Some have asked privately and publicly about how we found out that we would need IVF to have a baby.

I was on birth control for about 2-3 years before I finally ditched it.  There were too many side effects such as weight gain, increased acne and irregular periods.  I was switching brands every 4 months and I got sick of it.

After we got married I decided to take my chances and go off birth control completely.  We weren’t trying to have a baby but we also weren’t actively preventing it either.  Looking back that was pretty bold because we certainly weren’t ready for a child then.

My GYN is a very well known (Washingtonian Top Doctors of 2010) fertility specialist in the DC area.  Highly respected with killer humor he always seemed to get snarky with me about not being on birth control even though I was married.  He suspected something was wrong in 2008 but I ignored his request to delve deeper into the situation.

2009 came, had my regular Pap smear and check up and he brought it up again.  I wasn’t trying to hear it because we were no trying to have kids yet and so it didn’t matter to me.

2010 came and he finally says “look, we can continue to pretend like nothing’s wrong but something’s wrong and we can continue pretending or we can have an honest discussion“.  So we had “the talk”.  Mind you this guy reminds me A LOT of my own father so talking about sex with him was weird, yes even though he’s had a speculum up my vaginal canal more times than I care to discuss.

After some routine questioning he determined that it was the perfect time to check me for ovulation (sonogram and blood work) and other things.  I won’t go into specific details here just to maintain some semblance of privacy but basically after a slew of tests over 3 weeks the results were that we would have some difficulty in conceiving naturally.

I’ve known this deep down for a while and so has my mom and I’m for the most part OK with it.  Over the years I’ve gotten to know several women who have gone through the process and Im not daunted by it since I pretty much know what to expect.  The most frustrating part though, has been looking at financing options since it’s another bill, a big one that I need to wrap my mind around.  I had no idea it cost so much for one IVF cycle.  Then there’s the whole feeling like everything I’ve done so far in life is to be ready for this time in my life.

For those that have known me for some time, no it has nothing to do with the fact that I waited and I have no regrets about waiting 5 years to have a child.  It needed to be right for us and not when everyone else wanted us to get pregnant.  I’ve ranted several times about family members asking intrusive questions before and now I remember back in 2008 when my husband’s uncle pulled us aside and asked if something was wrong.

I guess he was right