I read my clinic’s online info about IVF. Afterwards, I made the call and requested the financial info for a cycle of “minimal stimulation” IVF. That is IVF, but with Clomid instead of injectibles. With any luck I’ll make 3 eggs and 2 will fertilize and grow properly and then be transferred back into me. The ball is rolling now. Hopefully 1 vial of semen is enough. I’ll find out more specifics soon.
Basically the plan is…
*Birth Control for x weeks (controls cysts and fits me into their IVF schedule)
*Clomid days 3-7 (just like IUI)
*Follicle monitoring (just like IUI)
*Ovidrel injection (just like IUI)
*Egg Retrieval 35 hours after Ovidrel
*Egg fertilization and growth in lab
*Embryo transfer (very similar to an IUI but with embryos, not sperm)

Brendan weighs 64 lbs and is 49 inches tall. The height is at the 90%ile and the weight is right at the top line. For his height, he should weight 58 pounds. So, he could stand to lose 10% of his weight. The dr is going to come up with a meal plan and “prescibe it” so I have something to show my in-laws… they really have no idea what an appropriate portion or meal size is for a little kid. He got a 2nd varicella vax and took it like a champ.
Andy weighs 32 1/2 lbs (about 62%ile) and is 40 1/2 inches tall (just over 97%ile). He got the 2nd Hep A vax.

Performed entirely with hands and feet!!

Cycle day 1 is today. Except there is no “cycle”, we are dead broke.
Am I supposed to give up?

It’s back to the grind for us… nothing new coming up until next Tuesday when both boys go to the pediatrician… Andy for part 2 of some shots and Bren for a checkup.
Houston was fun! We ate some wacky vietnamese food, including their specialty- an appetizer called a rice cake but had no rice??? It was like a round omelet topped with fried potato pieces and fried onions and came with a yummy dipping sauce. It was far better than what you’d think if you saw it.
We shopped for like 3 hours at the asian mall there. I found a place called Tutti Frutti that sold frozen yogurt… REAL frozen yogurt, the sour kind. It was quite good! It sure was weird seeing the food court full of people eating mounds of crawfish or crowds of people gathered around hot pots, cooking their own meats and vegetables in the soup base. Pokemon card packs were $1.99 there and figurines (they had 3 buckets fulls!) were $1.50!
The space center was great! I especially liked the space craft and moon rock exibits. Some of those early capsule type space craft were TINY! We also loved one speaker who was on stage with a mission control type set-up and she walked around flciking different buttons and we were able to watch what the astronauts were doing live on the space station. SHe knew so much!!
The Kemah splash fountain were a big hit with Brendan, while Andy adored the man juggling torches and all kinds of things.
One funny story… we had a free brakfast at the hotel and both mornings DH went down to make me waffles (Jen hearts waffles). Since he got up earlier than us, he’d make his own food first and watch the news down there. So he was doing his typical thing and mixing a packet of apple cinnamon oatmeal into the waffle batter and the maintenence lady, who is eating, asks him what he’s stirring up. He tells her and she was in awe. Apparently she has been eating breakfast here for many, many years and she has never seen anyone else do that. She was very thankful to have something new to try!!!
It’s 11 dpIUI for me. I know better now to think breast tenderness (or not) or ovary twinges (or not) or acne (or not) means anything so I wait. I had nightmares last night all night long.
I absolutely hate getting a – hpt then waiting several miserable days for it to be confirmed. I may not test at all and just wait for AF to show. I wonder if the Femara will push it back to late on 15 dpIUI like the Clomid did?
So I guess I’m waiting to see if I make it until Monday.

