The Low Down

This story begins at the end of 2005 when Nate and I decided that we would actively start trying to grow our family. We had been married for two and a half years, had purchased our first home together and were feeling like we were ready to add a bambino to the mix. I had already been off the pill for about a year as it did not agree with me, but as you all know there are many other methods to accomplish the same goal as the pill. wink, wink.

In Spring of 2006 was our first hopeful month but little did we know this would be the 1st of many unsuccessful attempts. So a little after a year (Summer 2007) of trying on our own we decided to contact our medical provider (Kaiser) to see what our next step would be. We had to attend a 1 hour class on infertility as well as each go through a round of tests before we could make an appointment to be seen by a Reproductive Endocrinologist. Once we met this criteria (Fall 2007) we sat down with the Dr who then proceeded to tell us, in about 10 minutes time, that everything was normal and that we were young and healthy so this shouldn't be hard. With that we proceeded with our 1st treatment on 100mg Clomid in November of 2007. Also during this time I was in transition with a new company as my previous employer had closed it's doors in October 2007. Can we say added stress is not so fun? Our 1st treatment was unsuccessful so we took a month off for the holidays.

We started our 2nd treatment of 100mg Clomid in Jan 2008. This time we were supposed to do an IUI (Intrauterine Insemination) but the ovulation window was missed and the IUI could not be performed and we were went home with Dr's orders to tyr the old fashion way. Needless to say this was also unsuccessful. At this point Nate and I were beginning to not only feel emotionally drained by this but also financially it was a struggle. We had NO infertility coverage (as they call it in the insurance world) so we were at our limit with the costs for those 2 treatments and decided it was time for a break. We proceed to try on our own for the months to follow, as well as save up some money in the event that we would need to do another treatment down the road.

The bell rang for round 3 in November 2008 and this time we were ready to try again. We went in to see the Dr and told her that we wanted to be a little more aggressive. We were given a very PC explanation that we had not gone through enough rounds of Clomid to do anything more aggressively but that she would up our Clomid dose to 150mg as well as adding in an IUI. We were very hopeful and excited that the IUI was timed correctly and could work, but the end result was all too familiar.

At this point we were kind of burnt out with Kaiser but yet knew nothing different. This also happened to be open enrollment time for Nate's insurance benefits and my sister had recommended that we contact her Dr for a second opinion. In looking at the new benefit packages offered we decided to switch medical providers and contact this new Dr.
We met with the new Dr and he was very informative and knowledgeable and told us just from the sounds of all we had gone thru already that my body does not respond well to Clomid and that he only performs treatments with Clomid. He proceeded to recommend us to an infertility specialist in his office who also happened to be his daughter and coincidentally shares my name and the same spelling. We then met with Dr Aimee on Jan 2nd 2009, what a breath of fresh air. She proceeded to explain to us so much that we had never really heard before and just really felt that she knew what she was talking about and had our best interest in mind. Nate and I left her office that morning grinning from ear to ear, we knew God was at work and felt that he had put us in the right place now. Dr. Aimee wanted us to do a couple more tests and we were so thankful both of those came back normal. So on we go with starting our next round of treatments this week and covet your prayers as we continue down this journey.