Sandra

Hi girls!

 My name is Sandra, I’m 30 years old, I”m a clinical therapist. I work at two psychiatric hospitals doing psychiatric evaluations. I married my hubby Alex 3 years ago. Alex is 38, works for a pharmaceutical company and loves doing real estate. We went on our first date 6 years ago ( 9/2000), and haven’t been apart since.  Alex proposed 5/2002, but since I was still in Graduate school, we decided to get married the following year after I graduated 9/2003.  We had a beautiful wedding, had purchased our first home, took an exceptionally long honeymoon, came back and decided to travel and enjoy our marriage for the first year. We celebrated our 1st anniversary in Napa Valley, CA and  decided on that trip that a year had passed and we should start working on our family. So I went off the pill a month or two later. We actually prevented it for three months waiting for my cycle to regulate. pffft.

 In January 2005, three months after being off the pill, my skin was acting up, a little bit of acne but mostly subcutaneous bumps around my jawline. I saw my dermatologist, who told me I could go on antibiotics but I could not get pregnant during that time. So, we agreed, thinking another three months would be nothing. I would get pregnant the next month and still have the baby that year. Well, several months passed after going off the antibiotics and nothing happened. During the summer, I began to take my temperature and use OPK. I was having my period every 28 days, with normal temp. shifts and according to the OPK kits I was ovulating consistently on day 14 and 15. I started to get worried but my hubby said it was stress.  I was not happy when our 2nd anniversary rolled around in sept. and we still weren’t pregnant, Alex surprised me with a trip to France and told me if we didn’t get pregnant by the time we came back from our trip, we should see a doctor.

 Of course we came back in late November and nothing. I saw my regular gyno, who referred me to the RE. Late January I saw the RE. They did some testing on me and everything checked out.  They scheduled the HSG and scheduled the SA for Alex. Unfortunately, he went on a business trip for a few weeks. When he returned, we got the devastating news. Severe Male Factor, and we were referred to a Urologist. Several appts. later a surgery was scheduled for Alex to correct his Varicocele. I did a lot of research and didn’t seem like numbers improved after the surgery. I still wanted to move forward with IVF, but my hubby’s urologist insisted we wait the 90 days to see if the varicocelectomy improved his numbers.  So, my hubby decided we should wait, and four months after the surgery his numbers were just as bad. So, back to where we should’ve been 4 months prior- IVF. I went in so naively, thinking such a precise and scientific procedure would surely guarantee us a baby. Specially when so many people had said as long as I “the female” was healthy, things would work out for us. Well, we began our IVF process and on day 4 of stims they called to tell me my estrogen was barely moving , it was at 20. So I decided to do some research and found these baords and really understood the severity of his condition. I didn’t realize how much IVF fails regardless of male vs. female issues. I had no idea about the embryo quality and 2ww or any of that. I thought the worst part would be injections. I knew nothing!!!! Our cycle ended up being cancelled, I had only produced 4 follicles and only three were the correct size. It was turned in an IUI that surely wouldn’t work since Alex’s numbers are so bad.

So, here we are. Our first “hopefully” complete IVF cycle.  I hate that I’m a slow responder, makes me scared. But I’m trying to stay optimistic. I have been going for accupunture for the past couple of months, and it’s helped a lot with stress. In the meantime, the loves of my life, my two puppies – Romie and Pixie and my incredibly sweet and supportive hubby keep me sane and happy.

 I hope this journal brings us all luck! I wish so much for every single one of BFP on that thread and break a record!! I know how much everyone deserves their dream to come true.

a little about me..

