Well, a nurse from the RE’s office called my cell at 6pm yesterday.

Progesterone was 8.7 which she proclaimed “beautiful” and told me to keep doing whatever I’m doing.  Then she told me to come in a week later for my pregnancy test.  Um, excuse me?  I asked if I had to come in if I had my period and she said yes, if I want to insem next cycle they have to prove I’m not pregnant because didn’t you know people can still bleed if they’re pregnant.

Well, excuse me for having an opinion, but that’s just stupid.  Get up way early, schlep at least 45 min each way in traffic for a 2 minute blood test to tell me something that I already know?  Oh yeah, and pay for it.  I’m going to write the RE to protest and I’m hoping that she’ll be reasonable.  I’ll even volunteer to POAS before my next IUI.  The inconsistency is really starting to get to me.  Last month they didn’t want to test progesterone nor did they require a pregnancy test.

In other news, my temp took a huge plunge today which is 8 or 9 DPO.  Seriously, it’s dropped almost a whole degree to just below coverline.  It’s never done THAT at this point in my cycle.  I know, I know, you’re all thinking “implantation dip”, which would certainly be nice.  However, it looks exactly like the pattern I get the day before my period starts.  Except if that were the case I’d be getting my period 5 days early.  The shortest cycle I’ve had since charting has been 23 days, which would mean my period on Saturday.  Seriously, it’s just a mind f*ck.  But I guess I ought to pack some supplies for our camping trip this weekend.

We’re both back at work from our early morning trip to the RE for my progesterone check.  LOVE the nurse that took my blood, she was sweet, calm, efficient, and fast.  She assured me that they only ever use a butterfly needle and it felt far less invasive.  Also, for the first time ever I volunteered my right arm for the draw.  See, I’m right handed but the inner elbow veins on my left arm are tiny and invisible.  I’ve got a really visible one right near the surface in the center of my right inner elbow.  Made a big difference, I think.  I was a big girl, didn’t cry, didn’t hyperventilate, didn’t get light headed or woozy.  I was in and out in 3 minutes. 

This is HUGE, people.  It makes me really hopeful for all the blood tests that are down the road, be they for TTC or pregnancy.  And honestly, for me, that’s a bigger relief and accomplishment than any results from the actual test.

Nutella has decided to get her progesterone levels tested tomorrow. That means we’re waking up super-early to get to the RE before they send out their morning blood draws to the lab and then trying to make it to work by a decent hour.

I found I didn’t know terribly much about progesterone levels, so here’s some info I grabbed from the all-knowing internet:

Progesterone is a steroid hormone synthesized from cholesterol and is important as an intermediate in the pathway to cortisol via pregnenolone, estrogens and testosterone. Progesterone induces the cyclic changes in the endometrium that allow implantation of the fertilized ovum. Progesterone is also responsible for maintenance of the uterus during pregnancy, suppression of uterine contractions until just prior to parturition and preparation of the breasts for lactation.

Sadly, they want her blood, not her saliva. What’s wrong with doing it the easier way??

Tomorrow marks 7DPO. We’re not terribly hopeful about this try, but you never know.

- Strawberry

Well, since everyone else seems to be doing the fun Wordle thing, we’re joining in, too:

We noticed that the biggest word is “time” which pretty much sums up what we’ve been focusing so much on and have found so frustrating. Also interesting how “Nutella”, “call”, “Dr.” are all closely situated. Indeed!

Back at work after IUI try #2. This time it was at our normal office which took a half hour to get to even with traffic, which put us there a half hour early. So we walked around a shopping center for a little bit first, and I’m glad we did because we were waiting another half hour before they called us in. Our own doctor did the procedure this time. There was a little speculum pain, but otherwise it went smoothly.

Sperm stats: 20 million in the sample. 55% motility. 3 out of 4 on progression. Not as good as the first vial, but our doctor said it was great so we’ll trust her.

Before leaving the room, the doc suggested Nutella come in for a blood test next week to measure her progesterone levels. I asked if this was standard and she said yes. I asked how much blood was needed and she said ‘a little bit.’ Nutella’s arm is still not 100% over the horrible-no-good-very-bad last blood draw, so she might wait on the progesterone test, which the doc said was fine. We waited in the room for about 15-20 minutes and then left. Nutella had very mild cramping afterwards, but not enough to warrant any medicine.

Nutella and I were re-assessing our plan yesterday and decided that for try #3, we’re going to inseminate on the surge day. We’ve been doing it 24 hours later and feel that it’s *possible* that’s a little too late. The sperm can live up to 12 hours after being thawed, so it wouldn’t be a bad thing if they were already swimming around at the time the egg was released. If it comes down to it, we’ll switch to another donor for further tries (since we only bought 3 vials of the current donor) and do two IUI’s per cycle.

