My advice is to be prepared for anything. I fully expected that when I started testing, they'd find something fixable and we'd have an easy solution. When they didn't find anything, I expected that the initial interventions would work. Then I expected that bumping up the interventions would work. Oh, adding acupuncture will totally do the trick. First IVF has to work. And so on. I never, ever expected that once I got pregnant I would miscarry, nor that I would defy medical logic by failing so many interventions, nor that it would take me 7 years.

Most people have a quick and relatively simple road through infertility treatment. If they reach the status of "infertile," most people have to deal with more than they'd like, but it's frankly not really all that much. And then there are those of us who require huge levels of intervention over many years to achieve success. Those who get pregnant on a break between IVF cycles 4 and 5, or similar urban legends. And then there are those who try everything possible and never end up with a baby. The problem is that when you start, you have no idea which group you'll fall into. You have no idea how long it will take, how much it will cost, what it will do to your body and mind, whether it will even work in the end. My advice is to be prepared for that level of uncertainty.