Our TTC Journey

We started ttc in May 2005. It's been about 17 months, but it seems much longer than that. We never expected to have any problems, but we were so mistaken. I had regular cycles and had never experienced any "female" problems, so it should be easy, right?

We tried for 3 months with no luck. I was due for an annual. They didn't think anything of it. They said to try until January. (I already suspected problems). We wait until January and then schedule another consult with the OB. (by this time, I am experiencing a lot of pelvic/abdominal pain). My OB shrugs off the pain (I had been diagnosed with IBS) and sends us for bloodwork, an s/a for dh, and an HSG for me. My hsg is all clear, my only issue seemed to be slightly elevated prolactin. But then the bad news . . . low motility and some other issues with the s/a. We were going to have to go to a urologist. It seemed to take forever just to get the referral from dh's primary doctor. But finally he gets in in February. The urologist wants another s/a. Then, the diagnosis: a varicocele.

I had no idea what a varicocele was. That is when I first discovered the wonderful world of Babycenter and the helpful boards it has. It seemed the consensus was to have it surgically repaired, although we knew that that would not necessarily fix the problem. Dh seemed hesitant, but after one morning where I couldn't stop crying at church, he gave in. He had the surgery in April 2006.

Meanwhile, despite taking parlodel for 3 months, my prolactin was still elevated. My OB ordered a CT scan to check for pituitary tumors. I showed up for the CT; the radiologist said I needed an MRI, not a CT. Of course, they had no time for an MRI that day. This mix-up convinced us that it was time to change doctors.

On to the RE . . . He didn't think either an MRI or CT was necessary. He thought the problem was all with my dh and that our only solution would be IVF/ICSI. We weren't quite ready to hear that -- this was like 2 weeks post-op for dh. But he also recommended something else, a lap to investigate my pelvic pain.

So, the day after school was out, I had the lap. Finding: stage 1 endometriosis. Thankfully it wasn't any worse, but its discovery certainly helps to explain some things.

In July, dh had the 3 month post-op s/a. The results were not good -- everything was fine but the most important -- 4% morphology. Our only solution was IVF. The urologist said to try for 3 more months then move on to IVF. So, for once, the RE and the urologist agreed.

So, we followed their advice, well, practically. It hasn't been quite 3 months, but things seem to have fallen in place and we're ready to move on.