Losing Weight Before IVF

You might already know, I was thinking about doing IVF a little while ago but I got discourage because the doctors want me to lose weight before I do it and i was waiting for the IUI to take effect instead.  Well now things have changed, right now im on the 5th day of my injections to prepare for my 3rd round of IUI.

To Re Cap ... 

First attempt with IUI got Pregnant - Then Had Miscarriage after about 5 weeks

Second attempt with IUI - Got Negative Pregnancy test

And now I'm working on my 3rd attempt at IUI. I have decided that if the 3rd attempt does not work I will then move on to IVF. As a result of that, I have already lost 5 pounds. My doctor want me to come down to 220lbs in order to do the IVF.

Plan of Attack to Lose 35 pounds !

Step One - Eat anything that is Healthy and Fast. - I work as a customer service agent at a Large communications company on the night shift, so I really don't have time to prepare a bunch of  meals the night before.

Step Two - Make it a No Brainer - I'm always on the go so I don't have time to think about what I eat. I have to be able to just " Pick it up and Eat "


Because of the reasons above I have decided to order the Slim fast 321 Bars and the Kind Bars . The reason I picked the meal bars over the shakes is because I travel to work everyday, for me it would be too difficult to carry 2 or 3 of the shakes with me on a daily basis. So for me to just put the little bars in my bag and have them for lunch and a snack would be great. So I will be updating you on everything, Thanks for Reading. - Smile.

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3 comments Alternate Ways to Get Pregnant, IUI, IVF (in vitro), Weight Loss Tips

Getting Pregnant With PCOS

If your follow me on my Fan Page then you might remember me saying that I thought I was pregnant. The test strips kept coming up with two lines, but I wasn't sure because I thought this might be a false positive since I took the Ovidrel shot. However I can positively say that after visiting the doctor on the 8th, they confirmed to me that I am pregnant. I found this out because they left me a beautiful voice mail on my phone that I kept playing back over and over again, just to make sure I'm hearing things correctly. The doctor also mentioned that my "Beta Levels" was 261 which was great.

My Doctor wanted me to come back on the 10th to do more blood test just to see how things are going. And to my surprise my Bets Levels went up to 751. If I had to take a guess, I would say I should be around 2 almost 3 weeks pregnant. Later this week I have to go down again to do blood test and my first Sonogram ... So excited.


How I'm Feeling Now ?

Right now I feel both excited and scared at the same time. I read a lot of different blogs and visit forums. I hear terrible things about miscarriages and women giving birth but the baby pass-away after a few hours. I feel like the battle just begun. Getting pregnant is one thing, Keeping the baby is another. I just hope and pray that everything works out.

I pray that this baby make it through the 9 months and that he or she is healthy, from there we will handle the rest. I love my baby already before He/She is born. I will continue to eat better and drink more water and  I'm already taking some Prenatal vitamins. I have an official Doctor appt coming again soon, and on that appt we will discus Iron Pills and maybe other prenatal vitamins.

Thanks so much for all the support again, from Myself and My Hubby. I will continue to make updates as soon as they come. - Smile.

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3 comments Alternate Ways to Get Pregnant, Getting Pregnant With PCOS

Faint Positive Pregnancy Test

Over the last week or so this is what has been happening. On the 25th of January I got my IUI done. And Since then the same things has been happening like the last time ... tender breast (side effect from Ovidrel Shot) . However this time new things are happening. Breast are still tender after ovidrel is out of my system, and I have been feeling sick for days now, I never threw up but  i felt like I needed to. And also have I've been have light cramps for maybe 4 or 5 days now, but I'm not even spotting yet. I cant wait. For a while I thought... Ok my period is going to come really soon, and with my luck probably over the weekend. So I didn't really have high hopes at all.

The Ovidrel shot should now be out my system because I took a  Home Pregnancy test strip a couple of times a week and it was Negative. My nurse told me not to do anything until the 8th of Feb to take a pregnancy test. But me being me..  So I took a HPT (Home Pregnancy Test) tonight and this is what I saw.

