To get this ball rolling, I have decided to just give some background as to our situation and where things currently stand.
June 11, 2010 was the most amazing day of my life. I married my best friend, the love of my life, and spent a day full of friends and family. Chris and I had talked about starting a family since we began dating, and both of us were so excited to have kids. I have always wanted to be a mom, for as long as I can remember. Since I started dating him, Chris would talk about his future kids and all the fun things we couldn't wait to do with them.
It was in this joyful time that we decided to go ahead and starting trying right away to get pregnant. Some of my friends had some difficulty getting pregnant, so we knew the process might take awhile. I figured that you were never really ready for kids, so why wait!
Much to my surprise, after many years on birth control my cycle started normally on its own. I was relieved--at least my body seemed to be doing what it was supposed to! I began using ovulation tests and discovered that I ovulated later in my cycle than is normal. However, most doctors will not consider any infertility consultations until a couple has been trying 6 months.
So for 6 months, we tried, we tested, and we were disappointed. Seeing one pink line on a test got pretty boring after awhile. During this time, I went through lots of phases. In the beginning I would cry every month. I would drive myself crazy by taking TONS of tests--like 3 in one day sometimes. I know that sounds crazy. It is crazy. But if you've tried to get pregnant, you might understand. Every change in my mood, body, feelings, everything was analyzed as a possible pregnancy symptom. By month 4 this began to wear off. I started to take things more in stride. There were no more tears when I found out family and friends were pregnant. No more tears when I saw one pink line.
Eventually I was just praying for month 6 so I could see the doctor. Month 6 came and Chris and I both went to my OBGYN. She tested my blood and found my progesterone level to be a little low. YES! Something! Finally we had something that we could hang out to! She prescribed me Clomid. I was certain this was the boost my body needed. We were finally going to get pregnant!
Only, we didn't. We did another month of Clomid and nothing. In the meantime, I talked to my doctor about getting Chris' sperm tested. Although it wasn't normal protocol to do it this early, she agreed. Chris went for his test, and we waited for the results.
I prayed, and prayed, and prayed, "Please God, let his results be perfect. Let it be me." I knew that bad results on his test would make Chris feel terrible. I did not want him to feel any pain. I wanted it to be me so badly. But it wasn't. It isn't. We got the results and discovered that Chris has low sperm count, poor morphology and poor motility. Basically, there are a few little guys that don't look very normal who swim in circles.
The news was pretty devastating for us especially because we didn't know exactly what it meant. My OBGYN recommended seeing a doctor who specialized in male infertility as well as a reproductive endocrinologist. I knew an RE doctor--friends had recommended him. There is only one doctor who specializes in male infertility here so we scheduled an appointment with both doctors.
LOOOOOONG story short: Despite multiple tests and treatments, Chris' sperm shows no improvement. We decided to do 2 rounds of IUI--intrauterine insemination. These are low cost, no pain procedures. Although it takes the average couple 3 rounds of IUI to get pregnant, we have decided to move on to in-vitro. See the next post for more info!
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