Merry Christmas!

I had a wonderful vacation in Colorado with my family.  We drank gallons of red wine and beer and spent lots of time in the sperm-killing hot tub.  A great time was had by all.  We'll head down tonight to spend Christmas with the in-laws. 

My husband's annual work Christmas party was yesterday.  That was harder than I expected.  I've been to the party yearly since we started dating in 2002 and have watched his co-workers' kids grow and grow.  There are also a lot of new and growing babies every year.  This year was particularly hard, as two of my husband's good work friends have new babies who everyone was cooing over.  I know it's selfish, but it made me feel somewhat jealous and left out -- another work party with no baby.  We ordered many pitchers of beer from this place afterwards, which helped.

Cycle wise, I ovulated late this cycle (Day 19, which is quite late for me).  I was getting very annoyed at my "CBE" monitor when it wasn't giving me a peak day around CD 14-15, but sure enough, I got it at CD 19.  The deed was done accordingly, though at this point it's kind of a joke that we are still even bothering to try naturally.  I'll schedule my saline sonogram, trial transfer and bloodwork after my period shows and we should be good to go for IVF.

I wish you guys a very Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah (though I know that's over now), and Happy New Year.  All the best to all of you for the New Year.  Leaving you with one of my favorite Christmas songs (I prefer the humorous variety).

Notes from RE consult #3

Following up on the last post, I did actually get AF later that day!  So, that issue resolved, I guess.  I should be ovulating sometime in the next few days, but this and the next cycle will be natural.  Yesterday I met with a new RE from a famous national practice.  It's in my state, but about an hour and a half from my house.  I was in the "neighborhood" (relatively speaking) for work yesterday, so I made an appointment.  The meeting was very interesting and I learned a lot of fascinating things.  The doctor thinks that we have several factors at work here, all to do with me: 1) endometriosis - the fact that some was found and removed is important.  He says even if it was a mild case, there can be damage or problems on a microscopic level that is causing problems.  2) my FSH level was a little high one of the times it was tested (it was 8.0 in September and 6.4 in October) - the 6.4 is OK but 8 means that it's creeping up.  He says it normally goes up gradually over time with age, the fact that it's fluctuating could be an issue.  3) possibly an immunity issue, which also is linked to the endometriosis.  He explained about how the body naturally fights off the endometrial cells when they leave the uterus, but those killer cells can also damage the egg when it is moving between the ovary and fallopian tube, causing it to not be fertilizable. (is that a word?)  IVF solves this because the eggs are removed directly from the ovary.  So, it can explain why, even though I'm ovulating and my tubes are open, I'm not getting pregnant.  He did bloodwork to check my natural killer cells level, they have a treatment for people with high killer cells in IVF cases.  Not all doctors believe in the science behind this, but the doctor who founded their clinic has done a lot of research on this and incorporated it into his treatment plans.  He thinks there is no male factor in our case.  We just did the killer cell bloodwork to see what shows up, but thinks I should go ahead with the IVF at my current clinic.  Another interesting thing he said was that there could be a DQ Alpha match which prevents our pregnancy - basically, that we could be too genetically similar.  So, it was pretty enlightening.  We'll see what the bloodwork turns up.


In other news, heading on vacation from tomorrow till the 20th!  Yay!  Happy Holidays to everyone and thanks for all your support!

More drama..

Sorry for not posting for a while!  We've been busy the last few weeks with travel and general holiday craziness.  Picking up where we left off last time, I got a copy of my file from my RE and reviewed it thoroughly.  Nothing really stands out.  All my bloodwork levels were normal, and DH's semen analysis was normal.  I was a little concerned with his morphology - it was only 5% normal, but that is apparently in the "normal" range.  So, no answers there.  I touched base with the IVF coordinator about what I need to do now - she told me to call when I got my period (which was due last Friday or Saturday) to schedule the bloodwork and saline sonogram.  I'm now on CD 35 and still no period.  This is epically long for me - the longest cycle that I have had, possibly ever.  I'm definitely not pregnant (trust me).  So, I called my doctor yesterday to see what was up.  They made me come in for a beta / progesterone test today and may have to give me something to start my period.  This is truly bizarre.  So, it's looking like it will be 2 more cycles till we start IVF.