Getting Started

I am very nervous and excited to be writing my first blog post. When I told Dave that I wanted to start a blog page, he was surprised. But he then proceeded to quickly come up with creative names for our page - a must. The purpose of our blog page is to keep our family and friends updated on our fertility treatments. I know that a lot of you want to know what is going on, but don't feel comfortable asking. Now you don't have to - but I don't mind talking about it at all.

Currently, we have decided to proceed with IVF at the Sher Institute for Reproductive Medicine in St. Louis. We will be completing the first IVF treatment cycle with Dr. Peter Ahlering in March. We feel confident that he can get us pregnant! We are so excited to get started again after almost a year away from infertility treatment.

I suppose I should start with our history. Some of you already know all of the painful details. We started trying to conceive (TTC) in May of 2006. After a couple of simple bloodwork tests, it was determined in November 2006 that I do not ovulate. So, I was put on an oral medication, Clomid, to stimulate ovulation. After Dave had some testing, it was determined that any further treatment should be completed with a Reproductive Endocrinologist (fertility specialist). So, we started treatment with Dr. Penney in Columbia, MO.

In February 2007, we started our first Clomid plus intrauterine insemination (IUI) cycle with Dr. Penney. It ended with a negative pregnancy test. In March 2007, we tried again, with another negative. In March, I also had a hysterosalpingogram completed at Boone Hospital by Dr. Penney. This is a procedure in which die is injected into my uterus and out my fallopian tubes and x-rayed to check for blocked fallopian tubes. (Yes - it is painful and there was no anesthetic!) Mine weren't blocked. In April 2007, we did another Clomid and IUI cycle that ended with a positive pregnancy test. Yes, I said "positive". But that month wrapped up with an early miscarriage due to failure of the embryo to implant in the uterine wall.

We completed two more Clomid plus IUI cycles with another early miscarriage and a negative pregnancy test. In October, 2007, I had a surgical procedure completed by Dr. Penney, called a laparoscopy/hysteroscopy. He used a scope to check out my organs. I had Stage II Endometriosis. It was removed. We were hopeful that this would help, so we then moved on to the strong hormones. We did three cycles with injectible Follicle-Stimulating Hormones (Follistim) with IUI. Dave loved it. He got to give me daily shots. I had one more early miscarriage and two more big fat negative pregnancy tests.

We expressed our concerns to Dr. Penney that it seemed like we could get pregnant, but it wouldn't last. He seemed unconcerned. That was enough for us - it was time to move on. We asked around and heard great things about Dr. Ahlering in St. Louis. We had some extensive testing completed with him in March 2008 and it was determined that I have elevated levels of Natural Killer (immune) cells that appear to promote immediate pregnancy loss and failure of our embryos to attach to my uterine wall. In short, my uterus is a hostile environment. Dave had some further testing completed that showed he has high fertility potential. He was very proud of this.

So, Dr. A recommended IVF for us. After the sticker shock wore off, we decided to take some time to weigh our options. In December, we decided that 2009 would be our year to get pregnant . . . and stay pregnant long enough to have a baby (or two or three). We will be starting IVF in March!!! I will follow up soon with more details. Thanks for checking out our blog.