And That is Why You Get a Second Opinion!

Okay, I'm feeling much more human now, after a full-night's sleep. Did I say I was off to "make dinner" in my last post. Har, har. Actually my adorable husband made dinner. But you should know that "making dinner" for us consists of opening the freezer and deciding what sort of boxed item will be opened and put in the microwave or oven. Last night's meal was a delicious veggie burger. Mine with a big helping of sliced avocado. Yummm.

Anyway, enough blathering. On to the visit with the RE. We'll call him Dr. Nice. So, Dr. Nice looked over all my medical records, including the results from the ultrasound and my consultation with Dr. A. Hole last year. Dr. Nice said that though my FSH was high, it wasn't thaaaat high. He also said that my antral follicle count from last year's ultrasound (at Dr. A. Hole's office) was pretty good. The same antral follicle count that Dr. A. Hole looked at last year and deemed my ovaries and any chances of getting pregnant with my own eggs a useless waste of time. Hmmm. Dr. Nice said that as long as my FSH hasn't spiked dramatically in the past year, and my antral follicle count was still "good" (as high or close to last year) then we should definitely try to get pregnant with my eggs first before moving on to DE. He also said we had some time to try some lower-impact, lower-cost measures first (IUI) because I am "ONLY" 35. Yes. He said that. He actually said time was on our side.

We then proceeded to the ultrasound room where I said hello to the dildocam again to check the ol' antral follicles. At day 6 of my cycle, there were 3-4 visible on the right, and 6-7 on the left. A total of AT LEAST NINE!!! Pretty good, eh? I know I won't win any contests with a twenty-something fertile woman, but, hey, at this point I am not going to complain.

So, now, decision time. Dr. Nice seems to think we should try IUI with Clomid first. Up to three rounds, before moving on to IVF. And, as far as IVF goes, we figure we can probably save up and afford to try it...maybe...ONCE. Hmmm. My friend, B., who was a patient of Dr. Nice (and who is now pregnant from her first IVF) told me her advice would be to skip all the IUI's and go directly to IVF. Why waste the time and money? However, she did IUI's with her regular OB, and not Dr. Nice. By the time they came to Dr. Nice, they were ready to move on to IVF. Also, their insurance paid for a whole lot of the IVF costs. Ours pays nothing. Zip. Zilch. The only thing our insurance will cover in any of these scenarios is the Clomid. Ha, ha. So, we think we kinda want to at least try the low-cost option once or twice to see if we get lucky? You never know, right? But I think B. is right--we don't want to waste too much time or money if it just isn't working.

So now, we need to schedule our first IUI. I can't believe I'm actually moving on to a real attempt to get pregnant. It's exciting and scary. Scary because we know there is noooooo guarantee it will work. But exciting because now there is this dose of HOPE that we have not had for many years now. Since our appointment, it has been like this huge black cloud has been lifted between Mr. and I and just around us in general. It's like, just having someone (Dr. Nice) who is in our corner, and cheering us on, is such a validation. It feels so great to have an ounce of hope again.

Of course, if I DO get pregnant, we'll have to figure out how a family of FOUR is going to live in our teeny tiny house. But, that's fine with us. Small thing to deal with compared to what we would have to be happy about. Am I dreaming too much? How much hope is it safe to have, here?

Oh, yeah--I'll have to get my FSH re-checked. Gulp.