My First ICLW

Hello fellow infertility bloggers! Welcome to my little corner of the internet. This is my first time participating in International Comment Leaving Week and I'm looking forward to connect with other bloggers in similar situations!

A little bit about me:

My name is Megan and I'm a 27 year old tattooed vegetarian. I am an Army Wife living in the Seattle area and a small business making various items from upcycled military uniforms.  I also have an Etsy shop with items specifically geared toward children of ART. I love baking, old movies, all things rockabilly and sewing. I grew up as the baby of five and have always dreamed of having a big family of my own.  My husband, Mike, is 30 and works in Army Aviation. He's a tattooed punk rocker, a Star Wars geek (my influence!) and loves to work on his Mustang. I met Mike on my very first day of college where he played football and I played volleyball.  We are beer snobs.

Scarves up Seattle Sounders!

We have four fur kids, two cats named Figaro and Quidditch and two dog named Zero and Bailey--all rescues. We love Notre Dame football and I have recently become a huge Seattle Sounders fan! We celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary this year with a trip to England, a trip we will never forget and full of memories we will always cherish. Infertility is hard but dealing with infertility AND Uncle Sam is especially hard since we always have to work around the Army's schedule.

Mike and I on our 7th Anniversary at Buckingham Palace

We began TTC in February of 2008. By August of that year, I knew something was wrong. I was charting, ovulating and having regular cycles but I still wasn't getting pregnant.  At my annual pap smear, my doctor told me that I was young and just needed to relax, that I "knew" too much about reproduction and that it would happen in time. Mike deployed to Iraq for the second time in October of 2008 so TTC was put on hold for a year.  He came home in October 2009 and we moved from Fort Drum, NY to Fort Lewis, WA in March 2010. In May 2010, I sought a referral to see an infertility specialist and was denied--we hadn't been TTC for 12 consecutive months.  In September of last year, I was finally seen at the Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility clinic on post. We received the diagnosis of unexplained infertility.

In the past year I have had a HSG, hysteroscopy, numerous blood tests, more ultrasounds than I can count, four rounds of Clomid, two rounds of Femara, four failed IUIs and a laparoscopy that revealed Endometriosis, left ovary adhesions and a partially blocked left fallopian tube (finally a diganosis!) . We're at the point where we're ready to move to IVF but aren't sure if we want to stay with the Army clinic, mostly due to the substandard care we're received and the extremely long IVF waiting list. We have our first consultation with a civilian clinic next week to get a second opinion and discuss other avenues for IVF.  We are on our 35th month of trying to conceive.

Thanks for stopping by. I know how isolating infertility can be and I often take comfort in reading the stories of women in situations like mine.  I look forward to "meeting" some new bloggers and sharing our journey with you.