and the passing of time goes on....

we haven't given up TTC! just kind of forgot about this blog :) and we've been on a kind of hiatus...not from the process itself, but from active insemming. after february, that was 6 tries for us and i wanted medical advice. our donor and wife would have been happy to keep trying a few more times, but for me it would have felt like wasting time (and sperm!) (and ben and jerry's!). so i headed off to start a string of doctor visits. to summarize: to my midwives for bloodwork, who found my estradiol was low. sent me to my GP, who didn't know what to do and sent me to an ob-gyn. missed that first appt because of traffic but got there eventually. he was nice, but wanted to send me to a fertility clinic and i still don't know if my HMO would cover that. in the meantime he did basic bloodwork for the heck of it and discovered my thyroid numbers were way off. back to GP, who referred me to an endocrinologist with a diagnosis of, and i quote "hypothyroidism and infertility." yay! that means i have it officially in case i ever want to try a fertility clinic :) the endo is an awesome lady who i've seen twice now. she's been trying different dosage levels of synthroid to regulate my thyroid, and i think we're getting close. to figure that out i have to have my blood taken every time we try a new dose, and a few weeks ago i even had a thyroid ultrasound (interesting). at this last visit she also prescribed metformin, which is for diabetes but also used as fertility drugs. holy cow! she essentially is givin me (low-level, introductory, but still) fertility treatment without sending me to a fertility clinic! so freaking awesome. so now i take three pills a day, some with food, some without, and a prescription-strength vitamin D once a week. she suggested still not trying actual insemination until we get the thyroid worked out, and i totally agree. after the next time we draw blood (late august?), i'll start charting again and if the numbers are right, maybe try again a month or two after that. i'm pretty sure our donor and his wife are still up for it. this could actually work! i really truly believe that. also we now have a dog and lord knows i don't know where we're going to put a baby, but we'll manage :)