How long did you try before you conceived?

I guess we've been lucky, we've never had to actually "try"...I just look at Jerm's zipper and I'm knocked up! I would gladly give someone my fertility though, I don't need it anymore!

Good luck! I hope this was your month!

I'm also one of the ladies who have never actually tried to conceive... all of my children were surprise blessings.
Best of luck TTC!

I am not going to be much help, either. We tried for two years with our first child, and ended up having to have fertility treatments. Then, with our second child, we were not trying at all and I ended up pregnant.

We were off birth control for two years. It was the fall of 2000, and I was 30, almost 31 when we started trying. We took a casual approach at first, going off birth control and not really trying to time sex for conception, but just seeing if it would happen naturally. After a few months, probably 5 or 6, I started doing my basal body temperature. After a year had passed with no success, I went to see a new ob/gyn and told him what was going on. He scheduled an Hysteropinogram (I think it's called an HSG test) for me--to see if one or both of my ovaries was blocked, and had my husband submit a semen specimen. After my test, we determined that my ovaries were not blocked, and after Kyle's semen analysis, it was determined that he had a bit of a low count. At that point, about January of 2002, we were referred to a fertility specialist. He immediately did another semen analysis on Kyle and said his count was on the low end of normal, but that his count was not the problem. He did blood work on both of us to determine if we had any STDs and to eliminate other issues that could affect fertility. From then on, we got down to business. My cycle was monitored closely, and I had to have lots of bloodwork done to measure various hormones throughout my cycle. Through this it was determined that my FSH (follicle stimulating hormone) was low, and other hormones were wacky too, all of which indicated peri-menopause. So, the first route we took was for me to try Clomid and to get a shot of FSH and to do ovulation prediction kits to determine when I was ovulating. Once I determined that, I had to call (that minute) to the office, and come in and get a trigger shot to make my egg or eggs drop. Then, the next day at a certain time (the optimum time) my husband and I had to go back to the office and he had to provide semen for me to be inseminated with using intrauterine insemination (artifical insemination). More . . .

We did this in February of 2002. I did get pregnant, but I miscarried very early on--almost right away. It was devastating. All of the blood work and all of the monitoring of my cycle had to be done "to the minute," meaning I often had to drive to the other side of town and be at my specialist's office at 6:32 am on a Saturday or other odd, inconvenient times. It was all-consuming and intense. It filled our every thought, and some weeks I went every day for blood work, either to the fertility doctor's office or to my regular ob/gyn's office. Clomid was awful. I went on the clomid in January, with the hopes of conceiving with only Clomid. I continued into February so that we could do the IUI (artificial insemination). I had the worst hot flashes. I would break out in sweats and my hair would be wringing, dripping wet. I thought I was literally on fire at times. After the Clomid didn't work in conjunction with the IUI, our fertility specialist told us that we had to get more aggressive. He had suspected this would be the case in the beginning, but he had wanted to try the least amount of intervention to begin with. So, he said we would have to do shots (he said Gonal-F, but some people do Preg-nel). This is also an FSH, but it's souped up so to speak. These shots at that time were right at $2000 for a month's supply, and our insurance would not cover them. I told him Kyle and I would have to think about it. We talked about it, and decided that dealing with all the appointments and blood work and side effects from the Clomid, even just over those two months, we needed a break. We also wanted to look into adoption. We did express to the doctor that the expense of the shots was a factor for us. At the time, Kyle's company would reimburse up to $10,000 for an adoption, and we felt that we could put the money we were using for fertility treatments towards an adoption and get a child for sure rather than simply putting it to trying to have a child. More . . .

About two weeks after we had this conversation with the fertility doctor, a nurse from his office called and said she found a pharmacy that would donate one month of the Gonal-F to me. We talked about it, and decided to go for it. We went in, and they taught Kyle how to give me shots and taught me how to give myself shots. Every day for so many days at the exact same time, I had to have a Gonal-F shot. After that, on a certain day of my cycle, I had to go in to the office and get a trigger shot. Then the next morning, I went in and they did IUI. We were told to have sex the night before the IUI and the night of the IUI. I was also put on progesterone about the same time we started the shots. I did a pregnancy test about 2 1/2 weeks after the IUI, and it was positive. I remained on progesterone for the first trimester.
In all, my fertility experience was very brief. People go through treatments for years before they have success, if they have it at all. The fertility specialist we used is the best in the state and is well-renowned. Not too long after my daughter was born, there was a huge article on him in People Magazine, detailing all of the women he has helped conceive babies, many of whom were told they would never, ever do so. But as for the experience, I am glad it was brief. It was intense and all-consuming. I am glad we did it, but at the time it was exhausting. But it was so worth it.

So, in April of 2002, I got pregnant using Gonal-F shots and IUI (or maybe sex!), and I had my daughter in January of 2003.

