Adventures in Infertility

Special Delivery

(those are many, many NEEDLES by the way)

Perhaps many of you (the entire three people that read this blog) know that Eric and I have issues with having a family. Not issues that we choose, but ones that are out of our control. My entire life, I've dreamt about my six kids, their spouses and grandchildren surrounding us at the dinner table while my husband (currently Eric but I didn't know that when I was little) carved a huge turkey for Thanksgiving. I've always wanted a large family (well, within reason - I'm not talking like my parents) ever since I can remember. I didn't want to start too early - I thought it was important for me to finish my education and spend time with my husband before rocking the boat with kids - but I didn't think we'd have too many problems once we did start either.

Everything seemed to be going as planned as Eric and I graduated college and he found a good job before we started trying. It only took us four months the first time to get pregnant - beginners luck I suppose. Or not beginner's luck since that pregnancy tragically ended at 10 weeks. I was pretty devestated by the news and started to feel like this wouldn't be the easiest thing for us. I was right as it took us about ten more months to get pregnant - only after complaining to my ObGyn and having him put me on clomid. It worked! We got pregnant the first month I was on it and nine months later I delivered our beautiful, precious little boy, Alex. Since then, our luck has ran out. We have been actively trying since Alex was seven months old and I have been on clomid for ten months and clomid and metformin for five months. Nothing. Well, unless you count a crazy rollercoaster of side effects and mood swings. But no baby at any rate. As our last resort, we've turned to an infertility clinic.

Enter the wonderful world of testing to try and figure out exactly what is "wrong" with us. After completing several tests by both of us . . . . drum roll . . . . nothing. No explanation of why we can't get pregnant - except for the fact that I don't ovulate regularily. I mean, we're talking I don't ovulate for months on end. That's a little bit of an important factor in getting pregnant as you can't get pregnant if you don't release an egg (ovulation). Why I don't ovluate? They have no clue. Yea for me. With the metformin and clomid regimen they were finally able to get me ovulating . . . still no baby. We could have continued down that road since at least now I had a chance, but being on clomid for an extended amount of time is not ideal as it thins the uterin lining and there is an increased chance of cysts developing - I'm quickly approaching the one-year mark of when they don't want you on it anymore. The next option - try a similar drug to clomid, try Artificial Insemination (IUI) or go strait to In-vitro Fertilization (IVF). Once again, feeling very fed-up with the demon clomid, we decided to skip that option. We were seriously considering IUI at one point but our chances only increased to about 20% with that option and considering the emotional investment and the cost, we decided to skip that too.

That's right - we headed strait for IVF. A major part of this decision was based on the fact that Eric has fantastic insurance that pays for it 100% - which is huge because IVF can cost anywhere from $10,000 to $15,000 and is not usually covered by insurance. Another part of the decision was due to the fact that we hopefully will be able to harvest some extra eggs for storage in case my supply starts to deplete in the near future. This way, the next time we want to have a baby it will cost much less. The last big reason is that our chances go up to about 60-70% of getting pregnant instead of the 6% on our own and 12% on clomid.

So that brings us to the future. We are in the middle of doing IVF which basically throws us into a world of confusing acronyms such as HCG, HSG, IVF, FSH, IUI, ICSI, and others. Mostly it just means I get to be injected with a syringe in the stomach every night and my ovaries will swell to the point it will look like I'm already pregnant. Once again, yea for me. If I ever become a druggie, I'll be a pro. Although I can't take all the credit - Eric has the wonderful opportunity to experience my enlightening mood swings and temper tantrums (which I had before but are now MUCH, MUCH worse). However, I think I will gladly take a month of this if it replaces our timing intercourse, charting temperatures, peeing on a stick every morning to check ovulation, all the costly pregnancy tests that now lie at the bottom of a landfill, and a myriad of drugs and different side effects. All I can say is I can't wait for this to be over - bring on pregnancy!

So most people don't get to have this much fun making a baby. I mean, all THEY have to do is have sex! The scary part is knowing how many eggs to put in. One? Two? THREE? What is one doesn't work? What if three DO work? Can I really handle twins? Well, I guess we'll see what happens in the next couple of weeks! Wish us luck - say a prayer - and stay away for awhile! Trust me! You don't want to be around me!