Ovacue Review

Ovacue, this review has been a long time coming and I'm sorry that it has taken so long to get to it. The Ovacue monitor claims to predict up to a seven day fertile window. That way you can plan intercourse accordingly. It claims to not only predict ovulation, but also to confirm that you actually did or did not ovulate. It is supposed to work for those that have PCOS and/or irregular cycles. There are no recurring costs, such as test sticks. All you need is the monitor, the saliva sensor and the vaginal sensor. They say that the vaginal sensor is optional, but ovulation can't be confirmed without it. There is the traditional monitor, which is what I have, and there is the sensors that connect straight to your phone.

How does it work? The sensors are supposed to detect changes in electrolyte levels in your saliva and cervical mucous. You place the oral sensor on your tongue every morning, before you eat, drink, smoke, etc. The monitor will track the trends in your electrolytes and looks for what they call a Cue Peak. Once the Cue Peak is identified, the monitor will populate your fertile window. The vaginal sensor is supposed to determine if you ovulated by looking for the trend that shows a move from estrogen dominance to progesterone dominance. The readings will be higher than pre-ovulation readings and stay high through the luteal phase. Their website boasts that it is 98.3% effective. Word of warning, don't try to interpret the readings. The numbers don't really mean anything, the trend is what you look at. There is an online community and an app for users. If you are having trouble deciphering your chart, there are specialists in the forums that can help you. The monitor runs $349 for the traditional and $299 for the mobile.

Now on to my personal experience with it. I got pregnant the second month I used this, but this monitor didn't help me get pregnant in any way. My fertile window and ovulation day was off the first and second month I used it. The month that I got pregnant, it actually gave me error codes. Fast forward to about a year later. I got it out to start trying for baby number 2. My vaginal sensor wasn't working. It had been on a shelf in the closet of my bathroom with nothing on top of it and nothing touching it, but when I got it out it wouldn't work. The sensors have a one year warranty, but of course my warranty was up. So I had to fork out $100 to get a new one. I used that one for a while, but before my year was up it had also quit working. I now have another one that I got from the warranty. If this one stops working then I won't be buying anymore. Reading over some of the forums and reviews, this seems to be an ongoing issue that apparently hasn't been dealt with yet. I have had no issues from the oral sensor and the one I have is the original one that came with it when I bought it in 2013. Does it work? For me...NO. Not one time has it ever predicted my fertile window correctly and the days that it confirms I ovulated has never been the day that I actually ovulated. This is the case even if I don't go by what it populates and only look at the trends. The vaginal readings are supposed to stay elevated after ovulation to coincide with elevated progesterone. My vaginal readings are always low after ovulation, which would cause some of the specialists to tell you to look into luteal phase defect or low progesterone levels. Any time I have asked them about why my chart doesn't ever follow the pattern it is supposed to they say that there could be many things causing it. Which basically means they don't know. They give the same copy and paste answers to every person that asks a question like that and tells everyone that if your cycles are irregular that you can't go off of what the monitor tells you. Instead, you have to decipher the trends in your numbers yourself or have them do it. Which, like I said earlier, it is still wrong even then. For example, last month I was on Clomid. I know that I ovulated because I had a clear temp shift and my seven day progesterone was 17.4. However, my vaginal readings stayed low after ovulation and did not always stay as high as my pre-ovulation readings. So basically this monitor does absolutely nothing for me and I wasted almost $400 on it, plus the extra $100 for the new sensor. If it works for some of you, that's great and I wish you luck. I personally cannot recommend for people to pay that much money on a product that over the course of three years hasn't gotten it right once. I also read over the forums quite a bit to see what experience others are having with it and there seems to be the same issues popping up with many people. If you have that kind of money to throw out and see if it works, by all means go for it. It may work for you. If you are on a tighter budget, I wouldn't risk it. If I knew when I bought it what I know now, I wouldn't have spent the money on it.

Below is my chart from last month. You can see from my temps when I actually ovulated (which also coincides with my positive urine ovulation test) and see that my vaginal readings were low.

If you have used the Ovacue monitor, please let us know what your experience with it was  by commenting below.

