Brighter Days!

My appointment on Monday went extremely well! My cyst had to be smaller than 12 mm for us to proceed safely. Not only was it less than 12 mm, but it was completely GONE! I almost started crying right there in front of the nurse. I was instructed to stop taking my BCPs and wait for CD1 to begin my meds.

AF arrived bright and early Wednesday morning, and I took my first estrace pill. My next appointment is on Friday, April 13th. They will check my lining and give me our transfer date. We can't wait! Until then, this is how my days look:

Metformin- 3 X daily
Estrace- 4 X daily (last pill is vaginal)
Doxycycline- 2 X daily (with food)
Prenatal vitamin every evening

I'll begin my PIO soon after the CD10 appointment on the 13th. I'm curious as to why my last estrace pill must be vaginal. When we did the fresh IVF cycle, all of my estrace pills were oral. I'll try to remember to ask my nurse when I see her again.

More good news- I'm an AUNT! My nephew was born early Wednesday morning. He's precious, and I love him already.




Bossy Bud

Long Awaited Answers

I'm not sure I had ever been more excited to go to the doctor than I was today. Hold on, I take that back. Baby 1's 1st ultrasound was the most exciting moment of my life until I found out I had miscarried. But any who, I went to the endocrinologist today and met one of the most amazing doctors I have ever had the privilege of directly dealing with. After going over my recent blood work and all of my symptoms (which includes severe facial acne, facial hair (blonde, thank GOD), oily skin, irregular cycles, high testosterone levels, and infertility) she was able to diagnose me with PCOS (Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome)!!!

It might sound crazy but I could not be more excited to finally have someone confirm with me that there IS something wrong with me hormonally. In June of last year I had a dermatologist tell me that my acne was due to hormones. In August I had an acupuncturist tell me many of my symptoms were hormonal (excessive sweating and body heat) I wasn't sure how to approach my RE about this so it kind of just sat in the back of my mind. I certainly wasn't as educated about the reproductive system as I am now, otherwise I would of spoken up about it.

So, rather than Metformin, which is what most women seem to be treated with, my Endo chose to put me on the brand name GLUMETZA. Unlike immediate-release metformin, GLUMETZA is released slowly and steadily over several hours. This delay in the release of the medicine may result in fewer stomach-related side effects, such as nausea, in the 1st week of taking the medication. She wants to get me up to 2000mg a day, so here is my future dosing schedule:

Week 1: 500mg 1x day
Week 2: 1000 mg 1x day
Week 3: 1500 mg 1x day
Week 4: 2000 mg 1x day

She also advised she would like me to reduce my carbohydrate intake to less than 120g daily and my protein up to 60g daily (at least). She says that will boost my weight loss since I'm currently at a standstill after losing 20lbs.
**Also, She said that my initial weight gain is what actually brought the PCOS to the surface. Since I have been off of BC since April 2010, the weight gain triggered it. And even after losing the 20lbs it won't completely go away. It has actually made it worse for some strange reason. It gets worse each and every week.

SO, my other good news involves my 2 MTHFR gene mutations, which my Endo happened to know a lot about. For those who don't know what this is......it's a blood disease that deals with blood clotting and the inability for my body to metabolize Folic acid. She explained that the Folic acid that I currently have a prescription for (1mg 2x daily) is considered synthetic Folic acid. She wrote me a prescription for NEEVO DHA. This is a prenatal that also contains L-Methlyfolate, nature’s active form of folate as found in leafy green foods. L-methylfolate is superior to synthetic folic acid. Several months ago one of the BB Blog readers commented on my post about this so it has always been in my mind. And to my surprise today my Endo mentioned this so I became pretty excited. This will be taken in place of my existing Pre-Natal 1x daily. On a side note, she did tell me that these mutations were most likely the cause of my 3 miscarriages (not the 1 tubal though). No one has yet to tell me that (not even my RE) so it was such an amazing feeling to hear that news. Nearly 2 years I have been waiting to hear that.

