D's BF's Wedding, etc.

I'm on day 8, and I (as of know) seem to have finished spotting yesterday. That's definitely an improvement for me. It would be nice if this coming weekend (or by our anniversary next Tuesday), I had fertile CM but I'm not going to hold my breath since my body likes to throw curveballs. I'm finally at my maintance dose for T3 and only have to do temps and pulses once a week instead of every day.

I hope everyone had a great July 4. We had a very low key day and just hung out at home.

D's best friend's wedding was a lot of fun, but there was a lot of baby/pregnancy talk. They are some of the later people to get married and they went to a strong Catholic college so most married people had one or more kids. One of the bridesmaids was about 8 months pregnant. I did get to see my IRL IF friend who is starting to look into adoption for her second child (tried 4 years for first and have been trying 4 years for second). I also got to see my brother who's a religious, and he and some friends prayed with me about IF.

Cycle update etc.

I'm on CD 11 and I'm still spotting which is crappy.  I've been feeling my ovaries more this cycle, but I'm not sure why.  They actually feel a bit like they did on clomid where pressure is uncomfortable.  I'm hoping the spotting will finish up so that I can actually o at a decent time.  I'm going to be starting the T3 soon (whopee on checking pulse and temps 3x a day).

I don't know if it's the fact that 2 years is getting close or D's best friend's wedding coming up soon (or some crazy hormonalness) but I've been feeling sad about IF this cycle than I had in a while.  I did however find out at the bridal shower (same wedding) that an acquaintance from my church in my hometown is now dealing with secondary IF after dealing with primary IF.  We commiserated about the fact that there was a woman there who was pregnant with her 10th child; how it's great for her but it's still hard to see when you have been waiting for the same blessing for a few years.  I'm trying to bear my cross and surrender to God's will, but right now I'm having a tough time. 

 

I've done a little writing (like 2 pages or so) on the book, but I'm going to try to do some more over the weekend now that I have a more functional computer.  I'm not sure if I'm ever going to be able to make it a true book or ever get it sold but I feel that I need to try to get it down on paper at least.  I may at some point make a private blog for it.

P+11 and Thryoid Study

I'm currently at P+11 right now without any spotting, but I feel like I'm about to spot/start a new cycle. D keeps asking me if I'm going to test soon, but I'm not going to unless I get to P+14 (Tuesday) without spotting.

I can almost guarantee that I'm not going to qualify for the Thyriod Dysfunction Study. My pre-peak average was 98.1 or 98.2 and post-peak it was 98.7 most days. I'm a little surprised that my temps were as high as they were. I'm sending the paperwork back today.

Thyroid study, waiting to o and other stuff

I did my temps and pulses last week for the Thyroid Study. My ave. temp was about 98.1 (pre-Peak), but my pulse was almost always between 80-90. I definitely have a family history of thyroid issues on my dad's side of the family (grandmother, great-aunt, aunt, and cousin all have diagnosed issues).

I'm still just charting yellow stickers (I'm using them both pre- and post-peak now) with 6C or 8C, so I'm guessing I'm not going to o on CD 16 like last month. Oh well, I doubt that the physical conditions in my uterus are such that pregnancy is probable before my surgery.

D and I are trying to decide if November or December will be better for the surgery, but he has to think about it some more. D probably won't be able to come up to Omaha with me, but either my mom or my middle brother, M/BP, will try to come with me.

M/BP, the brother who is a Brother (in the monk/religious vow sense), is going to be going to seminary this fall. The other Brother recently finished seminary and once their order grows large enough he will be ordained.

I've got a bit of a stuffy nose, which is of course at a horrible time, being relatively close to and before ovulation. I know that "normal/fertile" people get pregnant after taking Sudafed, but we are getting close to two years of trying and I want to maximize our chances.

