OB appointment

I had my first OB appointment today (well, my first if you exclude the times I saw her for infertility testing and all of that stuff.)
It went well; I got given a bunch of information, had a nice chat with my OB and then had some lab-work done. They're testing my HCG and progesterone levels, among other things (I'm not exactly sure what - standard first visit testing, I guess!)

My OB called the RE's office during our chat, to get the full scoop on this mycoplasma thing. After speaking with the staff there, she prescribed a 5 day course of cephalexin for us both. She said it's not something that's routinely tested for, and the evidence of it causing any issues is not very strong, but we might as well treat it of course. The antibiotics are safe during pregnancy, so I'm happy to take them. Evidently she didn't get my message on Friday, but it's cool - I don't think a few days should make much difference. Besides, if it wasn't for our visit to the RE I would never have known about it in the first place!

My first scan will be in 4 weeks - October 8th. All being well, I'll be a little over 8 weeks along by then. It's going to be a long 4 weeks, I'm sure! I just hope everything is OK. I got pretty obsessive with testing - apparently I'm an addict when it comes to peeing on a stick! I confess, I bought another pack of FRERs today. I know, I'm crazy. So far the lines have gotten darker with every test I've taken, so that's been quite reassuring. I know the true test is the beta HCG levels, though. I can call the office in 2 days for the results from today's blood-work. I keep reminding myself that there's no reason to assume the worst, and I shouldn't worry until/unless there's really something to worry about. I know it, but I'm a worrier by nature! :)

I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you all for your support and encouragement up until this point. Each one of you has made this journey a little more bearable. I can't tell you how much it's meant to me to be in touch with other women who understand! So thank you all so much, you're wonderful ladies!

Some drama at the lab!

Hubby fasted from last night, and called the lab this morning to verify the instructions for collecting his semen sample. They said he could either get the sample at home or at the lab - as long as we got it to them within an hour it would be fine. OK. He collected the sample at home and we rushed over to the lab (which is almost 30 miles away). After some old woman almost got us into an accident by cutting us off, we arrived a little over 30 minutes after he'd collected the sample. The guy at the reception desk promptly told us they wouldn't be able to test it because it was too old by that point. What?!?!?! OMG, I just about lost it. Well, I didn't but I really wanted to. I told the guy he'd called before obtaining the sample and was told to get it there within an hour. He said he'd check with someone, anyway. Well, it turns out that everything was fine - the guy at the desk was wrong. Thank goodness! So my hubby got his blood drawn for his tests (testosterone, thyroid levels and cholesterol) and handed over the little plastic container holding his "boys", LOL. His results should be available in around a week, so they'll be back well before I even get my HSG and glucose test done. We both feel better now that we've done everything we can for the time being. We went to IHOP for a late breakfast (brunch, really) because we were both really hungry.

I used my ovulation saliva microscope for the first time this morning - it's so interesting! I got partial ferning, which means I should be ovulating soon. The leaflet says you normally get partial ferning for a couple of days and then full ferning for around 4 days (after that it goes back to partial ferning for a day or 2, I think). I don't have fertile looking CM yet, but I think I will soon. I'm really glad I bought the microscope, it's definitely interesting and hopefully it'll be accurate too. I think it's going to be useful because I ovulate on different cycle days every month and this should give me a heads up so we don't miss my most fertile days. We always seem to time it well anyway, but last month I was surprised to ovulate on CD17 and there's a chance we wouldn't have timed it well because of that. As it happened, we timed it perfectly anyway, but who knows if that would be the case every time? Anyway, for $27.95, it was definitely worth it  :)

My appointment today

I had my first appointment with the gynecologist today. Aside from having to wait in the exam room for about an hour, it went very well. She's really nice and I felt comfortable with her. She was really impressed that I've been charting my cycles and she also was impressed that my hubby is getting his testing done too (apparently she had another patient this morning whose other half refused to get a semen analysis done - thank goodness my hubby isn't like that!).

My pap smear went fine and she ordered blood work which I had done right after my appointment. I think the tests were for thyroid and estrogen levels. We discussed the B-complex I take and she's happy for me to continue with that, along with my prenatal vitamins of course. She's ordered a HSG for me too which I'm happy about. I'll get that done early in my next cycle - apparently I can just call their office and they'll get me in the next day or something. I also need glucose testing which I'll get on the same day as my HSG. I'll have to fast before that one and I'll be there for around 2 hours for the glucose testing - it doesn't sound like much fun! I guess I'll take a book or something with me... :)

I wonder if the glucose testing is part of the normal work-up or if she suspects something is wrong. Either way, I'll go get it done and see what the outcome is. There's no point worrying about it, really. It won't be for at least 3 weeks - I don't expect to ovulate before CD17, then my LP should be 13 days, then I'll have my period which is usually around 4-5 days long - and then I'll get the HSG and glucose testing done. We're probably looking at the middle of June, so I can put it out of my mind for now.

