[caseyb]

I have been on the TTC 6 months + board for about a month now, alhtough for two weeks of that I was on vacation. Just wondering if anyone might be interested in sharing with me how long they have been TTC and if they have been diagnosed with anything that has been the cause of the long wait to get pregnant.
My husband and I are on month 7, and I have thyroid disease, although that in no way hindered getting pregnant with my last child, and I don't suspect it is causing a problem this time either. I monitor it regularly and it is consistantly within normal range.
I have a 2 1/2 year old son, and we had really hoped to have at least one more by now, but when he turned one my husband got unexpectedly deployed (for the THIRD time, grr) to the middle east for a year and it got put on hold during that time (obviously...being in close physical proximity does help with TTC, ya know
So...if you're interested in sharing your TTC story, briefly or in detail, I'd love to get to know everyone a little better!

[Hopingfor1soon]

Sure Ill share a little bit:
Umm...DH and I are on cycle 12 right now. We are on our second medicated cycle with Clomid and Ovidrel. I was diagnosed with PCOS in April, however I have absolutley no cysts right now. My first medicated cycle ended in a BFN but I didnt respond well at all to the clomid so we kind of expected it. This cycle has gone alot better. It did take me a while to respond again but once I did things are looking good for us this cycle...lets see first DH had a SA done and things came back way above normal so that was good....then I found out that I had a 29mm follie on Monday (our anniversary) I also had a 14mm and a 10mm. I was instructed to take the Ovidrel trigger shot that day and then BD every day for the next 3 days and then every other day after that....as of right now things are going 100% perfect. The doctor told me before I left on Monday that she doesnt expect to see me back in July so that was good news to hear!! Good Luck!!

[*becky*]

We are TTC #2 as well...we got pg with Bailey on our 2nd cycle trying. So I had no CLUE that it would be this difficult the 2nd time around.

I had a m/c in February 2008 - so my midwife isn't concerned about me getting pregnant, just staying that way. In April she ran bloodwork on me and found out that I have low progesterone. I vaguely remember my progesterone count being low when I had my first beta done with Bailey. I looked at my pg journal, and sure enough my progesterone level was low, but thank heavens it was high enough that Bailey was ok.

So...now we're doing what we can to increase my progesterone. My base line number was 10 at 7dpo - anything over 5 confirms ovulation, but they want the number to be closer to 15-20 post ovulation to be considered in the good range. They put me on 2.5mg of Femara in April - my 7dpo progesterone was 10.5 - **sigh**. They bumped me up to 5mg for my May cycle...my chart looked GORGEOUS, but all I got was BFNs, AF showing and alot of disappointment.

This cycle will be my 2nd round with 5mg of Femara. If this cycle doesn't work, I believe they will be doing a full blood panel on me and more testing to see what is the issue.

I hope my story gives you some insight!!

[~April04~]

We're TTC #1... since Dec 07.. so this is month 7.. Cycle 6.. I'm currently spotting though so I'm guessing AF is going to show up way before shes expected... My DH has a low sperm count... and I have an appt on July 2nd to find out if anything is going on with me too.. O. I should add that I've gotten pregnant before but I miscarried in July 06.

[Lo_and_Behold]

We're still ttc #1. We've been trying since September & I've had 11 cycles. My ob-gyn won't do any fertility testing till we've reached the one year mark so I'm so hoping I get pg before then. I've had my progesterone and TSH checked though & everything is fine. I have a sinking feeling that it could be a problem with DH.
We're both under a lot of stress, we can bicker often so that doesn't help. He also works 2 jobs & has a business on the side so he's exhausted a lot. I don't think stress & fatigue help anything.

[snsgirl336]

We've been trying for number 1 since August 2007, so we're in month 11 of this ttc craziness. We've never been pregnant. I'm really not looking forward to it, but it looks like we'll be talking to the Dr at my annual appointment in a few weeks.

[Emm17]

We're TTC #1 and are on our 10th cycle. I have no idea about any health issues, however I will be seeing my dr very shortly to find out whats up!!

[Chatterbox]

My story is a little long and kinda complicated in terms of how long we have been TTC. Just a little history, I had a laporoscopy back in '03 to remove scar tissue, but all wasn't removed because of some other issues. I was put on Depo Lupron to throw me into menopause and it caused me to gain a LOT of weight in a short period of time. Hated it. Anyhow, we started TTC back in November of 2006 and that same month I was diagnosed with bilateral thyroid nodules, hypothyroidism, and I had a cyst rupture after AF started. I also had this major acne breakout. The endocrinologist I was seeing felt like I probably had PCOS and ran a testosterone test. I went to my ob/gyn to talk to her about it too. Apparently, my insulin levels were bad, and my testosterone was high. I took Metformin from February until the end of May and we still didn't get pregnant.

