Still trying . . .

The road toward conception continues on its bumpy way - though with no baby bump yet. 

We're 10 months into ttc, and I had an appointment with a new (and great) gynie last week who came with a glowing recommendation from my next door neighbor. Given the un-empathetic nature and downright attitude of my last gynie, Dr. P. is a welcome change.

Today, I had an HSG, or hysterosalpingogram (try saying that 5 times fast. Heck, try saying it once slowly), at Magee-Womens Hospital in Oakland to see if blocked, twisted, or otherwise problematic fallopian tubes are keeping me from getting pregnant. Basically, they do the whole speculum thing, then put contrast dye into your cervix through a tube; they watch on a machine as the dye fills your uterus, and, if all's as it should be, it goes through each of your tubes before spilling out into your stomach or wherever.

The procedure hurt,* as I was told it would, and it was certainly uncomfortable, but my tubes are both open, which is great news. 

Basically, every test Brad and I have gotten done has come back with good results. He got his man-biz checked out months ago, and everything's a-okay in that department. I had my progesterone level tested during my last cycle to make sure I am, indeed, ovulating, and I am, indeed, ovulating. A 10 means you've ovulated, and I was at 11.2, which was good news, although Dr. P. said the higher the better - something like 16 or 17 would be ideal. 

The next step is Clomid. Clomid is a super-ovulatory drug which basically makes you ovulate - even though I'm already ovulating, it will, hopefully, make me ovulate more and possibly better eggs. It does this by increasing your progesterone level. You can take Clomid for a maximum of 6 months at a time, then you need to give your body a rest of a year or so. But, generally, if you're gonna conceive on Clomid, it's gonna happen within 6 months anyway. 

A couple is not considered "infertile" until they've been trying to conceive regularly for a year without success, but my new gynie favors a more aggressive approach than the popular, "We can't do anything until it's been a year," and I'm happy that we've been narrowing the list of possible infertility culprits. Since I'm ovulating and my tubes are open, and since Brad's all good, if we do reach the year marker without getting pregnant, it will be a case of "unexplained infertility." Which basically means, "There's nothing anatomically wrong here - you can definitely make a baby. Keep gettin' busy." 

Thus far I've managed to keep a pretty positive attitude, except for the occasional hormonal bout of emotions when I'm convinced I'll never have a baby and that everyone else in the world but me has one. That usually happens on cycle days 25-29 (it's also commonly known as p.m.s). Brad's as convinced as ever that I'll get pregnant any day now. As for next month's cycle, if there's no tiny bump in my belly, we'll start the Clomid. And in the meanwhile, I guess we'll keep gettin' busy. 

*While I was on the table today, I thought to myself, "How in the world is a baby gonna come out of there if this hurts as bad as it does?" All you mamas out there, you are truly amazing.