1st IVF Consult

Yea, we have a plan! We met with PNW Fertility today for our 1st IVF consult. It went really well and we are both pleased and jazzed to get this thing started. We loved our Dr. and feel good about the experience. We can start the process in June, July or August but we are leaning toward Aug. because of my job. I just started and I could use the months of June & July to get established before I go through the process and hopefully 9 months of pregnancy. Therefore, we start with everything in Aug, will transfer the embies in the middle of Sep. and if all goes well be pregnant by the end of Sep. I'll go into more detail of the actual process when we get closer but I have the prescription for the drugs and it entails 8 medications and 60 needles for home injections, not to mention the 10 blood draws. I'm going to feel like a drug addict for a few weeks but it will all be worth it!

The good news is that the RE feels very confident about our success rate and she did an ultrasound to see my ovaries and she said they are beautiful! Of course that made me feel good. She was also very impressed with my knowledge of my cycles and the IVF process. She asked if I worked in the medical field and said she probably didn't even need to go over all of this with me because it sounds like I already know what to expect. I'm not sure if this is positive or not. It just goes to show how much time I have spent learning and researching what we are facing. I really do feel like I know what to expect. I'm not leaving much for the imagination!

I go back in 2 weeks for a blood draw and an HSG(hystersalpingogram). An HSG is another tubal study where they shoot dye into my tubes. This was done already with my Lap surgery but the Dr. wants to do it 1 more time before starting IVF. Often times when people have blocked tubes the tubes can be fluid filled (hydrosalpinx). If this is the case, the fluid in the tubes can be toxic to embryos and can greatly reduce the success rates of IVF. Therefore, if my tubes are fluid filled they will want me to go in for another Lap surgery to tie my tubes before moving to IVF. I'm feeling really confident that this is not the problem (I talked to the lap nurse about it after my procedure and she told me I didn't have fluid in my tubes) but the RE wants to make sure before moving forward to IVF. The HSG is done while I am awake and is an uncomfortable procedure so I'm not looking too forward to it but it's getting us one step closer to the prize.

Other than deciding when to begin IVF our big decision is how many embies to transfer when the time comes. The Dr. has told us that if we transfer 2 we need to be very prepared to have 2 babies. With our age and health there is a very high rate of multiples. 2 babies is daunting, just the pregnancy alone makes me nervous, but we have both decided that having to go through the process again is even more daunting so it looks like we will take our chances and cross our fingers that we won't be given more then we can handle.

Thanks to all of you for all of your thoughts & prayers. We so appreciate all of your support and look forward to someday sharing our children with you. I will keep you posted on all of the procedures and let you know when we decide to take the plunge.