The Official TTC for 6 Months or More Thread

[lliang_chi]

DCG, thikning about you and hoping you have a sticky little bean there!

MP, aw sweetie, this was a very stressful month for you with the house stuff and all that. There are alternative methods to help with the lining if necessary. I did acupuncture and I think that helped. But you have four excellent looking follicles, waste not Hugs and she's got a plan for next cycle. I'm a littl envious you're O'ing already. I'm 1.5 wks away still, getting impatient.

 

[royalasscherlover]

ss, I took vitex for a month or two while I was waiting to get in to see a doctor about my issues. It made me into an emotional b*tch who cried all the time and didn't help me ovulate, though I understand that it can take longer than that to kick in. I just couldn't take it any longer...and my DH was pretty psyched when I stopped it too! I've read not to take it with Clomid/Femara since their actions oppose each other. Good luck to you if you decide to try it...I know other people who had better success with it than I did!

LV, my avatar is my e-ring stone, unset. It's really blurry, but it's an asscher diamond, so I think any color is just the background. It lives happily in an SK halo now, maybe someday I'll get around to posting some better pics!

dcg, congrats!!! Sending sticky thoughts your way. I only have Wondfos at home, but after seeing your pics, I just ordered some FRERs for next week...it feels silly to cheap out on the preg tests after spending so much other money to get to this point!

Bright, sticky thoughts to you too!! I am also planning to test on Thursday...I hope we both get good news!

MP, I am sorry that your lining isn't cooperating and you are frustrated. What about taking estrogen/estradiol for a couple days to see if that would help boost the lining? When I took Clomid, my doc put me on estrogen on CD 8-14 to help thicken my lining, so it might be worth seeing if that's a possibility. Letrozole is Femara and has less issues with lining thickness. My side effects were minor and similar between Clomid and Femara.

Thanks to all the other ladies who have dropped in here to support us!

 

[tammy77]

Mp, the protocol you're doing next month is exactly what brought our little Hannah to us! Clomid killed my lining too. I'm so sorry for all of the frustration and setbacks with ttc, but hopefully next month everything lined up perfectly for you.

Bright, I'm thinking of you too. I hope with all my heart that this cycle is the one for you. I will continue to quietly cheer you on and stalking as usual.

DCG, congrats!!! Yes, the wondfos do take forever to show up now. I want to say that mine continues to darken until about 10 minutes.

I want to respond to everyone individually, but my brain isn't working and I've always been terrible at it. So please forgive me! Good luck everyone and I hope it's okay that I popped in to say hi. I think of you all often.

 

[Loves Vintage]

Tammy - It's sweet of you to check in, when I'm sure you have your hands full with your sweet baby girl!

SB - Ohhh, yes, you do need to do a proper post re: your ring! How is your wait going? I've been following my keep busy plan, but have noticed I'm a bit more irritable than usual. Just a few more days . . .

MP - I'm so frustrated for you, I can only imagine how you must be feeling! I take estrogen for my lining because clomid decreases mine, but I think they were able to see that in my first cycle, so just started estrogen after my first u/s. Wishing you tons of luck this cycle! How is house stuff going?

AFM, trying not to think about waiting!

 

[tbaus]

dcg- YAY! Sending tons of sticky bean dust your way!!!

MP- Sorry to hear about your lining. I hope the femara works better for you. I feel exactly the same, every cycle my body seems to do something different. So frustrating. Good luck with your move this weekend!

SB- Are you still in the TWW? Any news yet?

Bright- So happy to hear the IUI and FET went smoothly. Take it easy. Wishing you tons of luck this cycle.

SS- Is it possible you just ovulate really late? How long are your cycles usually? I think I have the same problem, I make the follicles but can't get them to pop. Sending you lots of dust in the hope you can ovulate by yourself!

LV- How much longer before you test??? Ah, the suspense is killing me! I've had a feeling this month that a few of us are going to clear out of this thread this month. Hopefully you are one of them!

Hi to everyone else out there! It's great to see other people popping in and cheering us on.

