I have been tinkering with the idea of writing a post on this topic for a while, but I wasn’t sure if A. I wanted to open up to the world on this one, or B. that you want to hear about it.
Then I decided that the writing process was more cathartic for me, and that it isn’t like the whole world reads my blog. Since most of my readers already know some of these sordid details, I figured what the hey… as Melissa says, “sometimes you just need to blog it out”

Before Troy and I got married we had “The Conversation”. The one where you kind of lay out all the expectations you have about being married. Who takes out the trash, who does the laundry, how nit picky are you on general cleanliness, where do you stand on kids, politics, education and religion. Things people need to discuss so you aren’t surprised down the road.

We were pleasantly surprised to find we had a lot of similar views, and figured our transition would be fairly smooth.
In the “kid” conversation, we also talked about the factor that our age played into the whole process. Since neither of us are spring chickens, we don’t really have the option of waiting to be married for 5 or 6 years before embarking on the breeding train.

In the fall of 2007 we began to inch our way toward parenthood. We stopped using any kind of birth control, and figured we’d just see where things led. Right away we hit a bump. My body, being the boss of itself for all these years, was not doing well with the withdraw symptoms of no more birth control. The old girl just quit working.
So after several months of waiting, one extremely frustrating phone call, and a trip to the doctor, we had an answer. No progesterone.
What does that mean? Well, progesterone is a hormone that helps your body to ovulate.
No progesterone, no ovulation, no chance at a pregnancy.
Blarg.
So after discussing options with the doctor, we started taking medication. Well, I started taking medication, Troy started listening to me complain about side effects.
Each month I take the pills for four days, then on the 21st day of the cycle, I have blood drawn (and you know how much I love that!). A couple days after the blood is drawn the doctors’ office calls me with a progesterone level. Then we cross our fingers and wait. Of the first 6 months we have endured this process, only 3 of them had a score worthy of even hoping.
Earlier in November of 2008, I had a test done to check to see if my old girl had some issues. I had what is called an HSG test. It was semi-painful, and kind of gross, so I will spare you the details. The long and the short of it is that every thing looked good. There was no pregnancy-blocking monster to vanquish.

After the HSG test, we did two more months of Clomid. This was the highest dosage we have tired yet, at 250 mg. There were days where I thought I was going to boil from the inside out due to hot flashes. It is not fun. And again we were met with disappointment. After a lengthy phone call with the doctor, we were advised to seek help from a specialist. Mid December we had our first appointment with Ohio Reproductive Medicine.
The Doctor we met with was very nice. He explained everything from what the body is supposed to be doing, what we’re guessing mine is not doing, and all the steps we will try to over come the issue.
The first step the doctor wanted us to try was a “clomid break”. The idea being that my body wasn’t making its own progesterone, so we dosed it up with clomid, when we weren’t successful (due to the fact that clomid also blocks the estrogen needed to get pregnant), that maybe somewhere along the line, my body figured out what it needed to do, and would make its own progesterone. For the last two months this was the plan. The first month we were glad to receive the news that my levels were within normal range. This month however we were not so lucky. This time around we got the news that I had not ovulated at all.
Now, phase two. I spoke with the doctors’ office today, and the plan is to move on to a procedure called and intrauterine insemination or IUI.
This is the first medically assisted procedure we will try. I am hopeful for this procedure. After months and months of “cross your fingers” or “wait and see” I am ready to move on to something more proactive.

My Mom has a friend she met in nursing school, who spent her career working at an OBGYN office. Jane had suggested to mom, that we go to a specialist, since … and this is a direct quote…
” You can tell just by looking at Kathleen that she isn’t a person who is infertile. She’ll be easy to get pregnant”

I am not sure, but I think there is a compliment in there somewhere…. That or Jane is horrified at the size of my hips… I’ll have to ask her next time I see her.