The darkest line is the negative line and the one on the very top is just a part of the test strip.... But do you see the one in the middle (the faint one) ?

These are three test I took over the past 3 days. The one at the bottom was Taken today.

So I have about 4 more days to do before I can test for real. But since I've seen nothing but Negatives in the past few days ... This test is giving  me some hope.  

So What do you think ?  

Could the test be like this because the Ovidrel still in my system ? 

Should start getting happy Here ?

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2 comments Alternate Ways to Get Pregnant, IUI

IUI Procedure

So I had my first IUI done today and I can say it was a very pleasant experience. After the Doctor called me in and I got undressed we went through the process as if it was a Pap Smear. Very little to no pain at all, and honestly it was so quick I didn't even realize when he was done. The most important thing I noticed was after laying there about 15min, I stood up and I can honestly say I did not feel anything drip out of me.

The Doctor informed me my boyfriend has over 50 Million mobile sperm  and the minimum the Doctor need was 10 million. So that's good to hear that he doesn't have a low sperm count, at least that's one less thing to worry about. At this point I have to simply wait about 2 weeks to see if Either my cycle come down or (Fingers Crossed) my cycle does not come down and I'm Pregnant.


The IUI procedure went by so quick I went to YouTube to see exactly was done to me. And I found a beautiful video about How IUI Works. To anyone interested in doing IUI before IVF, I say go for it. Its much cheaper than IVF from what I heard any way, and most importantly .. its "Pain Free"  Check out the video below and Learn a little more the IUI Procedure like I did. - Smile

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IUI vs IVF ?

The time has come to make a decision... I'm very happy to say that with Low dosage  of Follistim and a little patience I now have one egg 19cm which is large enough to do IUI or have timed Intercourse. For many women this would be a great opportunity to try and have the IUI done but for me, that just makes things harder.

As I might have Mentioned in the past I have United Health Care medical Insurance. This insurance will cover IUI or IVF (3) times in total for the life of my acct with them. What does that mean ?  This mean that if I do an IUI and it was not successful then I just lost 1 out of my 3 chances to have a baby and the insurance cover it. Keep in mind this is for the entire time I'm at my current job and have this insurance. So once the 3 times are up even if all 3 fail, then the insurance won't cover me for these procedures any more.

After speaking with my Doctor, I found out that they can't change from IUI to IVF and my best option for now would be to continue with with the IUI or this cycle. Worst case scenario is if the IUI fail then on my next menstrual cycle I will do the IVF (in vitro fertilization). From what the Doctor told me the success rate would be around 18% for the IUI And naturally when I heard that, I Immediately thought about getting the  IVF done instead. However to prevent everything from going to waste (medication, blood work, and sonogram cost) I will go ahead and give the IUI a shot and who knows maybe I'll get Pregnant and won't need the IVF after all.

Starting tonight I will take Two shots of Ovidrel to start my ovulation and in two days I will start the IUI procedure. I hope to have good news when I make another post. And thank all of you for following me on my site and the fan page. I will for sure update everyone on what happens next.

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Fertility Injectables

" Fertility Injectables is what you get when Clomid Fails "

That is my quote of the day. Since the last time I posted I mentioned that I am a Clomid Failure. The 150Mg of Clomid did not increase the size of my follicles to produce eggs. After having a conversation with my Doctor it has been decided to move on to Injections. Before I get started with the Injections I had to take a little class that teaches how to do the injection and where on the body I can safely inject Etc. 

So after the class was done I found out that I will be prescribed "Gonal F"  Which is the name of a Fertility Injection. While going to the class I also found out that this will be expensive. The nurse mentioned every other day I will have to do a Sonogram and Blood work. Now for me that is a $30.00 co pay each time I go. Plus the price for the Injections themselves ... I was quoted $150.00. Not sure how accurate that is because I didn't get the prescription for it yet. But regardless that Is money ... So I got to thinking, If im going to put all this money out to do this, then I mind as well go through with the IUI instead of doing timed intercourse. 

