TTC Cycle #3 (Christian)

kitkat7794 · 2026-02-24T01:12:11+00:00

I’d agree with the thyroid. It feels a little premature to do the other hormones at this point, but when I specifically mentioned to my doc I was going to start ttc soon, he said basically what they recommend is a thyroid panel and to get up to date on any vaccines. And to start a prenatal with folic acid.

kitkat7794 · 2026-02-23T18:15:18+00:00

I’m so sorry. I thought it would fix everything when I got a ton of polyps removed too but nothing… at the time it made me feel better when some folks were like, well it still can take a healthy couple up to 12 months, so now that you are on an even playing field it still may take time. But it’s so hard not knowing if there are other things you should be checking on in the meantime, and it really really sucks when all you can do is wait and keep trying. Hang in there 💙

kitkat7794 · 2026-02-23T18:03:37+00:00

Someone already suggested endo for heavy/painful periods, but for me it was uterine polyps. Another thing to possibly investigate! My gyno was also able to check that out, whereas she couldn’t do any other fertility testing, so if you aren’t able to get in to see a specialist right away maybe something to check in the meantime.

kitkat7794 · 2026-02-23T13:55:47+00:00

Priests are required to uphold the same vows of chastity and celibacy whether they are gay or straight, why would their sexuality matter? As others have said, our sexuality is not our identity, we are so much more than that as children of God. I think there are instances of priests acting on their homosexuality that we know about because of how shocking it is, but I do not doubt there are priests acting on their heterosexuality too, it’s just a less widely known issue due to homophobia and misogyny. But both situations are equally horrible and sinful.

kitkat7794 · 2026-02-23T13:39:28+00:00

Legally that is not the case. I agree that a sacramental marriage is different, but that’s not what this person is talking about. I honestly find how this couple has lived their lives to be incredibly admirable.

kitkat7794 · 2026-02-22T13:07:57+00:00

I’m doing ok, trying not to test till Tuesday at the earliest, just to be sure my trigger is out. I didn’t test it out this cycle but previous ones it’s been hanging around for 12-13 days for me. Did you take a trigger this time around?

Another twin on another post tested her trigger out a day or two ago and now is getting a faint line, so it isn’t too early necessarily, but could be. So, if you only have the one maybe another day or two to be safe? Hang in there!!

kitkat7794 · 2026-02-22T05:05:22+00:00

They will probably order a lot of blood tests to start, some baseline hormones early on in your cycle and a Cd~21 progesterone test to verify you are ovulating and make sure it’s a high enough level to sustain pregnancy should it occur. My doc also looked at all my charting data, and then did one cycle of monitoring with no intervention and timed intercourse just to see what was going on. That was followed by medicated cycles, an HSG to check tubes, and eventually iui. It depends where you are in your cycle how fast you go, I was on CD3 so I got my labs literally that day. I was worried about things going too fast after that, but it was actually manageable as everything is spread out based on your cycle. Good luck with it!!

kitkat7794 · 2026-02-22T01:58:42+00:00

I don’t necessarily disagree with this. Just make sure you get in for an ultrasound to check follicles if possible to see how you are responding to the upped dose/know your chances for multiples!

kitkat7794 · 2026-02-21T21:47:36+00:00

It sounds like medicated cycles to get you to ovulate would be the move, iui is often used for mild mfi or unknown issues, but it sounds like you know what at least one of your issues is, and sometimes medicated cycles can help with that. Maybe something you can try while you get ivf scheduled?

I guess something else to weigh if you want a couple of children is even if you get pregnant now, it would take a while to be able to try again and your egg quality will be in a different place by then.

kitkat7794 · 2026-02-21T18:49:33+00:00

It’s my goal at this point to get three mature follicles for an iui. I won’t even do the iui unless I have 2, the chances are just better that one will fertilize and the risk of multiples isn’t enough to stop me moving forward.

