Sneaking back in...

[WishnandHopn]

Oooh 2much awful cramps must mean a few of your lovely fat follicles are rupturing!

How'd the RE appt go Belle?

MK any sign of O?

As for me, I seduced DH last night! He fell asleep on the couch while we were watching the debate, so I muted Trumpty Dumpty (that's what my FIL calls him) and jumped him in the living room! Against medical advice, but it was fun

Before my miscarriage I O'd around CD13/14, then CD20 and CD18 after, so add the surgery on to that and I have no idea when I'm going to O. CD12 today and OPK negative, the waiting game continues.

 

[2much]

Oooh 2much awful cramps must mean a few of your lovely fat follicles are rupturing!

How'd the RE appt go Belle?

MK any sign of O?

As for me, I seduced DH last night! He fell asleep on the couch while we were watching the debate, so I muted Trumpty Dumpty (that's what my FIL calls him) and jumped him in the living room! Against medical advice, but it was fun

Before my miscarriage I O'd around CD13/14, then CD20 and CD18 after, so add the surgery on to that and I have no idea when I'm going to O. CD12 today and OPK negative, the waiting game continues.

Gosh, I hope my follies are working hard! That would be worth the pain.

Hahha...nice job with DH, too funny. Hope you feel okay!! Hope you can figure out your O schedule, but it makes sense it is so thrown off.

 

[BelleNuit]

Well the RE pretty much sat us down said we had unexplained infertility and then said our options were stimulated IUI and IVF.

I told her we didn't start timing BD until December so she told us we could try on our own for a little while. She prescribed letrazol (femara) for 3 cycles after I told her I had 1 anovulatory cycle this year. Supposedly it should help lengthen my cycle.

I'm not sure how I feel about all this. She pretty much said the SA was fantastic and that DH had well above normal count and that all my hormones are normal and tubes are open. Said lining was on the thin side (as I thought) but that femara should supposedly help with that (and at the very least not make the problem worse like clomid would). She said we had a decent chance for success but that we should consider treatment in January.

I dunno. Feels so false. I'm not ready for IUIs

 

[WishnandHopn]

Belle, I know you were expecting the unexplained diagnosis but it's still hard to hear from a doctor. Could you do femara with time intercourse for a few cycles before jumping to IUI? Did she offer any estrogen supplementation to help thicken your lining? We are seriously considering doing a medicated IUI cycle in January, so maybe we'll be IUI buddies. Unless of course Santa brings us BFPs!

 

[BelleNuit]

We will be doing a femara and timed intercourse for the next 3 cycles. So I guess that's something. But I don't think it offers better results for unexplained than just expectant management. We aren't ready to start IUI financially or emotionally. I think we will continue to try on our own after the femara cycles for up to 2 years

 

[MKaykes]

Belle - Sorry you got confirmation of the "unexplained." Sounds like you have a plan though, and you are patient enough to give it up to 2 years before going for further intervention. I'm still iffy on the IUI, DH has no problem with it. It just feels weird to me, but I'm becoming more okay with it as time goes on. If we get another BFN in a couple weeks, we're jumping on the IUI train. Good luck with the Femara, I know that one has less side effects than Clomid.

2much - yikes, too bad for the bad cramping, but rupturing, which though painful, is a good thing! GL!

Wishn - ha ha, way to seduce DH! Now you have no excuse to skip it when you O now that the deed has been done. I can't even watch the debates, they both just p*** me off! I can't wait for these next 4 years to be over!

AFM - no clear signs of O yet, started temping just this week and OPKs (though I missed this morning), we are on the every other day schedule for BD right now, I expect to probably get a + OPK on Saturday, so thinking maybe going every day Saturday through Mon, then every other just to cover out bases. My struggle with IUI is I want to just get pregnant the "natural" way, but I've realized we can still try on our own even while doing IUI, and I'll never really know what time did the trick, so I can still convince myself it was the night before at home, lol! I just hope I get that BFP this month and we don't even have to think about it anymore!

I saw this last night, can't wait to buy one when our time comes!

https://www.etsy.com/listing/449181..._query=worth the wait onesie&ref=sr_gallery_1

 

[BelleNuit]

Aww iove that little onesie MK!

I understand what you mean about just wanting to get pregnant thr natural way. I feel the same way. If there is nothing fricken wrong then it should be able to happen! Bah. I'm a ways off from accepting it I think.

