frustrations and firsts

Frustrations - working with the lab here in my home city to get our lab results down to the clinic has been a nightmare. Partly because the IVF nurse they paired me with is a moron and partly because the lab cannot do Stat E2. By the time I am writing this post we have called our clinic three times because the first order my IVF nurse called in was for HCG and not E2. Good thing I read :) and caught it. Then they said they faxed over the updated order but they did not and the nurse blamed me for giving her the wrong fax number. But I know I didn't because I have the fax number memorized because I've been having blood work faxed there for the last 4 1/2 years at a rate of almost once month. This was all occurring a few days before I was to get the blood work done. When I arrived on Friday morning at 8 am I discovered that the had not faxed the lab and the clinic did not open till 8:30. The lab tech was awesome and took my blood and clinic's phone number to harass them for me. I also left a frantic voice mail. Finally the correct order was faxed but she forgot to tell them STAT so by 4pm that day I did not have my E2 levels. To top it off the lab swore they faxed the clinic Hammers results but the clinic swore they hadn't received them and my nasty nurse was all mad at us saying that we would have to cancel the cycle if he didn't get it done. But even though we had paper documentation showing that the blood was drawn, she still was crappy about it.

Firsts - Finally today after we called the lab twice and the clinic twice I got the long awaited phone call that Hammer's blood work was received as well as my own. It was worth the wait. I have the highest day 4 E2 ever! Higher than the average people!!!!! For the first time in our lives they are DROPPING our meds to slow us down!!!! I cannot believe it. I only pray that this is a good sign that we have healthy eggs growing. Even if the number is no different than before if they are healthier that is all that matters. We are so thrilled.

I even made up a chart of where I compare to the average for each of my cycles so you can see just what I mean by best ever.

I cannot wait until Monday when I go in for our u/s to see how things are going. So for the next two days I will decrease my Follistim to 200, give 1 vial of Menopur, and 1 vial of Ganarelix. I will continue with my last stimulation acupuncture treatment on Sunday afternoon as well as continue my Circle and Bloom IVF/hip opening yoga sessions.

Acupunture and Infertility

For Q&A #3
Amber asked: how has your experience with acupuncture gone? I have my first appt. Friday. Could you give me a little insight into what they actually do and where? Also if you don't mind how much do you pay per session?

I absolutely love doing acupuncture. One of my friends who is a 2xmother after successful clomid + IUI turned me on to it. For her it was the only thing that made her ovulate as clomid alone was ineffective. I started doing acupuncture with our second IUI. If it wasn’t for the sessions I would have never pushed for the lap to remove my endometriosis. It gave me amazing pain relief for my cycles and I realized that I had been miserable for years. After my lap I felt like I had a new body. She also pushed me to get my thyroid checked out because research has shown that TSH over 2.5 reduces fertility. Now my RE’s office has an official TSH policy for all of their patients because of her.

Typically for IUI you lie on your back and they put needles into points in your calves, stomach and wrist. My Acupuncturist will also ask about stress, headache or sleeplessness and do extra points in my forehead and ears if needed. Inserting the needles hurts less than getting a finger prick for a blood test. If you have a good person you should hardly feel it at all. The ears do hurt a bit more but it's really not bad at all. There are usually 1-2 sessions pre-ovulation and one post ovulation. I pay $75 for a 45 minute session but I think the first session I ever did was $90 minutes because she did a whole health assessment before doing points.

Because acupuncture for IVF is twice a week for a month she lowers her rate to $60. My first IVF cycle I didn’t include acupuncture and I will never make that mistake again. It was a mandatory naptime twice a week during IVF and kept me so calm and rested compared to the first time. The points are totally different. You lie on your stomach and get needles in the back of your calves, hips and wrists. The calves and hips then have a low current run through them which is supposed to increase blood flow to the pelvic area. The sessions stop right before retrieval. And then the day of transfer she does a session pre and post transfer on the same day. These treatments are done in your stomach to prepare the lining for the impending embryo. They say it is like planting a seed; the first session is to create the hole for the embryo and the second is to cover up the embryo. There are very well documented studies that show 10 treatments of low current acupuncture and pre/post transfer acupuncture have a significant positive affect on IVF pregnancy rates. We’ll definitely be doing acupuncture again for IVF #4.

I love my acupuncturist because all she does is fertility related and she mixes Eastern treatments with Western medical. She’s always up to date on the latest fertility studies AND I think she has excellent needle technique as it’s not uncomfortable in the least.

*As before if you have any other questions for me just leave them in the comments and I will do a post about them.