Thursday, August 13, 2009

Maiden Voyage



"... One giant step for
(wo)mankind!"

Call me Jem.

I'm a married woman, age 39. My husband D and I have been TTC since January 2007. Nada.

We finally went for fertility testing May 2008. Me? All good to go (FHS levels at 6.6). Him? Not so good. Very, very low sperm count. 100,000! Dr. L, my OB/GYN, even asked, "Did your husband ever have chemo?" Nope. His family does have a history of low sperm count. It took his parents years to conceive.

A year went by, life went by. D was finally ready to face fatherhood again and did sperm analysis again in May 2009. Good news, sperm count up! Bad news, not up enough (600K is still low, when "normal" >5 million!)

I immediately scheduled an appointment at a Fertility Clinic with Dr. W, recommended by Dr. L.
Only option open to us if we want a baby with both our DNA? Invitro Fertilitization.

We'll start our IVF first cycle mid-September 2009.

This blog is to catalog my journey towards conception.

"What's this 'ambivalent womb' thing?" you ask. It's about the mixed feelings (ranging from total excitement to abject terror) I have about motherhood, the ups and downs about being "fertility challenged."

I am happy to know that there's a whole community of women (and men?) out there in the interweb to share with.

Jem

P.S. Wow, this is blogging? Really? What took me so long? It's so much easier than I ever imagined.

7 comments:

Lin said...

Hi Jem! We're dealing with MFI, too...we're just a few steps behind you in the process. DH has low count, volume, motility and morphology. We've got a urologist appointment next Tuesday...in the meantime, I'm fully preparing myself for the idea of IUI or IVF and the long haul! I'll be following your journey! So sorry that AF found you this month. :-(

Brandy said...

Welcome to the blogging world! I too can't believe I'm here. We're dealing with male-factor infertility too. We'll be starting IVF with ICSI as soon as we get the money.

www.brandysheaif.blogspot.com

One Who Understands said...

Hi there. Here from LFCA. We also have MFI and are still trying to deal with it all. It is so hard to swallow. Blogging is a great way for me to release all the emotions I have about this world of IF. Welcome. Can't wait to read about your journey to parenthood.

Hillary said...

Welcome to the IF blogging community! We're dealing with MFI, too (low motility). Glad you're getting all your testing done and moving forward. :)

makingmemom.blogpost.com

Jem said...

Thanks for the support. It's funny that I was scared to start IVF right away and now I wish I was already doing my IVF cycle instead of waiting.

Jem said...

Okay, all. I'm totally lame. I didn't know I had to approve all your message and they've been sitting there until today. I thought I had switched to "no moderation" mode before receiving comments. Sorry.

Again, thank you all for the warm welcome and support. I look forward to following your journeys to parenthood, too.

Love, Jem

northern lights said...
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