If you also unfortunate enough to have 2 mutuations of the MTHFR gene and would like additional information, here is the brands website:
http://www.neevodha.com/

Well, that is all I have for now, I will be very surprised if many make it through reading this entire posting. If you do, I much appreciate it :) So I end this cold rainy day with hope in my heart. Sad songs didn't sound so sad today, and my optimism is at the highest it has been in a very very long time. Please keep me in your prayers that I will soon get my baby back. I know he is up there waiting for me to bring him back down :) Let's hope the 5th time's a charm!!

Discoveries

I've discovered something about myself during the TTC process.

I really want a baby.

That's not what I found out about myself. I obviously knew that. Stay with me.

I really want a baby, but I am really, really spacey.

What this boils down to is that, technically, and if anyone asks, which they don't, but if they did, technically, I am taking 1 Prental vitamin, 2 Vitex (see? I don't even know what amount) and 2 cups of Green Tea a day, plus using cheapie internet OPK's daily.

Technically.

In reality, my days look sort of like this:

- Wake up

- Stumble to the bathroom

- While brushing my teeth, allow my eyes to meander across the counter

- Spot Prenatals and Vitex

- Say "Oh snap! I forgot to take my Vitex last night! But I am a responsible, mindful adult, so I'm going to take my Vitamin and my morning Vitex right now."

- Feel adult and responsible

- Go downstairs, running late as usual and forget to make a cup of tea. Don't sweat it. I can drink two later, right?

- Go to work

- Remind myself several times during the day that I need to A) Take my afternoon Vitex B) POAS C)Drink two cups of green tea.

- Stumble home from work mildly exhausted

- Forget to POAS until after 830, when I will suddenly remember but it is too late now

- Make myself a cup of tea that is NOT green. When it is empty and I don't want to drink anything else, remember that I was supposed to have Green Tea.

- Completely forget about Vitex

- Bed

- Repeat

So, to summarize, while Mr. CB and I are keeping to a decent BD schedule, and I am monitoring my CM and I am temping, everything I'm supposed to be doing to help my body along is pretty touch and go. Truth be told, with only taking one Vitex a day, I may as well just start popping jelly beans and calling them fertility aids. I'd probably take them more regularly, actually.

I wonder if Mr. Cherry Bud would buy that.

"No, honey, they help with CM production. And ovulation. and they're basically sperm food. It gives them a sugar high so they swim faster."

Making a resolution to stop losing my mind,

A Month Ahead of Schedule...

We pulled the goalie!

Mr. Magnolia Bud and I had a conversation last month about O time where we laid out all the reasons to wait for two more cycles before TTC. At that time, our reasons were slim--I'm running another marathon Jan. 8-9, and he'd like to have more money in the bank. We continued talking, and as he realized that we had a fully-funded e-fund, are making significant contributions to our retirement accounts, are paying extra toward our mortgage and student loans each month, and would be able to meet daycare costs (our big worry, since they're really high in our area), that concern seemed to diminish. Especially because we can meet the costs of having a baby on our current salaries while still putting a little extra toward our long-term debt.

That all said, we didn't change our TTC date then. We left it open, with October as the goal. As you know, I've been getting ready to make a serious attempt in October. HPT's, CBEFM, pregnancy books, the works!

Well, wouldn't you know. Mr. Magnolia Bud, normally the chart-stalker who wants to know every bit about my temps, my CM and what my chart says on any given day, has stopped asking this month. He also, all of a sudden, turned from condom-crazed Mr. MB into "let's see what happens" last night.

So we did!

My temp went up today, and is in my usual post-O range. Given that I had my usual pre-O dip two days ago, I may have O'd yesterday. In which case, our timing wasn't bad. But I also had a couple of glasses of wine last night and temped an hour late this morning. I'm not discarding the temp though...But now I have to wait and see.

I need to take my PNV's now, just in case. I had been getting lax about taking them, even though our midwife just recommended a new brand that I really like--nutraMetrix Isotonix Prenatal Multi. It's a powder that you mix up in the cap and drink, and is a little fizzy like EmergenC. There's no artificial filler, and is as easy on my stomach as my Flinstones were.

