Adopting a second child was taking a long time, so my husband and I decided to pursue fertility treatments again. The endometriosis had grown back, so I needed another laparoscopy to remove it. This time, the endometriosis was so bad that my left ovary was "stuck" to the back of my cervix.

My body had a harder time recovering from the surgery this time. I spent several hours vomiting from the ... more

In a previous post, Adoption Does NOT Cure Infertility, I talked about some of the infertility losses that I have had to grieve despite being a mother through adoption. This post continues the discussion.

My son used to belong to a playgroup of children who were all close in age. When my son was around three years old, we went to a playgroup at a friend's house. There were seven of us there with our children. All of us had children around the ... more

In my last post, Fertell: At-home Fertility Screening Test, I mentioned a news release that a reader sent me called Couples Quiet When it Comes to Concerns about Fertility. The news release contains many interesting statistics based upon a survey conducted by Genosis Inc., the company that created Fertell. In my last post, I talked about the product. In this post, I would like to ... more

A reader sent me a link to an interesting news release that was published yesterday: Couples Quiet When it Comes to Concerns about Fertility. The news release contains many interesting statistics based upon a survey conducted by Genosis Inc., the company that created a product called Fertell. The news release also talks about this product and its ability to begin the fertility process in the privacy of your own home.

Let's start with the product in this post, and then I will discuss the ... more

When I adopted my son, I assumed that my infertility woes were over. I was a mother now, so there was no need to think about my fertility again, right? I was so wrong about this. Adoption cures childlessness, not infertility.

The pain of my infertility started to bubble up as my friends started conceiving their second children. I had already placed our names on a waiting list at an adoption agency to adopt our second child, but the agency told me that it would probably take a couple of years before we would be invited ... more

In my last post, Laparoscopy, I talked about having a laparoscopy so Dr. F could determine the cause of my infertility. The results shocked me. I had never experienced particularly painful periods, so my fertility doctors from my hometown had ruled out endometriosis as a possible cause. They were wrong.

Dr. F found a significant amount of endometriosis, which is uterine ... more

While we were waiting for the adoption agency to match us with an expecting mother, we moved to a different state. We had already been waiting to adopt for 7 months, so my husband suggested that we get a second opinion on my infertility.

I struggled with whether it was ethical to pursue fertility treatments while waiting to adopt. My friends assured me that it was not a requirement to refrain for sexual intercourse while waiting to adopt, so it was okay if I got pregnant while waiting. I also figured that I could still go ... more

We continued intrauterine inseminations (IUIs) throughout the winter and spring of 1999, but I was losing steam. I had given up hope of ever conceiving.

People told me that I needed to keep a positive attitude or I would never conceive. I countered by pointing out that a positive attitude had not gotten me very far up until now. I was in the process of accepting that I would never meet a baby who had my eyes and my husband's nose. As I ... more

When we first decided to grow our family, we both assumed that this would happen just like most other families. We would conceive a baby who looked like us.

Neither of us ever imagined that infertility would happen to us. We had no family history of infertility from either side, and we were both young and healthy. Even our doctors told us that there was no medical reason why we could not achieve a pregnancy. Yet, despite all of these factors, we remained childless.

One day at Dr. M's office, I picked up a brochure about ... more

As badly as I wanted a baby, fertility procedures had taken over our lives vigorously for the past six months, and I needed a break - badly. I insisted upon taking a break from fertility procedures as the holidays rolled around again. I could not bear another disappointment right at Christmas.

My husband was baffled by my need for a break. By this point, he was determined to "get this monkey off of his back." He was determined to try repeatedly until we achieved our goal of conceiving.

The problem was that it ... more

We continued the fertility treatments throughout the summer and fall of 1998. The fertility procedures were consuming my life.

I had multiple doctor appointments each month between the follicle tracking, intrauterine inseminations (IUIs), and pregnancy tests. (The progesterone would cause a false positive if I took a home pregnancy test, so if my period was late, I would have a blood test performed at the doctor's office.)

When ... more

After a 3-month hiatus from intrauterine inseminations (IUIs), my husband was fully recovered from his surgery and had a new "crop" of sperm to work with. So, we started infertility treatments again.

By this time, we were approaching the two-year mark of trying to conceive. While I was frustrated that the process was taking so long, I was also hopeful that we had "fixed" our fertility issues and would soon become pregnant.

While we did not run ... more

Somehow, we managed to trudge through our second holiday season as an infertile couple. January brought a second try at becoming pregnant through an intrauterine insemination (IUI). Unfortunately, my husband's sperm count was still much lower than we hoped. For a second time, we did the IUI despite a low sperm count, and for a second time, we did not conceive.

Dr. M referred my husband to a urologist (Dr. P) to determine what was causing ... more

Dr. M prescribed progesterone tablets, which he instructed me to start taking several days after the intrauterine insemination (IUI). Dr. M explained that the baby would receive nourishment from my body's progesterone until it attached to my uterus and formed an umbilical cord. If my progesterone levels were too low, then I might miscarry. That was ... more

After the sperm wash was completed, we were ready for our first IUI. I was so sure that this was going to work. I would do this procedure one time, and then I would hold my baby in my arms in nine months. The nurse led me to a room and told me to make the same preparations that are used for a pap smear.

When the doctor came in, he expressed concerns about my husband's low ... more

Once we knew we were ovulating, we went in for our first intrauterine insemination (IUI). The first order of business was obtaining a semen sample, which we were blessedly able to do at home. See Reluctant Spouse and Semen Samples for more on both my husband's and my reactions to semen samples.

The nurse let me watch her do the "sperm wash," which ... more

Our first intrauterine insemination (IUI) was our introduction to the challenges of juggling two full-time work schedules in order to accommodate Mother Nature. When the ovulation predictor stick turned blue, we had to have our IUI the next morning. It did not matter if that fell on the weekend or on a day when one of us had a meeting.

Because my cycles were longer than the average woman's cycle (anywhere from 29 to 36 days) and ... more

Many couples start using ovulation predictor kits as soon as they start trying to become pregnant. We were not one of those couples. My first experience using one was the same month that I also experienced my first intrauterine insemination (IUI), so I had a lot of new things to learn about that month. Those kits were challenging for me, both logistically and emotionally.

Logistics

I was working full-time when we ... more

By this time, we were moving into the Fall, and I was ready to have an intrauterine insemination (IUI), get pregnant, and move on with my life. I wanted to announce our pregnancy over Christmas. This was going to be just perfect.

Unfortunately, Dr. M was not ready to try an IUI just yet. Instead, he wanted to try one month on Clomid and see how my body responded. He ... more

Dr. M told me to schedule an HSG as soon as my period started so that we could have the test performed as soon as my period ended. This test would tell us if my fallopian tubes were blocked.

The procedure had to be performed at the hospital because we needed to use the X-ray equipment. He said that this was an outpatient procedure that would be uncomfortable but not painful enough to require prescription ... more

By the time we were referred to an infertility specialist (Dr. M), we had already been trying to conceive for a year. I was feeling very frustrated, but, at the same time, I was hopeful that this specialist would "fix our problem" so that I could finally get pregnant.

I came to this initial meeting alone, which both frustrated and relieved me. I was frustrated because this was our problem and yet I was the only one seeing a doctor about it. However, I was also relieved because this meant that I was in control of ... more

Dr. H said the next step was to do a post-coital test. I have several friends who have been through the infertility process more recently than I have (I started trying to conceive in 1996), and they have told me that their doctors have not ordered this test for them. This was a completely disgusting test and one that I would never want to repeat.

Dr. H told us to wait until my fertile time of the month - ... more