In December 2011 we began trying for a baby. Oh my, did we try! After trying not to get pregnant for so long, we thought that it would be easy, we did get a lot of practice in the making department after all… 6 month with no luck we went back to the doctor and she told us that it is normal after a surgery like mine not to get results immediately but she ordered some tests for the both of us to check that everything was fine, so up we went for blood work, hormonal charts, seminal tests and hysterosalpingography.
Every single test came back normal. There was nothing wrong with any of us.
Great. Now, why we couldn't get pregnant? My doctor, who was pregnant at this time, said to try monitoring ovulation for a couple of month, timing sex to most fertile days and if nothing happened she will set a clomiphene treatment for us.
About a
month later my doctor had her baby and was off duty, by the time I went for my appointment
a new doctor was replacing her. This new doctor was very condescending and it
seemed she was in a hurry. She didn't want to prescribe the clomiphene and said
that if I was worry for my fertility I should go to a fertility specialist. I
asked her to contact my doctor that she was the one that suggested the
clomiphene and she basically refused. After a lot of talking she said she would
contact my doctor and that I should come back in two weeks to check. She also
suggested I quit my work because I had a hectic schedule and was stressed out so that could be the
reason of our failure to get pregnant and gave me a prescription for something
called Ovusitol.
I went back for my next appointment and of course she didn’t talked to my doctor and basically just wasted my time. Add to this the fact that she used that condescending tone that doctors that really don’t care use and again stressed out the thing about “relaxing” in order to get pregnant. Arrrrggggg!
I was
so angry I didn’t know what to do, so I called the hospital´s fertility clinic
and told them what this doctor said and all test that I have been through recently.
They said that they only look at the test they ordered and not to tests ordered
by other doctors, even though the tests were performed in the same hospital!
Meaning we have to go through the entire set of tests again and pay for them. I
refused point blank. This was October 2012.
In the
mean the company I was working for got absorbed by a bigger company and we were
working overdrive to complete the process and get everything ready. I got
offered a new position at the new company which would involve more hours, more
travelling and more stress so considering what the doctors have said, my DH and
I decided I should just turn the offer down and so I became a housewife. This was December 2012.
Back in Paraguay I used to work as a pharmaceutical representative and some of my best friends are doctors, so I contacted my previous Gynaecologist and really good friend, Dr. Carlos, and sent him all my results. He said that my doctor was right and clomiphene should be the first step so he prescribed me the treatment, explained everything and off I went with it. He also said that if after 6 month of treatment I didn’t get pregnant, then other tests should be performed.
Back in Paraguay I used to work as a pharmaceutical representative and some of my best friends are doctors, so I contacted my previous Gynaecologist and really good friend, Dr. Carlos, and sent him all my results. He said that my doctor was right and clomiphene should be the first step so he prescribed me the treatment, explained everything and off I went with it. He also said that if after 6 month of treatment I didn’t get pregnant, then other tests should be performed.
I follow the clomiphene treatment for 6 month, from January to June 2013. During this treatment I developed ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS) on month 6 of the treatment and also gain a lot of weight (8kg) during the process.
For those of you who are not familiar with clomiphene, helps you produce more of the hormones that trigger ovulation (follicle-stimulating hormones (FSH)), prompting your ovaries to produce one or more mature eggs, depending on how often you normally ovulate.
During
this time my DH was transferred to London for a business development project
and we were travelling back and forth every week which added to the stress of
the situation.
 |
We were
greeted by Dr. Hijano, which was very accommodating, listened to all we had to
say and answered our questions. He said that unexplained infertility is very
common and that he wanted to make and additional test and blood work to start with.
"Infertility means not being able to get pregnant after one year of trying (or six months if a woman is 35 or older). Women who can get pregnant but are unable to stay pregnant may also be infertile."
Infertility is different for everyone, and can be caused by a multitude of things from screwed up hormones, blocked Fallopian tubes, fibroids, tilted uterus, age, diet, weight, drug use, alcohol abuse etc. And it isn't just a woman’s issue; 1/3 of infertility issues are due to issues with the male.
The
test he requested is called hysteroscopy and consisted in a small camera
inserted in the utero to check its surface. The blood work and hysteroscopy
came all fine so at the end of August we visited the doctor again and he
recommended starting an AI treatment. When we asked for IVF he said that there
was no reason for us to go through IVF because there was no apparent cause for
infertility and my eggs and DH sperm were just fine. So we scheduled the first
procedure for October 2013.
The
most expensive part of the IUI procedure is the medication; we bought the
hormone injections and begin the protocol.
10 days
of injections and a trigger shot later we had the first IUI procedure on
October 11th. It was quicker and less painful than expected. All in
all it lasted about 20 minutes. The
doctor said to take it easy that day but to resume normal activities the day
after and no special care but the prenatal pills and progesterone . He
recommended Natalben Prenatal, which I
must say is pretty good. So we began the 2WW (2 week wait, not the Second World
War!) which were the most nerve racking 2 weeks a woman can experience.
I was
supposed to take a pregnancy test on October 26th but I started
spotting on October 25th… and the first IUI procedure failed.
Part 3
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