Well its a really long story, but here it is: I was on bcps for 7years thinking I am safe I wont get pg, and after I stopped(after meeting DH) I didnt get AF. so I waited an waited, after 6 months I went for a check up, where I was told not to worry, it shall come its normal. As a doctor myself, I knew something was wrong, so I went and asked for an u/s pretty much knowing what I will see, but wanted to confirm my fears…only the doc didnt pay attention, turned the screen to me as if I would be a non medical background patient, and before he could say something I said it..its PCOS!! Well yes there it was all clear. Well that was a month or so before our wedding-I told DH if he likes he can go look for a girl who is fertile, as I cannot guarantee him his bio babies. He said no, we shall get married. So we did(that was over 5 years ago after 3 yrs living together). Then I went to an RE who was a complete waste of time, and then we emigrated to Israel. our insurance here said we need to wait a year to have coverage, so we waited. And DH got a job where they sent him to Africa! So all the tx we have been doing at a distance-me here him in Dar es Salaam,Tanzania. In israel they usually make you do 3 iuis and then onto ivf. I did 1 iui, but told the insurance its a waste of money for them I knew it, but they said just do one for thepaperwork, so I did, got very severe OHSS-E2 of over 22,000!! changed RE right after that. My next RE was a very nice man, I did 2IVFs with him and numerous FETs, 5 or 7 dont even remember exactly, all BFNs,  and after my 2nd IVF when he was in an emergency operation his colleague waited too long, I ovulated, so they retrievd onlya few eggs from my nearly 20 follies seen on u/s before! He tolkd me I should go to see someone else, so he recommended a great RE, but I didnt like the clinic, so I decided to take a break. A friend asked me to go see her RE just as a second opinion, and if I like him to try a cycle with him, if not we will see. So I went to my current RE-who is a wonderful person as well as a wonderful RE.

He told me that my DH male factor is so severe that no wonder I never got pg, he would be surprised if I would have, and said we need the special 6000x microscope that they developped here in Israel (still unique in the world at the moment) to get the right sperm for the ICSI. We said lets try-and a completely different protocol got me my first BFP!! Funny that I knew that it would not last, I told DH well atleast we know it can work, which retro I did find strange to react like that to our first BFP. well I miscarried a week later.  But I was happy, I knew that I had found the solution after such a long road. Then my 2nd IVF (ofcourse always ICSI) with my RE I was really pg, the real thing, rising betas, hb and all. This time I allowed myself to eneter baby stores, not to by anything just dream of what we shall buy our little christmas wonder-yes my due date was 26th dec.2006. well I already booked my flight back, happy that our ordeal is over, léittle knowing the worst is to come. He told me do the Nuchal translucency scan and if its ok then you can go back to Africa. I went through the insurance to a young ob, who was looking just too long at that screen-and started to cal his boss about the measurements, to make sure he is doing it right. well luckily I decided I am going to go to the best OB to get a second opinion, is there something wrong or not. Well I got in after much struggle, as time was passing and this can only be done until 12 w, and cvs only in the 12w, and I was 11w 5d already. Well he said its a bit thick-2.6mm-but he has seen healthy children with this measurement but he wants CVS to be done to make sure. And he turned to look for the photo of a healthy child born with such a thick NT, and that is when I knew my baby is not well. If this OB remembers that baby so well that he can actually look around for his pic, that means it must be a HUGE exception. I wasnt. I had CVS (chorionic villi sampling) and it showed trisomy 21, a boy, and since I had discussed with dh in the wait for the results what we should do if.. I asked for a d&c, DH flew home for 1 day to be with me on that dreadful day, and at 13w2d my dream turned nightmare was over. We shed some tears,many tears, and I shall nbever forget that little baby on the u/s sucking his thumb, kicking around, my son, who was not to be. The closer I get to my due date the harder it gets. But I know I am strong, and have to get through this for me for DH, and for my future healthy children. I hope G-d shall have mercy on me, and give us our hearts desire, after so much suffering we are getting to the end of our journey-our last IVF -I shall do no more after this-and not because of the money, but because I want my life back. I want to be healthy, and happy, and enjoy my life, live every minute to the fullest. So if this cycle shall not be ours, we shall go on to adopt a baby, who is waiting for us out there somewhere.

So this is my story, It is long and hard but I am sure at the end it shall all be worth the hardship.. Hope we all get the pot fo gold at the end of our rainbow. Our baby.

t2tranch Story

Howdy,

I am Barbra, 35 y/o married for almost 8 years.  DH and I decided to wait for 5 years to start our family.  TTC #1 for almost 3 years.  Recently dx as poor responder with FSH 9.

Starting out I didn’t have insurance coverage for fertility then changed to husband’s insurance that does cover it.  But now the kicker is that my fertility coverage will end as of January 2007.  (So I am in a mad rush to hurry up and get pregnant.)

Started seeing RE in summer of 2005, routine tests all came back normal expect for the Rubella antibody.  Even though I have had 4 previous Rubella shots and still have my old health records to prove it still had to get yet another one. 

All the routine tests came back normal, we tried 1 medicated cycle but that resulted in BFN.  After that one, I was benched for 3 months per RE due to needing another Rubella shot.  

