The good, the bad and the unknown

All in no particular order. PS - this post was started on Friday but due to the drama, postponed.

I think I jinxed myself by saying, well, a lot of things. One, that I am regular. Two, that this cycle will only cost us about $800 and three, that I am calm. All those things have gone waaaaay down the tube.

I had my u/s on Friday, CD12 and things look okay. Not anywhere near great or good. This has never happened to me so I was caught a bit off guard. I had two almost mature follies, one at 15mm and one at 18mm, not ready to trigger yet. Also, I had a thin uterine lining at 5mm (is that the correct measurement?). They want it to be at least 8mm. NO GOOD. To top it off, they saw "fluid" in the uterus. This fluid could be water, blood or diet coke - they do not seem to know or care, as long as it reabsorbs. Oh - and my E2 levels were 465. Again, not good. My instructions when I left on Friday were to come back for another u/s and blood draw the next morning.

When I left there I was crushed. It wasn't horrible results, but I didn't get the green light either. One thing we've always been able to count on was my regular and near textbook cycles and responses to medication. This was just one more frustration to add to the list. Not to mention the added expense. Another u/s and blood draw would add another $400+ to the cost of this cycle.

So, Saturday morning I drove the hour to my clinic. Again. And the results were much better. My uterus looked great - no "fluid" and a lining of 9mm. My two follicles had grown to 22 and 24. Yay! The nurse gave me the green light to trigger that night. She also instructed DH and I to have intercourse that night coinciding with trigger. I've never been told this before, we've always been told to abstain. Hmmm...Whatever. It is worth a shot. She said that way we would be covered in case I ovulated on my own or earlier than the 36 hour trigger.

Monday, IUI day. I am feeling major ovulation pains and feeling good that we have the timing down pat. I triggered at 9pm on Saturday night and our IUI was at 1:45pm on Monday. Sunday I felt minor cramps and twinges but again, Monday brought major cramping. At one point I actually felt like I had my period due to the cramping (and bloating). So, timing. Good.

DH's sample. Not good. Our last two IUIs DH was at a count of 23 million and 18 million respectively. This time? 8 million. What the hell?? One, it may just be the black cloud of bad luck that follows us around. Two, it may be because we had intercourse about 36 hours prior, bringing his count down a bit. As in, not enough time to regenerate. I'm not sure. Bottom line, another kick in the shins.

Two follicles, 8 million swimmers. What are the odds??