Coming up...

Now that I'm officially in a TTC cycle, here's what's in store.

Day 3 - today - start on clomiphene, 50 mgs days 3-7

Day 9 - Friday, Sept 3 - Follicular Ultrasound (FUS) scheduled for 7:30am at the Maple Grove clinic.  They'll see how my follicles are developing, and if things look like they're moving along like they should be, we'll order the "tank" to be delivered to the Edina office later that same day. The "tank" will be holding two doses of what I hope is some major SuperSperm from my #1 donor pick, affectionately known as "Orlando". The sperm specimens are stored in liquid nitrogen which keeps them appropriately chilly until they're needed, or for up to 7 days.

After Friday, I'll be taking ovulation predictor tests at home, and when I see the "surge" of LH (luteinizing hormone, which tells me I should be ovulating soon), I'll call the clinic to schedule IUI (intrauterine insemination) for the following two days. I'll also have the joy of sticking myself  with a needle to inject Ovedril the same evening as I have the surge... unless I'm lucky enough that Nurse Julie is available to help me with that task. Dr. Cheryl would be welcome to help me, but she's a little too far away;)  Ovedril is used to help follicles mature and trigger the release of mature eggs from the ovaries... commonly called a "trigger" shot.  For women who have infertility troubles, it helps correct them.  Even though I don't know of any troubles, we use the trigger shot in my case because we want to make sure ovulation happens in a timely manner, so the egg is there, ready for the SuperSperm the next day.

The clinic has Nurse Practioners (NPs - they're the ones who will do the actual inseminations) on-call on Sundays, and since that Monday is Labor Day, that day as well. If this cycle behaves like the last few, I'd be going in to the Edina office for IUI Monday and Tuesday, or Tuesday and Wednesday. There's also a chance I could go Sunday/Monday. The Edina office is less convenient for me in general, but they only have access to that location when on-call, so it's best to plan for that.

So, assuming things go as predicted - as they have the past few months - I'll begin the "2 week wait" by Wednesday Sept 8th.  Since they missed testing my progesterone last month, I'll go back in for a blood draw a little later in my cycle to get that checked.  And sometime later in the month, around Sept 20th or so, I'll either... take a pregnancy test at home or at the clinic and get some fabulous news; or get my period and cry, then start preparing for TTC round #2.