8: The Doctor Will See You Now

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Unfortunately, there were no positive pregnancy tests in the following weeks and our appointment with the Reproductive Endocrinologist still stood.

I was excited yet nervous for this appointment. Matthew couldn’t make it, so it was just me and my big girl panties. I walked in hopeful, yearning for easy answers. I checked in, gulped as I swiped my debit card, and sat down. I was surrounded by older couples, baby magazines, and decorations which featured happy looking cartoon sperm and families. How did I get here? I thought to myself. I tried to hide my awkwardness and resorted to scrolling through instagram.

“Elisabeth Hartman”, called the tech.  They took my weight, blood pressure, and asked what medications I was taking. They escorted me into a small office. The doctor would be in shortly. There were anatomy posters and plastic pelvic models everywhere to stare at while I waited. I felt like I was in high school reproductive biology all over again. Awkward. It’s no wonder that infertility is not talked about. This place was far removed from the intimate pathway that most take to parenthood.

After what seemed like forever, Dr. B walked in and greeted me with a big smile and a firm handshake. He sat down and asked what brought me in and what he could do for me. Of course, I told him that we were having trouble getting pregnant and my GYN thought I was anovulatory. We discussed my cycles, the Clomid rounds I had done, and how long we had been trying to conceive. After he scribbled in my chart, he looked up and said “Well then, I’m going to help you get pregnant and have a baby!” Not once did he say “oh, you’re young, give it time”, or try to belittle my feelings or our difficulty. I instantly liked Dr. B. He explained everything so well. I had lots of labs drawn and an ultrasound to check my uterus and ovaries since I miraculously was on the exact cycle day needed for these tests. Dr. B ordered for Matthew’s boys to be checked out and for me to have a hysterosalpingogram (HSG) and sonohysterogram (SHG). It was important for us to have a full work up to be able to diagnose and form a treatment plan.

I left the office feeling grateful to have a doctor that was extremely caring, intelligent, and understanding. I felt comfortable and confident in his abilities to help us. I later found out that he and his wife had infertility issues while he was a resident. They ended up needing in vitro fertilization (IVF) to conceive their babies. God was already working and I truly believe he led us to this specific fertility doctor out of the six in his group!

I anxiously awaited the imaging studies to be done the following week. I just knew they would find something that could be fixed and solve our problem. I finally felt like we were on the road and actually moving closer to our baby dreams.