Sunday, January 11, 2009

Our Consult

Greg and I had our fertility consultation with my OB/GYN on Thursday. I am happy with the way it went.

We talked to the doctor for a few minutes and I showed her my charts. She agreed I am ovulating. It was interesting - when I showed her how obvious my thermal shift has been each month, she still wanted to make sure I have been getting positive OPKs. This made me a little nervous because I have a hard time getting OPKs to work for me - I've only found one brand that consistently gives me positive readings every month, and even my CBEFM hasn’t always given me peak readings. However, when she saw that my cycle lengths have only ranged from 25-32 days she said, "Oh, if your periods are that regular, the odds are good you have been ovulating."

She then went on to tell us "if the problem was just that you aren’t ovulating, I could prescribe you Clomid. But that’s about all I have been trained to do. I think it is important you see someone who has done a fellowship in infertility.” Meaning, our next step is to see an RE.

However, she also told us that she did some quick research and found only 20% of women with CF have fertility issues, and part of these issues are caused by women not ovulating due to lack of nutrition. That is not my problem. So there is an even lower probability of me having fertility issues caused by CF. Therefore, she said we could wait a little longer to see an RE. If I was 36, she would be telling us to see an RE now, and, if I was 22, she would be telling us to wait until we hit the one year mark TTC (six more months). But, I'm 32, so she said we could go now if we want to be aggressive, or wait.

Greg and I thought about it overnight and I asked the helpful women on the Nest and CF message boards for advice (everyone suggested we go now). Greg said he is 99.5% sure we are going to need IUI to get pregnant, and I kind-of agree with him. I just don’t think my CM is normal. (My OB/GYN also said IUI would likely be our next step.)

We decided to go ahead and make the appointment with the RE. We figured we could at least go to the consult and find out if the RE thinks we should begin testing now or wait a few more months.

Amazingly, I was able to get an appointment with the RE for next week! I’ve heard that sometimes it can take months to get an appointment with an RE. I guess this particular one is not that busy ;) (But he was highly recommended by my OB/GYN.) Our appointment is on the 20th. Hopefully we will have some more answers then!

6 comments:

Rebecca said...

Good luck with your appointment, and please don't make the mistake I have maken....be aggressive! I am 35 and I still am not pregnant. I just did my 4th medicated IUI, and who knows if it will work.

MSC said...

I'm glad you're getting in soon, that's great news!

Good luck!

Lindsay said...

That's great that you could get seen so quickly!! Keep us posted on how it goes with the RE!

Shannon said...

Im glad that you decided to make the RE appt and I hope that you get a good plan of action together at your first appt. Good luck!

Rebecca said...

That is fantastic! Way to go. Let's hope we have great news in a few weeks. It is hard to wait, but I just keep myself occupied. I am trying not to stress, but my MIL is killing me. I wish I could just avoid seeing her, but she insists on calling several times per day or visiting everyday or both. I am checking, I think I found a place that does infertility acupuncture. I may give it a try, I have had alot of ladies tell me it helped them conceive. I wish you all the luck in the world....stick babies stick!!!

B, E and C's Mommy said...

Hi Kristen,
I came across your blog b/c I was just recently diagnosed with mild-moderate CF. However, I have been dealing with unexplained infertility for about 5 years now. I am sure I have been down the road you will travel soon and I am always available to talk. Good luck!
Angie

 
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