Chronology

October, 2010: C and I married. We agreed to put off pregnancy for a year or two to "enjoy being just husband and wife".

July, 2012: I met with OBGYN for a pre-pregnancy consultation and went off birth control. We discussed concerns of potential PCOS due to my early history of irregular menstrual periods, and he recommended going off birth control immediately to regulate my hormones.

January, 2013: C and I agreed this is when we would actively begin trying. I bought OPKs and planned to begin tracking, but no period ever came.

February, 2013: Met with OBGYN again and he confirmed I was not ovulating. Ran other blood work that confirmed PCOS (my testosterone is double what it should be... imagine my flexing muscles!) and prescribed 50 Clomid (CC).

First round of CC (50mg): My first seemingly regular cycle. I had a peak reading on the OPK and then my period arrived within 30 days. I was excited, even though I wasn't pregnant and ovulation was never confirmed. OBGYN recommended doing the same thing again.

Second round of CC (50mg): No peak OPK. No period. Blood work confirmed that I never ovulated. We added in Metformin.

Third round of CC (50mg + Metformin): Blood work again confirmed that I never ovulated.

June, 2013: During my fourth round of CC 100mg, I met with two different REs for consultations, knowing my OBGYN would not go higher than 150 and did not do any further monitoring beyond blood work. Both recommended fairly similar plans and did blood work that suggested ovulation but very low progesterone levels (Progesterone level = 4); however I never got a peak OPK reading so it was likely our timing was off. Prescribed prometrium, which I took for a week and then confirmed no pregnancy.

Fifth round of CC (100mg): monitored via ultrasound with RE#1, which showed minimal progress but lots and lots of little follicles (a trademark of PCOS). Progesterone was used to induce a period after 40+ days.

Sixth round of CC (150 mg): many more ultrasound monitoring appointments, at nearly $300 a pop, each showing minimal growth. Progesterone was used to induce a period after 40+ days.

Seventh round of CC (200 mg): Same as before. "Too many" little follicles, but no growth. Many more monitoring appointment. Progesterone was given after 40+ days but never brought on a period.

October, 2013: While waiting for my period and discussing the next steps with my current RE, I also consulted with the previous RE and ended up switching teams.

Began Letrozole (5mg) with RE #2, without needing to have a period because of low estrogen levels. After my first u/s with no progress, I was immediately bumped up to 7.5mg. Unfortunately, I still showed minimal progress after this and we decided to move on to injectable medications.

November/December, 2013: Induced a period with progesterone, then began my first round of Follistim. Monitored every 2-3 days for a total of 5 appointments. Five follicles looked to mature when they recommended we take the Ovidrel trigger shot. We decided to pursue "timed intercourse". I was nervous about the possibility of multiples and the need for selective reduction given five potentially mature follicles, but unfortunately this was in vain as there was no positive pregnancy test.

January, 2014: Returned for my baseline u/s to repeat an injectable cycle to discover that I had several large cysts and it was recommended I take a month off. In this time, I also discovered that the (relatively) low price of medicines was a slip of the pharmacy/insurance company and that the next round would cost significantly more. Began considering IVF and met with RE#2 to discuss this further. Also met returned to the original clinic, which offered a significant employee discount, and decided to switch back to this clinic but with a different primary doctor.

February, 2014: Began IVF, utilizing an antagonist protocol. My retrieval was on February 20th and was much more traumatic then I had anticipated, and then the transfer was five days later.

March, 2014: We find out that I am pregnant! We are now expecting one baby in November, 2014 and I am working on moving on from this fight and transitioning from infertility to motherhood.

November, 2014: After late-term complications of Pre-Eclampsia, our daughter is born, hereby named Beuhla in the blogosphere.