Part 1: Our Infertility Journey – Where It All Began

We were already excited to begin thinking about starting a family and the best place to start was with my OB-GYN. I made an appointment and brought Mike along with me. This was the first time Mike was able to meet my hilarious doctor, and she made both of us feel comfortable as well as at ease during our visit. We went over general family health histories and I did the ever-dreaded pap smear…not too bad with a comedic doctor!!! We left our appointment happy and glowing, and knew in just a few months we would actually begin trying.

February and March 2008

Although we were going to wait a few months until we actually began trying, I decided that I would start using ovulation predictor kits (OPK). We were not technically trying to conceive at this time so using the OPK was at least something that I could look forward to each month.

It was strangely exciting walking into the drug store to purchase a box of ovulation kits. I remember staring at the home pregnancy tests on the same shelf, feeling excitement for the day that I could actually come in to purchase those.

Well, come on….45 days and going!!! Where is my period??? The first month we tried the ovulation kits, nothing…no pink line, no smiley face…simply nothing! It took over 50 days for my period to arrive. Of course, my anal self already began to wonder if something was wrong. A friend of mine also suggested taking my temperature. This too, was my next hobby…running to the store to get a basal thermometer and printing out calendars from every pregnancy website that existed.

For the next few months we continued the same thing. I would begin an Ovulation kit on or around day 10 of my cycle and continue for the next two to 3 weeks. I know, sounds long, but my cycles at this point were anywhere from 40-70 days long, so I wasn’t exactly sure when to stop. So needless to say we spent a lot of money on OPK’s. I did the temperature thing every morning, but was sick with the flu and a cold, which really threw my temperature off, so I ended up leaving the thermometer in the drawer and solely relied on the ovulation kits.

It was late April and we were finally ready to say goodbye to the Trojans!!! We were ready to try for a baby.

I never once received a positive result on the ovulation kits, so thought maybe the summer would be a good time to go back to see the good ol’ OB-GYN. Mike and I were traveling to Italy in June, so I made an appointment for after we returned.

Read Part 2: Our Italy Honeymoon – Babymaking Time…Or Not?