Feelin' Hot Hot Hot

So it's still hot hot here in Texas... and not just because of the weather. ;) I've been having some serious hot flashes these last few days in particular. I'll literally be lying in bed with a hoodie since I have AC up so high, then the next moment I'm all but flinging my hoodie off myself, kicking off all the covers and fanning myself to cool down. Menopause hot flashes aint no joke let me tell you.

I thought I was having some, but these flashes recently have shown me just what a hot flash truly is. Good times. Wouldn't be so much an issue if I were still up in Canada where in my prior home of Alberta it has already snowed, but I'm in hot and humid Texas now. I don't exactly need help staying warm when it's in the 90s.

Insomnia seems to be improving slightly. It could be because I was so incredibly busy these last few days that I genuinely was exhausted falling into bed. We had friends in town and had them over for dinner and some good old fashion card game fun... while watching the Jays vs. Indians game. Then we went to the Renaissance Festival the next day in the blistering heat and walked around all day. We could barely stay up until 8pm haha. I feel like I've recovered now but hoping I beat insomnia for good. Cross your fingers for me ;)

I also have had breakthrough bleeding for the last week. Hoping it goes away eventually which other ladies in my support groups have assured me.... well other than that one woman who has had breakthrough bleeding every single day of the last few months. She didn't give me much hope haha, but trying to ignore her and focus on all the other women who only had it the first month. God I hope I'm in their group, not the former. All I can say is I'm super stoked I invested in large THINX panty collection. Phew, they sure are coming in handy.

Otherwise not much to report on. I've been giving myself reiki treatments, in particular around the reproductive organs. It's funny because if you've ever trained in reiki you know you can actually sense the energy and heat (or lack there of) and my ovaries etc. are fully shut down. Obviously this is what is supposed to happen on Lupron Depot, but still a bit unsettling. 

Symptom Spotting by DPT

Okay, up until now I've already shared, but in the interest of having it all in place, here we go with a full up to date list...

0dp5dt
constipation
fatigue
(acupuncture)

1dp5dt
twinges/pulls
acid reflux (almost threw up when burped)
constipation
fatigue

2dp5dt
increased appetite
very emotional (crying)
sore throat
fatigue
frequent urination (but also drinking lots of water to stay hydrated)
gassy
back pain, unbearable then slowly went away

3dp5dt
bloated
constipation
cramps - started in a.m. then went away, came back worse later in day towards evening (bad overnight)
dizziness
very emotional (crying a lot again - super sensitive)

overnight - crazy frickin dreams. And very vivid - as if I was really there. Nothing baby related :(

4dp5dt
low energy (no nap but busy day... feeling almost ready for bed though and its only 630pm)
medium to bad cramps all day
average to low appetite (common for me with bad cramps)
mild nausea (common for me with bad cramps)
very emotional (crying continues)
breakout

overnight night sweats

5dp5dt
really bad lower back pain
tired easily and feeling lazy
very emotional (cried 3 times in the movie No Escape. Not exactly a tear jerker)
cramping is much milder
constipation
gas

overnight night sweats again, more vivid dream(s)... not pregnant related, but babies there... could be because I'm baby crazy!

6dp5dt (bfn)
bad lower back pain continues
feel very low energy, lazy and unmotivated
wet feeling I kind of get before AF... "know" she's getting ready to rear her ugly head
skin clearing up
constipation
mild bloat with dull AF "pain" (not cramps exactly)

Day 24 - 5dp5dt

Finally up to the amount of days post transfer equal to amount of days pre transfer... the equivalent of 10 dpo. In the past I would have already tested by now and believe me, I've certainly been tempted. I think we might have one frer hiding in our closet somewhere, but I would rather make use of it when it is more likely to give an accurate result. Although many people get positives this early, many also don't, and I really don't need to get more discouraged than I already am. It's taking everything in me to stay positive...

Overnight I started off with some early night sweats. I woke up drenched. I immediately got scared and sad. I get night sweats usually the night before AF shows. Usually I wake up to her gracing me with her presence in full force (she hasn't...yet at least). Was I too hot? Too cold? I couldn't tell, but accompanied by the intense cramping I had the night before I was pretty certain it was not good news. Somehow I managed to push this out of my thoughts enough to fall back asleep after half-hazardly wiping the sweat off my chest.

Then, middle of the night I woke up. I felt wide awake yet it was still basically pitch dark out, I finally caved and checked my phone, the bright light of the screen making me squint. 4am! Ugh. I tossed and turned hoping that maybe I just had a bad dream I wasn't remembering that woke me up and I would fall right back asleep, but I was awake and alert...insomnia! I wondered if maybe I woke up to go pee (I had been doing that the last few mornings, though that was more like 630am, not 4!!!), but then all that thinking of peeing finally made me have to get up to pee. Lame. Once I get up and do that I have a really hard time falling back asleep. I came back in and Homme InFertile very groggily asked me if everything was alright. I told him what was going on and he got grumpy, as if his empathy was only worthy if I had a reason for disturbing him in the night, and apparently my insomnia and pee-needs were not fitting the bill.

