The Official TTC for 6 Months or More Thread

[CurlySue]

Glad to hear the bleeding has continually slowed up for you, Bella!

Good luck with the clomid this cycle!!

 

[BrightSpot]

Bella, I'm so sorry the bleeding has been going on for so long! What a pain! I hope the clomid is helping & that you haven't had a lot of side effects. I did clomid for 2 cycles (50mg both times) & only had side effects for one cycle (and only hot flashes at night.) I took the pills in the evening to hopefully sleep off any ill effects.

I hope that it stops the bleeding for at least 9 months... Good luck, lady!

Fisher, thanks so much for sharing your experience with fertilitea. I started drinking it this week. Fingers crossed that it will help!
I'm a tea drinker anyway, so this is an easy thing to add to my routine. (And I like the taste too!)

JGator, thanks for weighing in on IUI vs IVF. I think you're right that at this point, the IVF with genetic testing seems to be our best bet.
I thought I remembered your MC baby having a trisomy (couldn't remember which one it was). Thanks for sharing that info--it makes everything sound much less scary. I'll have to share your story with my SIL. I think it will give her hope.

MP, I'm so sorry to hear about your sister's MC. It sounds like a very similar situation to my SIL's. I hope your sister is able to conceive a healthy, sticky baby when she's ready.
I've heard a lot of stories of women who struggled to conceive #1, but #2 came very easily. I wouldn't be at all surprised if this was the case with you.

Curly, thanks for keeping me in your thoughts! I hope you're well.

afm, I've had a productive week of changes (and a cold ) This week I started drinking fertilitea & taking royal jelly (thanks, Tammy! ) DH & I are also making some dietary changes that will hopefully make us healthier, help with my PCOS symptoms & help us lose some weight as well. I'm shooting to reduce overall carbs & move to a lower glycemic index in my food & eliminate gluten & refined sugar (a challenge for a carboholic like me!) I've also read that (cow's) milk can be problematic for PCOS so I'm shooting to cut that out too. Wish me luck!

On the doctor front, DH did another SA to make sure whatever was wonky (we still don't know what it was) has cleared up & we had a scheduling appointment with the RE's office for IVF. The process looks really intimidating (I can feel the needles already!), but they gave me a color coded calendar with all of the meds & timing, which has been helping me wrap my brain around everything. I sure hope this works...

Also, I talked to my SIL (previously I'd only heard the news from my MIL) & she seems totally ok (or is putting on a very brave face.) They had some additional genetic testing & are waiting from the results, but they also said they'd be ok if their beautiful daughter was it for them. So, time will tell.

 

[LtlFirecracker]

Bella - I hope the bleeding stops for you and that the clomid is not giving you too many side effects.

Bright - I am glad your husband's infection is cleared and that you guys can proceed. I got a very similar calendar. I freaked out the first day. I found if I just took it one step at a time, it was a lot less overwhelming. Before I knew it, it was over, and all the meds were gone (except for the post retrieval T3 and nausea med which I did not need to take). Good luck with the diet changes. I know that can be a challenge.

I will continue to check in on you guys!

 

[Bella_mezzo]

Bright, good luck!!!! I am trying to avoid or at least limit gluten, dairy, and sugar...plus, B is allergic to eggs and it appears gluten/wheat, but his favorite activity is baking with mommy, so we are experimenting with some majorly creative recipes.

Thanks for all the well wishes re clomid. The bleeding stopped I feel less bloated now than I did when I was bleeding, and other than the occasional stabbing ovary pain and some weird eye strain/fatigue, I feel totally fine.

DH and I are going to have some special time tonight and we are going to try and stick to the every other day plan for the next 2 weeks.

Acupuncture tomorrow, still taking CoQ10 and Royal Jelly every day, plus fertilaid when I remember and can choke it down

 

[fisherofmengirly]

Bright,

Yay for Fertilitea! I sort of miss it at times, it was pretty good. Wishing all kinds of success in the coming weeks!

Thinking of all the ladies here and looking forward to good news. I miss posting here; you ladies are all so sweet and this thread felt a lot like family. Some of us sat here a LONG time! I think of you all often and pray for blessings on you.

 

[tammy77]

Hi Girls!

Bright, I'm glad the package arrived and I so hope it helps a bit in your IVF journey! When do you start? If you already said, please forgive me.

