Learning about my O and LP

As I mentioned before, after the first miscarriage I turned to the internet. Looking back, I probably spent WAY too much time on the internet. But it wasn't for naught. I learned a LOT!

I learned about charting, bbt thermometers, fertilityfriend.com, progesterone, hcg levels, cbefm, MTHFR, LAC, RE and so much more.

At my two week post op appt we were told we'd have to wait two cycles to try again. I was hoping she'd say one cycle, but it was ok that she said two. I took those two months to learn how to conceive promptly (heh!).

Little did I know that I could be armed with all the info in the world and it didn't mean it was going to work.

I thought since it only took three cycles the first time then certainly we'd be pregnant by August or September of 2008.

I decided that once I got my second period, I would start taking my temperature. I realized I had no clue how to READ my chart and then realized the chart really only shows you that you ovulated AFTER the fact.

I tried opk sticks for a few months and found that the rules of not using first morning urine (fmu) were making me crazy. Who can hold their pee from like 8am till 11am? NOT ME!

That's when i read more about the ClearBlue Easy Fertility Monitor (cbefm). I decided to search Craigslist for a cbefm and found one not too far away. The nice lady met me at the Sears Tire Store at a mall about 20 miles away from me. She told me it worked for her as she rubbed her belly. Said it was her last child. She showed me the buttons and told me to look up online how to reset it. She even threw in a free digital pregnancy test. I couldn't wait for the day I could use that sucker and see the word "pregnant" appear.

I ordered the cbefm sticks from a place online that all the ladies on all the boards raved about. Boy, those things are expensive but if I know exactly WHEN we need to knock boots, then it'll totally be worth it.

So I quickly realized that I ovulate later than I had thought. Well, I should say I quickly realized how flipping naive I was the first time around. I remember back in November going to an online ovulation calculator and seeing the words "luteal phase" (LP) for the first time. What the heck? My cycle is 28 days, of course I ovulate right around cd14! OF COURSE I DO!

OF COURSE I DON'T! Why would I think that after a miscarriage my body would do something RIGHT? In fact, looking BACK to the pregnant month, the ob/gyn told us we conceived on our about Jan 8/9/10th/2008. Well, counting back to LMP on 12/16/07.........BINGO! Even the month we conceived I ovulated late. But we lost it. In my mind ovulating later = bad.

My first month of using the cbefm I was taking clomid (that story is reserved for another post, but that has been the only time I've used it). I wasn't sure if cbefm would pick up the O (ovulation) because of the clomid but low and behold, I went from a low reading on cd23 to a peak reading on cd24. I knew ovulating later probably wasn't an issue but what I did read from Dr. Google was that the luteal phase needed to be the appropriate length. If one ovulates later, then the LP should match the first half (follicular, I think) of the cycle. What I found out was my LP was no more than 9 days.

Everything, EVERYTHING I read told me that nine days was NO good. I kept reading about progesterone to extend LP. Progesterone. Really? Is that ALL I need?

I went back to my ob/gyn to get a progesterone test during my clomid cycle. It showed ovulation. "Consistent with ovulation". Well, ok, but how do we know if it's low? The answer I got was "your body will know what to do when it's pregnant. Your body will produce progesterone. You do not need a supplement".

At a later appointment with another doctor in the same practice, I ended up getting a pity prescription for progesterone. I never took it because I felt like she was throwing it at me to get me to shut up. I was also reading about this wonderful thing called an "RE" and while you take medicine with the RE, he/she monitors you. I had been thrown clomid without being monitored and was now being thrown progesterone. I wanted to take it but I wanted to know that it was the RIGHT thing to take.

The next posts will pick up where I decide I want to go see a new ob/gyn.........