Sh@dy Grove

(TMI medicine information)

Well, as I said, I'm trying to be open about the fact that we needed some help from modern medicine to make this Palmetto Baby a reality. We knew time wasn't necessarily on our side to start a family. While in DC years, we are right on target for having kids, in "real" years, the fact is that the older you get, the lower your odds are for having a healthy pregnancy.

After 30 months of trying the "normal" way, we followed the lead of some friends of ours who just had twin boys and made an appointment at Sh@dy Grove* ... one of the best fertility clinics in the region (and the country). After about 3 months of testing, including many vials of blood, a HSG (don't ask), and some general monitoring, we were put in the unenviable class of "unexplained fertility".

Well, as someone who likes answers, that wasn't a good one! Our fantastic doctor recommended that we proceed with three IUIs with injectible hormones and Clomid before proceeding to the much more costly and invasive IVF.

Clomid was the 1st step, and its a really intense hormone that gave me the WORST hot flashes. I felt like a hot mess menopausing lady. My face turned bright pink anytime I spoke up in a Hill meeting or office meeting. Talk about embarrassing! After a week of the Clomid, you move on to FSH shots until your follicles are ready to pop. All this while going to the doctor every other morning at 7:15 for ultrasounds to check on the progress of your "follies"

Long story short, when you are proceeding with fertility treatments, you don't get to choose the timing, your body chooses it for you. I was scheduled for my 1st IUI the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, but because my body didn't respond as well as they had hoped, it was pushed to the Friday after Thanksgiving, so after my Wednesday morning appointment, we got on the road for a quick trip to Marion.

About halfway through North Carolina, we got a call from the clinic that I would need to take an additional shot of follitism that evening. Follitism is a really expensive, and apparently really hard to find fertility medicine.

We decided to drive on to South Carolina, and figured between the drug stores and Wally World, we'd be able to find someone with the shot in stock. After tapping Edwards family members that were pharmacists, and a fantastic family friend on the Board of the hospital in Florence, we discovered there wasn't a follitism shot to be found anywhere between Columbia and Myrtle Beach. And the fun with fertility shots? They HAVE to be taken at the same time every day.

So after a quick lunch in Marion, and two hours of searching for the medicine, we got back on the road to DC. Not the Thanksgiving we were hoping for, but well worth it in the end ...(To be continued)

*Name is spelled like that to avoid random googlers dropping in*