Friday, May 30, 2014

BTW in Other News - Everyone Else is Pregnant

Why oh why do these things come in waves like this? I mean, I could go 4 months without a pregnancy announcement and then I get 4 announcements in one week. BLECK!

My cousin who lives nearby is expecting - ok so we knew that one.
My sister is expecting her second - that one I wasn't really expecting but should have been, but it was gut wrenching especially since I was trapped in my own house with her for their 10-day visit after the announcement. JOY!
Good friend from high school is expecting.
Another friend I grew up with who struggled to have his first child...is now expecting twins - yay clomid! 

Who else? I know there's more. Oh the little girl in C's class that's just a few months older than C - Hmm I passed her mom on the way out of daycare yesterday. Yup, expecting #2.

I'm debating on when to take a HPT. I'll try to wait till next Friday but that's they day we're leaving for the beach for the weekend to attend a wedding. We are taking my cousin with us so if it's negative, I'll be pissed being stuck in the car with her the whole way up. Maybe I should wait till Friday afternoon. Who knows - I'll likely breakdown and test Thursday night to get it over with.

Thursday, May 29, 2014

Quick update

So sorry if I've left anyone hanging, though not sure there's anyone really waiting on baited breath.  Hail Mary FET was a "go" on Tuesday. All went accordingly and now I just wait for the end. I have no hope here really. I've already got a consult on the books with my RE to talk about next steps.

I did have my TSH retested as well as the full thyroid panel - everything was fine. TSH was back down to 2.45 so I felt much better about that.

I'll keep you posted, but in the mean time, just trying to be thankful for the little guy I've got at home who is just getting cuter and cuter by the day.

Friday, May 16, 2014

Grasping at Straws

For the past month I've been trying to find things wrong with me, so we could fix them and then this FET would be sure to work. Could it be my uterus? Open up - let's check. Nope, no smoking gun in there.

Now I've turned to my thyroid levels which the last RE we saw for a second opinion mentioned I should check. So I started researching further...kind of a back to basics thing. Here's what I know so far.

Thyroid levels are measured by TSH and T4. If TSH is high and T4 is low then you're diagnosed as hypothyroid which I've never been. Normal values for TSH are debatable it seems. Most REs say yours should be between 1-2.5 for optimal conception, but lab levels state that between 1-4 is "normal." My RE has stated that my most recent TSH level if 3.79 is nothing to worry about because I've never been diagnosed as having a hypothyroid - my T4 has been fine. Hmmmm...I've never been tested for that T4 postpartum.... so to double-check, I'm getting the panel done today.

My history of TSH thus far:

11/5/2010: TSH = 2.04 and T4= 1.38  ALL NORMAL and OPTIMAL for conception
11/8/2011: TSH = 2.84 Higher but never put on any meds
2/15/2012: TSH = 3.369 Even higher still, no meds and conceived healthy baby 2 months later
9/18/2014: TSH = 3.79 Whoa now we're getting closer to the limit, but RE said he's not worried


AHHCKK, so what to do?  Almost all the boards have been saying their RE's want their TSH lower to 2.5 or 2 range. I've certainly conceived outside of that range so I'm not sure what to believe. I trust my doctor that's for sure, but what if this is the missing link?

It would take some time to get my thyroid back to normal so if my RE decided to put me on meds, we'd necessarily be delayed with this last FET. I'm sure I'd be sad to delay but if warranted, we would delay.  Better safe than sorry with this last FET, right? I'm confused so I read more online and found an article here which has helped me to understand my RE's point of view:  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3124612/

Basically, it states that my borderline high level of TSH was not associated with adverse ART outcomes. So there's research there that backs it up, but still - if we can fix it and get it lower, should we do it?

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

FET 4.0 aka The Hail Mary

Yeah, this was supposed to work the first time around back in October, remember? I was so hopeful then and nervous that we'd end up with a family much larger than expected. Now, 8 months later, here we start on our last FET with our very last embryo. I was so naive to not think of this possibility. Of course, it was always in the way way back of my head, yet - here we are.

Lining was nice and thin yesterday and hormones looked good so we started del estrogen IMs last night. It's like deja vus in our house with this stuff. It's so routine I don't even flinch at the needle any more. Don't most people wash their face, brush their teeth, use the restroom and then inject themselves with a 3 inch needle full of hormones before they turn in?

C's transition to the toddler room continues to be difficult, but I think we're getting somewhere. Yesterday was his first day where he napped with the big kids on his own little cot. He slept for almost 2 hours which is much better than what he'd been doing in the infant room. It's just too noisy for him there to get much rest. In toddlers, everyone sleeps at the same time and it's dark and quiet and they play music. WOW - you could tell he did well with the extra sleep because he wasn't cranky yesterday evening at all. Hoping we've turned a corner with the napping. Now I just wish we could avoid the meltdowns during drop off.