Adding to Our Family

Here is a timeline of everything Husband and I have been through to begin the making of "Baby Hill":

September 2009: The month of our wedding! I stop taking birth control pills after reading that you should do so about 3 months before trying to conceive. I even go as far as planning in my mind what the next year of our life would be like- we could get pregnant in December and our baby would be due in September (2010), just in time to be the perfect anniversary present!

November 2009: Thanksgiving and the start of the Holiday season only add to my desire of having a baby- I constantly overwhelm Husband with talk of babies and how "we are really ready for one!" (Note about Husband: he is a very realistic person- at this time he was still trying to finish school and we were still paying off our wedding from 2 months before- he really wanted to wait a couple more months before adding to our family in order to make sure that we had overcome those 2 very BIG obstacles in our life. Yes, I know that sounds like the reasonable thing to do, but I REALLY wanted a baby by this point and was sure that if we got pregnant everything would work itself out!) Well, lets just say all my nagging paid off! Husband gave in and we started trying for a baby a couple months before "what we had agreed on."

December 2009: Husband and I tell our family and friends that we are trying for a baby (because in our minds, why would we NOT get pregnant right away?). We even think about how great its going to be to have "Baby Hill" by the time the next Holiday season comes (again, because why would we not have a baby by then?)

January 2010: Still not pregnant and some medical issues start to send red flags my way. I express this concern to my OBGYN and luckily, she agrees to run some blood work to make sure everything is okay. (To this day, I continue to say how lucky I am that my doctor was very understanding and very proactive in helping us get pregnant. Most doctors will make you wait at least 6 months, if not a full year, before running any fertility tests- in which case Husband and I would still not know what we know now). Sure enough, my test results come back with some major concerns- I have very low progesterone levels and am not ovulating.

February 2010: I begin taking progesterone pills, hoping that this will raise my hormone levels. No increase. My doctor recommends that we have a "consultation about options" at which time she suggests that I begin taking Clomid- a fertility drug that many people will try using first, before moving on to more drastic treatments.

March 2010: I complete my first round of Clomid and am feeling VERY positive. I JUST KNOW it has worked and that I am now pregnant! I count down the days until I receive the phone call from my doctor's office with my blood work results. They do finally call, and of course I miss their call and instead receive a voice mail stating they need me to call back as soon as possible to go over the results. I think to myself "This is it! They are going to tell me that, while running my results, they discovered I am pregnant! And, of course, they want me to call back so that they can tell me the news!" Well, lets just say that is NOT how the phone call went! Instead, they informed me that even with the help of Clomid, they did not find any increases in my hormone levels. Also, the nurse informed me that my doctor is recommending an ultrasound before I pursue taking another round of Clomid. I am very shocked, but agree to the ultrasound and schedule one.

May 2010: The month of the ultrasound (or as I think of it, the month that changed everything). Husband and I go to the ultrasound appointment with high hopes- they probably wont find anything and I will just start another round of Clomid. Wrong again. As we stare at the screen during the test, I can immediately tell something does not look right. Instead of staring at a normal oval on the screen (an ovary) I am staring at an oval that seems to have polka-dots all over it. (Of course, prior to the ultrasound, I have done some "intense googling" and by this point I am well aware of what a normal ultrasound will look like) Sure enough, the kind lady performing the ultrasound points out the "polka-dots" and informs me that they are cysts. She continues by saying that due to the amount of cysts on my ovaries, it is very likely that I have PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome). My doctor later confirms this. For those of you who do not know what this is, there are many articles and websites on the internet that discuss it (I have read most of them). But it is basically a condition diagnosed when there are many cysts on the ovaries that prevent that person from ovulating. It is not curable and doctors are not entirely sure what causes it. Many people will experience other symptoms that are linked with PCOS, but surprisingly I have not shown any of those.- which is why, during all my googling before the ultrasound, I would have never thought I had it. Now my doctor is recommending Husband and I see a fertility specialist. And we do. We schedule an appointment at the very end of May to meet with Dr Ku, a fertility doctor that works at Frisco Fertility Center, and begin the process of pursuing other infertility treatments.

June 2010: June was probably the most nerve-wracking month of all- the entire month Husband and I alternated between overcoming obstacles and then waiting for results. We were very excited to finally be moving towards some answers, but endured a lot of frustration and other emotions while waiting for everything to finally come together. First obstacle of the month: Husband needed to have his swimmers tested. Check! Husband passed with flying colors! Second obstacle: I needed to have an HSG test to ensure both of my tubes are open (because why would I start fertility treatment only to find out that my tubes have been blocked all along?) This was a very hard test for me- I kept envisioning that the doctor would find something worse than PCOS and that I would be unable to have children with or without fertility treatments. After several days of pulling my hair out waiting for the phone call, I finally received my results- they were completely normal! The HSG test was the first and only test so far to come back normal since Husband and I started this whole process! With those two obstacles behind us, there was one last item on our checklist for the month of June- sit down with Dr Ku once again and prepare a "game plan" for our first month of treatment (which would begin in July). We went back and forth over several different options (should I try a higher dose of Clomid first? should I jump forward to IVF? should I begin with daily injectionables which run a higher risk of multiples?) and we finally settled on a compromise: up the dosage of Clomid and combine that with every other day injectionables. Along with the treatment I will be closely monitored- going in for several ultrasounds during the process and having several rounds of bloodwork immediately after finishing treatment. Finally having our "game plan" ready to go, Husband and I return to waiting once again until the day we can actually begin the treatment!

July 2010: We were finally able to begin treatment with our RE (daily Clomid and injections every other day).  After several sonograms, we learned that the treatment was not working- I was still not ovulating and there were not great signs of follicle growth.  We stopped treatment and waited several weeks to see if we could start over with a higher dose of injections.