Should I Go Directly to a Fertility Clinic?

Hi,

Meet with your obygyn first. They can give you lots of helpful advice to get you going and then refer you if you need to, to a fertility specialist. Good luck and hope you get pregnant really soon!

Molly

hi there....=)
i was in the same boat....both my husband and i are 38 and went to see my ob/gyn (after trying since 12/2009) for a referral to a fertility dr. because of our age. she recommended a great dr. and we saw her in may, i ended up getting pregnant in june naturally but lost it at 3 weeks.

then we tried w/ iui on 8/13 and i just got the call yesterday tellin me my levels look great and i'm expecting!!
so, i say go for it!! whether u find the clinic on your own, or thru your dr....go find your baby =)

Infertility specialist will tell you that the older you get the chance of getting pregnant are slimmer. I was 28 years young, healthy and considered a "prime candidate" according to my invitro specialist. After many invitro attempts, many heartaches, and over 60 thousand dollars, I finally became a mother at 36. I would suggest that you try for at least one year with your ob/gyn helping you and running various tests to rule out infertility issues. My husband and I fell into the 10% bracket of couples where they could not determine what caused our infertility. I'm very happy to say that we now have a beautiful 8-year-old daughter as a result of a very caring egg donor. Whatever path you decide to take, I can tell you that motherhood is one of the most rewarding challenges you will ever face. Best wishes for you and your husband.

Ask if your ob will do a dye test to check that everyhing is open in your tubes. Also have your husband tested. I wouldn't delay! If ob won't do these test definitely bypass obgyn and go to a reproductive endocrinologist. Freqently woman get pregnant after the dye test bc it kinda flushes everything out. Also, are you in shape? Any type II diabetes in your family? Poly cystic ovarian syndrome is a common reason for infertility bc you don ovulate regularly. I have seen several recommendations for a book called taking charge of your fertility. Good luck! And most importantly, try not to stress!!

I would consult with your doctor first. I'm 37 now and 5 months pregnant. When I was trying to get pregnant the second time (I have a 6 y.o. child), my doctor gave me 6 months to try and said that after that if it didn't work naturally he would give me some hormones ("mild stuff" as his put it). It took us 4 months of trying. We tried to figure out "the best" days and catch those days. Trying for 4 months for you may not be long enough. You could simply miss the ovulation dates. Definitely talk to a doctor and see what he/she has to say!
Good luck!!!

First - a few questions - Do you have a history of miscarrage or failed pregnancies? Do you have a physical condition that can be very likely for your infertility? If you anwsered no to both, then you probabily should start with an OB, beside most fertility clinics would want you to spend at least a year trying before starting with them. Interview the OB cannadates to see if you can find one that will aggressively try to find out reasons and solutions for your infertility. At the same time, find one that is also open to referal to a fertility specialist.

Next - How do you plan on paying for Infertility treatment? If you want to use your health insurance, its best to chaeck what they cover now. Most health plans offer limited to no coverage for infertility treatments. Those that do cover typically want a referal from an OB for the first course of treatment. If you plan on paying out of pocket - be prepared for thousands of dollars worth of cost. Be prepared, since your only four months into "trying" you might want to exhaust all more cost effective options first.

To be honest, I don't think that there is time to start with a fertility specialist for THIS cycle. From my experience, it usually takes at least a month to get a first appointment. They usually have an initial consultation and then there are tests that they will do at different points in your cycle to see if there are any fertility issues. I think the first is day 3 of your cycle. They do a blood test to check your hormone levels. Then as you start to ovulate they can check to make sure everything is normal there. At some point, I forget when, they can push dye through your fallopian tubes to make sure they are open and there are no defects.
Keep in mind that 4 months of trying to get pregnant is not a long time. It takes most people about a year. Thirty eight is not really that old in my opinion and you could very well keep going along without fertility help and get pregnant just fine, but if you want to make sure there are no issues with your fertility then I think it is probably good to go get checked out.
Right now you can start researching fertility specialists so you can find one that is right for you. Ask your ob, but also try to get referrals from other people who've had success with them.
I used a fertility specialist that my ob recommended, but I was not really happy with him. The office was run like an assembly line and he had his standard protocol that he used and really never tried anything different if it didn't seem to be working for a particular woman.
Look for a Dr. who specializes in helping women over 35 and has a high success rate. I did not have success with my fertility specialist and IUI, but that doesn't mean that you won't.
I got pregnant for the first time at age 40. I got pregnant right away and had no complications. At age 43, I wanted to get pregnant again, but this time it wasn't so easy. After trying for 4 months, I went to see a fertility specialist and I found out that I had high FSH. (Basically the problem was just my age). I did IUI and hormones for 7 cycles with no luck. I had also been doing acupuncture so I stopped the fertility treatments and just did acupuncture and herbs and I got pregnant 6 months later. I now have two beautiful daughters. BTW, the fertility specialist only gave me a 1% chance of getting pregnant.
Just a word of advice, I'm sure that you've heard it before, but your mental state has a strong effect on your fertility. If you are feeling desperate to try to achieve something, your body tends to close up, but if you can surrender it all to a higher power (whatever one you believe in), your body will actually open up and be more receptive to getting pregnant.
The things that I think helped me were: a healthy diet with whole food and minimal processed food and refined sugars. Meditation, acupuncture, herbs, and yoga. Follow your gut with what will work for you. Do only what makes you feel relaxed, healthy and vital.

Feel free to contact me if I can give you any other info. I wish you the best of luck.
Also a couple of things that I found helpful:
Book-The Infertility Cure by Radine Lewis
Free newsletter- http://www.anjionline.com/
best,
B.

I tried to have a baby starting at 33. It wasnt' happening and within 6 months I went to a fertility specialist. This doctor was amazing, but before I get to that I remember what he had said to me. If you've been trying for 6 months to a year and have had no success go see your ob/gyn. Both of you should start getting tested. I would say avoid the pills, I did them for a year. When I told my doctor he said stop them immediately they are not healthy for you. Then he got me on the hormone shots. I did them myself, which were very easy (around the belly) didn't hurt a bit. Also chances are much stronger. The timing with your ovulation and the timing with your doctor have to be accordingly right. The first firtility doctor was a butcher. All he said to me was, "when do you feel like coming in to have your blood tested". As if I knew how all this worked.
I would say, be careful with the doctors you choose. Make sure they are friendly and caring, I think that was the main reason I initially didn't get pregnant with the first doctor. All he cared about was the money. It's all psychological too, my second fertility doctor basically sat us down, spoke calmly and cool to the both of us, and made us feel at home. He was there for everything. Me getting pregnant, giving child birth to two children at different times, and now I have his wife as my pediatrician.

One last thing, getting both of you tested should be done, because a friend of mine who insisted she was going to go "naturally" tried for 4 years. Two years ago she discovered she had endometriosis, had to go for surgery, and had to wait another 6 months until she healed. She's now 40 and still not pregnant. She's been going to a fertilitly specialist for the past year and a half. Unfortunately she's shut out all her friends, because she's very hurt that she has no children. So no, don't delay because as we get older things get tougher for some. Good luck to you.