Got Rubella shot and waited to start again.  Well, after 60 days, the clinic calls and asks why I hadn’t been back?  Well, I informed them that I had to wait 90 days due to receiving the Rubella shot and she actually gasped!!!  She asked why would I think that?  Duh, because the doctor said it.  So I had wasted cycles 2 good cycles.

Finally onto 3 clomid medicated timed cycles, 3 clomid medicated cycles and several cancelled cycles due to cysts I am still not pregnant. 

Became frustrated with the clinic.  I kept asking about other tests, medications and protocols and was met with that’s not necessary.  Then it was let’s do a few more IUI’s.  Ok, how many more?  Clinic…”how about 5 more.”  I don’t think so.

After explaining that my fertility insurance was to run out soon they were more than happy to move onto IVF.  But come to find out the clinic doesn’t actually do the IVF procedure another partnered clinic will do the IVF.  (Discussed IVF previously with RE and the never mentioned they couldn’t do IVF.) After visiting other clinic, I decided to change to another RE.  (I was referred to a nationally recognized clinic but boy was this an unpleasant experience.)

New RE was the best thing to happened to me.  Finally diagnosed as poor responder with dominant follie issues along with borderline high FSH of 9.

1^st IVF attempt, long lupron protocol converted to IUI, BFN

2^nd IVF attempt, micro flare (MDL), dominant follie, made it to ER, but the 3 eggies did not fertilize

3^rd IVF attempt, Estrogen priming, started Lupron and awaiting AF which by the way is very late this month.

Jan’s Background

Hey Ladies, well I guess I’ll start.

My name is Jan and I have been TTC for 1 year 4 months and going as of this writing.
I was very proactive and started addressing my concerns to doctors pretty early in the game. Of course they told me to just be patient and wait and that I’ll be pregnant in no time.

About 8 months into things, I went to see an RE would agreed with me that I should have been pregnant by then. Especially since I was charting, using OPKs and timing BD on the dot. We started a series of tests, from SAs to HCGs and all were passed with flying colors – nothing wrong.

So we did an unmedicated IUI – just to see if it makes a difference. It did! Whether coincidence or not, that month I got preggers. I was overjoyed!! But not for long. Unfortunately it was not meant to be an I miscarried. I thought I would die from that kind of pain and loss.

I was hopeful that another IUI would get me pregnant again, and we tried several more times. One more unmedicated, one clomid, one femara. In between I was benched a few times so it didn’t help as months rolled on and I was still at square one.

In the end, my doctor suggested injectables. I had a better idea – lets go right to IVF and see if we can’t nail it once and for all with the best chance possible. Not to mention that IVF might be able to uncover any problems that we have not identified thus far.

So IVF it was, and even though I’ve jumped the gun, I couldn’t be happier about my decision. My TTC experience has been more than I had  bargained for emotionally, and I would do anything to end it.

I started Lupron on the 13th of October and have a follow-up appointment on the 26th to hopefully start stimming.

I also have a day by day, blow by blo blog at http://survivingttc.wordpress.com for anyone who wants more every day details.

Happy to be a HalloTurkey, and wishing everyone great success!!

Hello HalloTurkeys!

 

This is a group blog where we can keep track of everyone’s important information and have a hub of links to our threads and calendars. This blog is not meant to replace our thread, only to enhance it by making it easier for us to get to know each other better and keep track of one another easily.Once you are signed up, there will be a link with YOUR NAME on the left hand side of this blog. Other halloturkey members visiting the blog will be able to click on it and see all the most important information about you all in one place. This will make it easy to keep track of everyone, when there is so many of us.As a group blog member, you will be able to write to this blog under your name category and post information like – your TTC background, your important posts with crucial information about the progress of your cycle, or anything about you that you don’t want to simply get “lost” in the threads. You can even just copy and paste any important post you made on the fertilethoughts thread right here, so that someone can easily catch up with you and your status if they miss a few days on the threads.

We can keep our thread conversational, and be sure to post any important info here.

There are also links on the right hand side to our thread, calendar, and anything else you might suggest. This way the groupblog can be bookmarked for anything halloturkey related and make it easy for us to keep information about each other on hand, and not have to seive through tons of threads just to find some pertinent information we forgot.

To sign up for this blog, here are the instructions.

Happy blogging and happy cycling!