Follow along the crazy path that my husband and I never expected to take while trying to conceive our first baby.


10/25/11

Gigantic Update

Sorry for being MIA for the past two weeks.

So here is an update:

1) I went to my RE appointment on October 12th. My doctor was so incredibly nice and friendly, and she completely understood that I may be young, but I am still struggling with infertility. I felt like weight had been lifted off my shoulders- I actually didn't need to defend myself to this doctor! I had a vaginal ultrasound to see if there were any noticeable concerns inside my uterus or with my fallopian tubes that the ultrasound could pick up. Everything looked perfectly healthy, and get this- I was about to ovulate! And not just one egg, but TWO! I couldn't believe it! The idea of having twins is like my biggest wish right now, so knowing I was releasing 2 eggs was so awesome!

I also had massive amounts of blood drawn to check on hormone levels, thyroid levels... the works. No surprise there, every single thing came back normal.

Icing on the cake- I was prescribed Femera! FINALLY- something to help me ovulate monthly.

2) On October 15th, I swear I felt ovulation pains on my lower right side. I have never felt them before, and part of me was wondering if I was only feeling them because I knew I was ready to ovulate? But I definately felt something sharp that lasted for about an hour. So I'm convinced they were ovulation pains.

3) On October 22nd I picked up my Femera prescription- for 5 pills it cost me $60! I was shocked, but hey- small price to pay for a baby, right? The pharmacist told me that if my doctor can prescribe me Clomid instead, it's only $4 a month- huge difference. I may ask her about this if the first round is not successful on Femera. I could pay less for a year supply of Clomid  than one month of Femera. Everything I have read about Femera seems positive. There are hardly any side effects and it does not dry up your CM like Clomid can. There is a lower chance for multiples (darn it!) and it leaves your body quicker than Clomid does.

4) My period showed up yesterday. Meaning no chance of twins, and no chance of even one baby! Since I missed my last period this one seemed to come with a vengeance and I had awful awful cramps- the kind that hurt so badly you actually sweat. I'm home from work today because I couldn't get out of bed this morning it hurt so bad.I hate you, you stupid period!!

5) So tomorrow I start Femera for the first time. This is kind of an interesting time for me- a year ago, I assumed I would be pregnant by now. I am now on fertility medicine (something almost unheard of in 25 years old, but nevertheless, I am incredibly grateful to be on something that will help me), and most of all, I can not stop thinking: what if this doesn't work? I am trying to be hopeful, as I have each cycle for the past year, but there is this awful feeling of what if this still doesn't work? It's kind of a scary thought.

6) I have to go back to the RE on November 4th, a Friday to have another vaginal ultrasound (just racking up my bill :)  ) and they will look to see if the dosage I was prescribed was enough to make me ovulate. I was prescribed the lowest dosage available (2.5mg). I am excited for this, as typically I ovulate every other month, meaning I am on schedule to not ovulate at all for November. If I still haven't next month, I will be prescribed a higher dose. If that is the case, I also want my husband's sperm tested, just to make sure that isn't the problem. It is something him and I have discussed a lot and he is open to doing it, I basically just need to tell him when. I think if November is not our month, we will get that test done.

7) I am slightly stressing out about the cost of all this! I am currently only working part time, something I do not want to be doing (I was promised my job would become full time, and that was months ago...). I have been checking online to see how much of my first RE appointment will be covered by insurance, and so far all I know is that the total bill is over $1,000 and it is "pending". Add in another ultrasound (don't even know how much that costs...) and then Femera monthly for who knows how long, and possibly a sperm analysis... ah, it's a lot all at once! I know that my husband and I want a baby badly, and we are waiting for the day we can become parents. Absolute any amount of money is worth getting the chance to do that. I just feel a bit overwhelmed I guess at all of the sudden expenses. Lets hope they pay off quickly and we get two lines on a pregnancy test!

8) So now I need to run to Target and get some ovulation predictor kits for this month. Keeping my fingers crossed and praying like crazy THIS is our month :)If I get pregnant this month, our little baby will be due July 30th- a summer baby, which is what I want!

4 comments:

  1. Wow, you have a lot going in the right direction right now! I hate it that these IF expenses seem to rack up so quickly, and so heavily. Hang in there, crossing my fingers for your July baby!!

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  2. I'm glad you are getting proactive about not ovulating. I feel ya there. Just a forewarning though...sometimes RE's like to "rack up the bill" when they don't have to. I know my dr is so awesome because he gave me the option to femara or clomid because of the cost. I chose clomid. Also you don't need a follicle ultrasound to find out if you ovulate necessarily. My dr takes a CD21-24 progesterone blood draw and that tells us if I ovulate. That test is $10. So just be careful because no matter how nice she is sometimes all they are looking out for is the $$$ and not because its out of necessity. Mainly I'm just telling you this too so that if you do ever have to do actual fertility treatments like IUIs or IVFs your not already broke. :D

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  3. Thank you SO much for your comment! Do you know if a progesterone blood draw will show if the 2.5mg tablet was enough to make me ovulate? I would totally prefer a blood draw to an ultrasound, and the $10 sounds amazing!

    Seriously, thank you so so much for letting me know this information. I am so new to all of this, that I will take all the help I can get.

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  4. No problem. I get it...you want to be pregnant. I'm so with you but you just have to be super careful and especially since she didn't imform you ahead of time that it was going to cost so much is a red flag. But yeah the blood draw is enough to see if the femara worked. You just have to get it taken any time between CD21-24. I would talk to your dr and just tell her you prefer the blood draw over the ultrasound since insurance doesn't cover it and you don't want to pay the extra money. If insurance covers it (which it usually doesn't) then go right ahead. It would be way nice to see those little follies growing but its not essential. Good luck!

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