Uncovering Truths

As part of the process to qualify for IVF, there is a fairly rigorous series of blood work and ultrasounds that need to be done.  The doctor wants to make sure that you are a good candidate for success.  A full blood count was done; we were tested for cystic fibrosis (among other things), vitamin D levels, and thyroid function. When my thyroid results came back it actually showed that I have a mild case of hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid).  There have been several tests that have linked hypothyroidism to the increased chance of miscarriage.  So although that result ended up putting the IVF cycle off for two months while I got my levels back to normal, I was still glad that they found it.

When I was growing up, my mom eventually told my sister and I that she had had three miscarriages besides her two successful ones.  And I’m pretty sure that my grandma had two, so I had always been a little concerned that I might be at a higher risk for miscarriage.  And with the process we have to go through just to get pregnant, I wanted to avoid that at all costs.  I’m sure, when my mom was pregnant in the 60s and 70s, no one thought or knew to test for thyroid function, so it went undiagnosed.  However, when my sister got married and before they even started trying to have kids, she found out that she has the same thyroid condition.  Since it had already been treated by the time she did get pregnant, she never had a miscarriage.  To me that was a huge connection. I was certainly willing to delay if it meant increasing our chances of success the first time around.

I also had a hysteroscopy, which is a scope (with a camera!!) of my uterus to make sure it is healthy and that it will be welcoming of the retrieval and transfer process.  As Joe so delicately put it, we definitely don’t have that channel on our TV at home.  Although it is a little odd to watch your uterus on a TV screen, it was still pretty neat.  And I found out that my uterus is naturally tilted about 45 degrees -  nothing to worry about.  But who would’ve known!!