Sunday, November 7

The story so far...

We're not supposed to be infertile. I know, everyone thinks that, but really...we're NOT supposed to be infertile. We have two uteruses, four working ovaries, the best sperm money can buy, and neither of us is 40 yet. Two of her siblings have kids, and my brother gets people pregnant by looking at them.

So why have we been trying for over a year with nothing to show for it but one ectopic pregnancy and a huge credit card bill? That, my friends, is the mystery.

To be fair, we're only trying this with one uterus and two ovaries, but still...

The story begins like this: My partner and I have been together for nearly 12 years and are finally ready to have children. (My sister hates when I say "partner," like it's the law firm of Dyke, Dyke and Donor...she prefers "lesbian lover.") Anyway, we were actually probably more ready to have kids in the early years of our relationship, and talked about it more often then, than we have at any point in the intervening years until about two years ago. We got serious about it last year, took one last fling of a trip to Europe as a childless couple, and then got down to business. Lots of research, choosing the known vs. unknown donor, narrowing down the sperm banks, then choosing a donor. Oh, let's not go to a doctor, honey; let's do this at home. It'll be much more romantic and cheaper and I'm sure it will just take a few months.

Uh-huh. That was last June. Five tries at home, a sixth try at the doctor's office with no drugs, etc. Two months off, then the pregnancy that wasn't in February. Try again in April, May, June and August, still no luck.

This month, we've moved past Clomid, an oral medicine, to "injectibles." Always called injectibles, too, because so many women who see the doctor end up using them to get pregnant, but there are so many different drugs that the entire process gets a generic name like "injectibles." Our doctor has thoughtfully chosen the drugs that are apparently made from something slightly more expensive than gold bricks.