pop!

You know that bubble I was talking about? Um, yeah.

So we met with Dr. L on Monday. Now, to recap, I’ve been trying to get an appointment since my new health insurance took effect on January 1. First I had an appointment with my new GP, Dr. Youthful, who referred me to the Fertility Clinic. Then we had to go to the introductory class at the clinic (2 week wait). Then we got an appointment with the NP (5 1/2 week wait). And then, finally, we were allowed to make an appointment with the big cheese herself (3 week wait). So, for those of you counting along at home, that’s one week shy of a trimester that it has taken us to actually see the doctor. In theory, this is because they want to educate us, and run all the tests, so that when we actually see her we’ll be ready for a plan.

And what a plan it is.

Step one: More tests. Yep. Because I’ve never had an HSG. Why they couldn’t order this before the magic appointment with Dr. Big Cheese I have no idea.

Actually, that’s step two. Step one is inducing a period with Provera (or at least its generic equivalent). So, 10 days of provera, followed, we hope, by a period. Then...

Step two: HSG

Step three: Wait. Because I needed more practice with that one.

Step four: Get period, or induce with provera again.

Step five: Next cycle, presuming the HSG comes back fine, I’ll do Clomid (150 mg, CD5-9).

Step six: After being given the go-ahead from the wand monkey checking my progress, J will give me a trigger shot in the ass. Oh, I guess I skipped the step where he learns how. It’s in there someplace.

Step seven: IUI.

Step eight: Cross fingers, pray, consider the possible benefits of baby dust.

Which means that we’re probably looking at an IUI in early June. Which is 5 months after we started “working with” the new HMO.

I laid it all out on a calendar to see if it really sucked as much as I thought. It does. In this time, we’ll pass by two important dates. The first is J’s birthday - he’s going to be 30. I’m not upset over the age factor, but over the thought that I had so many years ago that I wanted to be pregnant by his 30th birthday. No particular reason, it just seemed like about the right timing. The other thing is that our friends’ twins (via IVF) are due in early June. These are the friends with whom we’ve shared all our life milestones - J’s parents and B’s parents were friends, and J & B lived together in college. I actually dated B before I was with J. (But that’s a story for another time.) We got married within 2 weeks of each other, and bought houses the same summer. When we started TTC, I knew without being told that they were too. And now they’re expecting twins, and we’re waiting and waiting for our first IUI.

But hey, at least we actually have a plan.

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Here’s the info on the article I mentioned in a previous post:

Rizk, Bedaiwy, and Al-Inany. “N-acetyl-cysteine is a novel adjuvant to clomiphene citrate in clomiphene-citrate resistant patients with polycystic ovary syndrome” Fertility and Sterility Vol 83, No.2, February 2005. 367-270.

I’ve also put a copy of the .pdf online since I’m not sure how accessible the PubMed database is to folks not at Universities.