Here is our fertility journey in a nut shell….a more in-depth, personal story can be found by going to my post “Through the Looking Glass”.

We began trying to concieve in March 2009.  Around July 2009, we started to get the first inklings of insecurity and concern about this whole process. Nothing was happening! Not even a positive scare!  We purchased the LH strips, which test for a hormone surge that occurs right before ovulation.  We timed everything perfect.  I took basal body temperatures…checked cervical positions. We did it upside down, right side up, backwards, and tilted. Anything we could think of, and still…nothing.

Around February 2010, we started getting the battery of tests that come with determining infertility issues.  I initially came back perfect.  I had a normal length, regular cycle, was ovulating, and had no blocked tubes (so the initial dye test showed).  My husband tests came back showing  a low sperm count, around 10 million.  He was then diagnosed with a varicocele vein, which is a twisting of veins in the testicles that effects the flow of blood and damages sperm.  He underwent surgery to correct the issue in March 2010.  We tried for another 6 months with no success.

Eventually, we moved up the ladder to a fertility specialist.  We tried Clomid cycles.  We tried two IUIs in March 2011 and September 2011, one with ovarian stimulation medication and one without.  Negative!  My husband’s sperm count continued to decline.  We were ultimately, with a lot of research and tests, able to pin the decline on toxic metal exposure from his chemistry lab research.  Solution…Husband out of the lab., Ph.d on hold.  Changes in lifestyle and diet helped him detox the heavy  metals, and in the months to follow his count went from 4 million to 250 million-with excellent  motility and morphology.   Yet still…not pregnant.

We decided to get one last opinion in October 2011 from a different fertility specialist recommended to us by a few close friends. It was here our journey took a new turn.  Within 2 weeks, the new specialist had pinpointed the issue.  After undergoing a surgical procedure called a laparoscopy (a small camera is inserted into an incision in bellybutton to get a look at the reproductive system), I was diagnosed with a unilateral hydrosalpinx.  Ultimately a hydrosalpinx occurs when the distal end of the fallopian tube closes in on itself, preventing the egg from entering the tube after ovulation.  Also, the blocked in cause fluid to flow back into the uterus making it a toxic environment for embryos.  Therefore, even when I ovulated from the “good’ tube side the chances of getting pregnant were slim to none.  My new doctor immediately performed a salpingectomy, removing my left fallopian tube.  The right tube had a lot of scarring, which he cleared out the best he could.  At our post-surgery consult, he recommended moving straight to IVF in order to maximize our chances of conceiving. ..So here we are..

Now fertility people have a whole list of acronyms they use when discussing fertility.  This took me a long time to figure out. One day I’ll do a post that breaks them all down.  

Here are our Stats for all you fertility girls out there…

ME (33)- AMH 2.3, TSH 3.5, Prolactin 10.8 -Hydrosalpinx, Sapingectomy, Tubal Factor

DH(33) Prior to 11/2011-MFI, LC   Now:  >250 million swimmers!

TTC 3 years

2010: 2 clomid Cycle:  BFN

IUI 3/2011:  BFN

IUI 10/2011:  BFN

RE Switch

11/11:  Left tube removed, right tube in less than optimal condition

1st IVF:  Feb/March 2012  Antagonist Protocol