Friday, April 3, 2009

Crap confirmed.

So, I had a meeting with Dr. Z yesterday, and he basically confirmed the craptasticness of this cycle. One follicle and poor sperm motility lowers our chances, especially for a couple that already isn't getting pregnant under optimal conditions. (Our first c.lomid cycle was "perfect for pregnancy".) Dr. Z made a point to say that there is still a possibility, but he was much less optimistic than the last three times I met with him.

So for next cycle, he's increasing me to 225ius per day for 5 days. This month I did two days of 150 and two days of 75 before they put me back up to 150 for 3 days.

The good thing is I got some questions answered. I came in with three:

What is the purpose of the meds: to make more eggs or higher quality eggs? The purpose is to make more eggs, with the hope some will be better quality. So that obviously hasn't happened for me with 3 of the 4 cycles, which is why he upped my FSH.

We had all the baseline testing done, but are there problems/conditions that we could have that have not been tested for? Dr. Z basically said they tested for everything that could be wrong, except for one sperm thing. There is a newish test that is done, SCSA, that looks at the sperm's dna. If it tests as over a certain amount, basically IUI is not going to work and we'd have to go straight to IVF. So he wants III to have that done. (More on that in a minute...)

If the problem is with the quality of my eggs, or if there is an issue with III's sperm, will that compromise the quality of the fetus or the health of any potential babies? The short answer to that was no.

So I was glad to get those questions thoroughly answered, but still bummed out about the slim chance of a pregnancy from this cycle. I went home, wanting to talk to III about the appointment, but when I got there his parents were already there. We did get about 5 minutes alone where I told him about the appointment, and he was annoyed that he had to do a SA again. I'm sorry. I had 8 injections, 5 acupuncture appointments, 4 u/s with the d.ildo wand, and 4 blood draws (with #5 coming up Monday), and you're upset that you have to give a sperm sample? Sucks to be you, huh?

Even with all that we have going against this cycle, I can't help but interpret every little possible symptom. I'm exhausted this week, to the point that I've had naps+early bedtimes and days that I feel like I'm not going to get through. But I might also be fighting off a cold. My boobs hurt. They never hurt when I was on c.lomid, but this is my first month on FSH so who knows how I react to that. My face is breaking out. The HSG shot tends to do that, but it's lasted longer this time. Again, maybe it's related to how I'm cycling with the FSH. I had spotting for one day around 7dpo. However, while I didn't have the spotting issues while on c.lomid, mid-cycle (post O) spotting is normal for my cycles... but usually it's the week before my period. Again, because I took FSH for the first time, I don't actually know when to expect my period. Off meds my cycles are 30 days and my LP 14 days (so O on cd17). But they had me trigger on day 11 or 12, so should I expect my period 14dpo or CD30? Or something else?

I have some in-law stories already, but I'll save those for later. I'm sure I'll gather more as the weekend goes on....

Happy Friday!

3 comments:

Caroline said...

Oh sweetie. It sounds like a bit of a challenging week for you. Take care of yourself - you sound a little run down. I hope that you can do some things that you enjoy and spoil yourself. You deserve it.

Anonymous said...

ack. sorry but it could still happen. i hope the visit with the in-laws goes well.

Anonymous said...

Hi I am new. I just wanted to say i'm sorry for your disappointing news. It is so frustrating. I like your comment about your DH. They have one thing to contribute-
Anyway, if you get a chance stop by my blog and website
My non profit is Parenthood for Me.org
Have a nice weekend.