Today we had our appointment with the fertility specialist and within the first 5 minutes we were both ready to recommend him to anyone that asked.
We learned more today about the process of becoming pregnant and what could possibly be preventing us from becoming pregnant, from this doctor in half an hour, than we have over the past two years of trying.
It was incredible to hear things in a way that made sense and have a doctor tell us what to do next vs just hearing “eh you’re test results are okay just keep trying.” Because that really sucks to hear, especially from a doctor.
Part of what he explained was that the fertility drug I was on actually has side effects that can make it harder to get pregnant (uh that would have been nice to know other docs).
Then he walked through the entire process of IUI, I’ll lay it out for you but just skip this part if you don’t care about the specifics lol
Day 1, 2 or 3 of my cycle I have an ultrasound done to measure my uterine lining + the size of my follicles.
Day 3-12 I take Letrozole to increase the number of eggs my body produces.
Day 10, 11 or 12 I have a second ultrasound done to measure the same things. They are looking for 1-3 of my follicles to be 15mm or larger because that means there is an egg inside. They also do a blood test to ensure my estrogen levels are okay. (If they aren’t they prescribe an estrogen supplement that I would continue to take through the first trimester of pregnancy) At this appointment, they use the results from the ultrasound to determine which day we will have the IUI procedure.
3 days before the procedure I give myself a shot of the pregnancy hormone which basically forces my body into ovulation.
The day before the procedure we “have some romance” as the doc put it and then the next day we have the procedure.
The procedure = Adam making a “deposit”, them prepping that deposit for maximum fertility then using a catheter to inject that into my fallopian tubes.
Then I will start using a progesterone supplement to ensure the lining of my uterus stays strong enough to support a pregnancy. I would stay on that all the way through the first trimester as well.
14 days after the procedure we go in for a pregnancy test.
And if it doesn’t take, we start the whole process over again. We will do this for up to 6 cycles.
The best news, we started TODAY!!!!
I am not getting my hopes up and going into this first cycle assuming it will not work. BUT it feels great to have a concrete plan. And to have a doctor who really knows his stuff and showed an amazing amount of confidence in this working for us!
I had my first ultrasound + filled all my prescriptions today, and start taking them tomorrow! I also got a recommendation for an OB/GYN and have to make an appointment with them.
The fertility doctor wants us to have a relationship with an OB right away so we can walk in pregnant and be ready to roll. This fertility office will see us all the way until baby has a heartbeat and then we will switch over to the OB he recommended.
Like I said, still trying not to get our hopes up but this is a very exciting step and it feels like we are really headed in the right direction now!!