On to Step Two.....Phase One......Experiment A?

So I went to the doctors and the first thing they had me do was take a blood pregnancy test.  The doctors and I both knew it would be negative, but I guess they have to be sure.  So now they want me to take Progesterone for 10 days and then wait until I start to bleed and then in 5 days start taking Clomid (Clomiphene) for 5 days, then wait three days, and .........."have fun" every other day for a week.  Wait two weeks take a pregnancy test, and then make another doctor's appointment to see what's going on.  Rinse and repeat for a total of three months.  If this doesn't work, then I need to rinse and repeat for another 3 months with a different dosage, and so on and so forth for about a year.  At which time we reassess the situation and either move on to the next step or continue for another year.

Wow I'm exhausted already.  Well it looks like I'm off to the pharmacy.  Here goes nothing, so wish me luck and check back in a month or so for the results of Experiment A of Phase One in Step Two of Project "Spawn".....(ok I think it's funny).

Step One: The Natural Way...

Step one: Stop taking birth control, and you'll get pregnant.  Seems simple enough, but oh no, not for me.  After being on birth control for several months (which they say that the duration of being on the pill should have no effect on the difficulty of getting pregnant), I have stopped in order to see if mother nature will take over where science has stopped.  It's time to see if all I need was a little boost to get my systems running as normal.  I am now supposed to keep an eye out for when I'm most fertile and calculate my ovulation days.  However, in the past three months, my body has decided to not cooperate with what the doctors have told me for sure would happen. According to all the signs that I can see, the birth control did not jump start my reproductive cycle, and I have stopped ovulating.  Isn't the pill supposed to stop ovulation anyway?  So we can safely say that Step One has officially failed.  No ovulation = No babies. I always knew it wouldn't be that easy, which is why I'm starting the process now.  Noting worth having ever comes easy right?

You know, it just doesn't seems fair how some women can just seemingly look at their partner and get pregnant, while I seem to do nothing but struggle.  Clearly, my body has a mind of her own.

Wednesday July 13th, 2011 shall commence Step Two: Clomid.  Wish me luck.

Before it even started.....

I'm not what you would necessarily call fat.  I'm about 5'2" tall and weigh about 130 lbs, but on more than one occasion I have been approached by various people (and some of them will even put their hand on my stomach) and they will ask something like, "When are you due?" or "How far along are you?" or even "Are you pregnant?".  I would just blush and smile at them and say, "Nope I'm just fat, but thank you."  Sometimes I would be nicer, but not really all that often.  I didn't really need the reminder of how difficult it has been to get pregnant, and to be honest, it really hurt my feelings.

I have what is known as Anovulation which has seemed to have caused Secondary Amenorrhea and Hemorrhagic Ovarian Cysts, and so therefore I am infertile.  I've seen the doctors about it and they aren't exactly sure what is going on with my body.  There is no cure for Hemorrhagic Ovarian Cysts, but there are preventative measures that can be taken, which include taking birth control or having my ovaries removed.  Neither of those methods leads to pregnancy.  However, the doctors wanted me to take birth control in order to stop the cysts from forming every few months, so I didn't want to until they started to get worse, then I finally agreed to take the birth control.  Let me tell you that when one of those suckers burst, it is incredibly painful and there is a lot of blood, and I do mean A LOT.  Before I get to the next part let me tell you a quick little story........

Many people I know would ask me when I would start a family.  I would simply just say that I can't.  Many would leave it alone but others would ask further questions, not knowing my medical history.  Because they didn't know, and truthfully probably didn't want to know, I would say things like, "I can't right now with Tim and I both being in school, it would just be too much to handle."  Again, some would leave it at that, and some wouldn't.  For those that wouldn't leave it alone I would then explain why I can't have children without medical intervention.  Some would get it and some wouldn't.  

So after much discussion with Tim, we decided that it's time that we start the process.  The way we figure it, there are about 5 or so steps to parenthood.

Step One: The Natural Way
Step Two: Clomid
Step Three: Injections
Step Four: IVF
Step Five: Adoption

It will be up to Tim and I and the doctors to determine at which point we will move to the next step in the process.

What to expect before you're expecting...

After suggestions that I've received from my wonderful cousins Clark and Pam, and my husband Tim, I'm writing a blog to record my adventures and misadventures of becoming an expectant mother.  I've come to realized that getting pregnant isn't just as simple as having sex, and infertility is more common than I originally thought.  This journey has so far been very frustrating (but I kinda knew it would be), and I hope that in sharing my frustrations I can help others out there struggling with getting pregnant to know that they aren't alone.  While this is just an introduction, I hope that you continue reading my journey towards motherhood.  Support is the key to success.