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Jenna--really sorry to hear about your BFN! :( Wishing you the best this next go around. Take care!!

Jenna, i am so so sorry. i always gave myself a few days to 'grieve' it, then i just jumped in head first to the next cycle. it seemed moving on helped. are you going to do another IUI- maybe try injectables if you haven't yet? i did 4 IUIs, so i know how hard it is go through it, but you can do it! Stacie, sounds like perfect timing for a teacher's baby to be due in the spring!! i know many teachers try and plan it that way iwth the summer off!! once you start the BCP, the cycle actually moves really fast, i was surprised, before i knew it, i was already doing the ER and ET!! do you know what other drugs you will be on for stims? the lupron is easy, it just itched after you put it in.

Tink..We are going to do another IUI. My dr.says we will do them for 6 months before going to something different...hopefully though we won't have to. What are injectables? Does your dr. have to prescribe them? Thank you for saying that I need to grieve. Yesterday I wouldn't even let myself cry. Mydh tried to hug me and I pushed him away b/c I knew I would cry. Poor dh. I'm still having spotting but no AF. I've always been very regular. Do you think the IUI would make me irregular?
Thanks everyone for your kind words. It means a lot to know I'm not alone.

Jenna, i assume you are on clomid? are you? Most RE's have you start off with clomid with your IUI, and also have you use a trigger shot like ovidrel to trigger ovulation to time the IUI just right. are you using both clomid and trigger with your IUI? as you know, the clomid helps you produce follicles that release eggs. the injectables (like follistim, gonal-f) are just alternatives to clomid- they are a shot you give yourself at home at night for up to 5-10 days to stimulate follicle growth. they are stronger than clomid and can produce many follicles (but too many is bad!- risk of multiples or cancelling of cycle). but they can also sometimes improve the quality of your eggs and won't thin your uterine lining like clomid does. most people do 2-3 IUIs with clomid, then move on to injectables. If you aren't getting your positive after 3 IUIs with clomid, i would defintiely move on to injectables. most RE's say if it doesn't work in 3 tries, then move on to the next step. I did 2 IUIs with clomid, the moved on to the shots and did 2 with the shots. I responded well (grew good follicles like i was supposed to)< but still got a negative, so we moved on. it was obviously another problem, not a follicle problem (we were unexplained). so i didn't want to keep doing IUIs forever. I moved on to IVF. i had been on fertility drugs for a year at that point almost. But i wouldn't do more than 3 IUIs with clomid and 3 with shots. I only did 4 and thought that was almost too many. It just depends on how you respond, what your doc can tell is your problem (do they know?) and if you can afford to keep doing them. MY IUIs were covered under insurance, but the drugs were not. the injectables/shots are expensive if your ins doesn't cover them. $600-$1000 per mont just for the shots alone, not including the IUI portion. but they work better for most folks. after 4 IUIs, my ins changed and I lost IUI coverage, so we jumped to IVF instead since putting the money towards that made more sense to increase our chances and it worked. You can do some research online to learn more about injectables- follistim is probably hte most widely known. do a search and read up, it can give you all the technical details. the side effects were less for me than the clomid. good luck!

oh and Jenna, the IUI wouldn't make you irregular, but any drugs you are on can make your cycle different. clomid is known for sometimes making cycles longer. so if you are on any fertility drugs, those can cause the change in your cycle. just discuss your concerns with the doc. and yes, you should grieve. it isn't easy going through this and you have to let yourself just cry and let it out every once in awhile, but don't dwell on it. get it out and move on! good luck!

Tink...I'm not any infertility drugs as of yet. My husband had leukemia (15 yrs. remission) and doesn't produce sperm. I also have a history of endometriosis. That's why we are doing IUI's. AF came today so on the 10th we start the whole process over again.

Hey ladies. So sorry about the negative Jenna. I know all too well how difficult that time of the month is. Staci- I'm an educational diagnostician. I work 9 extra days over the 187 that teachers work. So, my summer will start a little later than yours. BUT, because school is starting later this year we get a longer summer! Woooohooooo! Well, DH had his SA done yesterday. The motility was only at 35% and they want to see at least 40%. The count was 24 million and they want to see at least 20 million. Soooooooooo, we're moving on to IUI this month! I'm so excited! I am hoping to go straight to follistim shots as I am so dang tired of the clomid and how it makes me feel. So, I'll have to wait to see if the RE OKs that for me or not. They were wanting to switch to the follistim for the next cycle anyway so I don't see that it will be a problem. And the shots and ovidrel have already been preauthorized so my insurance will pay for them! Double woohooo! AF is finally here. I had brown spotting for 3 days but I finally see red now. So, I'll be headed to the RE in a few days for a u/s. I'm so excited about starting this month!

