Our Journey

Some people may not know the entire extent of our struggle, so let me start from the beginning…

Since we have been married, I was on birth control.  Right before Robert left for Iraq in Fall of 2004, I went off birth control.  We didn’t see a need for me to be on them anymore.  After Robert got back in Spring of 2005, we talked about wanting to start a family of our own.  It wasn’t official, but it stayed with us for a while.  We made our efforts of trying to get pregnant right after Robert was medically discharged from the Army which was March 2006.  Unfortunately, my cycles were becoming extremely irregular once he came back from Iraq.  I would go anywhere from 5 weeks to 10 weeks without having a period.  This is extremely bad when you are trying to conceive.

In February of 2007, I decided that I needed to talk to my doctor about my problems.  I always mentioned it to my previous doctor about my irregular period, but he kept telling me it was stress related and I did not have anything to worry about.  Thats the Army insurance program for you.  Now that I have Scott & White insurance, I figured maybe they could help me.  The doctor that I saw in February did all kinds of blood work to see what was going on with me.  They of course did a pregnancy test and it showed up negative.  They checked my FSH (follicle stimulating hormone) level, progesterone level among other things.  I don’t even remember what all they tested for.  According to all their tests, I was fine. She referred me to a fertility specialist.

Our first appointment with the fertility doctor (Dr. Wincek - cute, adorable, old man) was in April of 2007.  He also wanted some blood work done, which was expected.  He told us that I was not ovulating on my own regularly which would explain why I had irregular cycles.  He started me on a fertility drug called chlomid.  It is one of the most common medication for fertility. 

I started taking 50mg of chlomid in April (cycle day (CD) 5-9), big fat negative (BFN).

My dosage got changed to 75 mg of chlomid in May (CD 5-9), BFN.

Dosage changed to 100mg of chlomid in June (CD 5-9), BFN.

July, my dosage was changed to 200mg of chlomid (CD 5-9), BFN.  (the max dosage is 200mg).

I continue to stay at 200mg of chlomid to this date.  All BFN!

Before I continue on, let me explain what chlomid is and what it does.  Chlomid is supposed to “trick” my body that I do not have any ovaries, which in turn tells my brain that I need to produce more estrogen so that it would cause me to ovulate.  Side effects of chlomid are hot flashes (boy are they bad), mood swings and nausea.  All this I have to go through in order to get pregnant.  It’s supposed to be worth it.

After my September cycle failed, Dr. Wincek ordered me to get an HSG done.  Don’t ask me what its really called.  The HSG involves me getting a dye injected into my uterus to check to see if there is any blockage in my tubes or if there are any cysts.  The HSG was done in October and it was painful, but it was all clear.  After a woman has an HSG done, her chances of getting pregnant is supposed to increase because it “cleans out” your uterus.

Robert and I decide to go another round of chlomid (200mg CD 3-9 this time) but it was a BFN.

Now, we are at my present cycle.  We decided to move onto an IUI (intra-uterine insemination).  Basically, Robert makes a deposit into a cup, they “wash” his sperm, and then insert his sperm into my uterus using a catheter.  Simple enough, right?  Let’s hope it is that simple.

I am still on 200mg of chlomid (CD 3-9) and was put on an injectable called Repronex.  This combination is supposed to stimulate multiple follicles so that there is a higher chance that at least one egg will release.  Robert has given me my last of four shots tonight.  Ouch!  They still hurt.  Each night I was given a shot of 150 IU (international units) of Repronex that Robert had to mix up.  Its been lots of fun.