Month 12 of TTC Baby #2: A Recap
I apologize… I didn’t write this blog while month 12 was in progress, so I’m going off one and a half month old memories (and my iPhone calendar) here! Initially, my husband and I did not plan to fly up to our fertility clinic for an IUI. It wasn’t in our budget (flights have been crazy expensive) and in general we’ve been finding it difficult to figure out child care and scheduling with our son.
When I alerted the clinic that I had gotten my menses, they noted that they’d want me to come in on July 18th, CD11 for an ovary scan, trigger shot, and potential IUI. The timing worked out as it was a Friday and I usually have no work meetings on Fridays. After some chatting about our future travel plans and such, and some help from my mom, we did end up flying to Oʻahu for the day.
Friday, July 18th, 4:00 A.M.
Ovary Scan/IUI Day!
We live an hour away from the airport so we had to wake up at 4:00 a.m. to be ready to leave by 5:00 a.m. so we could get there at 6:00 a.m. for our 7:00 a.m. flight.
7:00 A.M.
We took off at 7:00 a.m. and landed in Oʻahu around 7:40. We took an Uber to a restaurant near our Fertility Clinic and had a very delicious breakfast. We eat really fast, so we still had some time to kill before our appointment. I brought my laptop, because I was still technically working that day, so we ended up finding some seating outside of a food court and near a Starbucks (yay, free WiFi) so I could get some work done.
9:30 A.M.
We walked over to the clinic from the food court for my ovary scan. And had to wait for a bit before we got called back. What is an ovary scan, you ask? It’s where they check to see how many and how big your follicles are. If they’re big enough, they give you a trigger shot which induces ovulation. When we did my scan, I had about eight follicles, four on each side. The biggest one was still far from ready.
They wondered why I was scheduled to come in so early and I noted that I thought it was because I had a really early LH surge in my June cycle, CD10 to be exact. It turned out to be a false LH surge. My temperature rose for a day and then dropped back down. So, although my OPK came back positive on CD10, my temperature didn’t show a sustained rise until CD21.
They noted I could either come back the following week when my OPKs showed positive (and after I took a trigger shot) or we could try timed. There was no way we were going to be able to come back (flights were almost $500 and we weren’t going to have childcare), so we asked to do timed intercourse instead. They were totally fine with our decision (why wouldn’t they be?) and then left to get the goodies for our at-home trigger shot.
When they got back they demonstrated for us how we needed to take the shot, three finger width away from the piko (belly button) on either the right or left side. Alcohol swab to clean the area. Remove all air from the syringe (they put some extra medication inside so that you can squirt some out to make sure all the air is gone), place at a 45 degree angle and inject! It really was simple.
The medication had to be refrigerated, so they gave us a little cooler with some ice to keep it cold. We ended up asking if they could keep it with them there until we were ready to leave so that it wouldn’t get hot while we were out and about and they were happy to accommodate!
10:30ish
After leaving the building to get on with our day I got a text message reminding me not to forget to have my labs done. Whoops! Haha. We marched back into the building and into the clinic’s lab. Again, we waited for a few more minutes before I got called back to get my blood drawn. (Just a few vials.) I asked what they were testing for and she said (and I quote), “Hormones! We’re all about the hormones.” LOL
11:00 A.M.
After leaving the building for a second time we decided to go back to the airport and try to get back on an earlier flight. So once again we marched back into the building to get our trigger shot. The staff was so confused, and I don’t blame them. Apparently so were we. :P
We actually did not end up leaving back. We figured we had the child care, we might as well make the most of our little break and time in Oʻahu, so we stayed and had fun. We just ensured that we had plenty of ice to keep our trigger shot cold.
Monday, July 21st
Trigger Shot Day!
Prior to trigger shot day, my husband was reading the instructions it came with and was not liking the potential side effects it could have mainly because we know a couple who went through IVF and got pregnant. She was bedridden for 12 weeks because they did end up getting one of the side effects (blood clot) and he was afraid that would happen to me too.
The risk outweighed the fear, for me, so I let me husband know that whether he decided to give me the shot or not, I was taking it with or without his help.
He did end up giving me the shot in the end, just a little grudgingly.
The shot itself was not as painful as I thought it was going to be. In fact, there was very little pain. (Probably because I have some padding in the stomach region.) So if you’re having to do it and haven’t done it yet, you’ll be okay! I promise.
Wednesday, July 23rd
Per our PA’s orders, we had timed intercourse that week! I tested with OPKs from trigger shot day through the 23rd and on the 23rd I ended up having a positive. I wasn’t sure if it was because of the trigger shot, or I was actually “ovulating,” but nonetheless we made sure to baby dance!
However… I am fairly certain the trigger shot failed and in the end I had an anovulatory cycle, or a cycle where you don’t ovulate.
My temperatures weren’t doing what they normally do and I had no symptoms of ovulation. In the end, my cycle did not end up in pregnancy, just another disappointing period. UGH! Fingers crossed for the next one.
