Secondary Infertility: Our First Appointment with the Fertility Clinic

IF YOU’RE ONLY INTERESTED IN THE GOOD STUFF, SCROLL TO THE APPOINTMENT TAKEAWAYS SECTION

If a woman is 35 or older and struggles to conceive after six months, she is considered to have infertility—in my case, secondary infertility. And if you know anything about pregnancy (which I’m sure you do if you’re reading this), you’ve probably heard that any pregnancy at 35 or older is classified as a geriatric pregnancy.

Right before my son turned two, I looked back on our first fertility journey timeline and realized it had taken 2.5 years before we conceived. Then, another 41 weeks to delivery. Bringing our total time from, let’s start a family to our bundle of joy is here, to around three years, three months. If our second journey was going to be anything like our first, that had better mean I need to get a move on, because by the time I’d get pregnant again, my son would be five and I would be nearing 40!

I talked to my husband and we agreed to go back to the fertility clinic for their helping hands.

Since we’ve been through the song and dance before,

I messaged them to see our next steps and… they were exactly the same as the first time. In case you don’t care for the reading and want to get straight to it:

1. We contacted them and told them we had difficulty getting pregnant again after graduating from the clinic in 2022.

2. They set us up with a telehealth appointment and had us fill out a bunch of paperwork.

3. During our telehealth, we met with Chelsey, a PA (physician’s assistant). She asked us general questions, like what brought us back to the clinic (LOL), how I gave birth (natural vs. cesarean), what my periods were like, when my last period was, updates to medical history, etc. Pretty standard stuff. For my husband, she asked if he had any updates to health, and if he had a recent sperm analysis done (of course the answer was no).

4. After all the questions, she advised us that we would need to update all of our labs (meaning bloodwork and semen analysis) and for me, the biggest thing I needed to have done was a saline sonohysterogram (SIS). This would allow us to see if the polyps I had removed before came back and if I had any scar tissues that may be preventing pregnancy from my c-section.

That was it! Our first appointment lasted 20 minutes (even less, I’d bet). I think it may have gone so quickly because we’ve already done it and didn’t have any questions like we did the first time.

Appointment Takeaways

We got a follow-up of things that we should do. In case you are new to the TTC journey, much of the labs and testing cannot begin until certain day(s) in your cycle. I just so happened to have finished my cycle right before I reached out (bad timing on my part), which means that I have to wait another month before anything will really begin.

But, anyway, here’s the meat of what you’ll probably want to know. And before you go thinking that this is exactly how it will be for you, chances are it’ll be slightly different. I live in Hawaiʻi and the island we live on does not have the full clinic. They have satellite offices, which is why some of the things you’ll see below might not make the most sense.

• Blood Work
  On CD3/4 I have to get blood work done at my local lab. I had to get a lot of blood drawn the first time. I recall there being more than five vials drawn (so be prepared, and make sure to eat).

• Saline Sonohysterogram (SIS)
  When my next period starts, I have to let the fertility clinic know. I’ll start birth control to ensure that I can have SIS done in their office.

• Semen Analysis
  My husband will also have to do a semen analysis. They recommend that he abstains for 2 to 7 days prior to collection. So no more than 7 days, but not less than 2.

• Supplements
  Ahh, what we have all been waiting for! Here’s their magic sauce of supplements:
  Prenatal Vitamins with: 400mcg (0.4 mg) of Folic Acid & 220mcg (0.22mg) of Iodine and Choline
  CoQ10: 200-300mg
  Fish Oil Omega 3 (if Prenatal does not have DHA)
  Vitamin D: 2000 IUs

• Diet
  They also note (but this is obvious) that you should adhere to a well-balanced diet abundant in fresh fruit and veggies, reduce red meat consumption, limit caffeine consumption (wahh!) to less than 2 cups per day, and limit alcohol consumption to less than 3 times per week.

• Physical Activity
  Moderate exercise (but I have always been told you can maintain whatever you are currently doing)

And there you have it!

Stay tuned for what’s next… I’ll be documenting every step of the way this time around!