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Aspen - yes, worrying less is easier said than done...although easier with a 2 year old than it was the 1st time...

Jesslea - Oh MY! What a month - you will never forget all of that! A little too eventful with all the sickness and snow storm! Best wishes with the Crohn's treatment, I know that must be a struggle as well!

Aspen - a taste of 3-4 sounds okay to me too, but what do I know! Maybe you can just do the wave the glass under your nose test... :-) I guess you are probably the DD.

Aspen - I think you will be okay with the wine tasting. Enjoy your envening and let us know how you liked it. Is your temp still above the cover line?

Hey ladies her is my very little update. I am still waiting on the RE office to call me to let me know what the verdict is going to be on the insurance. She did say it takes about 5 days to get a response back so I guess I just need to hang tight and play the waiting game it is so hard. I am currently on cd 20/6 dpo and all 6 days have been way above the coverline. According to Fertility Friends I should get AF on 3/21 but my cycles are anywhere between 27-30 days long so I am thinking AF should be here between March 20-22 but the 21st would be cd 30. I can also take a hpt on March 22. I guess next week will be the time to tell cause I can always tell when AF is coming because my temps start dropping. Take care and I will talk to you all later. Krissy68

Krissy and Aspen--Good Luck, the two week wait is coming to an end soon, one way or another.
My two week wait is over, AF came this am only cd25. Last month started spotting on cd 28, actually AF on cd 30. I am not thinking this is a good sign with the variability. I emailed my NP today to see if we do some bloodwork to see if I am perimenopausal. I would at least like to know how tall this mountain I am climbing is...ya know?

TRYING - Okay, I feel completely dumb. What's "DD"? Sorry! I did end up tasting each wine and that's it. The food was so good I didn't suffer *too* much from stopping after just one sip. I did a lot of "nose waving." Lol.

KRISSY - Ugh. Seems like this whole process is mostly about waiting. Waiting to "O"...waiting for AF....waiting for doctors...waiting for tests....and from what the preggos among us say, it sounds like it's pretty much the same deal AFTER we get our bfp. Hang in there. It won't be long now.

JAYJAYSMOM - That's a great way to put it...finding out how high the mountain is. Sorry to hear that AF came at all, let alone that she showed up early. Is there any chance, based on your chart or other symptoms, that you could have O'd earlier than you or FF thought this cycle or is definitely that your luteal phase was much shorter than usual?

ME - 10dpo and counting.

jayjaysmom - I am so very sorry that AF showed up. That is a good idea that you emailed your NP to have blodd work done to find out what is going on. Saying a prayer that this new cycle will be yours to get your BFP.

Aspen8 - I know the waiting game I just hate it. I am right behind you I am on cd 21/7dpo.

Hey ladies I have a very big update. GUESS WHAT. The prayers really worked. The RE office emailed me and they got a response back from my insurance company and they are going to cover my surgery 100%. Now you girls know that I am happy I just can't believe it I am on cloud 9. She said to call the office on the first day of AF (Aspen so now I am waiting on AF LOL)because you can only have the surgery done between cd 6-12 and I should get AF between March 20-22 I will update. I hope everyone have a very nice weekend and Take Care. Krissy68

Ok, my NP confused me when she emailed me back about getting some blood work done. She said to call the office with the start of my next cycle and they would schedule me of a FSH and progesterone for day 21. The way I read it, sounded like I would wait until 21 days before the testing. However, everything I read says FSH is done on day 3. Maybe she meant just call the office at the start of my next cycle and they would schedule each test. Well, I started on Thursday, Friday was cd2 and that was when I got the email. Of course Sat and Sun they are closed by Monday, I will be on cd5. Will that be too late to do the draw?

KRISSY - YAY!!! Congratulations! I'm so happy that they're going to cover your surgery 100%. That's AWESOME! It must be such a load off your mind! Were you able to schedule the semen analysis yet?

JAYJAYSMOM - I think it's "B" - she meant that when you called on cd1, they'd schedule both draws, one on cd3 and one on cd21. Unfortunately, I do think that cd5 is too late. It's going to skew the results. Even if someone wanted to do it on cd5, if it were me, I'd refuse. I'd wait another month to get a more accurate picture.

With the cd21 progesterone draw...I have a potential problem with that too. The point is to draw blood 7 days after you ovulate, when progesterone production is at it's peak. They're assuming that you ovulate on cd14. But you might not. And if you don't, again, the results can be misleading. If you ovulate on cd11 for instance, cd21 could be well past the progesterone peak, maybe even as the corpus luteum is regressing, leading them to conclude that your progesterone is too low. I'd go ahead and schedule that appointment I guess, but I'd ask them if it could be adjusted based on when you actually ovulate. My RE's office waits until the patient actually ovulates and then schedules the progesterone draw.

Keep us posted.

Aspen-
Thanks for the feedback. I was thinking the same thing about both tests. If I am charting my temps and doing the OPK's how will I know my exact o day? I have been using FF but it seems that it relies heavily on CM of which I have not seen EW CM in many many years. I put the same data into ivillage fertility planner but told it to ignore CM and it gave me a day based on temps totally different than FF. My point is if I do not make much CM and I am relying on temps and OPK there is about a three day window, don't ya think?? BTW since I have the lack of CM, I am on EPO and just ordered some preseed. Do you use those? Kristin encouraged the EPO.
I will adjust the cd21 test based on what FF says probably.

