Consult

I had my RE consult this morning and it went really well! We got there early and gave the girl at the desk our paperwork that she had emailed me to fill out. She took our ID's and insurance cards and then we sat and waited. The wait felt like FOREVER! It really wasn't very long, maybe 10-15 minutes, but it felt like an hour. I tried to look at a magazine and I just turned the pages without really even looking at them. I was so nervous and the longer we sat there the more nervous I got. Then the dr came out and introduced herself and took us back to an office. She had already looked over my paperwork but just kinda went over the basics with me. We talked about how long we'd been trying, my cycle lengths, how long I've been off the pill. She asked if I've used ovulation prediction tests and I have, I even took a picture of this past cycles and marked on the test sticks the days we'd had sex. She seemed impressed. She said we are definitely doing things right. She explained to us what needs to happen for pregnancy to occur (pretty much sex ed all over again). She was really easy to talk to and I was shocked at how comfortable josh was. He answered questions and asked questions. Then she took us into another room to do the ultrasound, she explained to me that she wanted me to empty my bladder first and then take off my clothes from the waste down and cover myself with a paper sheet. She showed me where the bathroom was and I went, came back to the room, took off my pants and underwear and sat on the table. I looked at the dildo cam (ultrasound wand) and was surprised at how small it was. It was long like I expected, but a lot skinner then I expected. So she came in and had me put my feet in stirrups that she pulled out, scoot down and lay back. It felt just like a pap, but with my husband sitting right there. She put the thing in and it didn't hurt at all. It was a little uncomfortable as she pushed on my ovaries though. We watched on the screen and she showed us where my cervix was and showed us my uterus and ovaries. She pointed out the follicles in my ovaries and measured everything. She said everything looked good. Then she had me get dressed and meet her back in her office. She said everything on the ultrasound looked good and then talked about our next steps. First she explained what FSH is and why we need to do bloodwork to look at that hormone and another hormone that I can't remember the name of right now. That needs to be done on CD3 along with a baseline ultrasound. We'll also both do testing for infectious diseases and the genetic test for cystic fibrosis. Then I will have an HSG done and josh will have a semen analysis done. She then started talking about that there is a chance that these tests will come back normal and if so it will be unexplained fertility. She started talking about clomid and what it does and why it's used. She said something about taking this month (December) to get all the tests done and then made an offhand comment along the lines of "unless your in a hurry to get started this cycle"... And I think she could tell by the look on my face that I wanted that and then she said we could start clomid this cycle and do the testing this cycle too! She told us how cheap clomid is and we decided to do that! Although her recommendation was :
*cd3 - bloodwork to look at hormone levels and baseline ultrasound. Infectious disease and genetic testing for me and josh. Get calendar for the cycle. Make appointment for HSG. Get clomid prescription.
*Somewhere between cd 7-10 (i think) have HSG done and Josh's semen analysis (for this we have to go to their main clinic farther away so we'll probably do these at the same time).
*followed by follicle check(s), trigger and IUI.

Wellllll an IUI cycle costs about $800+. So we are going to see if we can just do a few clomid cycles on our own before we jump to IUI. I want to ask about maybe even doing a clomid, trigger, timed intercourse cycle depending on the cost. The cost for each ultrasound is $192 and insurance doesn't cover that. It doesn't cover fertility drugs either. It covers labs (bloodwork), semen analysis, and HSG but that's about it. I wish we could just do IUI, but $800+ vs. a little over $200? We just can't afford to pay $800 right now. We need to save some money. So hopefully we can do a few clomid cycles and be REALLY frugal and save money for an IUI. If we end up needed and IUI, hopefully the clomid will work and the money we save can go towards buying stuff for our baby! Unless the tests indicate we need to do an IUI. If that's the case we will do what we can to make that happen. I know our parents will be willing to help, well I know my mom will because she said she will today after I told her about our appointment. Josh's dad will be in town Sunday and josh is going to tell him what's going on and that were starting fertility testing and treatments. And I'm SURE his parents will offer to help if needed. I really don't want to ask our parents for help because they have done SO much for us, but I guess this isn't just for us, it's for them too. My mom wants me to have a baby al,oat as bad as I want it. And I'm sure his parents feel the same way. He's an only child and I know they will be beyond excited to have a grand baby!

So know I just have to wait for my period. I've never looked so forward to getting my period. I can't wait for it to start so I can get this cycle started! Usually my cycle is 28 but last month is was only 24 days long. I always get spotting anywhere from a day or two before to a week before I start my period and tonight I had a very small amount of very light pink spotting....and today is cd23 so I could start any day now. I'm hoping that it starts tomorrow or Friday because then I can call them and see when I need to go in, if they want to see me over the weekend, or if it can wait until Monday. (they schedule weekends appointments when necessary, but they aren't actually open on the weekends). If I get my period on Friday after they close or on Saturday I'm going to be freaking out all weekend. I guess it will work out though. It has to right? I work until 4 on Monday and they are only open until 5. I'm pretty sure that my boss will let me leave an hour early but I'm just hoping they will be able to see that late in the afternoon.

Here's hoping aunt flow shows up early! I'm so excited to get this cycle started!