9 Pills Per Day

After months of searching, I finally found a stock market graph that looks exactly like a normal temperature curve in an ovulatory (non-pregnant) cycle! Tee hee hee. Too bad I'm on the pill (pre-IVF) and that I'm no longer tracking my temp. Well, anyway, that's kinda what it usually looks like.

One day after my last entry (Wednesday, 3/26/08), I went to my RE's office. They did an ultrasound to confirm no cysts (and none were seen), and then they drew Cycle 3 blood work. I got the results a few days later, and got a bit paranoid about the fact that my FSH was up to 6.7 with an estradiol of 42. Both of these are normal (they want the FSH < 10 and estradiol < 50), but both are higher than before. In June 2007, my FSH was 5.2 with an estradiol which was actually below the normal range at 18. The RE's nurse told me that "normal is normal" and that I shouldn't worry about the exact numbers. So I am trying to do that. I have also read that FSH can be higher after Clomid, but I tend to doubt that the effect would last for 2 months. As for the estradiol, I can perhaps speculate that the metformin has changed the ratio of my sex hormones? My weight is stable at 130-132 lbs, but it is possible that I have a bit more fat and less muscle than last June... who knows?

Also, my DHEA-S was measured at 142, with normal being less than 200. This is apparently a measure of my adrenal androgens. I have never had any other androgen testing, and I'm wondering what it would have been pre-metformin.

Last Friday (3/25), I started birth control pills (Ortho-Evra, I think). Ugh, since dealing with IF, I never thought I'd need to take the pill again in my entire life. Oh well, at least insurance is paying for that one. They are also paying for doxycycline, which S and I are both taking. Neither one of us have any active infections. It's voodoo, I swear. I feel that way about the aspirin, too. Of course, I'm completing willing to do any voodoo that they recommend at this point.

A couple of days ago, I was shocked to realize that I am currently swallowing 9 pills per day. 1 prenatal vitamin, 4 metformin, 2 doxycyline, 1 baby aspirin, and 1 birth control pill.)

I also went for a "trial transfer" a few days ago (on Tuesday, 4/1). As usual, I forgot to come with a full bladder, so their transabdominal view of my uterus wasn't that great, but hopefully that won't interfere with the results. Anyway, the trial transfer was exactly like an IUI, except that they made note of the fact that they used a small speculum (I could have told them that!), and they said, "6 at 6 o'clock" which is some sort of mysterious measurement that they will use during the upcoming embryo transfer.

On the trial transfer day, I had to pay the $10,525 (gulp!) IVF fee. This does not include meds. Please GOD let it work! I am starting to get more an more comfortable with the idea of transferring two embryos. (Oh, please please PLEASE let me have good embryos to transfer).

I start Lupron 10 units per day on Tuesday, 4/8/08. I take both Lupron and the pill for 5 days, then I stop the pill and wait for a bleed. Soon thereafter, I have another ultrasound and start injectibles (Lupron 5 units, Follistim, and Menopur)...

The only other related events have been:
1) finding out that one of my co-workers' wives is pregnant, and
2) while I was at the drugstore pondering why aspirin 81 mg is more expensive than 325 mg, I had to listen to a loud one-sided conversation (a young woman chatting on her cell phone) about her OOPS! pregnancy, just confirmed by blood test, with the father who she almost just broke up with just last month, and how all of their fighting made her lose track of the days of her cycle (OOPS!), and how she was about to go and apply for WIC, and how her neighbor already gave her "What to Expect when You're Expecting," and how something must be in the water because EVERYONE is getting pregnant. The only good thing about hearing this conversation was that the woman did at least seem happy to be pregnant.

Oh, wow. I promise I'm really not as bitter as I sound right there. But if this doesn't work, I probably will be. :)