I went in for the ultrasound day 4 of my next cycle. I had some cysts which is common for me after my period. Some of the follicles that develop keep growing even though an egg has released and they should just go away. In my younger days I had a couple times where an ovarian cyst had grown as big as a baseball. The last time this happened I was in at the gym when one I didn’t know I had ruptured. I was in a lot of pain and had to be picked up. My gynecologist put me on birth control. I asked if that was the only way to prevent them, since I didn’t really want or need to be on the pill, she said it was. I thought about risking it and getting them very occasionally, it’s seriously like one every 5-10 years. Actually, the reason went on birth control when I was 16 was due to an ovarian cyst, not sexytimes. But when she told me it was possible for a cyst to grow so large that it could twist the ovary, cutting off the blood supply and lessening my ability to conceive in the future, I just took the prescription.  At this time I was 31? 32? I guess my clock was quietly ticking, because what she told me caused a bit of soul searching and some unexpected crying. I had no idea what I wanted but some part of me wanted the option to have kids.

I shouldn’t have been shocked this time when my fertility doctor told me I needed to go on the pill for 3 weeks to get rid of the cyst. But it seemed so wrong! We’re trying to get pregnant and I have to take a contraceptive? Anyway, I followed her instructions and met back up Dec 6^th 2016. Everything had resolved and we were good to continue. I took Clomid for 5 days, starting the Saturday of Santa Con! (ADULT!) We went on an awesome getaway w/ friends to Yosemite and then when we came back we had another ultrasound to see how my follicles responded. I had 2 contenders, a 13mm follicle and a 17mm follicle. However, Clomid sometimes causes your lining to stay thinner than it needs to be for embryo implantation. (I have a suspicion that the adverse side affects– that happen to affect other things NECESSARY for being able to conceive are not coincidental. My suspicions about a lot of these things will get their own post soon!) I was prescribed Estradiol (vaginal suppository of estrogen) and it helped a little. We went ahead with the plan: on 12/23 we had our prescribed sex, then the prescribed hamster injection, then x-mas eve more prescribed sex, then x-mas morning sex, then after a hike we had Game of Thrones sex (ummm nothing crazy, we just happened to watch GOT after.) I was hopeful because we did it way more than last time and it was a stress free time. Days off helped. But sadly after 2 weeks (the longest two weeks…..) my test was negative.

I feel like this round was a last push for the year. The office is closed for x-mas and that would have been when we needed to do the IUI if we were going that route. Timed intercourse wasn’t working so we decided next round we would for sure do IUI.

***Bonus Cystory Lesson***

One time when I had an ovarian cyst –this is when I was 22 maybe? I was googling a bunch of stuff bc I really didn’t understand how it all works. I came upon a description of a type of cyst that now haunts me. It is called a Dermoid cyst of the ovary. It contains “a diversity of tissues including HAIR, TEETH, bone, thyroid, etc.” It develops from a totipotential germ cell (a primary oocyte) that is retained within the egg site. (Those were not the types of cysts I was getting, for the record.) A normal person might be like “Eew. no.” but I was like “hm. what do those look like????” and thanks to the interwebs now I know. And so do you mwahahahahahha. (I know you’re looking! Bleh. Stop.)