Our Infertility Treatment Plan

So, when you think of fertility drugs, most people think of IVF or just injections. But in reality there are lots of different drugs, ways to take them and all different kinds of treatments. Before we saw a specialist, I had been taking oral fertility drugs called Clomid and then Fermara, each for several months. Clomid is not a friendly drug, but it's the most basic and it's what most doctors have you start on.

Anyways, both of these drugs are taken for five days, twice a day. These types of medicines just stimulate the production of follicles (eggs) increasing the chance of conception because your body produced more and bigger eggs.

This is Fermara

Once we figured out that this nonprogressive treatment wasn't working, it was on to a specialist. Once we met with the Specialist, and we both had some basic testing done, we received our new treatment plan. This new "specialized" treatment involved taking Fermara for five days, twice a day as well as Gonal-f (injections) for five days. 

Gonal-f is a fertility drug that you inject. It comes in the form of a pen that you inject into the left or right side of your belly button. It's really not has bad as you think. Gonal-f is a medicine that helps eggs mature. A mature egg, which is what is released at ovulation, is at least 18mm. 

This is a Gonal-f injection

Once I have at least one mature egg, I get a "trigger" shot which is called Novarel. This drug is the Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (hCG) hormone. It triggers ovulation within 36 hours of getting the shot. Then after getting the shot it's time to get to the fun and easiest part of making a baby...sexy time! 

So that's our treatment. We will follow this treatment three times, then it's back to the drawing board for a new treatment, if this one doesn't work. In my next post, I'll share my experience actually taking the fertility drugs, how they know if I have a mature egg and what happens next. 

- Lauren