Let the Clomid/IUI Cycle Begin!

Cycle 12, Day 1 was on Monday, November 19. On CD2 or CD3 I was supposed to have another ultrasound, presumably to look and see whether I have any gigantic cysts that would preclude me from getting Clomid. Dr. W and Dr. G were both present for the ultrasound, and they took a quick peek at my ovaries that lasted about 45 seconds (and cost me $150). I was pretty disappointed to hear them say that my ovaries still had lots and lots of little cysts. I had kinda been hoping that metformin would have helped them go away.

Dr. G reassured me that he didn't expect them to go away. I'm not clear whether he meant "ever" or "not this soon." I actually asked people on the "Dealing with PCOS" forum on Ovusoft whether anyone had any experience with cysts resolving or not resolving on metformin, but only one person replied. Hers had disappeared, but her ultrasound had been done after many months on metformin.

Anyway, I left that appointment with a prescription for 5 days of Clomid (50 mg, CD3-7) and an appointment to return on CD12 for another ultrasound. I tried to question Dr. W about the purpose of this ultrasound. Is it to make sure that I don't have too many large follicles? She said, basically yes, and that they sometimes cancel cycles if the person has 4 or 5.

So now I am of course on pins and needles wondering how many big follicles that I'll have tomorrow. I want more than one, certainly, because of our sperm issues. They need more egg targets! And obviously, I don't want to have 4 or 5, because they'll probably cancel the cycle.

So, I'm hoping for 2 or 3 eggies. However, I truly hope that we don't have multiples, though. I feel like pregnancies with multiples are pretty scary. I worry about all the freaky medical stuff like twin-twin transfusion, cord accidents, prematurity, etc... Not to mention the extra stress of dealing with two babies at a time. Unfortunately, one friend of ours lost one of her (IVF) twins at term due to a cord accident. Such a devastating loss! I guess there is no way of knowing whether the same thing might have happened with a singleton pregnancy. That all being said, I also have two friends who have had successful ("spontaneous") twin pregnancies. Both sets of babies were early, but don't seem to have any long term problems that I have heard about. I'm sure that if I ever do get pregnant with twins, I will grow to love the idea and get over my fears. But if we had more than 2... I think we would probably make a very difficult decision and reduce. I think I would be too afraid of the consequences of prematurity to go forward. Wah. I pray that I never have to face this kind of situation.

One other fear has been on my mind. I took CD3's Clomid with no problems. I took it at night because my appointment was in the later morning and I didn't have a chance to pick up the prescription until that evening. CD4 was Thanksgiving Day, and again, I took the pill in the evening.... after that gigantic meal. TMI alert: Afterwards, I was kinda burping up/regurgitating a bit of the food (this happens to me sometimes when I'm really really full) and I spit some of it out. Of course, the next day I started worrying that maybe that tiny Clomid pill came up instead of getting absorbed. I certainly hope not!

I prepared myself for a few days of vaginal dryness, night sweats, and bitchy moods, but actually none of these things occurred beyond a tiny bit of warmness at night that I wouldn't have even noticed if I wasn't looking for it. The lack of symptoms is another reason that I'm kinda scared that the dose wasn't high enough, or that I didn't absorb it all.

I guess I'll find out tomorrow, CD12. My ultrasound is at 9:30 AM. I'll be starting OPKs tonight, as we'll be using the results to time the IUI. I already had some eggwhite CF today, so I'm betting on Monday or Tuesday (CD15-CD16) for the IUI. (fingers and toes all crossed!)

And now I'm officially all caught up!