The Two Week Wait!

So I am in the always dreaded 2 week wait, for anyone unsure, that means the period of time  between ovulation (Or in my case getting the positive OPK) and the next cycle starting.
It apparently needs to be at least 12/14 days to allow time for any fertilised egg to safely implant.

Despite all the irregular periods I have, the one thing that does seem to stay fairly regular is the length of my 2 week wait (Or luteal phase as I believe the proper term is ) is usually 14 days.

This was my 3rd cycle of taking Clomid and I got my most positive ovulation test (OPK) on cycle day 16!!!
It started to go positive over the couple of days before and on CD16 it was VERY positive.
I was worried after last month as I did not get my clear positive until CD24 which made my cycle really long and I did not get my next period until CD39.
I knew last month was not likely to be our month as we had not...tried when I got the positive OPK as we had another health scare with hubby.

I had thought about taking a higher does of Clomid for this month, but after talking to hubby we decided we would give the 50mg another chance as this would be the first month we were going to be able to properly try at the right time and everything.
I had also been keen to give the Sperm Meets Egg Plan another go but with the help of Clomid. I have seen this plan discussed on lots of trying to conceive forums.

Here is how this plan is meant to work....

You start..trying every other day from cycle day 8
From cycle day 10 you need to start testing for ovulation with OPKs (Ovulation Prediction Kits)
When you get a positive test you start trying that night and the two nights straight after it.
You then skip a night and then try the next night for one more shot.
If you do not get your period, you take a pregnancy test 15 days after the positive OPK.

If you never get a positive OPK then you are meant to keep trying every other day until CD35 and then take a pregnancy test if you do not get your period.

Today is CD19 so I am only about 3 or 4 DPO (Days Past Ovulation) so not much more I can really do but wait I guess.
This cycle is a big one to me as like I mentioned its the first proper one on Clomid where we have been able to give it a proper try, I have been finding it so hard to stay positive lately and have really been starting to feel this might never happen for us this time so IF this month is another failure despite the fact we are now trying absolultely everything it is going to be even harder!

It's nearly Easter/Ostara, the kids break up from school tomorrow and are then home for 2 weeks, unfortunately hubby has to work through the school holidays which doesn't make it easy to keep the kids entertained.
We also have a funeral to attend in the first week as his so lovely auntie passed away.
My special older brother is turning 40 during the holidays and as it is on a weekend hubby, the boys and I will be able to drive up to see him on the days itself which is brilliant.
My parents and younger brother will also be going up there on the train, so a big day.
So with all of that and yet more hospital appointments with hubby, a busy time all round.

I can't believe we are on to month 30!!!!!!

Yep by my maths since this month is yet another bust, I am now on my 30th cycle of trying to conceive our 4th and final baby.

This is a hard number to reach, as was celebrating another birthday without being pregnant the other week and of course every birthdayt just reminds me I am getting older and that clock seems to tick ever louder

It also means this is cycle number 3 on Clomid, I dread to thinkk how bad it will be this month as the side effects have got worse each cycle. Today is cycle day 2 which means I start taking it again tonight, it also means I am in total and utter agony with period pains which have always been bad but since Clomid are even worse.

My first Clomid cycle I did have some side effects but I was so pleased when I got my VERY positive opk bang on cycle day 14 and then got my af on perfect day 28, so although I was not lucky enough to get pregnant that month I was full of hope as my cycle was finally normal!

BUT the next cycle the side effects were 100 times worse, I did not get my positive opk until cd24, I got another on cd25 and then had a 38 day cycle!!

I know we were not able to....try as much as we needed either of those months, the first was due to hubby being in hospital and then the second cycle, although he was home and feeling better, he did have a major health scare when his repeat CT scan showed lesions on his liver, but luckily this turned out not to be what we were terrified of.

Hubby has promised THIS will be the month, but who knows!!!!



Another messed up month

After all the stress and chaos last month with hubby being in hospital for 11 days I was obviously disappointed but not surprised that it still was not our month ttc wise, despite it being apparently perfect with the Clomid giving me my positive ovulation test result on cd14 and then the cycle being the 28 days it is meant to be.

