I take VitaFusion gummies. I would consider switching to the kind with iron if I thought I needed iron. Even though I am no longer taking about 25 pills a day (this is an estimate, not an exaggeration) of fertility-related supplements (the reason I started taking gummies), I still prefer a little treat in my day!
2 Likes
I’m pretty sure I’ll need the iron – I think mine usually comes out a little low but not concerningly low in blood tests.
1 Like
I take a Megafood prenatal. I have a hard time with iron and constipation and these work for me. They make a small version where you take 4 a day but they are easy to swallow.
3 Likes
Now you tell me 
I just switched to those from smooth, candy coated Up and Up… Because I was at Sprouts and not Target. 
I do recommend the Target ones for comfort but cannot vouch for quality. They were my “not really expecting to get pregnant” cheap pill.
3 Likes
Soo… some news today. I finally got into a really good gynecologist and we went over my entire reproductive history.
Turns out after my ovarian cyst removal I basically was left with a tiny ovary on that side. It is still pumping out some hormones but it means I basically have half the eggs I am supposed to. He said I’m young enough now at 32 that kid #2 is likely but that it might get tough if we want more than that. He also said with PCOS that the usual tests to measure ovarian reserve/quality aren’t accurate so it is a bit of a guess.
He suggested looking into freezing eggs/maybe embryos if we felt strongly about having lots more kiddos. Doing fertility treatments like that are a big deal - time, money, physically. Is it worth it for the chance of a 3rd or 4th kid?
It’s a bit of a whopper of a thing to figure out. We just were trying, then we paused due to some stuff with my husband’s job.
We talked and we decided to try really hard for 2 cycles, then give it a break until Mr. G’s job stuff settles. Since I basically have one malfunctioning ovary, this means 1 normal chance and 1 ??? chance. Does that ovary even ovulate? At some point when we resume we can throw everything at it and move on to fertility treatments quickly if it isn’t happening.
I would really, really love to have a second kid but I’m not sure I want to dive headfirst into the more involved fertility treatments. I can see using those for a second child but I’m not sure about doing them for a third or fourth child when the second isn’t even here yet and we don’t know for sure what we want for our family. Younger eggs make the whole process easier but I really don’t know how to weigh the pros and cons just yet.
7 Likes
You probably don’t want a prenatal with iron anyway. It can end up irritating your guts without you absorbing, because other stuff in the prenatal interferes with absorption (eg calcium, magnesium). Taking iron at another time of day with vitamin C, and well away from tea, coffee or dairy, is more effective for less side effects.
Sorry if you already know all that.
3 Likes
I did not! Thank you!
I’m no expert but normally both ovaries start some eggs and one takes over eventually. If there is one ovary, then it’s not competing with eggs from the other ovary. I think it would make an egg every month. Good luck!
I take Garden of Life Vitamin Code Raw Prenatal Multivitamin. I get them on the Amazon subscription so they’re 20% off that super steep price that way.
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B005JAT3TU/
They were rated pretty highly on Labdoor and are veg capsules, not too hard to swallow. I take hella supplements 3x per day, and take one of those each time.
ETA: plus they come in a big amber glass bottle, which I peel the label off and then store spices in!
3 Likes
Just some food for thought: there is a wide range of cost/invasiveness for fertility treatment that I didn’t realize until we got started. For example, Clomid + timed intercourse was basically a $17 prescription + some ultrasound monitoring costs (they check your eggs daily). If I’d known, I would have tried that path earlier and be willing to give it more cycles. As it turned out, we waited I was 37/had tried for 12 months to see an RE, did 1 cycle of clomid + timed intercourse, waited 6 more months for Reasons, and then it felt like we were running out of time, and decided to go for IVF.
4 Likes
Oh yeah, I was going to come back and reply to this. So I was facing a similar thing with low ovarian reserve (esp for my age) relative to the number of children I wanted to have (2-3). That’s why we skipped any IUI stuff and went straight to IVF. And also why we were going to do another IVF cycle even with three embryos remaining in the freezer, in the hopes that we would have enough when we went to have a second child that we would have a shot. It’s a really weird consideration, when you feel like you’ll be lucky to even get one, but are trying to push for more. But it really does make it easier going through it I feel like. It’s a huge weight off my mind now, a couple years down the road, that I have those embryos waiting for me. Because you lose so much time to the pregnancy and the postpartum period before you can start trying again. So just for my part, I’m glad we took the route we did. But we also just couldn’t conceive naturally, it had been a long time and it hadn’t happened.
5 Likes
Today I got my parts inspected (all looks good) and got seven (!!) vials of my blood taken to check clotting and thyroid and parental karyotyping.
It was suggested that perhaps Swan also have the parental karyotyping, but IDK what it would cost out of pocket and it seems unlikely that his state insurance would pay for it based on his girlfriend’s doctor’s suggestion? I suppose it wouldn’t hurt him to ask his doctor. My doctor said that if he can’t get it covered, and if it turns out to be expensive, it might be better for us just to save the money in case we decide to do IVF after all.
I’m on 3 DPO and supposed to start the Endometrin at 7 DPO.
I still can’t believe they took SEVEN VIALS of my blood.
5 Likes
Karotype was part of our IVF workup anyway, but I don’t think it was very expensive. Like $125?
2 Likes
I passed out after 4! I think I can handle 1, maybe 2…but apparently not 4! Def not 7!
2 Likes
That’s good to hear. The doctor gave me the lab’s number to call and ask. But I wanna see what Swan’s doc says first. $125 is definitely not too bad though. After the whole debacle I had with trying to get the Endometrin, I am terribly frightened of all medical costs. (I ended up getting half my prescription for a $55 copay, so it’ll be $110 for the total prescription. That’s better than $1300.)
2 Likes
Yeah, it was nuts. I’m surprised I had any left on which to drive home. I was soooo thirsty after.
1 Like
I think it was $250 per for my husband and I through Counsyl?
Eta that was like 4 years ago I think.
2 Likes
In cool news, that study we’re doing also has a partner component. They picked SirB for further study so he got sent an at home seminalysis kit and a lil tiny centrifuge we get to keep haha! So we just got to Do Science and see his count and motility. That was pretty cool.
10 Likes
Thanks for sharing. Hearing your thought process re: IVF helps.
Perhaps if we don’t get lucky and conceive in the next two cycles we should consider using that waiting time where we really do need to wait for job stuff to settle down for IVF. We really don’t want to have a baby born right as Mr.G is starting a new job. Then we have a shot at 2+ kids if things go wrong.
7 Likes
I got a double line on my opk stick. I also fell asleep many times and gave up on trying
4 Likes