Sunday, October 23, 2011

Small Town Phone Calls

I've not really been convinced one way or another about acupuncture or deep tissue massage helping with implantation. (If you are confused, see my last post.). For every study or story that says it helps, there are just as many saying it does not. I can see it having value for relaxation, but I can get that from the jacuzzi tub I've already paid for that's in my own bathroom. Nevertheless, I have a call into the only acupuncturist in town. She's only in certain days of the week, so I ought to hear from her on Monday afternoon. I asked specifically if she does acupuncture for fertility and was told that she does. Then I asked who performs the acupuncture. When I found out who the acupuncturist is, I laughed. Of course, the woman knows me. Guess the cat will have to be out of the bag soon.

I have several recommendations for massage, but I need to do some follow up as far as pricing and specialties.

I, also, still need to talk to my Doc. We've still not been contacted since the day I told the Doc's nurse that I had started and she told me to go get my beta done early. Luckily, I know how to get my results from the lab, or I may have been wondering the last ~3 weeks...I know we're due for our failure follow up appointment (or as some of my fellow bloggers call the WTF appointment - Hubby says they are all WTF appointments...). I know that the Doc will have no real reasons why it didn't work this time. He had no real answers as to why IVF #1 didn't work and attempt #2 was better, so I don't expect to have any answers this time either. We do, however, have 3 frozen embryos (aka frost babies or babies on ice). Doing a frozen embryo transfer (FET) is new territory for us and I'd like to talk to the Doc in greater detail about that. I know that odds of success diminish when using frozen embryos, if they even survive the thaw. That doesn't make me feel great, but it does mean I don't have to go through retrieval again - at least for attempt #3. That is a small miracle in itself because of 2 reasons:
1. I don't like pain and last time was very painful.
2. I don't like passing out and I've tried to twice.

I guess I have to make some phone calls tomorrow to see about attempt #3.

5 comments:

  1. A FET is usually a lot easier...much less discomfort, shots, monitoring etc. It is a bit 'less stressful', if thats possible! The three clinics I have worked with all have stats pretty similar with the fresh vs. frozen...they have all come a long way in the past few years. hugs..

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'd really like to hear you experience with the accupuncture. I'm a licensed massage therapist and personally have not found conclusive evidence that it does help with IVF. I do know it makes people feel better and anything that can mentally and emotionally help I guess is worth while. I have been wondering however if to start accupuncture prior to my first treatment. I'll be looking forward to your future posts.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Here is my story with FET, I was desperate to make this cycle work so I did what people recommended and did acupuncture. I truly did not believe in acupuncture or any of that Chinese medicine stuff. I started out and the only place that I could find around me is 30 minutes away and they do NOT turn anything into insurance so lets say it is expensive. I promised myself that I would go through the entire cycle and if I got that BFN I would stop asap. I transferred all 3 frozen embies that I had (I didn't think all of the them would make the thaw). Now I believe by doing FET (which did not put my body through so much stress as a fresh cycle did) and acupuncture, I am pregnant with triplets. Also I have PCOS and that is the only problem that can be found in DH and I. My fingers are crossed for you.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Nini- I will certainly keep you posted. I talked to Hubby about it today and he's in agreement that I should try it. It can't hurt. Still waiting on the call from the acupuncturist to talk details.

    Browning - You don't know how much hope you've given me. Thank you so much for posting this.

    Joey
    The Childless Mom

    ReplyDelete
  5. I did acupuncture when TTC, before starting IUI and IVF. It did nothing for me. Somehow someone convinced me to do it again just before I was due with baby #1, because it would make delivery easier - again no such luck for me.

    FET is so much less stressful to do. When trying for baby #2, the fresh IVF cycle failed, but the FET (and we had just one frosty) worked!

    ReplyDelete