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CAn I even have a Baby?
The early September revelations left me, well us, reeling. This began what unbeknownst to us would begin a long drawn out process full of medical tests and self doubt. I decided before we got to far along in our dreams that I couldn't decide if I actually wanted a baby until I knew if it was even possible for me to conceive. We had what felt like a mountain of obstacles in our path.
- I have PCOS
- I was 39 - I’ve heard the term advanced maternal age more than I would wish on anyone
- My husband had, had a vasectomy decades earlier
I did an incredible amount of internet sleuthing and googling, made Drs appointments in both Texas and California to get double the opinions. And researched fertility clinics in the Northern California area.
My first doctors appointment was with my longterm Gyno in Texas in October 2023. Prior to moving to California I had been seeing this doctor for almost 20 years and was who I had placed all my trust in. She ordered my initial blood work and helped kick off the quest to determine what state my hormones, ovaries, and health was in. I was lucky I had called and asked if there were any cancellations and to my good fortune was able to get into her office last minute on one of our short trips home.
The Fertility clinic I had reached out to in Sacramento called me and we scheduled our first consultation for November 2023. Armed with the reports of my bloodwork and tests from my gyno in Texas, we met with who would become my Reproductive Endocrinologist, Dr. L.
We were so excited for our first appointment with Dr. L. though we had no real idea of what the processes and options would look like for us. The first appointment was very overwhelming. It was an incredible amount of information, and lots of very very dire statistics. After a very thorough review of both of our medical histories, we were presented with a few options.
- Perform a vasectomy reversal and try naturally
- All of my blood work and general health indicated that I would be able to potentially conceive on my own. However, and this was stressed as a very big IF- the likelihood given my age, even without PCOS is pretty dismal for conceiving naturally. Additionally, there is a chance that my husbands reversal would not work.
- Perform a vasectomy reversal and try IVF
- For IVF to be successful, this method is assuming my husbands reversal was successful.
- Perform a vasectomy reversal and try IVF &ICSI
- This is an additional step in the IVF process some people go through where a single sperm is injected directly into the egg
- Perform a sperm retrieval surgery (no reversal) and try IVF & ICSI
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