The History

What to expect:

Boy meets girl. They fall in love. Get married. Buy a house. Get a dog. Have babies.


Hah! Not so much...


What not to expect:

I met my darling Kirk when I was 17, we were set up on a blind date by a mutual friend. We instantly fell in love, and decided to get married a few years after we met. I was 21, and he was 23. Everyone told us we were too young, but we didn't care... we just wanted to be together and couldn't wait to start our lives together. We were married in 2002, bought a house in 2003, and of course brought home a dog from the pound a few months after we moved into our home.


We were never really in a rush to have kids, although if you'd asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, the answer was always the same... A Mother:) I've always loved kids, and we were both really looking forward to becoming parents when we felt the time would be right.


Well, we thought the time was right in the Spring of 2007, when we decided to start trying to conceive. No stress for the first few months, after all it is normal for it to take up to a year for normal healthy couples. So... after a year, the stress started. I scheduled an appointment with my GYN, and he performed the basic bloodwork, SA, and then scheduled a follow up.


I hate follow ups. Anyway, he said everything was normal, so we scheduled a HSG- a procedure in which dye is injected into the uterus and watched to see if the fallopian tubes are open. I was super nervous the day before, so I called his office to see if there was anything they could do. They prescribed me a strong pain killer and told me to take it 15 minutes before my appointment. Kirk was driving, so I was quite looking forward to being doped up for the day. No. Such. Luck. I cannot put into words how excruciating this procedure was for me. To keep it brief, two different times the catheter looped around itself and my GYN could not preform the procedure. All of that, and still no answers. I was devestated. Kirk encouraged me as best as he could, but I was so angry. So frustrated. All of that pain, and nothing. My mom reminded me that everything happens for a reason and to keep on trusting in God's great wisdom. Easier said than done!


My doctor decided that he would perform a laparoscopy- I would be put under anesthesia, and via two small incisions in my belly, my doctor would check out my insides. While he was watching through a laparoscope, he injected the dye into my uterus and lo, and behold! my tubes were open! Both of them, no problems. But... he did see a bit of endometriosis- a condition in which the tissue that normally lines the uterus begins to grow in other places. He blasted it, and confidantly told Kirk that things were "as they should be" now. Another painful experience, but at least I had more pain medication to get me through until I began to heal.


At my follow up to the laparoscopy, my doctor told me to give it another 3 months, and if I still wasn't pregnant, he would refer me to a doctor that is more specialized in infertility. I was hesitant, but convinced myself that I'd be pregnant in 3 months so I spent very little time worrying over this particular detail.


So... three months came and went, still no pregnancy. Being the overachiever that I am, I had already scheduled an appointment with the Reproductive Endocrinologist, Dr. O. Kirk and I attended an initial meeting with him, where he put us immediately at ease. He seemed very confidant that, no matter what the preliminary testing revealed, we would be able to conceive. We both made appointments for more bloodwork, and I had the added bonus of my first day 3 ultrasound, as well as a Saline Sonogram- Dr. O explained that the uterus is like a flat baloon and that he needed to put water into it to see if there were any abnormalities. Thankfully, none were detected. Bloodwork was normal. Kirk's SA was fine. At our follow up, Dr. O diagnosed us as "Unexplained Infertility".


Fine, what's next?! Let's get me pregnant already! Dr. O's treatment plan included Intra Uterine Insemination with Super Ovulation, or IUI for short. Basically, the take Kirk's "speciman", wash it off so only the best of the best is left, and then place it directly into my uterus via a cathetar. Ovulation is timed to coincide with the actual procedure to provide the best chances for conceiving. Our chances of success were about 20%, which is, ironically, a normal couple's chance of conceiving on any given month.


Fast forward to today- we've just had our 3rd IUI, and I am in the 2ww, or the two week wait. It's the two weeks between the procedure and the pregnancy test. Time goes backwards for me during this time, so I planned to chronicle the past 2 1/2 years during this time. I feel it to be a productive use of the extra 12 hours in each of my days. You know, since time is going backwards. I plan to explain in greater detail exactly what to expect- since no one talks about infertility out in the open. I have a very close group of people in my life that are going through this journey with me who probably know more about my cycle then any one person should. I am so blessed to have the support of each of them. I'm certain that I couldn't do this alone.