Bella, I'm so happy to hear that the bleeding has stopped!! If I remember right from when I took Clomid, I would usually ovulate 5-7 days after my last pill. It's great that you're not having any bad reactions. I'll be hoping and praying that it does the trick for you and your DH!

Sha and anyone else out there that's lurking, thinking of you and sincerely hope that you're able to have healthy little babies ASAP!

 

[Bella_mezzo]

Thanks Tammy! We'll see what happens I had a little rage issue last night which I am going to go ahead and blame on the Clomid even though I took the last pill on Friday night, otherwise feel great. Well, B has an awful cold which I have too now, but you know, I feel great otherwise.

 

[Dreamer_D]

Bella I'm so glad the bleeding stopped!

Good luck to you and all the other ladies TTC!

 

[tammy77]

Thanks Tammy! We'll see what happens I had a little rage issue last night which I am going to go ahead and blame on the Clomid even though I took the last pill on Friday night, otherwise feel great. Well, B has an awful cold which I have too now, but you know, I feel great otherwise.

Oh it VERY well might be the Clomid! The first month I took it I thought I was one of the lucky ones...it wasn't until AFTER I finished that the mean lady came out to "play". It makes bd'ing a little harder to accomplish when you want to scream at your spouse. Good luck!!!

 

[royalasscherlover]

Can I stick my toe in the water here? I'm a long-time PS'er, but I mostly lurk. My husband and I have been trying to TTC for 6 months now, but it isn't going very well since I don't seem to be ovulating

My husband and I living in a foreign country, and my new doctor just prescribed Clomid to induce ovulation since I have PCOS and haven't had a period on my own in the 6 months since I stopped BC. She's starting me on 100mg/day, but I'm reading that most people start with 50mg/day. Should I reduce my dose to 50mg or stick with the 100mg? I don't really want to take more meds than necessary, but I'm 33 and don't want to waste time either. Thanks!

 

[JGator]

SB, if your doctor prescribed 100MG, I would take 100MG. I personally took 100MG X 5 days for 3 cycles with no issues and got lucky on the 3rd cycle. Good luck to you.

 

[LtlFirecracker]

Welcome shortblonde,

I would always talk to your doctor about a dose if you are worried and not change it unless he knows.

However, I started with 100 mg of clomid and did fine. I always got 1-2 eggs with it and just had some mood swings. Good luck.

 

[Bella_mezzo]

Welcome short blonde!

I just took clomid for the first time. MY Dr prescribed 100 mg but I only took 50. I felt fine and with the exception of one severe mood swing two days after I took the last pill (i got in a screaming fight in our laundry room over a washer ) and some ovary cramping feelings I was fine.

I finished Clomid on Friday night and have not ovulated yet. Hopefully it will happen sometime this week...

If I don't seem to have a strong ovulation again I think that I will go ahead and take the 100mg next time but I am glad that I started with 50 to see how my body handled it (I have a long history of strange drug reactions).

 

[fisherofmengirly]

Bella,
When I took clomid, I ovulated 7 days later. It's different for everyone. Don't get paranoid that it didn't work just based on the days it takes before ovulation.

 

[royalasscherlover]

Thanks for the welcome and information. It is comforting that at least a few others also started with 100mg. I am mostly worried about side effects and risk of multiples, and it's harder to just trust my doctor when it's someone new rather than my OB from home who I've been seeing for 10+ years. Getting more info or calling my doctor to ask about dose is much harder here due to the language barrier and the way the system is set up - there is no office staff and the person who answers the phone is just the scheduler and not even in the same location as the doctor. I will be getting an ultrasound on CD 12 to check for follicles, so I guess we can just call this one off if there are too many.

 

[Bella_mezzo]

I got a very VERY strong positive OPK this morning (and double checked with a digital smiley face OPK).

We've been on the every other day plan for a week and are going to try and do today, tomorrow, and Tuesday. DH is finally (after 3 1/2 years of TTC!) really getting into this and making sure that he doesn't let being tired or stressed get in the way of making time to BD. I cannot say enough how much easier, more fun, and less stressful that change has been. Even if we don't get pregnant this cycle, it is so nice to see him actually trying instead of just saying he wants to try and then falling asleep

So, I guess I am about to be in the 2ww (and hopefully, even if AF does come this coming month, if I have a strong ovulation AF will be normal and not crazy long)

 

[Asscherhalo_lover]

I follow this thread all the of the time, best of luck to you Bella! Have fun with the DH!

 

[Puppmom]

Bella, get crackin'!

