06 September 2011

Here we go again

In previous posts, I described our infertility and pregnancy loss before having Abigail. To continue...

When Abi was 6 months old, I stopped breastfeeding so that I could start taking Clomid again in hopes of having another child close in age. My body had already returned to normal operation for a women, and in fact, was actually closer to normal operation than before giving birth ...at least for the first few months. I was also considering that I was 33, and it took about 4 years to bring Abi into our lives. That was in July 2010.

The doctor who delivered Abi started me on 50mg of Clomid. She was very cautious and monitored me through each cycle by doing several ultrasounds to determine if I was going to ovulate. The first Clomid cycle was very disappointing. No follicles matured, which means I wouldn't ovulate and there were not going to be any eggs to get fertilized. Then, since I didn't ovulate, I didn't start a period. So, in my mind, no period means that I could be pregnant! I began to have hope that God had done another miracle, and we would be welcoming another child to our family soon.

Every month for a women trying to conceive is like a dramatic ride. It is kind of like those swinging ship rides at an amusement park. You know... the ones that start slowly swinging and build up to the point where your hanging upside down for a few seconds? Well, that's what a cycle (or month) of trying to conceive is like. At first, you start getting hopeful, but you tell yourself not to get too emotionally involved. But as the month goes on, you have moments of confidence that you're pregnant and then moments when you are convinced that you aren't. And by the end of that two week wait between ovulation and expected period start date, you have days where you feel like you are hanging upside down.

So I took pregnancy tests ....lots and lots of them. Thank goodness for Dollar Tree tests, or we'd have spent hundreds each month on tests. Seven days and probably 10 hpts after my period should have started, my doctor started me on progesterone for 10 days to jump start my next cycle. A few days after I finished the prescription, my period started. I was so disappointed, but excited to get started on the next cycle.

The second cycle was slightly more optimistic because there was a follicle that had grown to about 15mm. Ideally, they want them to be between 17 and 23 for a good healthy egg to develop, so the doc gave it a few more days to grow and then triggered ovulation with an hcg injection. But again, there was no positive, and along came my period two weeks after the injection.

The third cycle was similar to the 1st and was also long and drawn out. Then the 4th cycle was similar to the 2nd despite using 100mg of Clomid.

So  after 5 months and 4 cycles, my OBGYN gave up and referred me to specialist.

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