Hitting A Few Snags

This morning I again called the donor egg clinic.  They said they emailed me but I didn't receive it.  So I chatted with them on the phone.  The soonest I can be seen is 6 March.  After chatting with them the email that they sent yesterday finally showed up.  Too bad the late February appointment they were going to offer me is now gone.  Maybe tomorrow the email that they sent today will show up?

March doesn't leave us much time to get the whole process done considering that the Army is not wanting to do testing without having orders to do so first.  It doesn't mean it can't be done.  But it is going to be really close.

I can say today that after taking the FRER I am not pregnant.  I woke up to spotting too.  I won't be taking my afternoon dose of the Endometrin.  I figure let another cycle start and get things moving.  Of course I won't be starting on birth control pills until after my March 6th appointment.

That means that maybe, possibly, Lt.Col. B. might hear my plea and allow me to do a cycle on Femera.  I do have my doubts on that one though.  But I'm not against begging.

I did try to nudge my current clinic to allow some of the tests to get done ahead of the March meeting.  Yesterday I spoke face-to-face with the IVF/egg donor coordinator here at Madigan.  I like her.  But I don't like the system.  The system now in place means that I have to go to the meeting in March first before Tricare insurance will allow me to have the testing done.  However the coordinator is going to call the egg bank and see if they can fax her some paperwork now.  Not going to hold my breath on that one.  Red tape can be quite sticky.

If I am able to get some of the tests done ahead of time, such as the SIS, mammogram and the PAP,  I'll one step ahead of the game.  Problem is that Tricare doesn't let female patients that have normal Paps and mammograms have the testing done more often than every two years.  Big snag there.  I won't be at the two year mark until July.

Bigger snag, the military installation I am moving to does not have an infertility clinic.  However, I do plan ahead.  I just talked on the phone with another egg bank in the future state of my next move.  They are going to email more information. 

One way or another I'm going to get my family started.  I just hate hitting so many snags along the way.

4dpIUI

Well it is the fourth day past my last IUI.  All is well so far.

Last night the progesterone medicine made its presence known to my body in several ways.  1) the mess.  2) the nausea.  3) the breast tenderness.

Two cycles ago when I did an IUI with progesterone support I didn't get the second or third symptom, only the first and the migraines.  So far so good.

As a friend has said and all my doctors have told me, "there is no reason why you can't and won't get pregnant soon.  It is just a matter of time."  So J and I are being cautiously hopeful.

I am going to try to restrain from testing until Jan 1st as that will be 14 days past the IUI.  I was going to wait until 15 days past IUI but seriously who can wait that long.  J should be home on the 1st and I'd like to share the news, whatever  it will be, with him there.  Besides if it is positive I could leave a voice mail message with the clinic to do a blood test for the 2nd.

The hard part is going to be the waiting.  Tomorrow begins the implantation window which usually occurs days 5-9.

Wish us luck!
  These are so cute!

Waiting For The Call

Oh I had some fun this morning.  I get over to Madigan hospital lab and I pull a number.  Its 0630 hrs.  I'm there early.  I'm #2 in line.

0700 hrs they start calling my numbers.  I get to the counter and present my ID card and tell the clerk its for a Beta HCG.  She doesn't even pay attention to me.  She prints out the lab request and hands it to me.  Next person is called up.

I look at my lab request sheet.  Its for an E2 level!  WTF?

My number for the lab gets called and I tell the tech that I have the wrong lab request in hand.  We go back up to the front desk and tell them what is wrong.  The clerk is oblivious to me and looks to the computer, the HCG beta was NEVER put in.

That's right!  My REI forgot to put in the system the test.  Now folks this isn't the first time they have done this with labs.  They've also done it with my medicines too.  I'm not sure who is lazy over there or forgetful but they need to work on this part of their paperwork.  Its find and dandy to do the procedure to transfer the embryo but if you hand the patient a sheet saying when the lab is to be drawn but then forget to put it into the system what good is the paper to the patient?

So J and I walked over to my clinic.  The lights were on but the door was locked.  We waited and waited and waited.  It seemed like forever.  I wanted to get my blood drawn and get home.  I wanted to get some breakfast before the marriage counseling session later this morning.

I ask J to go check on the door again.  Its still locked and he said he would head around back to the back entrance.  That door was unanswered.  He said he could here them moving about in there.  The door was unlocked so he waltzed in and back to the doctor's office.  Nurse Nasty see's J and she gets pissy.  He cuts her off and tells her about the situation.  She says she'll fix it right away.

Back to the lab I go.  I go to the head of the line.  I've been waiting long enough and there is no one really before me anyway.  I get a new number and wait.

Finally I get called up again.  This time its in the system.  Yay!  But the E2 is still on the draw too.  Oh well who cares now how much they take its all just one vial.

I still haven't tested at home.  Why bother.  If the numbers aren't high enough we all know its a chemical.  If they are high enough I'll find out later today when they decide to call me.  I swear they only call in the afternoon when its bad news.  They don't like giving out bad news.  Maybe I should call them?

Taking A Day Off

I decided I'd had enough of testing and worrying.  I'm not testing today.  Sure I could change brands of the test strips as I have another brand and two digital sticks too but I'm not doing any testing.  Why?  Because I can't hold my pee long enough!

I might break down tomorrow and ruin my morning before church to take a digital.  But I might decide to not take one at all.

Today I'll just take care of my needs and I might do some grocery shopping later if I feel up to it.


Symptoms for today so far:

• Breast tenderness
• Weight gain.  I gained back 0.6 lbs of the 0.8 I lost the day before.
• Nausea
• Slight headache
• Mild back ache
• plenty of mucus up and down.  I swear my nose is going to go raw here soon from blowing it.
• my size 14 pants are now uncomfortable to wear.  That blows!
• Bit of constipation but that goes hand in hand with my IBS.  I'll just make sure to keep eating my figs each day and I should be fine.

But, all in all, any of those symptoms could be pointing to a pending new cycle.  No spotting since that tiny bit two days ago.  No bleeding or smell of blood (yes I'm one of those that can smell a trace of when its going to start).

Other than J doing the laundry and shrinking a pair of my smaller sized 16 jeans in the dryer this week, I told him they go on the drying rack not in the dryer, I have nothing really to complain about.  Except the dreams.

Oh boy the dreams are getting weird.  I can remember bits and pieces of the ones I had last night and yesterday too.  This morning I woke up from a dog dream.  I was at my parents' house before the remodeling they did in the 70's and there were dogs everywhere.  Including cartoon dogs.  I was the only one that could see them and they were tripping other people up.  It was a humorous dream.  Another dream I had was that a doctor told me I was pregnant.  That was always nice to have for a dream.  Lets just hope that one turns out to be true.

J is taking on the responsibilities slowly.  I think slow is good.  We still aren't sure if he is going to be one of the soldiers that will deploy soon.  I'm hoping not but there is always that chance, especially when they announced at a meeting last month that they are sending the rest of the brigade.  I know when they leave but I'm not sure he is going to be on the list.  Not knowing and thinking about it will drive me batty.  I've got other things to think of right now, like staying pregnant and getting a good beta number on Monday.