Ladies, I haven't posted on PS recently because my laptop died and I make an embarrassing amount of typing errors when I post from my phone! I was hoping you guys could send some positive vibes to my friend. I posted about her here before. She FINALLY got a positive test after her SIXTH IUI. At her first ultrasound they told her it was twins and she was thrilled (and terrified!) because she has unexplained infertility and she's 38. She thought twins would be ideal because she didn't want to have to go through all of that to get pregnant again. She got another ultrasound at 6.5 weeks and they saw two more babies. She's pregnant with QUADS!

She's freaking out. She and her husband are seeing a therapist both individually and together because they are beside themselves. I've talked to her several times and she's in a really bad place. She's had some horrible thoughts (though fleeting). She told me that one day on the way to work, she wished for a moment to get in a car accident. She's that distraught. She has two weeks to decide whether or not she'll go with selective reduction and she can't think straight. She's taken a leave from work. Hopefully between that and the therapist she'll find some clarity. Her fertility doc and the perinatologist are concerned about defects because of her age and egg quality and the fact that she ovulated 4 eggs. And, of course, there's the concern about making it to a viability date. She feels like no matter what she does it will haunt her. She wanted babies SO bad and is now presented with the choice of giving up on one or more. OR having all four and feeling the guilt she'll face if any of the babies has any serious defects or disabilities. They also have no family help so the thought of healthy quads is scaring the hell out of her.

Please keep her in her thoughts.

 

[Asscherhalo_lover]

Oh my what a situation to be in! Twins is one thing but quads is quite another! That is not a situation I think anyone would want to be in. My only hope is that with the time she has left to decide they will better be able to assess to viability of the babies and give her more sound advice that will take some of the pressure off of her. My thoughts are with them all!

 

[monkeyprincess]

Bella, yay, that's great news that your DH is more invested in the TTC process this cycle. I really hope you are able to catch that egg! (Or at least have a normal cycle like you said). Good luck!

Pupp, ugh, what a tough situation for your friend to go from being thrilled with a pregnancy to terrified. Thoughts and prayers for her and the little beans. I have a co-worker who is about 30 weeks pregnant with triplets. I'm not sure if they are natural or if she had some sort or reproductive assistance, but apparently two of them are identical and share a placenta. She did really well up until about 22-23 weeks, and then she started having contractions and was in the hospital for awhile. She has been on bedrest at home for the past several weeks. She's hoping to make it as long as possible, but the doctors really wanted her to get to 30 weeks, so she is just about there. Such a scary situation for your friend, and really makes me think twice about another IUI.... I wonder how many follicles she had when they did the IUI??? Anyway, thoughts and prayers for her. Please keep us posted.

 

[Puppmom]

Thanks, ladies. I think about her constantly but don't want to bug her. I can imagine she's not always up for taking about it, you know?

Monkey, apparently this is extremely unusual. I don't know how many follicles she had but her RE referred to it as a "hot" cycle and they considered canceling. Ultimately they decided to go forward with it because they were prepared for twins and the odds of anything more was supposedly slim. She was on injectables and trigger. This was the "all in" cycle because it was their last attempt at IUI.

She keeps saying she feels responsible because this cycle she went all out and eliminated caffeine, got acupuncture and took yoga for fertility. I told her realistically the things she did aren't too blame.

Her husband is furious with the doctor but I think he's just upset and looking for someone to blame. Her RE explained that this is obviously not his desired outcome either. All around it's just a really tough situation. I don't know that I can say or do anything to make her feel better or bring any clarity to the situation.

 

[tammy77]

Wow Pupp, that's rough! As awful as it feels to say/think it, if she's only 6.5 weeks nature may make the decision for her over the next couple of weeks. I pray that everything goes okay with her and that somehow she's able to have a healthy pregnancy without having to consider selective reduction. Ugh, poor thing.

Bella, I hope the Clomid and your DH being "all in" this month with TTC do the trick! Keep us posted!

Bright, how's it going? Do you have a firm timeline yet? I'm SO excited for your IVF to start!

SB, so glad you joined the thread. Suffering in silence is one of the harder parts of infertility and the ladies here are truly the best. Lots of luck for your first Clomid cycle!! It's great that you're getting monitored. From my experience, I went from 100mg to 150mg and didn't have any change in the number of follicles. I also only had one with my Femara/IUI cycle too though.

 

[BrightSpot]

Ltl, thanks for the support. The IVF process sure does seem daunting, but hopefully following the one-day-at-a-time approach will help. If you have any IVF success dust you can throw our way, that would be great!

