Who knew? I feel so naive thinking over a year ago that it would be easy to have a second child. Update: still NOT pregnant. I'm still charting using the Creighton Model and still love how much more it lets me know/understand my cycles. I used Creighton for a little over 4 months before getting the ok from my teacher to see the doctor for testing. I switched to a Catholic gyno who knows the Creighton Model. She looked over my charts and ordered a whole slew of tests.
Test Cycle
Nov. 29th : Standard cycle day 3 blood test (tests levels for all the essential hormones in your cycle)
Dec. 3rd : Hysterosalpingogram, aka HSG (a series of x-rays the document how a dye runs through your uterus and out the fallopian tubes, used to check for blockage of the tubes)
Dec.7th (4 days before ovulation) : Estrogen and Progesterone blood test
Dec. 9th (2 days before ovulation) : Estrogen and Progesterone blood test
Dec. 11th (ovulation) : Estrogen and Progesterone blood test
Dec. 13th (2 days after ovulation) : Estrogen and Progesterone blood test
Dec. 14th (3 days after ovulation) : Progesterone blood test
Dec. 16th (5 days after ovulation) : Progesterone blood test
Dec. 18th (7 days after ovulation) : Progesterone blood test
Dec. 20th (9 days after ovulation) : Progesterone blood test
Dec. 22nd (11 days after ovulation) : Progesterone blood test
Sometime during this cycle: Sperm analysis for the hubby
Dec. 28th : Test results
* All of my pre ovulation hormones are fine (yay!)
* The HSG showed my left fallopian tube is blocked. :( Not quite sure how since the main causes of that are usually endometriosis (my dr. said she didn't see any evidence of endo. during my annual exam) or pelvic inflammatory disease (caused by chronic vaginal infections - which I haven't had, or by an STD - also never had).
* Post ovulation hormones not as good as the pre. Diagnosis: Low progesterone. :(
* Hubby's SA came back with a slightly low count
Fixing us
Blocked fallopian tube: May be able to fix through sugery, though I'm a little leary of surgery, so since I still have one working tube, we're holding off on this. Hopefully things will work out without surgery. I have done a little research on my own and found this great fertility self massage that claims it can open a blocked tube, so I've been doing that occasionally in the evenings.
Low progesterone: I'm taking a 200mg once daily vaginal progesterone suppository. I started this last cycle from 3 days after ovulation until the end of my cycle and had a blood test to see if it was working on 7 days after ovulation. It worked! So I'll keep on this same regimin for now and *when* I finally get pregnant will probably have to stay on it for some of the pregnancy.
Low sperm count: Hubby was referred to a urologist. The urologist confirmed a double variocele (1 on each side, from what I understand it's basically varicose veins in the scrotum, but does not cause any health problems or pain, just occasionally low sperm count. The urologist also said that hubby's sperm count was actually not too low, just slightly below average. He did order a second SA just to make sure. We both go back to see this doctor this week. Aside from the low sperm count, hubby's been having some pain "down there" and the urologist diagnosed it as enlarged bladder and enlarged prostate. Hubby is on antibiotics and anti-inflammatory meds, but the pain seems to be getting worse in his prostate. Hoping this week's appointment can bring some more answers.
Other help:
* My gyno also prescribed me 500mg og Vitamin B6 each day to help make my "special area" more "sperm friendly".
* A friend is letting me borrow her relic of St. Gerard and I'm in the middle of a novena to him asking for his intercession to God for help in getting pregnant. FYI, the relic is a very tiny piece of material that St. Gerard touched at some point and is now enclosed in a little metal and glass case. It has been in her family for a long time and everyone, except for my friend, it has been passed down to has become pregnant! My friend however has adopted 4 lovely children over the years and has been blessed with a beautiful family! The novena I'm saying is a 9 day prayer said to the saint asking for him to take my requests to God. Since he's already in heaven and thus much closer to God than I am, he can more directly take my requests to God. Many women have attributed their pregnancies to the interccession of St. Gerard and I hope to be one of them soon! St. Gerard, pray for us!
