My Infertility Journey: Birth Control

Obie Editorial Team

After getting the blood drawn, we went back to the car, and thank God I remembered I was supposed to get a prescription for birth control pills while I was there. I wouldn't have wanted to drive all the way home and then have to drive all the way back again to get it if I left without it. We went back inside and the receptionist found the prescription for me hidden behind other paperwork in my chart. It was for the same type of birth control I'd taken as a teenager, which made me feel more comfortable with it as I'd always done well with it back then.

The birth control was just to be taken for a month, so my cycle could be precisely regulated in preparation of starting the hormones that would produce mature eggs for extraction and get my uterus ready for pregnancy. I got the prescription filled on the way home and was amused at how excited my pharmacist seemed at the resemblance between me and my mother. She'd seen us both separately before, but never together. Together, she thought we looked like twins! It's something people comment on a lot, but my pharmacist seemed particularly enthused about it.

In addition to the birth control pills, I also got an appointment for the next week for an "education session" on IVF at the clinic. I thought the doctor had already explained everything to me pretty thoroughly at my initial consultation, plus I'd peppered the IVF coordinator with more questions over the phone. But this was apparently part of the whole IVF process there, and I had to admit, I probably still had more questions, even if I couldn't think of what they may be right then. It was a complex process, after all, and one that was new to me.

No matter how thoroughly you read up on something like this and no matter how many questions you ask in advance, there's probably going to be something that comes up during the process that is still a complete surprise to you. So the education session was the next step in the adventure and I was kind of looking forward to going to it, except they'd scheduled it way too early for my liking once again. What is it with doctors and wanting to schedule morning appointments?