Progress
After reading my monthly Horoscope (thanks for the link, Cali!) and learning that May is supposed to be a very fertile month for Pisces, I was totally bummed out. Because we're not inseming this month. And then I read that if you were having trouble with infertility then the first week of May was a good time to have a doctor's visit with a specialist. And it just so happened that I had made an appointment for yesterday! During the first week of May! How cool is that?
When we were trying to get Kristin pregnant, we started working with a gynecologist who had been recommended to us. Though she isn't an RE, she is apparently VERY GOOD at getting women pregnant. And she had absolutely NO PROBLEM with the fact that Kristin and I were lesbians. She was great. Until Kristin developed hypertension. And then she cut us loose with a script for Clomid and a firm recommendation to find another doctor who could handle Kristin's medical problems. But before we found that doctor the clomid worked its magic and Kristin was pregnant.
The lesson we learned: if in doubt, get the 21 day progesterone test. The first 4 months we insemed were wasted because though Kristin was having an LH surge, and she was exhibiting fertile mucus and all the other physical signs of ovulation, she wasn't ovulating.
With my crazy cycles for the last, oh FOREVER, we decided to go get the 21 day test right away. Yeah, the first month we insemed. But that's because I had had such a beautiful 28 day cycle immediately before. A 25 day cycle with no clear LH surge does not make for good baby-makin'. But the only RE that we knew is the one that we saw who kept referring to Kristin as a "single mother", and he's got a months-long waiting list. And my regular doctor is a Family Practice doctor, and I'm not sure I trust that.
So we decided to go back to the woman who gave us the clomid. But she's booked 3 weeks out. So I agreed to see a nurse practicioner in her office. And got an appointment for the first week of May.
Fate, yes?
I was nervous as the appointment grew closer. Dr. M was not homophobic, but I forgot to ask if this nurse was. Would she have a problem with us? Would she insist that I temp for months and months and keep trying unassisted before she agreed to help?
Well, I have to tell you that she is lovely. So lovely. Not surprised or upset or visibly "tolerant". No, genuinely excited for us. Happy we came to see her. Understanding of the fact that even though I don't get more than 2 hours of continuous sleep at a time (which makes it impossible to get consistent results with temping) we STILL want to get started on the rest of our family. And from my symptoms and history she's pretty sure that it's not a luteal phase problem, but a follicular phase problem. So I get clomid. Right off the bat. YAY!
Ok, not YAY! exactly. Maybe it's Yay with a slightly sardonic edge to it. I turned to Kristin and asked her if she could hand a clomid-enhanced me. She claims she can. I'm going to hold her to it.
So, the game plan. I call the office when I start bleeding next. I go in for an exam before CD5, they make certain I have no cycts on my ovaries and they give me a script for Clomid. I take the clomid, pee on sticks, and inseminate. Then, some number of days after I ovulate I go in and have my blood drawn. I continue waiting another number of days. If I'm pregnant we throw a little party. If I'm not pregnant I go back to the first step of the game plan and continue for a while. She says it could take me a year. I say that if my bloodwork comes back that everything's working fine on the hormone front then after 6 months I'm getting an HSG.
So, there you have it. Positivity. A game plan.
And, the best thing of all: I walked into a doctor's office and walked out with what I went in there to ask for. THIS NEVER HAPPENS TO ME. I am serious. I make an appointment to talk to a doctor about allergy eyes and I walk out with a prescription for yeast infection medication and an adjuration to stay away from flowers. It's amazing how I never get what I want from a doctor's visit. Kristin has watched the miracle with great amusement.
But, my cycle is broken. A doctor actually listened to me. Praise the Lord. Now I just have to follow directions and get knocked up. Or not. Yeah, I know it's not really that easy. But a girl can dream, can't she? I mean, all the women in my family (both sides) are amazingly fertile. And though it's been proved that I am not, I can hope that the clomid will restore my breeder birth-right to me, can't we?
When we were trying to get Kristin pregnant, we started working with a gynecologist who had been recommended to us. Though she isn't an RE, she is apparently VERY GOOD at getting women pregnant. And she had absolutely NO PROBLEM with the fact that Kristin and I were lesbians. She was great. Until Kristin developed hypertension. And then she cut us loose with a script for Clomid and a firm recommendation to find another doctor who could handle Kristin's medical problems. But before we found that doctor the clomid worked its magic and Kristin was pregnant.
