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Thanks girls. I'm actually going to be disappearing for a bit - a spontaneous week away with my parents & Georgia (hubby is working, unfortunately) - so beach, relaxing, and getting away from it all might be exactly what I need to calm down.

I did pack a pee stick deep down in my luggage. Not sure if I'll cave or wait. xx

@jaguar: Have a fabulous time!!!!

Hi ladies! Just a quick little update from me. We found out that DHs company will not change our insurance policy to cover IF treatment, so OOP it will be . But on a good-ish note, had a follow up with the hematologist this week. Blood work did not reveal a genetic clotting disorder and I don't have the classic indications of antiphospholipid syndrome (thank goodness), but I do have some elevated antibody levels, so I will have to be on lovenox (blood thinner) from the time I start my IVF cycle through the whole pregnancy. She said there is not really an indication that it will help maintain a pregnancy, but it will prevent me from having a clot, which is even more important really. So with that, we are onto another consult with our RE on Thursday and keeping FX that he will give us the go ahead for a fresh cycle as soon as AF shows up!

@jaguar: Wishing you all the best! Hoping a relaxing time with G and your parents at the beach gives your heart and soul what you need.

Hi All, Finally catching up on the boards after a weekend away from all things IF.

@JAGUAR sending lots of positive vibes your way. Enjoy every minute of that relaxing vacay!

@agold - a few days ago I mentioned the Dr. was going to give Hubby and I list of the vitamins that we both should start taking right away. This is the list that we were sent...
Vitamin C - 1000 mg
Vitamin E - 400 iu
CoQ10 - 200 mg
Fish Oil (Mercury Free) - 1000 (can't remember if this is mg or iu...whatever the "standard" measurement is for fish oil)

We started taking them over the weekend. Let's hope they work their "magic" these next 10 weeks.

@GreenThumb: Yup! and this is both hubby and I (minus the prenatal )

Hi ladies, I also took some days away from all things IF. @GreenThumb: Really sucks about your insurance, but good to finally have answers! @PurplePumps: OMG, crazy long cycle, but so glad you finally got to CD 1 again.

I have a quick question for you all. I know that fresh cycles are unpredicatable, but how predicatable was your FET date? Work is asking me now to commit to some consecutive dates right on and around my late November FET. I can tell them that one will not work but I can't say both will not work for me. I will definitely take the day off of my FET. Thanks, this is so hard, juggling everything....

@waiting4you: My doc also had me start melatonin to improve egg quality. I also started DHEA. Do you know the reasoning for vitamin E? I am on aspirin so didn't think I should do vitamin E as well, but I should ask my RE.

@AmeliaBedilia: no clue. Guess I should probably ask more questions...but at this point when the RE says jump...you get the picture. Hard part for me is that I don't swallow pills. Finding the fish oil and the Vitamin E in liquid or gummies in dosages high enough (without having to take half the bottle) wasn't easy. Ended up finding at whole foods but cost me a pretty penny (I think it was $50 for the two). That's about a month supply. Whatever...What's $50 at this point, right?

@Amorini: I've been told that the FET will be schedule around whatever day I specifically pick for it to occur. I will pick a Friday so that I can then have the weekend for additional bed rest. How are you doing otherwise?

@GreenThumb: That's great to know you had to do a pregnancy test before the biopsy! Thank you for letting me know that. I'm going to BD as much as possible now!

@AmeliaBedilia: What time of the day do you take the melatonin and in what dosage? Does it give you bad dreams?

@GreenThumb: I was told that as long as I stay within 25% of my current body weight, my body will respond the same to the estrogen they are putting me on right now. Ha! No problem doctor. I will try my best to not lose 25% of my body weight!

@agold: My clinic is so much more rigid (not to mention the limited hours they offer). I'm a little bummed with them now. I feel like I don't fit in their one-size-fits-all methods and feel like a bother when I speak out.

I just called the financial coordinator to ask if we can negotiate on our saline sono (the $900 I mentioned last week). You mentioned in another post that you negotiated with your RE, so I'm giving it a try. I would need a saline sono in prep for each and every fresh or frozen cycle, I might as well ask...

