CD 12 and DH's test results

(written 1/15/15)
Went to the IVF clinic again today, mostly to review DH's labs.

His SA was his best yet! 12 mil/ml, 2.0 ml volume, motility 40%, morphology 4%.

Why his numbers are all so much better than a few years ago I'm not sure!  Perhaps he was extremely vitamin D deficient back in the Midwest, and moving to the desert has fixed it?  He's also started meditating, although I would doubt that would cause a 125% increase!

His hormones were all normal. Testosterone, FSH, estradiol, prolactin, LH.  All normal. So really no meds could help his counts come up.

So we are left with the recommendation of him taking multivitamin, fish oil, antioxidants and to ejaculate every other day (helps with motility and morphology, wouldn't help overall count).

IUI would be futile, yet we were also told to try naturally until we do IVF.  

She said I had a lead follicle of 23mm today, so I'm to ovulate tonight or tomorrow. DH gets home tomorrow night, we shall see if we can muster up the energy, lol.  He's been travelling like mad and I have a pulled muscle in my neck.

Today I rode in a cab with my husband's jizz in my bra

(written 1/9/15)
I know other infertiles have had this job before, but it was my first time! I felt to protective of those little swimmers.  Lol.

So this morning DH had an appt at the ivf clinic to give a semen sample and have a hormonal panel drawn.  Due to miscommunication between us he told them he didn't need the blood draw (I had told him he didn't need the TSh drawn as that was just done last month!  Still needed testosterone, FSH, LH, estradiol and prolactin drawn).  That was no problem, I sent him to his GP next door with the lab order form. That may actually save us some money if insurance covers it!  I know they wouldn't have touched an order from the IVf clinic.

For the semen sample DH says they walked him down this scary isolated hallway to a teeny tiny closet, with no "material" inside at all!!  Unbelievable.  Luckily he had his iphone with him lol.  So he is doing his thing, when he hears a heated conversation between two clinicians in Arabic going on outside his door....and then a few minutes later they tried to open the door!  Crazy!  He then tried to go back to business, and then someone started yelling in Arabic down the hallway!

That was the end.  He left lol.  Luckily the clinic was so mortified for him that they ended up running the SA for free, saving us 300 aed (approx $80).  

We got his lab results from December when he had his early physical, and I was  surprised to see they ran a testosterone then!  And his level was GOOD!

In April 2010 his level was 180.

In June 2010 his level was 285.

In December 2014 his level was 513!!!

We shall see what the Jan 2015 level is, LOL.

Normal is 270-1070.  So his testosterone level is waaaaay better than back in 2010.  His SA went up dramatically from 2010 to 2014 also (4/5mil per ml to 11 mil per ml). We shall see what today's result was!  

Dare I say I'm starting to feel hopeful that we could get his levels up to IUI standards??  Wouldn't that be something??

Back at the R.E.......

(originally written early January 2015, just publishing some drafts now :-) )

So things have been interesting lately.

We tried naturally last month, used ovukation detector and BD at perfect times.

Obvi it didn't work.  But I had textbook implantation spotting.  Then I had an evap line on a clear blue easy hpt.  I swear those things are evil.  See here:

It never fooled me, but the 1 second moment of thinking it was possible left me knowing we should try again.

I researched all of the IVF clinics here as nauseum.  The one I picked I did so due to them using the newest technology: IMSI (increased magnification during sperm selection increasing fertilization rates) and the embryoscope (takes time lapse photos of embryos during development to assess embryo quality.  No need to disturb those embryos).

If we are gonna do it again I want to know we are giving it everything we've got.  

I had a consultation today, CD 3.  She did an ultrasound, saw a small fibroid outside of my uterus, "not worrisome".  She didn't see a polyp but will repeat the U/s later in my cycle.  She said my ovaries looked "awesome", lots of follicles, and "if it wasn't for your husbands sperm you'd be getting pregnant every month."   

She reviewed DH's semen analysis and lab tests from 6 months ago.  She showed it to the andrologist.  (This is a different clinic than the one we visited 6 months ago, they only said "everything is normal you need ICSI).  He said he wants DH retested, that his testosterone and FSH are on the low side of normal, and he wants his estrogen checked.  If his estrogen is high we can definitely start him on some hormone therapy to get his levels in better form.  "We could get you pregnant maybe with IUI or regular sex!". 

Wow.

And she said if we can't then we will try IVF with IMSI.  Probably not until September.  We have travel galore in spring and summer.  That gives me that much longer to get DH and I healthy!

Speaking of which, I've lost 15 pounds in the last 2 months on the paleo diet!  I've been exercising regularly and drinking way less also.  

I weigh 24 lbs less than with my first IVF.  Can you say new diagnosis of infertility tubby!?!?

So that's that. Recheck for DH, healthy living, we shall see!!!!!!

Microblog Monday - travels

So as you all know we have been living in the Middle East for over a year now, and loving it!  Besides missing our families and friends it's been great!  The best part hands down is the ability to travel.  Pipsqueak at nearly age 3 has been to 3 continents and 5 countries.  Soon to be more!  We are traveling to Prague for Christmas, then to Scotland and Ireland this summer.