I had a repeat ultrasound of the nodules and we discovered that one had doubled in size despite the meds. It was biopsied and the endo told me that I needed my thyroid out immediately because it was very suspicious for cancer. We were told that in May. We were floored because we had been told that the nodules were benign and there was no way it would even be cancer. So, we started researching doctors. I had an appointment set with an RE already, so we kept it hoping they would help me figure out all the multiple diagnoses and then go from there once we figured out my thyroid. She in no uncertain terms told me she wouldn't even see me until I lost weight, which stunned me. I needed help figuring out ALL my freaking issues, not being told to lose weight that wasn't budging in the first place. She told me she felt like I had PCOS, but didn't know if it was brought on by my weight. Nice huh? BTW, I had symptoms long before birth control, but nobody diagnosed me because I was young and didn't plan on having a baby at 19 then birth control masked stuff.

Anyhow, she did give me the name of a good doctor for my thyroid issue. The initial report wasn't suspicious, just indeterminate. So, of course, I fell apart in the doctor's office in tears because of what we had been thinking. He also discovered that part of the reason for my hoarse voice that NOBODY would check was because of vocal chord nodules from undiagnosed acid reflux. Nice...We did a second biopsy (wayyyy better than the first) and it did come back suspicious, pointing towards malignancy. He himself called the pathologist to confirm that report and called me himself. (I love this doctor!)We had already scheduled surgery to be on the safe side since I'm a teacher and I wouldn't have to miss school, so that wasn't an issue. So, in July, I had the surgery and they did frozen path while I was on the OR table. Sure enough, it was papillary thyroid cancer. We caught it really early so it didn't spread to my lymph nodes. My whole thyroid was removed to prevent any other problems.

A few weeks later, I did radioactive iodine to destroy any remaining thyroid tissue and basically erase any further chance of thyroid cancer coming back. That sucked by the way because I had to be isolated. I had to wait 6 months to a year to TTC again according to the paperwork. So, it took me six months to get my meds stable and then my ob/gyn said I could TTC. So, we started back in March and made an appointment with an RE for April to discuss all previous diagnoses and see what we needed to do. RE says ALL my levels are fine and there is nothing wrong with me - despite the symptoms - and that our only problem is DH's sperm isn't penetrating my mucus. Well, here we are on our second IUI and pretty much broke from the high costs and no insurance coverage and I'm still not pg. If that's our only issue then why the heck am I not pg yet?? I've had several meltdowns this week, but that's our story.

[caseyb]

Chatterbox....
All I can say to all of that is that your future child is very lucky, it's impossible not to see that you want a baby so dearly right now to persist trying after all of those medical issues. I truely hope that persistnat pays of in the VERY NEAR future.
I was diagnosed when I first got married, about 7 years ago, with hyperthyroidism. We opted to go straight for the iodine radiation, and it actually took two doses, about a year apart. The isolation does suck, but I'm more worried about the effect of the radiation on me in the future. That stuff has a cumulative effect, and I've had my fair share. I'm so paranoid of X-Rays', etc now. It drives the people at my dentist office crazy
I was interested to read that you Dr told you to put off TTC for a year after the radiation. That was not told to me either time I had it done (by different Dr's), although looking back it makes perfect sense, even for the sole fact of it taking a while to get levels back to normal. My thyroid issue seems to be solved, alhthough I do have the eye disease associated with it and have had 6 eye surgeries in the past 3 years, including not one, but TWO orbital decompressions. Good times.
To everyone else, thanks for sharing a little bit of your history.You are all an inspirational group- makes me think that even if we do have to go the medical assitance route, I'm in good company!

[Chatterbox]

Chatterbox....
All I can say to all of that is that your future child is very lucky, it's impossible not to see that you want a baby so dearly right now to persist trying after all of those medical issues. I truely hope that persistnat pays of in the VERY NEAR future.
I was diagnosed when I first got married, about 7 years ago, with hyperthyroidism. We opted to go straight for the iodine radiation, and it actually took two doses, about a year apart. The isolation does suck, but I'm more worried about the effect of the radiation on me in the future. That stuff has a cumulative effect, and I've had my fair share. I'm so paranoid of X-Rays', etc now. It drives the people at my dentist office crazy
I was interested to read that you Dr told you to put off TTC for a year after the radiation. That was not told to me either time I had it done (by different Dr's), although looking back it makes perfect sense, even for the sole fact of it taking a while to get levels back to normal. My thyroid issue seems to be solved, alhthough I do have the eye disease associated with it and have had 6 eye surgeries in the past 3 years, including not one, but TWO orbital decompressions. Good times.[/b]

Wow - I'm glad your thyroid is under control. I know it sucks when it's out of whack. While we were working on my meds, I could always tell when we were going to need to go to a new dose. My body really told me. I don't blame you about the radiation and fears of it. It's so wild that the things designed to help us can also hurt us.