My hubby was going to get all of his testing done today as well, but that didn't work out. He fasted from last night and went to get his blood drawn while I was waiting to go in for my appointment, and he was going to take his semen sample in later on (he didn't have time to obtain one this morning because of work - even though today is supposed to be one of his vacation days). Well, it turns out he has to take his sample in at the same time as he gets his bloods done, otherwise he has to see his doctor again for another referral. Oh, and we have to go to a different lab on the other side of the city, too. Ugh!! I wish they would've said that last week, how on earth are people supposed to know these things when nobody tells you anything?! OK, so we're hoping that he'll be able to get his stuff done tomorrow morning, but it's kind of doubtful because yet more stuff has gone wrong at work and even though he allegedly has today and tomorrow off, it's highly unlikely he's actually getting any time off. It sucks!

At least if he can get his testing done before I have my HSG, then hopefully all of our results will be available at the same time and the gynecologist can go over them with us. I'll have to wait until I get my next period to schedule the HSG so I'm thinking if tomorrow doesn't work out for my hubby to get his testing done, then if he can get it done after I ovulate we should be good. Fingers crossed, anyway.

Testing starts tomorrow, and other unrelated things!

I deleted my rant about my hubby's job: it looks as though we'll be able to make everything work tomorrow after all. The plan is that when I go to my gynecology appointment he'll get his blood work done, and then later we'll take his sample to the lab for analysis. Fingers crossed it'll work out, anyway!

We went to the gym today and yesterday and did an hour workout each time. We'll take tomorrow off and go again Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. We both feel a lot better now that we're going to the gym regularly.

I got some good news yesterday: my friend and her family are coming to visit next Easter! They'll be in our state for a little over 2 weeks, it'll be awesome! They wanted to come last year and this year but were unable to afford the trip, but now they've booked for next year so that's something great to look forward to. They'll be staying in a hotel, which is a good thing because honestly we'd struggle a bit with 4 house-guests for that length of time. We'd manage but it would be a shock to the system when it's normally just the 2 of us (plus the pugs!). The husband is allergic to dogs and one of the girls is developing allergies to animals too, so it's definitely in their best interests to stay elsewhere. Plus, they'll probably have a better vacation because they'll be able to do what they want when they want. There are 3 pools at their hotel, too - I'm sure they'll enjoy those!
So we have my mom and step-dad coming to visit (staying with us) from 2/22 through 3/8 next year, then my friends coming from 3/29 through 4/14. Exciting stuff! It's good to have things like that to look forward to.

I ordered some stuff from Amazon on Friday - one of those ovulation detector saliva microscopes, some more HPTs and a book. I was going to order regular OPKs but I figured I'd give the microscope a go, because it's something you can use repeatedly as many times as you want. It was about $28, which I thought was pretty good considering that I could spend $55 on OPKs monthly! This is a one-off purchase so it should be much better value for money. It'll be interesting to see how it is, anyway. It should be arriving around Tuesday, so hopefully it won't be delayed and I'll be able to use it for this cycle. Today is CD10 so I doubt I'm close to ovulating yet; it'll probably be another week at least.

Overall I feel a lot better now than I did last week. I don't know what changed, but I definitely feel more positive. I think it's partly due to the fact that we're being proactive, starting with testing etc. I don't feel worried about my hubby's SA results or his blood work results, because I'm almost certain everything's fine with him. Of course I could be wrong, and I think I'm as prepared as I can be that there could be a problem, but I'm not worrying about it yet. It'll likely be a week before we get his results, so maybe I'll feel apprehensive by that time!

I'm fairly calm about my gynecology appointment too. I'm trying to think positive thoughts - I really don't like doctor appointments but it's something I need to do. I tend to get really anxious when I have appointments (I have no idea why, maybe it's white coat syndrome!). I'm sure it'll be fine though. I hope I'll like the gynecologist and that I'll be able to ask her lots of questions and get good answers. That's all I really want - for her to listen to me and take my concerns seriously. Oh, and to be gentle! LOL.