Mock Transfer Equals OUCH

I have my appointment yesterday for my mock transfer and bloodwork. They do an ultrasound to measure things and then they do a mock transfer which is just as it sounds. They get the measurement for how far the little catheter type thing will be going in. The Dr started off by saying how it wont feel much different from my inseminations. Um that was a lie. It took my breath away twice and I'm pretty sure I squealed. You know I would rather not know what it is going to feel like prior. Now I have to go in to the real transfer knowing. Although he assured me again that the real one wont hurt as bad because I wont be on my period and they will have me take two advil before I come in. Not sure if I want to believe him this time. lol. They also had a chance to look at my ovaries and take a guess of how many eggs they should be able to retrieve. He counted 7 on the right and 9 on the left. That's a pretty good number if you ask me. I just got done taking my first birth control pill and my anitbiotic. I can say for the first time in 36 months that I know for a fact that I will not be pregnant this month. The birth control thing still weirds me out. It's so random that to get pregnant they want me to take birth control that prevents pregnancy. Crazy concept. Robert started his antibiotics today too. They were nice enough to give us a substitute of the ZPack because the other meds make you sensitve to sun and we will heading to Mexico in a week!!! Our pocket book took a big hit yesterday. Here is what we have spent so far and it is only day 3:

Dr Visit for Mock Transfer - $20.00
Blood work for me and Robert- $88.00
Birth Control Pills- $50.00
Antibiotics for me and Robert-$20.00

That's a grand total of $178.00. Ouch. I know we are fortunate enough to have insurance covering most of this, but man this is a lot of money to us and It's just begun. Bring it on though! We are both so ready for our miracle. We look at babies and can't help but have this huge smile knowing that COULD be us very soon. If this works my dute date would be sometime in June 2011. I've always wanted a summer baby!

IVF...Here We Come

As you can probably tell by the title of my post, I got a visit today from a very unwelcomed guest. My cousin called to check up on me and asked how I felt about it. Was it easier this month than last knowing that I'm moving on to bigger and better? Honestly, I don't really know. While I was waiting to start the emotions were just so much different because the outcome this time was different. I wasn't just moving on to the next cycle, we were moving on to In Vitro. I'm excited and dissapointed at the same time. I told Robert on the way home today that I never thought it would come to this. He agreed. This is technically the end of Fertility treatments. There isn't anything else we can do help get pregnant after this. What if it doesn't work? I'm going to really try and keep a positive outlook. I'm thinking triplets :) So we will be taking applications for free live in nannys. I thought I would give ya'll an outline of when things will happen. I'm really hoping to document all of this through my blog. Oh and ps. Amber I hope you are ready for me to come over every night at 8pm so you can give me my shots. Not sure that I trust Robert yet lol. JK I know you have an amazingly beautiful daughter that you will be taking care of. Congrats again!!!!! Ok here is the rough timeline:

8/27/10 Begin birth control and antibiotics
9/14/10 Begin Lupron injections 8PM every night
9/27/10 Suppression Check
9/27/10 (week of) start FSH 8AM and HMG 8PM every day
10/4/10(approx week of) Every other day appointments to watch follicles
10/6/10 (approx) HCG trigger shot
10/8/10 (approx) Egg Retrieval and Fertilization Begin Progesterone shot daily
10/9/10 receive call to see how many eggs fertilized
10/11/10 Embryo Transfer (2 eggs)
10/11/10-10/13/10 Bedrest
10/16/10 Appt to check Progesterone level
10/22/10 Am I pregnant???? Blood test

October seems so far away, but I know it will fly by. I have decided that we will be freezing our eggs. I don't know if insurance will cover this so I might have a house to sell if anyone is looking. I could use a ton of prayers through all of this. Thanks in advance. You all have been an amazing support to me. I hope you know how much it is valued.

IVF Class

Well we had our official IVF class on Tuesday. We walked in not knowing what to expect and thinking it would probably be a little overwhelming. We were both surprised by the amount of people and the variation of ages. We had 10 couples and the ages ranged from probaby about 25-35. It wasn't at all as uncomfortable as I thought it would be. Actually it was quite amusing to be in a room with so many men and be openly talking about menstrual periods. Probably even more crazy that all these men knew about everything the nurse and embryologist were talking about and they were the ones with questions!!!! 3 years ago they probably didn't even know what ovulation was. We didn't learn much more in the class than we read in our packet. Seemed like they just talked about A LOT of shots. Or maybe that is all I could think of. The success rate right now for IVF is 68% with a 30% chance of twins and 3% chance of triplets. I'm actually ok with these statistics. If God wants me to have 3 little babies, so be it.

There is one big thing that I am struggling with big time. We have the choice to freeze our eggs for later use. Part of me does not think this is morally right. My struggle comes though with the fact that at the Bennett Fertility Clinic they are not allowed to dispose of eggs. So if I choose ahead of time not to freeze any than they are only allowed to fertilize the amount of eggs (give a few) I want put back in, and there is a chance that they would not delevop to transfer to me. If we do decided to freeze them it is roughly $3000 for the first year then about $47 a month after until you decide what to do with them. There are a couple of options if we did not use those eggs. We could donate them to research, donate them to another couple, or they would insert them back in to me at a time when I am not ovulation so they would basically be disposed of by me or something like that. I would of course chose the 3rd. Those are still our babies, embryos or not. The goal is to not have to go through IVF again. I have this huge amount of hope that this is a one time thing for us. After this we hope to be that couple that the infertiles hate because we just can't quit getting knocked up. ok so I'm kidding. Anyway, I'm having a really really hard time with this decision and I have to decide pretty soon.

A Lot to Catch up on

Wow where do I start. I'm getting really bad about posting here lately. I've been doing a fitness bootcamp at night so when I get home it's pretty much straight to bed. Ok, first. My grandpa was diagnosed with lung cancer last week. This has been pretty hard to deal with. Actually, I'm not sure I know how to deal with it. I've never lost anyone in my family (minus my baby of course). Right now I'm just praying for God to either heal him or if it's time for him to go to heal my family and know he is in a better place. As of now he is not going anywhere though. He had surgery yesterday to remove 1/3 of his lung. He took a while to wake up, but when he did he was back to his witty self. He is doing amazing. Please just keep my family in your prayers.

I also had my 10 year high school reunion this past weekend. It was so much fun. I can't believe 10 years have gone by so quickly. I saw a lot of old friends. I still wish more would have came. Here is a pic of all the girls and me and my husband.




We did our 3rd and final IUI yesterday. This one actually was pretty painful. I'm not sure what was so different, but I cramped all night. I'm actually thinking I ovulated the day before which would be the earliest I think I have ever ovulated. Don't worry we have our bases covered ;). It's almost bittersweet knowing this is the last one. It has become such a part of me and who I am. At the same time I'm so happy to put this behind me. Even if we do have to move on to IVF at least it's something new and more promising. Prayers Prayers and more Prayers please.