2007 - 2008 Re-Cap

We started trying to conceive (TTC) by  "not avoiding" in early 2007 (I was 33 at the time and Brian was 37). After several months of no success it was time to get our butts into gear and actively started  TTC in Sept 2007. I quickly realized something wasn't right when:

a.) we weren't having any success and

b.) I was consistently experiencing spotting in the middle of my cycles, which seemed odd.

Off to the ob/gyn I went and she ordered the usual battery of fertility testing (both his and hers). The results indicated everything seemed pretty normal for both of us except the results of an HSG ; it appeared I might have a slightly atypical shaped uterus and the radiologist that interpreted the test results thought that one of my tubes may have been partially blocked. This landed us at an initial consultation with a reproductive endocrinologist (RE) in Feb 2008.  The RE didn't seem to think there was anything terribly wrong with my uterus and that my tubes appeared to be fine. The options he layed out were:
1.) go straight to fertility treatments and try intrauterine insemination (IUI),
2.) surgery consisting of a laparoscopy and hysteroscopy,
3.) do nothing and continue trying on our own.
At this point we were still very much in denial that we couldn't do what everyone else around us was doing so easily and get pregnant on our own, so we chose to wait a while longer and see what happened. Well, nothing happened, so in June 2008 we decided to move forward with the surgery.

As a side note, the vast majority of health insurance in this country does not cover fertility treatments, however, most insurance policies do cover "the diagnosis and treatment of an underlying cause of infertility". Our insurance, being consistent with the norm, would cover the diagnostic procedures and surgery but wouldn't cover any kind of "treatment" (i.e. IUI), so we opted to try the surgery and see if we could figure out the problem and fix it. The results of the surgery revealed some mild endometrioses, several uterine polyps and one fibroid, all of which the doctor removed/corrected during the procedure. He also tested my fallopian tubes and confirmed that they were clear. We were hopeful that this was the cause of our baby making challenges and continued TTC as soon as we got the "all clear" after the surgery. Disappointingly, the surgical "clean up" didn't do the trick and by the end of 2008 we were still babyless.