IUI #1 after surgery (Femara + Hormone injections)

So I've got the go-ahead from my Dr. to start back up on my IUIs. I told him I wanted to be aggressive since the IVF isn't that far away and I'd kind of like to try whatever I can before I shell out a whole boatload of money towards IVF. He understood, so now I'm taking Femara and in a few days I'll be injecting FSH to plump up those eggs!

Updated Ovidrel Test - 24 hours after trigger

The bottom test in the picture is a pregnancy test 24 hours after injecting the Ovidrel trigger. Getting darker!

Ovidrel experiment

So I know that I lot of people take the Ovidrel trigger shot, and end up testing it out of their system. Ovidrel is a form of HCG, the hormone that causes pregnancy tests to pop positive. So after you inject yourself with the trigger shot, you'll have positive tests for a while depending on how much you've taken.

My dose was Ovidrel 250, here are a few pics 7 hours after injecting, and 12 hours after injecting. There is also an OPK (ovulation) test way at the bottom I took along with the 12 hour tests. (Tested in a separate cup)

I'll be testing daily from now on to follow the Ovidrel and see how the tests progress.

Catching Up - It Was BFN

So... I happened to get some false positive pregnancy tests on the last IUI. Very heartbreaking to feel so hopeful and find out it was just a bad batch of Wondfos. I mean, I knew they had evap lines but these last two tests gave an obvious dark and pink line compared to a normal evaporation line. I searched the batch number W00121086-3 and found a bunch of other people had problems with these tests. Then I found that there were other batch lots that had issues. Suddenly, Wondfo doesn't sound like a brand I want to purchase any more.

I ended up buying some tests from Early-Pregnancy-Tests.com instead of more Wondfos. These are significantly thicker than other cheapie tests I've bought. I'll have to take a picture of the tests side-by-side when it's time to start testing again. I think I'll stick with them for now until they give me a reason to switch.

In other news, my Dr. agreed to let me do a round of injectibles this time with the IUI! Well, I'll be doing Femara and injectibles.. he didn't want to go too crazy since I'm under 35 and my AMH is great. I'm supposed to take 5 days' worth of Femara and then 3 days of injectibles. Then I'll get an ultrasound scan the next day to see where I'm at. This will be the first time I get a scan to see my follicles, I'm kind of excited. Of course my chance for twins doubles compared to when I was taking Clomid, which was already more than double a normal cycle.

I think.... It's not an evap

What do you think? It's a Wondfo, the same one that gave me evaps last month. But this is pretty dark compared to those. I may break down and test with a First Response test later tonight.

IUI #2

IUI #2 was done on Saturday, just about 4 DPO now. This IUI went better than the first one, I actually had my surge in the morning so I didn't have to wait a day and a half. Unfortunately, it came a day early. I was planning on CD 16 instead of 15, and I took Saturday off work so I could make it in on time since I work nights. Schedule aside, everything went smoothly. I'm hoping to not start testing until at least 10 DPO. But we'll see. ;)

I also got my shipment of new fabric in, excited to start making the blanket and burp cloths. I'll post up a few pictures of the fabric tomorrow

IUI update!

So, it's been a while since updating. Today was our first ever IUI + Clomid. I meant to make a post a few days ago about the Clomid, but I blame the hormones on not doing it, haha! The medicine wasn't *too* bad, although it did make me extra emotional. I didn't have the crazy physical side effects people talk about, so I guess I was lucky there. Maybe a few headaches, but not even enough to make me think the two were related.

My RE gave me a packet of paperwork about the IUI and how to handle everything and when to schedule the sperm washing and actual IUI based off of when your ovulation stick tests positive. Now, I normally use cheap ovulation (OPK) sticks and start using them twice a day starting around day 12. My LH surge has been on day 16 for months now. The paperwork told me to use the Clearblue Easy sticks, the ones with the smiley faces on them, and only do it once a day in the morning. Ok, here's where I turn into a bad patient. I work nights, so I had to pee before bed around 8-9am. Your LH surge usually doesn't hit until about 12-2pm. I NEARLY MISSED MY SURGE listening to their directions. It came up with no smiley face cycle day 16, so I decided to take another one a few hours later after I slept a bit. Smiley face. Of course, it was too late to call the office as they were closed already. So I waited and tried to hold my urine so I could catch another smiley face "technically" on the next day. I only lasted until about 30 minutes after midnight. Hey, still a new day right? NO SMILEY FACE. So if I would have waited until day 17 I wouldn't have gotten my surge info. I got maybe 6-8 hours window with those sticks. But I tried using the cheap OPK sticks and my surge showed up on those MUCH longer. Moral of the story: should I need to monitor my LH surge again I'll be using both sticks and doing multiple times a day. This is my time and my money.

Since I didn't get my surge until late on day 16, I ended up doing my IUI on the morning of day 18. This timing makes me really nervous, but I did find some info that doing the IUI 24-48 hours from your surge is ideal. I think we were right around 40 hours or so. I haven't had any monitoring to see exactly when I ovulate so I don't know when my egg is released after the surge. I'm going to hope it's on the longer end at least for this IUI. We did have sex 2 days before the surge as well, for a little insurance. I didn't want to push it, as I didn't want the sperm sample to be weak for the IUI.

Speaking of samples... wow that was quite an experience! We live about an hour and a half away from the lab & office. So that means we had to wake up before the crack of dawn, get the sample, and drive straight there to drop it off. I was so paranoid I wouldn't let my husband stop for coffee or anything. I made him leave just a touch early too, in case we hit traffic. Then, when we arrived early to the lab I wouldn't let him leave the parking lot until we dropped off the sample that I was keeping warm between my legs. I'm sure I wasn't his biggest fan!

The lab said as long as we got there within 2 hours we would be fine, and we did. It took about an hour for them to do the washing, and the RE office said that everything looked fine. I'm kind of irritated I didn't get any numbers about the sample though. The actual procedure took a whole 30 seconds and wasn't bad at all. If  you remember my HSG experience from hell, this was nothing compared to that. Some slight cramping and a little bit of spotting after I got home. That's it.

So, the biggest pain now will be to wait until 14 days so I can see if I get a BFP!!! Of course, I definitely won't wait the full 14 days to start testing like a mad woman!