The isle of infertility-is sure ain't like "Survivor".

A brief (well, not so brief) background on my struggle with conception:

My husband and I have been TTC (trying to conceive, in fertility lingo) for two and a half years. We became concerned when, after awhile, there was nothing on the baby front, so we went to my GYN to see what the hell the problem was. He ordered an HSG-a hysterosalpingogram-which is a test done in the radiology dept of the hospital where they put a contrast dye into your whoo-ha and watch it through a fluroscope to see whether or not the dye effectively moves through your uterus and out your tubes. The test couldn't be completed the first time because the radiologist found that my cervix was too narrow to put the catheter and instruments in. Needless to say, I only had taken two Motrin before the procedure, it hurt like a motherfucker, and there was blood all over when I got up off the table-not pretty.

So, my GYN referred me to an RE (reproductive endocrinologist-you'll find that there's a lot of acronyms and abbreviations in the world of infertility), who was wonderful-she repeated the HSG two months later, along with the help of some smaller instruments, Captain Valium, and some lidocaine, and found that my issue is tubal infertility-My right tube is completely blocked from the bottom, and the left tube had some slight spillage of dye. An ultrasound confirmed these results, along with a bulging of my left tube toward the ovary-not a good sign. The RE gave us a choice, either have surgery, which could possibly work, but might leave post-op scarring (and there was no guarantee that they could fix anything), or proceed to IVF.

I was, needless to say, devastated.

Well, we thought it over, and decided on IVF. The procedure was developed for women with these kinds of problems. The RE gave us a great chance at conception, given that my hormone levels were normal and that my husband's sperm were in great condition. The hitch-our RE no longer performed IVF due to the fact that she was head of the obstetrics dept of the hospital, so we'd have to go elsewhere, which SUCKED. But, my gyn recommended someone that we're now going to, who is good-very intelligent, kinda wacky, but hey, if he can get me pregnant, that's all that matters. He gave us a 65% chance at conception with IVF, which is really good. I am prepared that it might not work the first (or second) time, but I think that this is the way to go.

I'm nervous, excited, scared, but ready-two and a half years is more than long enough.