Since the IUI will have cleaned sperm placed directly in the uterus or where ever they put it. Maybe this will better the odds over doing timed sex. Because frankly, putting money out like this ... I can't do for too long.

Brands of Fertility Drug Injectables :

• Pergonal
• Humegon
• Fertinex 
• Repronex
• Gonal-F 
• Follistim

As always I will continue to update my readers on everything that happens. In the mean time give me your opinion.

Did the fertility Injections Help you get pregnant ? 

What was your thoughts about the medication ?

How did you feel when you was on it ? 

Would you use it again ?

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1 comment Alternate Ways to Get Pregnant, Living With PCOS, Medications

Bad Infertility Clinic Experience

About 2 weeks ago I mentioned  I had a Doctor appointment to see  if I can get IVF, well the results was rather interesting. Ok first of all let me start off by saying I switch Medical clinics. I spent about 1 year and a half working with the Doctors at Lincoln Medical Center, and they suck. I'm sure for people  that worked with them in the past, I'm sure this comes to no surprise as to why I feel  this way. With in that year they performed the Glucose exam twice on me  and.... ummm come to think about I don't remember them doing much else until a year later when I got my HSG exam done.

To make things easier to explain... my wonderful Doctor (sarcasm) can only be seen once every 6 Months... that's right ONCE every 6 MONTHS.  So when you stop and think about it , its very easy to have a year go by and accomplish nothing with them.  It took that clinic a year, and  after that time I still didn't have an once of medication to help me with anything.  No Clomid, No Metformin ... hell not even any aspirin. Don't get me wrong, I know these things take time, but I'm sure a lot of you can understand my disappointment and frustration every time I wait 3 Months or 4 Months or 6 Months for an appointment that can help me get pregnant and all I get is "OK so now we are  going to repeat this exam because in the first results your sugar level was slightly above normal but not diabetic, so I'm going to have you re take the exam before putting you on Metformin."

I literally  sat there and felt tears come up in my eyes. I came to the appointment thinking this was it. I took my exam and now we can move forward. Instead I get knocked back another step. But most of all I think the worst part knowing that I don't have much time to accomplish this. I'm not 20, 22, or even 25, My butt is pushing 30 so needless to say Time is of the Essence. At this point I bet your thinking ... "Well why she waited so long to change clinics ? " And the answer I have to that is "HOPE", I figured if I waited and work with them I can accomplish this. And most importantly, I invested too much time to start all over with another clinic.

Well, so I thought ... I went down to the clinic I found online, I think I mentioned it in my last post ... And the verdict is ... they are wonderful. The ladies sitting at the front desk, the nurse, even the Doctor treated me so nicely.

And with in that First and Only appointment I had with them My Doctor :

1. Did a sonogram  of my ovaries
2. Subscribed Clomid , 100 Mg
3. Metformin
4. Provera
5. Ovidrel. This medication must come with me when go to the clinic on the 3rd day of my menstrual cycle. I was told it kick starts my ovulation.

In one day I got more accomplished then I have all my life. At this point I want to feel maybe this is it and I can become pregnant using the treatment given to me ... but I Don't want to Jinks anything. (smile) This Wednesday will be the 3rd day of my cycle and I'm going down for another visit with them. The next visit will involve a sonogram to see if the medication is working, and if not then she will give me 150 Mil of Clomid instead. I feel good about everything right now and hopefully the Lord will make this happen for me. I will make sure to update you and hopefully bring back some good news. Until then ... Toodles (smile)

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3 comments Alternate Ways to Get Pregnant, Living With PCOS

Using IVF To Get Pregnant

I'm sure many of you already know, I started a new job a few weeks ago and as a result I got new health insurance. This new insurance was the most important thing for me because my health insurance covers IVF. After having a big discussion with my boyfriend, we have decided to try IVF to get pregnant. I was really afraid of starting over because I really didn't want to go through a bunch of test like the HSG exam all over again.

The good thing is that the IVF clinic, accepts medical records from your previous DR. After speaking with them, I was told that since my HSG exam was only a few months old, they will accept that and I wont have to do it over gain. My plan is to first get my records from my previous DR then set up an appointment.

