color of fertility | Laughter Through Tears

Ultrasound 2- Day 7 of Stimulation

Today’s scan was good overall. We still have 16 follicles. The same number are measuring in the range we want but the left/right ovary mix changed.

With today’s scan I would have expected the results to be about the same, or maybe even a greater number of follicles. While the numbers overall stayed the same, 7 on the left and 9 on the right, only two were measuring where they should be on the left. However all 9 are now looking good on the right.

So we remain at 11.

Image by Curtis Perry vis Flickr

My left ovary has often been a source of trouble, and my right has historically produced more. However I have never seen the left respond this poorly.

It makes me wonder, did my unhealthy ovary cause the cyst we aspirated or did the aspiration of the cyst cause the unhealthy ovary?

Nearly all the follicles on the right ovary were measuring around 17mm. My estradiol level was 913. Ovulation is typically triggered when four or more follicles are larger than 18mm and estradiol is over 2000. Follicles typically grow about 1-2mm per day during this stage of stimulation. Choosing the exact right time is paramount. Waiting too late or going too early could create problems with egg quality which decreases fertilization rates and embryo quality.

What does all this gobbled gook mean? It means we are closer than I would have thought.

It means we could be pregnant by Wednesday.

Wow. It seems like things are moving lightening fast since we had our failed cycle with Celebrity Miracle Clinic.

Tomorrow night I will make the 3 hour drive down to the clinic for a 7:30 AM ultrasound with the doctor. I should know by midday Saturday when we will trigger.

Bill is staying home with Spork and meeting with clients so I will be flying solo on this quick overnight trip to the clinic. Spending the night alone in a roadside hotel isn’t exactly the way I had planned to spend my Friday night, but I can’t complain. Its worth the trip down to be seen by the doctor so we can all feel good about when to make the decision to trigger. I could choose to continue to monitor locally, but the doctor prefers to see what is going on for himself at this stage.

That’s great and I am all for it, but do you think he will wear green underwear for me?

You may recall that my local sonographer is also a great friend and we threw a baby shower her a few weeks ago. Well, she had her baby on Tuesday and would you believe that her backup person broke out the fertility green lingerie just for little ole me? The ladies decided to switch from fertility orange to fertility green to see if it would bring a change of luck.

I too decided to change things up a bit and switched to orange toes this week. I actually planned to do away with the superstitions altogether since they haven’t been working for me. However when I arrived at the salon I discovered five new shades of orange. One of the fiery selections was called “My Paprika is Hotter than Yours.”

How can you NOT wear that nail polish?

Here’s to hoping it works…

Friends in Low Places

Image by Treacle Tart via Flickr

Like Garth Brooks, I have friends in low places. Or at least one friend.

Don’t get me wrong, my friend Kristy exemplifies class and style, it’s just today she was literally in a low place.

Low meaning that she was sandwiched between a pair of stirrups below my waistline. She was there holding a wand while looking up at a video monitor to assess the size and pattern of my endometrium.

Kristy and I met and instantly became friends almost three years ago at a pre-natal exercise class. Everyone who meets Kristy instantly becomes her friend. She is a sweet social butterfly who never met a person she didn’t like and you’d be hard pressed to find someone who didn’t like her. Our kids were born only a month apart. We quickly formed a small play date group that gets together to drink a beer and let the kids run wild.

I love our little clan and Kristy is the glue that holds us all together.

Before I met Kristy my local monitoring was done by a hometown infertility specialist who partners with more remote clinics. She was nice enough and always willing to come in on weekends, but I never connected with her. So for baby number two I switched to Kristy for monitoring at the local hospital.

Trans-vaginal ultrasounds take a friendship to a whole new level. Moments like that shared among friends connect you for life. I remember how nervous I was the first time I went to see her. I am sure she was the quintessential professional, but I felt a little strange.

Fast forward a handful of scans and we gossip and carry on as she inspects my innards like we are knocking back brews on my deck in July.

Switching to her was a great decision and not only because she is a friend. Kristy is excellent at what she does. You may not realize it, but follicle monitoring is tough stuff. Its difficult for the tech to count all those tiny circles across the surface of our imperfectly round ovaries. Kristy is a whiz at this, arguably as good as techs at clinics that do it all day long and able to carry on a conversation at the same time (I’ve seen more than a few who can’t).

As good as she is, the best part is the friendship and that hit home today. After I left the appointment the obsessing began and we had the following text exchange:

Me: You are sure you saw three layers, right? They weren’t as obvious to me this time and we won’t check again before transfer.

Kristy: Yes, three layers and measuring 9mm

Me: Is it okay if I use your name in the blog? You might want to read tomorrow.

Kristy: I always read your blogs, your writing is funny and informative. Even though we don’t have infertility in common its good because it lets me know how you’re feeling and how my patients are feeling.

See what I mean? Sweet, right? I regularly freak out and text after appointments and she is always there to talk me down. You can’t get that from a stranger. She lies about my writing being funny and informative. She loves her patients and wants to understand how they are feeling. (Side note- this his smart on her part because Kristy can get pregnant by merely thinking about having a baby. A mutual friend and I are throwing her a small “sprinkle” for baby number 2 on Sunday.)

