The Story So Far

I thought I would give a little more background on what we've been through so far. Feel free to skim the details!

DH and I got married in 2001. At that time, we weren't sure we wanted kids at all, but we both agreed that it might be something we wanted in the future. In 2003, after both of my best friends had babies on the same day, DH and I got the baby bug. I went off birth control and we waited to see what happened. Many months later, no baby. My doctor started some basic blood tests, all of which turned out to be perfect, except my progesterone, which at that time was "slightly" low.

In the meantime, DH was getting ready to graduate from college (he went on the GI bill), and his parents were preparing for a move overseas. We decided it wasn't the time to be trying and agreed to take a few months off. Six weeks after DH graduated, my mother passed away suddenly. Needless to say, I was in no shape for a baby any time soon after that. However, we agreed to stay off birth control and if it happened, it happened. Of course, it didn't happen.

In October, 2006, our close friends announced they were trying to get pregnant and were having problems. In the meantime, another couple announced they were pregnant after two months of trying. Realizing time was going by an others were ending up with babies, DH and I agreed it was time to start again, and I was back to the doctor for new tests. Of course, my doctor's immediate reaction was "You've been off birth control HOW LONG?!?!" So I was off to have many many vials of blood drawn, and DH had to give a sample of his swimmers. In the meantime, we were referred to the Reproductive Endocrinologists at Emory University in Atlanta, where we lived at the time. I also started charting my temperatures. (Feel free to see my charts at www.fertilityfriend.com/home/laragc)

In February 2007, we had our first appointment with the RE. This was just an informational meeting, and she wanted to get yet another SA (semen analysis) and some further blood tests from me. She decided against an HSG (they inject dye into your uterus to see if your fallopian tubes are open) because I am allergic to the dye. We had our next appointment scheduled for late March. Somehow, just meeting the doctor apparently scared my ovaries and E's swimmers into action and I got a positive home pregnancy test that cycle. Unfortunately, when I went back to the RE, she checked my blood HCG levels (or betas), but not my progesterone. On my second test, we found that my beta was not rising properly. Still no progesterone test. A week later, I went back for an ultrasound, and we saw a heartbeat, but I miscarried the next day.

Two months after the miscarriage I started my first cycle of Clomid. It didn't work and my next cycle they found a cyst so it was on to birth control pills to try and shrink the cyst, and at my next exam, they thought it had worked, so on to Clomid cycle two. Unfortunately, I ovulated late that cycle and we didn't get to try because we were in the middle of moving to the San Francisco area.

After the move, we spent several cycles waiting for our new insurance to kick in, getting tests done yet again and just got to our new RE, "Dr. N" this past week. Our test results also showed we both have some issues. My progesterone levels are showing weak ovulations and are so low as to possibly have contributed to my miscarriage. E's swimmers are slightly sub-prime both in morphology(shape) and motility(ability to swim). Apparently, with this combo, we have approximately a 1% chance of conceving naturally each cycle (a healthy couple has about a 20% chance).

Despite these issues, Dr. N was very positive, and spent quite a lot of time talking about what we wanted to do next. E and I both agree, the next steps should be IUI and Clomid, followed by IUI and Injectibles. However, we are now on hold because at that same appointment, Dr. N did an ultrasound to count follicles and found instead that my cyst on my left ovary has returned and looks like it has endometriosis. Now, I am waiting to find out if surgery is the next step to get rid of the cyst and to check for any further endo.

That is where we are so far. Thanks for reading my story.