TTC Cycle 3 and New OB-GYN

Hello ladies!

I'm sorry if this post is quite late but I really intended to update you guys AFTER my appointment with my new OB which was scheduled today.

So needless to say, our TTC attempt last month was a failure yet again. I got my AF on the 10th of May just before boarding the plane from Hong Kong back to Singapore when we had a quick family holiday. What a spoiler right?! Tears fell but got over it after five minutes. I think I'm getting used to this. 

However on the next day, I was on my computer the entire day researching for a new OB Gyn. I wasn't too satisfied with how things went last month with my TOO. I felt like I just flushed our money down the drain. I'm not saying that just because I didn't get pregnant. Overall, I'm just not satisfied anymore with my OB Gyn and her service. I have mentioned again and again about the "waiting time" I did whenever I visit her. I sometimes wait for 2 to 3 hours for my name to be called and when they do, I stay inside her clinic for 15 minutes... 20 minutes max. I just felt like she's always rushing and not really explaining everything. 

Anyway, I still did make an appointment with her JUST IN CASE and then went on to finding other OB Gyn. I first took into consideration the distance of the hospital from our place because it would take me an hour or so to go to NUH from my place and I wasn't really happy about that especially if I get an early morning appointment. The nearest hospital around our area is the Parkway East Hospital and found Dr. Roland Chieng's name in one of the forums I visited. Although I am hesitant of having a male OB Gyn, I still booked an appointment for back up. My search continued and I stumbled upon another OB Gyn's name Dr. Sheila Loh of Raffles Hospital. I googled her and read a number of good feedback about her so I decided to book an appointment as well and today, I finally met her.

My appointment was at 4PM and we reached the hospital at around 3:45PM. Since it was my first visit, I had to fill out forms. They also checked my height, weight and BP for my profile. Though it was an hour's wait, we felt like it was worth it. She's very friendly and has an approachable personality. We gathered more information from her as she explained more in details about my previous test results from NUH (I was instructed to bring them so I don't need to undergo the same tests). 

Dr. Sheila did an ultrasound scan on me just to see how my uterus and ovaries are now at this stage. I'm on cycle day 22 and she said by this time there should be evidence of my ovulation. She checked my right ovary and the appearance is normal, no cysts and it has 13 follicles. My left ovary also has a normal appearance, no cysts and has 10 follicles. She said that it is a good sign that even after going through surgery, I still have good egg reserve so that made me happy! Unfortunately though, she didn't see any sign that I already ovulated but that doesn't mean that I didn't. 

She then went through my hubby's lab test result. All the parameters were good except for two. First is the Vitality or the percentage of live sperms. The limit set by the World Health Organization is 58% and he got 56% which is really not that bad. Another parameter is the Morphology or the form of the sperm. The standard is 4% and he got 3%. Dr. Sheila said if the form of the sperm is below the standard, then it may have a hard time fertilizing my egg. These can be addressed by taking Vitamin C & E which was actually prescribed to him by my previous OB Gyn, Dr. Anu, though she didn't explain it to us as clearly as Dr. Sheila did. Unfortunately though, my husband is not that consistent in taking his vitamins (bad!) so from now on I will be reminding him every single day. Dr. Sheila also asked my hubby if he cycles because that can also have an effect if you do more than an hour and unfortunately again, my husband does! On weekends he enjoys riding his bike as his exercise so now I told him to cut it down. I even jokingly said that I will take a photo of his bike and post it online and sell it... haha! 

So to finalize my check-up, Dr. Sheila prescribed me Clomid. This is actually a drug to help induce ovulation and release at least 2 eggs to be fertlized thus getting a higher chance of getting pregnant. This will be taken on cycle day 2 to 6 if I do get my period this June {which I'm hoping I won't}. She gave me 10 tablets to cover 2 months and if it is still unsuccessful, then we may need to resort to artificial insemination. 

So yeah, that's my story this month. To be honest I don't have high hopes this time because we only BD'd twice. Don't judge.. lol! DH and I actually decided that we will just do it only when we feel like doing so and this month was actually busy month after our family holiday. We only got the chance twice but hopefully, the timing was right. All I can do now is pray. 