 

[BelleNuit]

We are planning to adopt our puppy tomorrow! She will live at the in-laws for the next month before we can move, but I'm hoping we can introduce her to the cats tomorrow. I'd like the cats to meet her for the first time on their own turf rather than in a new and unusual house!

I'm hoping between moving, going to boston and getting a puppy that I'll be too busy to really think about TTC these next few months. I'm tired of feeling deeply sad all the time.

 

[WishnandHopn]

Belle that is so exciting! I hope the puppy brings some much needed joy into your life!

I hear you both on wanting to conceive naturally without intervention...I just know when we see the fertility doctor next week he's going to be pushing us to start treatment soon and that's the whole reason I wanted to see the naturopath. I had my almost 2-hour appt with her yesterday and she was so great, easy to talk to and had a lot of great suggestions for diet, exercise (yoga), stress reduction, supplements and I'm going to start weekly fertility acupuncture. I'm adding rhodiola and maca from day 1-14, changed my folic acid to a methylated form, doubled my omega 3 to 900 mg, improving my diet (adding pumpkin seeds, walnuts, more green and colourful veggies, organic free range eggs, grass fed beef), adding ginger and nettle herbal tea. She also suggested I ask the other doctor to run a full thyroid panel (not just TSH), since thyroid function is so important for fertility. I've been feeling so stressed and depleted this year, so if these changes don't get me pregnant, at least they will make me feel better!

 

[BelleNuit]

Wishn your doc should absolutely check out thyroid! It can have a huge impact on TTC, energy levels and even mood.

Your naturopath sounds wonderful, and those are lots of great suggestions. My RE told me to quit maca because they are uncertain of the effects. I dunno, it's like a staple food for some people in the world! Can't be harmful. I've been taking maca since June. I don't really think it's don't much for me so I'm okay to let it go. I hope those lifestyle changes will make a difference for you! We can be acupuncture buddies since I also have been going weekly! It's definitely helped with stress relief.

 

[WishnandHopn]

Thanks Belle! I really liked her, what a contrast from my arrogant fertility doc. I've had my TSH checked twice, and it went from 2.29 in May to 2.88 in Sept. It's not clinical hypothyroid and a lot of doctors won't treat until TSH is over 5, but 1-2 is optimal for fertility.

She said only to take the rhodiola and maca from day 1-14 (before ovulation) since there is little data on their potential adverse effects during pregnancy. And I'm supposed to take those between meals and not with other supplements.

 

[MKaykes]

Belle - I'm so excited for your puppy! I love dogs 😊. What a big month you have coming up! Enjoy it!

Wishn - Sounds like some great information from the naturopath. I keep trying to change my diet but struggle. I found what looks like a yummy maca fudge I wad going to try (haven't tried supplementing with that yet) but wonder note since you were advised to take between meals, maybe putting it in things isn't beneficial.

I'm afraid I missed that I O'd. It would have been early, but I started taking a supplement with Vitex, so maybe it made me O earlier. I had want could have been a positive OPK on Tue, but I assumed it wasn't sue to timing (I used to get a few equal lines then a definite darker line). Lives have been lighter ever since then, and no test line today, plus a temp rise. I did drink a little last night earlier in the evening, and alcohol has been known to do they for me, which is why I didn't drink anything after dinner, I didn't want to affect my temp. I guess I'll see what happens the next couple days. We DTD every other day starting Tue, so hopefully we caught it!

 

[WishnandHopn]

MK I don't think you missed it! Even if you did O when your chart shows, you got one in on O-1! I guess keep BDing just in case? Charting is so confusing when your opk, temp and body signs aren't lining up.

I'm cd14 with lots of fertile cm but opk still negative. I thought it was darkening but it looks lighter today. My DH did his semen analysis today. Instead of going to the clinic, he decided to produce the sample at home and then drive it over there. Let's just say...he had some performance anxiety, and the sample volume looks like less than 1 mL! What a bummer. He's such a trooper though, this is the third time he's had to do it.

 

[MKaykes]

DH did the same thing, at home and less than they wanted, but it worked out, they were still able to test okay. I honestly do worry if volume is one of our issues, but don't want to say anything and hurt his ego!

 

[BelleNuit]

I hear you MK it's so hard on their egos to suggest it might be a swimmer issue.... On the flip side it's also hard on our egos when it's an egg, tube, or lining issue!

 

[2much]

I hear you MK it's so hard on their egos to suggest it might be a swimmer issue.... On the flip side it's also hard on our egos when it's an egg, tube, or lining issue!

