So now what?

I met with the doctor two days after my pregnancy test, as scheduled, and she told me that she expected it to have happened by now, that I have been checked for everything that it is possible to check, and so has the sperm, so it should be happening. She recommended starting Clomid and went over the side effects with me, both the common and the rare but severe. She said that it would give more opportunities for fertilization, and then I should move on quickly if that isn't working either. She also suggested choosing a new donor, stating that it's possible that this sperm just isn't a match for my body. She said that she normally can't suggest this as an early-on solution because couples with a male partner would obviously not be quick to give up on his sperm. But we have "the luxury" of trying a switch there to see if that works.

I tried to explain to her, without investing too much energy into getting her to understand the emotional stakes, that choosing a donor was a very intensive process. We put a lot into it and it was very difficult to find the perfect one, and we're hesitant to give up on it and start all over with a donor search if we really just need to be patient for a couple more months. So she suggested doing one Clomid cycle with this donor, and then a second with a new donor if that doesn't work, and then if it STILL doesn't work, we should look at IVF. Of course this rushed plan assumes that my body actually responds to the Clomid and makes two to three eggs in each of these two additional cycles, which, spoiler alert, it hasn't yet.

I bristled at the mention of IVF. I just don't think I'm ready to go there yet. It's so intense and puts my body through so much - and while I won't hesitate to do it if I am truly convinced that that's my only way to achieve pregnancy, there's something about it that feels more artificial and disturbs me just a bit. Not enough to never do it, but enough not to want to jump to it prematurely as a shortcut. It's also super expensive, and since if I AM infertile it would be "unexplained infertility," my insurance won't cover it this early on. I just don't think I'm ready to be at my last resort. It's only been three tries!

I was taking one pill prior to this journey. ONE.

Another option is a recently offered known donor. My wife's friend's husband has always wanted to donate, and his wife said this would be the only way she would feel comfortable with it, if it is to help friends she knows personally. They live in Massachusetts and would be someone that our child could have access to but wouldn't grow up around or be close with. We could get a few free tries out of this (the cost of travel and hotel stay during a fertile week would still be so insignificant compared to our current fertility expenses), and if that didn't work - with a new donor and using fresh sperm as frequently as we need to - then we could embrace the "unexplained infertility" and discuss IVF. (We could even be saving up for that in the meantime, just in case.)

But this is STILL not something I just want to jump to. What if my body just needs a little more time? It's the doctor's job not to let people just put their money in a sinkhole without suggesting trying something different. That's their agenda. But my agenda is stubbornly spending more money than we have on something that hasn't been working. What is the middle ground? Who is right? I don't think there's any way to tell unless I could live in a parallel universe and try both options to see what works first. But we don't have that luxury, and we have to make a decision. At what point do we give up on our cherished donor? At what point do we give up on IUI? At what point do we give up on using a clinic and suck up the complications of using a known donor? We could make a sharp left turn and never know that that was the month it would have worked if we'd stayed the course. Every month that we have to decide whether to make a life-altering, future-altering change to our plans, we have the nagging question, "But what if this next month would be the one when it works?"

The pressure is more than either of us can stand right now. We feel at a breaking point. What I DO know is that, as per my sonogram this morning, this low dose of Clomid did nothing for me and I have only one egg to try with this month. So I'm trying to relax and do this "one more cycle" without worrying about the what-ifs, because if it doesn't work, we will unfortunately have a few months off to think it all through a million times over.

Hand-drawn Chinese fertility art that A&A passed on to us and is now hanging up next to our bed. Note the phallic image pointing right toward the empty tunnel, and the babies pouring out of the other tunnel. Classic.