I watched some "Friends" on the laptop which always lulls me to sleep. I've seen all 10 seasons a gazillion times over so know it so well it's like a lullaby. That eventually worked, but I continued to toss and turn throughout the early morning due to lower back pain. When I finally woke up to our "alarm clock", aka the jackhammer that starts up every morning at 730am, my back pain was even worse and I feel absolutely exhausted from all the lack of sleep last night.

Today we're planning to go to a mets game. Having Homme InFertile home and around during this wait has been incredible! I'm not left to stew on my own while I can't work (living in the states as a dependent without visa privileges sucks). I just hope my back feels better before then, as sitting in those hard seats for a full 9 innings isn't going to be the most pleasant for me in this state. But I love baseball, and it would be such a great distraction for me today... so I'll try and tough it out, see how it goes at least.

Anyways. I guess that's all for now. Still many a days before I'll know if all these symptoms are period or baby related. Could go either way.... might as well be a coin toss. 

Day 23 - 4dp5dt

Another day full of cramping. Wow.... really REALLY feels like I'm building up for AF up in here. And I'm none-too-pleased about it all, for obvious reasons.

I'm really trying to keep myself as calm and level-headed as possible but it's just so dang hard. I am freaking the frack out. I am so nervous and scared that this cycle is going to be another failure, and yet just hoping and praying so hard that the opposite is true.

It's been a long road to get here, and starting this cycle I've been so hopeful that intralipids were the ticket to success. Now I'm just not so sure. I'm questioning everything. Every decision, every meal, every activity. I'm driving myself bonkers and that's certainly not helping.

I want nothing more than to have faith that it'll all work out, but sometimes it's just hard. I keep my trusty stone with me always, and I rub it to calm myself... that helps a little.

If we wanna play the symptom spotting game for a minute here's what's been going on up until now:

0dp5dt
constipation
fatigue
(acupuncture)

1dp5dt
twinges/pulls
acid reflux (almost threw up when burped)
constipation
fatigue

2dp5dt
increased appetite
very emotional (crying)
sore throat
fatigue
frequent urination (but also drinking lots of water to stay hydrated)
gassy
back pain, unbearable then slowly went away

3dp5dt
bloated
constipation
cramps - started in a.m. then went away, came back worse later in day towards evening (bad overnight)
dizziness
very emotional (crying a lot again - super sensitive)

overnight - crazy frickin dreams. And very vivid - as if I was really there. Nothing baby related :(

4dp5dt
low energy (no nap but busy day... feeling almost ready for bed though and its only 630pm)
medium to bad cramps all day
average to low appetite (common for me with bad cramps)
mild nausea (common for me with bad cramps)
very emotional (crying continues)

... we'll see what tomorrow brings.

Someone tell me I'm Stupid... Please!!!

It's the last month before IVF... yes, yes... we've been over this.
Today I had an "implantation" temperature dip at 9dpo (8 dpo if ovulation occurred when I think it did rather than when Fertility Friend says it did).

So here's the deal with the dip. It does NOT always indicate pregnancy. In fact, it is still found in many, MANY charts. I could even argue I've had it in many of my own. Now here's the thing. Usually when I do see this dip, I see it around 5dpo, which is probably too soon for a real implantation dip. In fact, the thought is that perhaps the dip is attributed to an increase in estrogen due to the pregnancy (which has a lowering effect on temperature) or that the progesterone is decreasing and then gets rescued by a pregnancy. Neither of these really explain why it is found on non-pregnancy charts too though. So it begs the question, why do we keep seeing it!?

So I did some digging today and of course come up with many articles telling me just that. Well I already know that, thanks for nothing internet! So I'm left on my own to hypothesis and rationalize why I am having a dip. Should be easy enough in theory... except this dip is different from the others I've had.

For one, like I mentioned, my dip on my chart usually happens earlier. This time it happened at 8/9dpo... exactly when implantation is most likely to occur!!!

For two, it dipped way down to my coverline. Usually what I have called a "dip" in all my other instances, has been on a smaller scale... maybe .2 or .3 F of a drop. This was a .7 drop.

Okay but on the flipside, I woke up earlier than normal this morning (I really had to pee...) so my temp was taken maybe 1/2hr to 1hr earlier than normal. Also, I recently started on Metanx which is a folic acid and B vitamin supplement. It could me messing with things. I also went to acupuncture yesterday. All of these could contribute to changes in temps.

So why... WHY, am I being so crazy and getting my hopes up YET AGAIN!? Cray cray. I am literally turning into a crazy person.

