TWW: IUI Protocol

Now that I'm in the TWW (two week wait), I'm looking for all sorts of ways to distract myself. J and C's wedding was a happy and time consuming distraction but now that it's over, my mind is free to wander. I'm also under strict orders from my acupuncturist to take it easy for the next week, so no gym, no stress, basically no diverting energy from my uterus where there's hopefully a healthy little embryo getting comfortable.

Although I'm a little unsure about the upcoming acupuncture dates since I'm only 4DPIUI, I think this is the jist of my IUI protocol for this cycle. I'm feeling really good about this cycle so I'm telling myself we won't need to do this again until we want another healthy baby, but if we do my RE wants us to go balls to the wall. This cycle I had a bunch of little follies that didn't grow in time to be ovulated with my dominant follicle. If we need to do this again, the RE wants us to do IVF, starting with birth control (to even the starting line for all the follicles) and then 8 vials of Menopur a day to generate as many as possible. Dr. K doesn't think it's worth harvesting less than 3 eggs which I'm mixed about but see the merit in.

Here's the protocol we followed for this cycle, that will hopefully result in a healthy BFP:

CD 1 - Base ultrasound, 300 IU Menopur
CD 2 - 300 IU Menopur
CD 3 - 300 IU Menopur
CD 4 - 300 IU Menopur
CD 5 - E2 Labs & Ultrasound, 2 good follies one ~11mm, one ~8mm, 1 little cyst ~12mm, 4 tiny follies, Estrogen 68, 375 IU Menopur, Acupuncture
CD 6 - 375 IU Menopur
CD 7 - 375 IU Menopur
CD 8 - E2 labs & Ultrasound,1 good follie 15mm, 1 little cyst ~12mm, Estrogen 186, 375 IU Menopur, Acupuncture
CD 9 - E2 labs & Ultrasound, Ovidrel Trigger, 1 good follie 20mm, one small follie 13mm, 1 little cyst ~12mm, Estrogen 286
CD 10 - Positive thoughts
CD 11 - IUI! Go little swimmers, go!
1   DPIUI - Acupuncture
2   DPIUI - Positive thoughts
3   DPIUI - Endometrin twice daily
4   DPIUI - Endometrin twice daily, Acupuncture
5   DPIUI - Endometrin twice daily
6   DPIUI - Endometrin twice daily
7   DPIUI - Endometrin twice daily, Acupuncture
8   DPIUI - Endometrin twice daily
9   DPIUI - Endometrin twice daily
10 DPIUI - Endometrin twice daily
11 DPIUI - Endometrin twice daily
12 DPIUI - Endometrin twice daily
13 DPIUI - Endometrin twice daily, TEST!!

I'm on my second day of Endometrin now and it's an unfortunately messy medication. They come as these little white pills that you insert like a tampon to help support the pregnancy. The downside of course is that pills dissolve, so it looks like I'm stuck wearing a panty liner for (hopefully!) the next 10 weeks. It's a bit of a mood killer, but anything that helps keep a baby safe and healthy, until we can find out of they're healthy around 14-15 weeks, is okay in our book.

Over the next two weeks I also need to decide if I should test at home before my Beta blood test. On one hand, I don't want to see another negative test, but I also feel like I need to go into the blood test with some idea of what to expect. Some people get negative HPTs right up until their blood test but others get positives pretty quickly. I've never had a positive test before so I don't know how my body will react but hopefully I'll know soon.