I'm a little bit nervous, but more excited than anything. Have a great day!

Beta #2 results!

Sorry to leave everyone hanging, but I have been SUPER busy at work & I am a bridesmaid in my friend's upcoming wedding, so I have been doing a lot for that this weekend. I got my beta #2 drawn on Friday morning (3/5) & it came in at 1184! That's a 128% increase over 48 hours & I think they like to see at least a 50% increase every 1-3 days! My nurse said that it is a perfect rise & that I should continue my meds as normal; so, that's Endometrin suppositories (progesterone) & Estradiol (estrogen) twice a day, baby aspirin & PNV once per day. Below is a chart showing my hcg levels vs. the average levels for a singleton pregnancy.


As you can see from the chart above, my hcg levels are a little above the average singleton pregnancy, but I have always read that you can't really tell how many you have based on hcg levels alone, so there could be two in there still. No matter what, Mr. Worry Bud & I will be ecstatic as long as our baby(ies) are healthy & growing strong! We have our last beta blood draw tomorrow morning & then I get to schedule my first u/s. According to the date of my ER, I am 5 weeks 1 day pregnant today! I'm not sure how long my clinic will make me wait to schedule the u/s, but I'm hoping that if all looks good on beta #3, then we can do it on Friday of this week since both Mr. WB & I are off that day already. Speaking of the Mr. - he's soooo cute; he has an iPod Touch & it's pretty much like the iPhone minus the phone part, so he's always downloading random apps. Well he downloaded this "countdown" app & made a countdown until our LO arrives, which would be (according to my ER date) November 6, 2010!!

As far as symptoms, I have been feeling okay - a little crampy on & off (I think this is related to the [TMI] incredible amount of gas I have been having the past couple of weeks), exhausted (but, I always am due to how early I get up for work), slight heartburn on & off, hungry more often, acne, and occasional headaches. On Friday night, after going to the bathroom, I wiped & noticed a little red/brown blood with some clear discharge/CM & got freaked out. I think now that it was some sort of old blood, b/c I only saw it when I wiped that one time & not again, even after doing my Endometrin insert a few hours later. Then, yesterday I had a persistent, dull stabbing pain in my right hip bone; I think it was just early round ligament pain because it was gone after laying down for a few hours. And many women on one of my favorite Internet message boards said they experienced a similar pain early in their pregnancies as well. Either that, or it could be related to my fibromyalgia....I'm just happy it's gone. I plan on mentioning it to my nurse tomorrow & see what she thinks. I'll update again tomorrow after my beta results come in. Thanks as always for all the continued T&P - it really means so much to us!

Product Review - Nature Made Prenatal with DHA

During my first visit to the RE, I was given about 4-5 samples of prescription prenatal vitamins. Each sample contains 5 days worth of vitamins. Some are two pills others are just 1.

Over the next few weeks, I'll post a review of the various prenatal vitamins that I've tried.

Today I will review an OTC (over the counter) Prenatal vitamin made by NatureMade.

Photo credits

Please note: This pill looks huge however, while it is larger than some, it is only about an inch in length and very easy to swallow!

This is the PNV that I've taken until I received the prescription PNV's. I really like this PNV for a few reasons:

• First, I can buy a 90 count bottle at Costco for about $15
• I like being able to take 1 pill and be done
• It is a liquid softgel which I personally feel that my body absorb's it better
• It contains DHA along with the other important ingredients like Folic Acid and Iron
• No constipation
• Easy to swallow
  

This vitamin contains 800 mcg of Folic Acid, 27 mg of Iron and 200 mg of DHA. Take note however, that this DHA is fish oil based which can raise concerns over mercury.

I have noticed that this vitamin will make my urine very yellow which is an indication that there are a lot of extra vitamins that my body isn't able to absorb completely.

