Infertility

[C harlotte]

My husband and I have been trying for almost a year to have a baby. It is difficult sometimes because of the IC. I am seeing a specialist on Jan 3rd. My gyn wants my to have a laposcopy. I have 3 cyst that need to be removed, They also suspect that I may have some endo. I am looking for people with IC who have gone through infertility treatments to share their stories. How do you get through it, and keep your sanity!!

Thank You
Charlotte

[ICNLesa]

Hi Charlotte!

My husband and I have been trying for 3 years to get pregnant and finally, it's worked! I'm now 8 weeks along!! My GYN (and uro) also suspected endo and I had a laparoscopy just this past summer. What the doc saw during the lap. was much better than we had anticipated. He was also able to run die through my tubes to check for blockages. We had not turned to any fertility medications or treatments since the lap. and had decided to just take a break from it for awhile. You can imagine how surprised we are right now about all this!! It's such a blessing!!

I know how discouraged you must be and I hope my experience gives you some hope back. Let me know if there's anything more I can share with you. I'm wishing you lots of health and baby luck!

ICNLesa

[BrendaD]

Gosh, that's bringing back memories. I had fertility problems 16 years ago before my first son was born. I now have two beautiful boys ages 15 and 13. My problem was that I was not ovulating and fortunately it was corrected with some mild fertility drugs. It's all in the past now, but it is a very difficult thing to go through -- all the icky tests and taking my morning temperature for over a year. When I finally did get pregnant for the first time, I miscarried. Dealing with fertility problems can be hard on a marriage, so make sure the two of you keep the lines of communication open and make sure you both have other people to talk to about it. Fertility problems are very common, and if it interests you, you can probably find a support group. I wish you all the best. Take it one day at a time and stay in close touch with your doctor. Learn to ignore all the well-meaning folk with advice such as "relax" "take a vacation" "have a glass of wine" -- they are well-intentioned but they just have no idea what they are talking about.

[klarson]

Hi Charlotte - I am going through infertility treatments right now as well. I actually have a little boy who just turned 4. It took us about a year to get pregnant with him. We were just about to start infertility treatment and we got pregnant. Now the 2nd time around, nothing is happening. We've been trying for about a year and a half and just started with treatment. We just had a 1st try with artificial insemination with no luck. This has been the most trying event my husband and I have gone through so far. It's so frustrating every month when you're hoping that your pregnant and then it turns out your not. Everything has become so scientific and dependent on my cycle. My husband has a business trip coming up and he's not sure if he should cancel it or not, since he's kind of 'on call.' Unfortunately it seems that there are a lot of people out there experiencing infertility. You may want to check out a group called Resolve on the web, they have a lot of info on infertility and have a support group. I hope all goes well for you!!

[DebbieB]

Well I will add my two cents worth here..
I also could not get pregnant , just like Brenda, I had fertility problems as well..
I give birth to my daughter now 19 and I had a hard time getting pregnant for my son, now 16 it took three and halfs years after my daughter to have him..
So don't give up Charlotte !!
I got through with the support of my wonderful loving husband and a wonderful gyn who was just so wonderful..
Now I feel old telling you how old my teenagers are LOL,LOL

Hugs: Debbie

[pineland]

Hi Charlotte,
Just sending you some hope. It took my husband and I 13 years to finally get pregnant, I'm now 21 weeks. I have endometriosis too and had my last surgery in Oct. of last year. We were told we wouldn't be able to conceive without medical help and my pain had returned the beginning of this year so we had almost given up hope. I wasn't willing to go through all of the infertility stuff. This baby is God's miracle and it was such a surprise.

Be strong and don't give up hope! Good luck to you at your specialist appointment. If you have endometriosis, sometimes all it takes is a good surgery to remove all that's there at the time. Good luck to you!
Darcy

My husband and I have been trying for almost a year to have a baby. It is difficult sometimes because of the IC. I am seeing a specialist on Jan 3rd. My gyn wants my to have a laposcopy. I have 3 cyst that need to be removed, They also suspect that I may have some endo. I am looking for people with IC who have gone through infertility treatments to share their stories. How do you get through it, and keep your sanity!!
Thank You
Charlotte

[Lady J]

