Chapter One: The Long and Winding Road

First, a brief history about our journey. DH & I got married in October of 2002 at the ages of 34 and 32. We knew from the beginning that having our own biological children might be a challenge. I had been diagnosed with multiple uterine fibroids, which could cause major complications if I ever managed to get pregnant. Since we weren't planning on TTC (trying to conceive) for at least a couple of years, we decided to be proactive and remove the fibroids surgically. I had a myomectomy in August of 2004, during which 9 fibroids were removed. We weren't allowed to start TTC for at least a year, which brings us to October of 2005. However, we were told by my surgeon that I shouldn't have any difficulty conceiving; my uterus had been beautifully surgically reconstructed. Ha!

It's a scary thing to have unprotected sex for the first time. If everything I believed from Junior High School was true, I'd be knocked up the moment my legs were spread. They really don't teach you a lot in school about making babies.

For 6-8 months we continued this naive behavior. I was already 35/36 so I figured it might take me a little longer. I consulted my OB-GYN who sent me for some tests. I had hormone levels checked, I was sent for a HSG to determine if my tubes were open. That was such a fun test! It was performed by a male radiologist with absolutely no bedside manner and was extremely painful, uncomfortable, and humiliating. All of my testing came back completely normal. DH was also sent for a semen analysis, which also was normal. So why wasn't I getting pregnant?

So I decided to start BBT charting. Charting is good because it helps to pinpoint your most fertile days. Charting is bad because you find yourself becoming obsessed with it. Did my temp go up or down? Did I ovulate yet? Why didn't I ovulate yet? Oh no! I only got 2 hours of sleep before I took my temperature! Should I record the 4:30am temperature or the 6:30am temperature? You completely lose touch with reality and can't even remember what day it is, unless you're talking about what day it is in your cycle or how many days past ovulation you are. I won't even go into how you're supposed to check your cervical fluid.

To say I was obsessed with my chart is an understatement. My poor DH had to put up with my behavior. I hear so many people make jokes about how fun it is to try to get pregnant. After all, it's about having as much sex as you can, right? Well those people have never had to TTC while charting. No way. If you're a long-time TTCer, you know what I mean. Sex on demand is not fun at all.

This is turning into much more than a brief history. It's almost at the end, I promise.

In September, 2006, we were almost at the one-year mark of TTC. They say that the average healthy couple can take up to a year to conceive. Once you hit that year point, you're considered 'infertile' by the medical community (and by TTC forum standards too). So we decided to seek help from a specialist. I had my consultation with a Reproductive Endocrinologist (RE). She ordered blood tests, looked at my BBT charts, and did an ultrasound (u/s). Upon performing the u/s, she discovered that one of my ovaries was stuck to the back of my uterus. She thought it was most likely due to residual scartissue from my myomectomy. She didn't think it would cause a huge problem with conceiving, but as we would learn later on, that was just the tip of the iceberg.