Still Waiting..

A huge lesson that infertility or any "out-of-ordinary" situation teaches you is "patience"..In my last post I talked about how I expected my period early. Well, its still nowhere in sight. We have to plan our trip based on the day when my AF arrives, so everything is on hold, our travel plans, packing and life in general till AF shows up!


I have been keeping myself busy with "not so important" things around the house and work in general. Though I dunno why but I am particularly avoiding an annoying lady who is the mother of one of our good friends. I somehow feel she doesn't like me. Or maybe she has come to know from her daughter (my friend) that we are having trouble conceiving on our own and maybe that has made her "not like" me anymore. Or maybe all this is just in my head. Anyway I cannot stand her! Somehow the last time we met, my friend was expecting and she kept pestering me with the "when are you planning" question over and over again. When she visited our house, she asked me where do I pray?? The thing is my husband and I belong to different religious background. In India it is a big deal to follow your religious customs and prayers and most families have rituals that are done by every member of the family either together or individually. At the very least, we all say our prayers before leaving home and/or in the evening around sunset. In our house, I have a small shelf where I have kept the idols from my religion but in the main prayer room, we have idols only from my husband's faith. I am ok with this arrangement since in my religion our idols should not be kept in the open, while in his, it is ok! Also, his parents visit more often than mine and we all like to pray together in the prayer room. When my parents visit, they are ok with praying anywhere (our religion is not very strongly associated with Idol worship). So well, for us this arrangement works great!! 


She, on the other hand, an outsider, is curious about how we work things out when it comes to religious practices. I got a little annoyed at her being soo curious about things that she has nothing to do with.


I let that pass. However, this time around when we went to see her at our friends place, i felt like she was avoiding me and wasn't being as friendly as she used to be. Maybe she found out and maybe she is going to tell her daughter to stay away or keep her kid away from me or some crap like that. I don't know and I don't want to know. Its just that when people start learning things, they start looking out for their own rather than comforting those who need it. Guess this is the way it works! It doesn't bother me so much, but I would not want to entertain them or get involved with our friends while she is around. So when they invited us for dinner this evening, I just asked my husband to tell them we won't make it. I have enough things to deal with right now and I don't won't to worry about some strange lady forming an opinion about me or judging me!


Again, I sometimes feel this is in my head and maybe I should not let all this get to me. Maybe she's fine and I AM NOT. I don't know. But like I said, maybe I just want to avoid awkward moments in my life. The lesser the better!!


P.S I finally got listed on Melissa's blogroll (or the Stirrup Queen's Completely Anal List of Blogs That Proves That She Really Missed Her Calling as a Personal Organizer, as she calls it) Thanks a ton Melissa!!

We Are Doing Good!!

So, we got my sugar and vitamin D3 results. Guess what?? My vitamin D3 has jumped to a huge 42.8 ng/ml (from a mere 15 ng/ml)  That is huge for me!!! I was stunned to see the results since I never expected it to go beyond 20 forget making it to the 30 mark. So that was awesome! 


My Fasting blood sugar also came down to 82 mg/dl, my RE required it to be below 90 mg/dl before we go into the cycle. So that was great news as well!


So far things are looking pretty good. I think I'm beginning to develop a certain superstition that the clinic where I got my blood work done is lucky for me and my husband. We checked his sugar and cholesterol levels which were quiet high in September. His sugar is still a little off but the cholesterol has come down significantly which felt really nice.


I am expecting my period on the 5th or the 6th rather than the 7th as suggested by the RE. I am already having some PMS symptoms including nausea which is new for me. I think my estrogen and progesterone supplements are causing it. I was quiet sick on Monday, didn't eat much since I was throwing up pretty much any thing that I ate. It has come down considerably now but I am a little cramped. So well I think I should be getting my period early.


We just have a week or so left for making our trip to Mumbai. We are really excited! More because it will give us some time off and another shot at conceiving our baby. So let's see how it goes!


We have backup plans though, just in case this cycle doesn't work, we may plan to move closer to Mumbai. It is going to be a huge decision for us, but we hope in the end it will all work out for us. 


P.S I am trying to get my blog listed on the Stirrup Queens blogroll but haven't heard from Melissa yet. If any of you have any idea on how I can get it done faster, please do leave a comment here. Thanks!

Where are my meds??

The last couple of days have been good since we celebrated Diwali. We had friends come over to celebrate the festivities, we decorated our house and all in all it was some wonderful time spent at home with friends. 