Two More To Go

Well, my first month back on Clomid was a failure. I most definitely did ovulate, but pregnancy tests were stark white. My Progesterone level was 17.4. That's not the best level I've ever had, but it was sufficient for my doctor. I did have a very clear temp shift, much more clear than some I've had lately. The plan right now is to finish this second round of Clomid and then do one more. If I still don't get pregnant, then I go back to the doctor to decide what to do next. My guess would be he'll suggest and injectable IUI course or just a Clomid IUI. I will try one IUI and possibly two. I haven't decided yet. What I really want to do is save up the money to go to CNY Fertility in New York and have an IVF cycle done. That will be the last thing I will try. If I still don't get pregnant after doing IVF I will wait until I'm 35 and then I will have a hysterectomy done. Hopefully my predisposition to pre-cancer cells won't force me to have it done earlier. I have spent so much of the last eight years obsessing over tracking everything and trying to get pregnant. I really just want to relax and enjoy life without thinking about it. I just can't until I know I have tried everything.

Okay, let's talk a little about the Ovulation Double Check tests. I used the tests with my last cycle and I know that I ovulated. The tests had two dark lines when I first started them. After a couple of days they did get very faint, but they didn't completely disappear. After speaking with Amy from MFB Fertility we think we may have figured out why. In about 5-7% of women, the progesterone is metabolized so fast that it may not register a true positive on the test. I know that I metabolize most things more quickly than other people and I feel this is probably what happened. The important thing is that the tests did get very faint, so I can make sure to look for that change and know that if I had a clear temp shift I more than likely did ovulate. Of course every cycle is different and I may get a true positive next time. Amy herself struggled with infertility and was blessed with two children. She says these tests are her way of giving back and helping those of us still struggling. She has been very helpful with any questions and feedback I have for her. I also wanted to add that the price they are on Amazon will not be going up. That was a misunderstanding on my part. After all is said and done, I highly recommend these tests for anyone that is trying to conceive and wants to make sure that they are ovulating. A lot of money can be saved on pregnancy tests if we know if we even ovulated or not. The customer service is amazing and the product itself is of very good quality. Give them a try!

On another note, who is ready for warmer weather? This cold weather is absolutely killing me. It's so pretty outside, but it's so cold. One day will be warm enough for tank tops and then it snows that night. I'm ready for fires and fishing and boating and everything summer. I know my daughter is getting tired of being cooped up inside. She's started being a little bit of a brat. She needs to be able to go outside and run off some energy. We have gotten out a few times, but hopefully warmer weather is coming soon.

Suggestions! - If there are any topics that you would like to see me cover or a product you would like to see a review on...PLEASE just let me know. This isn't a blog just about me and my journey, it's also to provide information to those of you looking for answers.

Round 1 (Again)

I haven't forgotten about you and I'm sorry I've been MIA. The only internet I have right now is running hotspot from my phone. I barely have enough service to work the phone itself, much less run the computer. It took 20 minutes of waiting to get this page to load so I could write this post. You would think someone would have come up with a better way for people that travel to have Wifi since our data slows to nonexistent speeds after so many GB. If someone could please do that I would really appreciate it!

Anyway, I had my appointment with my RE a few weeks ago. We are going to try Clomid for a while first and see what happens. I started on 100mg this time instead of the 50mg. Last time I was on it I ended up on 150mg before I called it quits. I'm currently on cd 6 (ugh). He mentioned possibly doing IUI if we don't have results with Clomid. I don't know if I would do IUI again or not. We tried it twice before and had zero results with it. He did test my AMH and I am patiently waiting for the results. To be honest, I'm pretty nervous about that test. As most of you probably know, AMH will tell us if I have enough eggs left to even bother ttc. I have often wondered if I have a low egg count and now I get to find out. Fair warning, if it comes back bad I will probably cry and curse a little bit. My main goal right now is get our credit cards paid off so that we can go to CNY in New York and do IVF. They are very cheap compared to many other centers and they have a great success rate. I have talked to many people that have gone there and I am determined that we will get there in the next year or two. I am currently in phlebotomy class so that I can get a job and help financially. Hopefully that will speed up the process and we can get there sooner rather than later.

