My HSG Experience

We are officially done with all of our IVF prerequisites!! Woohoo!!! We got a little rushed with getting it all done due to lovely AF showing up a week earlier than expected. Can I just say that one of the most frustrating things to me about infertility is the whole thing isn’t scheduled around when you want to do things, but totally around when your body decides it wants to do things which always seems to fall at the most inconvenient times! But anyways, Brandon & I went and got our blood work completed at the beginning of last week and I got my HSG scheduled!

I’ve gotten a lot of questions about what an HSG is, so I wanted to write something to share my experience for those who are just curious, as well as for anyone out there that may be having an HSG as well. Some of the parts may be a little TMI but I want to be totally open for anyone that may need one done. Just remember this is my experience, other people’s experience may be different than my own.

I have to admit I was so nervous to have the HSG done. I’ve read all of the horror stories online, along with the ones saying it wasn’t a big deal at all, so I didn’t really know what to expect! This definitely did not help my anxiety, because I’m the type of person that likes to know every little detail of what I’m getting into. Needless to say my anxiety was through the roof yesterday, and it didn’t help that it wasn’t until 2pm so I had all day to get myself worked up about it.

My HSG was scheduled at a surgery center so I had to show up a hour early for paperwork, etc. After filling out the paperwork I was taken back to get ready. They did a pregnancy test just to make sure, since this obviously cannot be done if you’re pregnant. I was then given one of those lovely paper hospital gowns and had to undress from just the waist down. They gave me an IV just in case I had an allergic reaction to the dye, and then Brandon was able to come back and sit with me until it was time for the procedure.

After just hanging around until it was time with the very painful IV in my wrist (turns out it wasn’t put in correctly but that’s another story), my doctor came by and went over the procedure with us and they wheeled me back to the room.

Once in the room I got hooked up to the machine to monitor my heart rate and blood pressure while my doctor got everything laid out and ready and they wheeled in the giant x-ray machine. The doctor and the nurse got my legs all situated and strapped in the lovely padded stirrups. There’s just no way to sugar coat it, it is embarrassing to lay there like that in a very brightly lit room, but I just had to remind myself this is their job and they don’t think anything of it.

So, she first inserted a metal speculum like they use at the gynecologist. Next she cleaned my cervix which honestly just felt like some pressure down there. She then warned me that she was going to numb my cervix and it would feel like a bee sting but to try and stay as still as possible. I braced myself for the worst but honestly didn’t feel it at all. So I started thinking “sweet! this is going to be a breeze!” Well she then started inserting the dye, and it was instant intense cramps. It wasn’t unbearable and I didn’t cry or anything like that, but it was definitely enough to sky rocket my heartbeat and make me want it to be over as quickly as possible. Luckily it’s a very quick process, and they got the pictures and the whole thing was over with in a couple minutes from start to finish. I think mine was even longer than what most people will experience because I somehow got knicked in the process and the doctor had to apply some stuff to stop the little “trickle” of blood. This may be tmi for some but afterwards I could also feel the dye leaking out. It wasn’t like a gush or anything but felt more like my period.

One of the great things about the HSG is that you get your results right then and there. So while the nurses were getting me unstrapped the doctor went through the pictures and let me know that everything looked perfect and we were good to go proceeding with IVF!

Afterwards they wheeled me back to a little room with a curtain, where they removed the IV, let me get dressed, and brought Brandon back to me. They went over our discharge instructions which consisted of what to watch for in case of infection and we were good to go!

I did continue to have some really strong cramps at times yesterday after getting back home and I’ve had some mild cramps today, along with some slight nausea this morning. I was starting to feel completely back to normal this evening when I got home from work until my big baby of a mastiff decided to plop on top of me which started the cramps back up again…

Overall, while it wasn’t a pleasant experience, it definitely wasn’t an unbearable one, and it was cool being able to see the x-rays. I’m just happy that it’s over with and can now move foward! Next step is the IVF class which is scheduled for next week!

