The first option is to take a medicine called Clomid and to chart basil body temperature and hormone levels in order to help achieve ovulation. Couples perform the rest of baby-making on their own. This was the easiest and cheapest (and my favorite) option. We began this last May and tried three rounds of Clomid before Hurricane Ike happened to our Galveston mansion and pulled us off the baby-track for a few months. Before we began this process, we had "tried" to get pregnant on our own for about a year and a half (although we were totally in denial that we were trying. But, as "Marley and Me" so poetically states, "if you've pulled the goalie, then you're trying."). Specialists recommend trying for at least a year.
The second option--the one that we tried in April--is IUI, or IntraUterine Insemination. There are two basic types of IUI. The first medical option is for the woman to take Clomid to help ensure ovulation within a certain time period. The second option is for the woman to "shoot herself up" with tons of other hormones. We chose the latter. I think I had 4-5 different injection cycles/medications to take during that month. I was amazed when the medicine arrived in a large white box, and I was further amazed when I was actually able to fill a syringe and inject myself. Necessity enables the conquering of daunting tasks. Hormone levels tests help the doctor determine the most likely time of ovulation, and the male's "collection" is inserted in the hope that egg and sperm will meet and make a beautiful new bundle. IUI has a 25-35% success rate when all goes well, and doctors will usually recommend no more than four procedures. They run about $2000+, depending on insurance and cost of medication. Although the success rate seems low, it actually allows couples to have the same odds per cycle as traditional fertile couples.
The third option--and the more aggressive option--is InVitro fertilization. From what I understand, the woman is asked to take even more hormones and be subjected to even more tests in an effort to ensure that her body produces healthy eggs and is ready for implantation. Once several follicles are ready (usually around day 13-14 of the cycle), the woman is placed under a mild anesthesia while the doctor extracts as many eggs as possible. The eggs are then shipped to the lab where they are either placed in a petri-dish with the sperm, in hopes that they will flirt and hook up :), or the specialists actually chooses one sperm to inject into one egg in order to leave less to chance. The embryos grow for about three days and then two (or more, depending on the quality of egg, age and health of patient, craziness of the woman/doctor, etc...) is transferred back into the woman, and she is placed on bed rest so as not to jostle any babies out. jk, but I don't really know why she's placed on bed rest, unless to help ensure implantation of the embryo(s) into the womb. Success rate for IVF is about 60%, depending on age, quality of egg/sperm, etc... and costs is $10,000+.
That said, no announcements as to what we will be doing in the upcoming months. Still speaking with doctors and performing tests at present. Fertility is certainly a long (and expensive, if you haven't noticed from my other blogs :)) process. Hope to have baby news--fertility and/or adoption--by the end of summer or by the fall at the latest. I did, however, want to offer some insight into what we have been learning and pondering for the past few months. And, I'd like to make an obvious comment as my conclusion to all of this medical babble: Babies are indeed a miracle. Thankfully, God is a miracle worker.
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