Downregulation

Birth Control Pills????? Wait a minute, doesn't that PREVENT you from getting pregnant? Of all the things I was expecting to hear, the fact that I need to take birth control pills for a month was certainly not on the list!

Well, yesterday DH and I attended the infamous "Injectables Class" that we had to attend before starting Menopur.  Four infertile couples, sitting in a room, learning all about the risks and benefits of Menopur, playing with syringes (although luckily no practice shots were done... yet). Then the nurse dropped the bomb. We are the only couple who needed to do "downregulation", meaning that next month, I'll need to go on the pill to get my ovaries to "settle down" as the nurse put it. I guess this is a good thing, because when I start doing the shots, the follicles will all grow at the same rate instead of there already being a lead follicle.  

A good thing, yes, but also frustrating, because it means another month of doing nothing. This will make three months of doing nothing- first because I was "accidentally" told to take clomid, then because I wasn't scheduled for the class on time, and now because I need to be on the pill for a month.  Now seriously, surely I could have taken the pill this month without going to the class first! 

I guess this means that the Menopur cycle will take place in December- What a way to spend Christmas! It will also be exactly one year since we started treatment, and almost 3 years since we started TTC!

Seriously?

Yes, I am trying to say that I want to rip my hair out right about now!  Over the past month, nothing seems to be working out the way that it should. It's just been one setback after another. Allow me to start from the beginning.....

So DH got his semen analysis done again (after a series of previous conflicting results from different places, i.e, 0% morphology, then totally normal morphology). This time he got them both done in the same week to have as little variation as possible.  SO first he got his Kaiser results back- everything looks AMAZING, totally normal, better than last time. Hmmmm, well, they did say that it was normal last time to so... Then we got the results back from the other place (who told us it was 5% normal morphology last time) and this it was 3%!!! Yes, WORSE than last time, and definitely not normal. 

Now I am confused.  So far we have had 2 different places tell us that his morphology sucks, and Kaiser who keeps telling us that it's normal. Who are we supposed to believe? Do we go to a fourth place?? I am also royally pissed off because DH has been spending ridiculous amounts of money on acupuncture and herbs for the past 3 months that were supposed to be helping. Acupuncture guy said that it was the first time he had ever seen someone's results get worse instead of better. Great. Needless to say DH won't be doing any more acupuncture.

Next problem... Last month I saw a different doctor for my baseline ultrasound because mine was booked.  She told me to go ahead and start doing Clomid again. I did. Fast forward a week, and I'm back in the doctors office for another ultrasound. MY doctor walks in, and proceeds to tell me that he does not want me to do clomid anymore because it's obviously not working. He want's me to start injectables. He talks for about 20 minutes about our new plan of action, before he realizes that I have already done clomid this month! He pretty much says that we should not bother with the IUI, gives me the trigger shot right there in the office, and sends me home to get busy. I mean seriously, shouldn't the other doctor have consulted with my doctor before telling me to do clomid again??

After twiddling my thumbs for 2 weeks, waiting for this cycle to be over, AF showed up this weekend. So yesterday I called the doctor about scheduling a baseline ultrasound. They told me to come in at 2:15. About 15 minutes later, the nurse calls to ask if I have done the class for the injectables. Um, no. She then proceeds to tell me that I can't do injectables until I've done the class, and since they just had a class the previous week, the next one won't be till next Thursday! So pretty much this will be the second wasted month in a row. She told me that I could just do clomid again this month- um, no thanks.