Another IUI Busted

Well, we just finished up our second IUI cycle.  It is so depressing.  I was really hopefully for this cycle, maybe even more hopefully than I was for the last cycle.  It just seems like everyone all around me is able to get pregnant and I am always just being left behind.  At the end of this cycle when we went to our appointment we found out that I had a corpus luteum cyst that will cause my cycle to be delayed.  This was so disheartening to hear.  With everything else that is going on with my body I did not want to hear about one more thing going wrong.  This IUI cycle we are doing an injectable cycle.  I will start my first injection tomorrow.  I am excited and nervous about this cycle.  I really hope that it works.  I say several prayers everyday paying to be blessed with a healthy baby. 

Blood Work Results

I got the test results back from the three tests that the RE suggested that I have (TPO Antibodies, Anti-21-OH Antibodies, and FMR1 Mutation Testing).  All three tests came back negative.  I was so relieved with the results because I was so worried that I had the fragile factor X mutation.  While this is a huge relief there are still a lot of unanswered questions as to why I have Premature Ovarian Failure, and I am not sure if there are anymore tests that can be run to try and figure out what is going on.  I just hope that this IUI cycle works and that we will be able to move on towards having children.

Unfair

Sometimes I wonder why the world has to be so unfair.  It seems like people all around me are knocked up and they do not seem near as ready in their lives as we are.  Sometimes I wish that I would have had an oops when I was younger and maybe not as ready. 

Then there is always the whole insurance coverage.  It make me so mad at the insurance companies that most do not provide coverage.  I think the thing that makes me most upset is the fact that we have insurance though the federal government since my husband works for the VA Medical Center.  You would think being the largest employer in the United States that they would offer awesome insurance, but instead of having one awesome insurance company they offer like 50 different ones that all have so-so coverage that you have to choose between.  None of them seem to offer any infertility coverage.  You can get Viagra for about $8, nothing for infertility.  I really wish that something with this "wonderful" Obamacare would do something to help infertile couples.  I hope that one day that this will all change.

IUI- 1/13/2010

I always tend to get my hopes up.  Last cycle I was so excited for our first IUI cycle.  I was sure that this was going to be the answer for us.  Well, that cycle was a bust so we moved onto our next cycle.  We did another IUI with Femara and an Ovidrel trigger.  We went in early on the morning of January 13th to do our procedure.  I had two mature eggs one on each side.  It looked like the ovary on the left was getting ready to release the egg when the nurse checked after the procedure and the specimen was closer to that side so hopefully that will be a good thing.  All we need is one little sperm to meet one little egg.

They still had not received the test results back from the blood tests that I had done last Friday.  I am still hopeful that the come back good, but I also would like to figure out why we are having all of these problems.

Only time will tell, but I hope and pray that everything will work out and we will be able to conceive without moving onto IVF.

1/12/2010- Follow-up Appointment

What a weekend I have had.  I traveled to Atlanta, GA this weekend for the National Farm Bureau Convention.  It was a great Convention where I was exposed to so many different opportunities that I would have never been exposed to without this experience.  It also gave me some time to think about farming and not so much about fertility.  On Sunday night Atlanta was hit with a huge snow/ice storm.  The way that they were speaking I think that it was a historical amount.  This made the trip back home very difficult.  I was on the road for over 15 hours yesterday.  I was never so happy to walk into my house as I was last night at midnight.  There were several times during the trip that I was not sure that I was going to make it.  The ice skating rink that we drove on in Atlanta and then the whiteout conditions once we made it back to West Virginia.

This morning at 6:30 we headed up to Morgantown to my follow-up appointment.  I had an ultrasound this morning and I have two mature follicles one on my right and one on my left.  They did an ovulation predictor test and it was very faint so I was prescribed an ovidrel shot for this morning and then we will head back up to Morgantown tomorrow morning for the IUI.  Unfortunately they did not have the test results back for the labs that were run.  Things have been delayed since these were sent out tests by the weather.  Hopefully they will have the results back by early next week.

