OK, I'm ready to share...

I have been teeter-tottering over writing this post for the past 2 weeks or so. I've developed a theory that before everything wasn't working because I was oversharing. But the more I think about it, the more my family, who I love more than life itself, deserves to know what's going on. I love and respect those who read this blog (yes, you) enough to not leave them hanging. So here it goes.

I did my first cycle with Femara, the lowest dose I could start with. Dr. F advised that this cycle with Femara was mostly to see if this dosage would make me ovulate. Of course, he said, it was not meant to deter us from trying on our own. We just wouldn't be performing any IUIs or procedures. That was earlier in July.

2 weeks ago today, I walked into the lab at Kaiser to take the CD21-23 blood test to measure my Progesterone levels. Here's how it works:

Progesterone is a steroid hormone that is increasingly released after a woman ovulates. It helps the lining of the uterus develop and becoming inviting for a fertilized embryo. It also supports gestation and helps the placenta develop and work.

After natural ovulation, normal Progesterone levels are usually >10 ng/ml

After a medicated ovulation (me), normal levels are usually >15 ng/ml

The last cycle with medication, Clomid, my Progesterone levels were 0.3 ng/ml on CD 23. Meaning, I didn't ovulate.

So on Wednesday, I logged into Kaiser online to see my results. Jake was with me and held my hand. I was fully expecting the results to be bad, in that Femara didn't work for us this cycle. Given all the "bad news" we've been receiving lately, I just thought this would be another notch in the post of failures over the past 3 years. I opened the page that held my test results, along with all other results of blood work I had done. The new results were bolded, so I clicked on them while taking a deep, long breath.

The results? 22.6 ng/ml.

Yup. The Femara worked! It made me ovulate! I burst into tears on the spot. I was in such shock that we were finally getting good news. Something FINALLY worked. We didn't have to do injections like I had thought and the Clomid was behind us. Femara worked. It. WORKED.

Being the worry wart I am, I starting Googling crazily looking for possibilities that the results were too good to be true. This couldn't be...something actually worked. At that point, I realized that I had been working so hard with failures hanging around my neck that I didn't learn to appreciate a triumph when it was staring at me in the face. So, I called Dr. F's office. He saw the results and his exact words? "Your levels are beautiful. Congratulations!" If it were humanly possible to jump through the phone and give that man a kiss, I might have done it.

I was advised that I was to take a beta blood test for pregnancy in about 2 weeks from then if AF didn't show. If AF showed, I was also advised that he would like us to continue with the Femara while charting and using OPKs, with timed (insert obvious word here). Right now, we're waiting to test. Of course, this means I am becoming one of those crazies who sees every little thing that happens with my body as a sign that I'm pregnant.

So there you have it. No definite news yet on the full outcome since I technically can't test until the end of the week. Any prayers, dust, etc. that you can send would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for being there, everyone. I truly to love you all...more than you'll ever know.