It's Monday, February 25. 2:30 in the afternoon. The sun is shining but there is a chill in the air. Spring is knocking on winter's door, but it's not quite ready to answer.
Brian just arrived at my office to pick me up for our 3:00 appointment at Mid-Iowa Fertility. Although my office is only about 5-7 minutes from the clinic, we decided against meeting there. This was a big moment, a big turning point in our journey––and we wanted to do ALL of it together.
When we pulled into the parking lot 25 minutes early for our appointment, a mixture of worry and hope began silently streaming down my face.
The process of figuring out why we're not pregnant yet is finally beginning. Maybe there is a simple, easy fix. But what if this is the beginning of something much worse––finding out there is no hope?
When it was our turn, we followed the nurse to a room where she did a quick check-in: height, weight, blood pressure, etc. The things you would expect when you go to the doctor. We explained what brought us here and then she led us to Dr. Young's office.
We walked through the door and were met with a kind, gentle face on the other side of the desk––Dr. Young. He had on regular clothes (not a white doctor's coat like I was expecting) and his office was adorned with photos and artwork and a couple toy cars on his desk. It was a homey, welcoming place––not a cold exam room or a brightly lit area I've come to expect from doctor offices.
He was just as my friend described him.
We sat in the big, oversized chairs and I pulled out the homemade calendar I created of the last two years–it detailed every month's happenings: days we were intimate, when I was fertile, when I started menstruating, how long it lasted.
I had transferred everything from my handy dandy app to these printed out and stapled pieces of paper. I wanted to make it as easy as possible for the doctor to see how meticulous we'd been in trying to conceive. I wanted him to know we were serious. Plus, in true-Teri fashion, I had written down a list of things I wanted to make sure we told him and questions we wanted to ask.
He started the meeting by just getting to know us a bit. As a couple, where we work, mutual people he knows who work there too. He was very conversational and didn't rush us at all. Then he asked us a few more health-related questions. He didn't need to see my homemade calendar––the fact of the matter is that we are sitting in the office of a fertility doctor because we haven't been able to get pregnant.
"Here's where we need to start to find the root of the problem––an ultrasound of Teri's ovaries and uterus, an x-ray of her fallopian tubes, a sperm sample for Brian and blood work for both of you."
Ok doctor, this all sounds great but we leave for Hawaii on Thursday. When can we start this process?
"We can go do the ultrasound right now, Brian can drop his sample off tomorrow morning and I can meet you at Iowa Radiology tomorrow afternoon at 3:45 for your fallopian tube x-ray."
What?! It's all happening to quickly! We agree to the timeline, he leads us to an exam room and a nurse comes in to check out those woman parts. I've never had an ultrasound of these parts before, so I had no idea what I was getting myself into.
Check out the next #wannabemom post to learn all about the tests we did this week––and what those tests told us.