The Plan! The Plan!

BCPs until March 10, then stims, retrieval, etc. Dr. Wonderful scheduled to do/monitor everything along the way. Britney Spears concert will be unaffected by needles.

Game on.

Happy ICLW!

I know, I know -- a day late and a dollar short. At any rate, welcome newbies! We love ICLW around here.

Our story, in brief: we married in June 2006, never dreaming that children would arrive any way other than on schedule. Little did we know, little did we know. I had my first laprascopic surgery in March 2007, revealing Stage 3 endo. We weren't ready to get pregnant (irony noted), so we went on 6 months of consistent BCPs to prevent the regrowth of the endo. In October 2007, we went off BCPs, and thought a BFP would follow soon thereafter.

In February 2008, we changed OB/GYNs, and our new doc quickly suspected the endo was back and referred us on to the RE. Best. Move. Ever. We love our RE! Laprascopic surgery #2 was June 2008, and endo was back with a vengence. Ugh. I also had a hysteroscopic procedure on the same day to correct a mild uterine septum. Endo + male factor = a fast track to IVF.

After a few bumps around the way, we began IVF #1 in early fall. Everything went like clockwork, and we got our first BFP as a result. This IVF stuff's a piece of cake, right? Unfortunately, the BFP soon devolved into a chemical pregnancy, and we were back to the starting blocks.

We started IVF #2 after Christmas, but our RE converted it to an IUI because of "lead follicle" development. In the off-cycle waiting to start IVF #3, I had another hysteroscopy to remove uterine polyps. We have our follow-up tomorrow morning, and hope to find out the pathology on the polyps as well as our NEW PLAN -- those of you who are old hands at this know how precious those plans are!

Thanks for joining in the fun. Click on the button on the right to follow our blog -- it won't always be pretty, but it will always be real.

Checking it out.

Thanks for all of the comments and encouragement. We're doing fine, just ready to get on with the process. Next step: another hysteroscopy on Wednesday to make sure that all is well, then a follow-up appointment with the doc the following Monday to get "the new plan!"

Have a great week!

It's a no.

Today's Beta, as we expected, was a negative. We'll regroup for IVF #3 in due time. Thanks for all the prayers and positive thoughts. We'll be back in the game soon enough :)

Required Reading

Early on in our IF journey, a friend recommended that I buy a book that had been of great benefit to her: The Infertility Companion by Sandra Glahn and William R. Cutrer. Being overly optimistic and oh-so-painfully naive, I didn't order the book at the time because I assumed we weren't going to be in the trenches long enough to need it. Oh, how times have changed.

Reading the stories of struggle and success of the men and women who've been down this path can be so very helpful. I think that's part of the reason why we all love these blogs like we do. There's also something inherently comforting about a book: the tangible pleasures of page-turning, the sheer joys of losing yourself in a story. If you're a book person, you know what I mean.

If you were helping a friend build an IF bookshelf, or adding to your own, what books would you suggest? What books would you warn against? Hopefully we'll all learn something here!

HAPPY FRIDAY!!!!!!!!!!!

Question from the group

I went in for bloodwork today. I'm one week post-IUI with injectibles, and am doing Crinone once per day. My progesterone level was 39.6. The lady from the lab (read: NOT my normal contact) said "that's good, just keep doing what you're doing and come back in a week for your Beta."

My normal contact, Janet the Wonderful, is out today. Does anybody have a clue what these numbers are supposed to be? What were yours, and what was the outcome?

Yep, the 2WW is officially getting to me over here :)

Thanks in advance.