I started my Trying To Conceive (TTC) journey right after my wedding in December 2013. My  husband, let’s call him T, and I decided that we wanted to try right away as we had been together for 7 years and we weren’t spring chickens at 33 and 39.  So we went on our amazing Disney honeymoon thinking how awesome it would be to conceive then. A honeymoon baby! How amazing that would have been!  But, sadly, tests kept coming back negative so after 4 months, I went to see my Obstetrician.  I came armed with Basal Body Temperature (BBT) charts that proved I was indeed ovulating. I also noted my irregular cycles and the days I ovulated.  She remarked that she wished all her patients came so prepared.   I was afraid she would tell me that we just haven’t been trying long enough so we should just keep trying, but to my relief she decided to be aggressive and ordered Cycle Day 3 blood work and a Hysterosalpingogram (HSG) for me and a semen analysis for T. She said my test is to see if my fallopian tubes are clear.  If they are, she would put me on Clomid to get me to produce better quality eggs.  If they are blocked then medication would have been just a waste.

The day of my HSG test, I took the day off work and so did T so he could drive me to the radiology lab.  I was so glad he came with me as I was pretty nervous because I’ve read that the procedure can be pretty painful for women with blocked tubes.  I hoped that I would be one of those women who only feel mildly uncomfortable. I wasn’t so lucky. That pain was the worst I’ve ever felt in my life! The doctor shot up the contrast liquid through my cervix and it was supposed to harmlessly spill out near my ovaries to indicate that the tubes were free and clear. The X-rays showed that mine were completely blocked so the liquid only made them dilate like long thin balloons with sausage-like ends.  To me, it felt like they were going to burst! I was near tears and the lab assistant tried her best to comfort me. The diagnosis was bilateral tubal occlusion with bilateral hydrosalpinx.  Both tubes are blocked with liquid that could be fatal to embryos.  Not everyone has to take meds after an HSG but my Ob prescribed a cocktail of strong antibiotics to be taken for two weeks because the procedure had a high likelihood of giving me an infection.  She then referred me to an infertility doctor as there was nothing else she can do for me at that point. 

If we hoped to conceive, we would need IVF but the tubes need to be removed or cut first. What??? How does that happen? Most couples try for months, even years and if it doesn’t work, they might go on to trying Intra-uterine Insemination (IUI) before going to IVF. We get to bypass all the steps? What crappy lottery did we just win?