On other news, Homme InFertile and I are being filmed and put forward for a new docu-series for a major network. Basically it's following couples' pregnancy stories... For us, it would have a special little forward portion of us going through infertility treatments. I think it would be so special and important to share this experience with the general public so they really understand what we women go through. It's shocking to hear how little people know about the invasiveness of it all ;)

So we start that filming Monday... eek. Homme InFertile is very nervous. I on the other hand am perfectly comfortable in front of the camera having acted since a young age (I had a casting director mother). We'll see how that goes. I could be super hormonal with pms... or maybe... just MAYBE I'll get to cancel it due to a BFP!!!! Who knows!!! Wishful thinking... and yes, well aware how stupid I'm being...ugh.

Symptoms Shmymptoms

So as you probably saw in my last very brief post, my husband lost his job.
Our lives quickly got turned upside down from planning on starting IVF, to ensuring basic survival. After all, our lease was up for renewal (current lease is done Feb 28 and the signed paperwork is still sitting on our counter) and we didn't even know if we were going to be staying in New York!!! Still really don't I guess...

I promptly started applying for jobs. Of course, I can't work in the states unless I'm sponsored by a company, which is near impossible... so I was applying back in Canada as well as oversees (UK and Australia, both of which have agreements with Canada).

Homme InFertile on the other hand has not been looking for jobs, but people have been contacting him. Man, jealous! ...wouldn't that be nice... So he's got options. I can't go into any details, but many POTENTIAL opportunities here in NY, we'll see if any pan out. But then our question is are they lucrative enough to make sense for the high cost of living without me being able to work, and our plans to raise a family.

So we play a waiting game. He's off at an interview right now. Additional ones this week. And of course AF arrived for me today so I'm wallowing on the couch. Ok, let's stop and talk about THAT for a second. This month I actually believed I was pregnant. Yes. Me! Really! What the heck, I thought I was over and done with this madness of getting my hopes naively up. I'm not sad, there's no tears. I've been at this long enough that I've become immune to the disappointment. I know better. But it still sucks. Basically here's why I believed I was, and why you really don't have a f'ing clue until AF shows, or a test turns positive (and I refused to test until AF was at least 4 days to a week late, and we were only 1-2 days late yesterday).

Okay so breakdown of NON-pregnancy symptoms that had me convinced by rough DPO:

0 DPO - timing etc was all perfect.
5/6 DPO - weird spotting, like little light pink fleshy discharge. In 5 years of TTC never once have I had this. (I now attribute it maybe to the recent biopsy but still have no real clue).
6-8 DPO - cold, woke up every morning really stuffy, immune system just felt down
8-10 DPO - nausea in spells, but at same time really hungry (I do get this sometimes before AF)
10-13 DPO - very mild cramping, but different, like in ovaries, and pulling, and then not very bloated, and not much of a breakout... more lack of symptoms here had me confused.
12 DPO - napped in afternoon. Exhausted. Very very thirsty. Like drinking so so much water. Never had this issue before. This continued on into AF. Could be due to new pills?
13 DPO - napped mid-day. Exhausted. Darker/larger areolas with little bumps- weird !!? never noticed, but now curious if I always get this before AF. I'm going to start watching.... Could be stress related, or due to me having played volleyball for 4 hours straight yesterday, or all the new vitamins and acupuncture. Still never noticed this before so it was odd!!! LP for me is usually 12 days on the dot. I think FF miscalculated my O, but still after adjusting that makes a 13 LP this month (or 14 if no adjustment). I attribute this change to starting accupuncture again maybe.
spotting (I get this every month so not a sign but wanted to include)

So I've not a huge symptom spotter but the big things that were so different and noticed were:
1) weird discharge I thought was IB/IS at 5DPO
2) non-symptoms -ie. no breakout, no normal cramps, no bloat
3) darker/larger areolas
4) longer LP (even by a day was odd)
5) extreme thirst

So I'm now going to continue to watch and see if maybe acupuncture is to thank for a longer LP and lesser symptoms. FX that I can hope for this kind of cycle every cycle to be honest. Maybe LP will even stretch to 14... that'd be good!

This is as a warning to not count your chickens before they hatch. Even as a TTC veteran I was tricked by my body. I forgot that when you start doing things differently, and you're already so in tune with your body, you're bound to notice even some subtle differences and hope the changes you made mean a BFP.

So onwards and upwards I suppose. Since hubs numbers came back so good, and since I'm doing acupuncture and on my diet, I all of a sudden believe it's possible (although perhaps less likely) to get a bfp naturally. I'm planning on ordering pre-seed so we can continue to try until we figure out insurance and our plans to continue with IVF. The logical part of me knows we should sort our life out first, but the infertile me knows that you cannot time or plan these things, and it'll happen when it happens ready or not. So I'm not stopping just because of a bump in the road.

Forge onwards!