Injectable meds have been ordered!

A representative from IVFMeds.com called me today to confirm my prescription, and for payment of course. He had the most adorable British accent (they’re located in Europe). Looks like I’ll be taking the generic of Repronex/Menopur, which is a hMG (Human Menopausal Gonadropin). I ordered 10 vials of the 75 IU, they were $25/each…..for a total of $299 including tax and shipping, and they’ll arrive by next Monday. The $299 price tag is without insurance coverage, unfortunately our insurance doesn’t cover injectables, but this would have cost $1,200+ if we bought the same medications in the US….so we’re very lucky our RE lets us order our medication from IVFMeds.com.

Time for a more aggressive approach

From the beginning of our infertility journey I always knew I would do WHATEVER it took to have a child, R has always been a little more reserved about it. In July of 2013, when we were given our diagnosis of male infertility, he first suggested that it “wasn’t meant to be” and didn’t want to spend any time or money pursuing other avenues. After giving him some time he came around to the idea of IUI’s. But once we started IUI’s he said he was completely against adding injectables or moving onto the BIG TICKET ITEM IVF. Well, he’s starting to come around to these things too.

My Favorite YouTube Ladies

I can’t remember how found the YouTube world, but I’m so glad I did. Obviously I had heard of YouTube before, but I had no idea people vlogged (video blog). Turns out there are a ton of women who vlog about their infertility journeys, then go on to vlog about their pregnancies and motherhood. I find it all so fascinating and it’s just such great information. Plus, how neat would it be to be able to have everything on tape to be able to go back and view at a later date. I’m definitely not courageous enough to do this, obviously b/c my blog is anonymous, but I think it’s such a neat idea! There are several channels I keep up with, but these are by far my favorite YouTube ladies (in no particular order):

The Diva Cup

The Diva Cup is an internally worn reusable silicon menstrual cup and eco-friendly alternative to disposable tampons. It can be worn for up to 12 hours before emptying, washing and reinserting for another 12 hours.

I can’t remember exactly how I heard about it, but I’m pretty sure it was from an infertility sister. There is also a theory about how tampons can cause infertility in women (for more details on this click here).

Just one of those days

R has a trial out of town this week, so left earlier today and won’t be back until Tuesday night…..leaving me all alone, with my thoughts. This trip couldn’t have come at a worse time for me, just feeling very low. Plus, tomorrow is the 6th anniversary of my mothers death, double whammy. I finally got out of bed as he was leaving earlier today, and did a bit of cleaning and organizing, then made a trip to target. Now I’m back at the house watching tv just waiting for bed. It’s ridiculous how much spare time I have sometimes, even with a full time job and grad school. I know I should enjoy this time while we still don’t have kids, but I resent it at times. I’ll be okay, tomorrow I’ll probably feel better, I know it’s just my hormones making me extra crazy today. AF started yesterday, today is CD2. I’m using a diva cup for AF this cycle for the first time, I plan to add a full review for those that might be interested…..but so far so good! Hoping for a good week!!

Cysts, again?!?

At 12dpiui I took another HPT and it was negative, and I just knew that this cycle was over and IUI #3 had failed. I stopped taking my progesterone and had my follow up appointment this morning. They made me pee in a cup for a urine pregnancy test. Typical protocol, but just felt like a slap in the face….again. Then I met with my RE, he suggested we go ahead and do an ultrasound today to check for cysts to determine what we would do next. Looks like I have 2 cysts, so I have to take a cycle off.

BFN today, 11dpiui

I decided to take a test this morning. I had been doing so good this cycle up until today. With the 2 previous IUI’s I tested every day past my IUI to see when the trigger left my system, and once it did that second line never returned. Well I was greeted by a BFN this morning. I realize at 11dpiui I’m not completely out just yet….but I’m literally losing hope by the second. It is such a roller coaster of emotions one goes through on this infertility ride…..feeling pretty low today. I guess at this point I’ll just go ahead and test again every day until Thursday, when I go in for another appointment with my RE. If I get a positive HPT by then I’ll have my beta drawn, if not we’ll discuss our protocol for IUI #4, which shouldn’t be any different than the past since R is against using injectable medications.

IUI #3 is in the books

We had our third IUI this morning and I feel really good about it. The sperm count was 9 million post wash, 60% motility, 12% morphology (the best numbers we’ve had with IUI to date). The motility needs to be above 50% and the morphology needs to be above 10%, so we’re good! And now we wait….

I’ve decided to do the pineapple thing in addition to my BFP Goddess this cycle. LOL, I’ll take all the help I can get! If you don’t know what I’m talking about, eating a pineapple core after IUI/IVF/ovulation is said to help implantation. You have to buy a fresh pineapple, cut up the whole thing, cut up the core into 5 pieces, and eat one piece per day starting 1DPIUI. Hell, what could it hurt?!?

Not ideal, but it could work

This morning I went in for my CD15 follicle check ultrasound. I expected them to see a few good sized follicles and to tell me to trigger tonight or tomorrow…..meaning IUI Friday or Saturday….well that did not happen. Looks like I only have 1 good sized follicle….but there was fluid in my canal (pretty sure that’s the term she used). The fluid indicates that I could have already ovulated. I was pretty disappointed to hear this.

Next I had a sit down with my RE. He said since I still have 1 follicle we could still trigger today and do the IUI tomorrow, but it wasn’t ideal and we could cancel the cycle if we wanted to. I decided that since we already had a good bit invested (time and money) in this cycle I wanted to push forward and go ahead and have it.