David and I had been married right around two years when I started thinking to myself – Why aren’t we pregnant yet?

At my annual visit to the gynecologist in Oct of 2016, I asked questions about what could be wrong that we hadn’t had a baby yet. She was completely understanding and thorough in explaining things to me. The first thing she wanted to do was test my progesterone level, and other preliminary tests to rule out health concerns. My cholesterol, triglycerides, sugar, A1C, all came back in a healthy range. The first time progesterone was tested, it came back at a 10. The nurse said that it was low and that the medication should help.

You know how everyone has a medical degree after searching on Google? Well, I’m no different, as soon as we hung up – I Googled progesterone level 10. Since we knew the cycle day was right, it meant that ovulation had likely not happened. Why is it hard to read/hear stuff like that? I have to be honest, I did cry after reading that. How can my semi healthy body not be doing what any normal 36 yr old body does? Ugh!

Can I just say that I LOVE my gynecologist, she is amazing and always has my best interest in mind. Since we had been trying for two years and because of our age, I was 36 at the time and David was 38 – she wasn’t about wasting anymore time and to be honest, I wasn’t either! You know – the clock is ticking

She immediately started me on Progesterone, Clomid, and Metformin. I found this regimen to be pretty basic in the first steps of infertility. The Progesterone was to help my cycle start – I only did this for one cycle, because I was a pretty regular gal! The Clomid to help my pituitary gland to release hormones needed to stimulate ovulation and the Metformin to regulate hormones. I read that trials have shown Clomid with Metformin to be more effective than just Clomid alone.

Can we talk side effects for a second?
Holy cow batman – they are not kidding!  So the list can include:
abnormal uterine bleeding, breast tenderness or discomfort, nausea, headache, vomiting, diarrhea, flushing, blurred vision,  and ovarian enlargement. – of these listed I experienced headaches and flushing.

Lets talk about those hot flashes shall we?

Oh how fun it is to be sitting in a meeting or with friends and have one of these awesome hot flashes! And these puppies were not just a little hot flash – these were the big daddy of all hot flashes! It got to the point where I would just announce it – because when you look like you’ve gotten out of the shower and your cheeks are this nice bright red what else can you do?! If you can’t laugh at yourself – you should!

The headaches were pretty bad, to the point where I was in bed for a couple of days at a time. I would almost say they were migraines – and nothing seemed to help! One of those, go through it for the good of “what could be”.

What I find funny are the ones that they don’t list! For example bloating and mood swings. Seriously, the bloating was so bad at times I looked 9 months pregnant…..

– because that’s what every woman who is experiencing infertility wants….right??? SIGH 

Then the mood swings…..poor David! I honest to goodness felt bad for him so many times. There may have been a time or twenty that he slept on the couch to avoid the path of hormonal Leah. 🙂

Oh my word, one time I was standing in Kroger looking at canned black beans – I don’t know what it was but I started crying like a baby. Who does that!?!!?!? 

One minute I’m completely fine, the next minute I could be madder than a hornets nest. (There’s that Kentucky slang) It’s crazy how one little pill can make me act like Cruella De Vil?!?!

After one round of Clomid/Metformin my progesterone level bumped up to a 12. She was comfortable in that number so we kept the dosage the same with both.

In the next post, I’ll talk about the test she wanted to do in order to rule out problems and our experience with them.

Until then –
Leah