What an ODD day. My clinic tells me every single time I have to come in on a Saturday to arrive promptly at 7:30 because if no one shows up, they leave. I’ve been many times on Saturdays, once caught them walking at the door at 7:52! Almost always I am their only patient (because any appt that can be is scheduled during the week) but there might be one other person or couple.
The oddities began yesterday with them calling and making me prepay for the IUI… never had that before. Then there was the building security guard… a highstrung gal, her first day on the job. She asked us if we had access cards (huh?!). She would not let us in the building, nor the other couple. Grrrreat. We were a bit early so we waited a bit then called the office and let them know. The security gal also called and demanded that a doctor or nurse come down and escort us. Another girl arrived and gave the security guard (who is already tightly wound and chain smoking) HECK. Finally my bleary eyed dr came down and escorted us up.
I’m the only one with an official appt since they knew I was coming- because I trigger my ovulation with an injection- so she tells us to sit while they get ready and get the others to sign in. Meanwhile, 6 other couples arrive (and at least 2 of them would NOT have made it had it been any other Saturday)!!! 1 doctor, 1 doctor in training, 1 nurse and 8 waiting couples!
The doctor in training did my last ultrasound and really bumbled around, not to mention pushed hard on my uterus several times. After about 10 minutes the usual attending dr took over because she just couldn’t find my ovary. She obviously was either pretty bad at or new at ultrasounds. Grrreat!
Finally we get called back and I get in IUI position. DH and I give each other *the look* as Dr Noob preps for the IUI. I ask if this is her first IUI… and she answers in her bumbly fashion, that no, she’s done some… uh… at the “institution” she previously worked for. Hah! Liar! Maybe a practice one on a dummy in med school! She didn’t even know how to push the plunger! Grrreat! Thank God it wasn’t her first time with a speculum! She ended the IUI with “you might bleed some”. Grrreat! Sure enough, still spotting 14 hours later.
While lying there, waiting out the 10 minutes post-IUI on my back, the regular dr comes to report the semen “numbers” to me… and I can tell she’s not happy. Turns out it’s the freaking lab tech’s FIRST DAY ON THE JOB and he had been told that anonymous donor samples don’t need to be counted!!! ACK! Oh yes they do because if there aren’t at least 10 million moving sperm, I get my $360 back! She set him straight for the future.
We high-tailed it out of there, get in the car and what song is on? “Come As You Are” by Nirvana- and the album cover has sperm on it!! We laughed.
And remember, I haven’t had an ultrasound in 5 days… so I have NO IDEA how many good follicles I have. The large one on the right might be over mature or fine, the tinies on the left might have fizzled out, not grown enough or barely squeaked within range. Who knows?!
Aiiieeee. The only good I can make of it all is perhaps all this bad luck happened to counteract all the good luck required for a lil miracle.
Edited to add: While waiting, I got to talking with a very excited woman. This was her 3rd cycle- hasn’t had a period since the late 80’s- first 2 cycles she attempted were on Clomid and were a bust. No mature follicles. This cycle was her first time on Femara and she was the proud owner of 4 positive OPK sticks- probably her first ever ovulation was about to occur. She was BEAMING. She confided in me that this was the last of her insurance fertility coverage and that they were too poor to pay out of pocket so this really had to work.
Once we got settled in the waiting room, her DH gets called back to do his “thing”. He’s obviously nervous- it’s the first time he’s been called to perform. He comes back a bit later and I think nothing of it.
Then IT happens. The one thing my husband said would have horrified him had he been asked it (when he did a semen analysis way back when). The man’s name was called out and he looked at his wife funny, but got up and followed the nurse back. He came back a minute later beet red. I heard him explain to his wife (I was sitting 2 feet from them) that someone (can we say Dr Noob or perhaps Noob Tech?!) pointed to his specimen cup and asked him if that was all of it!!! OMG! What do you say to that? “Sorry, I didn’t know you wanted all of it up front, I saved some here in my pocket for later?” OF COURSE IT WAS ALL OF IT THE POOR MAN WAS SOOOO NERVOUS!
That poor girl & her ONE shot & her husband has a bad time of it. Waaaaah!

CD13. I had a follicle scan today…
Right side always makes something and today it made 2… 11mm & 11.5mm (need to be 18-25). We were discussing how dreadfully slow they are growing and possibly adding FSH injections to the mix until…
Left side (most often makes nothing) has 1 follicle- a 17!
So, 3 follicles/ 3 eggs??? NO! Only 1! The tiny 11s won’t grow enough to catch up by the time the 17 pops. They grow faster near the end.
Bummer.
Also, I have had one *continual* headache since I popped the first femara pill. The dr I saw today thinks that might mean my dr won’t prescribe it again because it is a sign of vascular issues (ie worst case, brain clots).
Tentative plan (I’ll get a call tomorrow) is trigger Wed night and have a Friday morning IUI.
If this doesn’t work it’s on to IVF.
Edited to add: I am to trigger Thursday night and go for an IUI Saturday morning.