All of this is great, but here is where she did me in, where she sealed her fate and got stuck with me as a friend forever. As I am leaving she says to me:

Oh! I forgot to tell you, I wore my orange underwear for you today.

If you have read Orange Panties and Green Toes you know why that makes her the best friend and sonographer ever.

Thanks Kristy, it worked. Everything looks good and we are go for launch. Unfortunatley they increased my estrogen but that’s on the lab and not ultrasound. I guess we need to talk the phlebotomist into wearing orange panties too.

Now please just let me drink out of your glass on Sunday…

Orange Panties and Green Toes

Women battling infertility are a superstitious clan capable of giving notorious major league baseball players a real run for their money. We don’t start out that way, but given enough time, crazy suggestions from friends, and a few thousand clicks on the Internet we wind up trying just about anything.

After all, even if sleeping with yellow baby booties under your pillow won’t work, it can’t hurt, right? So why not indulge and have a bit of fun with it?

After having several tough days with food poisoning, work stress, and feeling the effects of Lupron its time to have a little fun and bring some humor back to the blog. Let’s share a laugh at my expense as we explore my fertility superstitions and weigh in on my perception of their effectiveness.

Orange Panties. This is my favorite because it is not very well known and is catching on quickly. The fertility chakra is orange and located in the reproductive area. The idea here is that orange panties tap into this energy to bring luck. As a result, I have a drawer overflowing with all types of the fiery lingerie. I wear these undies to procedures, tests, and while awaiting results. It has only worked for me only one time out of seven, so you be the judge on its effectiveness. There is no downside to this one, unless you count the fact that it can be easy to spot these lucky charms through lighter clothing. A soft orange works just fine and is easy to conceal.

Orange or Green Toenails. As you can see, my toes are green right now. I alternate between orange and green when we are actively trying to conceive. Both colors are considered to be colors of fertility. Green represents lush, healthy life and growth from fertile soil. The upside here is that you may be able to deduct your pedicures from your taxes as a medically necessary procedure not covered by insurance. I would check with your accountant to be sure.

Adoption or Taking a Break. If you have endeavored to overcome infertility for more than five minutes you have heard the story about the couple who got pregnant as soon as they adopted a child. Or maybe you heard the one about the couple that stopped trying, went on vacation, got hammered, and BAM, finally hit the baby lottery. I think there might actually be something to this one. We began the adoption process during the cycle that gave us Spork. I feel it is possible that finally accepting that we might not have a genetically related child helped me be more open to the process. This is a dangerous game to play, however. You should adopt only if that is what you truly want. Likewise, only take a break if you really need it or are young enough to lose some time. Time is not your friend in the battle for a baby. Its probably just easier to work on acceptance without a gimmick if a genetic child is your immediate goal.

Fertility Statues. I haven’t been to Orlando since our adventure in fertility began, but if I had I would probably take time to go touch the African Fertility Statues located at the Ripley’s Believe It Or Not! . I do however have a golden fertility egg that sits on my nightstand. A family member gave it to me right before Spork’s transfer and takes full credit for her existence as a result. While I deeply appreciate it, I don’t buy it. The egg has been there for the last three cycles and those of course have been major duds. You might even say we laid an egg on the last three. Maybe it only works one time per family? This is another one that can’t hurt so it is still there on my bedside table polished to a shine.

Pineapple Juice. Hopeful women everywhere swear that downing pineapple juice around and after transfer improves the odds of success. I tried this for several cycles prior to taking the time to explore its validity. It turns out the juice may indeed improve lining thickness and receptivity. Not just any pineapple juice will do however, the core contains the main ingredient that is responsible for working baby magic. This ingredient, Bromelain, is a mixture of enzymes that digests protein which thins the blood and promotes blood flow necessary to create a thick lining. Unfortunately studies have not yet shown that this improves implantation rates. Women who need a blood thinner may be better off having one prescribed at a controllable dosage by their doctor.

Lucky Veins. Throughout the IVF process a patient has many, many trips to the lab for a variety of blood tests. The mother of them all is the Beta HCG test given somewhere between 12 to 16 days past retrieval, depending on the clinic. Most clinics will test Beta HGC several times in early pregnancy to make sure it is doubling every 48 to 72 hours. When I have good results from a test, I tend to stick with having blood drawn out of the same vein for follow-up tests until the streak is broken. Admittedly, it is painful and I am sure it doesn’t work, but at least I limit my embarrassing track marks to one arm for awhile.

That is the extent of everything I have personally practiced but while doing research for this post I found many, many more fertility superstitions that others have given a go. It seems that praying to St. Gerard, carrying rose quartz, drinking out of a pregnant woman’s glass, eating parsley grown from seeds given to you, and baby drool all carry mystical pregnifying powers.

So it seems I still have some work to do. Thankfully I have the day off for President’s Day tomorrow. Now all I need is a pregnant woman with a baby who also wants to give me parsley seeds. Maybe she will want to go shopping for some other unusual items as well.

While I know none of this hocus-pocus is likely to help, it sure goes a long way to making this arduous process a little more entertaining.