Our consultation with Dr. Corfman was very positive and motivating. Although my cycles were quite abnormal, this was fixable with medication and monitoring. The sperm morphology results turned out to be okay as the levels reported weren’t low enough for concern that it would affect our fertility. We’d keep Jason on the vitamins and that’s it. At the end of the appointment, I took blood tests and had an ultrasound to check for PCOS and again….free and clear! One more thing checked off our list and off our worries.
The last thing we needed to do was a post-coital test to see if his sperm could survive in my cervical mucus. (you can probably assume what a post-coital test is, so I won't go into details) We had the test a week later and the results were not what we wanted to hear. None of the sperm survived. Although it wasn't good news, we now felt like we had an answer as to why we couldn't get pregnant and now we had a solution to fix this and make it happen. Instead of timed intercourse, we'd do inseminations to bypass the mucus and get the sperm where they needed to be.
The last thing we needed to do was a post-coital test to see if his sperm could survive in my cervical mucus. (you can probably assume what a post-coital test is, so I won't go into details) We had the test a week later and the results were not what we wanted to hear. None of the sperm survived. Although it wasn't good news, we now felt like we had an answer as to why we couldn't get pregnant and now we had a solution to fix this and make it happen. Instead of timed intercourse, we'd do inseminations to bypass the mucus and get the sperm where they needed to be.
We now had a plan of attack:
- Day 2 of cycle: Baseline ultrasound to check ovaries and make sure they are clear and also measure uterine lining to make sure it’s thin and ready to go
- Days 3-7 of cycle: 10mg of Femara (Letrozole) daily to increase my follicle quantity and growth. (Letrozole is a non-FDA approved fertility drug like Clomid but without all the bad side effects)
- Days 11 or 12 of cycle: Ultrasound to measure uterine lining thickness and also measure the follicle quantity and sizes in ovaries
Depending on this second ultrasound and the thickness of the lining and the size of the follicles, we time the hCG injection to enduce ovulation. Ovulation occurs about 36-42 hours after injection and that's when we have our IUI (intrauterine insemination).
This was our plan for up to six cycles.
Dr. Corfman was confident to tell us that he didn’t plan on seeing us as patients long. I wish I had gotten that in writing.
Dr. Corfman was confident to tell us that he didn’t plan on seeing us as patients long. I wish I had gotten that in writing.
