Sunday, March 13, 2011

Testing 1, 2, 3...

So it began with aunt flow. In fertility world: AF. Simply put but not over descriptive. Then on cycle day 3 (CD 3) I went in for blood work. Holy mother did they take a lot of blood. Not to be crude, but I was already hemmorhaging from other places...did we need to take a quart more? Whats even more fun, I had to fast. So here I was, a rainy Saturday morning, no food, already loosing blood, on my way to give some away. 6 vials worth. Cool. Awesome.....I thought I was going to pass out! But after a mocha and a large egg and sausage scramble I was ready to begin my search for answers!

Here is a link if you are interested in what they tested my blood for: http://www.fertilityauthority.com/tests-and-medications/blood-tests. They also checked a complete blood count, and metabolic panel for my electrolyte levels and kidney function.

On CD 5 I went in to the office for my early cycle ultrasound which I now know should be called the crimson ultrasound (I'll explain). First off, good news, all my labs came out fine. Great! No hormone imbalances thus far. I remember the doctor saying to me, "this is very promising." Then, we proceeded with the ultrasound. I was hoping for a large glob of goop on my belly and then a easy start. Nope, these ultrasounds must be completed transvaginally. Yep, up that-a-way...on day 5...when things aren't at their best. Cool.

The ultrasound device looks like, well, a really long vibrator. And, to make it sanitary they cover it with a very long.......c'mon you can guess....condom! Alright, now we're getting into the nitty gritty. To make an amazingly inappropriate story short they spent the next twenty minutes looking at my uterus, and both ovaries. They expected to see several maturing follicles on each ovary. This is called "recruitment phase" because many follicles (aka eggs) are developing at this point. In another week or two a dominent follicle takes over, and that becomes the egg that is released during ovulation. My uterus looked good, a nice little home for a fertilized egg if one should come its way.

Everything looked fine so far, which was good news. But, if nothing was wrong....why weren't we getting pregnant?

After I ovulated (which I tracked with ovulation predictor sticks) I went in for another blood test. Its called a progesterone test. Progesterone is what sustains the second part of the menstrual cycle. It is what allows time for an embryo to make the journey down the fallopian tubes and implant in the uterus without being evacuated too soon with aunt flow. So, if you have low progesterone after ovulation, you can begin to spot or start a new cycle before 10-12 days past ovulation, thereby preventing successful pregnancy. Also, progesterone is used to detect ovulation. Since progesterone peaks 5-8 days past ovuation it is drawn then. For a natural cycle the level should be above 10. Mine was 17. Good, I ovulated. The only thing a little different about me is that I didn't ovulate until I was around CD 22, making my cycles longer. This isn't the end of the world, but could be a factor in our problem.

I did not conceive this cycle, so it was on to more tests....

1 comment:

  1. You and the u/s wand will become VERY good friends throughout this journey! I figured up, by the time our IVF is over I will have had around 30 u/s since our initial visit with the RE in October!

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