I have found this type of information helpful when reading other blogs, so I thought I would add one to ours.
December 2009: Al and La have their first “Friendly and Professional” coffee date
April 2011: Al asks La if she wants to have babies and La tells her “Not until I’m married.” “So, uh, wanna get married?”
April 2012: Al and La hold their Big Gay Love Extravaganza Event (GLEE) and celebrate their commitment to one another, since neither the state of Colorado nor the United States of America will officially recognize their relationship.
June 2012: Al and La start trying to sell Al’s old teeny tiny house where they have been living
July 2012: Al starts tracking her cycles
August 2012: Old house is sold!
September 2012: Move into the Estate
October 2012: Start using Ovulation Prediction Kits (OPKs) in conjunction with Basal Body Temperature, Cervical Fluid and Cervical position to determine ovulation
November 2012: Meet with a Lawyer to draw up a known donor agreement to ensure that known donor BFF will not have parental rights and La will be able to secure legal rights after birth; Al starts weekly acupuncture
December 2012: Have final discussion with BFF to ensure he understands the process, can ask question, and is on the same page about involvement with the process; Finalize physician who will sign off on at home insemination process; Order supplies for insemination from Amazon – individually wrapped sterile needleless syringes and specimen cups
January 2013: Originally planned to begin trying to conceive this cycle but our donor is out of town; schedule pre-conception visit with OB/GYN instead and get good response about labs and blood tests; plan to begin insemination at the end of January.
Attempt #1:
January 30th – Feb. 4th, 2013: Multiple inseminations at home using fresh sperm from a known donor – Ovulation on 2/2/2013
February 16, 2013: negative pregnancy test
February 17th, 2013: Period due. Doesn’t show up.
Attempt #2:
March 2nd, 2013: Still no period, multiple OPKs show positive.
March 2nd-March 4th, 2013: Multiple inseminations at home using fresh sperm from a known donor
March 16th – BFN
March 18th – Period arrives! Hooray!
Attempt #3:
April 1, 2013: Positive OPK (CBE and internet dipstick)
April 1-3, 2013: Multiple inseminations at home using fresh sperm from known donor
April 3, 2013: Ovulation
April 15, 2013: BFN
April 17th, 2013: Period arrives
Attempt #4:
Decide to try the “Sperm Meets Egg Plan”
April 28 (CD11) – 1st Insemination
April 30 (CD13) Insem and CIVIL UNION! (technically, the civil union happened at 2am on May 1st)
May 2 – positive OPK; insemination
May 3 & 4 – more inseminations!
May 4th – Ovulation
May 18 – BFN and the red tide rolls in one day early
Attempt #5
May 30, June 2 and June 4 – at home insems with our donor, BFF (this is the first time we have tried every-other-day inseminations)
June 3 or 4- Ovulation (positive OPK on June 4 but a temp dip also occured. Fertility Friend and AL disagree)
June 16 – BFN
June 17 – Period arrives
Attempt #6
July 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6: At home inseminations w/ BFF
July 2: Appointment w/ The Texas Ranger – BFF gets an order for sperm analysis, plan to proceed to IUIs if attempt #6 is not successful
July 4: Ovulation Confirmed (Happy Birthday, America! Here’s an egg!)
July 15: BFF goes for sperm analysis
July 16: SA results resturned – normal motility, normal count, very low morphology (2%)
July 17: BFN
July 19: Period arrives
Decide to take July-August Cycle to run tests and improve sperm quality
Attempt #7
July 24: AL gets a sonogram & HSG. Tubes are clear, uterus is normal. Possible poly cystic appearing ovaries.
July 27: AL and BFF go to fertility acupuncture specialists. AL begins taking myo-insositol, BFF starts taking pygnogenol.
July 30: AL returns for follow up ultrasound and is diagnosed with poly-cystic ovaries. BUT, there is also a 20mm dominant follicle and excellent lining, prompting talk of doing an IUI.
July 30: Decide to do one at home insem in case we miss the IUI window
July 31: AL leaves for South Carolina and gets an LH surge – no IUI this round.
August 1: Ovulation confirmed on CD14 – the earliest it has ever occurred.
August 14: BFN at 13DPO
Attempt #8
Aug 15: CD1 – hoping for another beautiful, early ovulation
August 24: CD10, begin OPKs
Sept 3: CD20, no positive OPK. Call TR to request an ultrasound
Sept 4: CD21, get a progesterone blood draw to assess ovulation
Sept 5: CD22, progesterone results returned: .43, not consistent with ovulation. Schedule appointment to talk about options
Sept 9: CD26, STILL no positive OPK. Meet with Dr. G. He orders additional labs to confirm PCOS diagnosis. Prescribes prometrium to reset cycle. Protocol for next cycle: begin metformin, clomid on days 5-9, ultrasound monitoring beginning on day 12.
