Let's get it Started!

As I begin to write this post the song “Let’s get it Started” popped into my head. That is exactly what this next step on our journey feels like, getting started in the voyage of starting a family. As I wrote before we had a follow up appointment with my reproductive endocrinologist (RE) doctor regarding this recommendations moving forward. Here’s a bit of too much info but my body had indeed did what it’s supposed to do about 5 weeks following my termination. Now we had no idea if all of the necessary things happened during that cycle it was promising that something was way different than in the beginning of the year.

My RE recommended I get a blood test done to help determine what my body was doing. Those results came back and they were less than stellar but the test did indicate something that had changed in the last few months changed the chemistry of my body. I think it is due to the increased body weight but it could be a combination of things. Either way we were in a similar but very similar situation again.

After talking about the next steps with the doctor at our first meeting we knew we wanted to go for the more aggressive approach vs. the alternative. I know some will say “it’ll happen when it happens; don’t be in a rush” or might have the opinion that the treatment we went through were the root cause of the situation we were in we did not agree. We were going to be moving forward with the most aggressive approach under similar treatment as we did just a few months ago.

Surprisingly, I was graced with the presence of Aunt Flo about 30 days following the most recent visit! I had no signs of her until the actual day. I almost think the acupuncture session I did the day immediately before might have had something to do with it but who knows. So this meant that I was due for a ultrasound prior to day 3 to check everything out before treatment would begin.

Day 3 came and our treatment protocol began. I surprised myself and easily gave myself each nightly injection even being able to rotate sides with no issues. I also was able to eliminate one step from my routine. I no longer needed an ice cube to numb the injection area. This was a huge victory in my mind and after each injection I felt a surge of accomplishment!

At the first follow up meeting I learned that this cycle was going to be VERY different than the one prior in February. I had two follicles growing on each of my ovaries. Last time there was only every one follicle. Each follicle was rather small so more injections were prescribed.

At the next follow up appointment I learned this was potentially going to be a long cycle of stimulating. The follicles were starting to mature on the right side only with one at 15mm and two at 10mm. This was exciting as it meant we might have three chances of getting pregnant this month. There were also two small follicles on the left but weren’t growing rapidly. The doctor decided to increase the dosage in hopes that my body would react a little quicker and get my follicles to mature size for ovulation.

After three more day of injections (11 days total), I went back again. Once again the follicles were growing very slowly. The two on the right were 16 and 14mm, respectively. And the two on the left were under 10mm. The two on the right were going to the chances we had for this month. We now had to get them to grow to mature size which is around 20-25mm each. Once again the doctor prescribed more stimulation for the next two days.

At this point I had used way more medicine that I had in February. This cycle was turning into a very expensive treatment but we had to remember we did have two chances so that was the positive we were holding onto although I felt very discouraged. In fact I got so worked up and worried about it I made myself another ultrasound the next day to make sure something wasn’t wrong. Everything was fine but I did learn the follicles were now at 19 and 21mm, which was reassuring.

At my next regularly scheduled appointment the following day, I only saw the doctor as opposed to the nurse who typically did the ultrasound and the doctor who basically did the question answering and medicine prescribing. He said he wanted to see the follicles for himself since I had come in the day prior to get looked at with only the nurse as he was in surgery that afternoon. He was very happy to see the follicles had grown to 20 and 24mm. He said to be respectful of the 24mm follicle I should go ahead and do my trigger shot (ovidrel which makes one ovulate) that evening and arrive early the next morning for an IUI. He stated I might ovulate as early as 12 hours from when I did the trigger shot and he didn’t want us to miss the window of opportunity. 

The IUI came and went. I elected again for the acupuncture during the procedure which took less than 5 minutes. I was instructed to lay still and relax for about 10 minutes following the procedure and then go on my merry way. Immediately after I had no mild cramping as I knew this was due to opening up my cervix. This was new to me and had not occurred last time. I was also continuing to have some abdomen discomfort way more than last time throughout the day but nothing that was too uncomfortable. The following day the discomfort continued throughout the day and then the following day it suddenly had disappeared like magic. I contributed this to ovulation. I must have ovulated somewhere between the time around the IUI and 36 hours later. Now I was onto the two week wait (TWW). Probably some of the longest 14 days of my life and some of the most nerve-wrecking too.

Week one of the TWW was pretty easy. I had a lot going on that week for work and after work so that was great to help keep my mind occupied. The second week was rather busy as well but the last two days were miserable. I constantly was trying to stay in tune with every little thing that occurred in my body. I was also very cautious every time I went to the restroom looking for the potential for Aunt Flo. The last day was absolutely miserable. I can't say I got much done at work that day as my mind was wondering into the what if's and worrying about what reality might actually be.

I knew my husband nor I would be sleeping very well the night before I would actually take a pregnancy test. He had mentioned he would be setting an alarm to wake me up at 3am! I replied please if I'm sleeping do not wake me. I think somewhere around 5:30am we both started to stir. Although, I was so tired I finally got up to take the test.