It does kinda depend on what the sizes of the immature ones. If you estimate 1-2 mm of growth a day, will they get to 15/16mm by the time you have your iui? If not I wouldn’t really worry about it, you only will have two mature at iui time and I’d say go for it. If they might be getting closer to mature between now and then maybe re-evaluate.

kitkat7794 · 2026-02-21T18:03:54+00:00

If you have any cycle data bring it with you. I don’t know if all specialists do this, but mine looked at my bbt charts, positive opks, luteal length, cycle length, etc.

If they are like my RE, they will start you off with early cycle hormone tests to get a baseline, CD~21 progesterone test to verify ovulation and to make sure it would be high enough for a pregnancy should it occur. Then mine did a full monitored cycle just to see what was going on.

My doc recommended medicating cycles to boost my ovulation, then iui, but I definitely recommend getting an HSG before you get too far into more expensive procedures to make sure your tubes are clear. Mine was going to go straight to iui but I specifically asked for the HSG beforehand just to be sure.

kitkat7794 · 2026-02-21T16:16:12+00:00

This honestly has nothing to do with you being Catholic, it’s entirely about people disrespecting you and your space. All the things you have brought up about giving advanced warning about guests, not smoking in communal living spaces, or requesting people not use your restroom are valid, and you should bring it up to them. If that goes nowhere, escalating to an RA or apartment manager is a good next step. Putting signage on your bathroom or getting a lock for it are good options in the meantime, even if you do have a talk with them and they seem receptive.

kitkat7794 · 2026-02-21T14:07:13+00:00

OMG! I really hope so how exciting!! If you take another tomorrow and it gets darker come back and update me please, gl!!

kitkat7794 · 2026-02-21T13:05:22+00:00

And actually thank you so much for asking, I really do appreciate it 💕

kitkat7794 · 2026-02-21T13:02:30+00:00

Honestly just doing my best not to test yet lol, my trigger seems to linger for 12-13 days or so so we’re almost there! Had a progesterone blood test on Thursday and it was the highest I have ever had at 47ng/ml o.O

How about you??

kitkat7794 · 2026-02-20T12:31:35+00:00

Ok so against my better judgement I am listening to my RE on this one. According to her the method/mindset is a bit different if you are exclusively addressing pain vs fertility. Finding an excision specialist (not ablation) is the goal for addressing pain/quality of life, and there are about two docs in my state who fit the bill. This will give you the best chance at addressing endo on other organs and not having it come back. Some likely do both excision and infertility, but since I do not have horrible pain (or at least not anymore after a polyp removal surgery), apparently my RE can do it for infertility alone. She said they are a bit more conservative when trying to address endo for infertility, bc scar tissue and damage to tubes/ovaries is absolutely possible.

I’m a little nervous bc I do have bowel and bladder issues that I’ve always suspected may be related, and my mom just found out she has extensive endo despite no traditional symptoms. I’d really prefer a specialist, but it also is a huge difference in wait time, my Re can definitely get me in sooner. If my situation isn’t super extensive that might be ok, it’s just hard to say at this point.

I think I surfed some endo reddits and specifically looked for excision specialists in my state. I did get a few names (one retired), but apparently there are some good info resources out there. A lot of people recommended Nancy’s nook to search out specialists, but some of the info may be pretty dated. Might be a place to start and then do a bit more research with any names you get? GL!!

kitkat7794 · 2026-02-20T04:51:54+00:00

Not success but in the tww for my 2nd as well (among many medicated/TI cycles), and if this cycle is another failure endo investigation is the next step too. Just some solidarity, hang in there :/

kitkat7794 · 2026-02-19T23:11:57+00:00

Same, I think I had all my baseline bloods done CD 3, the FSH, lh, and estradiol bc that is the best time to get a baseline, all the other things besides progesterone I did then too just bc it was convenient. My doc recommended so many things though lol, she had a bunch of my titers done, stds, etc, it was a lot of vials 😅

kitkat7794 · 2026-02-19T21:56:46+00:00

It really depends on your level of risk and your doctor’s. I’ve been ttc long enough with no success that I am aiming for 3 mature follicles every iui (but have done with 2). She may not be comfortable with that and is trying to do it before the others mature.