Bella, I'm so glad to hear your DH has been all in this cycle & that you guys have had fun. (And yay for the strong positive OPK!) I hope your 2WW has a very happy ending! My fingers are crossed very tightly for you, my friend.
Also, let me know if you want to do a recipe share. I've accumulated some new gluten free recipes lately. Maybe they would be helpful for your baking sessions with B.

shortblonde, welcome! I'm glad you came to join us. (And beautiful asscher, by the way!) Infertility can be so isolating & it helps so much to have a support system. How are you doing on the clomid? I took it for 2 cycles (50mg each with very few side effects) but it's pretty common to start with a higher dose.

tammy, thanks for checking in & cheering me on! I so hope to be able to join you in pregnant land soon!

fisher, thanks, lady! We're always happy to see you post here. You must be almost ready to meet your little one, right? So excited for you! Have you tried plain mint tea (without the added fertility stuff)? You might enjoy it if you miss the fertilitea.

pupp, oh, wow. I'm so sorry to hear about your friend's difficult situation. I feel like I can totally understand her reactions & really don't know what I'd do in the same situation. I hope she's taking care of herself and not blaming herself (or her DH or doc). I will definitely keep her in my thoughts & prayers & hope the situation resolves itself in a positive way. Please keep us posted.

afm, lots of news to report here. DH & I have been doing pretty well with our dietary changes (pretty much cut out gluten, cow's milk & most refined sugar) & we've also drastically reduced (almost eliminated) diet Coke consumption, which was my hardest challenge on the dietary front. Also, DH finally got to speak with his urologist. Not only has the infection cleared up, but his numbers look better than ever. (They're still in the low-normal range, but on the normal side.) The urologist said he didn't see any reason why we should wait to begin IVF. We thought we'd have to wait until June, so I'm happy we can move forward now.

So....here we go! I took my last bcp yesterday & I'm just waiting for my bleed to go in for day 2/3 bloodwork & start the process. I've been feeling a mix of excitement & anxiety about moving forward. The fear of the actual process (needles, hormones, side effects, oh my!) & the results (terrified it won't work & also a little scared that it might work too well!)

Please keep DH & I in your thoughts & prayers as we begin this journey.

 

[monkeyprincess]

Bright, that's wonderful news! Thoughts and prayers headed your way for sure!

 

[Bella_mezzo]

Bright!!!!! that is great news. Fingers crossed very tightly for you my friend.

Yes, I would love to do a recipe swap. I post our best ones on our family blog, but it is not allowed to link here. Maybe I'll start a separate thread to post gluten free recipes.

I forgot how obnoxious the 2ww can be. I feel hyper aware of every twinge and cramp and am sure that I am imagining things. So, we'll see. I am going to try and wait to test until May 1.

DH had had exams all week so he hasn't slept in 2 days and BD was just not happening once his exams started, so assuming I O'd 12-24 hours after surge, I think that we hit: O-7, O-5, O-3, O-1...so there should have been a lot of swimmers up in there. I wish that we would have done O+1 and O+3 as well, just in case I Od late, but the surge was strong and brief so hopefully that's a good sign...and I think that in the past I may have often had almost Odbut not quite as the day before and after the surge the wondfo looked pretty much positive, but the digi smiley face said it was not. The smiley face only popped up for a few hours one morning.

I am not temping this cycle as it is too much in the morning, but next cycle I will try and temp to further confirm ovulation.

We are doing ok with limiting (but not totally eliminating) dairy, gluten, and sugar...but we had girl scout cookies delivered this week and me and the do-si-dos fell off the wagon for a little bit. I hope that didn't totally mess things up.

I am eating sunflower seeds for selenium and am getting a fresh pineapple tonight to eat the core.

I haven't done the yoga DVD, every night I have the best of intentions and end up going to sleep instead. But am consciously trying to relax more, sit with a heating pad every evening, read, and breathe. hopefully this weekend, I will do the yoga DVD at least twice.

I may or may not have bought some adorable sleepers on ebay...I figure since if this TTC doesn't work (or maybe even if it does ) we will likely pursue domestic infant adoption, some child of mine will eventually wear them...and if we are blessed to adopt an older child again, well then they can use them for their dolls or I can donate them to a women's center.