Sorry if I missed anyone, you guys have been busy again. AFM, my bloods last week showed I was definitely responding to the clomid this month so we triggered yesterday, so I guess I am 1DPO? How long after you trigger do you actually ovulate? You guys, this is big for me. I have never known when I am ovulating (or if I even do ovulate) before. Unless you can get the trigger shot and still not ovulate?? Please tell me that is not possible! Either way DH and I hopefully covered all our bases over the weekend, and will make an effort to keep it going for the next few days. We get the keys for our house on Thursday so hopefully that takes my mind off the TWW for a while. I may have to take progesterone pessaries, Dr has not decided yet. Anyone want to give me a heads up on that? It sounds messy!

Like I said to LV above, I just have a feeling that we are going to have lots of happy news on this thread very soon. I may not be able to post very much over the next week while we move but I will try and check in. Good luck ladies!

 

[monkeyprincess]

tbaus, yay! That's great that you were able to trigger. I believe most people ovulate about 36 hours after a trigger. It is supposed to be very rare for someone not to ovulate if they have the right-sized follicles when they get a trigger shot. All the best to you in the 2ww and the move! We move next weekend too.

LV, keeping my fingers tightly crossed. I hope we hear good news from all of you waiting to test this week! Thanks for the kind words. Feeling a bit better about things now, and I jsut hope my body gets itself in check and responds appropriately next month.

Tammy, thanks for checking in. I'm so glad to hear that femara worked better for your lining. Hope everything is going well for you and Hannah!

SB, thinking of you! I'm supposed to go in for an ultrasound when AF arrives and before I start the new cycle, so I will definitely ask about taking estrogen. I think she just thought that it was too late to do anything with this cycle because my follicles were too far ahead of the lining.

LC, thanks for the encouragement. Cheering you on as well! And yes, the one good thing about short cycles is that I get many more attempts in a year than I would if I had long cycles.

Bright, you have no idea how much dust I'm sending your way this month! Thinking of you!

AFM, I think I either just ovulated or am about to ovulate, and we've been BD'ing when possible. It hasn't been easy because DH and my little guy both have colds, it was Ev's bday this weekend and we had company, and we are tyring to pack up the house. So even though this probably won't be our month, we gave it a valiant effort I feel better about our plans going forward, and we will just keep trying because that's what you have to do.

 

[Loves Vintage]

TB - Yay for being able to trigger! I think my clinic has always said 24-36 hours to ovulate after trigger. Sending lots of luck to you!! Hope you get your BFP and also hope that you are right that there will be a bunch of bfps this month!

MP - Glad you are feeling better about things. You have so much going on!

AFM, freaking out right now. I took a test just now, even though I was going to wait until tomorrow. Negative. I think I am 8 or 9 DPO today. I know stats go down each iui cycle, and they recommend IVF after 3 unsuccessful iuis. I know each person is different. I already asked about ivf and if they will let me continue to do iuis. I suspect I would probably do 4, but who knows. I don't even know where to go for IVF. I like my office, but the reported stats are not great . . . at all . . . for my age group. I also realize it's still possible for a bfp this month, though I feel it is very unlikely, and that I will feel like an idiot for writing all of this if that turns out to be the case, kind of like I felt last month when I was sure I was pregnant. This is not easy.

 

[Loves Vintage]

Ahh, I should probably have a rule where I don't post for at least a few hours after I take a test! Lol! I'm feeling a little bit more grounded now. I can be VERY dramatic. I kept telling myself that I didn't want to go through another cycle, the meds, the testing again, when really it is not that much of a hassle. I also looked up my clinic's SART scores again. I don't know what I was looking at previously, but theirs are about average, if it even makes a difference. So feeling a bit better now . . .

 

[lliang_chi]

LV, hugs m'dear. I'm glad you're feeling a bit better, but don't count yourself out just yet. If it were up to me, I would ask for a recommendation (if you feel like you have a good rapport). Who knows, they might say, "Yeah, we do it too, but if it were me, I'd go to X." But your practice knows you and they know your story.

