I guess I should update huh?

Well, I haven't really written in awhile to let all ya'll know what's been going on.. Not that there's really much to tell anyway. *sigh*.

I had to drop Jeff off at the airport last Sunday ( Nov 16)... that completely sucked. I know it could be worse, and he could be deployed for like 15 months, but it still freaking sucks. Honestly, I'd rather have him deployed on the sub, getting to see (web cam) and talk to him every day really makes it a lot harder then normal... He's definitely getting leave for Christmas Stand down though, we've already bought the plane tickets... coming home Dec 18 until Jan 4th... so not too much longer... *sigh*

After talking with my RE about what to do this cycle, we came to the decision to put me on BCP. Very strange to be taking them, but you gotta do what you gotta do. We came to that conclusion so that we can manipulate my next cycle to hopefully ovulate while Jeff is home. So I have to call about 10 day's before hes expected home, so we can get started with the plan. I'm going to be taking Clomid again from CD 5-9, get monitored lots to make sure I respond to it again (the BCP might suppress it so we're not sure, but I'm guessing I will). Then another trigger shot and another IUI. We've also come to the decision that we're not going through with the IUI this time unless the count is at LEAST above 800,000. I'd ideally love it to be over a million, but we'll see when the time comes.

In other news, I went to my PCM on Wednesday to get a referral letter for IVF. We talked about our history (thank god she knows most of it). How long we've been trying for, what we've done already, etc. I gave her a copy of both of Jeff's SA's and told her his count for the IUI, she agreed with me that IVF w/ ICSI is our best option. *sigh* So she wrote up the referral letter, I have to give it a few days to be routed through Tricare, then go get a copy and fax it up to Walter Reed. I also had all the pre-IVF blood work done on Thursday, 10 vials worth. I still need to get my CD 3 FSH E2 levels drawn, but that'll have to wait until next cycle. I'm sick of being a pin cushion, but I know it's only going to get worse.

I really don't know why we're going to bother with another IUI in December, I guess I'm just pathetic and holding out hope that we won't need to go as far as IVF. Kinda sad huh? We'll just cancel out of it if his count isn't high enough, so no biggie right?. Just more Clomid and another shot in the ass (ouch), and of course the lovely U/S wand.. *eye roll*. Not to mention getting my hopes up once again... I can't take much more of that.. I'm so scared that we'll never be pregnant, all I want is a baby with my husband, it's not supposed to be this hard.

Well it was a bust

Well I got my blood tested yesterday, got the results back today, it was definitely negative. I'm really not that upset, I was expecting it to be negative.

Jeff's leaving on Sunday. Hopefully he'll be able to come home for Christmas.. I really don't want to go three months w/o seeing him. Blah..

So heres our plan now:

We've pretty much resigned ourselves to the fact that IVF is our only option. I have an appointment on November 19th to get a referral letter to send up to Walter Reed for it.. I'm really hoping that everything goes through quickly and we can do the orientation in December (when he's hopefully home). That way we should be set up to get into a cycle right when we move up to Ft. Meade.

I'm kinda torn on doing another IUI in December. I mean it would be awesome to get pregnant from it and not have to go through IVF.. but on the other hand I'm thinking it'll be a waste of money since Jeff's count is so low. I guess it'll depend on the timing and whether it works out or not.

Well I'll update again once I know more.

Well heres whats been going on...

Well I took Clomid 50mg from CD 5-9.. went in for my post coital exam and had another U/S... saw three follicles still but not mature yet. My next appointment was Monday morning. Again there were follicles, 2 were 17.5mm and 1 was 16.5, I had 2 more also but they were no where near ready. The doc gave me a prescription for a trigger shot (its a straight shot of HCG to cause ovulation in 36 hours). We went and picked it up.

Tuesday night at 5:30 Jeff gave me the trigger shot in the butt. lol. He was pretty nervous about doing it, but he did it perfectly. The shot site was pretty sore for a day or two afterwards. I had some ovulation pain for awhile. On Thursday morning we went back to the RE. Jeff gave his sample at 8am, we went out to breakfast and went to Target. At 9:30 we went back for the IUI. I get undressed and am laying on the table, my doc comes in and lets us know that Jeff's sample came to only 357,000 after the sperm wash. We were both pretty upset, we definitely weren't expecting the numbers to be that low. She asked us if we were sure we still wanted to do the IUI. I really didn't want too, didn't really see a point with numbers that low, but Jeff wanted to go ahead anyway since it was onlt $200. We ended up doing the IUI, afterwards I layed there for 10 mins and cried. We payed and left.