But this cycle has gone a bit crazy. I took exactly the same dose of Clomid - 50mg, on the same cycle days cd2 to cd6 and as hubby was feeling better we were able to...try more regularly.
I started doing my opks from cd10 and around cd12 I got what I thought might be a positive (Although it did take a little while to show up on the strip)
Then a week later I got 2 days of faintly positive cheapie pregnancy tests, which has happened to me before more than once when I am ovulating.
But then ANOTHER week later I got 2 days of positive opks, this was pretty late in my cycle though, cd24 and cd25.
Unfortunately by then hubby had given up for the month as far as triyng to conceive, he says he is just really tired but I think he is finding working and all the worrying about his health and various scans etc too much.
Plus he does have a habit of staying up late. (Which I am trying not to get annoyed/frustrated about that as I know he IS worried about himself right now)

Anyway as I have no definite idea of when I might have ovulated this cycle I cannot count days past ovulation and so have no real idea of when I might be due to start my next cycle.
I am wondering whether I might need to increase my Clomid dose for next cycle as if I did not ovulate until this weekend it means not only that as we have not ...tried for 4 days before then so have missed it, but also that the Clomid has not helped me to ovulate earlier this month and I am already back to being irregular and having a long cycles which is not good

Hubby is worried about the idea of me taking a bigger dose as I am having lousy side effects on the dose I am on, but the way I see it I cannot feel much worse, but at least if I take a bigger dose and it does the trick then I won't have to take it any longer.

I guess it is another case and of wait and see this month, but I am not expecting good news....

Not sure what's going on

Not sure whether this really counts as much of an update really but here goes...

I am on day 16 of my second cycle of taking Clomid fertility drug.
I have been testing with my ever faithful cheapie ovulation tests since day 10 and still not had what I would consider a positive result, especially considering I had a very obvious positive on them last month on day 14.

We have been trying regularly of course, but I can't help worrying that I am putting myself through all the horrible side effects I am getting on the Clomid for nothing!
The side effects were even worse this month, migraines, hot flashes, dizzy spells, insomnia and cramps.
I tried to register as a blood donor and was told I cannot donate blood until I have been off the Clomid for 3 months!

So as I am unable to count days past ovulation I have no idea when I might be able to take pregnancy tests and also no clue when my next cycle is due to start.

So frustrating, but I guess it would feel even worse if I was not so focused on my hubby getting well.
He is still having various tests including another CT scan and also a camera down the throat and various blood tests.

It will be my birthday in about 2 weeks so I guess that would be as a good a day as any to take  a test IF my next cycle does not start of course.

Yet again I cannot end my blog without mentioning the tragic loss of yet another icon.

RIP Whitney Houston
1963 to 2012

No surprise but still disappointed

As you can probably guess from the blog title this is not my month either.
I started spotting a couple of days ago, typically straight after taking a pregnancy test.

As always there was that little glimmer that maybe the test and the spotting were wrong but  I have to accept they were not wrong and that despite the good news of being told the Clomid had worked and that I had definitely ovulated and that we had timed everything right, I am STILL not pregnant.

So as tomorrow will be cd2 I will be starting my 50mg dose just before bedtime.
Hopefully  this month will be a bit easier as at least hubby won't be in hospital and will be with me.
One good thing I can say about Clomid is, fingers crossed it seemed to bring my erratic cycle back down to 28 days (Just hope that lasts)
I have just realised that if this new cycle also lasts for 28 days my next cycle will be due to start (or not) on my birthday!!

Update on Clomid

GOOD MORNING BLOG READERS!!

I am actually feeling a little positive today.

Today is cd23 and I am about 9 days past ovulation going by when my opks turned negative.

I went for my cd21 blood test 2 days ago to see what my progesterone level is to confirm whether the 5 days of 50mg of Clomid actualy worked and made me finally ovulate.

I was so nervous this morning, mad isn't it?

I spoke to hubby and we decided I would not try phoning the fertility nurses for the results until about 11am, well of course that did not work and by 10am I was on the phone, but there was no answer and I had to leave a message for them to phone me back.

Nightmare as I hate waiting for phone calls.

Anyway they DID phone me back and they DID have my results ready.

The nurse asked what Clomid dose I had been on and then said I needed to take the same dose again next month, she then said my level was 57.8 and I said "Well is that good? Did I definitely ovulate?" and she said.....

YES!!!

I am soooo relieved!!

The nurse said just take 50mg again next cycle on the same days (cd2 to cd6) and that I would not need a blood test next cycle.

I am so pleased to know it actually worked, although not hopeful as we only ..tried once this cycle as hubby had been so ill, but I guess you never know.

I just hope the Clomid works as well next cycle and that we are able to try a bit more.

But so far so good and I am pleased not to have to take a higher dose next month.







