I had a great appointment with the specialist. As I mentioned last week, there were tons of nerves going into it. A lot of those had to do with the weight of the decision that I was trying to make, but it was also about whether I’d like the specialist and feel that he was non-judgmental about what I wanted to do and be able to answer all my questions.

I met with a few different nurses and the specialist and everyone was professional and friendly. I know you should expect this, especially somewhere that specializes in fertility treatments, but you really never know nowadays what people’s bedside manner is going to be.

It started off with one nurse asking a bunch of questions on my medical history and why I was there and ended with another nurse going through all the logistics for what comes next along with a welcome packet.

In between was the doctor’s turn that walked me through what the options are and what the process would be for each. He started talking me through the facts about women’s eggs and how at this point in my life, I have about a 50/50 chance that the egg I “drop” during ovulation is good vs bad. The chances for good eggs will just decline with the years to come. Basically the starting point is to figure out how fertile I am. Because I’ve never tried to get pregnant before, it’s the big unknown that will then gauge what the best option will be. He says there is no reason to believe that I’m not fertile but we do have to see where I stand.

As soon as I start my next cycle, I need to go in between days 2-4 for a blood test that will check my hormone levels and an ultrasound to see the egg follicles (I may not be getting all the medical facts correct, but it’s the basics of what will happen). Then about a week after that I go in for an HSG, which is a test to make sure that nothing is blocking my fallopian tubes. After that, he and I review the results to see the best course of action.
What will most likely happen is IUI. There will likely be a prescription leading up to insemination so that I release more than one egg and increase my chances. If all were to go well with the tests, this procedure would foreseeably happen in April. If you can’t tell by now, I am leaning very heavily towards going through with this.

I also talked to him about freezing my eggs. To do this I’d have to go through IVF. There are options to freeze eggs and to freeze embryos with donor sperm. Quite honestly, if I decide to proceed with IUI now and I get pregnant, I don’t think I’d want to freeze my eggs. The eggs would be for the potential of having more children later on with a partner or alone in case at the time I try, my fertility has declined. While I would love to have more than one child and ideally with a partner, if I only had one, I’d be content. I don’t know that I’d want to put myself through IVF alone with so many variables.

Overall, I’m very happy with this first step that I took. Most likely tests will start next week and by this time next month I’ll know if I’ll be moving forward with IUI in April. It’s still extremely nerve wracking, but I feel more at peace. The nurses will even walk me through the sperm donor process and give me advice on how to navigate that choice.

I want to thank all of those that offered to come to the doctor’s visit for moral support. And a special thank you to Naty, who came with me very early in the morning on the coldest day of the year.