The rest of the day we were both pretty down. It really was a shock after his last SA for the numbers to be that low. We're doing better today. If we end up pregnant this cycle, it really will be a miracle.

If this cycle is a bust then here's the plan:

* Next cycle we'll be on a forced break because of the Navy.
* But the cycle after that (Dec).. I'll take Clomid 50mg again, have the trigger shot again and do another IUI. This is all dependant on whether the timing of my cycle would be right or not.
* If that doesn't work the next 2 cycles (Jan and Feb) we'd be on a break again because of the Navy.

I'm really tempted to call my PCM and get a referral to Walter Reed for an IVF put in. I feel like doing IUI after IUI w/ #'s these low would be completely pointless and a waste of money. We'll see though.

*Update*

Well here are your updates .. lol

Jeff's Oglioblood results were completely normal.. no testicular failure at all... so my RE prescribed him Clomid 25mg every day. We won't see the results of that for like 3 months since it takes 92 days for sperm to form. We're still waiting on his thyroid results.

I've been taking my Synthroid every day. Doing good with that. I can totally tell a difference. kinda crazy how important your thyroid is.

My cultures came back negative... so I'm all clean lol

Now for more info..

I started taking Clomid 50mg on CD 5.. I took my last pill today.. I went into my RE today to draw blood and get another U/S.. The blood work should be in tomorrow. The U/S showed that I have 3 follicles developing right now.. they're all in the 12mm range. They should be 18-24mm for a "ripe" one. But they grow at a rate of 2mm a day after hitting the 12mm range, so only a few more days.

The Plan:

Go in on Friday for a post coital exam... make sure we have sex 2-8 hours before exam... probably another U/S to determine where we're at with my follicles... see if they're still developing on schedule. Possibly a trigger shot over the weekend if all goes as planned (maybe not though if my body decided to cooperate and do a LH surge on it's own). We should be doing IUI on Monday or Tuesday *fingers crossed* that it works.. I'm very excited and nervous.. If this doesnt work then we won't be able to try again until March (unless everything is timed perfectly for Christmas Stand down when Jeff should be home).

Update

Well I figured I would update ya'll on what's been going on with us lately. I got the results back from all that blood work, everything was completely normal except my TSH was elevated (at 5.16), so I've officially been diagnosed with Hypothyroidism. I started taking Synthroid on Saturday and I'm feeling pretty good. I went into the RE last Friday because my cycle was so long, had more blood drawn, some cultures taken and an ultrasound done. The blood work showed that I did indeed ovulate, but I haven't gotten the results back from the cultures. Jeff had his ogliobloods done that same day, no results on that yet.

O speaking of Jeffrey, he had his urologist appointment today. The exam went fine, he has no varicole veins. The doctor said that his last SA was pretty good, of course the count is a little low and so is the motility but he said that's nothing that IUI won't fix. He also drew Jeff's thyroid levels, so we're waiting on those results too.

So AF showed today as well. My cycle was 55 days long and my LP was 12 days. I called my RE to let them know and spoke to one of the nurses. They want to monitor me this cycle, possibly do an endometrial biopsy and see what's going on with me. I know I don't have a LP defect though, so it's pretty pointless. I flat out told her that I want to do Clomid with a trigger shot and an IUI this cycle since Jeff's leaving for Florida next month. (he's cross rating and has to go to school.. he'll be gone from Nov 15-Dec 17 and then again from Jan 4-Feb 24). The nurse couldn't tell me anything about that, didn't really know what she was talking about, so the doctor should be calling me back tomorrow to talk about it. Hopefully they listen to me and do what I want, because I'm not really going to back down from it. I'm on a time crunch, Jeff's leaving and I want to freaking be pregnant already. They're a doctors office how hard is it to help your patient?. UGH.

So recap:

AF started today
We're waiting on Jeff's bloodwork (ogliobloods and thyroid)
I have hypothyroidism
waiting for doc to call to verify what we're doing this cycle

Well thats it.. I'll update again when I know more information.