Fertility update

I went to lunch with my sweet friend Kristi, who is blessed with the gift of listening. She has a large family and is very wise. I love to talk things through with her and I usually walk away with a new insight to our situation. Last Friday was no different. Here is my new plan.

I have mentioned to my doctor in the past that I don't think (and this is totally women's intuition) that I make enough progesterone in my luteal phase (the 2 weeks after ovulation) to sustain a pregnancy. They tested my levels and they were on the low side of normal. The Dr. gave me a low dose of progesterone to take after ovulation, but I don't think it is enough. I really don't like my OB, but as I am sure you all know, our insurance won't pay for us to see a fertility specialist and I was sticking with my OB because there price for IUI was WAY BELOW other OB offices in town.
When we did our IUI last month, I just knew I was prego. I was throwing up a couple times a day the few days before I started.... and, I haven't mentioned this before, but I had 2-3 faint positives on home pregnancy tests. So, when I started a new cycle, I was really shocked. Also, when we went in to have the procedure done, she cleaned Todd's swimmers up and said they looked great. The count was still lower than the normal, but it was plenty to get the job done. This has not been the case in the past. So hopefully the change in diet and vitamins are helping. This got me thinking that maybe we are not dealing with that much of a sperm problem anymore, and more of a problem with me not having enough progesterone.
I called my doctor and told her the IUI didn't work and I would like her to consider giving me a higher dose of progesterone in the form a vaginal suppository. Now, mind you, this is not an odd thing to ask for. There is no way it could hurt me and I just knew she would not have a problem with it. Well, she did. She said what I was on is plenty (I would beg to differ) and that she wouldn't give me any more. Can I tell you how annoyed I was? Why not at least try?

As I was talking this through with Kristi, she suggested that I make some consultations with other doctors and see what they think. I had considered doing this before, but again decided to wait it out as the IUI was cheaper with my doctor.
I decided to try my Dr. Kim Ashchi through the referral of some close friends. If she will give me the higher dose of medicine, then we will try on our own for a few months and see what happens. If she also does not want to try more medicine for me, then I have a referral from my primary doctor to go see Dr. Kim Fox. She is a regular OB/GYN, but her husband is the well-known Dr. Fox, fertility specialist, here in town. My primary is friends with Dr. Kim Fox and is putting in a word to her to see if she will mention my case to her husband and see what he thinks! Pretty neat, huh?

So bottom line is our new plan is to look into my progesterone levels through new doctors and see what happens. It could very well be a dead end road, but my gut says we are moving in the right direction. Todd and both have a peace about this decision and think it can't hurt to pursue it. If it doesn't work, we can always go back to original OB and try more IUI's.

My first appointment is with Dr. Kim Ashchi on March 11th. I will update you then!