I'm definitely having a hard time lately. Every day someone on FB posts that they are pregnant. This has been going on every day for the last few weeks. I'm seriously not exaggerating, not even a little bit. I know you won't believe that, but it's the truth. Every. Single. Day. I know there are a lot of people that get mad because that bothers me, but I really can't help it. It's not that I'm not happy for them, because I really am (mostly). It's just that every single new announcement is yet another reminder of my body's failure to do the one thing it was naturally designed to do. Just another reminder that all of the firsts I am experiencing with my daughter will more than likely also be my lasts. It's so frustrating that I am trying to so hard and doing all of the right things to make it happen and yet it's so easy for other people. I had really hoped that having my daughter would make the pain of infertility easier to deal with. I always thought that if I could just experience motherhood that it would be enough for me. In many ways it is and in many ways I'm totally okay if I never have another baby. The problem is that you never stop feeling broken. My body doesn't work the way it is supposed to. Period. Having my daughter hasn't changed that and hasn't changed what it feels like to know that. And it's not just having a baby. If we weren't ttc I would still be having problems because my cycles are so irregular. I have cysts on my ovaries that cause me excruciating pain that people think I exaggerate. My cramps are so painful that many people wouldn't be able to deal with it. It hurts. It hurts emotionally and physically. It's a lot to cope with and it's totally draining. Then, on top of all that, I feel like a failure to my husband. After many years and two losses I was finally able to give him a child, but he wants another one. Nothing can make that feeling of letting him down go away. I'm 30 and I've had fertility problems since my early 20's. My chances of getting pregnant now are pretty slim and there's not a damn thing I can do about it. I think the thing that irritates me the most is that nobody that hasn't experienced problems can even begin to understand or empathize with what I'm going through. So it's basically like I have to deal with it all on my own and that's really hard. Sometimes I just need to breakdown and cry. I need to let it all out because holding it in just gets harder and harder, but when I do that people make me feel like I have no right to. It's a vicious cycle and it never ends.

*Baby Dust*

The Cherry On Top

I'm so upset and irritated right now that I don't know if I want to scream or cry. I will probably do both before it's over. I'm so over Obamacare and "Affordable" health insurance. We have been paying $683 a month this year for coverage for our family. That's more than one of our truck payments. Insurance through my husband's job would be $1200 a month, which is more than one of his pay days. We've had to struggle just to survive and put food on the table and keep some sense of normalcy for our daughter. We are living in our camper, semi moved to another state for his job, rented out our house, cut every non essential bill we had. We did everything you are "supposed" to do and we still can't afford it! How did anyone back this plan? How does anyone think this is affordable? In all of Obamacare there is only two good points. 1. Kids can stay on their parents insurance until they are 26. (Personally I think this should only apply to students and if you are married, have kids and filing your own taxes then you should have your own insurance.) 2. Insurance can't turn you down for pre-existing conditions. The rest of it is crap. When they decide whether or not you get premium help, they only care if the employee can get affordable insurance through their job. They don't care at all if you can't afford the family plan so that your spouse and kids can have insurance. I guess they just want you to get that penalty at tax time.

As most of you know, we have been trying to get pregnant again for almost three years now. I had another miscarriage in August and now I have made an extremely heartbreaking decision. Since we can't afford this "affordable" health insurance, we are going to have to go without insurance next year. The penalty is a little more than what one month's premium would be, so obviously it's WAY cheaper to take the penalty. A little over $12,000 cheaper actually. Since short term insurance doesn't cover maternity and according to the state my husband makes too much money even on unemployment to get state health insurance, that means I can't get pregnant. There is no way we could afford prenatal care and labor and delivery costs out of pocket. We both want another child so bad and I really can't explain how mad it makes me that any chance I had (and my chances were already slim) is taken away from me by this stupid insurance law. It's not like we didn't already have everything going against us when it came to having a baby. It took five years, two miscarriages and so many doctor visits to have our daughter. It's already been almost three years and one miscarriage since we've been trying again. Then throw this on top of it. I wish so bad that I could put into words what I am feeling, but none of the words that I can think of seem to do what I'm feeling any justice. Just suffice it to say that I'm mad and a I'm mad as hell!

