Welcome ICLW!

It's been awhile since I've joined ICLW. I confess that I needed a break from the blogs and the comments, but I'm back!

I'll start with an introduction to my journey and where I'll be headed in the next few months. Doc, my dear husband, and I have been married for three years and we've been TTC for almost 2 years. We spent our first year, just enjoying our newlywed status and traveling to Europe and Africa. In February of 2009, we decided to ditch the BCPs and start trying for our family. Like most people, we assumed that I'd be knocked up in a matter of a few months, but as the days roll by I notice something strange...my periods are very, very light and my luteal phase is only 8-9 days.

I report this to Doc and he says to just wait, sometimes it just takes awhile and most doctors won't even see you until you've been trying for at least 1 year. This is not a good answer. So, I take matters into my own hands, email my Ob/Gyn and tell a little white lie about how long we've been trying. She's very responsive, orders a few tests and then gets me an appointment with the RE at the Big-K HMO. I pass the tests with no real concerns and begin clomid.

Our plan is to do three rounds of IUI. So we do our first cycle of clomid with a nice big follicle, but very, very thin lining and no IUI because of the Thanksgiving holiday. Second round is letrazole with IUI. Again, one good follie, lining is still thin, so we supplement with estrogen which doesn't help much. Result: BFN. Third round is also a letrazole cycle with IUI. This time around, it takes me a long time to respond to the meds and thin lining again. Result: BFN.

Doc and I discuss matters and decided that we should go directly to IVF. According to the RE, she thinks we'll get knocked up on the first try. So, off we go. Based on our reaction to the meds, the new RE puts me on a BCP with an antagonist cycle. Unfortunately, the BCPs oversuppress me and I take almost 18 days to stim. From there, we retrieve 10 eggs with only 3 mature and 2 that fertilize. We decide to do a 2-day transfer of those 2 embryos which results in a BFN. The doc says that this ratio of mature: immature eggs is really rare and thinks our lack of mature eggs is due to the oversuppression, so he suggests we ditch the BCPs and try again.

For IVF #2, we head to another RE and he places us on a EPP (estrogen priming protocol) with a MDL cycle. We get almost identical results. 10 eggs retrieved, 2 are mature, 1 fertilized and 1 transferred at day 3. The result is a BFN. This time the RE suggests that it's an egg quality issue and that we should look into donor eggs.

So, for our last ditch effort, Doc and I are taking out the big guns. We're headed to CCRM and hoping that they can work their magic on us. We had our consultation with Dr. S and we've done our one day work up, so now it's just a waiting game until Jan 2011 to begin our cycle. We're most likely doing an EPP-antagonist cycle with CCS (comprehensive chromosome screening). Also, based on his recommendation, I've been taking DHEA prior to my cycle to help with egg quality. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

ICLW - Getting To Know Me

Welcome ICLWers! I can't believe it's already been a month and we're back again. I just want to thank you visiting my humble blog.

To help you get to know me a bit better and for a quick introduction, I've listed a few interesting facts about myself below. Good luck to each and every one of you, wherever you are in your journey!

- I'm starting IVF #2 because IVF #1 was unsuccessful. I have a different doctor this time around so I'm hoping for better results.

- Doc (my better half) and I love to travel. We're leaving for Puerto Rico on Tuesday. So far, we've been to: France, Italy, England, Germany, Switzerland, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro, Mongolia, China, Korea, Indonesia, Russia, Malaysia, India, Japan, South Africa, Mauritius, Reunion, Tanzania, Mozambique, Barbados, Dominica, Canada, Mexico and a slew of U.S. states.

- I'm growing my own vegetables for the first time and have planted some herbs and zucchini (I read that zucchinis are the easiest veggies and good for first time growers)

- I live in the SF Bay Area and I love it. I was born in NY, but was raised in the Bay Area from about 1 until I went off to college. I went to college in NY and spent some time in LA, but San Francisco is where my heart is (please don't call it Frisco).

- I work for the Department of Energy as a Compensation Consultant. I used to work for a large HR consulting firm where I worked as an Executive Compensation Consultant, but it got a bit too stressful. Working with Boards of Directors and Execs in determining their comp can be very, very demanding (talk about prima donnas). So, I decided to take a break and work for the government.

- And lastly, I love peanut butter. YUM!

Thanks for stopping by!

ICLW...Already?

Wow! I can't believe it's already been one month? Where does the time go?

Welcome to all new readers! This is my humble little blog where I rant and rave about marriage, life, doctors, and basically everything under the sun, but mostly about infertility and how much it royally sucks.

To give you a little background, I've been TTC since February/March of 2009. Not too long compared to a lot of other women, but almost right off the bat, I knew something was not quite right, so after about 4-5 months I started on herbs and acupuncture.

Not too long after that, in September 2009, I decided to get checked out by an RE and started doing some real testing. All the blood work came back clear...no issues with anything. Doc (my DH) also tested and passed with good numbers. I did an HSG and ultrasound at that time and my tubes were all clear with no signs of cysts or polyps. Official diagnosis: unexplained IF.

So, we did one cycle of clo.mid which thinned my lining to a wonderful 4.5 at trigger -- obviously a BFN. Then we did two cycles of letra.zole with IUI. Both were BFNs. At that point our RE gave us an option to either move on to injections + IUI or go to IVF. We decided IVF.

In February 2010, we started IVF #1. The RE at the clinic (different than the RE whom we did the IUIs with) did a antral follicle count and found approximately 10 follicles which indicated a slightly diminished ovarian reserve (DOR). Average for my age at 34 would be more like 12-15. So, he placed me on a more aggressive antagonist protocol with a slightly higher than average injectable dosage.

Unfortunately, what he didn't realize would be that I reacted a little too well to BCPs that I was place on prior to the stims and ended up oversuppressed. During the first 4 days of stims, my E2 rose from less than 20 to a little over 100 (normally at that point the E2 should be well beyond 200). After the first 4 days, my body started acting normally and the E2 values and my follicles started to grow nicely. However, the long stim probably didn't help the egg quality.

We retrieved 10 eggs, but only 3 were mature, and only 2 fertilized with ICSI. I did a 2-day transfer and ended up with a BFN at the end of the 2WW. No surprise to either Doc or myself.

We'll be starting IVF #2 (hopefully) in June with a new RE/clinic and I'm hoping that this does the trick. After this last IVF, I'm thinking that I probably do have some issues with both DOR and egg quality, so I'm taking supplements and still going to acupuncture. Hoping and praying that this next IVF will be it!

March ICLW

Hello to all the ICLWers! Welcome to my humble blog. For those of you who are first time visitors, I'll give you a brief run-down on my TTC life.

My husband (aka Doc) and I have been TTC since February 2009. Since neither of us our spring chickens, after about 8 months of unsuccessful monitoring and temping, we decided that to visit an RE. From there we did all the prerequisite exams and everything came back clear.

On the recommendation of our doctor, we did one course of clo.mid without IUI and two courses of letr.azole with IUI. Both turned out to be BFN. Which leads me to where we are now which is the 2WW of our first IVF cycle.

I'm now 8dp2dt and waiting until next Monday to take my beta. So far no symptoms and I'm trying to keep relaxed and mellow, but that's no easy feat. Hopefully, in about a week, I'll have good news to post on my blog, but until then, I'm in a holding pattern trying to keep positive.