Thank God for ibuprofen and heating pads

So...remember how I mentioned that I think I actually ovulated this cycle? Now I'm paying for having ovulated with a period from hell. It started off ok...a little bit of spotting on Monday. A teeny bit of cramping and a light day yesterday. And then last night? All hell broke loose. I woke up around 1:15 uncomfortable, but was able to get back to sleep without too much of a problem. Two hours later I woke up again in PAIN and with the floodgates wide open. I got up, took some tylenol and drank some water, and dug out my heating pad. I finally got back to sleep around 5:00, but by 6:00, when I had to get up and start getting ready for work, I knew that I wasn't going to be able to actually go in for the day. I called my boss and told him that I was going to work from home today and sent J to my office to pick up a bunch of stuff from my desk so I would have something to work on. Then I ate some breakfast, took some ibuprofen, and crawled back into bed to spend some more time cuddled up with my heating pad and wound up falling asleep. I got up again a little after noon and had some lunch, and then took some more ibuprofen and once again crawled back into bed to cuddle up with my heating pad and nap some more. It was an interesting day...I had SO much that I wanted to get done at work today, and if I had been able to be away from my heating pad for any length of time, I'm sure that I would have been able to get a lot done. But as it was, my work computer doesn't work well with the wireless internet at home so I couldn't work on anything today. I finally started feeling better around the time that J called to let me know that he was on his way home, so now I have the whole evening ahead of me. I think I need to go get another dose of ibuprofen, though, so I'm off to do that.

Oh, and in other news, I went for my ultrasound last week, but I haven't heard anything from my doctor yet. When I hear something, I'll be sure to post the results.

Interesting. Very interesting

I think I actually ovulated this cycle. I saw a temperature shift about a week after my last quasi-period, and then another one a few days ago. I don't know what that means...I guess it means that I might, theoretically, have ovulated and be pregnant, but the test that I took tonight was negative. So I guess I'll have to wait and see...

04-09-09 bloodwork results

My doctor's office called today to tell me that my lab results all came back normal. I guess that's good news. The nurse told me that the next step is to schedule a pelvic ultrasound, so she gave me the number to call and make the appointment. I'm going next Thursday evening. I have to drink 36 oz of water an hour before I go and somehow a) not go to the bathroom and b) not pee all over myself. That'll be an interesting trick.

Also, J got finally found a doctor here in town, and scheduled an appointment for a physical. He also told them that he and I are trying, and that my doctor wants him to get tested. His appointment is next week. Hopefully he'll come out of it with a referral to get a semen analysis. If he doesn't, I'll be very upset.

Anyway, I just wanted to give a quick update. If I get a copy of my bloodwork results I'll post them, and if not, I probably won't provide any more updates until I know the results of my ultrasound. Until then...

4/8/09 status update (a little bit late)

Below is an excerpt from the email that I sent to some of my friends on Wednesday after I went to the doctor for my annual exam. I think it kind of sums up where we are right now...

Hey everyone! Before you get too excited, I’m going to go ahead and burst your bubbles and let you know that no, I’m not pregnant, as much as I would like to be. But that is (sort of) why I’m writing.

I think I’ve talked to all of you at one point or another over the past year or so about the fact that J and I started trying to start our family last summer/fall. (I went off the pill in June, but we didn’t really start “trying” until I had my first period in September.) And I think I’ve talked to all of you about either the fact that I suspected that we would have problems, or the fact that we are having problems, depending on when I talke to you. And I think I promised many of you an update when I knew more, but I can’t remember who I made that promise to, so I’m emailing all of you with what I know as of right now.

Basically, I suspected that we would have problems because of my history with irregular cycles, and as it turns out, I was right. I’ve been charting my basal body temperature (a method for determining when/whether you’ve ovulated, among other things) for the past five months, and I have yet to see it show that I’ve ovulated. And, as we all know from health class, that’s kind of necessary if I am ever going to get pregnant.

So I went to see my OB/GYN today for my annual exam (I actually have a new doctor this year, so it was sort of a long visit). While there I told her what was going on and discussed with her my history of irregular cycles and showed her my BBT charts. I also told her that I want to be aggressive about taking care of whatever is going on. She said that because of my insurance she can’t do anything too aggressive until it’s been a full year since we’ve started trying, but in the meantime she’s ordered some blood tests for me and wants J to get hooked up with a doctor to get his swimmers checked out. After she gets the results of my blood tests, we’ll figure out where to go. If everything is ok with my tests and J’s test, then she’ll put me on Clomid. If that doesn’t work for three cycles, then she’ll refer us to a specialist. And if J’s test shows that there’s something wrong, then she’ll refer us to a specialist. (Oddly enough, I didn't think to ask her what we would do if my results showed something was wrong with me, but I would imagine that she'd refer us to a specialist then, too.)

So…that’s where we are. I guess I won’t know more for sure until after I go get my bloodwork done and get the results, and J gets his tests done (whenever that happens).

All in all, I’m trying to stay positive. I’m still hoping that everything will work out, and this can be easily treated.

So...yeah. That pretty much sums everything up. I went on Thursday and got my bloodwork done...hopefully I'll have those results next week sometime. The doctor said she'd call me when she gets my results, whether they're good or bad. So now I'm just trying to convince J to find a doctor and then schedule an appointment for a physical (he hasn't had one in a couple of years) so he can figure out where he needs to go to get a semen analysis. I'll post more when I know more...