Thursday, December 9, 2010

Here we go...

Well friends it has been a while since I have posted.
Last time you heard from me on here we were about to try a new drug called Femara. It works a lot like Clomid, just different enough that it works for lots of people who do not have success with Clomid. We tried that and it didn’t work for us.

So at the start of November we met with our wonderful Doctor. After discussing all of our options we decided to go ahead and start InVitro Fertilization (IVF). This was not a decision we came by lightly, it was after lots of prayers and research and really discussing other options with our doctor. Even though this is a very expensive procedure, our chances are the best with it and the chances of lots of multiples are less with it which in turn makes it safer for us.

We will not be doing this until February. We have some ‘pre-ivf’ procedures and tests that we have to do first and then it is a process to begin.
I will explain a little bit on what will happen.
1. She put me on birth control. (I know, I thought it was funny too that a fertility doctor prescribed birth control!) This will ‘turn off’ my body even though it really wasn’t working to begin with. This will allow her to be able to give me medicine to make me do things she needs my body to do at different times.
2. The first week in January we will start taking shots. This is a scary part. I will have to be administering my own shots. We will start out with 1 a day but will get to 3 a day. The shots basically make me have lots of eggs developing.
3. Next we will go to her for the egg retrieval (February). They will put me under anesthesia and go in and get lots of these developed eggs. She will then combine them with his sperm and put them in an incubator that reflects my body for 3-5 days.
4. Whichever day – between day 3 and 5 – the eggs look mature we will schedule the implantation. Lots of the eggs she removes will die off – just like they would during a period. Some just aren’t made to develop into a baby. She will be able to grade them and she knows what grade has a chance of making it and which ones will end up in miscarriage for sure. (Even the high grade ones can end in miscarriage though, and your chance when doing IVF is higher than most with having a miscarriage)
5. Next we will implant 2 of the highest grade eggs in me. This does not mean we will for sure have 2 babies – it just gives us a higher chance of having one since they could very easily not implant.
6. After this we go home and we wait 2 weeks. We will then go back up for blood tests over a few day period to see if it worked.
If we go through all of these steps and it works, then we will be seeing ultra sounds and hearing a heartbeat VERY early. I will be considered very high risk and will be with Dr. Craig at the fertility clinic my first trimester. If I can make it past that, then we will still be high risk but we will be able to go back to my normal OBGYN.

If you are anything like us then reading this exhaust s you because the thought of all of this exhausts us. This is going to be a very emotionally, physically and mentally draining process not to mention crazy expensive and insurance won’t cover a thing!

I will say this though. We are SO very grateful that we have this option left. We know we are at the end of the road and this is it – the last chance – but we are so grateful for a knowledgeable doctor that specializes in making having a baby still a possibility.

This journey has been crazy. Two years of hopes and disappointments. We are ready for this step. We are ready to go all out and give it our best shot. Hopefully by the end of next year we will have a little baby that we have all been praying for.

Please keep praying friends, now more than ever. We are stressed to the max thinking about all of this and planning all of this. They basically sent us a calendar of our life that we have to follow the next 3 months and it is very intimidating.
It is in God’s hands. We have a peace that this is the step he wants us to take and we are just ready to see what happens. I love you friends and appreciate you all so much!

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