Last time I wrote I said that I was taking 10-days worth of pills of Provera (a progesterone supplement). The Provera was supposed to induce a period so that I could essentially flush myself out to start over. I went into the fertility clinic on cycle day 4 so they could check to make sure things were good to go before I started taking Clomid to help me ovulate. I don't EVEN want to write about the hassles it took just to make that damn appointment. The office pretty much pissed me off from the get-go even after I followed THEIR instructions.
Anyway, I have my appointment and of course they need to do an ultrasound of my ovaries to make sure we can still do the Clomid. The nurse practitioner (not the Dr. mind you), tells me that I have one rather large cyst on my right ovary. Her face is somber and very serious. I ask her if this cyst is different from my other polycystic cysts and she said yes. She tells me that she wants to find out if the cyst is "functioning" or not. If it functioning - meaning it's releasing hormones - then she wants to put me on birth control pills in order to stabilize the hormones and hopefully shrink the cyst. If it's not functioning, then we can proceed with the Clomid as planned.
I get my blood drawn and I leave the place feeling kind of defeated because I don't know what to expect. I wait anxiously the entire day (the day before Thanksgiving) for her to call me back with the results.
She calls and starts off by saying she likes to see estrogen levels under 75 before starting Clomid. My levels were at a 217! I kind of freaked out. I didn't know what to think. She tells me I need to take the birth control pills and see her in 3 weeks to check again.
Thank goodness I'm part of a special online message board dedicated to PCOS. I posted my story up in the Trying to Conceive section and immediately some of the girls through up some red flags. They tell me my "cyst" may indeed be just a follicle getting ready to release the egg! They tell me the size of the follicle - 2cm - is perfect size and that my estrogen levels - 217- were also perfect for impending ovulation!!
After doing much research with Ramin and discussion with the ladies online, I made the decision to NOT take the birth control pills and just see what would happen. Obviously ovulating on my own is the better option than forcing it to happen another way.
Friday morning comes and I take an ovulation predictor test (OPK) and it comes out positive for the first time! I have a Clear Blue Digital kit and it makes it very easy to interpret the results. I have not yet seen a positive smiley face yet. The test indicates that I could potentially ovulate within the next 24-36 hours. Of course, there are still other signs to watch out for - signs that I am very comfortable with monitoring for myself.
Most of you won't understand this chart...but I'm posting it anyway because it will serve as my personal reminder of this entire cycle.
It shows me taking the Provera, my temps spiking because of it and then leveling out again. I decided not to include the time I was bleeding from the Provera withdrawal because it wanted to start a whole new chart. I consider this to be one huge cycle at this point.
There's way too much information to post on here about the other "signs" of impending ovulation but I know what this chart means....and that temperature spike this morning is all the proof I need at this point to tell me that I did indeed ovulate on my own yesterday at some point. I'm hoping and praying it's not a false high temp and that it stays high for the next 2 weeks at least.
I will wait until 12 DPO (days past ovulation) before I take a pregnancy test. That puts me at December 8th before I will test. I hope I can hold out that long!!
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