Part 4: Selecting A Reproductive Endocrinologist

Read Part 1: Our Infertility Journey – Where It All Began
Read Part 2: Our Honeymoon – Babymaking time…Or Not?
Read Part 3: Semen Analysis – Strict Kruger – Abnormal Sperm – Now What?

August 2008

We were so excited and nervous at the same time for our consultation with Dr. R, who was at a fertility clinic very near to our house. Mike and I met at home right after work and then drove together to the appointment. We were very impressed when we walked in to the clinic and the staff was quite complementary toward us, always a big plus! Little did we know, but Mike’s urologist didn’t fax his test results as we had hoped. It wasn’t a problem, because they were able to fax then while we were waiting to been seen by the doctor. After waiting for a brief time we were called back and met with Dr. R in this office.

We sat down in his office and all around him were beautiful pictures of his family. He immediately set Mike’s paperwork in front of us. Right then and there, I thought he is going to tell us that we didn’t need to be there, I was already preparing an answer in my head like, “My OB-GYN sent us here.” Okay, were we surprised, he said that he recommended a procedure for us called IVF with ICSI. He went into great detail explaining it, I didn’t need an explanation at all…all I needed were Kleenex. Tears began to roll down my face, as we never expected to hear this. He went into more detail about why we needed IVF and he concluded that due to Mike’s SKM (Kruger Strict Morphology) results, IVF with ICSI would give us the highest success rates for conceiving. As you can imagine, our minds are going a mile a minute at this time. A few more tears kept rolling down my cheeks and all I really wanted at this point was for him to hand me a damn tissue…never happened!

We were taken into another room where Dr. R did a pelvic ultrasound and everything appeared normal. We went back into his office and he explained a few more things to us, after that he sent us to see an IVF coordinator as well as a finance person.

After making an appointment for an IVF informational class, we left his office, shocked, stunned, sad, and confused….

We decided after much thought that it might be in our best interest to get a second opinion. It wasn’t that we didn’t trust the doctor, but I don’t think Mike or I felt there was a good connection with Dr. R. Considering the fact that we would potentially be spending thousands and thousands of dollars and a great deal of time with a doctor, we wanted it to be someone that we were comfortable with.

We made an appointment for a week or two later with Dr. M, he was the doctor who performed my HSG earlier in the summer.

We didn’t quite have the same excitement heading in to meet him as we did with the first reproductive endocrinologist. We now realized that this baby making process wasn’t always pleasant, and that it may not be as simple as we initially thought it to be.

We sat down with Dr. M and the same thing happened, I began crying. Something was different this time though, he stopped what he was saying and handed me a box of tissue. At this point, I wasn’t so concerned about what he had to say; I knew that he was the doctor for us. The simple act of handing me the tissue assured me that this man had a heart and he knew the emotion involved.

This consultation went much better than the first, and we were definitely prepared with more questions. Dr. M didn’t feel that we needed to begin right off the bat with IVF, but felt maybe a few tries of FTP (Fallopian Tube Perfusion) a type of IUI would be a good place to start. This is what we wanted to hear, no pun intended, but we needed to take “baby steps”. He too, took me into a room and did an examination and some blood work. The best news was that there was a possibility (depending on my blood work) that I might be able to begin the Clomid the following night.

Dr. M’s plan for FTP was to put me on a higher dose of Clomid to stimulate multiple follicles and then right around the time of ovulation I would be injected with a “washed” dose of Mike’s semen. We knew that this wouldn’t yield the highest results that IVF would, but it was definitely a great place to start!

We were able to begin the Clomid the following night.

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Read Part 5: Fallopian Tube Perfusion – Intrauterine Insemination (IUI)