For as long as I can remember, all I’ve ever wanted was to become a mother and have lots of babies. When Jim and I got married in January 2001, we decided that we wanted to have 4 children. On March 19, 2001 I found out I was 4 ½ weeks pregnant. We were so excited that we told everyone we knew. Sadly on April 26th, after 3 trips to the ER, I miscarried. Everyone I talked to told me not to worry because everyone gets pregnant right away after a miscarriage. The doctors had no idea why I miscarried, but they said that because I had no problem getting pregnant the first time, it should be simple to get pregnant again. I told myself this every month as I took a pregnancy test. I knew each month would be “our month.” With each negative pregnancy test, our dreams slipped further and further out of our reach. I would dream every night of being pregnant and of holding our baby. I bought every pregnancy book I could find, because I knew we would need them soon. I took my temperature every morning and charted my cycles. I knew more about my body then I ever had in the past. But the months still went by with no pregnancy. The doctors kept telling me everything would be fine. They would say,  “Some times it takes a little longer to get pregnant.” My insurance company, Kaiser Southern California,  wouldn’t do any testing until we had been trying for a year

          A year finally passed and they agreed to do some testing. All of my hormone levels came back perfect. Jim’s semen analysis came back great. Unfortunately, they found out that I had contracted Chlamydia. I was treated for that and it was cleared up in 5 days. In Oct 2002, they agreed to perform a Hysterosalpingogram. I did all the research I could on this test. I studied x-rays of what normal tubes looked like and what blocked tubes looked like. So many people told me “Don’t worry, a lot of women get pregnant right after having this test. Usually if there is a little blockage, this test will clear it up.” So again my hopes were high. I just knew everything would be fine. My tubes would be clear and even if there were a little blockage, the test would clear it up. The doctor didn’t say a word while he performed the x-ray. I watched the x-ray screen and nothing on the screen looked familiar. The doctor wouldn’t tell me anything. He finished the test and let me get up. I couldn’t stand or walk to the car. I had to be taken in a wheelchair. The doctor called a week later to tell me that she didn’t have the x-rays in front of her, but she had read the report and my tubes were blocked. She said she didn’t know the extent of the blockage, but we had two choices: In Vitro Fertilization, or there was a possibility that they could do surgery to repair the tubes. We still had our hopes up. We chose surgery. I again researched as much as I could on the surgery. I found if the blockage wasn’t severe, there was a chance they could repair the damage, but if it were severe there would be nothing they could do. I called the doctor again to see if she could tell me how severe the damage was. She said we’d have to talk to the specialist. I made an appointment with the specialist, but they couldn’t get me in for a month.
November 2002, when we finally got into the specialist, she didn’t have our charts in front of her either. So she couldn’t tell us much of anything. She asked me if I saw the x-rays when they were being performed and asked what they looked like. She asked if I thought the blockage was severe. I didn’t remember exactly what they looked like, so I told her I thought the blockage was moderate. The specialist said she would look into my charts and see what she thought, but she doubted she would do the surgery.

              We then decided to switch insurance companies to Blue Cross  because we were so frustrated with the lack of help at Kaiser. Neither insurance company cover infertility 100%. They would both only cover 50% of all testing. Neither company would cover IVF or any other advance Reproductive Techniques. January 2003 we went to see a doctor at Huntington Reproductive Center in Fullerton, Ca. He specialized in IVF. We went to him to see what his thoughts were. He was skilled in repairing fallopian tubes. We had high hopes that he would be able to repair my tubes.  When we got into his office and he looked at my x-rays. By then, we had bought copies of them for ourselves. To see my xrays click here. The doctor said the blockage was very severe and there would be no way to repair the tubes. The tubes were severely swollen and filled with a toxic fluid called hydrosalpinx. I found out later that had they tested for Chlamydia in the beginning, we wouldn’t have had the problem with the tubes. But since we had to wait a year for any testing the damage was irreversible. Our only hope now was to have surgery to remove the tubes and go on to IVF. If we left the tubes intact and we got pregnant through IVF, then my chances of having a miscarriage again or a tubal pregnancy were extremely high. We were both only 25 years old. We were supposed to be able to get pregnant naturally. Jim sunk into a depression after this visit. He didn’t even want to get off the couch. He didn’t function very well for a little while and he’s the strong one. The Blue Cross wouldn’t cover the cost to have my tubes removed but they would cover the cost of a Tubal Ligation.
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    February 2003 we went to my regular OB/GYN, Dr. Engle, to have the tubal ligation done. We explained the entire situation to her. She agreed to put in the referral for the tubal ligation with no mention of the IVF. If infertility was mentioned at all the referral would be denied and we would have to pay half of the cost of the surgery. The referral was approved and I went to Dr. Garcia to have the surgery done. He said no problem. We scheduled the surgery for Feb 21st. I called the insurance company to make sure the referral for the surgery had gone through and they said it had not, it had been denied. They would only perform the surgery at the Family Planning Center —an Abortion clinic. I was outraged. There was no way I was going to go to an abortion clinic to have this surgery. I was desperate to have children. There was no way I could handle going to a place where they got rid of the very thing I was so desperate to have. I fought for a month with the insurance company and they stood their ground. They said no they would not do it with the doctor they had approved in the first place.
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  I found out that my first insurance, Kaiser, hadn’t been cancelled yet, so I went back to them and they said they would do it, but I had to go through a class to make sure this was what I really wanted to have done. The only class that was available wasn’t for another month. I called every day to see if there were any cancellations. There weren’t. I called every location within a 50-mile radius of my house or work. Finally a nurse was willing to help me. I explained my situation to her and she said that she would just add me into one of the classes, even if it were full. I got into the class the next week. March 6th 2003 (the day my sister was being induced with her first baby) Jim and I sat through this hour-long class full of pregnant women and their significant others. All these women were here to ensure they would never be able to have children again and here we were doing this as our only chance to have children. I knew they had no idea why I was there and that it was killing me to sit there with all of these women. We watched the videos, signed the consent forms and made it through the class. We were told we had to wait at least 3 days before we could do the surgery to ensure that we wouldn’t change our minds. I called the very next day to see when I could get my appointment —I knew I wouldn’t change my mind. The nurse said she didn’t have any openings for 4 months. I explained my situation to her and told her the sooner we got the surgery done, the sooner we could go on to IVF. She said the doctor she needed to talk to wasn’t in that day, but she would talk to the doctor when she came in and see what she could do. She called back about 10 minutes later and said the doctor had called in and she was able to schedule the surgery for March 27th. March 16th I was informed that, that insurance was cancelled and I couldn’t have the surgery done there. I was again devastated.
We childless women share a pain. Fertile women who never had to work for their children are blissfully ignorant of the enormous gift they have been given.