Has your husband's sperm been tested? If not, I highly reccomend you all do that before having anything invasive like a lapro done on you. Many docs will test the woman first but since what a man has to do to be tested is not invasive and has no risks at all other than embarrassment, this is a puzzle probably solved by looking at cultural stereotypes and how they affect our ways of looking at the world. A lapro can be a bigger deal for someone with IC- not saying it's hell or must be avoided, just saying it's not nothing like cumming into a cup is for a guy. There are lots of tests for a woman to undergo- a man's test answers all the questions about him- his count, his motility and his shape.
I say all this not only from literature but from personal experience. My old gyno said if I wasn't pregnant in a year, we'd start testing on me. My husband and I tried- we read "Understanding Your Fertility"- a must read for anyone trying to get preg and not having fast success and learned about my body and some about his. I learned how to figure out that I was ovulating- I was. We knew when to have sex and we did. We were doing everything right and I wasn't getting pregnant. Because of the book, we knew that having him tested before doing anything invasive to me or where I'd have to be cathed which brings on hellish problems for me- he went for the test. The test showed beyond a shadow of a doubt that he has serious deficiencies in both count and motility. He and I joke- we say- he has four sperm and they're strolling. He's been on herbs and doing acupuncture for months but the motility situation is so extreme that there isn't much hope there. His uro says invitro would be our only real chance but he and I both know that that is a risk for me that we are unwilling to take. Due to my own situation, taking artificial hormones would be a huge mistake from which my acupunturist fears I would not recover. The other thing is that although I believe strongly in choice for everyone in terms of invitro and family planning, etc- I'm not comfortable with having abortion or having my fertilized egges disposed of- and I don't to go through prenancy with a bunch of kids- for me it's too much messing with destiny. My husband and I have agreed to that. He will try his herbs and acu and if by next summer, there hasn't been a significant change- we will start looking into adoption.
Please understand that lots of times, it doesn't turn out this way. A man often just finds he has a lower than normal count with no motility or shape issues. That is fairly easy to deal with by timing sex and restraining from sex too often. If that doesn't work, the turkey baster method works for this situation.
I couldn't tell from your post how much research and reading you've done on your own about how your body works and how you tell about ovulation etc but if you haven't delved into this, I can't reccomend it highly enough. We all don't ovulate at the same time, our cycles vary- sometimes even month to month- timing is everything- knowing the signs of your own uniquue situation is key. The book I mentioned helped so many of my friends get pregnant naturally that I've lost count. Good Luck and warm wishes- J

[kels34]

My husband and I are also trying to get pregnant. I have not been officially diagnosed with IC yet - I've been experiencing pelvic, bladder & lower back pain, frequency & urgency for 5 weeks with no infection. I suspect IC, and will see a urologist later this month (I hope!). We had just begun tests to prepare for medical help to get pregnant when the "bladder thing" happened. All the tests have been done except the one to make sure my tubes are clear. I postponed that one because I was in so much IC pain, I was reluctant to be poked and prodded more. I can't get pregnant until I know for sure what is wrong with me. If it's something fixable, we'll deal with the pregnant thing after I'm better. If it's IC, I'll grin and bear it. It took us 6 years to have my daughter, who is 6 now. She is such a joy to us, and we, as a family, so long to have another child. I guess I got discouraged, but you all have encouraged me to keep trying. For a short time, I felt overwhelmed by the "bladder thing" and the "infertility thing", and just kind of dropped the "baby thing". I think I'm ready to at least try to pick it up again. Thanks! I'll call my gynocologist later today. Oh, by the way, I can relate to having hubby checked out. You would have thought that my honey was headed to his death the way he glumly submitted to the rigours of his trial-by-spermogram. I figured it's a lot easier to see if his little boys are all swimming in the same direction and with spunk than it is to see if my little girls are finding their way down to the right place each month. Teehee! The funny thing is that the day that we went to the hospital so that he could get the cup and instructions, his mom just happened to be with us. Poor dear man, you should have just seen us all avoiding the reason why we were there. With my daughter going "Mommy, why are we here?" "Ask your father, dear...teehee!" I'm afraid I had a bit too much fun with it. Sometimes, you just have to laugh! Thanks for being here, friends!
Kelly

[klarson]

Hi Kelly - I just had to add something here. My hubby was the same way when he had to go drop off a 'sample.' I can't believe what a baby he was being. For all the nasty tests I've had to go through, this seemed so minor. But my nurse said a lot of the guys react that way. Ah well, good luck with the pregnancy stuff, it is very frustrating and added on top of that bladder stuff; it can be overwhelming at times. Good luck - Kris