Sunday, July 22, 2007

Day One and We're Stalled...

Today is Day One. While there's no surprise that the "natural method" once again yielded no results, the surprise lies in the fact that our progress has stalled. Sigh...

The plan was to call the Doctor's office tomorrow, have a preliminary ultrasound, and start the shot treatments. However, recently Ryan has been struggling in his police training. While he's determined not to quit, his career is feeling less than stable to me at the moment. Although I have the money saved up for the first round of shots, I think it would be irresponsible to aggressively pursue getting pregnant when I am feeling so unsure about the status of our future finances. When the day finally comes that I do get pregnant, I want to feel joy and gratitude, not stress and worry that I will not be able to give my baby everything she needs.

Even though I am incredibly disappointed, I feel comfortable with this decision. I feel proud that I am making the responsible choice and not the selfish one that I wish I could make. Good mothers put their children's interest before their own. I guess it's never too early to start.

Friday, July 13, 2007

Post-Op Appointment & Blood Work

On Monday, I had my post-op appointment with Dr. Synn. As expected, the surgery did not find anything that would be affecting my fertility.

I got to see pictures of my insides. That was pretty cool. The only item that was out of the ordinary was a string of scar tissue behind my uterus. This was snipped off and removed.

Other than that, there was absolutely nothing the Doctor was interested in. So, he ran dye through my tubes (both were clear, the right one was a tad slow), scraped out my uterus, and sewed me back up!

So, everything inside me is "Frustratingly Perfect". Pretty much sums up my entire infertile existence! Nothing wrong... everything's textbook... no pregnancy. I guess when they say "unexplained" infertility, they really have no explanation.

Speaking of which, we re-ran certain tests of my Cycle Day 3 blood work. My 2004 numbers in comparison with 2007:


TSH (Thyroid Stimulating Hormone: Mid-range normal in most labs is about 1.7)

2004: 1.59
2007: N/A

FSH (Follicle Stimulating Hormone: FSH is often used as a gauge of ovarian reserve. In general, under 6 is excellent, 6-9 is good, 9-10 fair, 10-13 diminished reserve, 13+ very hard to stimulate.)

2004: 5.0
2007: 4.3

LH (Luteinizing Hormone: A normal LH level is similar to FSH)

2004: 3.7
2007: 2.6

Prolactin (Normal is < 24. Increased prolactin levels can interfere with ovulation.)

2004: 6
2007: N/A

Estradiol (Normal is 25 - 75. Levels on the lower end tend to be better for stimulating.)

2004: 51
2007: 65

All of my numbers are within the normal range. The weird thing is the tests show I have more, better quality eggs now than 3 years ago. Hmmm...

The update is as follows, we went ahead and tried to conceive this month using the "old school" method (my trusty ovulation monitor and good ol' fashioned baby-dancing). The Doc says there's less than 1% chance of conceiving this way, but who cares?! It was worth a shot.

Once cycle Day 1 of my next cycle hits (which it inevitably will, I'm sure), I will go in for an ultrasound to check that everything is good to go. Then I order my shots and that's when the fun begins!
FAITH IN GOD MEANS HAVING FAITH IN HIS TIMING.