Oh by the way, something different I did this month was to take Blackmores Conceive Well Gold. I have been wanting to try this for months but I just find it too expensive at $46 for one box (28 days use). But when I saw it on sale for $55 for two boxes I immediately caved in! I showed this to Dr. Sheila and asked if it's ok to take and she said yes. This just primarily contain multivitamins and it's actually good for preparing your body for conception.

Here's the breakdown of fees:

Consultation..................................$130.00
Clomid..........................................$25.20
Practice Cost.................................$12.50 (I actually don't know what is this for?!)
Ultrasound.....................................$110.00

Total Charge after GST..............$297.10

So let me end this quite lengthy post with these inspirational Bible verses..

Hebrews 10:36
Learn to be patient, so that you will please God and be given what he has promised.

Psalm 37:5,7

Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust Him, and He will help you. Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for Him to act.

 

On OPKs and Ovulation

Hello everyone!

Today I want to share with you my OPK (ovulation predictor kit) results from my cycle day 14 up to 18 (which is today).

Okay so before I continue, let me give you a brief explanation on what an OPK is. Basically it detects a surge of Luteinizing Hormone (or most commonly referred to as LH) that is present in your urine. So what does that mean if you have a surge? Well, an increase in LH actually triggers ovulation which is when the egg is released for the the sperm to fertilize it. This does not mean though that  when you get the a positive result, you are ovulating right at that instant. Ovulation occurs after 24-48 hours following a positive result therefore it is recommended to baby dance on the following days. This is the reason why it is recommended to do an OPK for atleast 5 consecutive days starting on your cycle day 10 so you could monitor the surge.

Now, this is not 100% guarantee. Based on what I've read here in the magical world of internet, some women would experience a surge in LH but still end up not ovulating. Hopefully that is not my case.

Anyhoo, after my last ultrasound check up (read all about it here), I decided to get me some OPKs. I've used it before but didn't really find it helpful since I didn't get preggers so I decided to stop it. These stuff are expensive, well atleast for me. But since I have been spending so much money on my ultrasounds, then why not get a better chance in getting pregnant by detecting when I ovulate. Luckily that day, Watsons was having a buy 1 get 1 free on their brand so I picked up these...

I was on my cycle day 14 then and I did my test around 5:45 in the afternoon. It is recommended to do the test around the same time for the next 5 days for a more accurate result. Try to prevent from drinking too much liquid as well 2 hours before you take the test as it can dilute the hormone in your urine. Below are the my OPKs for the past 5 days, I noticed that the color faded a little bit but it is still visible.

OPKs are different from pregnancy tests in terms of reading the result. If you would look at it like a PT, you would think that all these are positive results right? Wrong. OPKs are supposed to show two lines (showing only one line would mean the test is invalid) and the difference between a positive and a negative test is how dark the Test band (on the right) is compared to the Control band (on the left). 

This is one thing that I hate about these OPKs. It is so difficult to figure out if it is a positive or negative. Sometimes when you want something really bad, like a positive OPK for example, you will trick your mind into thinking that the Test band is indeed darker than the Control band therefore convincing yourself that it is a positive result. Raise your hand if you agree. LOL!

Looking at my OPKs above, the only day that I got a dark test band was on the 25th. It doesn't look as dark as it used to be when I first tested but you can compare it with the rest of the sticks and it's the only one that has a test band that is still really visible. So I then convinced myself that it was a positive but unfortunately though, we didn't BD that night because of a petty fight (nice timing right?) but we made sure we made up for it the next day and today! Hopefully my hubby's soldiers will be motile enough and fertilize my egg as I ovulate *crossing fingers*.

Now all I have to do is be patient (which I am totally not) as I enter my two week wait (2WW). Hopefully I can fight the urge to do a pregnancy test earlier than when I'm supposed to which I highly doubt.. lol! 

So there you have it ladies. I hope I enlightened you a little bit on how to use and read OPKs. If you have any comments on my OPK results please leave them down below. I would love to know your thoughts on this. Please keep us in your prayers that we may be able to finally complete our family.

Baby dust to all those trying as well!

Till my next update!

Ciao!