Welcome to our blog! Most of you reading this had no clue that Matt & I were getting ready to start this special journey, SURPRISE! I know, we just got married in August and we never imagined we would be talking about fertility treatments 6 months after our wedding, but here we are…

I will start from the beginning… We had planned to start trying for a baby immediately after our wedding, but first I wanted to see an Ob/Gyn just to make sure we were doing everything we should be doing to conceive successfully after 6 years of birth control. Sounds pretty simple right? Well, we were in for a big surprise when the doctor advised us to see a specialist to confirm an abnormality she thought she saw on the ultrasound. Long story short, we were convinced she was wrong… I couldn’t have an abnormality, I have already had a child without any complications… We decided to keep trying for the next few months and if it didn’t happen we would consider investigating this diagnosis a little further.
Here we are, months later and no sign of pregnancy… We found a wonderful Fertility Doctor here in New Braunfels and she ordered a series of blood tests, semen analysis and an HSG (imaging of the uterus, ovaries and Fallopian tubes). We never gave the testing a second thought, because we just knew everything would come back normal… Then came the phone call, the nurse said I had a blockage in my right tube. Ok, not terrible news, but we still had to wait for the other test results.

The following week we saw the specialist to review the results and discuss treatment options. The doctor explained that the semen analysis was normal, but my blood test results showed that I have a “diminished ovarian reserve.” What does that mean? It’s the amount of eggs left in my ovaries. My number was not what she would expect for the average 27 year old, but reflected what she would typically see in 40 year old women. What? How is that possible? Women are born with all the eggs they will get and once they run out that’s it, no more are produced. I was born with a lower number and time is running out if we want to have a baby together.

Now what? She suggested that we start with Minimal Stimulation Intrauterine Insemination or IUI along with injections, oral medication and ultrasound monitoring of ovulation. She is optimistic that this treatment could work for us, but we have to move quickly because time is not on our side and I’m running out of eggs! If we haven’t conceived after 3 cycles the next step will be IVF.

The news took a few days to really sink in and the emotions I felt were unexplainable. I realized something over the last few days… Fertility is something most people don’t talk about and I never thought I would be facing this at age 27. I decided that I wanted to blog during the entire process, talking and writing are stress relievers for me. We have a huge support system of family and friends, but most don’t live near and I thought a blog would be the perfect way to share our experience. Our first treatment will begin at the start of my next cycle in less than 2 weeks so stay tuned and wish us luck & lots of baby dust!

~ Lauren & Matt