Holy crap...this is for real

Yesterday Kent arrived at my office at 12:30pm with low-carb salads, diet cokes and a cleaner for the floor in one of my exam rooms. He hasn't turned into my helper, we were having a quick lunch and practice repair job before we went to the RE. RE...what's that you say? I had to look it up too as I am not terribly into all of the lingo around pregnancy. RE would be the Reproductive Endocrinologist. Basically the dude who shook my hand and said he would help me get pregnant. Who knew you could get pregnant with a hand shake...crap I would be an Octo-mom by now.

Anyways. Kent and I arrived in their office by promptly taking the elevator down two floors in the building I work in (can't take the stairs as they are locked for security). We entered the beautiful glass doors and serene room and it was empty. Just Kent, myself, the receptionist and a candy bowl that had Kent's name all over it. We had a 1:15pm appointment so the majority of their staff was probably on lunch. Being a manager of a medical practice I understand the functioning of the whole doctor office staff craziness quite easily. Kent and I filled out our appropriate paperwork and then we went and sat down. We both were a little giddy, and almost giggly. Kent actually started laughing and told me that he didn't know if we were old enough to have kids yet. My 38 1/2 year old husband who is going to his 20 year high school reunion next month is still wondering if we were old enough. I laughed and told him I thought the same thing. I was more thinking...holy crap, this is for real now.

Kent and I were lead into their back office and it was almost like a gauntlet of rooms and back office staff just sort of waiting to help you, or at least check out your clothes or ass. My mind instantly thought...hhhmmm, I know how medical people are; do they take bets on who has the screwed up junk..the man or the woman? I was lead into a room and had my blood pressure and weight checked. Yeah, let's just say my weight is even HIGHER than it was 3 days ago. I'll blame it on the soy sauce I used for dinner the night before. Kent and I then waited in a consult room for what felt like an eternity as I was starting to get nervous. There was an informational VAGINA (I feel like that needs to be in all caps as that is what it felt like) diagram so that I could see all the crap that could be potentially wrong. At least there was an Elle Decor magazine on the desk for Kent and I to drool over and make our thumbs up or thumbs down to for design.

Dr. Hickok came into the room and I became super nervous. We all shook hands and he looked at Kent and I and said, "So you two would like to have a baby." I seriously looked at Kent like..do we? Holy crap, it that why we are here? This isn't to sign up for a 401K? I haven't really had someone sit down with both of us in a medical setting and ask us that question before. It became TOTALLY real and super scary. We both laughed and said yes. I then went off in a nervous rant about how I am 34, I have PCOS and I never thought I would get married or have kids so now I am worried and how are we going to get pregnant. Over the course of a few minutes Dr. Hickok did an excellent job explaining what PCOS is and how he can work with it etc. Then he said the most beautiful words I could have asked. Dr. Hickok started naming off the side-effects of PCOS and he started describing the hormonal imbalance I have and why it is so difficult to lose weight. Hallelujah, Hallelujah. It was like an angel had descended from the sky. I felt SO much better. I wanted to literally jump up and hug him for saying this, particularly in front of Kent.

Once we discussed my issues we started talking about a game plan. I loved how involved Kent was in the discussion. I was impressed with his questions and the fact that he was not embarrassed or afraid to ask anything. I loved the fact that he was telling Dr. Hickok about my "business" which is our key word for period. There's nothing like your husband talking about your period and its flow. Kent was awesome and then something happened...Dr. Hickok stopped talking about my body and turned to Kent. Dr. Hickok literally switched gears and looked at Kent and whipped about the Sperm Analysis handout and told Kent that he would need to "assess" his sperm. Kent, hand to God, put both of his hands up (almost like what you do when a cop would pull you over and says Hands Up!) and was like, "Woah, Woah, you mean in like 6 months." The doctor kept his eyes focused on Kent and said in a deadpan voice, "there is no point in putting your wife through all of these expensive and uncomfortable tests if you are shooting blanks." Hallelujah, Hallelujah; is it possible to have two Hallelujah moments it the course of 30 minutes? Sweet Jesus, I couldn't hold it in. I totally started laughing. I knew this is what Kent had feared and for weeks I told him not to worry about it. I really did not think they would test him so early, especially when we knew that I was not ovulating.

The rest of our visit was just finishing our game plan and then idle chit chat. Kent and I left feeling actually really good. I had been very nervous about what he was going to say. He assured me that I was in the right place and that there was no point in staying at my OB/GYN's office for another 6 months because we already know that I have something that is not working; that would be my ovaries! I also know that patients need to be their own advocates. I feel more confident than I have in quite awhile and I look forward to this next journey.