Ovulation Induction

Taking Clomid on days 2 to 6 was the first stage of this month. I was on 100mg (2 tablets) a day. This dosage had successfully resulted in ovulation on previous month but no pregnancy. So it was going to be combined this month with the HSG shot and insemination. I took the pills and then had an appointment to see Paul Stokes on day 11 of my cycle for an internal scan.

Clomid alone is usually the first course of action with fertility. However, it can come with some annoying side affects such as stomach and bowel upsets, bloating, hot flushes, headaches, dizziness, depression and breast discomfort. When I first started taking Clomid 6 months ago I actually experienced headaches and bloating. I believed that the bloating was around the time of ovulation - however I discovered that for the first 3 months I didn't even ovulate with Clomid. Not sure what all the bloating was about. I only started to ovulate with Clomid when the dosage was increased to 100mg (2 tablets).

Just because Clomid can result in ovulation it doesn't mean that a pregnancy will occur - it didn't for me.

On day 11 I went in for an internal scan. The first thing that I had to do was to give a urine sample which I later found out was to check that I hadn't already ovulated. I had been told beforehand not to wait for my appointment and suddenly start drink lots of water so that I needed the loo because this would just water the results down.

Paul Stokes started with the left hand side and stated that there were no follicles present on that side, but when he moved to the right he said that there were 2 follicles. I was watching it on a screen above me and he was pointing it all out to me. He then pressed a few buttons and measured the diameter of the 2 follicles. Both were 21mm wide. He said this was great and exactly what we wanted. The thing to check now though was my urine sample to confirm that I hadn't yet ovulated - I hadn't, so it was OK to proceed.

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He said that because my follicles were already at 21mm then the HCG shot would need to be given today. I was happy about this, because I had been told if the right time for the HCG shot was out of hours then I would be giving it to myself. I much prefered someone to do it for me. I would have been to nervous about getting it wrong.

It was only a little needle. The needle itself was probably about 1.5cms long. Jane (the lady administering the needle) told me to pinch a bit of my skin together on my stomach (this was no problem at all - I have lots to pinch) and then she just put the needle in. I didn't hardly feel a thing. It was not even as bad as the needles that they use when taking blood. It was all over in a few seconds.

The HCG shot would stimulate ovulation to occur within 36 to 48 hours.

That was the end of my appointment for day 11 but I was scheduled in the very next day for the artificial insemination. I have created a lens on its own to cover the artificial insemination or intrauterine insemination because I think it warrants it and also I wanted to include my husbands thoughts on it.

After the artificial insemination on day 12 Paul said that I needed to go in for a blood test in 7 days which would be day 19. This would hopefully prove that I did ovulate. I should be getting used to the blood tests by now - I have had one every month for the last 7 months.

Then a week after that which will be day 26 I have an appointment with Paul. He said that this was to check how things were going. I needed to bring in my temperature chart with me for him to refer to aswell. I am not sure whether they perform a pregnancy test on this day or whether it would be too early to show up - I will be back to let you know the details of this appointment in a couple of weeks.

On day 11 when I went for my scan, Jane asked me when was the last time that we had done 'it'. There are no secrets in this area when you are seeing fertility specialists, lol. Well, my answer was not for a couple of weeks. To be honest this whole 'trying' thing is enough to put you off for life ! You see on the last 3 successful months on Clomid I had ovulated on day 16 so I was presuming that would be the case this month.

Jane told me that once it got to the second week of my cycle, we needed to be doing it every other night. Ooops ! She told me to do 'it' as early as we could that afternoon / evening which was not easy considering my husband is currently working an hour away and was finishing late that night. I felt a bit gutted about receiving this bit of information - I actually though that we were better saving it so to speak until nearer ovulation. I decided to try not to dwell on this too much and just do 'it' tonight and then the insemination would take place the next day.

The first $800 didn't result in a pregnancy. I sort of knew it wouldn't - think you just get used to bad luck. Even though I was expecting it, I took it hard. It seemed to take longer to sort my head out this time, but I think I am starting to come to terms with the fact that we are just not meant to have a third child. At the end of the day, I am already blessed with 2 AMAZING boys (see the pic) and if it is not meant to happen, well that's just the way it is. Brave talk hey ? I will probably still crumble if this month doesn't work.

That's right, we have scraped together another $800 to give it another go. It's amazing how you can do this when you want something so badly. So, today is day 5 and I am starting my Serophene (Clomid) today for 5 days and then I have my appointment for my scan on next Tuesday. Hoping to see a couple of follicles on the screen and then the Intrauterine Insemination will be the day after - fingers crossed.

I know I don't normally update this lens until after the month to let you know whether it has been sucessful or not, but this month has been a bit strange so far so I wanted to keep you posted. As you all know I had a scan planned for day 12 but then when I had a look at my temperature chart on day 11 and compared it to the previous month, it looked like I had already ovulated. I telephoned the clinic and they got me in to see what was happening - not much - 1 little lonely follicle was on the screen.

I had another scan on day 15 which showed that the little lonely follicle had grown and was now 15mm. Go follie go...I have another scan planned for day 18 (tomorrow). On day 17 which is today I have a test to do which will test for an LH surge. This test will help to determine when ovulation will take place.

That one little follicle did make it, but we didn't get pregnant in June month. I was debating whether or not to have a month or two off of trying with the aid of insemination and clomid and just forget about it for a bit. The emotional rollercoaster is a tough one. Then when I got in to see Paul Stokes he wanted us to have another month of intrauterine insemination but with trying to stimulate ovulation with daily injections instead of Clomid. So, here we are on month 3 and every night at 8.30pm I inject myself in my belly.

The other thing that is different about this month is that we have had to freeze Busters tadpoles because he is working away at moment. I have my appointment to see Paul Stokes in a couple of days to see how my follicles are brewing - wish me luck. I have created a new lens on the Puregon Pen and my injections which you will find below.

The reason that I am saying that the injections to stimulate ovulation are showing hopeful is that because for the last couple of days I have been getting fertile cervical mucus (sorry to go into detail), the egg white mucus. I haven't had any of this for around 6 months and when I mentioned it to Paul Stokes my fertility guy he said that sounded good, it shows that it's going well. I had one little lonely follicle that had grown to 18mm when I went in a couple of days ago, so I was then given the HSG shot to give it that extra boost.

Then when I went in the next day for the artificial insemination the timing was perfect - I was actually ovulating then. Fingers crossed X

July was not our month, still no success. We have decided to quit with the whole IUI and drugs and are going to try another option which we didn't even think about initially - Natural Fertility Treatment. It not only could help us trying to conceive but it will get us back on track health and emotionally wise. It comes with a good success rate too. I have created a lens on the next stage of our journey which you can find below.

Squidoo is my favourite place on the web. It's easy to make friends and it's just a lovely community of talented folk here willing to help newbies. The modules that you are given to work with make lensmaking easy and fun. So go have fun and Click here to Make Your Lens today