3 ICIs And A Partridge in a Pear Tree

So Monday morning S got her positive OPK and our three vials of sperm showed up that afternoon.  So we did 1 ICI before bed Monday night, one Tueaday morning and one Tueaday night.  It went so much better this time, we had a syringe with a cathither on the end so we could really get every drop, I got a hilarious head lamp light to wear and we practiced with the speculum a few times before hand.  I'm still nervous that I did something wrong though, that I didn't defrost it correctly or that it wasn't really the cervix that I found, I don't know, just nerves I guess.  Now we enter the two week wait and as they say only time will tell.  I have my fingers crossed and I'm hoping for the best.  We are so busy these next two weeks that I think it will fly by, so that's good.  To start it off I'm getting my wisdom teeth removed tomorrow, fun fun.  Then we have a crazy busy weekend, Jude's birthday and that next weekend Jude's birthday party.  Whew!

-Liz 

A Known Donor and $1300 Worth of Sperm

Well it's been a while since we blogged and I feel like a lot has happened.  First off, obviously we didn't get a positive pregnancy with our first at home attempt.  Or we would have told you all by now of course.  Secondly, we are moving forward with a known donor!  And third, we have $1300 worth of sperm arriving Monday.

So with the known donor, we knew if we wanted to keep TTC we needed to find one, but no one fit the bill.  Either they lived too far away, we were too close of friends, or some other reason like medical conditions so we kept coming up with nothing.  I even checked the known donor registry but ultimately was too nervous about doing that. But one day over Chrstimas a friends name came to me and it was like, oh my gosh, why didn't we ever think of ________ being a donor??  And I ran his name by S and she was like yeah maybe he would work.  So I messaged him and ran the basics by him and set up a dinner to discuss when he said he'd like to talk about it.  

We had the first dinner about three weeks ago and it went great.  We talked and talked about everything, the process, the testing we'd want him to get done, the paperwork, all of it and we are all on the same page.  We decided to let him think about all we had discussed and get his STD test and then talk further.  So we just finished our second dinner and its official, he said yes and we are moving forward!!!  

Now, on the sperm we ordered, we knew we'd need to order it and get it here earlier than last time and our donor was possibly not going to have the test results in time so we were like let's not rush anything and decided for this month to do ICI at home with frozen.  And we ordered three vials so we can do one insem the evening she gets the positive, one the next morning, and one later that evening to cover all of our bases.  Fingers crossed!

And I'm so glad things worked out with our donor because we decided this week that this was it, at this point we have spent all of the money we can spend and this insem is it as far as frozen is concerned.  Glad to be able to try more even if this month isn't our month.  

-Liz 

First at Home Attempt

We did our first at home attempt today.  I really thought it'd be easier than it was, but all in all, we got it done.  I think the timing was bad though.  When we ordered our sperm I really thought it'd get here yesterday but I was just being dumb and not thinking. I feel that yesterday was the day to do it and that today was a bit too late but oh well we did it anyway.  We ordered online a bunch of speculum and needless syringes and instead cups.  So we first got some of the preseed in the syringe and then the sperm and then a tiny bit more preseed and then did my best to get it close to the cervix but I've never used a speculum before and I've never looked for a cervix before so it was all just a guess.  And our syringes didn't come with the little cathither thing so I don't feel like I got all of the sperm sample out of the vial, just had to pour it into a cup and suck it up like that.  Now we know we need that and that we need to order much earlier.  

I'm not sure what we will do next month. We have a friend who will possibly we a donor for us that we need to have a serious talk with sometime before S's next ovulation.  Or maybe we order two or three vials and do the at home thing with frozen sperm again.  We will see.  

-Liz 

A New Plan, Home ICI

So we are done with the fertility doctor.  This is for a number of reasons, mostly cost, but also we are tired of fighting with him.  Tired of his attitude when S doesn't want to have a full to bursting bladder during IUI, tired of being bullied about taking fertility drugs, tired of trying to get in to see him when you never know how long you'll have to wait combined with S being busy at work.  Just tired of it.  So for now we are moving onto at home ICI.  We had originally thought that S would ovulate while we were in Oklahoma for Christmas and that we'd do an ICI using my brother as a donor.  But in the end he decided he couldn't do it because his girlfriend wasn't cool with it and also because of S taking the progesterone her cycle was late and so she didn't ovulate while we were there.  So onto a new plan.

We were going to just skip this month, but....we decided to go for it, but sort of half way.  We only ordered one vial of ICI sperm, which due to our last minute decision making is getting here tomorrow.  Today was only day 12 I believe for S so we ordered some supplies off amazon but those don't get here till Wednesday.  And of course that all means that S got her positive OPK today.  We are going to do our one insemination tomorrow afternoon when the vial gets here.  We have some preseed lube stuff which I've read good reviews of, a new oral medicine syringe, and some instead cups.  Hopefully we can make this stuff work because it's all I could come up with and waiting till Wednesday seems too late.  Fingers crossed for this first home attempt and that we don't totally screw it up!

-Liz 

Merry Everything!

We are all snuggled down at my moms house, ready for Santa to come.  Hope you all are having a happy holiday!

Still no

I think I am psyching myself out. I have all the pregnancy signs, but am currently on progesterone and my thyroid is a bit on the high side of normal. Hormones are funny and intense. I am nauseaus, boobs are larger and hurting a little, I am emotional and a little dingy. If u ask me, I am pregnant, but all tests (including one this morning) say no. Sigh. I am just so ready to be going down that path. I know Liz is too, but it feels like we might end up a 1 kid family. I am just fortunate to have one great kid. I think we will inseminate at home for 6 months and then decide from there what we think we want to do. I am tired of arguing with the dr. About a full bladder and waiting around. I can just pop home and do it and go back to work if we have sperm shipped to the house. We have our blood draw Monday, so we will know 100% then. Fingers crossed, but not feeling very hopeful. -s

Try #5 IUI

Hi guys, it's been a while.  Mexico was great, we had a ton of fun.  Thanksgiving was good.  There, you are all caught up, haha.  No really it seems like not much has been going on.  Today we did our first of two IUIs for this cycle, which is try #5 for us.  We have a new donor and we got to have the nurse we like do the insem.  So no full bladder requirements, no stress as its Sunday, all smooth sailing.  Though we did have to take Jude with us.  He was good though and watched videos on our tablet during the whole thing.  At one point though he asked what the nurse was doing to moms butt (only he says it like bwutt). That was funny.  Also during the insem he was watching something with lots of truck noises and the nurse remarked how it sounded like the sperm were driving tiny trucks up to meet the egg.  And Jude told us no, it wasn't trucks but paw patrol vehicles.  So paw patrol to the rescue??  Tomorrow morning she will have IUI #2 before work.  I won't be able to go to that one and it will be with the Doctor instead of the nurse.  When we got pregnant with Jude I was only able to go to one of the two inseminations, so maybe...

I'm crossing my fingers that this is the one, but if it isn't we are still going to keep trying.  Next month we are going to my moms for Christmas and while we are there S will ovulate.  So we are thinking about doing an ICI.  One of my brothers volunteered to be our donor, which I think is really cool, and we didn't think we'd take him up on it but the timing will be right, so I don't see why not.  After that I think that S's mom is wanting to help us out finically as far as continuing to try.  Which I'm excited about.  How was everyone else's holiday, or at least those of you in the states?

-Liz