Sept 10: Begin Prometrium and Dexemethesone
Attempt #8/ IUI #1
Sept 21: CD1
Sept 25-29: 50mg Clomid
Oct 3: CD13 Ultrasound – one bigger follicle measuring 11mm
Oct 7: CD17 ultrasound – dominant follicle measuring 20mm by 18mm
Oct 8: Positive OPK!
Oct 9: IUI #1
Oct 21: Results of 7DPO progesterone draw come back at 5.5
Oct 22: BFN @ 13DPIUI/12DPO
Oct 24: Period starts 14 DPO.
Attempt #9/IUI #2
Oct 29: Begin 1000mg of Metformin and 100mg Clomid (CD5-9)
Nov. 5: CD13 Follicle U/S and Donor semen analysis. U/S shows 5 follicles ranging between 15-20mm; SA shows morphology at 4%, still well below normal
Nov 8: Positive OPK on CD 16
Nov 9: IUI. U/S shows 4 follicles releasing eggs. Post wash shows 10.48 million sperm with 87% motility
Nov 18:7DPO Progesterone check – 8.5, indicates ovulation but still very low
Schedule IVF consult for Dec. 3rd
Nov 22: BFN at 13DPIUI
Nov. 24: Period Starts
Decide to move to IVF . . .
Dec 3, 2013: IVF Consult – find out we will need to complete testing prior to starting an IVF cycle. Doc recommends we do a final IUI using letrozole while we complete testing.
Attempt #10/IUI #3
12/30/13: CD37 and no period – start provera
1/10/14: Period starts
1/13/14: Baseline u/s and bloodwork. 25mg of letrozole
1/21/14: u/s and bloodwork, have one dominant follicle at 20mm and a few smaller
1/23/14 @ 7am: HCG Trigger (novarel)
1/24/14 @ 1pm (30 hours post-trigger): IUI (16 mill motile sperm post wash – best ever!)
Start 400mg of prometrium daily (200mg twice daily via vaginal suppository)
2/6/14: BFN @ 13dpIUI
2/7/14: Another BFN on ‘official test date’
2/9/14: Period arrives . . .all aboard the IVF train!
Please visit the IVF timeline page for the rundown on our IVF process!
Raising the A Team - Phase two of the Gayby Project 
Hi there – I just wanted to stop by to say good luck. Your first go is fast approaching! My wife and I are doing known donor home inseminations too. Her brother is our donor – well for me only of course. We’ve had two successful goes so far – well at getting pregnant, devastatingly we lost both pregnancies at 12 weeks. So we are back on the horse again now, (no, not literally), and are in the TWW of our 4th cycle post miscarriage. Fingers crossed this will be our third time lucky pregnancy!
I see on the offbeat brides article taht one of you is a sex educator – I used to be one too back in the day, and I worked for a theatre company – but as a producer not acting. We’ve probably got stuff in common though, so I’ll follow you ladies and perhaps you’ll drop by my blog to have a nose around and say hello?
Best of luck this cycle- loving your story, but hating the heartbreak I know too well. Fingers crossed!!!
Do you go to HFASS? I saw that photo on her Facebook and laughed SO hard! I adore Pastor Nadia and devour everything I can that she writes and says. She’s exactly the type of pastor I want to become.
We’re getting ready to start our inseminations right after the holidays. So, I’ll be there at the beginning with you.
Yes, I do! Nadia and I met when we were undergraduates at CU Boulder and then both ended up at Iliff. When she said she wanted to start a church I couldnt think of any other church I would want to be a part of! I never could have imagined her reach would get so big!
Yes, I do!
Nadia and I met as religious studies undergraduates at the University of Colorado, and then both ended up at Iliff. When she told me she was going to start a church, my only thought was “sign me up!” I’ve been adoring her and HFASS since I was one of 8 in her basement!
I’m so amazed that her way of telling this beautiful story has such reach, and I’m so glad. She has such a gift for making the gospel real and relatable. A few years ago when she officiated our wedding, we called her our Celebrity Lutheran Pastor. It was a tongue in cheek joke then, but its not far off now!
Do you have a blog? I’d love to keep up with you!
I do have a blog. It’s ameliaesque.blogspot.com. Right now it’s just a bunch of babbling but as we get closer to the holidays, there should be much more interesting fodder.
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