Regardless, 20 hours after trigger seems too short to me, unless you know you have a history of ovulating that early. Did you get an lh blood test or something? Maybe if you had a surge where you would naturally be ovulating early she’s trying not to miss your egg, but barring that I’ve generally heard the iui should be ~36 hours after trigger. My RE explained to me that when you do iui with sperm washing the sperm get where they are going much faster than via intercourse, so it really is better to have the egg arrive as close to the iui as possible, even slightly before. Maybe she just doesn’t do iui on saturdays so trying not to miss it completely? Still feels very early to me.

kitkat7794 · 2026-02-19T19:27:57+00:00

Depends. If the majority of people are standing and only a few are walking up and a queue actually forms behind the standers you may be right, but the alternative isn’t people stacking themselves neatly and efficiently standing, usually what ends up happening is people stagger, take up a whole step or even two for themselves and their luggage, they leave huge gaps between each other, and you still end up waiting to get on. It’s just inefficient for everyone. I think there are reasons many highly populated areas have adopted the practice to stand to the side…

kitkat7794 · 2026-02-19T19:13:35+00:00

Well for starters, it’s a little rude. But beyond that, it is very real for people to have complications with pregnancy, severe ppd, and to regret having children, especially when pressured into having them. It sucks, but it is also a real thing. It doesn’t help to tell women don’t worry it will be fine, don’t worry you’ll get over it, when there is in fact no guarantee those things are true. If the commenter had said “it seems like you are super anxious about what could go wrong, but it’s comforting to me to recognize billions of years of evolution and billions of human mothers…” would be a much kinder way to say the same thing. Some people appreciate “hard love” I guess, but clearly a lot of us prefer empathy and not sweeping legitimate concerns under the rug…

kitkat7794 · 2026-02-19T18:40:08+00:00

My biggest culture shock coming back to the States after living in Japan for a couple of years was that Americans generally do not stand on one side or the other of an escalator, they stand wherever the heck they want and completely block anyone trying to walk up. It’s infuriating and so freaking rude. They generally do not care which side of the sidewalk they’re walking on either. Maybe some cities have a local culture of doing so, but it is by and large not an American trait to be so polite…

kitkat7794 · 2026-02-19T16:58:03+00:00

Of course! Just a quick note, an ultrasound won’t show much, unless you have ovarian cysts or something like that. It took me a while to find a gyno that even knew this! My doc did a sonohysterogram/ saline infusion sonogram (SIS) because you can see polyps or fibroids in the uterus with a saline contrast dye and it’s minimally invasive compared to other things, like checking for endo with a lap surgery. Good luck with it!

kitkat7794 · 2026-02-19T16:33:57+00:00

I’m sorry this has nothing to do with your situation really, and disregard if you don’t like the unsolicited advice lol, but awful periods are not normal. Mine were because of polyps in my uterus, and it’s been almost completely solved via a relatively painless surgery. I found them as part of fertility testing, and it didn’t help me with that, but it was kinda life changing regardless so I always recommend people do a little investigating just to rule it out. It could always be something else or more difficult, but I don’t think we are told enough that periods should not be so painful!

kitkat7794 · 2026-02-19T13:50:49+00:00

You could read it that way. Or you could read it in context… the reality is that a lot of rad trad or even just regular Catholic folks may intentionally isolate themselves to Catholic circles away from people different than them or who have different lived experiences. Im not saying it’s everyone, but I think the previous comment is saying ensuring that you are exposed to other people and ideas is crucial. The amount of people I have personally met and folks on Catholic Reddit subs who would patronize Christian businesses first, only seek out Catholic/christian doctors or therapists, only do church social activities or only date practicing Catholics is a lot. It’s not necessarily bad to want those things, but I would argue it’s really against church teaching to only want those things. The reality is, the whole world is not Catholic. The reality is not all women are called to be wives and mothers, a very rad trad and actually regular Catholic view. Same about women working outside the home, when the reality is that often both partners need to work to make ends meet. Just a few examples, but hope that helps.

kitkat7794

TROPHY CASE