Artificial Insemination

It is now time for another entry from my old blog. This one talks about the day I decided we would embark on our first artifical insemination.

Monday, August 27, 2007
Oh Man. Information Overload!
Current mood: hopeful

This past weekend I was supposed to do an ultrasound to see if I would ovulate this month, and if so, how many eggs I would release. (Keep in mind, a woman normally ovulates with ONE egg per month.) I called my doctor on Saturday to schedule my appointment with her that day, but she told me it was unnecessary since my husband and I had opted not to do the hormone shots for the rest of this year, but to just do clomid. However, I got a bee in my bonnet the next day and felt like I wanted to try the shots two more times before the year was over, but that I didn't want to do them in November or December because I wanted to be normal for the holidays if things didn't work out before then.

I called over to the hopsital to have my doctor paged for the ultrasound, but she was unavailable, so I got the physician she works for instead of her. He told me that he would be more than happy to perform the ultrasound for her and to come in as soon as possible. We found in the ultrasound that I have five eggs this month. Not a shock to my husband, me, or my doctor. The doctor who performed the ultrasound asked how long I had been on clomid. I told him this was our sixth month. He replied that he would have never left me on the clomid for more than three months because after that amount of time, it actually decreases your chances of getting pregnant. (WOA! My dr was going to leave me on it through December!)

Then began the information overload.

He said that the only hope I had of concieving this month was to do artificial insemination. To which I replied I was willing. He then told me that if it didn't work, I would have to undergo a laporoscopy, which is a surgical procedure where the doctor goes in through the belly button and abdomen and looks for any endometriosis or other abnormalities. That if they did find a problem and were able to resolve it, my chances of getting pregnant would drastically increase. (YAY!) Of course, I could opt to go straight to IVF, in which case anything they would look for in the laporoscopy wouldn't matter. We also discussed a few other options that were open to me before I left with my head reeling.

I have opted to do artificial insemination this week, but my hopes are not high.

Why do I blog about any of this, you ask? Because I know I am not the only woman in the world going through this. I know that there are thousands of women out there going through what I am going through, and I want them to know that there are options. I want them to know that they are not alone. I also want to encourage them to become informed, to know what they are up against and what options are open to them. I think being educated on infertility is extremely important when undergoing this process. It is a process that comes with a steep learning curve, but one that I am glad to be on if it will help me achieve my goal of starting a family.

Every time I walk out of my doctor's office, my head is reeling with questions. The questions I asked after yesterday's appointment with a different doctor is why my own doctor kept me on clomid for so long. Why she didn't know it would decrease my chances the longer I was on it. Why she never told me about the laporoscopy. These thoughts in turn make me realize that no one knows all of the answers, and that I will have to continue to go with my gut instincts and be okay with the choices I make.

So here's to artificial insemination! I won't get my hopes up, but it would be really great if it worked for us.