I have found a great resource as well for researching Prenatal Vitamins - http://www.prenatalvitamin.com/ has a wonderful interactive website that allows you to specify the level of folic acid, iron, etc. to narrow down the options. This site includes both over the counter and prescription PNV's! You can purchase any OTC PNV's from their site but the prices seem to be highter than other sites and local stores. For those looking for chewables or vegetarian PNV's, this could be a great resource!

Until next time,
Sunshine Bud

Priceless......

New BBT (after a failed search and rescue mission) - $8.00
Gummy-Vites with folic acid - $7.00
Stash of $Tree OPK's - $10.00
Having a very important TTC talk with the DH - Priceless!!!

I literally just got done venting on my favorite message board about how I was so frustrated that our TTC has been hampered by what seems like a futile job search. My sister just announced to me yesterday that she and BIL will be TTC and while I wanted to be excited, it made me so depressed because I was wishing that we were in the same place, but as of late it has seemed like TTC would be on hold for longer than anticipated.

Tonight DH and I talked though. He told me that he wants to start trying. It is a long story and a big conversation about how he reached this conclusion, especially since we have had some big goals for before TTC. We have accomplished almost all of them and the ones that remain are ones that he feels confident will be taken care of very soon. Sooooooo.......while we will likely still wait another month or so to sort things out (being the practical, planner-type people that we are), I am ecstatic that this thing that I have been hoping for for so long might actually become a reality sooner than I thought. I will be sure to post more about how this process unfolds. Right now I am just trying to take it all in and think through everything that we need to do for ourselves......and for our future Fitness Baby!

100+ days TTC & Dr. Appt. Followup

Last night marked me & Mr. Worry Bud's 101st day TTC. How do I know you ask? Well my PNVs came in a bottle of 100 & I know I missed one day of PNVs over Labor Day weekend (b/c I got SO drunk & passed out when we got home), and I have never missed any since...so yep, 101 days. This may seem very minor to some, but when we started on this journey I had such high hopes that our TTC journey would be a short one. It is still much shorter than some of the other women I know who have been TTC, but this is a definite milestone to me that we have been trying for a good bit of time. It's hard not to be sad about it, but I'm trying to look forward towards the future, and hopefully soon...our BFP! I cannot wait to make my BFP announcement to everyone one day soon hopefully. On the bright side, I have met soooo many wonderful women on this TTC journey along with me, women I may have never gotten close to if I had gotten my BFP in my first few cycles. I have also learned a lot about my body & about TTC in general (sometimes, I think I may know more than my Drs. - keep reading). So tonight I cracked open my new bottle & took my 101st Target Brand PNV...

Photo Credit

Oh, also - I had my Dr. appointment on Friday & my PCP tends to agree with my OB/GYN & suggests I wait for a bit longer until I start pursuing any treatment for my LP issues. She says that she thinks that in addition to stress, my not being pg yet has to do with my body still getting adjusted to being off BCPs, and she could very well be right - but I'm impatient. She says that I should maybe consider not charting for a cycle to see if that helps with my stress level - I have not yet decided if I will do this...I actually don't think that charting stresses me out, I think not knowing what's going on would stress me out more! She did agree that she would do all the blood work I am looking to have done, including the check of my progesterone levels. So I have an appointment on Wednesday to have my blood taken for the tests. I updated the girls on the TTC internet message board I frequent & they reminded me that progesterone should only be tested on certain days of your menstrual cycle - not on just any random day. So I will probably cancel that test & have it done by my OB/GYN later. I have an appointment with my OB/GYN for mid-December that I made a while back about my LP (when they told me to keep trying for a few more months before coming in), so I will most likely get my progesterone levels checked then. Unfortunately, Mr. WB suggest that I also wait until my appointment in December to pursue any additional approaches. At this point I am weighing my options & may consider going to get another opinion before then, but for now I am anxiously waiting to see how this current cycle goes. Wish me luck and T&P while we consider what our next move is.

Prenatal Vitamins

The doctor gave me sample of obtrex and let me tell you they give me terrible nausea. So I stopped yesterday and today I still felt nauseous hopefully tomorrow I can start my One a Day prenatal that I was using before and never felt nauseous.

Has this happen to anyone?