The IUD is gone.
Had it removed last Thursday. Originally, I wasn’t going to have it removed until September, but with the potential issues I might be facing, I thought I should get it done sooner, rather than later and I also wanted to have a conversation with my doctor about these issues.
The procedure itself wasn’t terrible. Much better (and quicker) than having it inserted. It still wasn’t fun, but I brought D along to squeeze my hand during the worst part, and then I just popped Tylenol throughout the rest of the day to ease some of the crampiness. By the next day, I felt almost totally back to normal.
As far as the conversation with my doctor, she asked me to bring my charts and said that while my luteal phase is definitely on the short side, that I shouldn’t worry yet and that she’s seen plenty of women with short luteal phases get pregnant. She basically told us to just start trying and if we aren’t having any success within a few months, that she might think about giving me progesterone supplements. I am somewhat relived that she didn’t seem too concerned about it, and while I had a feeling she would tell us to “just try” before intervening in any sort of way, I was also relived that she told us to come back in a few months if we weren’t having success – not the typical year doctors usually ask couples to try.
One thing I really wasn’t expecting was for my doctor to tell me to throw charting out the window. Her reason? She said I would drive myself crazy. I’m not sure I agree with that recommendation. First of all, now that I know how to chart my cycle, NOT knowing what’s going on is going to drive me even more crazy. And secondly, wouldn’t we have better chances of conceiving if we are timing things correctly? I do understand where she’s coming from, in that charting could make things seem too clinical and take the “fun” out of the process. Not to mention, stress can complicate things. But for someone like me, the unknown is the ultimate stressor. Additionally, I haven’t even really shared my charts with D, except to explain to him my concerns once I realized something was amiss. So, for now I have decided to ignore that last bit of advice from my doctor, but I will try not to stress about it too much. I also will try not to even mention my cycles or charts or temperatures to D at all… but in the background will be keeping note of that stuff for my own benefit and peace of mind. We’ll see how it goes.
So our current plan is to still wait until September to start trying. I want to get past my brother’s wedding, bachelorette parties, etc. and give myself one last month to appreciate this phase of my life which I will soon be leaving behind. I go back and forth between worrying we’ll have troubles and holding onto the (possibly naive) hope that just maybe we’ll be one of those couples who gets pregnant right away. For now, it’s at least nice to know we’re all set for whenever we decide, now that the IUD is gone.
Keeping up with the Hoffmans 