Otherwise, just trying to stay positive! Staying off HB kind of helps me sometimes, just avoiding it all. How are you doing?

@GreenThumb: boo! i feel your pain on the OOP front Good luck at your appointment Thursday!

@PurplePumps: bummer for a long cycle and period to start! hoping you have some next steps in mind?

@agold: Interesting about the mock cycle--My RE never even mentioned doing one. Will be interested to hear how it goes! And I'd think you would be able to get pregnant, though I'm not sure where the timing for fertilization would be since it's impacted by the meds.

@Amorini: We picked our FET date a few weeks ago (we were also super concerned with timing bc I wanted DH to take those first 2 days off to help with our 3 yo). I think if you've been fine with your lining thickening up, etc, it should be pretty accurate (our RE only does them on certain days/certain # per day, so we had a calendar to choose dates from), BUT there's always a chance they could delay a couple days for things to thicken up a little more.

@GreenThumb: should've read your response first

I had an ultrasound and bloodwork this morning. Waiting for a call back at some point today to see if we're still a go for FET next week

@waiting4you: I took a CoQ10 called NeoQ10 and another supplement called Ovasitol from Theralogix - both were recommended for egg quality by my RE. From what I understand there is a 3 month lag between what you do and how it affects your eggs- basically what you do now affects your eggs being produced 3 months from now. I also have been on Vitamin D supplements for a while as well- not sure if that is an egg quality thing or just general conception health. I’m not really convinced that supplements helped me at all- I started taking them in February and had my 3rd MC in June (blighted ovum)- but who knows. I know it didn’t hurt and it made me feel like I was doing something in the interim.

@endymion4: both times it was probably a day or 2. This time I’ve been doing a very small cup of decaf in the mornings during the week at work- I’ll probably stop that though once I start adding more meds. Once it gets colder it’s hard to not have something hot in the mornings - I might switch to tea even though it’s not really my fav.

@amorini: I’ll have to look into those prenatals- thanks for that reco. I liked the other stuff I had from that company so I’m sure those are good.

@amorini @agold @northstar: The schedule is more intense (IMO) because the meds are spread out over the course of the day. Like with stims- 3 shots, 4 shots- a lot but at least you could do them at home before and after work. 5 days prior to transfer my schedule is:

- 4 Minivelle patches (every other day)
- Endometrin 3x a day
- Medrol 4x a day (specific times)
- PIO shot (at night)
- Z-pack (antibiotics)
- Prenatal
- Possibly Estrace (will find out about that on 10/26)

…and a partridge in a pear tree . I have this all listed on an Excel spreadsheet and I’m still concerned about remembering everything over the course of the work day. Of course that week my coworker is going to be out on vacation so I’m going to be swamped covering for her- it’s just going to be insane. My FET date was based on the dr's schedule- I didn't really get to pick except from the days that he could do it.

So I just got an email from my RE's office- "you are over your lifetime max from insurance so give us $3500 for your FET today." Um what? Thanks for the notice on that- I honestly had no idea that ER alone was going to blow through that max already. Happy Monday!

@PurplePumps: I'm so glad you are going for testing tomorrow. I hope this puts you one step closer to where you want to be. I was just reading back at some of your responses earlier today - and oh my gosh, the thought of doing 6 additional IVFs .... do you think you would do 6 additional if your insurance covered it? I've just been thinking about this myself - how many IVfs will I try? Its such a tough thing to undergo, but its hard to stop.

@PurplePumps: Big hugs! I hope the results show something easily fixable!

Does anyone else feel like EVERYTHING about this is so hard? A few months ago, I had a debacle with WinFertility where they refused my electronic payment, and so had to pay last minute with a credit card to get my meds on time. My bank ended up sending them a paper check, so I double paid. It took them two months to finally send me a check for the extra payment. I cashed it, and just got a note from my bank that WinFertility stopped payment, so now I'm out the money plus the bank fee. I called them, and their claims department is closed, and they are SUPPOSED to get back with me tomorrow. I have had so many problems because people didn't do their job- my initial CD3 labs were run incorrectly (did the wrong test instead of AMH, and since my FSH was 6, we didn't do it again, only to find out 18 months later my level is 0.27), my HSG was charged $1000 more than it was supposed to, problems getting meds, problems getting records...I'm just so angry about all of it.

