CD14 – Disappointing News

I went in for my ultrasound on Saturday to see how many nice follies I’d have after this cycle’s round of Clomid… And there were only two or three very small ones, plus a gigantic, mysterious dark thing. They drew blood to try and figure out what was going on, and I left worried that I had some sort of a cyst that we’d have to deal with.  Got the call later on that afternoon – I don’t have a cyst (good news) but apparently I had already ovulated. And the RE said, based on the level of progesterone in my blood she’s pretty sure that I ovulated more than one egg. So the good news is, I’m responding strongly to the Clomid. The bad news is that we don’t get to do an IUI this cycle because the egg(s) are already gone.

So disappointed, sigh… I am going to take it as a sign from the universe that I am meant to put new tires on my car, since they’re almost entirely smooth and we still have the heavy March and April snows coming. Replacing my tires will be around $250 and I wouldn’t have had the money if I paid for an IUI this cycle. So as disappointed as I am that I have to wait another month before we can do attempt #2 – I should probably be focused on being grateful instead.

I’m not really surprised. My flow was so bizarre this cycle and then I got sick and had crazy high temperatures for a couple days… I have to wonder if my body got confused and decided to release eggs early as a result. Based on my temperature chart, I’m guessing I ovulated sometime around CD7, but it could have been even earlier than that. *sigh* So I knew this cycle was going to be weird – I was even worried based just on the unusual AF that I’d have to sit this one out. Now my body has decided for me, I guess.

So babymaking is on hold until my next AF begins – I’m just supposed to call the RE on the first day of AF so we can do another round of Clomid. Not sure when to predict AF will arrive. If I go 14DPO, it would be March 3^rd. If I go my usual 24 day cycle, it would be around March 7^th. I guess if it comes nearer the 3^rd I’ll have a better idea of when I ovulated, yeah?

In the meantime we spent the weekend cleaning the house, going grocery shopping, and I spent some time with my mom yesterday since she came up to show me how to use the embroidery machine she gave me. I also painted my nails (though it came out goopy and I’ll probably redo them) after a couple weeks of being too busy to tend to them. I’m looking forward to next weekend, since that’s when we get to go look at our engagement photos and see how they turned out. :) And this afternoon on my lunch break I’m going over to Walmart to look into replacing my tires. I have to admit, I will feel a lot safer once I have the new tires on – and a lot less apprehensive about the coming spring snows. 

I kind of hope AF shows up as soon as possible so we can get another crack at this…

CD9 – Attack of Life

I haven’t updated in a long while because the last week or so has been completely overwhelming… I was very sick over Valentine’s Day, had to finish an embroidery project, and things got chaotic at work. But here’s where we’re at now:

On Valentine’s Day I talked to the RE and let her know that my spotting had pretty much stopped. She also confirmed that the blood pregnancy test had come back negative. This is one of the oddest periods I’ve ever had… a much lighter flow than usual (it barely even became more than spotting) and such a dark color. Anyway, the RE said we would use Tuesday the 11^th, when the spotting started, as CD1. She put me back on the 100mg/day dose of Clomid for five days, starting on CD4 (Valentine’s.) Though I was sick and miserable, I still went faithfully to the drugstore, picked up my prescription, and took it daily. Yesterday was my last dose. I got a few spots in my vision this morning, but otherwise I feel like I’ve had a lot fewer symptoms from the Clomid this cycle than last time. I’m hoping that doesn’t mean my body’s being less responsive to it…

I have an appointment for an ultrasound on Saturday at 8 AM. I’m going to be using OPKs between now and then just to be sure I don’t get a smiley first – the RE didn’t tell me to do this, but I really don’t want to miss this cycle by not paying attention.  Also, I really, really think that the reason my last period was so odd was because I didn’t have a very good uterine lining last cycle… from what I understand, Clomid does that sometimes. The blood was old and there wasn’t much of it, which makes me think my lining wasn’t thick enough for implantation and it died long before my body was ready to shed it. So I did a little online research and until I go in for the ultrasound I’m going to take a Vitamin E supplement and a baby aspirin every day in addition to my prenatal, to see if this will help thicken my lining up.

I am also going to ask the doctor pretty earnestly for progesterone this time around. I really think my lining died off early and my poor little egg(s) – if fertilized – didn’t have a chance as a result.

I’ve actually had so much other stuff on my plate the last week or so that I haven’t had much time to think about TTC. I’ve been temping in the mornings but my chart is wayyyy messed up because of the fever I had while I was sick. Also, Kaitlin’s dad went into the hospital on Monday after a heart attack, and he’s currently not in great shape, plus things are very stressful for her at work right now, so she’s under a lot of pressure too and hasn’t been having a very good week so far…

On the sunshiny side, though, we did go in to do our vintage-style engagement photos on Monday night. And that was actually a LOT of fun. It took me about an hour and a half to curl Kaitlin’s hair into a ton of doll-like ringlets, and we did our makeup and put on false lashes and I wore a pair of my PinkyParadise contacts for good measure. Then we got to the photo studio, signed in and got to change into shabby-chic lace dresses and 1930’s-style hats and pearls, and go pose for the photographer.

We’re going back on March 3^rd to pick up our large photo (the one that comes with the package we bought) and probably buy the CD of images too so that we can print others out as we wish. I’m really excited to see how they turned out. Kaitlin looked really pretty and I felt super cute (I had this little hat that looked AWESOME with my short hair) so it’s something to look forward to in the midst of all this craziness.