So that’s it. The TWW has begun. Oh, and we found it amusing how there was a copy of Seventeen magazine in the waiting room. Nice touch.

Got a faint line on the OPK last night and then a positive this morning.  At 8am I called the RE to make an appt for my IUI on Wednesday.  Gave all my info and she said she’d call me back with the appt time.  I asked them to call me at work and hit the road.  At 9:45 I still hadn’t heard from them, so I called again and gave my name and was told “oh, you already have an appt”.  Really?  I have an appointment?  Well, I’d really appreciate if someone told me what time so I could, you know, actually BE THERE.  Ok, I didn’t actually say it like that, but I managed to get my point across and was transferred to the nurse.

Nurse tells me appointment time is 10-10:30.  Ok, was hoping for something earlier, but we can do that.  Then she asks me if I’m bringing my own sample.  Umm, no. You are storing my sample in your city office and the Dr. told us during our initial consult that she will transport the samples from the city office herself.  Nurse tells me she will check with the Dr. and if the Dr. can’t transport then they will look into a courier.  I ask her to please call me with pricing if they need to do that because if I have to schlep all over town for the IUI I’d rather save the $ and go to the city office.  She agrees to call me back.

11:45am I still haven’t heard back from them so I call again.  I get transferred to the same nurse who assures me that the Dr. will transport our sample herself and everything is set for 10 am tomorrow in the suburban office.

So, the 2nd batch of ”making a cupcake” is about to commence.

Just checking in. Nutella and I went on a mini-break this weekend and visited 2 wineries among other things. We love wine and so while it’s not on Nutella’s list of forbidden food/drink, we’re enjoying ourselves. Don’t get the wrong idea though…this is purely about enjoying a luxury, not getting smashed. And red wine is healthy

Mentally, the trip was a good one, too…I hardly thought about the baby-making stuff. Of course, now it’s ovulation week so it’s back on my mind. I’m going to wait another day before mentioning to my boss that I need a couple of hours off for another dr. appt. I’m glad he knows what we’re going through though- he’s very understanding and has no problem with me taking the time off that I need.

OPK’s start tomorrow and so far, Nutella’s FF chart looks like every other. Clockwork that one is.

-Strawberry

Well, the horrid cramps went away after 3 days and AF is gone.  O should be late next week.  I’ll start OPK’s on Tuesday.  Other than that, not much going one in these parts.

Gald you guys like the new layout.  The next time I make cupcakes I’m going to try and get a picture that’s similar so we can use it as the header.  For all you American peeps, enjoy your holiday!

Someone mentioned that starting TTC made their menstural cramps worse.  And I can tell you that seems to be the case for me.   Usually I have about 1.5 days of cramping in my abdomen and lower back.  Relieved by 3 ibuprofen every 6 hours.  Well, Saturday followed that pattern and then Sunday morning at 4am I was awoken my the most excruciating cramps of my life.  It was too soon to take more ibuprofen, I had to wait until 5.  At 5, I ate a granola bar, drank a glass of milk and took them.  An hour later I was still in agony.  Took 2 extra strength tylenol.  Still in agony, heating pad helped a bit, but was still in pain on and off all day.  Popping the 3 ibuprofen every 6 hrs.  And again this morning at 5, after my last dose wore off I was awoken by the pain.  Another trip to the kitchen for milk, granola bar, and pills in the dark.  It’s now the 3rd full day of pain.  And yes, I can still feel the cramps through the meds. I am NOT HAPPY about this.  Strawberry and I think that this, along with the symptoms that I had during the 2WW (I didn’t mention the nausea, hypersensitivity to smell, or fatigue), confirms that I did indeed conceive but that it didn’t stick.  I’m not concerned, since I think it just means my body knows what’s good to keep and what’s bad to get rid of.  Even so, OUCH!

Thank you for your good wishes on the last post, everyone. Always nice to have that support, even on the first go-round.

Nutella and I played hooky this morning and went to the dog park with our chihuahua. Chihuahuas don’t really appreciate the water, but we all had fun and it was a nice way to get away from things for a bit. Hope has been restored for try #2 and we’re going to do our best not to live life in 2 week increments, which can sometimes be difficult.

On the lighter side of things, a couple days ago when I was surfing the web for more information about ovulation and pregnancy tests, I found a site called peeonastick.com There’s some good stuff on that website, but the little gem I found was this question:

I smoked some pot, drank a lot of beer, took Advil, am on the Pill, had sex, and had Chinese food for dinner. Can that affect my test results?

Mind you, this was on the Frequently Asked Questions list.

Kind of makes me want to ask “I went to the circus, rode a donkey, spilled a coke, swam in a community pool and painted my nails. Can that affect my test results?”

- Strawberry