of Ovulation Kits. I was using Clear Blue Advanced Digital. Apparently the Advanced Digital doesn't work well with Fertility Treatments so they asked me to get the Clear Blue Digital ones. There goes a nearly full box of Ovulation Kits I can't use. I also ordered a lubricant that we are supposed to be using. It didn't occur to me that nearly every lubricant out there includes spermicide which is not good when you're trying to get pregnant. So I ordered Pre-seed which was recommended by the Dr. I sure LOVE amazon! They'll be here tomorrow and I didn't even have to go to the store. 

I got a shipping notice today. The FSH injection mediation is shipping tonight overnight and will be at our house in the morning. We'll have to refrigerate it until Saturday and Monday nights when we do the injections. 

I am super nervous about tomorrow. Not to mention I have a big ISO Audit at work on Monday and Tuesday that I need to be there for. I'm hoping that I got everything ready TODAY but I'm sure I missed something. 

Baseline Testing, Month 23

Today my mom and I headed to Clearfield to the RCC for my baseline testing. They got us Right in when we arrived at 845.

First up was the ultrasound.  Uterus looked good and normal. Size and thickness was normal.

Right ovary had quite a few small follicles and some up to 12 mm. Average at this stage is 5-7 mm.

Left ovary was the same.  It also had a few follicles larger than normal and also a cyst. 

I went in for bloodwork next. They filled 4 vials, including an extra one for a quick progesterone test to determine if the cyst is producing progesterone which would throw off my bloodwork. 

Paperwork and Rx came next. We went through the meds I'll be on this round including Femara,  3 FSH injections, an antibiotic for the die and xrays as well as a valium for the die and xrays appt on Friday.  Femara is easy and the antibiotic too. Injections don't seem hard but I'm sure I may change my mind if I woose out and can't administer them myself!  Hope andy is ok helping!! I've never taken a valium but now I'm super nervous about Friday's testing. If an IUI was painful, what's this going to be like?

After we got all the info and prescriptions we headed out. We were in and out in less than an hr. Wow! They recommended we stop at Costco to fill the prescriptions because they were cheaper at the cash price there and insurance doesn't dover them. We headed to Ogden and stopped there.  Costo was SLOW!! 45 min for 3 prescriptions,  one of which was ONE pill!!

We hurried back to logan so I could get to work and to our Managers meeting.  I was there not more than 10-15 min and the Dr called. They had the results of my progesterone test. My levels were elevated enough that they could not send my bloodwork and get the Ovarian Assessment Report they need as it would be thrown off and unreliable.  Major bummer. That means retesting next month to get a baseline and hoping the cyst decreases in size and what it produces.  He did authorize us to continue with the femara and injections for this month BUT was only going to have us do 2 instead of 3 as my levels were already increased.

The pharmacy  (which is actually in Arizona not Oregon ) called to set up my account.  They ship the meds the day before I need them and ship them overnight on ice. They need refrigerated upon receipt.  I gotta figure out how to keep them cool in Evanston while we are at a wedding on Saturday! 

Work was rough again. Gossip gossip gossip. Seriously the center of conversation is never where I want to be. And this is not how i envisioned telling people we were trying to conceive. I'm hoping it blows over and people don't think much of it.

Praying for Hope and a little luck this week and next. 

Reproductive Care Center | Dr. Swelstad

Friday we took half a day off work and headed down to a new fertility Clinic called the Reproductive Care Center in Clearfield. We met with Dr. Swelstad. We reviewed both my medial history and Andy's as well as our journey with trying to conceive. We were there about 2 hours. We had heard a lot of good things about Dr Swelstad. Two people we know recently (in the last year) got pregnant through him using IVF first round. We also know someone that got pregnant with the same plan we are going to do.

This is what HOPE looks like. He was hesitant to suggest doing IVF which is actually what we assumed we would be discussing. BUT he has additional options that are less money that he's also had good luck on! Wahoo. Less money at this stage in the game is a bonus.

We decided we would continue heading toward IVF and do the blood tests, ultrasound, xrays and semen analysis to help diagnose any issues possible. They won't even start IVF until all of those are done so we are going to proceed with doing them on the next cycle.

We are also going to continue doing IUI's for 2-3 months. However, instead of Clomid we are moving to Femara which is similar but supposed to have less side effects. In addition we are going to be doing FSH Injections, Trigger shot and an IUI (Pending my schedule). We'll try that for 1-3 months and then move to IVF as needed and depending on what our tests show.

So this month will look like this:
Day 2/3/4 - Ultrasound and 5 Blood tests
Day 3 through 7 - Femara
Day 6/7/8/9/10/11 - X-rays of Ovaries, Fallopian Tubes and Uterus
Day 7, 9, 11 - FSH Injection
Day 12 - Trigger Shot
Day 13 - IUI and Semen Analysis or timed intercourse depending on schedules

I'm hopeful taking a more aggressive approach will pay off. Money at this point is still an issue but it's the back burner and just getting pregnant is the highlight right now. If that means IVF, I think we are both on board to proceed.