Should I go to RE earlier than needed?

[Anonymous]

I have only been TTC for 3 months. I have a 2yo ds and had a miscarriage in November. I am 29 years old.
I will try 3 more months, and then I would like to see a RE to check that there is nothing wrong. I would not do any interventions (iui, ivf, etc) until 1 year, but I would like to check on things and get an answer so that I know there is nothing wrong, as I would hate to have to wait 1 year and then find out there is something wrong and then it would take even longer to get pregnant.

Does this sound crazy? Am I stupid for worrying so early when I don't have anything to worry about yet?

[Anonymous]

I say yes and no. I don't think you're crazy for going in at 6 months even though you're young. They'll do the standard work-up and if they don't find anything then you can keep trying for another 6 months.
HOWEVER -- please do NOT stress yourself out!! That will not help you get pregnant. You are young, you have already had a child. Please, chill and relax!

[Anonymous]

Thanks. I need to read that. I can't help it, i am an idiot.

[Anonymous]

Honestly, I would wait. I started the work-up at age 30 after not getting pregnant for 6 months. My husband ended up having screwy sperm analysis results. We did IVF and got pregnant with twins. Then at 6 months post partum we got pregnant again naturally. I will always wonder whether we ever really needed IVF or whether our number simply hadn't come up yet with only TTC for six months. I wouldn't stress about this if I felt that our case was an isolated one. However, I can think of 3 couples (that I know in real life) that had a similar thing happen to them and many more among the stories I followed on online infertility message boards.

[Anonymous]

Unless you have symptoms indicative of an underlying health problem, I would try the full year before going to an RE.

[Anonymous]

I was in a similar situation as poster 23:13. I went to my ob/gyn for my regular annual after about 6 months of trying and he ordered a semen analysis for my husband as a first-line test. Turns out there were some issues. After about 10 months of fertility treatment (2 IUIs, 2 IVF) we got pregnant with a singleton. Hopefully we'll be as lucky as that poster and will be able to conceive naturally for #2. And don't beat yourself up too much for stressing about it - I have been there and can totally sympathize. Do whatever you can to minimize your stress, but please keep in mind that that stress absolutely is NOT going to prevent you from getting pregnant - don't let anyone else tell you otherwise.

[Anonymous]

I would track my cycles - check your BBT and use an ovulation predictor kit. This could help you time your trying and let you know if you are ovulating. I did this after my MC and found that my leutal phase is too short (8 days). If I wouldn't have done this I don't think I would have gotten a referral from my primary care physician.

Like PP suggested I would wait close to a year if you don't find anything with tracking your fertility.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would track my cycles - check your BBT and use an ovulation predictor kit. This could help you time your trying and let you know if you are ovulating. I did this after my MC and found that my leutal phase is too short (8 days). If I wouldn't have done this I don't think I would have gotten a referral from my primary care physician.

Like PP suggested I would wait close to a year if you don't find anything with tracking your fertility.

I am starting to track temperature and OPKs too. I don't need a referral to see a specialist, so I could just make an appt. whenever....

Thanks for the advice.

[Anonymous]

OP please understand that once you go to an RE there will be tests, blood draws, semen analysis, etc. I would wait until I really needed help TTC before doing all that. You may find that you do all that and then get pregnant on your own, and therefore, if you had waited a bit, could have avoided unnecessary medical procedures. I'm sorry about the loss, but your body is just healing.

[Anonymous]

Here's my confession (which very very few people know) - I went to an RE after TTC for 3 months! Yes, I am crazy. I just wanted my DH and I to have a workup, because I didn't want to try for a year (I was under 30), only to then find out something was wrong. Sure enough, my DH had poor morphology. We did an IUI on the 5th month, and now I have an 18 month old DS! So I obviously don't have any regrets. That being said, with DC #2, we tried it on our own, and got pregnant on the second month. So, we probably didn't need any interventions. But I wouldn't change a thing! I don't think it hurts to just get a minimal workup to make sure all is okay. But it's a personal decision.

[Anonymous]

If you have gotten pregnant twice there is likely nothing wrong. Personally, I doubt an RE would even agree to run any tests.