Saturday, September 25, 2010

Prediction...

So Austin said the other day that this will be our cycle! I, of course, asked him how he knew & he said God told him it was. Oh I hope it is!

By my best guess though, I really think I ovulated early Wednesday (Sept 22nd) morning (I had what could have been very mild ovulation pains). Of course this is only a few hours after taking my trigger shot so I really have no idea. I think you are supposed to ovulate 36-48 hours after trigger but because of my declining estradiol level Tuesday morning maybe I started ovulating on my own yet again. Now I wish I would have taken my basal temps this cycle so I'd have a better idea of exactly when I ovulated but honestly, I got lazy. All these tests, procedures, charts, & such month after month after month after month are just sooooooooooooo draining & you get tired of it. I'm tired of taking my temp at 4 am every morning, disrupting my sleep. I'm tired of the tests & procedures & "trying" so hard because we've got so much money invested into this so I was lazy this cycle & didn't take my temps.

Although, doing a Google search, I did find some interesting info which may explain some of what is going on with me:

Case: 34 year old G1 P1 undergoing a cycle of controlled ovarian hyperstimulation with intrauterine insemination (COH/IUI) has 8 ovarian follicles measuring about 14-15 mm in diameter (with several smaller follicles), good interval (daily) growth of follicles, and a drop in estradiol concentration from 1025 pg/mL to 800 pg/mL in the past day (without a change in the dose of FSH containing medication).

Question: What is the significance of this drop in estradiol concentration and what should be recommended at this time?

Answer: The estradiol concentration usually continues to rise (without decreasing) throughout most of ovarian follicular maturation and then will drop sharply immediately (about one day) prior to ovulation. This woman's drop in estradiol concentration most likely signals the onset of the LH surge and impending ovulation. One exception would be if the dosage of FSH containing medication was recently decreased, in which case the estradiol concentration often decreases due to lower production by the smaller follicles (the larger follicles continue to grow and produce estradiol).

If ovulation was triggered by the woman's own LH surge this cannot be "reversed" or prevented. Therefore, I generally complete ovulation with the hCG (profasi) injection and plan an intrauterine insemination if there are follicles greater than 12-14mm diameter (size at which mature eggs commonly exist).

http://www.thenewjerseyovulationcenter.com/normal_events_cases.php

Hmmmmmm... I have always ovulated in a sense on my own so is this really that surprising? Yeah, technically I'm anovulatory (i.e. the absence of ovulation) but I have regular 26-28 day cycles, normal luteal length of about 12 days, I've always gotten + OPKs, killer ovualation pains each month, & a thermal temp shift every cycle I have temped. The only reason we know I have ovulation problems is my progesterone is never high enough, indicating ovulation, when we test it after having supposedly ovulated; thus indicating ovulatory dysfunction. And that brings us to one of my favorite books, Taking Charge of Your Fertility by Toni Weschler, which states, when referring to "Luteal Phase Problems," pgs 178-179:
There are basically 3 different types of problems that can occur, all of which are usually a reflection of a dysfunctional ovulatory problem:
  1. ...
  2. The luteal phase appears to be a normal length, but the amount of progesterone is not optimal to produce an ideal uterine environment for implantation.
  3. ...
So, am I ovulating or not? I'm honestly not real sure what all of this means exactly but I just found it interesting & am kinda "thinking out loud," I suppose. TCOYF also does mention getting prolactin checked as a possible cause of luteal phase defects.

All I know, & have said before, is that it will be an absolute miracle if, no when, we get pregnant. So I just have to end this post on a positive note... if our miracle bean does join our family this cycle, my due date should be on or around June 15th (God-willing)!

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