City weekend (update)

New update on my follies. I had my first u/s this morning (it's only CD6) and they are growing. Two 9's on one side and a 9 and 7 on the other. Staying on the Follistim and going back again on Tuesday (for a possible trigger on CD10!).

S and I are headed to the city this weekend, like I talked about here. Instead of splurging on the Elysian at $250/night (even though that was an amazing discount), and skipping over the new Kimpton, The Palomar, at $129 (incl. pkg.). We went to our most favorite friend, Hotwire.com to get a 4 star on the Mag Mile. So we are staying at the Hyatt Regency for $73/night. Not bad, it's very nice and we've stayed there several times before. We are trying a new restaurant, Zocalo for dinner and going to the Elysian for dessert. Happy Weekend! :)

This

is a pretty rug. That is all.




It's Stark crazy day on OKL...

A slight change of plans...

Based on the plan that my RE laid out with us yesterday morning, I started Clomid 100mg last night. All was good until about 3:30 am this morning when I woke up in excruciating pain. This continued for several hours, unabated, until the Tylenol kicked in. You know you are sucking the big fat IF when you find yourself Googling OHSS at four in the morning. Other lovely s/e: nausea, diarrhea, chills. Give me night sweats any day of the week. Pure hell.

So after e-mailing and calling my RE, I heard back today that we are just skipping the Clomid (good call) and going right to the Follistim, now at 50IU. After laying down $400 and skimming all the elaborate directions, I figured it out well enough to get it done. Going in Friday am for monitoring. Hoping to get a bit more sleep tonight...

Gratuitous cutie pic

My adorable niece @ 16 months...

This sweet girl is thriving after going through what we still can't really fathom. At her four month check-up (the same day as my first RE visit), her ped referred her to Mayo as he feared that she had a cranial problem. She was subsequently diagnosed with craniosynostosis (her skull bones had fused prematurely). She then had major surgery at seven months, where her entire skull (from forehead to nap, ear to ear) was completely removed, pieces separated, re-shaped, and put back together like a puzzle. She is smart as a whip and we are all just hoping and praying she doesn't have to have any more surgery.

Nat before the surgery...

Catalogue finds

It's catalogue season here at the S household, and I thought I'd share a few finds that have my eyes...
West Elm modular shelf ($99 for two)
In white for the family room...


PB Coir Knot Mat (only $19!)

Garnet Hill Tile Quilt and Sham ($38-$188) cute w/Fiesta Blue Sky Stencil percale sheets ($10-$69)

Back on the hamster wheel

So after another ridiculously long (~45 min.) wait at the RE this morning, we had our consult. Since we weren't able to get pg on our own the last two months since the septum's been out, she wants me to take Clomid 100mg and Follistim 75IU, followed by an IUI and Crinone. She still doesn't think we need IVF. It just happens to be CD3, so I also got my baseline u/s and bw done. I start Clomid tonight and start monitoring next Thursday.
She thinks we should try this for another FOUR months before even considering moving on. I'm not sure if I'll last that long. We'll see... We also have our phone consult with Dr. David in two weeks to see if he has any new ideas.

Cycle 20, CD 2... T - 1 to RE mtg.

Just finished out a 35 day cycle, which is an extra week long for me. I was so excited to get my P4 supps, but they didn't bother to tell me when to stop them(surprised?). So I gave my favorite nurse a call last week and she said if I am pg to continue, but if not or get AF, then to stop. So I was due Friday and actually tested for the first time in awhile, since I didn't really know what was going on. I didn't feel like AF was coming, probably bc of the supps. Since I wasn't pg, I stopped, since I figured AF probably wouldn't come unless I did and I'm ready to get on with this.

So yesterday, as I was getting ready for my nephew's baptism (oh the layers of cruel irony), she finally reared her head. I have to say though that whether it's the acupuncture or the septum removal she is not nearly as painful as she used to be. Some comfort, I guess.

We have our big pow-wow with the current (and possibly outgoing) RE tomorrow AM. Now that my lovely birth defect has been removed, we are focusing now on hormonal issues. I first had them run over a year ago and my RE didn't say anything about them being off. I come to find out from my medical records that my initial E2 level was <10 (!!), but instead of saying or doing anything about this, she insisted on putting me on Clomid, which according to my current RE is the LAST thing I should have been on (it's an anti-estrogen).

Now because of my own research and insistence on being tested, I know I also have low P4. These are the two main hormones that control female fertility. The crazy thing is I get regular periods and bleed like crazy, so something is sort of working in there, but not quite. I do have a long follicular phase (which should have been addressed by one of my RE's before now) and a short luteal phase. Both of these are being treated by my acupuncturist, rather than by my RE's (who seem to be oblivious). But we are not fooling around anymore. I'm not big on drugs, but if there is something that needs to be fixed, then by all means. I'm going to ask for yet another run of my CD3 tests tomorrow and if I should be on E2 therapy. We are going to fix this and we going to do it NOW.