So, I will admit I was a little worried/down after the monitoring results from Wednesday. Every other cycle that I have been monitored on, the follicles were found to be a little shy of the mature range (they want 20mm or greater) by day 12 or 13.
This was Day 11 and there were 2 on my left ovary only measuring 13mm, and none on the right ovary - which was weird because I felt twinges on my right side the past week or so. The doctor said he didn't want me back for monitoring until today (Saturday). I was surprised and concerned - I know that the follicles grow about a mm per day, but I was worried that if we waited until today, I might have ovulated on my own already - according to past data. Throw in a high-pressure day at work Thursday, and a crazy snow storm without a snow day on Friday, and a couple of negative home ovulation tests, and by last night I had convinced myself that this month was a bust. It felt like all the crappy side effects from the Clomid had been for naught.
I grumpily got out of bed this morning to get ready for my 8:30 ultrasound/bloodwork appointment. I much prefer the wee hours of the weekdays to the Saturday appointments - there are always more people in the office on the weekends, and today, with babies...which is always hard. There is a family waiting room off to the side, but it seems no one uses it...
The ultrasound tech was someone I hadn't had before. She wore a neon yellow sweater which seemed to match her sunny disposition perfectly. I almost forgot to close the bathroom door to get undressed from the waist down - modesty is so out the window at this point - who hasn't seen my lady bits by now? She joked about how some women are so careful to cover up with the pitiful paper sheet. I liked her right away. She even did the play-by-play while she was poking around in there....uterine lining looks great...let's look at righty - oh! There's one - 21mm!
I was shocked - there was nothing there on Wednesday. I told her I had thought I was feeling things on the right side - she said, "See? You don't need us!"
She continued on and said that on the left one was 16mm and the other 18mm. I told her I was surprised, that this cycle seemed weird. She noted that maybe weird is a good thing - at least it's a change. I made a point of thanking her for the play-by-play and instant info. She said that she understands - women going through this have no control over anything - at least they can know the stats before the nurse calls hours later. New. Favorite. U/S tech.
I was smiling as I went back to the waiting room to be called for my blood work. As I walked past the ... sperm production room? I noticed for the first time ever that there was a carefully displayed selection of mags and a specimen cup set out on the exam table - now I went from smiling to laughing out loud. I wonder who has that job - can you please go set out the porn in an artful display?
I had the one male phlebotomist - he is now my favorite - barely felt a thing as the needle went in, and we swapped war stories about yesterday morning's commute. I left the clinic in a great mood.
The nurse called around 11 to say to do the Ovidrel shot tonight and the IUI tomorrow morning, as my LH surge had started, according to the blood work. (I do so love the clinic's patient portal - as soon as we got off the phone, I could look at all the numbers myself.) The estradiol measurement was more than 2x higher than it's ever been - this could just be because we are measuring so close to ovulation, but again, this is something different in this cycle, so maybe a good sign? The other thing I am very happy about - the IUI, and thus the next round of blood work in 14 days, will both take place on Sundays - no more missing work this cycle!!! Best mood in a week.
This is the thing about infertility I hate the most - the roller coaster - last night/this morning - low, 30 minutes later? Feeling great. So now I'm hopeful about the IUI scheduled for tomorrow morning...but will that only make the two week wait worse? I want to be optimistic..but then the disappointment is so biting. I guess there really is no "good" way to go through this...
No comments:
Post a Comment