PCP/TTC/ATP Wednesday

2brides

What are your updates?  Anyone have a suggestion for a QOTD?

Mrs._F

I'm terrible at thinking of QOTDs... who's got one?

Update: I'm 20 weeks today!  This feels like such a great milestone - 20 weeks down, 20 to go!  As you all know, we had our big u/s on Monday, revealing that we are having a boy(!! Henry!!), and that he is growing right on track and looking beautiful!  We followed up our exciting Monday with a terrible Tuesday - I was feeling AWFUL and due to the combined joys of stupid insurance company crap and less than perfect public transit had quite the day, complete with trips to both the ER and the midwife's office (3 smelly cab rides total).  Henry and I are both fine, and I'm back to work today, feeling much better, thank goodness!  I've been having fun today, being back at work spreading the news and showing off pictures of our SON(!) to my coworkers.

Meegs10.13.06

Mrs._F:

We followed up our exciting Monday with a terrible Tuesday - I was feeling AWFUL and due to the combined joys of stupid insurance company crap and less than perfect public transit had quite the day, complete with trips to both the ER and the midwife's office (3 smelly cab rides total). 

Yipes! I'm sorry your Tuesday was so rough. Do they know what was wrong? 

Glad to hear you are better today, and congrats again on your son! 

Meegs10.13.06

I am 30 weeks now... which is just crazy. As of next week, our weeks left will be in the single digits!!

I had an appt Monday night and everything looks good. Heartrate still in the 140s, and she is currently head down. 

That's about all to report, though in this case I think no news is good news. 

thefamilyway904

Mrs. F: Wow, what a Tuesday that must have been. Glad to hear that all is well now.

Meegs: 30 weeks already? Your little girl will be here before you know it! Exciting.

Our update: We're feeling good about the timing of our first iui and now we're in our first tww. We'll be testing right after Christmas. I happy about this as I think the holidays will provide a nice distraction.

valancy

We're in our first TWW, too, testing just before Christmas.  I have a handful of symptoms that I'm mostly discounting, and pain/enlargement in the bust area that is very out of character for me, and makes me hopeful.  So I guess we'll see in a few days!

 Other than that, Ren?e comes home today! She's been gone since August, and I can't wait to see her.  Of course, it also mean she'll be home when it's time to test, and I hadn't quite decided if we'd tell her about TTC so soon. I'm guessing if the news is good I won't be able to keep it secret. 

Meegs10.13.06

Good luck to both of you! My fingers crossed that there are good results for Christmas!

Mrs._F

thefam and valancy - Good luck!!

Meegs - You're getting so close!!  No conclusive info on what exactly was wrong.  I won't get into the whole story, but rest and hydration seemed to do the trick.

JoySeattle

I'm so excited for everyone!

We're settling into our new home and looking forward to visiting family for the Christmas holiday.

School, house projects and an advanced lactation training have been keeping me busy--and distracted from our ttc-break. I took an entire cycle off from charting (which was good for me) but now I'm going to be getting back into the swing of it. For me this includes detailed charting, taking additional supplements and TCM herbs and being more mindful of my overall health. I'm also going to be getting into better shape between now and when we start again. I'm really looking forward to going back to acupuncture again with my next session on Monday!

Right now I'm trying to decide how many more times we're going to try at home before moving to an RE. Our course we're flexible, but I like having a game plan going into it. Our original idea was to do at least 3 tries at home.We currently have 9 vials left and I'm thinking we might plan to do two more cycles with two insems each. That way, if we need to, we'll still have at least 5 vials to work with at the RE. I'm open to feedback on this if anyone has any to share...

 

Two*True

I'm sick but pregnancy wise am doing okay.  Although today I feel huge.  I'll have to get a picture on PIP Wednesday.  Other than that there really isn't anything new here.

ctbride08

JoySeattle:

I'm open to feedback on this if anyone has any to share...

All I can say is that I wish we had moved on to an RE sooner. Of course, hindsight is 20/20...if we had gotten PG on our 5th or even 6th try I wouldn't have regretted a thing, ya know?

valancy

Joy, we're also planning on 3 tries at home before moving on to other options.  One of those options is IUI at home.   Of course, my PCP did a lot of blood work and testing that would be part of an initial fertility workup, and it all looks good, which gives me a fair amount of confidence to try these at-home cycles. 

