A little history to cover about our TTC journey, our diagnosis, infertility, etc. Pics of our journey so far at the end of this post...
The short version- I have Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS), causing infertility. We have been going through testing and treatments. To learn more about PCOS click here.
The long, more detailed version- Feel free to skip over this if you are not interested in the lengthy details/information on infertility treatments that we are seeking.
It seems like we've been talking about having children forever. Even from the very beginning of 'us' we discussed time lines (our 5 year plan) and possible names. Finally, the serious "Let's try to have a baby" discussion happened. We set the date to stop bcp and were so excited.
Jan 2007 - Stopped bcp and decided to not really try but not avoid. We'll just see what happens outlook. This is laughable to me now.
June 2007 - My cycles had varied by a few days up until this point but then I stopped having cycles. I was charting my temps and was glad that I did so that I knew something wasn't quite right.
July 2008 - Made an appt with obgyn. Discussed history and had some blood work done to try to figure out what was going on. Provera was prescribed to start a new cycle. June cycle turned out to be 58 days long. I wasn't ovulating.
August 2007- No ovulation again. Cycle was 59 days long and would have been longer without Provera again.
October 2007 - OB decided to prescribe 50 mg Clomid in an attempt to get my body to ovulate. After 35 days she ran more blood work to determine that I still had not ovulated.
November-December 2007 -Another round of Provera to start a new cycle and then we tried 100mg of Clomid. I experienced some AWFUL side effects from the meds including hot flashes, night sweats, blurred vision, extreme & uncontrollable mood swings. Poor Matt didn't know what to do with me. I FINALLY ovulated but we weren't pregnant. I decided that it was time to see an RE.
January 2008 - 3 RE appointments. Blood work and ultra sound revealed an increased testosterone level and cysts surrounding my ovaries = PCOS
-2 hour glucose tolerance test revealed that I was NOT insulin resistant. YAY! If my levels had fallen in that category if IR then I would have needed to take Metformin daily.
February 2008 - Had to have an HSG performed. It was very painful. From the results, the RE was more than 90% sure that both fallopian tubes were unblocked. The dye did not flow through the Right tube though. It could have spasmed from the trauma of the procedure & prevented the dye from flowing through.
-Started injectable medication, Follistim
The RE suggested that I never take Clomid again because of the side effects that I experienced. He was mostly concerned with the blurred vision. The OB was not concerned with this.
As a side note... at an appointment with her in July she stated that "just by looking" at me she "could tell that I did NOT have PCOS". I do not have the typical physical characteristics. She made an assumption and she was WRONG. I will find a new OB.
Back to Follistim ...Each night we inject this medication into my stomach. The needles aren't that bad. A little pain, some burning from the meds, and some bruising but it could be worse. Side effects have been mainly headaches, bloating, and weight gain.
-Several monitoring appointments, which involve a lot of waiting around, a blood draw, and internal ultra sound to identify and measure any growing follicles (that we pray will someday be a baby). Once 1-2 follicles are mature we administer another injection, but this time it's of Ovidrel.
Feb-March was our first cycle with injectable meds. It took 12 shots and 5 monitoring appointments to get us where we needed to be. It didn't work out for us so we started treatment over again.
March-April was our second cycle with injectables. It took 20 shots and 8 monitoring appointments to get where we needed to be but it didn't work out for us again. We considered taking a break because all of the injections, doctor appointments, and high hopes only to be hurt in the end were becoming too much for us to handle. We pulled our strength and courage together and decided to move on to our 3rd round of injectables.
And that is where we are right now... moving on to try for a 2009 baby.
A few pics from our journey so far:
The meds arrive
Matt preparing during round 1 of injections
On our way into the hospital for round 2
Lots of waiting around in the hospital
Heading into Spring and Round 3!
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