 

[Loves Vintage]

Hey LC, Thanks for the support. I'm probably thinking too early about the IVF. I'm sure we would do at least 2 more IUIs this year, bringing us to January for considering IVF, I think. I do have a great rapport with everyone in the office, and I may be completely cynical, but I cannot see either of the nurses recommending anyone other than their office. It seems to be a rather competitive field.

I did test this am, still negative.

Bright and SB - How are you ladies doing?

 

[BrightSpot]

MP, I'm so sorry your NP cancelled your trigger. That's really unusual for you to have a lining issue, right? I hope the femara does the trick for you just like it did for Tammy!
I'm sorry you have so much going on right now, but hope it can take your mind off TTC for a bit. Good luck with the move & thank you for always pulling for me, dear friend.

LV, I'm sorry for the bfn but I definitely think it's way too early to count yourself out this month. I'm still holding out hope that you won't need to move to IVF. How many IUI's have you done? Dust coming your way!

Tbaus, thanks. And yay for ovulating!! My RE said 98% of women ovulate with the ovidrel trigger, 100% with IM hcg, so you can rest assured you're in the 2ww. Keeping my fingers crossed for you!
As for progesterone, I've taken Crinone suppositories (a bit annoying but totally manageable). I'm not sure if that's the same as pessaries.

SB, how are you holding up? Crossing my fingers that a bunch of us get good news this week!

Dcg, continued sticky dust coming your way. Did you hear back about your beta?

Ss, thinking of you & hoping you're well.

Tammy, you're so sweet to check in & cheer us on. And your little Hannah is just gorgeous! (And such a beautiful name.) Big hugs to you both!

Afm, I'm hanging in there though I've had my share of moments (both physical & emotional) in the last week. Sigh. I'll blame them on the hormones. It's also difficult coming to terms that this may not happen for us. I've been doing some yoga (& eating chocolate cake) for balancing effect.
I was planning to hold out until Thursday to test but am considering testing tomorrow. It'll be a bit early at 11dpo but I have an appointment with my therapist that afternoon & it seems potentially having a little more info to discuss would be helpful. Wish me luck!

 

[monkeyprincess]

Bright, fingers tightly crossed for you tomorrow or whenever you decide to test! I know the tension and anticipation must be killing you about right now. I really have to hand it to you for how well you continue to handle all of this. I feel like I get worked up about the littlest things, and what I've been through is nothing compared to what you have been through. Thoughts and prayers headed your way!

LV, bummer about another BFN today, but I would definitely give it a couple more days before giving up. And I'm the same way about getting very dramatic about TTC things and then calming down and being more rational once I have time to think it through. It's just such an emotional process, and it's hard not to worry about the worst case scenario.

 

[Loves Vintage]

MP - You always seem so level-headed, I never would have guessed you are the same way, but thanks for saying that. It makes me feel more normal!

Bright - I am so so so hopeful for you. I agree with MP, you really do seem to handle all of this as best as can be expected. I am sending you much luck and hope you see a positive whenever you decide to test!!! So funny that you mentioned cake! I totally made a vanilla cake this weekend. Haha. I felt like I really deserved a treat!

This was my second iui. I'm contemplating starting acupuncture. Do you go to community acupuncture? The place I went to a few years ago is apparently no longer there, but I met another practitioner there who is now doing community acupuncture. She was fairly new at it at the time. The prior place was $100 per visit. This place is a lot less expensive. I might try it just to see if I like it.

Fingers crossed for you!

 

[royalasscherlover]

tbaus, good luck with the 2WW and the move! I hear you on being excited to know when you ovulated. I hope you are right about there being lots of good news here soon.

MP, good luck with your move too. At least you gave it the old college try this time and can feel good about that for the next couple of weeks.

LV, sending good dust your way! I am also thinking about trying acupuncture, lots of people seem to at least find it gives some stress relief which is always welcome in this process. We had an acupuncturist come to our support group last night and she presented some research about it, which I need to look into further.

Bright, I think you (and everyone else) is definitely entitled to their moments and chocolate cake in this process! It is hard. I am thinking super good thoughts for you over the next couple of days.

dcg, I was also wondering about your beta and everything is going well.

