A New Year, A New Cycle

This was supposed to be posted yesterday, January 2 - technical difficulties.

I can't bring myself to blog about the holidays, it was pretty awful.  The family drama hit an all time high, my emotions were running rampant in the midst of our cancelled cycle, it was just crappy and I am thankful it's over and we're back to the usual routine.

Here we are starting our 4th medicated cycle.  I was actually really excited to go to the clinic this morning, all this waiting around being a bench warmer was not doing it for me.  I expected the office to be busy, they were closed for a week over the holidays, but fortunately it was actually pretty quiet.  I went in for blood work and the dildo cam - there was a new tech today -> we'll just add her to the increasingly long list of people that get up close and personal with my vag in my pursuit to be a mother.  (Cici, I know it ain't the Vagina Tours and I shouldn't complain!)  Then off to the other exam room to wait for an RE.  In walks Dr. R - yay!  He spent a good 3-4 minutes just reviewing my previous few cycles.  I was slightly apprehensive that he might suggest a different plan - the info and plan often seems to change based on which RE I get to see, and Dr. C had said (during the appt they cancelled last cycle) that we'd look to injects + IUI this cycle.  Dr. R is sometimes more conservative in his approach with me, which I appreciate to an extent.  But once he was done, he said let's get started with the injects.  Then he also suggested we do the sperm wash/IUI since the stats are 3 times higher for injects + IUI than with injects + TI.  With the cost and everything we're doing, he seemed to have no reservation about doing this protocol.  He also wanted me to start 600mg/day of CoQ10, some studies have shown promising results on egg quality while taking this, so add that to the mix.  (If you're a good stalker, you may remember my post Swallowing is Hard - these pills fall into the category of things I have to choke down.  The 200mg is fine, but the 400mg is borderline horse pill!)  Then the nurse came in to give me the low down on shooting up.

Fortunately the shots are no bigger/worse than the trigger (Ovidrel) shot and I already know that's not so bad.  They have me on Puregon, similar to Gonal-F and others I have heard about it.  That's the stimulating one.  I am doing 150mg a day.  I am also doing Lupron (.1mg), which essentially should help to ensure I don't O before we're ready.  That's two shots a day in the tummy!  I did the first two with the nurse this morning so I am confident about what I need to do.  She gave me a serious little party pack of drugs!  If you're wondering what $1100 worth of fertility drugs gets you, it's this!

I am trying to stay level headed about this cycle, but the new protocol that's a little more aggressive really does give me some hope.  Please let this be our cycle.