I hope you don't have to have anymore eye surgeries. That has to really suck. Thanks for sharing with us. I know my story was long and I'm impressed you read it all...lol!! I hope you get your BFP soon!

Tami

[dng]

My name is Diane. I have been actively TTC for over a year. DH just had SA done and mas morphology of only 3%. Then on post-coital exam, we were told that the count and motility did not look great. DH is really beating himself up.

[cazza]

my name is carrie and we are ttc #3 (since April last year) i got my first AF PP aapril last year and that was the only one i have had. januaryi had low hormones and now they are fine but i have hypothyroidism (i dont know how long ive had it as they didnt check in january) ive got to go back to the doctor to find out what they can do.

[Celry]

DH and I are on our 15th month. Soon to be 16th. I O really really late, have low progesterone and a short LP. My doc thinks it takes so long for my hormones to climb, that I O a poor quality egg and have a bad corpus luteum. When my progesterone was checked it was around 2. That was soon after my miscarriage, so I think it may be a bit low, but I know my progesterone was never high. I started Clomid last cycle and I Od on CD17, had progesterone of 15.8 when it was checked and a normal length LP. I'm on my second round of Clomid right now. I'll be taking my 3rd pill today. The Clomid messed me up emotionally last cycle and dried me out some, but those were my main 2 side effects. I bought some pre-seed to combat the dryness this cycle.

[babybatax2]

My husband and I have been trying to get pregnant now for 19 months. We actually did get pregnant last July, but I only carried until 7w2d when the baby showed not heartbeat at an ultrasound. I then miscarried about 2 weeks later.

I found out in April that I have hypothroidism, which is causing my cycles to be longer and possibly why I am not getting pregnant. I am on meds for that now, and if I am not preg. by 7/13, we start talking about infertility treatments.

[sethsgirl]

DH and I are TTC our first miracle. We've been TTC for 10 months but 12 cycles now (thought it was 11 but just re-counted...my cycles are anywhere from 24-28 days). However this cycle we won't be able to try since DH is deployed and won't be back until about 5 or 6 days after I O. We were going to start fertility testing but DH recently told me that he'd like to wait a little longer before we take that step. I would like to find out if anything is wrong right now but I don't want to do that unless he's ready to as well. So for now we'll just pray, and maybe not having the stress of it this month will give my body a break and next cycle we'll get our BFP.

[caseyb]

I'm So familiar with the frustration of TTC around deployments. You have a great attitude about it. Love that!

[downunderchick]

M and DF have been TTC for 18 months now *sigh* Weve had 2 losses. I have also been told I have high prolactin. I am taking agnus cactus at the mo as heard that hlps. Hoping to get a BFP this month othrwise off to the docs to find out whats going on.

[branbran345]

Six years ago, DH and I didn't want kids. We had a surprise pregnancy and had our ds in 2003. We were done. They, when he was a year old, we decided we wanted more..a lot more. I kept putting off trying even though DH really wanted to start trying. I wanted to do a lot of stuff, but I ended up never doing it. We would try off and on for 2 years, but in September 07, we got serious. We decided no more time off. We are month 10 now. Dh wants to get tested as soon as he can. Our doc won't do anything until a year. I really hope we get pregnant before then.

[MamaAnna]

We just started cycle 8 TTC. They haven't diagnosed a problem yet, but they ordered an SA for DH and after that are going to start running a few tests on me. The initial thought is that his hernia surgery may have been botched and he wasn't informed. If that's the case he could be infertile with nothing we can do about it. I'm pretty sure my lousy hormones are the problem though. Time will tell.

[Chatterbox]

We just started cycle 8 TTC. They haven't diagnosed a problem yet, but they ordered an SA for DH and after that are going to start running a few tests on me. The initial thought is that his hernia surgery may have been botched and he wasn't informed. If that's the case he could be infertile with nothing we can do about it. I'm pretty sure my lousy hormones are the problem though. Time will tell.[/b]

Is the thought about the surgery yours or something the doctor mentioned? I hope that he doesn't have an issue and if he does, I hope there is something that they can do. I know a friend of mines husband had a count issue because of a GI surgery back when he was a teenager, but they have a beautiful little girl (the one I visited the other night).

I really hope you get your BFP soon.