Another Avenue

As a result of THIS comment, my wife and I looked into yet another option for solving our infertility woes. The Creighton Model FertilityCareTM System is described as follows:

The CrMS relies upon the standardized observation and charting of biological markers that are essential to a woman's health and fertility. These "biomarkers" tell the couple when they are naturally fertile and infertile, allowing the couple to use the system either to achieve or to avoid pregnancy. These biomarkers also telegraph abnormalities in a woman's health. The CrMS allows a woman to unravel the mysteries of the menstrual cycle.

I contacted a lady in the Detroit area who is a "teacher" of the program - she was very kind, and very eager to provide insights on the program. What really grabbed me was her assessment of the rise of IVF clinics in the U.S. over the past 30 years. She said that IVF clinics, in general, are very eager to bypass diagnosing the root cause of a couple's infertility, opting to proceed directly to IVF - the highest margin-generating procedure they can conduct. The Creighton Model helps people figure out what is wrong through analysis of data, then offers remedies to correct the problems upon diagnosis. The lady told me that after only two months of collecting data on a woman's cycle, they can tell "a lot" of information about what is wrong. She made it very clear that there is "a lot" that they can learn in that period of time by repeating the words "a lot" two times in a row:

There is a lot, a lot we can learn from just two months of charting.

Anyways, this lady is in the process of scheduling an introductory session in which she will provide an overview of the program. My wife and I plan to attend. If we like what we see, $500 will buy the materials required to collect and track data as well as 8 one-on-one (actually, one-on-two) sessions with this lady in which she analyzes our charts, diagnoses and remedies our problems with natural methods. In the world of infertility, $500 is nothing, so we're thinking we are going to proceed. We feel as this can only help, and we can proceed with Dr. M. at the same time as we follow this course. Either way we'll learn more as we walk a little further down the road. What's even better - my hard-core Catholic parents (the ones who drag you out of bed on a Sunday morning when you are still drunk have a mild hangover to go to church) are thrilled as this program is affiliated with Natural Family Planning methods. As long as it works, I'm cool with it.