That's not even the best part. The job that my husband came back to in Ohio is more than likely only going to last about three more weeks. Then he will laid off again. For the third time this year. It will be about a week before my daughter's birthday and two weeks before Christmas. Being that it will be the end of the year and cold, most jobs won't be hiring. My stress level is going through the roof. I am losing my grasp on my hope. Family is supposed to be the foundation of everything and our country has made it so that it's easier to get help and get insurance if you are single rather than a family. There is NO help for a working family. What is happening?

This year has absolutely been the worst year for us. I hope and pray that next year is better. If it gets any worse I honestly don't know how we'll make it. We could really use some prayers, good thoughts or whatever you believe in coming our way.

And The Cycle Continues...

Well, here we are a little over a year since my last post and not much has changed. My cycles are still even more irregular now than they were before I had our little girl. You would think I would have come up with some type of coping mechanism for dealing with the uncertainty every month, but I still haven't. I still allow myself to go buy pregnancy tests and be disappointed several times a month. I started back on the Pregnitude. It did such an amazing job of regulating my cycles before I got pregnant that I decided to give it another shot. I really hope it wasn't just some fluke and that it makes things even out again. I still get those really weird muscle twitches that feels like a baby kicking. After some research it seems that many people that have been pregnant still feel what I call phantom kicks, even years after giving birth. We still haven't had any luck getting pregnant. Our baby just turned two in December and I haven't been pregnant once. I am thankful that there haven't been anymore miscarriages, but disheartened that it seems my baby journey may have ended. When we were trying to get pregnant before I got pregnant at least every other year.

Every time I look at our little girl my heart breaks for her. Not knowing the joy of growing up with siblings. Not knowing what it's like to have someone that always has your back at the times when your parents can't. I hate the thought of her being alone if something happened to me and my husband. Sure, she has other family and I'm sure that they would keep in touch. It's just an entirely different kind of bond you have with a sibling and I feel like a failure for not being able to give that to her. Before we had her I felt like I was failing my husband and now that she is here, I feel like I am failing her. Don't get me wrong, I know it's not my fault. However, it is MY body that can't preform a basic natural function.

I suppose at some point we will go back to our reproductive endocrinologist. The time just doesn't feel right yet. I don't look forward to the feeling of being a lab rat. The poking, prodding, procedures and medication...I just don't think that I am emotionally ready for all of that again. A big piece of me wants to just throw in the towel, wave the white flag and get a hysterectomy. Just be done with all of it and all the emotional and physical trauma that goes along with it, but I can't. I'm not a quitter. I know I would regret it if I did that. As long as I have all the essential parts, there is hope. I just can't find it in myself to dash that little bit of hope away.

As for our little girl, she just celebrated her second birthday. She has my blue eyes and unruly curly blonde hair. She has her daddy's temper and because we are both stubborn, she can be hard to handle. I wouldn't have expected anything less coming from the two of us. She will be a fighter and she will be strong. I have no worries about the life that she will make for herself. She is laying in the floor at my feet sleeping as I type this, wore herself out throwing a temper tantrum.

At this point, my blog will become more of a journey through my everyday life and not only about my infertility. My life is so much more than that and I refuse to let infertility define me anymore.

For any of you reading this that are currently ttc, lots of Baby Dust!

Here We Go Again

It seems as though my luck finally ran out. Right after I had my little girl, my cycles were super regular. I even had a perfect 28 day cycle. The only one I have ever had, except for when I was on birth control. I had hoped that having her had somehow "reset" my body so that I wouldn't have to worry about regular cycles anymore (Hey, I've heard of it happening). It was so amazing for those five short months. For once, I didn't have to worry about charting, temping, testing, etc. We weren't trying to get pregnant, but we weren't preventing. It didn't matter if I ovulated or if I didn't. I finally got a taste of what normal women get to experience every month; and then it all stopped. My last cycle was in May and when it was time for the next, I was late. Of course my old self kicked in a little bit and I bought a dozen pregnancy tests. They kept coming back negative, but my period stayed away. My heart sank. It would be so much less stressful if I could have regular cycles, whether I ovulate or not. I would keep all the other problems I have for that one mercy. It's so horrible going month after month with no period and I don't know if I could be pregnant or if my body is just being it's normal crazy self. I spend so much money on tests because if I am pregnant I need to know right away so I can get on Progesterone, even though I know that the test is 99% likely to come back negative. I hate it and it drives me crazy. I went for my annual exam and told the doctor what was going on. She didn't seem concerned and said if I went an entire three months without a period then I would be back to getting blood drawn and ultrasounds and all those other wonderful tests done. By the time I had a period, which started yesterday, it had been 70 days since my last one. That means I am going back to using my Clear Blue Fertility Monitor. At least that way I will know if I ovulated and even have a chance at being pregnant and don't spend unnecessary money on pregnancy tests. I'm also going to go back on my Pregnitude and Progesterone cream because my cycles regulated a lot when I was using it before.

