Follie Check

Today is CD 12 and I had an U/S & bloodwork done this morning. Here's the rundown on the results:
I have 3 follies with 2 more possible.
Sizes on the right: 19mm, 15.5, 15.5 & some smaller but most likely not viable
Sizes on the left: 21mm, 17.5 & some smaller
Lining: 11mm
Estrogen: 655

The nurse instructed me to do the Ovidrel shot tonight to make me ovulate. Ovidrel is a handy-dandy shot, it comes in its very own prefilled syringe so you can give yourself a shot in your stomach with ease! No, I'm not kidding.

Clomid and Electro-Needles

First off, at today's accupuncture session she put electrodes on the needles over my stomach area! Electro-acupuncture is the use of small electrical currents through the acupuncture needles. It didn't hurt, it was just a pulling-like sensation. It wasn't as easy to fall asleep, but I managed to nap anyway :)

I finished my 5 days of Clomid on Friday. And if you're wondering about the use of Clomid, here's the simplest example I can find...during the first few days of AF, a woman might have several follicles on each ovary, or several on just one ovary. Say they have a U/S done on CD3-5 and they can see like 5 on each ovary. For the purpose of this story, let's say that over time they all start to develop, but by the time ovulation occurs only 1 of those follicles will mature enough to release 1 mature egg, the others will be reabsorbed back into the ovary. Occasionally you might end of with 2 mature follicles (read: multiples). But you usually only release one egg. Sometimes however, the follicles don't always mature 100% and release an egg in some women. So that's where Clomid comes in. When they do a Clomid check they want to see several follicles. The Clomid is supposed to help them develop further so you have a better chance of a follicle maturing completely and releasing an egg.

RE Visit & Adoption Update

I went to the RE yesterday for bloodwork and U/S. I was a little worried because the RE office left a voicemail on Friday but I didn't get it in time to call them back, so I didn't know what they wanted. I come to find out that apparently I ordered a donor that was CMV+, which means that if I am not CMV+ then I may not be able to use the Goods, according to their policy. Well, that would've been helpful to know that BEFORE I ordered the Goods!! I'm trying not to freak out until I get the test results. Now onto the bright side of things, all my other test results came back normal, so they gave me the prescription for Clomid! I will take that for 5 days and go back for my next visit on CD12. I cannot stress this enough - I REALLY want this IUI thing to work!!!

On the adoption front, I had an at-home visit today with my social worker. Since Kyrgyzstan is going nowhere I am switching my existing international homestudy to a domestic homestudy. It was not an easy decision, and I haven't closed the Kyrgyz door completely, I just need to move on for now.

TTC Cycle #1

Yesterday I shared the news of my fertility plans with my grandmother. At 84, she has seen and heard everything but I know I still surprised her on some level. I couldn't really gauge what she was feeling, she wasn't excited for me nor upset. Her primary concern was for my health and whether I had thought this through (yes Grandma, I have thought this through). She trusts my judgement, but she's traditional; married at 19, had 3 kids before she was 27, so her concerns were expected.

I went shopping yesterday with my best friend who coincidentally is expecting and due in January 2010 -- congratulations Amanda! We just went to Target, but we looked at baby stuff and it was fun. We saw those "I Love My Daddy" onesies & bibs and I joked that I'm going to need one saying "I Love My Donor" - we had quite the laugh about that. She promised to come up with more donor jokes and gift me at my baby shower one day. I look forward to that. ;)

Today I had my second visit with the acupuncturist. Pretty much the same process as last, although this time I went to a different office. This time I was not as tired but I was more emotional and "in my head" and I had trouble relaxing at first during the 30 minute rest. I started thinking of my Mom and I just felt so sad that she will not be with me in person to share in the experiences. I started to cry but soon calmed myself down and was able to finally rest, although I did not fall asleep like I did last time. I go back again next weekend.

WARNING: TMI - big news, my cycle was 28 days this time! I had been averaging 21-22 days per cycle so this is quite the jump. When I called on CD1 the nurse said that I needed to come in between CD 3-5. I have my RE appointment tomorrow on CD5. I will have blood tests & U/S done.

Pins & Needles

I was referred to this acupuncturist that specializes in fertility from my RE's office and so I thought what the heck, what do I have to lose? Well...except money - LOL! Anyway, acupuncture is used to get the energy or "chi" flowing properly through your body. Essentially, the body needs to be completely connected and flowing properly for everything to work in unison. To begin, I walked into a softly lit room, this beautiful zen music was playing, she sat me down at first and looked at my tongue and for 10 minutes proceeded to ask me a whole litany of questions to assess me physically and emotionally. Now comes the needle part. I laid on my back on basically a massage table with pillows. She covered my eyes (phew! I don't wanna watch this). She started with assessing my stomach area. The needles are very thin and only two of them were painful as they were placed. I'm guessing she placed about 12-15 overall including my head, ears, torso, hands, legs, & feet. After all the needles were placed she left the room and had me just lay there motionless for 30 minutes. I was really tired, so I promptly fell asleep! When I awoke she removed the needles and then proceeded to do pressure point massage to my head for about 5 minutes, so that was nice. I have to say that acupuncture is very relaxing. I felt at peace while laying there. I'm willing to see where this goes so I made another appointment for next week.