Our Overall Plan

A friend of mine pointed out to me this week that I haven't explained our treatment plan in this blog. Duh! So here goes...

Sunday will be 7 weeks since I stopped nursing. My doctor gave me 8 weeks on Metformin to get my period on my own. If I don't, he will give me a hormone to induce it (just a pill - Provera). As soon as I get my period, I will call the doctor's office to schedule my HSG (hysterosalpingogram). They do that in the early part of my cycle - they put a catheter through my cervix and inject me with dye so they can take x-rays of my uterus and fallopian tubes. They will be looking for any fibroids or other uterine abnormalities as well as blockages in my tubes. The test is mostly a precaution since I had one done in 2005 and it was normal. Sometimes after a C-section scar tissue can form, so they have to check me out before we begin treatments.

During that month, I will probably be on birth control to regulate my hormones and ensure a period. (I always think that part sounds crazy for someone with infertility!) At the end of that month of pills, I should get my period again. I will call the doctor again and on day 3 of my cycle they will do a lab and an ultrasound to check my hormones and ovaries. If everything looks good, we will proceed with Follistim (an FSH - follicle stimulating hormone) that I inject daily under the skin in my belly. It really doesn't hurt much at all. From there, my doctor will do a lab and an ultrasound every couple of days to check my progress.

If all goes well, I will be able to inject HCG (human chorionic gonadotropin) to make me ovulate (around day 14, although last time it was day 21). That one HURT last time (in the muscle in my butt/hip). We will do an IUI (intrauterine insemination) at the clinic 12 - 36 hours after the HCG injection (last time we did two days in a row). For this, we go to the clinic in Minneapolis. Ben gives his "sample" to the lab, they clean out the junky ones (I'm sure there are hardly any!) and insert the rest directly into my uterus via a catheter (gives them a head start). Hopefully all this will end in a pregnancy for us (if not, I get my period and we start over with a new month).

To get to the important information: If it all goes the way I think it will (which it never has in the past, by the way) I could be pregnant by the end of March.

Because there are so many variables in all this, it is hard to predict anything. It all depends on how my body reacts to the medications and whether I can make a viable egg. People with PCOS tend to make crappy eggs because they have so many immature follicles waiting all the time. In other words, the eggs are rotten by the time they mature and ovulate. It truly was a miracle that with Hadley I made one dominant follicle that ovulated a good egg. Not only that, but I got pregnant. I know many people that have not been so lucky. Many of my friends have done IUIs with several dominant follicles (meaning 2-3 or more eggs produced) that did not result in pregnancy.

I try not to think too much about all those failed attempts I've seen others go through. It's enough to drive a person crazy. All that money and time and drugs and appointments and stress for no result. So I focus on Hadley and our one successful try. If it happened once, there's no reason to believe it won't happen again. Keep your thoughts and prayers with us.