If anyone has any questions, definitely let me know. We love to answer peoples questions and are trying to be as much of an open book as possible through this process! 🙂

Our Infertility Story

When Brandon and I got married in March of 2013 we never in a million years would of guessed that we would have trouble starting a family. You see twins and triplets run in my family, I’m actually a twin myself. So our biggest hope when we got married was having just one baby at a time, instead of the litters that my family seemed to have. We never would of guessed that we would eventually be hoping that we could get pregnant at all.

As soon as we got married the debate on when to have kids started. Brandon wanted to wait a couple years while I wanted to only wait 6 months to a year to start. We eventually compromised on waiting a year. By the time that first year was up I couldn’t wait to actively start trying but also was starting to get a little nervous. You see while we weren’t “trying” for that first year we also weren’t preventing. So I couldn’t believe that we hadn’t gotten a surprise in that time. That was very quickly put out of my mind because we got pregnant! We were so beyond ecstatic. We instantly started telling our friends and family and planning for the future. At around 6 weeks those dreams very quickly started to turn into a nightmare as I realized something wasn’t right, and we ended up miscarrying. We were devastated, but I clung to the hope that a lot of women in my family miscarried on their first pregnancy and ended up getting pregnant again very quickly.

We didn’t wait long to start trying again as we yearned for a baby after having our previous dreams shattered. Month after month went by, and I began to get more and more frustrated. That fear that something was wrong started to creep back but everyone kept telling us “you got pregnant once so you know everything works! You’ll get pregnant again, just give it time!” Well after we had passed what would of been our due date and we still weren’t pregnant, I knew it was time to find out what was going on.

I had a routine checkup with my OBGYN and informed him of my concerns. He didn’t think that we had any real “issues” but maybe just needed an extra boost to achieve pregnancy again. So he referred us to a RE (reproductive endocrinologist) to help with that.

Going into our first visit we were so hopeful that was the case and that we would be a super easy fix. We met with our RE and did an exam and during discovered that I was actually very close to ovulating, even though I was towards the back end of my cycle. Our RE informed us that my luteal phase was too short and if I was to get pregnant my body wouldn’t have enough time to realize before my period started. Luckily this could easily be fixed with some meds. We left in high spirits that we had an easy fix just like we thought! We were back on the road to our baby!

That next month we tried again on our own with the assistance of the meds, one of which was a shot to make me ovulate which scared the crap out of me! That month gave me the first tiny glimpse of what all is involved in infertility from the ultrasounds, medications, crazy hormones/mood swings, etc. Besides that, the month went great, but we still didn’t get pregnant.

So we met back with the RE and discussed starting IUI(Intrauterine insemination) to up our chances even more. Brandon had to go in to give a sample first to make sure everything was good to go on his end. On the day my most precious nephew was born I got the call with his results. His count was extremely low, and IUI wasn’t even an option for us now. Needless to say I went on the most intense emotional roller coaster all in one day. Our RE referred us to another doctor for him to find out what was going on.

After we met with that Doctor we felt a lot better again. He told us the fact that we got pregnant before was a huge plus for us, and prescribed Brandon some meds to bump up his numbers to where we needed them to be. We then had to start the waiting game. You see it takes 3 months to be able to tell if the medicine is doing what it’s supposed to. After those 3 long months were up we were excited and ready to get back on track!

Brandon gave another sample and we went to meet with the RE to discuss the results. Unfortunately his numbers still had not improved like they should have and we were told if we wanted to get pregnant IVF(in vitro fertilization) would be our only option. This obviously was a like a punch in the gut and took us a little while to digest.

IVF is an extremely expensive procedure for only about a 50/50 shot of getting pregnant, and insurance does not help with it at all. On top of that our RE gave us a list of pre-requisites that we have to complete before we can even start the process. Including me having to lose at least 30 pounds and have an HSG(hysterosalpingogram) done, and both of us having to have a fair amount of blood work done. So on top of the expense of IVF itself, we’re looking at spending around $1000 to just complete the pre-reqs. We’ll then have to go take an IVF class that costs another $200-300.

I’ve currently lost 23 pounds of the required weight so we’re hoping to be able to get all the pre-reqs done next month finally. I’ll post updates of our process as we have them!

If you have a similar story or if you have any questions for us or suggestions for posts you’d like to see in the future, leave a comment and let me know! Or you can always reach out to me through one of the links on the side!