I always thought I had lousy cm too. My RE said otherwise this month when he did the IUI, so maybe we just make so little of it now in comparison to what it was like when we were young that it feels like we make none...it's not really enough to show up outside. Who knows. The point is, I really can't use cm to nail down ovulation either.

I always ovulate on the same day I get a postive OPK or the day after. So as long as I'm positive that I know when I get my first positive OPK, I know I've narrowed it down to only 2 days. You're probably gonna think I'm nuts, but when I REALLY feel like I need to know for sure, which I would if I wanted to schedule the progesterone blood draw, I'd do a couple of things. I'd buy a bunch of regular OPKs - like 2 boxes - and I'd also buy one box of digitals. (I know...expensive! I wouldn't do it every month.) I'd start testing 2-3 days before my earliest O day and I'd test AT LEAST twice a day. The closer it got to my regular O day, I'd even test 3 or more times a day. I'd use the pee in a cup method instead of the in-stream method. Then, when I got an OPK that looked close, I'd do a quick digital one in the same pee and let it clear up the confusion for me. Definitely once I got a "close, but no cigar" OPK, I'd be testing 3-4 times a day if I wasn't already. Once I know I nailed the "leading edge" of the LH surge, I know I'm either going to ovulate that day or the next day (provided it isn't way late at night). It's usually 30-36 hours-ish. That's even more reliable for me than temperature, though temperature can really help pick between those two days sometimes. I don't know if it would work that way for you or not and it's a ROYAL pain in the tush to test 3-4 times a day but when it really counts, to me, it's worth it.

Do you have any symptoms you associate w/ post-ovulation? For instance, many, many months (though not always) I get this "rumbly, grumbly" stomach not too long after I ovulate. After that, I often get a bloated sensation and can start to feel some lower-GI discomfort. It took me months of charting to figure that connection out and then it took even longer to figure out if it meant *impending* ovulation or *recent* ovuation. Ultrasounds helped confirm my belief that it was a post-ovulation phenomenon for me. So I use the OPKs to narrow it down to a day or two and the GI and temp stuff to narrow it down farther. It usually works, but some months NOTHING works! Still - is you can narrow it down to 2 days, you're probably good to go, don't you think?

I know other people who always get headaches right after or who always retain water the day after O. Do you have anything like that at all?

Make that "IF" you can narrow it down to 2 days. Also, I forgot to say that if you want us to, maybe we could take a peek at your chart and see if we can help you interpret what you're seeing.

Aspen-
I was testing twice a day with the OPK's last month and would get a positive in the am then a negative(lighter) in the afternoon for about three days.I also get very tender nipples mid cycle and this month it coincided perfectly with the positive OPK. However they last about 4 days, so I think the day that starts and the positive opk occurs then I am in the two day window. I will probably go by that. My cycle this month was on 25 days and bleeding only lasted two days. Before my chemical preg in Jan, I was on Nuvaring and would cycle every 25 days then. Jan chem preg, 33 days, JAn/Feb used progesterone suppositories after O and made it to day 30, Feb/March no progesterone(my choice)and cycle at 25 days. This is all sounding like a LPD to me. I will be talking to my NP probably tomorrow, so I will share all this info with her. I would post my ff chart for you to look at if I knew how. I will see about that. Thanks for all your help.
What about you? Where are you in your cycle? You should be getting close to an answer huh?? cd 28??

I went to FF and only have the complimentary membership so I guess I cannot link it up.

JAYJAYSMOM - Yeah, it sounds to me like the sore nipples are a reliable puzzle piece to work with for you. And it definitely sounds like progesterone might be an issue. I wonder if a natural progesterone cream like Pro-Gest would help or if you need pills/suppositories? What is FF saying about your luteal phase length? Is it at least 12 days long?

I forgot to answer a couple of your questions earlier. I do take EPO...a lot of it...between AF and O and then I switch to black currant oil. The theory that EPO can cause uterine contractions is controversial but I'd rather be safe than sorry. I've read though that it's not a quick fix...it can take weeks of regular usage to see a difference. I've also used PreSeed. I'd use it again in an emergency for "on demand" sex during baby-making attempts but it's only job is to lubricate the vagina itself. It doesn't do a darn thing to help the swimmers get through the cervix because IT isn't in the cervix. So my RE said that if we don't need it for lubrication purposes, don't use it.

As far as increasing luteal phase length is concerned, from what I understand, B6 is the first thing to try. I take B6 supplements and also OD on walnuts before O. I have no clue if either helped/s. On unmedicated cycles my lp tends to be about 15 days but I don't know if there's any cause and effect between the improvement and the B6. But something's workin', so I'm not planning to change anything I'm doing.

Have your cycles always been just 2 days or is that a relatively new thing for you? You can try going to your FF page and writing down the URL and then just posting the address here. The software won't let you type the web address...it'll delete the whole post and you'll lose everything you typed. But leave out all the w's, etc.. And just say something like...go to lotsa w's dot fertility friend backslash 889992929394 backslash. Or something like that. That should work.

Aspen - dd - dear daughter, In the context of drinking wine - DD - designated driver. :-)

Aspen8 - Yes it is a load off my mind. No he haven't schedule his SA they said to wait until I schedule my surgery and we could just bring in the sample. But guess what at about 3am Sunday morning he trip and fell and broke his right ankly so I will be going to have my surgery solo cause he will not be able to help me. I notified the RE office and she said that I can just make an appointment and bring the sample to them within the hour. I plan on doing this sometime this week we have to abstain for 3/4 days. I will keep you updated. How was your weekend? Krissy68

Hi ladies!