Cycle Day 3…Clomid time!

Hello from Cycle Day 3. Thank freaking god the last two days have not been as terrible as the first day. The cramps mostly went away by the end of CD2 and now on CD3 they are basically non-existent. And today I start Clomid! I took my 2 pills at lunch. Online it said you can take them with or without food and I was hoping that taking them with food might help a bit with any potential side effects. I am a little nervous for some of the side effects, which include bloating, nausea, fatigue, hot flashes (nooo, not again!) but it will be worth it if it makes my body do it’s thing. Also apparently having the side effects means the Clomid is working the magic, so while being nervous to experience them I’m even more nervous about not experiencing anything!

In the spirit of staying hopeful about this whole process I googled “Clomid and Gonal-F success with POF” and have copied and pasted two ‘success stories’ below from infertility forums on the web. I will admit, there weren’t a lot of success stories to be found but there were a decent amount of people who said the fertility drugs did make them create follicles, just the IUI ended in a BFN (Big Fat Negative). All I am truly hoping and wishing for this treatment cycle is some follicles, even if I don’t get pregnant it will mean these drugs make my body do something so even those stories are success stories in my eyes!

Yes, my doctor thinks there is a 90+ % chance it won’t work but that leaves a 10%-ish chance it will, and people have fallen into that 10%  before and I could very well be one of them! I’m going to focus on remaining positive about this process and try really hard to not be doom and gloom about it.

I was TTC for a few months without success and also having trouble with irregular periods and weak eggs (getting my period less than 7 days after ovulation). I had a AMH test which said the level suggested premature ovarian failure. It was devastating. I had even scheduled an appointment to see and IVF specialist already. I went on Clomid 50mg days 2-6 and fell pregnant on my first round. I’m now almost 9 weeks pregnant and everything is fine.

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It is possible to have IUI sucess with high FSH/low AMH. My RE said some doctors would recommend we go straight to donor eggs with my age and AMH. Well, we got lucky on our 2nd IUI, although I think it did surprise the heck out of our RE. My RE explained that the high FSH primarily meant that I might be a poor responder to the medications, not that I didn’t have any eggs left.

We had originally decided to do one IUI with medium strength meds to see how I reacted to them (did I produce follies) prior to moving onto IVF. Well, we got 3 follies the first try, although a BFN, so we decided one more IUI try before moving onto IVF (since no insurance coverage). At my age we didn’t want to waste too much time before moving onto IVF. Well, the 2nd IUI worked and I’m currently 11 weeks pregnant. We used a similar dose of meds (100 mg clomid and 150 follistim), and got 3 follies again.

Will be back in a few days with an update on how I am feeling!