January 2013 - May 2013 Artificial Inseminations

Out first step was to start letrozole again. But along with it I took dexamethasone. This medication is a corticosteroid hormone (glucocorticoid). It decreases your body's natural defensive response and reduces symptoms such as swelling and allergic-type reactions. Dr. Peterson said it was for the purpose of swelling. Combined with letrozole it's known to help with infertility. 

It did help, but not enough. We then added metformin. This drug is for diabetics. Since my body does not know when to stop producing insulin, metformin shuts down that piece of my brain that says I need more insulin.  

This by far is the worst drug I have taken. 

Side effects up to this point had been relatively minor. Mood swings, hot flashes, irritability, it's like having PMS the majority of the time. The problem with metformin was it makes me sick to my stomach 24/7. I can live with mood swings (and Justin has been really awesome dealing with my mood swings) but being constantly sick to my stomach, not being able to eat, and keeping me up at night, that has been the worst. 

But it's working! I respond really well with all three drugs. I was able to have lots of ultrasounds and see the follicles in my ovaries, and how they are responding to medications. It's really fascinating. 

Between January and May of 2013 we did 4 artificial insemination's. 

You are in the office about an hour for an insemination. Justin gives a sample and then it's washed. 40 to 45 minutes later it's injected into me through a catheter, and then I have to stay laying down for about 15 minutes.  They cost about 350$ each. Medication is about $50 a cycle, and ultrasounds are about $200 to $300 apiece (1 to 3 per cycle) so each cycle was about $800 to $1000. And don't forget Justin's tests before all this. The hamster penetration test was about $400.  And I think we had other analysis done. 
Side note: we used to joke that Justin had a baby hamster for a child somewhere out there. The test is they see how well Justin's swimmers can penetrate a hamster egg. Its suppose to show that it should then work with my eggs, and eliminate that as a problem. 

We were of course hopeful after each test, but it's difficult getting negative pregnancy tests after another. When I got a negative test I tried to stay positive saying it could be wrong, but then my period would start, and it always felt like the end of the world. Luckily I had a great husband who gave  encouraging   words and let me cry on his shoulder. 

In May were were starting to think we needed to do IVF. It was the next step. But then life happened, and Justin lost his job along with our cushy insurance.