Monday, November 22, 2010

Myth Buster --- The Big "O"

Hello to all again! Sorry to have taken such a long hiatus -- we have been waiting for different options to open up, or in our case, fall through, before updating. So this is where we are at:

After our meeting with the Dr last month, she came up with three different game strategies:

A. Join the Shared Risk Program
Basically we pay $20,000 for 6 cycles of in vitro. If at the end we have no live pregnancy, we get a 100% refund. BUT -- if you get pregnant on the first try, the clinic has basically made off with $10,000!

B. Either continue with another round of IUI prometrium or begin one round of in vitro

C. Join a study group that our clinic is beginning offering one FREE round of in vitro

Naturally, our decision was option C! Dr said, great, I will call the study coordinator tomorrow and submit your name. Fast forward to over a month later and still no response. After numerous calls to the Dr office (let me also add that our nurse, who is AMAZING, left to deliver her own baby in the middle of all of this so we are now stuck with a half-ass nurse) and several messages to the new nurse -- still nothing. Wren then went above and beyond and contacted the study coordinator herself. Turns out the study was only for "X" amount of women and there is now a waiting list of 80 or so to get on. UGH! We def had our sights set on that and now we are back a square one again.

So the past few days Wren and I have been talking about our different options. Grant it, we have savings put aside, but in no way is it near $20,000 after the past 3 BFN IUI's plus our two attempts from home. So, in order to put us closer to that number sooner -- I have decided to donate my eggs. Our fertility clinic pays about $6000 per cycle, which unfortunately is taxable. But hey, ya gotta do what ya gotta do! Wren and I have talked about this option before but it makes us both a little uneasy knowing there would be little me's running around out there that would not be part of our family. At the same time, eggs are to infertile women what sperm is to us!  Wren is pretty set on the shared risk program. Considering all the statistics (yes, she is a number cruncher!), and everything else, she believes this is the best option.

I say we try one more round of IUI.

Now, here is where your help is needed to solve the MYTH BUSTER!

We have done everything every single book out there says to do to try and get pregnant. We have lost weight, we are eating natural, Wren has tried fertili - TEA, gogi berries, acupuncture, etc, etc. However, there is one thing we have not tried that Wren has fought me on all along ---- THE BIG "O!!!!"  Several of our successful friends have went IUI and they say the secret is to have a good orgasm to get the little ones in there swimming. I think this is only natural because think about heterosexual's ( gross, I know but work with me here....) --- they are having sex when they make a baby. Either the female has an orgasm or she fakes it well enough to trick those little sperm into swimming :)  I mean, isn't that what they set the timer in the room for anyway? 5 minutes in heaven?...

So, give us your feedback on the Big "O" aswell as your thoughts on IUI vs. in vitro vs. shared risk.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!
~Finch

9 comments:

  1. So the big O... well I have to say the first two times we tried there were no big Os @ the end. BUT this last time we decided...what the hell! We didn't get down and dirty @ the office, but after our IUI we went home and made things happen!! And now we are expecting!! Don't know if that really made the difference but it was the only thing we did different this time than the last times! I also didn't obsess about things. If I wanted a Diet coke, I had one. If i wanted 5 beers... I had those too during the two week wait. Good luck!

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  2. Well the pregnancy in May (I lost) I didn't and this pregnancy now I didn't have the big O either. So I don't think it makes a difference at all. As far as your next step, would you be willing to look for a known donor? We found ours on the yah.oo gro.up "fr.ee sp.erm do.nors". We met at a restaurant and got to know each other a little. We had previously tried off/on for 18 months, then met our donor and got pregnant the 5th month, and then again right away after the miscarriage. It's worth a shot, it didn't cost us anything. And we have signed papers ect, met at location in the middle of both of us so it was very convenient. Something to consider maybe?

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  3. Did it with all 11 of our home inseminations to no avail. Didn't do it with the IUI's. Clearly it won't hurt anything, although I have a hard time believing it's the make-it-or-break-it trick. My friend tried to convince me that I needed to smell our baby daddy before we inseminated to get our pheromones in sync. I love my friend, but you know, didn't do that either.

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  4. i did it each time of my 4 iui's ... and still not pregnant... i think it really is all about the timing... but how can you do that without being able to have a million vials each cycle.

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  5. We've tried both ways (with and without Oing)...all to no avail. I think where it might really make a difference is if you are doing ICIs. But it can't hurt right? I'm kind of a numbers/statistics girl myself, and after what we went through I am all for 1) having as many prep tests as possible (HSG, etc) and 2) moving right on to IVF. So my vote is the shared risk program (but we were dealing with lots of medical issues and no insurance). Thanks for you comment on my blog. If you ever want info on all the adoption options out there, we almost feel like experts now.... Good luck!

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  6. When we did our home attempt, we tired this. But, we were laughint too hard to make it happen. It was just too odd with Laurie upside down on our bed with her feet in the air and trying to get to the Big "O" at the same time... Made for some pretty funny memories though!

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  7. The time I got pregnant, I had three big o's after the insemination!!
    I love the sound of the shared risk program, what a great idea!

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  8. Hmmm... I've heard it working for people, but we didn't do that, but ended up pregnant. I have PCOS, so it was sort of a miracle that it happened at all. We got pregnant on our cycle with A LOT of follistim and clomid combined.

    But, hey.... who'd turn down an orgasm?? I say give a whirl. What's the worst that could happen?

    Maybe just lock the exam room door, just in case...

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  9. Yeah, I have always heard that it helps if you orgasm during the process. My s/o thinks it will be weird, but I say whatever will help, we are going to do. Besides, fun! :)

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