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			Concern Treatment Pregnancy Experiences Experiences Anna & Pete (Australia) Peter & Deirdre Hudson (UK) Sam McCuish (UK) Chantal & Philippe (Switzerland) Myriam (Switzerland) Nikki & Steve (Australia) The Discovery Deciding What To Do Visiting The Clinic What Was I Waiting For? Our Dream Come True		Nikki & Steve (Australia) Chapter Two: Deciding what to do After six months I was keen for us to have tests. Steve didn’t think it was all that important at that stage, but I had to know. I just thought, “if we are infertile I want to find out, so I can get over it and stop being consumed by it”. I didn’t really think it would be that easy to get over it, but I needed to know. So we had the tests. There were no problems. We were sent away to keep trying and told it would probably happen soon. It didn’t. I had done some reading on infertility. I knew that some people classed you as infertile when you had not conceived after six months without using contraception. Others preferred not to use the label until you had been trying for two years. I don’t know when I began to say we had unexplained infertility. My Battle Right from the beginning, I made it clear to Steve that I was not interested in fertility treatments. In my work I had met many couples who were infertile and had been through the IVF tread mill, only to be very disappointed. I had read some feminist material on IVF and none of it was good, from the nasty side effects they listed (like cancer) to the low success rate (I think my source said that the take home baby rate was actually only 6%). I didn’t like the idea that society made women feel that their worth was tied to their ability to reproduce and linked to that was a multi-million dollar industry. Surely there were much more noble areas for medical resources to be directed. Instead we tried natural remedies. Under the supervision of a naturopath, we went on a very restrictive diet and filled ourselves with supplements and herbal remedies. We stuck it out for 6-9 months before we gave it away. Steve is a very patient man and a very brave man! Four and a half years after we started trying to have a baby, he suggested we look into IVF. I had spent that time defending my anti IVF position to friends and relatives, all of whom wanted us to give it a try. Also, I had become a Christian and now had an ethical dilemma about what to do with unused embryos.  I agreed to look into it, reluctantly.
			© 2003-2008 Merck Serono S.A. -  Geneva.   Please read our Legal Statement. US residents should consult the EMD Serono, Inc. fertility website at www.fertilitylifelines.com Last Updated: 12/15/2008