Lots of family stuff this weekend took me out of town and away from the blog. My nephew turned one recently, and there was a family birthday party for him in Manhattan last Sunday.
I must say, being back in the big city for the weekend made me appreciate what I have at home. However, I always love walking the streets of New York, always love getting half-price theater tickets, and always love the city's energy.
Heck, my blood sugars alone were terrific from walking on Saturday, and I didn't wake up feeling achy the next day as I do when I haven't gotten to the gym enough.
But it was quite chilly there and driving out of the city back to New Jersey, where my brother and sister-in-law live, reminded me that I don't miss driving in NYC. And I don't miss how the money ebbs and flows. While the Mister and I had fun, I also went through more money than I typically do in a week at home.
I definitely don't miss that.
On the health front, I went for my second acupuncture appointment tonight and it was more of the same: 10-12 needle pricks, literally painless, and then a half-hour of lying in the dark, listening to calm music.
While horizontal, I thought about all the babies and young children I've known recently: my one-year-old nephew, my nearly-two-year-old nephew, the twins my boss just had last week, and my many friends who have kids of their own. I figured if I could think about fertility, perhaps my body's meridians would pick up the baby vibe and get me on that road for myself (and the Mister, of course).
After my first acupuncture session last week, I got my period the next day, which wasn't unusual. On the third day of my cycle, I got more blood tests to figure out if my TSH, FSH, and estradiol numbers were in sync. (Last month, the TSH and estradiol were too high, and we didn't TTC because of fears of conception horrors with too-high TSH levels).
On the drive to the tri-state area, my nurse called me with the results: the FSH was good, and the TSH was actually a smidge too low. The estradiol was lower than it had been the month before, but still not in the my-eggs-are-so-fertile-I-could-be-in-high-school range.
However, the Mister and I got the go-ahead this month to try to conceive. In an effort to ensure we're not missing anything, we figure we'll have sex-a-go-go for the next three weeks straight. Believe me, I'm exhausted just thinking about it, but as they say, it's for a good cause.
(And yes, we've heard you're supposed to fuck every other day for the week around ovulation when you're trying for a baby. For the past six months, we've been there, done that, and gotten bupkes. This month, we're taking a new approach.)
Between that, the acupuncture, the assorted blood tests, the recent check of the tubes, and the talk therapy, if I'm not pregnant in another month or so, it'll be time to start Clomid and then IUI.
And I actually received a shocking envelope in the mail today: the bill from my first visit to the infertility clinic. Inexplicably, it was for a tiny amount of money and weirdly, my insurance company has actually picked up a good chunk of the bill. I don't want to jinx anything because I clearly have paperwork that states my insurance company doesn't cover infertility, but perhaps they mean they don't cover specific treatments like Clomid and IVF. But for blood tests and the $350-a-pop reproductive endo, by gosh, the insurance company covered a large portion of the total bill.
Who knew?
6 comments:
Allow me to suggest ovulation predictor kits. Also, Clomid helped me and hubby get pregnant with No. 1. I think it took three or four cycles. And the cycle when I got pg was with a new insurance company--and it paid for the Clomid where the other company hadn't!
good luck!
I hope the accupuncture does the trick. And hooray that your insurance company actually paid up!
Michko--yep, been there, done that with the OPK tests. They didn't really help us over the first few months.
I'm charting my basal temperatures every day anyway, so I know when I'm supposed to be ovulating and all that. This month, the motto is frequency for fertility.
That's great about your insurance! Fingers x'd for you and the Mister :0)
Your insurance company actually (gasp!) covered appropriate supplies?
Excuse me while I check for the other three horsemen. This can't be normal.
Just recently discovered your site...
We too had fertility issues-- but with our second child (thus the seven-year age difference between my son and daughter).
I can't tell you how many pregnancy tests were taken, how many times that damn period would come when I thought for sure that would be the month.
It sounds like you're on your way, though.
(I have two sisters who had issues very similar to what you describe here-- each went on to have two beautiful daughters).
Good Luck!
Post a Comment