TTC #1: Cycle 7, Mr. Mom's Cycle 5

Happy New Year, and welcome to 2015!

Mr. Mom and I have been fully focused on the holiday season, but it is time to start the baby-making process once again.  As I mentioned in my last post, we'll be adding more injectables this time, but it will still all be Femara and then HCG trigger.

US: Day 4, 11
Femara (letrazole): Oral: Days 4-8; Injections: Days 9-11
Trigger: Day 11
IUI: Day 13

1st Update, 14 DP-IUI:  Mr. Mom has tested positive yesterday AND today.  Maybe this is it?  We've decided to wait on getting excited until her blood draw on day 20.  HPTs were darker today, which seems promising, but we both feel like it seems too good to be true.  More updates to come...

On the outside:










On the inside:

2nd Update, 16 DP-IUI: Pregnancy tests are still positive! Starting to feel more excited, less hesitant.  Our RE office schedules a blood test on or after day 20, so I will update again after that.

3rd (and final) Update, 17 DP-IUI: Blood test is positive! HCG was over 1000.... which seems pretty high.... but more on that later.

TTC #1: Cycle 6, Mr. Mom's Cycle 4

Mr. Mom has completed 3 Clomid assisted cycles unsuccessfully, so we decided to switch it up for her fourth cycle.  She took Femara instead.  We'll definitely consider switching again next cycle, to the injectable hormones.

US: Day 4 and 11
Femara: Day 4-8
HCG trigger: Day 12
IUI: Day 14

1st Update, 16DP-IUI: Mr. Mom is officially one day late, so she tested this morning.  Nothing exciting to report.

2nd Update, still 16DP-IUI: Not sure about Mr. Mom, but I'm still really trying to regulate my emotions about this.  There's nothing worse than working myself up and then falling hard.  Not going to lie though, I think both of us are hoping for an extra nice Christmas surprise this year.

3rd Update, 17DP-IUI: That's a big fat nope.  Just a late period.  We're too late to start an IUI cycle this month because of the impending winter holidays, so we will save up for January.  We're still considering adding some more injectable hormones, so I'll be sure to include that update next cycle.  It seems like we're both managing to keep up our spirits, and telling ourselves that it will happen when it's meant to happen.

Happy holidays and wishes for a bright and fulfilling new year to you,
Dr. Plant and Mr. Mom

TTC#1: Cycle 5, Mr. Mom's Cycle 3

We took a month off due to vacation scheduling, which was helpful from a financial perspective.

US: Day 3 and 10
Clomid: Day 3-7
HCG trigger: Day 11
IUI: Day 13

Update: BFN again.  This time we were vacationing in Maui, so Mr. Mom was able to enjoy a few cocktails towards the end of the trip.

TTC#1: Cycle 4, Mr. Mom's Cycle 2

Due to my lag in updates, I don't have a detailed summary like those I posted for our previous cycles.  Suffice it to say this was also a BFN for us.  I struggled a bit with this one, feeling more disconnected from the process, although I think Mr. Mom was just trying to protect me from extra stress.

TTC #1 - Cycle 3: Mr. Mom's Cycle 1

So, like I mentioned in my last post, we've changed our plans! But we're still in the thick of TTC #1.

Because of the stress caused by trying to track my squirrel-y cycles, we felt it was time to get some medical assistance.  We are working with a local reproductive endocrinologist (RE) office.  They are helping us with ultrasounds (US) and prescribing Mr. Mom with hormones that make her cycle very predictable.

So far this cycle:

baseline US: Day 4
Clomid: Day 5-9
monitoring US: Day 11
monitoring US: Day 13 - 5 follicles ready! Our chance of twins is close to 10%.
Trigger shot: Day 13
IUI (in office): Day 15
HCG booster: Day 16, 19

Heading into the TWW now.  I'll post an update here when we have one.

Update: BFN.  This one was hard, reading into the symptoms of the TWW too much, and we've tried to mitigate that in subsequent cycles.

TTC #1 - Cycle 2

Here we go with cycle 2!  This one was harder for me (Dr. Plant) emotionally. Mr. Mom struggled to help me keep my spirits up (thanks Mr. Mom).

We've given up on the LH testing strips.  Because why pee on a stick all the time if nothing comes of it?!  My cervix continues to be a fairly clear sign of ovulation, which is good.  Because of work and life logistics, Mr. Mom came home from her nurse job at 12:30 am, woke me up, and we did the deed on CD16.  Unfortunately, she could only insert the catheter barely an inch, so it was more like an ICI.  My temperature went up on CD17, indicating we may have had fairly good timing?  Time will tell.

Last month felt intense with lots of symptom spotting and pregnancy tests.  This month I'm going to attempt to be more zen about things, and just wait for Aunt Flow on her normal day.

RESULTS:

Update: BFN

TTC #1 - Cycle 1

This was our first cycle, and a month earlier than we'd originally planned, so the preparation was a little hectic.  We had to make sure we had all the necessary items for an at-home IUI (see Nuts and Bolts for more detail on the How), but we were still able to get all the items to the house in time, and gave it our best shot!

Most TTC'ers are using LH testing strips, but I've had very little luck so far with these.  On this cycle, I had a fairly dark result (although still not darker than the control line) on CD14, around 10am.  My cervix was also open, so we did our first IUI at 9pm CD14, then 12pm CD15.  Because my cervix was very open, Mr. Mom was able to insert the catheter all the way into my uterus, up to the 2" mark. However, my cervix was not as open for the second IUI, so Mr. Mom could only insert the catheter ~ 1".

I orgasmed after each IUI (which is sort of a feat in itself, when you're stressing about timing and IUI logistics!).

RESULTS:
BFN.  This month wasn't the one.  I experienced cramping off and on during the TWW, and had a slightly longer luteal phase than normal, but nothing stuck this time.