My husband groaned over the SA...I reminded him all that I have to go through, start to finish! Not sure if he liked that, but hey, we go through a lot more than just getting off in a plastic cup.

 

[MissDoc]

Belle, I'm sorry that your expectations were confirmed with the "unexplained" diagnosis. But I hope the femara will be just the small boost you need to help your system work even better. So frustrating-- on the one hand it's so nice to know that there isn't something big and obvious wrong, but on the other, how agonizing to know that everything's "Okay" but it's not coming together in the right ways for some reason. Do you think that you'll do Femara for 3 mos then move to IUI or do you think you'll do Femara for 3 mos then go back to trying naturally until you hit the 2 year mark? I saw both mentioned and wonder where your feelings are leaning more. I hope, however, that you don't even have to find out. Hopefully you'll be preggo by the end of this year, and can step into a different set of worries and hopes instead!

Wishn-- Way to get back in the game. I wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't quite "catch" this month as things are healing in there, but you never know! I so greatly hope that as things get back to normal that you are superfertile and it happens easily for you.

MKayes-- What a sweet onesie. I hope you have a little one soon that will wear it. And one day you'll take a photo and share with us, and all of this stressful TTC stuff will be a distant painful memory. I'm excited for your naturopath plan and hope it works. I hear such good things about when people make drastic changes to their health routines and how it can be just the thing needed to jumpstart things.

2Much, I really hope that pain was just super strong ovulation. I'm really excited for you this month and am hoping for good things.

 

[2much]

2Much, I really hope that pain was just super strong ovulation. I'm really excited for you this month and am hoping for good things.

AFM, Last week I was discharged from the fertility clinic and sent to my OBGYN for care as usual. The baby looked great and is measuring a few days ahead as of last Thursday. I did the NIPT testing and will get the results of that back in a week or so. No preferences for gender, just hoping for a clean bill of chromosomal health. My doc is a little on the conservative side, and said that even though I got pregnant she still considers me as having low ovarian reserve problems, and said I'm at a higher risk for abnormalities. Half of those should be able to cleared by good bloodwork results, but structural problems would not show up there. She recommended that I consider getting a 12 week advanced fetal medicine ultrasound (which would be not covered and super expensive) or replace my normal 18 week ultrasound with the high tech one at a maternal fetal medicine specialist (still not covered and expensive). I gave it a lot of thought, and while I would LOVE to see this baby again at 12 weeks and have more info, I am not going to do that one. If something is wrong (other than what can be detected in bloodwork), I'll wait for my normal 18 week scan to find out. If it's something major that we would consider termination for, like something incompatible with life, then at this point I would want to be induced and deliver my baby anyway and say goodbye in a meaningful way. I have now already seen this baby move on scans, wiggling all about, stretching arms and legs, so I can't fathom a standard abortion/D&C. It just feels wrong to me (not morally or globally, just in my specific case). So I'm going to tell my doc no to the 12 week high tech scan, and just wait out the next 7.5 weeks and hope for the best. This pregnancy has been so overmedicalized so far and I know my doc doesn't mean to, but I'm tired of getting the message that something's wrong with me, when nothing about this baby's scans indicate any problems so far. So lots of hope and positive vibes for the next couple of months!

Thank you! I hope so too. Now I'm sick (flu) and also groaning about how Clomid/Ovidrel is cruel and mimics pg symptoms, lol. No way would I notice anything by now (4-6dpo) but it is annoying!

Ugh, how frustrating to have a whole new set of worries. It sounds like you have a plan in mind of what will work best for you though, and that is probably the most important aspect. Will be thinking of you and baby and hoping for the best.

 

[Milagreee]

My fiance asked that i stop telling him what i was doing to try.. i.e. pre seed, soft cups, raspberry leaf tea, evening primrose oil- he was so disappointed because i got a false positive and he told everrrrrrrrrryone against my wishes. a little while later, AF showed up. He said he doesnt want to know but it leaves me super alone. Why should i go through it alone

 

[2much]

My fiance asked that i stop telling him what i was doing to try.. i.e. pre seed, soft cups, raspberry leaf tea, evening primrose oil- he was so disappointed because i got a false positive and he told everrrrrrrrrryone against my wishes. a little while later, AF showed up. He said he doesnt want to know but it leaves me super alone. Why should i go through it alone

Hi Milagreee- welcome to the forum. My husband gets a little sensitive when I bring up the gritty details too. I think it's somewhat normal. We're all here for you though!