In the end it's such a personal decision.  Any chance your PCP or current OB could start doing some basic tests while you decide where to head next? It might help you decide when it's time to change course.  Either way, 5 cycles at home seems like plenty before seeing an RE, especially with how carefully you chart. 

thiswillbe

We are anxiously awaiting our next growth scan on Friday. It seems like forever since the last one, and I just want to know if anything we are doing is helping our little girl. It has been more of a challenge than I thought it would be to try to eat more, and the persistent hip pain makes it hard to sleep on my left side (but I do as much as I can).

I've been sick since the end of last week, but I think (knock on wood!) that I'm finally coming out of the worst of it. S is such a trooper, though, and has taken very good care of me since she's been back from her work trip. Even when I'm weepy and worried about the babies.

And: progress! The nursery is primed! Now we just have to do some electrical work, pick the paint, and we'll be on our way to having a set-up nursery! (Oh, and pick out cribs, too.)

JoySeattle

ct and valancy,

Thanks for your input. I had an HSG but haven't done bloodwork other than for my thyroid. I'm getting labs again on those and vitamin D this week. I also have an exam (not with my regular ob) on the 31st. I'm hoping I can get some more labs done after that to check on hormone levels. If not, I'm thinking of only doing two more cycles before we move forward with medical interventions. At that point we would have a total of 4 cycles and possibly 7 insems. We're already doing IUI, so if/when we move on it will most likely be for drugs and monitoring and I'd love to continue the insems at home if possible.

C keeps reminding me that these first two cycle were during stressful times, so I'm hoping that by taking care of myself and not having the stress of selling and buying a home, one of our next two attempts will be successful without needing to go to the RE.

cookiemonster03

nothing new really. planning on meeting w/ the RE in Jan for a Feb start. But considering an at home try in Jan. Maybe. If we can find a donor we like at a bank that will ship to us. Probably not.

LadyLynz83

So we are "temping" now in PCP, and I'm actually excited! So,I have been temping and following all of the ovulation signs so I knew it was coming, and then yesterday I was trying to pay attention to my body, and at about 10:30 I felt a stick in my side, and then was a little crampy for about an hour and I thought "I think I ovulated, I think that's what that feels like".  So then I temped this AM and I've been 96.9 or 97.0 since my last period and I was 97.7, so I think I was right! I will have to wait a couple more days to be sure its not a fluke temperature, but it's kind of cool to read the books and read about other peoples experiences, and then pinpoint it for yourself.

So, say this was a cycle where we were doing IUI, would insem time (2 times) have been yesterday morning BEFORE ovulation and then yesterday evening?

Mrs._F

LadyLynz83:

So, say this was a cycle where we were doing IUI, would insem time (2 times) have been yesterday morning BEFORE ovulation and then yesterday evening?

Basically, when doing 2 IUIs, you want to insem as close to ovulation (on either side) as possible.  There are differing stats on how long thawed frozen IUI sperm samples live for in the body, but it's pretty safe to assume (based on what I've read) it's not going to live for more than 12 hours.  The lesbian baby-making books (Stephanie Brill and Rachel Peppers) each have some recommendations about timing.  I don't remember the recommendations for back to back IUIs exactly, and the books are at home - but I think one approach is to insem as soon as possible after you get a positive OPK, and then again 12-24 hours later.

Meegs10.13.06

thiswillbe:

We are anxiously awaiting our next growth scan on Friday. It seems like forever since the last one, and I just want to know if anything we are doing is helping our little girl. It has been more of a challenge than I thought it would be to try to eat more, and the persistent hip pain makes it hard to sleep on my left side (but I do as much as I can).

Good luck at your scan... definitely give us a post on Friday to let us know how it goes! 

Do you have a snoogle or other body pillow? If not, Get One!
I didn't want to buy one myself because of the size, but a friend lent me hers and it has been amazing! I'm a back sleeper normally, so sleeping on my sides has been hard for me. That said, with the snoogle I'm able to angle a bit and have belly support, which has made things a lot more comfortable. Plus, you have have one of the curved parts between your legs, which can help with that hip pain. 

jennandmel1024

No real update for us. We're just counting down until our move. We plan to start trying again in March.