Battling Infertility

When we lost our first baby early in my pregnancy last 2013, my roommate's  (my husband, btw) and my immediate urge to cope with the loss is to replace the baby right away.

My OB from Makati Med, Dra. Marinette Sto. Domingo, however, recommended that we wait for 6 months before we tried to conceive. This was to give my body and my uterus a sufficient time to heal and recover. During those time, my roommate and I had a healthy lifestyle. He even took Selenium with Vit. E to improve the health of his spermies. 

However, three months after our 6-month rest period had passed, and we were still not able to conceive, my roommate and I underwent some infertility treatments. Not because we weren't able to get pregnant (because technically I did), but because we're concerned we could be having problems staying pregnant. Dra. Sto Domingo told me perhaps the reason why I had a miscarriage last 2013 was either because I had an unhealthy egg or my husband had unhealthy sperms; thus, resulting to a blighted ovum.

However, we sat down together and had a serious heart-to-heart talk. There were many things that were going on in our minds then.

What if we couldn't conceive? 

What if I had the problem? 

What if he had the problem? 

What would our next steps be? 

Are we open to adoption? IUI? IVF? 

Do we have enough money to prepare for all these? 


Just thinking about all these was already very stressful, and it wasn't helping us at all! Dra. Sto Domingo and my close friends kept assuring us that all would be okay, and we just had to keep a positive attitude towards it.

We did. And we prayed. Hard.

Really hard.

After a trans-V ultrasound (Php 2,300 @ Makati Med), I started taking Clomiphene for 5 consecutive days five days after my period. This was done for 3 - 6 menstrual cycles, and then my OB evaluated whether my body was responding well to the meds by ovulating; hence, we avoided contact until she told us it's okay. It was a strict prescription, so to speak. 

A dominant follicle in my left ovary 

On the 10th day, I underwent a follicular monitoring (Php3,800 @ Makati Med; Php2,400 @ New World). This involved a series of trans-v ultrasound (3 days with a day or 2 interval) just to look out for "dominant" or the biggest follicles and see if any of these follicles released an egg.

We needed to go back to Makati Med after each u/s and show the result to our OB. When she saw that I had ovulated, she would then told us when to you know...do it. It's possible there would be a lot of mature follicles and that could result to having multiples, aaaaannnnnddddd we're trying to avoid that. 

On my first cycle, I failed to ovulate so I had a trigger shot of hCG (around Php1,000 @ Makati Med). This tricked the brain that I needed to ovulate so it would force my dominant follicles to actually release the egg. hCG shots should only be administered by your trusted OB because random administration could cause ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome. 

My clomiphene cycle continued for 3 consecutive months. It was tiring and frustrating (and expensive, too!) just thinking about why we couldn't conceive yet. Before my third month ended, my OB had my roommate checked for sperm count and total sperm health at Victory Lab. According to her, the difficulty to conceive was not always the woman's fault. Husbands should be checked as well; after all, it takes two to tango. I'm very fortunate that my roommate was very open to the procedure. I'm sure that not all men would be willing to have a check-up because of their fear that they could be the problem. 

So, with an open mind and an open heart, after a 5 day abstinence, we went to Victory Lab also in Makati for a Sperm Analysis (roughly Php1,000). We're not sure whether Makati Med offers this service. We then consulted Dr. Nikko J. Magsanoc who informed us that the results were good, and it was really just a matter of timing.

*Sigh of relief* 

Since Dra. Sto Domingo requested that I take a rest from the treatments and Dr. Magsanoc said that it was just a matter of timing, my roommate and I decided to break free from all these things that stressed us and went to Hongkong and Macau for a second honeymoon.

True enough, we conceived the following month! And we felt truly blessed!

Thank God and Makati Med doctors.ü

From one tiny follicle to this lovely baby girl! 

Dra. Marinette T. Sto. Domingo 

3rd Floor Makati Medical Center 

02.815.9679
For appointment 

Dr. Nikko J. Magsanoc 

02.892.8863

888.8999 loc 2123
For appointment 

Makati Medical Center 

5/F Tower 2 OR-DR Complex 

# 888.8999 loc 3500, 3501, 3503 

7am to 5pm 

Needs appointment for follicular monitoring 

New World Diagnostics, Inc. 

Campos Rueda Bldg. 101 Urban Ave. San Lorenzo

# 887.5498 

Accepts Walk-in only

Victory Art Laboratory Phil. Inc.
Unit D-1 Medical Plaza, Legaspi Village
#884.2290
Accepts walk-in