Fortune Cookies

So I went out to eat shortly after the RE appt. and in my fortune cookie was a wonderful fortune that I really, truly want to believe. It said:

Look to the next month for some pleasant surprises.

Now we all in the infertile world love to look at small things as “signs” and I’m doing just that with this so when this month ends up with a negative result you can all come back and tell me I told you so and smack me upside the head and say “that’s what I get for letting Hope creep in.”

Prepare yourself for a long post because it’s been so long since I’ve updated and so much has happened. I will try and keep it chronological.

Wed., May 4
RE appointment was at 11:30. Arrived on time, early even (since you guys don’t know me that well yet I will inform you that this is a feat in and of itself-I’m that girl that will be late to my own funeral, seriously). I guess I’m really taking this stuff seriously, as well I should be.

When we arrived there was another couple in the waiting room and the guy did everything in his power to remain hidden and not to make eye contact. He went so far as to hold the newspaper up in front of his face while he was sitting there waiting. I figure that he had to give a sample for an IUI or something that involved him providing a sample. Poor guy, I wish I could’ve said not to be embarrassed but I liken it to the first bra experience for an adolescent girl, you know the one where Helga the big German woman measures you and comes into the dressing room to put your boobies in their bra for the first time. But I digress…

***On a side note to answer Dramalish’s e-mail question: You’re absolutely right, there are no good magazines in the office. Thank goodness husband was there to entertain me.***

The appointment went well. We told him what happened last time and why we didn’t come back for almost a year (you know the miscarriage and all). He was sorry to hear about it, showed the appropriate millisecond of concern and then moved on to the plan (insert appropriate orchestral duh, duh, duh). So since everyone else has named their RE, I guess I will name mine Dr. To the Point (TtP).

Before we get into the plan, I have to share the revolt my body was waging against me for the week before the appointment. So this was the first cycle off Clomid, my body decides to start spotting after what my fertility monitor and temperatures considered ovulation. I have no idea why, it just happened. So our appointment was what I thought was 6 dpo. The spotting had turned in to light bleeding the day before and the day of the appointment. Dr. TtP wanted me to have my estrogen and progesterone levels taken so we can know whether this is period or whether this is post-ovulation. That’s it, now I can start in with the plan.

Once the estrogen and progesterone results were in was when the decision would be made on what cycle day I was on. If they both came back low then it would mean I start Clomid in preparation for an IUI. If they came back high it would mean I was still in the LP and would have to wait till my period really came, whatever that means, before I could start Clomid again.

Of course, while I was in with him I confessed to him that I’d been drugging on the side and showed him my Clomid charts. He had no idea what would cause the horribly long LPs that I experienced while taking the Clomid for those past 2 cycles (if you’ll recall my LPs during those 2 cycles were 22 and 29 days respectively). Of course I get to be the lucky one that stumps the RE, yay me, what do I win?

So the plan was set:
Wait for estrogen and progesterone levels
Start Clomid if CD 3
Husband needs another SA (it’s been 1 ½ years since the last one)
HSG
U/S monitoring starting at CD 13
IUI+trigger

Thurs. May 5
So I patiently, or not so patiently truth be told, wait for the results from Wed.’s blood work. I stupidly call at 9 am thinking that the blood taken at 12:30 pm the day before would be analyzed, silly me. I get a message on my voicemail stating to call back later results are not in. I decide to give a full 24 hours and call back at 1:30 (I gave them an extra hour). Here is that conversation:

Nurse: Everything is normal.
Me: What does that mean exactly?
Nurse: It means everything is OK.
Me: But I need to know whether or not the results mean I’m in my luteal phase or in the follicular phase.
Nurse: silence…chirp, chirp, chirp
Me: I need to know whether I’m on my period or whether I just ovulated (obviously I needed to dumb it down for the infertility nurse)
Nurse: I don’t know, I’ll have the doctor call you
Me: Can I have the actual numbers (thinking in my head, so I can call on Dr. Google and figure out wtf is going on)
Nurse: Progesterone is 0.55 and estrogen is 42.
Me: Thanks and please make sure the doctor calls because I need to know whether or not to start the Clomid today.

Could that call be any more frustrating. So I google like mad for all these numbers and I’m not coming up with much. Then I finally remember that there’s a link on Grrl’s blog and I go there immediately. From what I read it looked like I was in the first part of my next cycle. So if Dr. TtP didn’t call back, because I really wasn’t expecting him to, I would start the Clomid.

Amazingly enough he called back and said that I should start the Clomid since I was on CD 3. So this was Clomid day #1.

Mon., May 9
Husband has SA scheduled for 2:15 and I have the HSG scheduled for 12:30. Once again, I was early to the appointment.

HSG was not as bad as I expected. I heard some bad stories about it and for those of you who’ve had a bad HSG I’m so sorry. There was a bit of pressure, cramping, and some spotting but all in all, not bad. Not that I would get one everyday, but not bad.

Everything was all clear.

Haven’t called for husband’s SA results yet. I figure I can ask for them during the monitoring visit.

Now…we…wait.

My U/S monitoring starts May 15, this Sunday. I hope I’m growing a nice follicle. If it shows I’m ready, I guess I get the hCG trigger and IUI that day. Husband is thrilled about coming with every morning to see if he’s needed. He said the rooms were pretty good. His biggest complaint was that they had a VCR and tapes. He’s very techno-geek and this really stuck in his craw. I told him that if he wanted he could donate a DVD player and some DVDs if it bothered him that much.

So that’s where we’re at. I will do my best to not neglect you lovely ladies anymore. I’m a bad blogger and the biggest procrastinator in the whole wide world. If the task gets to be too big, I want to do it less and less. Everyday that went by that I didn’t update I just had more and more to talk about, hence the super-long post. I think this is my longest yet. Hopefully I won’t beat this length any time soon.

Thanks for hanging in there and listening to my drivel.

Well wishes to the Infertile Kingdom.