How did I get here?

We expect that most people reading this blog will be friends and family, who already know a good deal about our fertility issues.  But we wanted to provide a little information about our history for those who may have stumbled upon our blog looking for information related to IVF.

My husband and I have been dealing with unexplained infertility for almost 2 years.  A common misconception about unexplained infertility is that it means that nothing is wrong, but that's not the case. It just means that science is not advanced enough yet for the doctors to determine exactly what is wrong.  We started trying to conceive our first child in March of 2010.  After about 10 months of trying on our own with no luck, my gynecologist decided to begin some basic tests.  My day 21 blood work confirmed that I was indeed ovulating and Jeff's semen analysis proved that he had plenty of good swimmers.  I had a hysterosalpingogram (HSG) done, which is an X-ray test that uses dye to check for blockages in the fallopian tubes and abnormalities in the uterus.  My results were normal--great looking uterus and no blocked tubes. The plan was to start a fertility drug called Clomid in March, but we found out that we were pregnant that month.  At my first OB appointment, my doctor discovered that my HCG (pregnancy hormone) levels were very low and was concerned that it was not a viable pregnancy.  We monitored my HCG levels over the next few weeks, but it was inevitable--I had a miscarriage on April 1, 2011 at 7 weeks.  A few months later, we had a new doctor and a new game plan: try a few months on Clomid, then move on to IUI (intrauterine insemination). We tried Clomid in June, July and August of 2011 with no luck.  We did our first cycle of IUI with Clomid in September and tried a different drug called Femara with our second attempt in October.  Each time I had 1 ovarian follicle (each follicle has one egg) that was over 19mm. Since IUI has an average success rate of only about 10-30%, we have recently decided to move on and explore the option of IVF, which has a much higher success rate.  We have scheduled a consultation appointment for November 21 at the fertility center that conducted each of our IUIs.  Right now we are feeling very overwhelmed by the prospect of IVF, which is very expensive (the cost can range from $10,000-$20,000 per cycle and is not covered by many insurance plans, including ours) and physically straining. But we are also very excited to move forward and to be one step closer to having a baby!

Our hope is to update this blog during each step our of our IVF journey, so please check back.  I hope to have more information up after our November 21 consultation.