New to this...

Well, I am not new to trying for a baby....just new to blogging. I am not even sure if I will keep this up but it seemed like a good outlet to keep family and friends updated on our "Journey to Baby Belgard" as I've decided to call it.

The hubby and I have actually been trying for about 16 months or so. In August of 2009, I realized that we may need some help with this because we were timing things correctly but still no luck. We met with my doctor and he prescribed Clomid (medicine to help you ovulate) and we tried that 3 times with no success. During these few months, we had an HSG test done, or I should say I had an HSG test done. The test is done to check to see if your tubes are open and if everything looks ok. It was a short but extremely painful procedure! Thankfully, the tests results came back fine but the doctor could not find a reason why we were unable to get pregnant. Finally, he decided that we should probably try a fertility specialist.

Our first fertility appointment was in February of 2010. I was extremely nervous for some reason but the consultation went well and the doctor seemed very proactive! For all of you that know me, you know I am not a very patient person so after a year of trying I wanted action :-) Blood tests were drawn and ultrasounds were done and we finally had a diagnosis...Unexplained Infertility! While on one hand I was relieved to know that nothing was medically wrong with my husband and I, on the other hand I was a little perturbed that there is medically no reason why we shouldn't have gotten pregnant by now. After going over our options we decided to go ahead with an IUI (intrauterine insemination).

The process of an IUI is much simpler than I was thinking it would be. We basically went in for a baseline ultrasound on day 3 of my cycle to take blood and make sure everything looked ok. Then I took a different kind of ovulation medicine and came back on day 10 of my cycle for another ultrasound to check the progress of the size of my follicles. My biggest follicle (the thing that produce an egg) was 17mm. I have heard that some doctors want it to be 20mm to be considered mature, but my doctor is fine with 18mm. Since follicle tend to grow 1-2mm per day, I was told to wait one more day and then take the "trigger shot." This shot is an HCG hormone shot that "triggers" your body to ovulate. This ensures that the timing of the IUI is done when the egg is ready. So two days after the shot, I went in for the IUI. It was so much easier than I anticipated. It took all of about 2 minutes to perform and then I just layed there for about 10 minutes.

I was told to wait two weeks and then test if I missed my period. Well unfortunately, my period showed up as usual. I was crushed! With all of the science behind this process, I guess I just assumed it would work. Due to a vacation planned right in the middle of my next two cycles, the hubby and I decided to take a break to regroup. This brings us to June. We are reenergized about this and have found a comfort in knowing that it will happen in God's time. So here we are moving on to IUI #2! My first ultrasound is tomorrow and I'm hoping all looks well so we can proceed. I will update tomorrow after my appointment.