Tomorrow is my monitoring ultrasound. I'm hoping for two follicles and IUI#3 can be Friday. If this doesn't work, I am almost certain we will be doing IVF. We don't have any insurance coverage, and we're doing a major house renovation, so the financial timing is not good. DH and I are also trying to plan holiday travel, and I don't know when we would end up doing IVF. I hate how hard it is to plan anything!

@Amorini: beautifully put. I needed to see that, today. I thought after round 1 I could slam this chapter closed and not deal with anything till the new year. Yet, slowly but surely it's creeping it's way back into my everyday life. I thought being on the drugs was bad....I'm learning that coming off them is even harder (at least in my case) and the AF after is pretty much torture.

But as you said, try to be amazed not frustrated. The options and opportunities ahead are amazing. Just keep "running the marathon".

The ultrasound showed one 19mm follicle on the left (good, everything is always on the right and had me worried), two others 13mm and 12mm. He told me IUI Thursday or Friday. Thursday morning is problematic for both of us at work, plus Thursday is only day 11. They told us Friday morning was booked except too late (we are supposed to be going out of town). DH called me on the way to work and asked if I felt they were rushing it out of convenience. I do. We think that Saturday would be the ideal day, but they aren't open. One day early would be ok, but triggering the morning of CD10 makes me nervous- that going too fast could compromise egg quality. So I called back and said we'd figure something out and take the late Friday morning, except someone had just booked. I asked for an exception. She spoke to the RE who said they can't do Friday morning, but that Thursday is fine. I think going early also means the two little follicles have no chance of catching up. We are leaning towards just doing times intercourse and doing the third IUI next cycle. What would you do? I'm a little worried they will bill us for the two ultrasound (we have a three IUI package) but DH says $400 is not a big deal in the scheme of things. Also, my ovidrel was left in the cooler in the fridge anextra four days and I know it's fine for 30 days but worried if it will still book for next cycle. (My cycles are usually 25-26 days.) DH and I both don't have a good feeling about this IUI. I have liked the RE but I feel like they prioritize convenience too much and DH and I are contemplating switching docs though the other option here is not great. Sorry for rambling but I'm flipping out here. Advice please!

@AmeliaBedilia: I agree with you that having the IUI on Thursday seems too early, but then won't the 19mm follicle be too big or likely already ovulated by Friday/Saturday? I thought that they grew 1-2mm/day. If you feel rushed or that the timing isn't right for an IUI this month, I would probably lean towards doing timed intercourse instead or you could do the IUI on Thursday, but then try to have lots of BD Friday, Saturday, etc (if that is possible)? I don't know - that's a hard one. But, I don't like that they cannot fit you in based on what your body is looking like and instead are doing it based on their availability..

@PurplePumps: That is so ridiculous. All this is hard enough, and then stupidity makes it even harder!

For a small piece of good news, my bank waived the fee for winfertility's stupidity, and I talked to a pharmacist who said the ovidrel is fine for next cycle. So now the issues are whether to do the IUI Thursday or just do femara/timed intercourse this month, whether RE will charge us $400 for these two ultrasounds or count it as part of the package (not optimistic, and if we had known they couldn't do Friday, we wouldn't have done either), and whether to stay with RE. He's very on top of the medical stuff and found some issues that others might not have (my elevated NK cells), it's just hard to schedule. We still have the third IUI paid for in the package, so I'm leaning toward TI this cycle, IUI with same RE since it's already paid for, and then decide whether to go there or someplace else for IVF. We probably will stay put since he knows me and someone else would be starting over. All this trouble makes me think that God is telling me this isn't the time for IUI. I'm really frustrated and angry.