What a start to the new year this has been!!!

I hope anyone out there reading this had a better start to 2012 than we did.
My poor hubby only came out of hospital on Monday having spent nearly 11 days there.

He had not really been himself since the week before Christmas, he is usually famous for his appetite but he was not really eating as much as he usually did and kept mentioning feeling bloated, but none of us really thought much about it as who doesn't feel bloated around Christmas.

We went away for a few days between Christmas and the new year and he was the same.
Then the first week of the new year he got really bad, he went back to work on January 3rd and by that afternoon he was on the phone telling me he was on the way home and had made an emergency appointment with our gp.
So we went to the doctor who after testing a urine sample said he had a bladder infection and prescribed a strong antibiotic.
The next day was our eldest son's birthday, poor love, it was a bit ruined for him as aswell as having to school on his birthday (And we all remember how rubbish that was) his dad spent the entire day in bed struggling to get any sleep as the bloated feeling had turned to agony.

So despite trying to get him to go to hospital or at least go back to gp, 2 days later we wereback seeing a different gp who said the urine sample had been sent to the hospital showed there was not a bladder infection so told him to stop the antibiotics.
She tested another sample and was worried when it showed signs of liver trouble, so then we were sent off to the hospital for a blood test (as apparently our gp surgery could not fit him in for one, even in an emergency)
So after waiting in agony for nearly 2 HOURS hubby had his blood test.
We had to go straight back to the gp for the results the next morning.
The morning of the appointment hubby was worse than ever, neither of us had been getting any sleep and I had ended up on the sofa to let him have the whole bed to try to get comfortable and sleep.

So by the time we saw the gp hubby was really suffering.
Before examining him she said we had 2 options either they send him home with general antibiotics for me to look after (Like I had already been)
OR we could go to hospital to find out what was wrong!!! (Yes, seriously, she thought there was a choice)

Then she examined him and got worried he might have a blockage in his bowel so we were sent to hospital
I won't go into how much we were messed about in A & E despite hubby clearly being in agony.
Hubby was admitted and the first guess was kidney stones, he was finally given morphine and after a CT scan of the kidneys they ruled out kidney stones and changed their guess to possible ulcers and were talking about doing a proceedure called a colonoscopy.
This was untill another doctor said if there were ulcers they could rupture during the proceedure so instead they decided it would be a better idea to do a FULL CT scan (I know, might have been a better idea to have done in the first place but there you go)
While all this was going on hubby was not allowed to eat anything (Not that he even wanted to) he was on morphine,  paracetemol, 2 different antibiotics and iv fluids.

It was a bit of a shock when they told us the CT result, there was no mention of ulcers. they said they were diagnosing pancreatitis and the scary part was it was not caused by alcohol or gallstones as it usually is, hubby's was caused by widespread blood clots!

So now he is on Warfarin and we are waiting to find out the cause of these scary clots via all sorts of genetic and other blood tests.
He has been home for 4 days and fingers crossed his pain is easing.
We are still going back and forth to the hospital as they are trying to get his blood clotting levels right and his Warfarin dose right.
We are also waiting for appointments with haemotology and gastro (as he has an enlarged liver too)
But I am so glad hubby is finally home, it has been a nightmare for us all, my poor kids have had to out up with me having to spend about 6 hours a day at the hospital for 10 days and I have had to juggle 3 kids, (getting them fed to and from school etc) home and making sure hubby is properly looked after (as they kept him waiting far too long for pain relief)

As for the TTC, well the day hubby was admitted to hospital was cd2 in my cycle so was the day I started my very first cycle of Clomid, I ummed and ahhhed about whether to still take it, but in the end I decided to do it as I know it can take months to work.

It was horrible taking it at home alone without hubby,
Side effects wise it was not too bad, but I guess I was so distracted with all the worry with hubby I might not have noticed.
I did have weird feelings in my lower abdomen and my boobs were a bit painful for a couple of days.

Anyway I started testing with my usual cheapie ovulation tests and they went from totally negative to the strongest positive I have EVER had on cd14 which is also the earliest I have EVER had a positive.
And also very unusually I went back to negative the next day when normally I have my positive for 3 days running.
We were only able to try on the day of the positive which I know is a good thing, but I am not holding out much hope.
I am on cd16 today and will need to go for my first progesterone test on cd21, then I will have to wait 2 days and then phone for the results to find out what dose I need to take next cycle.

Wow what a long blog

Happy New Year to you all xxxxxxx