The doctor called back to inform me that my CD 12 lining looks good at 11.2 mm (Well that better be good!). I have also started my Duphastone (progestrone) tablets from yesterday. I suddenly realized that the total number of tablets that I take in a day now stands at 11 (3 tabs in the morning, 2 in the afternoon and 6 in the evening). I really hope my liver is strong enough to put up with so much of medication! Just for the record here is my list:
Morning:

1. Metfomin 500mg
2. Estrogen 10mg
3. Progestrone 2mg

Afternoon

1. Metfomin 500mg
2. Estrogen 10mg

Evening

1. Metfomin 1000mg
2. Estrogen 10mg
3. Progestrone 2mg
4. Ecosprin
5. Folic Acid
6. Arachitol o (for vitamin d3)

The issue that I am facing these days is getting these medicines. Since my doctor is in Mumbai, she prescribes tablets that are not that easily available in my town and I need to search (thanks to google) for distributors to get the contact numbers and finally the requisite dosage of my medication. It is a pain to go from pharmacy to pharmacy looking for my prescribed drugs though with little success. I generally end up looking up for the distributor in my city and calling them up directly for the medication.  Guess we'll be making a long trip tomorrow to get my Estrogen tablets tomorrow from another part of the town.


I also need to get my sugar levels checked tomorrow. But the annoying test that I will be doing tomorrow is my Vitamin D3 test. The thing about vitamin D3 is that it takes atleast 2-3 months for the levels to improve even after we start the medication. For eg, when I checked my levels in early september, they were at 15 and in early october they were at 18 inspite of me having taken regular medication plus 3 shots (yes one shot per week!) of vitamin D3 injections. For now I am only taking a supplement and my Arachitol Tablets and have very little hope of the levels improving at least they won't reflect in the blood so soon is my guess. 


However, my doctor insists that I keep checking those levels and well keep getting disappointed with it! It sort of has a very negative impact on my overall psyche coz I feel like I am lacking somewhere but to think about it that may not be the case really! The other part about vitamin D3 tests is that they are expensive. It costs me Rs.1600 per test. I can claim medical reimbursement at work but given the amount we are spending on tests and prescribed medication this year I am going to run out of my quota of Rs.15000 per year very soon.


I sometimes wonder how do the doctors subject us to such expensive tests without being hopeful of seeing any results. For one thing, I am sure that vitamin D3 may contribute to the infertility on the whole but not sure it affects the chances of conception, not with IVF! I think the doctors here don't feel the need to discuss this with the patients, it is like once you have jumped onto the IVF wagon, you should be ready to bear any expenses that come your way and you "have to" be able to afford it, else don't get onto the wagon at all!

TVS Scan Results: CD12

A little background: 
We are planning to do an FET in November 2nd week. My RE is currently monitoring my ET lining to ensure that everything is looking good. I got a CD 9 scan done to determine the lining and it was a 7.1 mm which I thought was good for a CD 9. However, my RE was not very happy with it ad asked me to increase my Estrogen dosage from twice a day to thrice a day! 
Well this left me feeling a little annoyed and more nauseous (I have developed nausea after starting the estrogen tablets). Anyway so here's the update after having administered the increased dosage:


I went to a radiologist today and got a TVS (trans vaginal scan) done to determine if my lining is any better (CD 12). Well, it is at 11.2 mm which I think is again gr8! though I am not sure what the RE will have to say about it. 


Also, I am ovulating a little late this cycle. I generally ovulate around day 10-12 of the cycle, however this time around I am at CD 12 and my follicles ( I asked the radiologist to measure them as I was a little concern as to why i am not ovulating yet!) are measuring a good 16mm on the left and 12mm on the right. So well, nothing to worry I think, I should be ovulating in a couple of days!


It is strange how we still continue to have timed sex although we know the outcome will not be what we expect it to be. I somehow cannot tear away hope from fact..So much for the "intelligent human mind" !!


In other news, I found out last week that two of my younger sister-in-laws (my cousins got married pretty early) are pregnant. So my aunt is going to have two new born in her house  and she cannot stop asking anyone who is even remotely married, "So, when are you giving the "good news""?? ( In india, this is the most decent way to saying, you are growing old, better start TTC) and if they already have a child, she asks, "So , when are you planning your second child"?? God!! some people have a way with getting on people's nerves.
As for me, I simply don't call her, not on her b'day or their anniversary nor to congratulate them on the "good news"!!