Honestly I have been wondering how I can possibly put the last 15 months into one blog post. I think that most of the posts will be from my perspective (Tiffany). Hopefully down the road, Dan can share his insight on the husband’s role and how he has felt and handled it all. I’m going to be frank and if you read something that, you don’t like or is too much to handle feel free to stop. We want an unedited place to cry and rejoice.
It all started by accident. Literally. The condom broke and we had the dreaded two week wait to see if I was pregnant. We decided against using a Plan B and in those two weeks we both got excited at the prospect. When my period came, we both were disappointed and had a very honest discussion about our lives and what we wanted. Although it felt crazy at the time, we decided we were ready to really try and become parents. Little did we know what a hard road was up ahead of us.
Around the age of 19, Tiffany was diagnosed with PCOS. Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. Here is a quick link to the WIKI website to get a little background if you want http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polycystic_ovary_syndrome . This was something she shared with Dan early on in their relationship, because she knew it could make getting pregnant in the future very difficult.
The first few months we tried like any couple. We learned my cycle and with each passing month we grew more and more disappointed but knew that these things just take time and had fun in the process. By the third month in September we had just gotten back from Vegas, I decided to see a new OBGYN to talk about my PCOS and trying to conceive.
I met with Dr. Donald. He advised we try without doing anything drastic for a couple more months. By November I had every lab test in the book, and they found out I was not ovulating on my own. He decided to get me going on some medications that would get me to ovulate.
December was the month I started taking Clomid. Clomid is a fertility medication taken orally, in doses anywhere from 50-200mg each. It stops the signal to your ovaries that usually only lets one “egg” mature and ovulate.
I started a regime every month that consisted of:
CD (cycle day, the first day of your period is Cycle Day 1)5-7 take 50mg of Clomid.
Start using an OPK (ovulation predictor kit) three days after the last Clomid pill until you see a positive.
24-38 hours later Ovulation
CD 21 Progesterone blood work to confirm ovulation and see if progesterone was high enough to sustain a pregnancy.
CD29 Home pregnancy test/Period begins.
We did two months of 50mg Clomid, with only one cycle resulting in ovulation.
Next started the monitored cycles. They do an ultrasound at the beginning of the cycle to check uterine lining (got an A+) and no cysts in sight which is a great sign! Those can mean big issues in the infertility world. Then as the cycle went along using another round of 50mg Clomid check to see how the “eggs” are maturing and how many should ovulate. After a seemly successful month still BFN (Big Fat Negative).
Dr. Donald decided that I should see another OBGYN in Portland that may be more experienced with fertility medication. During that month waiting for my appointment he took me off all meds in March/April of 2011 and I didn’t ovulate. Dan also had a semen analysis done to make sure that he was A-OK. His results came back pretty average, no problems there.
May 6th 2011 my first appointment with Dr. Megan Bird. She was wonderful. She was sensitive to my feelings and also a straight shooter. She was confused as to why I was referred to her and she did not have a ton of experience with infertility. Our next step would be to see a RE (Reproductive Endocrinologist). Usually insurances cover 0%-20% of reproductive medicine. They consider having a baby not a medical necessity. If you ask me that’s a crock of bullshit. One visit with an RE runs around 250$. We made a plan and she decided to give me as many tests as they would at the RE and do a 2-3 month plan with her while my insurance would still pay at 100%.
My first step was an HSG test in the radiology group in Tualatin. You go into a procedure room they take a catheter and put it through the vagina, the cervix, and into the uterus. They inflate a small balloon to make space and inject a Radiopaque dye through the tube and into the uterus. Simultaneously they take video/pictures to watch the dye fill the uterus to see its shape and if there are any abnormalities. Then the dye flows through the fallopian tubes and into the ovaries, to show any blockages or punctures. It was uncomfortable and slightly painful. My test’s results were good. No blockages, fine shape, just a little tipped but that holds the equivalence of someone being left handed. It’s a bit different but no better or worse than an un-tipped uterus.
Here is a picture of what one looks like. This isn't mine but just an example:
Then I did two more unmonitored cycles of Clomid, one 50mg and one 100mg cycle. Both resulting in no pregnancies. My cycles started getting increasingly bad, irregular and she made the decision there was nothing else she could do for me. It was time to see the RE.
The idea of seeing a RE was exciting because that is all they do all day is deal with patients just like me who need help getting pregnant. At this point it had been a long 13 month journey and most days it felt like I was right where I started. We had a long talk about finances and if we could afford to see the RE. We decided that although it would be a struggle financially that we had been trying too long and gone through too much to stop. We laid in bed together and called the insurance company. Chanting “Please at least cover 20%. PLEASE) we found out that until January of 2012 we were covered at 100%. We were elated and made our appointment for August 31st 2011. In January our coverage goes down to 50%.
This post is very watered down. I just wanted to give a general idea of where we have been, moving forward. It has been a very painful process and I will probably dedicate a post of emotion later on in the blog. If anything, leaving out how many tear filled nights we have had made this a little more tolerable to re live. If I had any other man standing by my side. I don’t think I would have made it as far as we have.
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