Welcome to the World of Infertility

I have two children that were conceived easily and quickly using the usual, natural conception methods. We had sex, and two weeks later we had a positive home pregnancy test. We thought that after our second was born, that we were done having kids, though no measures were taken to make our decision permanent. I've always said that since I had the kids, my husband would be the one to get "fixed." Thank goodness he didn't, because around Thanksgiving 2005 we decided that our family might not be complete. I had my IUD removed the next week and we immediately began trying to conceive #3.

To our surprise, we didn't get pregnant right away like we had in the past. In fact, we still have not conceived! Since my last child was born, my OB retired so I was seeing a new doctor. He wasn't very aggressive with treatment or testing until we had been trying for a year. I tried charting my temperatures, along with my cervical position and cervical fluid for 6 months, and we still didn't get pregnant. Finally I was tested and found that I was ovulating regularly and didn't have any tubal blockage or ovarian cysts. My husband had his sperm tested and the first specimen showed low motility. I researched on the web and found that L-carnitine and vitamin C had a positive effect on a man's sperm. He began taking the supplements immediately and his second sperm analysis, 3 months later, showed a significant improvement. His results were considered normal, but we still weren't getting pregnant.

After 14 months of not conceiving, I asked for a referral to a Reproductive Endocrinologist (RE). We went for our initial consultation and I absolutely adored the staff and the RE. She said that a rather mild intervention should be very successful for us. My file says that I have unspecified secondary infertility. Yipee! She suggested 5 days of clomid, an HCG trigger shot (Ovidrel) and IUI. We were on board 100% and began treatment the very next cycle. I was put on progesterone suppositories (They go in the va-jay-jay!) to lengthen the second half of my cycle. Luckily I was able to insert them at night before going to sleep, so the inconvenience was minimal. The inconvenience to my sex life, however, was great! It took much more planning if we wanted to be intimate, because it had to be done before I inserted the progesterone suppository. Planning has never been my strong suit, so you can imagine how often my husband got lucky!!!

Anyway, the first cycle didn't work, so I am now on a break from TTC. We are headed to Mexico in May, and I don't want to have to think about it while I'm on vacation. In June we will begin cycle #2. This time I will be taking Letrozole/Femara instead of clomid. We will do another IUI with the Ovidrel and progesterone. With any luck, we will win the battle against infertility on our next cycle. If not, we will try, try again!

The most important thing that I have learned from the roller coaster of infertility is that one should never take her fertility for granted. I made several decisions, including switching employers, based on the assumption that I would conceive quickly. I started thinking about baby names, and picked out nursery bedding, all before our journey really got started. I never thought that we would be affected by infertility. I never thought that I might not be blessed with the as many children as I chose to have. I have had to surrender to fate and realize that it may be out of my hands.