And I may get hated for this, but travel with her at this point is a cake walk.  14 hour flight?  I mean of course it sucks but she is so well behaved!  She's learned to sleep anywhere, adjust to jet lag quickly, and takes in new surroundings with ease.

Confession: while traveling when I see parents struggling with their 2-4 kids it makes me really happy.  I enjoy their troubles,

Does this make me a bad person?  Or am I just making lemonade out of my lemons?

Potty trained!

The advice you guys gave me was on spot.  When I tried a few months ago she wasn't ready.  So I gave her 2 months off, then attempted again.  Here is what we did:

-Ceremoniously bought underwear, let her pick any kind she wanted (strawberry shortcake and hello kitty thank you very much).

-Had a kiddy potty and a seat that goes on the regular toilet available, I've heard different kids have different favorites.  She ended up liking sitting up high on the "big kid potty" more, so we use the little one as a step stool at the sink.

-Made a potty chart, one sticker for each success, 10 stickers equals a toy (didn't get the toy until like sticker 30 but she didn't notice lol).

-Occasionally gave a lollipop for successes but luckily she usually forgot to ask for it.

-Day 1 = underwear all day long no matter what, except for sleep.  I let her have accidents.  I even let her stay wet for a few minutes so she would understand the concept and how uncomfortable this felt. Encouraged lots of potty time, with iPad or books or whatever made her sit.  

-Her nursery school was on board, and the first week there she only had one accident.

-The first few days she left several wet puddles around the house (luckily here we have all tile floors) and a few very yucky #2 incidents.

By day 5 she stopped having accidents!  She now hasn't had any accidents in over a week.  Most naps and mornings she wakes up dry as well but I am keeping her in pull ups because she is still in her crib and wow I don't want to yet face helping with potty time in the middle of the night.  If I wanted to deal with human waste in the middle of the night I'd have a baby.  HAHAHAHAHA!

I am so very proud of her.  

The funniest things that have happened:

-The first time I was teaching her how to wipe she looked down at her front and said, "I have another butt!  I have two butts!".  I used this as a teaching opportunity and she now likes to talk about her "gina".

-When out to eat this weekend she was dancing between some tables (as you do) and suddenly grabbed her crotch and yelled at the top of her lungs, "Oh no my butt!!!!".

Microblog Monday, because I want to be one of the cool kids!

Hello all!  I am still reading everyone, I just haven't had much to say here.  We still have no plans for any more interventions (although I had a dream last night that I was 40 and pregnant with a donor egg baby! Never say never lol!).  Still have fingers crossed for a miracle but no such luck.  I think we already got our miracle!  Here is a quick pipsqueak update!
- she started nursery school for 3 mornings a week.  She loves it and her teachers say she is doing great.  Beginning of week 3 began crying a little when I leave her though and it makes me soooo sad!  Her teachers tell me she stops as soon as I leave.
- PS has peepeed on the potty one time, and that was after sitting there with the iPad for 2 hours drinking chocolate milk.  We have made a sticker potty chart which she seems obsessed with, but truthfully she doesn't seem to know when she's about to pee or poop.  Like it always surprises her.  So I'm assuming she's not completely ready?  She's 2.75.  Any tips moms?
- she still sleeps in her crib, 11-12 hours at night and 1-3 hour nap in the afternoon.  I still give her a paci but only for sleep.  Her dentist told me to take that away at age 3 but I don't think I'm gonna....I love sleep too much!!! Maybe by age 4?
-she doesn't hit or bite anyone, which I am very proud of.  So many kids do and I think it's luck that our daughter doesn't.
-she can count to 11, count items up to 4, knows most of her colors, and sing her ABCs.

-best news - a friend IRL who has battled unknown infertility for 5 years is pregnant!  She had a miscarriage after IVF #1 but was successful after #2.  SO incredibly happy for her!!!! It's the first pregnancy besides my own that I have 100% completely celebrated since being diagnosed infertile.  Good for my soul!!!!!

If I think of anything interesting to blog about here I will, I miss this space.

Bad news, good news

I got an email from the nurse coordinator at the clinic we were seen at.  It was very insensitive, said his hormones were normal, sperm count too low for IUI, we should make an appt for IVF.  Even though we've said over and over again no more IVF. I then asked for the detailed results.  They were crazy!   The highest DH's sperm count has ever been was 6 million/ml, and that is on fertile aid.  Usually 4-5 million/mil wih like 10-15% motility.

This sample showed 11 million/ml!!  Normal viscosity, normal volume (2ml), motility 30%, morphology 1%.   So obviously not normal but more than twice as good as usual!  Ans this is after decidedly unhealthy living - no vitamins, started on an antidepressant, drinking more than normal, and occasional cigarettes.  All I can attribute to the increase is perhaps DH was vitamin D deficient?  He used to be so pale and got almost no sun in the Midwest.  Here he has a slight tan and gets much more sun.

His WBC was high in the semen sample...normal is less than 1 million, he had 3 million.  I've emailed the dr asking if he needs antibiotics but haven't heard back.

His testosterone was normal, but in the lower levels.  According to this dr he wouldn't benefit from clomid.  Oh well,  I wasn't sure I was comfortable with that anyway.

So I guess this leaves us with get DH some vitamins and cross our fingers.  Most likely never going to happen, but at least we looked into it!