The start of our journey....

In September of this year my husband and I will have been actively trying to conceive a baby for four years. The first about eighteen months or so we tried everything on our own. We spent a whole bunch of money at Barnes & Noble on 'How To Conceive Naturally' books and such. I knew something was wrong with me when my cycle started to hinder off schedule, I was stressing to much about starting a family and I chalked it up as that was why I was missing cycles and such. Little did I know that we had much bigger problems that we only read about online. We never thought we'd be that couple....the couple that can't have kids.

Well finally we got frusterated enough that I decided to talk to my OB/GYN it's then, that she sat me down to tell me I was diagnosed with PCOS (Polysystic Ovarian Syndrome).....basically it's something that a lot of women get that causes you to have abnormal hair growth, no periods, cysts on your ovaries, and weight gain. From there she prescribed me to take Metformin 1500mg/day to jolt my period to start. If I don't have a period, I don't ovulate.....so the Metformin really helped get me back on track. Usually that medicine is used for diabetics, but studies have shown that it can help with ovulation in women with PCOS, and I'm waling proof for that exact study.

From there I went forth with many tests, some repetative, some painful. I have had very painful HSG - hysterosalpingogram done, which they inject a dye into my fallopian tubes to see if if anything is blocked. Luckily everything came back clear and I was good to go, or so I thought. I have had dozens and dozens of ultrasounds trying to determine if I have any cysts on my ovaries and the timeing of my cycle.

My husband at the time was seeing a Urologist just to check and make sure everything is ok on his end, and that hopefully it's just my cycle being off that is the problem. Unfortunately, the doctor discovered that Corey has a low sperm count - meaning either his 'guys' have bent tails, they have double heads, or the amount of guys just isn't there. So, Corey went through extensive treatment himself....he's had numerous semen analysis's done along with much blood work as well. The next step for Corey was to take the fertility drug Clomiphene aka - Clomid....mostly it's a female fertility drug, however it can raise a male's testosterone level if needed, and our case.....it's what we need.

I was starting to see an Endocrinologist - basically he's a doctor that specializes in helping couples with fertility problems. We were told after many months of dead ends, that In-Vitro Fertalization (IVF) was the only option that would work for a couple in our shoes. We had heard of using Clomid with timed-intercourse as an option that has worked on some couples, along with Intrauterine insemination (IUI) - which is basically an option that we were scared to do, for the fact that it's pricy and very involved. But with the end result being a baby....what else could we do?

We decided to first attempt to do timed-intercourse for many months with the help of both of us being on clomid. Let me tell you.....being on clomid is HARD.....it makes you ticked off at the smallest/stupidest things....so for us to both be on it.....was.....interesting!? That's a good word for it. Anyways...the result in the timed intercourse was zilch.....nothing.

After some mishaps (to say the least) from our first fertility clinic - we were referred by my OB/GYN to another Endocrinologist - Dr. Frank Wittmaack who is based out of West Allis, Wisconsin (which is a western suburb of Milwaukee, Wisconsin). Dr. Wittmaach and his team have been absolutely wonderful with everything from all of our questions, to our appointments, and making us feel comfortable with every step we take.

After many long discussions, my husband and I finally decided to do our first IUI last Tuesday, May 25 2010 at 11:30am. Corey needed to be at the hospital at 9:30am to give a semen analysis so the lab can prepare the sample for the procedure. I went along of course, afterwards we got some breakfast and tried to relax. I was VERY nervous for the procedure for I had read that it can hurt and it just made me very anxious and excited at the same time. I know I would not have been able to do it without having Corey right there beside me. The procedure was quick but painful. Dr. Wittmaack told me my cervix was hiding from him so it made it more uncomfortable. He was very gentle and kind like always.

It's been one week from today that we had our procedure and we have one more week to go until we find out if we are, indeed pregnant!!!!!

We have been asking everyone we know to say a prayer for us, in hopes it nudges the Big Guy Upstairs for a little help this time! :)