The lesson we learned: if in doubt, get the 21 day progesterone test. The first 4 months we insemed were wasted because though Kristin was having an LH surge, and she was exhibiting fertile mucus and all the other physical signs of ovulation, she wasn't ovulating.
With my crazy cycles for the last, oh FOREVER, we decided to go get the 21 day test right away. Yeah, the first month we insemed. But that's because I had had such a beautiful 28 day cycle immediately before. A 25 day cycle with no clear LH surge does not make for good baby-makin'. But the only RE that we knew is the one that we saw who kept referring to Kristin as a "single mother", and he's got a months-long waiting list. And my regular doctor is a Family Practice doctor, and I'm not sure I trust that.
So we decided to go back to the woman who gave us the clomid. But she's booked 3 weeks out. So I agreed to see a nurse practicioner in her office. And got an appointment for the first week of May.
Fate, yes?
I was nervous as the appointment grew closer. Dr. M was not homophobic, but I forgot to ask if this nurse was. Would she have a problem with us? Would she insist that I temp for months and months and keep trying unassisted before she agreed to help?
Well, I have to tell you that she is lovely. So lovely. Not surprised or upset or visibly "tolerant". No, genuinely excited for us. Happy we came to see her. Understanding of the fact that even though I don't get more than 2 hours of continuous sleep at a time (which makes it impossible to get consistent results with temping) we STILL want to get started on the rest of our family. And from my symptoms and history she's pretty sure that it's not a luteal phase problem, but a follicular phase problem. So I get clomid. Right off the bat. YAY!
Ok, not YAY! exactly. Maybe it's Yay with a slightly sardonic edge to it. I turned to Kristin and asked her if she could hand a clomid-enhanced me. She claims she can. I'm going to hold her to it.
So, the game plan. I call the office when I start bleeding next. I go in for an exam before CD5, they make certain I have no cycts on my ovaries and they give me a script for Clomid. I take the clomid, pee on sticks, and inseminate. Then, some number of days after I ovulate I go in and have my blood drawn. I continue waiting another number of days. If I'm pregnant we throw a little party. If I'm not pregnant I go back to the first step of the game plan and continue for a while. She says it could take me a year. I say that if my bloodwork comes back that everything's working fine on the hormone front then after 6 months I'm getting an HSG.
So, there you have it. Positivity. A game plan.
And, the best thing of all: I walked into a doctor's office and walked out with what I went in there to ask for. THIS NEVER HAPPENS TO ME. I am serious. I make an appointment to talk to a doctor about allergy eyes and I walk out with a prescription for yeast infection medication and an adjuration to stay away from flowers. It's amazing how I never get what I want from a doctor's visit. Kristin has watched the miracle with great amusement.
But, my cycle is broken. A doctor actually listened to me. Praise the Lord. Now I just have to follow directions and get knocked up. Or not. Yeah, I know it's not really that easy. But a girl can dream, can't she? I mean, all the women in my family (both sides) are amazingly fertile. And though it's been proved that I am not, I can hope that the clomid will restore my breeder birth-right to me, can't we?
posted by Trista at 1:24 PM
6 Comments:
FINGERS CROSSED!!! Oh Trista, I hope this works out for you, and I hope it doesn't take 6 months, and I hope you get to keep seeing this same charming practicioner all the way through the point where they kick you to the OB. :) :) :)
Isn't it amazing when you get a medical person who actually pays attention to you? It shouldn't be surprising, but it is. Fingers crossed for you!
I'm so glad to hear that the doc and the nurse were so accepting and gave you what you wanted right off the bat! Woohoo! Crossing everything I have that this next round of insem works. BTW, what asshat RE said that? Was it one by chance who works at the U?
why yes, Mandy Kate, yes he does!
Prayers, Trista. I'm glad that you found someone who is willing to give you what you need to accomplish what you're trying to do.
I found a doctor who listened to me recently, too. (Not a fertility doctor, just a regular doctor.) It was a pretty exciting moment.
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