D and I have a bit of traveling coming up soon. His cousin gets married in about 10 days in NJ. His best friend gets married in late June in St. Louis. We are also going to visit my dad's side of the family in the Pacific Northwest in August. We are only flying to the first wedding; the rest of the trips will be by car.

B/W results (lots of numbers) Updated

I got my b/w result today. According to Dr. Hilgers, the only concern is thyroid function due to the low ratio of T3/RT3. I'm supposed to be receiving information for the temps and pulse study in the mail soon. I know a few other people have done this so I'd appreciate any feedback.

Day 5 FSH= 7.3 mIU/ml (normal is 8.1+/-2.1 so it's normal)
Day 8 Estradiol= 4.1 ng/dL (the unit commonly seen is pg/ml so you multiply by 10, which would be 41 pg/ml)
Day 10 Estradiol= 9.6 ng/dL (or 96 pg/ml)
Day 12 Estradiol= 8.6 ng/dL (or 86 pg/ml)
Day 14 Estradiol= 13.6 ng/dL (or 136 pg/ml)
Day 16 Estradiol= 30.7 ng/dL (or 307 pg/ml)
Day 18 Estradiol (O-1 or Peak E2 according to graph)= 62.4 ng/dL (or 624 pg/ml)
Day 20 Estradiol (O+1)= 10.3 ng/dL (or 103 pg/ml)
P+3 Estradiol= 13.6 ng/dL (or 136 pg/ml) & Progesterone= 14.0 ng/mL (normal is 9.4+/-4.1)
Just as a note spotting started in between these two blood draws
P+5 Estradiol= 20.3 ng/dL (or 203 pg/ml) & Progesterone= 26.6 ng/mL (normal is 14.4+/-4.7)
P+7 Estradiol= 34.1 ng/dL (or 341 pg/ml) & Progesterone= 36.3 ng/mL (normal is 15.7+/-5.7)
P+9 Estradiol= 35.0 ng/dL (or 350 pg/ml) & Progesterone= 33.8 ng/mL (normal is 13.6+/-5.3)
P+11 Estradiol= 40.6 ng/dL (or 406 pg/ml) & Progesterone= 23.6 ng/mL (normal is 8.1+/-5.0)

Other P+7 results
Androstenedione= 2.0 ng/mL (normal range is 1.1-2.1)
DHEA-SO4= 118 mcg/dL (normal range is 92.8-219)
FSH= 3.7 mIU/ml (normal range is 1.9-5.9)
LH= 5.7 mIU/ml (normal range is 0.0-9.0)
Prolactin= 15.7 ng/mL (normal range is 3.0-20.0)
Total T4= 11.5 mcg/dL (normal range is 4.5-12.5)
T3 Uptake= 26.8% (normal range is 24.0-35.0
FTI= 3.1 (normal range is 1.1-4.4)
FT4= 1.4 ng/dL (normal range is 0.8-1.9)
TSH= 1.98 mcIU/mL (normal range is 0.4-4.0)
Total T3= 129 ng/DL (normal range is 70.0-170.0)
Reverse T3= 386 pg/mL (normal range is 90.0-350.0) so I'm just above normal
T3/RT3 Ratio= 3.3 (should be greater than 10)
Testosterone= 34.2 (normal range is 17.5-43.51)
Free Testosterone= 0.6 (normal range is 0.6-1.8)

I'm not clear on if the thyriod issue is hypothyroidism or hyperthyroidism. I think it's hypothyroidism, but I'm waiting to get my paperwork in the mail.

As you can see, my progesterone levels don't seem to be the cause of the spotting since they are actually pretty high. My progesterone levels, pre-peak estradiol levels, and post-peak estradiol levels are all above the high line on the graphs of normal values on the bottom of the results pages.

Note/Update: I don't know if the FSH:LH ratio of 1.0 is applicable for the luteal phase since these number are Peak+7 instead of the CD3 which is when the test is usually done looking for PCOS. PCOS has never been brought up as a likely cause of my infertility/ovulation issues.