Pro-what?

So, my HSG had come back normal. When I had my follow-up with the OB/GYN a week or so later she had said that the radiologist had confirmed what she had saw during the test, no visible reason why we should not be getting pregnant. So we were on to our next step. She wanted Tony to have a semen analysis and she also wanted to test my prolactin levels. I had no idea what prolactin was or even did. She informed me that women who are breastfeeding produce prolactin and this is why they do not (or are supposed to not) become pregnant.

Well, first I want to say that Tony's semen analysis came back fine--believe me he was thrilled and walked around for a while saying he had "Great Swimmers!" My prolactin test came back high---so maybe this was why we weren't getting pregnant. First I had to get an MRI of my pituitary gland to make sure that there wasn't a tumor or something which was making the gland produce the high levels when I obviously wasn't breastfeeding. This is when the next round of individuals found out about what we were going through.

I was back in school at this time (early fall '06) and was going to have to take an afternoon off in order to have the MRI. Lets just say that one of my co-workers, whom I love dearly, is a little persuasive when she wants to know something:) I finally had to give in and tell my coworkers what was going on. We are a pretty tight team, so they would need to know soon enough as I would be leaving for several appointments as time progressed.

So I went and had the MRI--which is very loud by the way--and everything was fine. My body was just producing higher than normal levels of prolactin. I began taking a pill to help regulate that. It took a couple of months to get the medication regulated so that my levels were within normal range. The doctor then wanted us to try for 6 months with my corrected levels. If after that time there was still no pregnancy, we would move on to the next step. She suggested that we use ovulation predictor kits to make sure we were "doing it" on the right days as well. So off we went with renewed hope that all I needed was one little pill in order for us to start our family...hmm that was a nice thought:)