Yes, I want more children. I want two more if that is at all possible. However, if I never have another one, I will perfectly and totally fine with that. All I ever wanted was to be a mother and I have that now, so I can 100% say I am okay and can accept it if I never have another baby. I don't personally feel like I deserve to ask for any more than the miracle I have. That's not to say that we won't try for another one the same as we tried for the first one. We haven't made any decisions as to what we want to do or how far we want to go for a second. I can say that we won't be looking into IVF or IUI's. We will stick strictly to what we can get insurance to cover and what we can afford out of pocket. My main thing is that I wish I could find someone that can figure out what is wrong with my body and get that under control. I really think if we could pinpoint the underlying condition that it would fix so much and make thing so much easier. I've been having a lot of pain in my ovary area and weird muscle twitches in my lower belly (that seriously feels like a baby kicking if I didn't know I wasn't pregnant). I would really like to figure out what is causing that. We aren't going to talk to the doctor again until we've been trying for a year. So if I haven't gotten pregnant by early next year then we will make decisions regarding how we want to proceed as far as doctors and all that goes.

On a really good note, my brother and his wife just had their baby today! I am an auntie to a wonderful little nephew. He is only 7 months younger than my little girl, so even if she never has siblings she will no doubt be close to him. <3

Update Part 2

I really can't even begin to tell you how excited I was to finally be at the hospital. I filled out all of my paperwork, paid my copay and headed upstairs to find my room. There was lots to do from the second I stepped through the door. I had to change into my gown, give a urine sample, get an iv and go through a whole list of questions, information and papers to sign. Once all that was done, they started the first medication I had to have and then all we had to do was wait. Let me just say, I am absolutely not a patient person. Of course they tell you to sleep, but they come in every hour to check the medication and see if contractions are starting. The last thing on my mind was sleeping, but that didn't stop my hubby from snoozing away. Finally, they came to check me and decided I was ready to start the pitocin. Pitocin is a game I really don't like to play. They kept having to adjust the dose, up and down, for hours. It made my contractions come one right after another and no break in between. I didn't want an epidural, they make me nervous. In the end, I had to have one. There was no way around it. The contractions were so bad that I had three doses before it finally even touched my pain. The nurses checked me after the epidural kicked in and I was dilated to between 3 and 4. About 20 minutes later they came back to check  me before going to lunch and her head was in the birth canal. I pushed a total of about 4 times and my baby girl was born at 11:58pm. She weighed 6 pounds 10 ounces and was 19.25 inches. After five years, two miscarriages, countless doctor appointments, money, tears, frustrations...I was finally holding my miracle baby. There are no words to describe what that feeling is like. I know most all parents are grateful and happy about having a baby, but I think when you are in a situation like ours, it makes it a million times sweeter. It is seeing every hope and dream you had and thought would never be, come true. 

Now that I have had her, many people have asked what I am going to do about birth control. My answer is very simple. Nothing. This had caused some issues with a few people that think the risk of having another baby so close to the first is too risky or just not the thing to do, but I have my reasons. I am a firm believer that birth control helped play a part in my hormones being so screwed up. I am terrified to even think about going back on it, because I think it will make it harder to get pregnant again. The way I see it, it took me five years to be blessed with this child. If it takes another five years, then I really can't afford to wait. It will happen when and if my body decides it will happen and I'm okay with whenever that may be. We are not aggressively trying yet. I'm not tracking my ovulation and timing intercourse or anything like that. We are simply just not worryig about or thinking about it. If it hasn't happened after what we feel is enough time, then we will begin all over again with the ttc journey. The purpose of this blog was to help me deal with my infertility journey and to give a voice to and help others. Just because I had my miracle baby does't change what I went through or what this is all about. Yes, I will talk about my daughter from time to time. Some of my readers like that part of my story too, but I will try to focus on the journey for number 2. I am proud to say I am an infertility success story. I hope my story brings hope to others, for what are we without hope?

