Let the Games Begin!

My husband and I want to have a baby. I guess all we have to do is stop taking birth control and have sex, right? WRONG! What seems like such a simple process is quite certainly the farthest thing from it.

My name is Amie. I'm a 26 year old girl... ah hem, woman trying to conceive my first child. I've been married to my wonderful husband, Chris, for 3 and a half year and have been trying to create a child with him for the past 18 months.

It started out pretty typical, stop taking BCPs, have sex every few days, and wait for AF to miss her flight into town. When AF showed up right on time our first month, I thought nothing of it. When she showed up right on time for the next 4 or so months, I started to worry. You see, I have some medical issues that at the age of 17 forced me to have a pretty extensive pelvic surgery. When I didn't get knocked up right away, this surgery came immediately to mind.

My first step was to use an ovulation predictor kit to ensure I was at least ovulating....no good. I tried the kits for two months with no results and decided to see my OB. Our first decision was to try 50 mg of Clomid to see if that stimulated my ovaries...no good. Bump the Comid up to 100 mg...finally something! I can't even express how excited I was to just hear that'd I'd actually ovulated! Now I'm good to go and we should conceive any minute! WRONG!

After ovulating with the help of Clomid for four months (keep in mind this is 10 months into the ttc process) we finally dediced it was time to meet with an RE. So we did and we loved him! Can I just say how very important it is to feel.... well, important at a time like this? Trust me, all my chronic medical condition put me through for 4 straight years of my life is nothing compared to this struggle! But back to meeting our RE. After 10 months of feeling hopeless, confused, and very very different, we sat with our RE and after 15 short minutes finally had a plan of action. Finally!

Our first step was to see what was going on inside. Most importantly did my pelvic surgeries create any scar tissue around my tubes? I went in for an HSG test in October to find there was, in fact, scar tissue near my tubes- not blocking them- just near them. Of course I always kind of had a fear of this in the back of my mind, but like so many things in life I thought, eh- that will never happen to me. WRONG! When my RE explained the results of the HSG to me, it felt as if he'd just punched me in the gut. Truly, knocked the wind out of me. How could this be? I had one of the best gastrointestinal surgeons in the world! He performed surgery on the Pope for God's sake!

After collecting myself, it was time to move on and decide our next plan of action. As it turns out Clomid can actually decrease your fertility- or rather, you are more fertile without it. In addition, the HSG is actually known to increase fertility for a few months. With that said, we decided to go on a "Clomid break" for a few months to see what happens... After a month of this, I was ready to move on. I just didn't see any point in wasting any more time.

So this brings us to November and our first IUI. My RE opted to do a Clomid IUI with an HCG trigger shot. Something kind of interesting to point out here is that exactly 4 years to the day from when my husband proposed, he gave me my first ever fertility drug injection.... my how far we've come!

After our first IUI was unsuccessful, we opted to give it one more shot (pun intended) in December 2009.... again, no success.

I must say, two failed IUIs was a pretty tough pill to swallow. I'm not sure I've ever felt quite as down or hated my AF quite as much as I did when the second attempt didn't work. Why me? Why after all that I've already had to deal with am I now going through this? I know pitying myself won't get me anywhere so I've tried to only throw myself a few pity parties through this whole process, but you know what, sometimes, you just need a good cry!

So, after 19 months ttc, one not-so-great HSG, and two failed IUIs, we are on to plan Z- IVF. This is another one of those things that I've always had in the back of my mind but never, ever, ever thought I'd have to do.

I'm currently in the BCP phase of the process and started my Lupron injections on Feb 18th! It's such a surreal experience. Just the thought of how much technology has impacted my life. From my life-changing surgery to remove my large intestine some 9 years ago to gaining assistance in- hopefully- bringing a life form of my own into the world. How absolutely mind-boggling!

So that's my story I guess all that's left to say is Let the Games Begin!