I'm doing ok with the wait...still trying to hold out until Thursday. As long as I don't test, I can float around in this 'maybe' phase that seems easier than the disappointment that will come with a negative test. I try to stay distracted but have still been thinking about it a fair bit. I have zero symptoms either way, other than only really wanting to eat carbs and sugary things, which could just as well be the colder weather setting in as anything else.

 

[tbaus]

MP- Thanks! See, I have been trying to keep all negative thoughts out of my head but I am a little worried that the follicles were not the right size and/or my lining is too thin- all because my Dr prefers to rely on blood tests rather than ultrasounds. I guess it is a cost thing. But right now I'm trying to remain positive that a picture of me and my baby will be pinned up on the board of her office soon! It seems like we are around the similar mark in our cycle. Sorry to hear everyone is sick, but I hope you caught that egg!

LV- Thanks so much for the good luck wishes! Sorry about the BFN, but it's not over just yet! I'm not Bright but just wanted to add that I do acupuncture as well, and I feel it has helped tremendously (a little with my fertility, but a lot in other parts of my life). It is expensive here, and with us just buying a house I had to stock taking the herbs but I still feel like it is working away in there.

Bright- Hugs, lady! You eat that chocolate cake! I hope you are pleasantly surprised when you take that test. Thanks for chiming with some info. I was given a trigger called "pregnyl", and she administered it intra muscularly, though she said if I ever have to do it myself I will use the short needle and I'll just jab it in my stomach.

SB- Not long until you test now! I hope it is good news for you as well. Yes, it is a relief to finally know that I am ovulating. Although the negative side of me thinks it is too good to be true and I'll be the one person who it doesn't work for!

AFM, not much going on. Just had a few minutes before I have to start on dinner so I thought I would duck in quickly and see how everyone is going. Looks like we have quite a few of us testing this week!! I have another blood test next Monday, which will be 8DPO to check my levels, and then another one at 14DPO (though I may test before then). We were meant to be getting the keys to our new place tomorrow, but we were just notified that the seller's transfer of land papers are not ready, so it may be Friday. Kinda annoying as it gives us one less day to clean before we move in, and I had to reschedule a few people who were coming to do some stuff to the house that needs to be done before we move in from Thursday to Friday. Hopefully it all goes smoothly, and quickly so there is less time for me to count down the days until I can test!

 

[BrightSpot]

Just tested this morning at 11dpo...bfn. I'll test again tomorrow but I'm not feeing hopeful. This process has been so difficult for me & I need to get to a better place so this was to be our last cycle. DH was tearing up last night when we talked about this...I haven't had the heart to tell him yet.

 

[monkeyprincess]

Oh Bright, you have me tearing up now. Holding out hope it was just too early. But either way, you have my thoughts and prayers.

TB, that would be super frustrating not to get ultrasounds. I really don't think you can get the full picture of what is going on without them. This may be an issue of different healthcare systems in different countries, but I don't see how ultrasounds to monitor follicles and lining would really add that much cost. I have to pay for any fertility monitoring and treatments out of pocket, and the ultrasounds are not very expensive. Hopefully, everything lines up for you this cycle anyway! Sorry about the delay in the house, hopefully, it gets resolved soon, and you have suffient time to get everything done before moving.

SB, keeping my fingers crossed for you. I'm not much an early tester for the same reason. I would rather be able to cling to the hope that I might be pregnant than have to worry about whether I am testing too soon for an accurate result. It's hard to wait though.

LV, have you tested again? And yes, I try to stay pretty realistic and level-headed for the most part, but DH gets the brunt of all of my TTC drama.

AFM, I never did get an all out positive OPK or have other O signs (although I never really do), so I'm just going to assume I ovulated on Sunday or Monday. We BD'd one more time last night just in case, although I kind of feel like it is pointless this month without a trigger and with poor lining. But DH insisted. I don't think I'm going to take the progesterone this time because I'm not positive when I ovulated and I don't want to have the same confusion about when CD1 is this time. It looks like I'm going to have to travel quite a bit in the next couple of months for work, so I'm really hoping I'm able to get a properly timed IUI next month and that it works!

