Hello, Clomid. We meet again.

I just took my first dose of Clomid and I choked on the pills. Nice lol. Here we go again! Come on ovaries!! Please listen and do your job please!!

First blood draw is done

And I don't know why I was nervous. I wasn't nearly as scared as last time, but I was still jittery being there by myself. But it was again very fast, and about as painless as possible. I mean, it doesn't feel good, obviously, but it didn't hurt too badly. I've decided that the key to a successful blood draw really is to drink about a gallon of water beforehand. You may have to pee 7 times while you're waiting for the nurse to call your name, but your veins will be nice and big! :) AF is here in full force. It's been pretty heavy the last few days and it's leaving me tired and cranky, but no time to fuss. We're moving tomorrow and we are so unprepared it's not even funny. It's going to be a LONG night tonight, but we gotta get it done. Tomorrow won't be pleasant either. I HATE moving. :( it's going to be pretty warm and tomorrow is my first dose of clomid. Praying I don't get any hot flashes or I just might not make it through the day. Sigh. Ah well. Pressing on!

CD ONE!!! Yayyy!!!!

Never did I think I'd be eagerly waiting for the day my period started. Yet, here I am, feeling crampy and miserable, but super excited at the same time. This is the start of a brand new cycle full of possibilities and hopefully great news! I've been feeling very positive since I talked to my doctor again on Friday. She explained a little more about the challenge and said she really thinks I do have eggs, she just needs to figure out how much clomid to give me to make them release. That made me feel a little better, just hearing it come out of her mouth. The challenge is important, but it's also a formality just in case I have to be reffered to a specialist. We can show all the testing thys been
done, and they can decide where to go from there. Anyway... AF was a few days later than last cycle, but I'm glad it's here!

Of course, I had to have all the nasty symptoms while I was at the beach with the girls. Ew. Sunday was pretty awful. We did a lot of walking and by the end of the afternoon while strolling on the sand, my lower back was in so much pain I could barely walk. It was no fun. I felt like such an invalid. But we still had an amazing time!!!! It was a great vacation. Best friends are the best! :)

While we were there, I also got a beautiful piece of rose quartz. It's said to have a lovely energy that promotes fertility and protects pregnancy once it's acheived. I'm not usually one to put much stock into things like that, but I figured it couldn't hurt. :)



Now it's just waiting a few days to get my blood drawn and then start clomid. I'm excited. :)

Bring it on, AF!

I just finished my Provera prescription this afternoon. Hoping it only takes 3 days to start AF again.. But I'm not feeling very PMS-ish. I was cranky yesterday, but I'm not feeling any cramps, back pain, or bloating like I was last time.. Maybe last time it was worst because it was my first period in over 6 months? I don't know. But I hope against hope that I don't have to wait any longer than I already have to!!!

CD 40?? Really??

I can't believe I'm on the 40th day of my cycle today. Yuck. How discouraging. I know it's because AF decided not to show on her own and the added 10 days from taking Provera makes it seem longer, but just seeing that big 40 bummed me out today. I have two more provera pills to take (today and tomorrow) and then hopefully the same 3 day wait for AF. What sucks though is that she'll most likely show the day before I leave for my girls weekend beach getaway with my best friends. Funnnnnn!! Not.

Ugh... Not feeling it.

I have been SO tired the last few days. Extremely exhausted. To the point of needing a nap. That doesn't happen to me too often. I checked back on last month's cycle notes, and realized I was pretty tired the first few days of Provera then too. It just comes at a bad time because I have so much packing/cleaning to do to get ready for our move in 2 weeks! Yikes. I need to snap out of it. In the meantime, everything is proceeding normally. No sign of AF or PMS. 5 more days of pills left!

Here we go again!

So AF didn't show on her own. Not a huge surprise. I was hopeful on Saturday and Sunday because I was feeling some heaviness and bloating that's usually associated with PMS. It was suggested to be that some BDing might help start things along, but afterward the feeling went away! So much for that! lol.. So yesterday afternoon I took my first Provera pill. 12 more days until AF should be here and then on Monday the 26th I'll go in for my first blood draw for the Clomid challenge. I'm feeling pretty good about it right now. I mean.. I'm a little nervous about what the test will reveal (and I probably will be even more so as it gets closer to the date of the draw) but it would be pretty cruel and unjust of life to give me a low ovarian reserve at such a young age, so I'm holding out that everything will be fine. :) One step at a time.

la dee da

It's been a quiet couple days on the TTC front. It's kinda weird. After spending so long taking the medication, and then obsessing about peeing on OPKs... Now there's nothing to do! I have to call the doctor back tomorrow to let her know that I found a lab that is open on sundays to do a blood draw. We are just covering all our bases in case CD 3 or CD 10 happens to come on a weekend. I HAVE to have my blood drawn THAT day otherwise the clomid challenge will not work. She'll then have me come by after work probably and pick up my prescriptions for the Provera just in case I need it, and the Clomid 100 mgs. And my lab slips, also.. Then it will be a few more days of waiting for AF to show. Sure hope she does, but we'll see! If not, the whole pill taking starts again. Only time will tell!

Moving on...

So I had the talk with my doctor this morning. I actually tried to jump the gun and call her yesterday, but she wasn't in.. That's what I get for being impatient, lol.

We've both come to the conclusion that Ovulation is just not going to occur this cycle. She seemed a little surprised when I told her about the 14 negative OPKs I've taken over the last few weeks, but quickly came up with a plan of action for me. We are going to wait until July 10th to see if AF shows on her own.. If she does not, I will have the Provera in hand and ready to take on July 11th.. I'm really hoping AF shows on her own though, because that would shave off almost 13 days from next cycle.. That'd be great! But considering she was absent for so long before, I'm not holding out much hope.

When my next cycle starts, I'll be doing something called "The Clomid Challenge". It's a test where I have blood drawn on CD3 and CD10 and taking Clomid 100mgs CD 5-9. I'm not sure exactly how it works, but it measures the FSH (follicle stimulating hormone) in my blood and based on the results, they will know if my ovarian reserve (the number/quality of my eggs) is good.. Or not good. Either way, it will rule some things out.

If I pass the challenge, it means I will O next cycle! THAT I am excited about. They will be able to tell me with certainty that I will ovulate if the hormones are in the right range. If I fail the cycle, I have no idea what we'll do after that. She did mention briefly that if it comes down to it, she'd like to send me to Oregon Reproductive Medicine. She says they have really high success rates and some of the lowest infertility treatments prices in the country! So that was positive, but hopefully it won't come down to that.

Overall, I am happy with this "next step". I like her no-messing-around attitude. We're not going to waste time trying the same dosage for another cycle, we're just going to get answers, NOW. I feel very fortunate that she is proceeding quickly. I know it's not so for everyone going through this. :hug: At the same time, I am a little nervous about the outcome of this challenge. But I think there is going to be a certain level of nerves involved no matter which step of the journey we're on. I just need to get used to it!

I contacted our insurance this morning too, to try to figure out if the blood work for the clomid challenge will be covered (she couldn't give me a concrete answer, but most likely no. grr) and had her list our "reproductive treatment" coverage again. If it comes down to it, we have a $10,000 lifetime maximum to use toward IUI and injectables! That I feel super lucky to have. Hopefully we won't ever need it, but it gives me peace of mind that a pregnancy is not out of reach if money becomes an object.

But.. I will listen to Jordin Sparks :) One Step At a Time. For now, I'm just not looking forward to getting poked in the arm 2 more times. eeek. Come on, BIG O!