Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Blood Work

I went in for my blood work today. Results came back: not pregnant, didn't ovulate. For all those who aren't aware, a "normal" woman normally ovulates around day 14 of her cycle. I am on day 50, and there's no sign of any ovulation. Just as I suspected.

So, tomorrow, I'll pick up my provera from the pharmacy and start taking that to end this ridiculous cycle. In about two weeks, I'll probably start a new cycle, and then start the fertility drug, Clomid. And then it's IUI time.

So, while this news sucks, it does mark the start of this journey, and I'm excited about that.

And, remind me? When I am pregnant? I'm not going to complain about anything throughout it. I rather be miserable and end up with a healthy baby, than to be miserable without one at all.

Monday, December 26, 2011

The Next Step

As of today, the nurse informed me that I go in tomorrow for a pregnancy test (which will ultimately be negative -- not that I'm being a downer, but I've been charting, and I'm totally not pregnant, nor did I even manage to ovulate in the past two months), and then they will call in my provera.

Provera is progesterone which they give to you to simulate the end of your cycle so that your body thinks that you ovulated and then will bring on your period, thus ending a cycle with no ovulation (called an annovulatory cycle). After this, I will start on Clomid again, which will stimulate ovulation around a certain date. I'll go through many blood tests and ultrasounds, and when everything has lined up right, they will do the IUI, or inter-uteral insemination, which is when they directly place the sperm into the uterus, bypassing all the other obstacles sperm have to go through to get to the eggie.

It's going to be a sucky process, but a necessary one. It has a high success rate, higher than what I can do on my own, which is...very low. We are hoping that it works the first time around, but if it doesn't, we'll try a few more times before other options need to be considered.

So far, it's unclear what is causing my infertility issues beyond my PCOS, which is diagnosed as "unexplained infertility." It's a little infuriating, not knowing what is wrong with you, but at the same time, it could be worse. Much worse. And it's not. So, God-willing, this will work out. I'll keep everyone updated as we go through this IUI cycle. Mostly, it just makes me feel better to get this all out in words and not having to keep it to myself.

The Low Down

Welcome to my blog about my journey to getting pregnant. I started this so that I'd have a place to write and vent about this process without spamming people on my facebook, especially when some people just don't care.

So, some background on this whole process. Brandon and I have been trying to get pregnant for a year now. Unfortunately, with my PCOS diagnosis, it has made it difficult. I don't ovulate when I am supposed to, or at least not without help from some medicine (Clomid), and therefore, it makes it very difficult for me to get pregnant on my own.

I have been charting my BBT temps for a year, I've been on Clomid for four months, and now we are preparing for our first IUI (artificial insemination) cycle in January. We are hoping that this will be the end of the trying to conceive (TTC) journey and the beginning of our pregnancy journey, but we will see.

The only thing I ask, if you are following this blog, is not to tell me anything that goes along the lines of "things will happen in their own time" or "it will happen when you stop trying." This is very frustrating to hear, especially from people who have not been through this struggle before and have no idea what it is like to hear those words.

Also, this blog is going to be filled with way too much information, so if you aren't up for TMI, then close your eyes. :)