Hey girls! I hope you all are doing well. A week ago I thought I was starting period, but didn't so I'm now on CD 17 and still haven't detected O yet. Not surprising since I didn't take any O inducing drugs this cycle. If I haven't gotten a positive OPK by CD 21 then I'm starting prometrium to induce a period so I won't have a super long cycle! Wishing you all the best and lots of baby dust!!

Hi all, hope everything is going well for everyone. This natural cycle was a bust so I am off to IVF. I am trying to move my date up to start from the 22nd to this coming Friday. I hope that the IVF works for us. It would be so great if it did. Where is everyone else in their cycle?

Hi Ladies, Can I join the DFW group? I live near Dallas & just started seeing Dr Barnett in Plano. Here's my history. TTC for over 3 yrs, 2 early m/c, diagnosed by OB/Gyn w/luteal phase defect, 2 separate rounds of Clomid w/no BFP and finally decided to go see Dr B. He determined the Clomid has thinned my uterus lining so no wonder I haven't conceived. I go Monday to learn how to do my injectibles which will start at the end of May. Pending DH's semen analysis, we may do IUI, guess I'll find out Monday which way we'll go! I just had a bunch of blood work done & am also waiting to get all those results back. I am a little nervous about the injectibles but at this point if it will give us a baby, I'm up for it! I'm 34 so I feel like I can't waste anymore time. I wish you all the best. This site is so great to talk to other women who are going through the stress of TTC. Any advice on the injectibles? I'm currently on CD 8 & counting the days! Not trying this cycle as my RE has me taking the bc pill to try and build back up my lining.

Welcome BAF!! Wishing you the best with the injectables, they really aren't that bad. The needles barely hurt!
Hannah-sorry this last natural cycle was a bust for you. Wishing you all the best with IVF. Get ready for me to be asking you lots of questions seeing how you will now be starting your IVF before me! ;) Looks like I'm not going to O on my own this cycle, so I'm going to start prometrium tomorrow to induce a cycle. Then I have one more cycle before I start IVF. I wanted to wait until the school year was over to start the whole process, or I would be starting it now! Wishing you all the best! Take care!!

BAF- welcome- my RE, dr. douglas works wiht dr. barnett some- i think they share nurses and stuff on the weekends etc. Anyways- good luck with your journey. the shots aren't bad at all. in fact, i liked them more than clomid- the side effects were easier to deal with. as for your thin lining- the shots won't do that. you might look into acupuncture too- i did it with my IVF cycle. it can greatly improve your lining- since it helps with blood flow and ciruclation. my lining was awesome for my IVF due to it. look up Dr. Lin Zhou in Richardson. STACI- hope you get a postiive OPK and if not, hope AF comes soon. i know the waiting is just torture sometimes. HANNAH, sorry to hear this cycle was a bust. but i am excited for you to start IVF. do you know what your protocol will be (what drugs etc?). JENNA- so sorry again!! just wanted to say hi! doing okay here, starting back to work tomorrow finally. i found out i am anemic and now on iron pills. i'll be 14 weeks along tomorrow, which is a relief to make it past the first tri.

I know what you mean. I have been so depressed. We've been ttc for 10 years. Everyone around and kin are having babies. Everyone has to ask every time you are around them When are you going to have a baby. I'm like don't even ask that question.

Staci, I don't think I am going to start the IVF cycle until May 25th. I am scheduled to get my calendar that day as well as start the Lupron. Had my injection class yesterday and turned in all of my signed consent forms. I wanted to try and start ealier, but I am going to wait to the already scheduled time we have. Tink, I just picked up all of my medications yesterday. Well actually all but the ovidrel shots. They are going to next day fed-ex it to me when i am ready for them. They say they only make those for a 30 day expiration. The meds that I picked up are: PIO, Lupron, Desogen, Follitism, Ovidrel, Methylprenisolone, Estrace, Valium for the retrieval, Insulin, Novarel, Tetracycline (antibiotics). Some of the items I know, other's I don't know what they are going to be for. I guess I'll find out at the appointment on the 25th. I also think they forgot to provide me with needles for the Novarel. I lucked out that my meds were less than 100.00. Majority was covered 100%. I think I also found a perk to this whole process. It looks like I can save myself about 1200 (my part) to have this procedure done. Granted I have to front 6100.00 and then once I file myself with the insurance company, I would have only paid about 1500 for the procedure instead of 2900.00. BAF, welcome and good luck on what ever your next procedure will be.

Hi Ladies. Well I went for my meds instruction yesterday & am getting so excited. It's so nice to have hope again. Hope to start injections the week of Memorial Day. And DH's sperm count was off the charts so we will try the meds w/intercourse. Wish us luck!

Hi girls. I went to the dr. today for my 10 day sono. I start ovulation testing tomorrow. This is our second month to ttc and I'm much more calmer, thankgoodness! I've been getting acupuncture regularly for almost a year now and my dr. said that it could help with conceiving so I had that done today also. If I haven't surged by Monday I'll go get acupuncture again. How is everyone else doing?