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"    Happy 4th of July! Hoping you all have a great long weekend! Lets get to some questions... 1 Redbook Reader Elise asks:  Do you have any advice about how to pick a doctor/clinic? Depending on where you live, you may have a lot of choices or few choices for a clinic. It also depends on how far you are willing to drive to get to a clinic. It&amp;#039;s best to research all clinics that are in YOUR parameters: the statistics, size of clinic, location, etc. Make a pro and con list to start out, and if you are willing to make more than one appointment for a consultation (usually you can use your insurance co-pay for seeing a specialist) then I would recommend meeting with at least two clinics. There is a great list of questions to take with you, created by a fantastic blogger, Mel @ Stirrup Queens. Go to this link for some questions to take with you. Make sure you get your questions answered--and if you feel at all rushed, then it might be wise to take this into your &amp;quot;con&amp;quot; list when making a decision.2 Elise also asks: Should I treat this as my problem and pick a doctor that I like, or wait for him to take the lead? Elise, I am assuming by &amp;quot;him&amp;quot; you are referring to your husband. In your email to me, you mentioned that he is not in a rush to find out information. Being a team in this process, in my opinion, is very important. Can you approach your husband by asking him to at least attend this initial consults with you? I think that was very important for Mook to be with me, because he heard the facts from a medical professional, not just me nagging him! It may take some time for your husband to agree, so this is where they hard lesson of patience comes in. It&amp;#039;s a rough start no matter what you are diagnosed with-so each person in the relationship has to reach a point where they are ready to take the next step. Feel free to continue talking with me, if you need some more guidance in this area.3. Redbook Reader tilly59 asks: How should I explain our male factor diagnosis to his parents? They are very protective of their son--in ALL circumstances! I&amp;#039;m afraid this will crush them. Mook is an only child, the last male in the family bloodline. So, umm, yea. It was big pressure for us to have to explain to them that we were going to have challenges in producing the next generation. We decided to take them out to lunch, where we were all in a neutral environment, and as we finished the meal, we started off by telling them that we wanted to share some HAPPY news (wanted to keep it as positive as possible). We told them that we wanted to start trying to have a family-which meant grandchildren for them! Yippe! Then, as gently as I could, I explained that we had gone through some tests over the past few months, and had discovered that it may take us longer to become parents. I went over each test, reasoning and stayed very calm--and upbeat. I didnt want to give them a reason to panic. They were nice enough to just listen and not interrupt, and when we were done explaining, they did ask questions. I think since they are protective of Mook as well, their reaction was to help us and support us however we needed. It went MUCH smoother than I could have imagined. So trust that the love your in-laws have for your husband, will make this a bonding experience for all of you.4 Redbook Reader phinephish asks: I&amp;#039;m currently 7 days past a 5 day transfer and I feel NOTHING. This is our only chance at IVF. Should I feel pregnant? I am now 5 weeks, and I still feel nothing. I&amp;#039;m asking myself everyday, &amp;quot;Shouldn&amp;#039;t I feel something?!&amp;quot; The only thing that does happen, is I get a period type cramp. So of course I panic, and rush to the bathroom. But other than that, I do not have sore boobs at ALL, no veins protruding or blazing blue. I&amp;#039;m the type of person who requires sleep--I cant pull an all niter, so Im sleepy in the middle of the afternoon--without feeling pregnant! So no, I don&amp;#039;t think you should worry at all for not feeling anything right now.5 Redbook Reader carebare12 asks: How do I know that the medicine my clinic is prescribing is going to work?  I am not sure what type of treatment you are about to go through (IUI, IVF?) but as much as I LOVE to be in control, I had to trust that my clinic knew which medicine would work well for me. I was monitored very closely, so I am sure that if there had been any issue they would have changed medicine. Now, if you are getting ready to do a monitored cycle for an IUI, you may have been given clomid--I have never been on this, so I will leave it up to some other readers to assist you with any side effects they have dealt with. I hope they DO work for you! Happy Friday! Enjoy some fireworks tonight, the company of a loved one, and a good piece of watermelon!  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.redbookmag.com/body/pregnancy-fertility/a3763/fireworks-friday-five/>