 

[JGator]

Bright, sending hugs your way. I can only imagine how you are feeling. I think you are so strong, and I know you will have your baby one way or another and make a great Mommy. I wish we were friends in real life so we could talk.

 

[royalasscherlover]

Bright, how disappointing. I'm so sorry. Even though you may not feel this way right now, I think you are one of the strongest people I've met and I know you are going to get through this, however it turns out. Hugs.

 

[Loves Vintage]

Bright - I am so sorry to read your post. It's just not fair. You've been through so much. I really hope you are surprised by 12dpo positive. It does happen. Otherwise, I'm sure you and your DH will figure out what to do next. There is always hope and more than one way to become a mother. Sending you all the best.

MP - Still negative here. I will test again in the morning just to be sure before stopping the progesterone. Hope you get a surprise BFP, and won't have to worry about your work travel.

 

[Bella_mezzo]

Bright, I am sending you and your DH huge hugs. I hope that tomorrow brings better news and either way that you have clarity about the right path forward for you and your DH.

 

[tammy77]

Bright,

I'm so sad for you and your DH. I'm holding out hope for you too that tomorrow brings a surprise bfp. If not, that the baby you're meant to love and be mommy to comes to you another way ASAP. *big hugs*

 

[royalasscherlover]

No luck for the cycle triplets...BFN for me too. Feeling pretty low.

 

[Loves Vintage]

SB - I'm really sorry to hear that. This is not how I expected things to turn out. I hope you are feeling a bit better now. It is really shocking at first, when expectations are so high. Sorry again.

 

[monkeyprincess]

Thinking of you Bright, LV and SB. I'm so sad for all of you, and it is just so hard to understand why it has to be so hard for some of us when so many other people can just conceive at will or on a supposed "oopsie." I don't begrudge them, but I wish I could be so cavalier about it, you know? I know life is not fair, and we all deal with different things, but this just seems especially cruel, and I don't think anyone truly understands until they experience. Anyway, I'm sending you all good thoughts as you decide what the next step will be.

 

[Laila619]

Bright, so sorry sweetie.

Hugs to everyone.

 

[BrightSpot]

SB, I'm so sorry about the bfn. How disappointing! Big, big hugs to you.
I really thought one of the triplets would luck out this month. Maybe we can have a cyber drink together tonight.

LV, I hope you're holding up ok. I
do go to community acupuncture (actually, per LC's suggestion!) & I like it. It's probably not as cushy as a private session but it's much more affordable ($30 vs $70-100 per session) so that's worth it to me. I find it very relaxing.

Tbaus, sorry about the delay with your house, but I hope you can move in this weekend! Good luck!

Mp, that sounds like a good call RE the progesterone. Hoping you get good news soon!

SB, LV, MP, Jgator, Tammy & Bella, thank you dear ladies so much for your kind words & all of your support on this journey. It was a very rough day yesterday & you made it a bit better.

So I took another test last night for no particular reason except that I had a bunch left. I forgot about it, fell asleep on the couch, then checked it again before bed. I had to squint, but I saw the faintest hint of a line, which, of course, got me super excited & unable to sleep.

I tested again this morning, expecting the line to be darker, but it was totally gone. So now I have no idea what's up. Maybe a chemical? Maybe a faulty test? Regardless, it's been an emotional roller coaster.

I'm waiting to get my beta drawn now so hopefully that'll bring some clarity.
I'll keep you guys posted.

 

[JGator]

Bright, good luck with the beta today! Can't wait to hear from you.

 

[Loves Vintage]

Bright - Super super good luck to you today!! I hope you just had a late implantation!!!

I am going to pursue the acupuncture. I could always use something to help me relax anyway.

MP - I totally hear you on the unfairness aspect, and I could go on and on and on about that, but I won't!

 

[BrightSpot]

So it's 5:30pm my time & my doctor's office still hasn't called with my beta results. And I POAS again this afternoon & there was a super faint line again. That plus PS being down for a while & my anxiety level is pretty high right now.

Here are the tests. 11 P & 12 P are the ones that had a faint line. Can you see it or am I crazy? (Not that these are mutually exclusive...)