GAH-they are so cute!!!
Mud Pie Sleeperhttp://www.amazon.com/Mud-Pie-Unise...id=1366899960&sr=8-1&keywords=mud+pie+sleeper

Other Mud Pie Sleepr http://www.amazon.com/Mud-Pie-Unise...id=1366899960&sr=8-5&keywords=mud+pie+sleeper

plus a few more...

 

[tammy77]

Bright and Bella, such exciting news!!! I'm SO happy to see some promising forward momentum for both of you.

Bright, keep us in the loop with your IVF. I'm super optimistic for you, I really think this will do the trick for you. Kudos to you and your DH for doing so much on the healthy eating front and how awesome that his SA is better than ever. Here's hoping it's even better in a few weeks with the continued new program!!

Bella, oh honey isn't the TWW the worst?! Hopefully it's your last for a very long time though and it's exciting to be 'in the running'. In just a few sleeps you'll be able to test! What, you didn't think I'd encourage you to wait to test, did you?!

 

[JGator]

Bright, I am so happy to hear things are progressing on the IVF front. Please keep us posted every step of the way. I cannot wait for you to be a mommy! You are going to be an amazing Mom!

Bella, so exciting you are in the TWW with a really good shot at a BFP!

Pupp, sending thoughts and prayers to your friend. I cannot imagine that situation. My best friend's sister did IVF after 7 years of trying, and ended up pregnant with triplets 9 years ago. One didn't make it while she was on bed rest in the hospital for the last several weeks. She ended up with twin boys and then later became pregnant naturally/surprised with 2 other girls. I hope things work out for the best for your friend.

 

[Bella_mezzo]

Tammy, yeah I didn't think that you would support waiting to test I am going to try though b/c I hate the feeling of staring at an empty test so want to make sure that I wait long enough that something should show up.

I had a dentist appt this morning (no xrays, just a cleaning). There was a big mix up re which location I was supposed to be at (totally my fault) so I ended up taking a sick day for work, got a walk-in appt at acupuncture just to see if that could help anything that might be going on down there (I think I am 5 DPO), and then caught the Friday community meeting at B's school. So sweet! It was a lovely day.

I feel like we did everything we could this cycle, so we'll see.

My plans for next cycle involve BD every day instead of every other day and trying to fully eliminate sugar, gluten, and dairy, but I think that I will keep the Clomid at 50mg since I am 99% sure that I o'd....so, we'll see.

BTW, incase you do't frequent the pregnancy thread, it sounds like Fisher had her sweet baby (but she hasn't posted any details yet)

 

[LtlFirecracker]

Pupp - I am so sorry for your friend. I am not sure what I would do in her case either, but that situation crossed my mind more than once during the IUIs with injectables, and it really worried. I hope she figures out what she thinks is best for her and the babies.

MP - Please do not worry about the IUIs. Your situation was probably different than hers. Quads are VERY VERY rare with clomid alone. Not only that but I believe you are younger. While I don't know the situation, someone over 35 is more likely to be on injectables, which this is a big problem with. Not only that, but many doctors will abort your cycle if you have a certain number of good follicles (the studies have been done on 3 or more). Especially on someone like you who had a successful pregnancy with low dose clomid. That may be really frustrating at the time, but now you know why they do it. My first doctor did not abort my cycle when I had 5 potential follicles. But since I had a possible tube issue, and some of them were probably overly mature (because of the size), I didn't worry about it too much. My second doctor was not planning on using the same medication protocol on me many in the group use clomid with a little injectable at the end to help the egg quality and to reduce the number of follicles, and was not going to allow that risk.

Bella - wishing you luck this cycle! I hope the diet changes go well. I know that can be a challenge.

Bright - I hope the first phase of IVF goes well for you. I know you had trouble with the gonadotropins last time, but this was kind of the easy part. The shots were easy to give, and it was kind of fun to see the eggs grow on US. Hopefully they find a different medicine for you that is easy to tolerate. Do you have to do Lupron or another antagonist? I am so happy things look good for your husband and that they were able to do everything on his side to give you a successful shot at this.

 

[lizzyann]

Bright, sending you lots of dust for a smooth IVF process and outcome! I don't know if you remember my story or not, but at first IVF seemed like such a huge confusing process but then with each step, through the retrieval, and the transfer, things were simplified by the nursing staff and that big scary monster of a process was actually a really organized, well oiled machine that I felt confident and comfortable with. I used Lupron and frankly I had less symptoms with bloating, pain, etc with IVF then with using Clomid! IVF worked for me on the first try and I am praying it does for you as well!