The diagnostic cycle rolls on...

We are back from the beach and this diagnostic cycle continues, even though my body is giving signals that June is over and it's ready for July.

After posting on the boards and getting a bunch of advice from other Cooper patients, I decided that I would just go ahead to the beach on Saturday and commit to the appointment on Monday instead. On Monday, I went in for an ultrasound and blood work, but no post-coital. Only later did I find out that I was supposed to have a post-coital, but I didn't see the point since C and I didn't get very "coital" in our tiny, thin-walled condo that we were sharing with two lesbian friends and my aunt. Nope.

Anyway, the ultrasound revealed that one of my two follicles had "fizzled out" and that I would have to come back on Thursday. Tell me something I already knew - they concluded that I was a super-late ovulater. On Wednesday, C and I had to very awkwardly and quietly have sex, then go back for yet another post-coital/blood work/ultrasound. They found more bad CM that was "way too thick" and inhibited sperm movement and that the dang follicle was still there. They said that it may be that the egg itself had ovulated, but that the follicle was still working itself out, so I was told to start progesterone suppositories on Friday.

Fast forward to yesterday, I started spotting so I called the RE to see if I still should be using the suppositories since it seems like my ute is over this and ready to move on. She said to keep using them and that spotting was not uncommon.

If this diagnostic cycle has taught me anything, I now know that CM is an issue, but that it was significantly improved with Mucinex. I was also being really dried out by allergy meds, so I'm off those. (Achooooo...) Finally, it is abundantly clear to me that even though my ovulation is very regular, it is really off, so it needs to be regulated with meds and monitoring.

I guess it has been really helpful in the decision-making process, however. Initially, Dr. C really wanted to try more things with either TI or IUI before moving on to IVF, but was also open to moving on if we preferred. I think this cycle (and my nine failed IUIs) have convinced me that moving on with IVF is our best option. It looks like everything that needs to be healthy is ready to go for IVF and the things that need improvement are pretty much bypassed by it. We've decided to move forward with a July IVF when this cycle is over.

I am supposed to go in for a beta draw on July 5, so to me that will be the "all systems go" date. Even though my body would like to be "perioding" right now, at least the progesterone is holding that off until next week so we can start this thing off right. Oh, and conveniently it is holding off until I get to do more fun stuff we have planned for this weekend and the 4th of July! (Hey, I have to find the positives in IF sometime, right?)