After the appointment with the doctor we met with the IVF coordinator to discuss our future if IVF become necessary.  I knew that IVF was expensive, but it just really hits you in the face when they give you this information.  Unfortunately my RE does not offer any financing.  I guess that there were several companies before the economy crashed that offered this type service, but their company got out of those loans since the crash.  Therefore, we have a lot of money to come up with to cover the procedures and medicines.  It is overwhelming to think about how we are going to come up with this money.  This whole process is so overwhelming when we have drug addicts having babies all the time....Why does it just seem to not work for me?  I am really hoping for a successful IUI and then we will not have to worry about the IVF.

Now it is just a waiting game.....

Blood Work

It seems like all I ever do is have blood drawn.  With the ovarian reserve issues that I am looking at the doctor is trying to find the issues to see if we can figure out why my reserve is so low with my age, because I should not be having these problems yet.

I am going this morning to have blood drawn for three tests.  I am hoping that these test will come back good, but I am a little nervous that they will not.  The tests that I am having are TPO Antibodies, Anti-21-OH Antibodies, and FMR1 Mutation Testing.  Once we get back the answers to these tests it will allow us to have more information about what we need to do next.  I hope that they will be back by my appointment on January 12th, but I know that they are send out tests so I am sure that they probably will not be back.

Follow-up Appointment 1/5/2011

We went up this morning to the RE's for my CD (Cycle Day) 3 appointment (even though it was only CD2).  At this appointment we found out the (AMH) anti-mullerian hormone test that they had done in December, came back at 0.5 which shows that I have low ovarian reserve.  This means that I may not have many eggs left.  The RE is not sure why that I have such a low reserve.  I am going to be have several blood tests done to check and see if I have any antibodies that might be attacking me.  The RE also suggested doing one more IUI and then move onto IVF.  The IVF is so expensive!!!  I am not sure if we will be able to find a way to pay for it.  I just keep praying that this IUI will work and that we will not have to worry about moving onto IVF.  We will be meeting with the IVF coordinator before our appointment on January 12th.  I have also called another RE's office in Pittsburgh because they might have more financing options.

On top of all of this.  I called my insurance company the insurance that I only got because I was under the impression that they would cover my fertility meds.  I called the company to to find out what they would cover during my open season at work.  I was told that they could not give me any information because I was not a current member, but I could look at the formulary and specialty medicine list and that would let me know what was covered.  I called today to see what my co-pay would be for several drugs that the RE mentioned that he might put me on.  Of coarse there is excellent coverage for all the other drugs on this list, but Fertility Drugs have to be paid 100% by the member.  I just love my luck.  I was hoping that 2011 was going to be better than 2010.....So far it is not starting out that great.

Welcome to My Blog

I have decided to write a blog about Lenny and my struggle to become parents.  We started trying in September 2009 and found out that we were pregnant in November.  We were over the moon.  I never thought that it would happen so quickly.  We went to our first appointment at the beginning of December and were able to see the heartbeat.  We ordered engraved Christmas Ornaments and planned a dinner to share the news with our families.  We had another appointment on December 31st.  At this appointment the doctor could not find the heartbeat with the Doppler so he suggested an Ultrasound.  The ultrasound showed no heartbeat either.  We were crushed.  The next week the miscarriage took place.  I never knew how attached that you could get to someone that you never met.  We were told by our OB that we should wait for 3 cycles.  We waited the three cycles and I started charting.  During this time I noticed that I had quite a bit of midcycle spotting.  I saw an OB about this and they did an ultrasound to check and make sure that I had passed everything.  Everything checked out.  I was still having spotting so I met with another OB and we did blood tests which came back good.  After trying for a year I asked for a referral to an RE (Reproductive Endocrinologist).  We had our first appointment with the RE on November 9th.  At this appointment we discussed our history and everything that we had went though in the last year.  The RE suggested that I might have low ovarian reserve.  They also did a semen analysis (SA) on Lenny.  His SA came back with above average volume, but below average morphology and motility.  I had a hysterosalpingogram (HSG) and that came back that my tubes were open.  The RE suggested that we try an IUI.  I took Femara from CD 3-7 and then did an Ovidrel injection to cause me to ovulate.  We did the IUI on December 17th.  On Monday after the IUI I started progesterone.  I started my period on January 4th.  We were deviasted again.  We were so hopeful that this would work for us.......