RE

Our first RE appointment was November 2008.

Opening the door to the RE's office was both nervous and exciting. I took it all in and figured it'd be a place that I would visit many more times. At least it was warm and inviting and they had magazines that weren't baby related.

We had our appointment in the afternoon so the office was virtually empty.  Later on I was told that every weekday morning the place is a conveyor belt for CD3 blood work and ultrasounds and empty chairs are scarce. 

The appointment was pretty much what I expected after reading so much online.

I had some of my past records that I gave him and he read through the history sheet that I had to fill out. I handed him my eight months of charting printed out nicely from fertilityfriend.com. I am so proud of those charts and they hadn't yet gotten proper recognition from anyone. I thought he'd be different. He glanced but barely said a word about them. I think he mumbled something about seeing that I ovulated but needing to bring it up a bit. He's right, I was ovulating, but not until CD22ish. 

He suggested the SA for DH, the HSG for me and of course we had to do the typical HIV/HEP/etc. tests. I was to come in on CD3 (roughly 12/12/08) for blood work and ultrasound. He told me we'd reconvene after all those tests were completed. 

DH scheduled his SA for two weeks out, he had the convenience of collecting at home and then dropping off at a the appointed time. There was a Lab Corp down the hall so we immediately got the basic blood work out of the way. After I got insurance approval, I scheduled my HSG for 12/19/08 and shortly before that we started a round of (sickening for me) antibiotics.  The typical diagnostic protocol. 

I was ready for this. I wanted to know why we hadn't gotten pregnant since trying again since May '08. Results couldn't come fast enough.

next post - discussing results w/ RE

a trip to the midwifery and should've, could've

In the summer of '08 I had a few people recommend a midwife practice to me.

I didn't think they were covered under my insurance so I didn't look into it until I got desperate.

After the miserable experience with the mean doc, I found out that I COULD go see the midwives! I was pretty sure they would appreciate my charting and the fact that I knew my body so well.

I was able to get in for an appointment on October 22, 2008. I was excited and nervous, no different than other appointments. I went in armed w/ at least 6 months of charts and had a few medical records.

I knew I'd get the typical comment about the statistics of miscarriage. I guess medical professionals think this makes a patient feel better. After that was out of the way, I explained that I think I had a luteal phase defect and that I'd done some research and felt that I could benefit from taking a progesterone supplement right after ovulation (I think I even mentioned my pity progesterone prescription and told them I'd USE it if they gave me permission). Talk about being my own advocate. I just needed to have buy in for this and I would be cured! The midwife explained to me that they do consult with their medical director, who is an OB/GYN, and that she'd talk to her about my situation and get back to me. I think these doctors kept getting the impression that since I already got pregnant once, that I didn't have an issue.

During the rest of my appointment we discussed pre natal vitamins and when to have intercourse to get the most "bang" for our buck. There was a single mention of weight loss but no harping. There were reminders on how "you got pregnant before, you will get pregnant again". At this point I wanted to not hear that we will get pregnant again, I wanted to hear that we'd DELIVER A HEALTHY BABY when we do get pregnant again. The midwife also said that if we weren't pregnant again by the one year TTC after miscarriage "anniversary" then maybe it'd be time to look into things. That "anniversary" would be May 2009 (after the first m/c we were told to wait two months before trying again). MAY? you really want me to waste November, December, January, February, March AND April before I ask for help?

I did leave that appointment on a good note though. She was going to discuss supplementation with their medical director and she'd get back to me.

The phone rang the next day. I was very impressed with the quick follow up but upset at what I was about to hear. She told me that the doctor didn't think I needed anything. I was ovulating and that's what mattered. She basically told me to get busy and call them when we were pregnant. Strike two (or three if I count the first OB/GYN with the pity prescriptions for progesterone and clomid).

I was less than three months from turning 35 and felt that it was time for a specialist.

I did some research on this "RE" (Reproductive Endocrinologist) thing I had recently heard about and discovered a large facility that had several satellite offices and one was within 10 miles of me. I had one friend that told me the wait would probably be two months so I called right away and was able to schedule an appointment for November 26, 2008.

This was an appointment I was looking forward to. I knew we'd finally analyze some sperm (why had TWO docs never thought of that? Because we had already been pregnant once? Maybe that was the one sperm that wasn't blind and deformed and maybe there weren't any more of those!). I knew we'd do this "HSG" test I kept reading about and I knew we'd be on the road to answers. I was excited (and nervous).

Looking back, I should've gone directly to the RE in September instead of going to another OB/GYN. We had been trying (again) the required number of months and taking my age into consideration we could've prevented ever meeting mean doc and gotten the RE show on the road a few months earlier. You know what they say about hindsight.

coming soon - our first meeting with the RE