None of the treatments were covered by insurance. The only thing insurance covered was testing--the HSG test, the semen analysis, and the 2 million (okay maybe I didn't have that many) vaginal ultrasounds I had to have. Otherwise, we paid EVERYTHING out of pocket. We even had to pay for the syringes used for the Gonal-F and the sharps container to dispose of them. The doctor gave us the Clomid (like sample packs), and then we had to pay out of pocket for the Progesterone because I used a special kind called trochets. They look like Chicklet gum, about the size of half a piece of that, and I had to hold the trochet between my cheek and gum and let it dissolve. It would take about 15 minutes, and I had to do that twice a day, exactly X number of hours apart.
As for the pain, after I had the hysteropinogram, which hurt really bad--but only for about half a minute--none of the treatments hurt. The shots were not too bad because we were taught well, and the nurses told us to freeze the area (using ice) where I would get the shot a few minutes before taking the shot. That helped. The trigger shots, which I had to go to the office to get, did hurt a bit. They always put them in my rear end, but the needles were larger than the subcutaneous ones we used for the Gonal-F. The IUI wasn't really painful, it was uncomfortable, but not painful.
Yes, we only did one round of Gonal-F shots and then conceived. I know one other girl who had the same success with Gonal-F and IUI as we did. Some people had to do Gonal-F or Preg-nel for a few months before they had success using IUI. Gonal-F and Preg-nel and other souped up FSH injections are used for Invetro fertilization as well.

A lot of that will depend upon your age. I can't remember anymore, but I am thinking our doctor told us that if you are 25 and have been having unprotected sex for 6 months with no conception, then you are considered in need of fertility treatments. It may be 30 and no birth control for six months. It might be a year if you are under 30. I can't remember anymore.

(We actually only have two kids--but you probably saw my husband's name in my signature line and thought I had three!) No, I don't think that had anything to do with it. Fertility treatments are timed literally to the minute. With most of what we had done, we didn't have any flexibility, so I don't think that they remain in your system because then timing would not be so important in all of it. Our doctor did tell us that our best chances of conceiving naturally would be in the first year and a half after Emily was born. He said that sometimes minor fertility issues--like some hormone issues and scarring from endometriosis (which I also have) is cleared up due to the birth of the baby, so that helps things along. We stopped using birth control after Emily turned one, but had no success. Just before Emily turned three, my doctor told me then that he just didn't think it would happen naturally for us. We were happy with one, would not have minded having two, but felt that doing fertility again was not for us, so we accepted that. Then, just after Emily turned three, I found out I was pregnant. Even my doctor has no explanation for it. It was all God!

Well, first of all, thank you!
Second of all, both of my doctors said that there is no magic regarding positions or regarding propping up on a pillow or elevating your legs over your head afterwards or any of that. Either the sperm is going to get there and do the work or it's not. So, do with that what you will. It's hard to imagine that we can't manipulate it somehow, but both my reg ob and the specialist said there is no magic in any of that.
And as for the cost, I can't remember exactly, but the progesterone trochets were $65 a month, and I was on those for four months or so.
The fertility stuff cost us around $5000, maybe more. Emily was over a year old before we had completely paid off the doctor.
Then you have to add in the cost of syringes and the sharps container and other stuff. Remember too that this was six years ago, and so the costs would probably be more now. I would have paid any amount, though. It was worth it to me, and now that I have Emily, I know how true that is.
I would recommend seeing your doctor and going through the process (including testing and treatment) however he or she recommends. You may not need much treatment. Clomid alone may work for you. You may ovulate fine and in that case Gonal-F won't be needed. Your SO/DH could have a low count or lazy swimmers. You first have to find out what the problem is or if there is a problem and then base your treatment on that. Does that make sense?

Keep in mind, different fertility treatments cost different amounts. Also, the Gonal-F shots were donated to us. If we had paid for those, that would have added another $1500-1800 to the cost. IUI was pretty expensive, $500 or $600 each time. IVF is very expensive, I believe our specialist said it would be $15,000 to $20,000 each time. IVF was never an option for us because of the expense. If it had gotten to that point, we would have adopted or not had children.
On the flip side, you may not need fertility treatments at all. And if you do, you might only need Clomid, which may be covered by your insurance.
Go to your regular ob/gyn first and discuss all this with him or her and then go from there.
Hang in there! I know how tough it is, as do lots of ladies on the boards.

8 years...
5-6 years trying on our own, then two years of artificial insemination and two ectopic pregnancies and then finally IVF. I have the most beautiful twins that were worth every bit that we went through. I would do it all over again, without hesitation.

We were a young and healthy couple, there was no reason to think that something was wrong with either one of us. I have had a few GYN's tell me that there was nothing wrong with me, so I thought that it would eventually happen. Plus, fertiltiy doctors are extremely expensive and were not covered by our insurance. We had to wait until we were financially able to afford it.

Well, you just never know what is going to happen. I was never supposed to be able to get pregnant, yet I now have 2 beautiful kids. Low estrrogen levels, cervical cancer twice and surgery left things in a mess. Yet somehow it happened anyway (and I was on BC to regulate my estrogen with the first one!).

I will keep my fingers crossed that this is the month for you!

Re: How long did you try before you conceived?

we didnt really try... but we got married in nov 05 and i moved to canada in jan 06, and we had sex during that month and apparently i got preggers around early feb lol