Baby Daniels

Well, I realized when I got on here just now that it has been three months since I updated you all. In that time we moved into a different house and fought with my hubby's company to get his truck fixed. I still don't have internet at the house and also no cell service or television. So it's pretty boring at my house. I come to my mom's to use the computer sometimes. We just got my hubby's truck back from the shop his company took it to in Ohio. It's still not entirely fixed, but we can't get them to do anything else. I hope to have the internet hooked up in the next couple of weeks so I can get back to regular updates. I have gotten back to the Facebook page and it is being updated regularly again.

As for Baby Daniels, everything is still going just fine. We had an ultrasound done at 6 weeks 1 day and 8 weeks 1 day. They said everything was progressing great and my RE switched my care over to the OB in his office. I have only seen her twice, but she seems really great. My due date is December 17 and that also happens to be the day that my hubby has to go back to his rig. He won't be back home until January 2, so the chances of him missing the birth are pretty good. Luckily, the doctor said that she can induce me at 39 weeks and not need a reason other than to just have the baby. So, more than likely, we will have her schedule an induction at 39 weeks so that he can be there and be home with us for a few days at least before he goes back to work.

I was having pretty bad ligament pain on a weekly basis for about a month and a half, but that seems to have gone away for the most part. The pain I get now is more of an ache and not really pain. It also doesn't come as frequent. Late into the first trimester I started getting really nauseous. I didn't always throw up, but anything and everything made me sick to my stomach. I lost five pounds from the time I found out I was pregnant to my last appointment two weeks ago. I have in the last two weeks gained two of those pounds back and my nausea has gone away a lot. The doctor actually put me on a prescription prenatal vitamin and gave me a pill to take when I feel really sick. Hopefully I can gain some weight like I'm supposed to now.

Around 17 weeks I got to start feeling the baby move. It's not consistent yet, since it's still so small, but it is definitely an amazing feeling and lets me know everything is okay. My next appointment with the doctor is next Wednesday. They are going to do their diagnostic ultrasound and make sure I'm measuring right and all that good stuff. Two days ago, at 18 weeks 1 day, we had a private ultrasound done in order to find out the gender of the baby. We are having a Gender Reveal Party next Thursday. I am SO excited and it's so hard not to tell everybody what it is. I am getting pretty anxious though, because we haven't even started on the nursery yet and there is so much to do! It has to have a total remodel, complete with new walls and flooring. Money has been an issue since the rest of the house is in need of repairs and his pay days are unpredictable at times. Time is definitely an issue with the hubby's work schedule and he will only be home half of the time we have left before the baby gets here.

A few of my friends are also pregnant and we aren't that far apart. I actually have the exact same due date as one of them. It's really interesting to be pregnant at the same time and compare notes on what is going on with the babies and our bodies. I know here lately, I have been having a hard time sleeping. I get tired, but once I lay down in the bed, I am wide awake. It takes me forever to get to sleep. My legs have been hurting really bad too. I feel like I ran a marathon and my muscles are sore and at night I get bad leg cramps. Most of the time I don't actually feel pregnant though, it's kind of weird. I guess it doesn't help that I don't really look pregnant either. I was pretty small before and with not gaining any weight, I am not really showing much. The only way it is really obvious is if you look at a picture of before I was pregnant and then look at me now.

I am SO excited for the party and I am SO excited for this little baby to get here! It will be the absolute best Christmas present ever! It's amazing to think that after five years, two miscarriages and everything that we have been through, that we are finally going to be parents. I am so lucky to have someone that always stood by me through all of the fertility treatments, drugs, doctors, tests, losing two babies and never complained. I know he is going to be an amazing father and I can't wait for this little family to be together.