The only thing I am concerned about is my health insurance will only cover the IVF procedure 3 Times within the life time of  my health coverage under that account.

What that means is : If I do the IVF procedure 2 Times and both times FAIL ... Then I only have 1 last chance to try to get pregnant. If the last chance fail also, then my Health Insurance will no longer cover IVF procedure. The only way I can get around that is to switch jobs and hopefully the new job will have a health insurance to cover IVF. (Complicated I Know) but that's the process.

So right now I'm looking for a good IVF clinic : 

• That are In my Network for insurance Purpose
• A clinic located around area

 
For anyone interested in IVF,  below is a video I found on youtube that shows the procedure. The name of the clinic that created the video is Reproductive Medicine Associates of New York . If you have Insurance that covers IVF procedures, make sure you do research on how much your insurance covers and for how many procedures. Personally I'm interested in http://www.rmany.com they are around my area and they seem very professional. I'm going to speak with them of course to get my own opinion about them. Hopefully I can find a good clinic, the procedure will work great "The First" time and I will have a little bundle of joy soon. (Smile)

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1 comment Alternate Ways to Get Pregnant, Health Insurance, IVF (in vitro)

Infertility and How to Overcome It

Fertile heterosexual couples who have frequent intercourse and use no contraception have 85% chances of conceiving within 1 year.  About one is six American couple, however, are unable to conceive. Infertility can be caused by a number of factors. Recently, there is evident enough that fertility is rapidly declining due to pollutants in the water, meat, vegetables, breast milk and uterine environment. Infertility can sometimes be corrected by hormone therapy or surgery, but when it fails, parenthood may still be possible through other reproductive technologies discussed below.

 

Artificial Insemination – This happens when only the male is infertile.  A physician introduces donor semen into or near the cervix. Most women use sperm from anonymous donors but are able to select from a catalog that specifies the donors’ physical and intellectual traits. A man with a low sperm count can donate semen at intervals over a course of several weeks and have it pooled, concentrated and used to artificially inseminate his partner. Men planning vasectomy sometime donate sperm for storage as change in family planning.  Some cases of infertility are due to sperm destruction by the woman’s immune system. These can sometimes be resolved by sperm washing. This is a technique in which the sperms are collected, washed to remove antigenic proteins from their surfaces, and then introduced by artificial insemination.

Oocyte Donation – This is similar to sperm donation only that this time fresh oocytes are obtained from one woman, fertilized and transplanted to the uterus of another. A woman may choose this procedure for various reasons; being past menopause, having her ovaries removed or having a hereditary disorder she does not want to pass to her children.

In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) – In some women, the uterus is normal but the uterine tubes are scarred by pelvic inflammatory disease or other causes.  The term in vitro fertilization refers t the fact that fertilization occurs in laboratory glassware; children conceived by IVF are often misleadingly called test tube babies. 

Surrogate Mothers –IVF is an option only for women who have a functional uterus. A woman who is not able to maintain a pregnancy may contract a surrogate mother who provides a uterus for hire. Some surrogate mothers are both genetic and gestational mothers, while others are just gestational. In the former case, the surrogate is artificially inseminated by a man’s sperm and agrees to give the baby to the man and his partner at birth. In the latter case, oocytes are collected from one woman’s ovaries, fertilized in vitro and the pre-embryos are placed in the surrogates’ uterus.  These are typical cases in which a woman has functional ovaries but no functional uterus. 

Embryo Adoption – In this case a woman has malfunctioning ovaries but a normal uterus.  Man’s sperms are used to artificially inseminate another woman.  A few days later, the pre-embryo is flushed from the donors’ uterus before it implants and is transferred to the uterus of the woman who wishes to have a baby. Conclusively, just like any other advances in medicine, reproductive technology has created its own ethical and legal dilemmas. If humans are to gain from these developments of science then we must ensure that knowledge is applied in an ethical and humane manner.

The writer of this post Kevin Brown, a popular writer about health, nutrition and LifeStrength balance wristbands, Thanks so much for contributing to PCOSDiaries.com

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