Decisions to make

I really need to update more often...Monday's acupuncture appointment was good. She made me think about some things that I have been trying to ignore. On the fertility front she feels that given the follicle fiasco this month that my body may be reacting negatively to the Clomid. She also explained some stuff about blood and energy flow to my reproductive organs. Chinese medicine is a lot to explain so I will have to leave the research to the reader. I myself have quite a bit of research to do as well. She recommended a book,  "The Way of the Fertile Soul: Ten Ancient Chinese Secrets", I think I am going to order it today. You can get a used copy for under $5 at Amazon.com. So we also talked about my weight, eating habits, depression, grief, and so on. Apparently they are all tied together and related. As far as weight and eating she recommended not eating protein at night (supper) because protein is for sustaining energy and we don't need that before we go to bed. She says to eat protein earlier in the day, breakfast and lunch, and save carbs, good carbs (low glycemic), for supper time. For example, sweet potato and salad or cooked greens. Have tried that this week and so far so good. She gave me some deep breathing exercises to do because she says that the area of my lungs related to grief is blocked up or something like that. I need to do more research. Concerning the needles, they don't hurt.

Now to the decision making part. Tracy and I have been going back and forth all week (good thing she was off) about whether to do an insemination next cycle or to wait 3 months while I am doing acupuncture. The reason being is taking more Clomid that could keep messing up my ovaries. We have then decided we would try 3 months of at home insemination. The cost is much less and I would have to do more monitoring. We would have to switch donors. After much debate we finally formulated a plan.

THE PLAN

Next cycle we are going to go ahead with the clinic IUI taking 7 days of Clomid as recommended by the fertility doctor. (This is assuming I do not have any cyst remaining from this cycle.)

If the next cycle does not work, then we are going to try ICI (intracervical insemination) at home. We have chosen to use a donor from Northwest Cryobank. They were recommended and after doing my research they appear to be the way to go. (Thanks Misty!) We have not yet determined whether to do 2 insemination or just one. We are still debating. I must get some feedback from some at home insemination veterans.  We have set the limit to 3 tries at home before going back to the clinic.

So that's the update. We change our minds quickly sometimes so hopefully we can remain on this track without any unforeseen obstacles.