Options

From the very moment I discovered I had a problem, I started thinking of all the options open to me in order to get a baby. Many women run the gamut of tests & procedures, and although not all are successful, enough are to give hope and make an industry. Many turn to adoption. Many decide to foster. Many choose to remain childfree. So which of these options are still on the table for me?

Drugs
I'm not unwilling to take fertility medicine, but only up to a certain point. Clomid is as far as I can see myself going. Part of it is because I cannot afford to be monitored, which is usually a requirement for most of the Big Guns. The other part is because my husband is against taking any drugs at all, and that if we can't have a baby naturally, it just wasn't meant to be. While I don't necessarily agree with him on the no drug part, his view on the other part falls in line with what I generally believe in life... that if it was meant to happen, it will happen. So I guess it's a huge step for me to even see the RE, let alone take some minor fertility drugs.

Procedures
All along, IVF has been off the table. I feel I cannot put myself through the mental, physical and financial strain for something that may not work. Even when my old medical coverage would cover 1 IVF procedure & drugs, I never even considered it. IUI is also off the table, mostly because I'd need to be monitored to do it.

Adoption
Adoption has always been an option for us, although we would likely find a birth mother who was still pregnant. While I have nothing against toddlers and older kids, I just want a new baby. Makes me sound selfish, and maybe I am, but it is what it is. Anyway, once we decide to stop TTC, this will be our next step. Hopefully the adoption tax credit will still be in place. Otherwise it might be a difficult go for us financially.

Fostering
I'm not totally opposed to it, but it makes me leery. I know I can adopt through fostering, but there will be a very small chance at adopting a baby through foster care. Not only that, but I'm not sure I'm up to the task of being a foster parent in general. Tons of unknowns, and while I understand that the whole goal of fostering is to reunite the kids with the parents, I'm not sure I can handle sending kids I've been caring for and loving back to a home whose situation is tenuous at best.

Childfree
This option has been entering my brain more and more. I think, "our life is full and happy, and we don't NEED kids to make it more so." And it's true. All the things infertiles hate to hear from other people are sometimes true... we can sleep in if we want to; we can leave town on a whim; we have plenty of money to do fun things with, etc. So in the end it will come down to whether we will regret this decision in the future, or if we really will be fine with only living vicariously through friends in the kid department, which is what we are doing right now. This option is still a few years off from being seriously considered though.