In Vitro

I haven't written on here in quite a while, but I want to document our next big journey, so lets hope I can keep up with the updates!

 

Our story starts with ups and downs, as any marriage does. We were undecided on so many important things but we had each other, and that was enough to take the leap into the unknown. We started our marriage living in a rental house that was owned by a family member. We knew that we wanted to buy a home one day, upgrade our cars, start our careers, and become parents. So, we bought a house, upgraded our cars, and started careers. One decision, however, changed for us. We felt that kids were not going to be part of our future. I, in particular, wasn’t sure having children was what I wanted. I battled this for a long time before deciding that I was leaning towards having a life with just Dave and me. This felt right to us, for many reasons, at the time. We never truly discussed this with our families or friends; it was just something we would say we wanted, and that was that. No explanation needed because we both believe decisions like this should not be influenced by other opinions. It was a decision we came to on our own and if we changed it, it again would be one we came to ourselves. I feel that this type of decision making has been a blessing in our marriage.

 About two and a half years into our marriage, we, yet again, had a change of heart, but this time, we kept it very private. We tried to become pregnant and after many frustrating months, I spoke with my doctor about some hormone imbalances I had. She had several suggestions for me and after several blood test, a small procedure; we finally got everything in balance and determined that I was physically able to have children. This was almost the most frustrating part. If nothing was wrong, then why couldn’t we become pregnant? After another visit to my doctor and still no success with pregnancy, she suggested some testing for Dave. His testing was much simpler than mine. Two tests later, we had our answer.

 

There are three main factors in determining the fertility of sperm in men. The count, the motility and something called morphology. Basically, morphology is when the sperm are “misshaped.” The experts say that a man’s morphology needs to be at least 15% normal shaped (what the means exactly is beyond me). Our results came back with above average in count and motility, buy well below this ideal percentage in morphology. Issues with morphology are not something anyone can control. It is passed down in the gene pool and will likely be passed to our own offspring. It was a relief to have answers and be able to look at our next step. After many sleepless nights of research and forum reading, we decided IVF (aka in vitro) was our best chance at growing our family. We spoke with my OB who also recommended IVF, and she offered us a few great specialists’ names. We came to a decision on a doctor in a very ironic way. I won’t go into detail but I will say that God is good and I know he is guiding us in every step during this journey.

 

We were required to attend a seminar with our Doctor, that was very informative, and gave us some real hope! I felt extremely confident after the seminar because I knew all of our options and almost everything we needed to know to get started. Luckily, my OB had already put me through most of the necessary testing (minus one small blood test...YAY), so we were ahead of the game! Our doctor was very impressed at how informed and prepared we were for what was to come. Because we had most of the testing done, we could skip strait to scheduling and paying for IVF. We had several comments about how prepared we were, which made me feel good about the long nights of research! lol

 

Here's what we've done so far:

 

-We've filled out the 60+ pages of consent forms, disclosures and past medical history.

-We've set the tentative date of May 8ths for the first procedure and May 13th for the second!!!! YAY!!!

-We've also paid in full for the procedures, and let me tell you; it is such a relief to not have to worry about the financial part of things!  

-We've both started on several vitamins, and pills, to get our bodies in "tip-top" shape

-Tomorrow, I go in for an ultrasound (I had no clue they did these before you were pregnant lol) and a full physical

 

It may not seem like much but it's a start and I'm so extremely excited!!!

 

The basic steps in IVF are:

 

1. Start on prenatals and birth control (this is to give the doctors control of ovulation dated)

2. Get blood work done to check the number of eggs viable

3. Twelve days before the retrieval date, start on hormone injections (the amount of these will vary based on my hormone levels, which will be tested every other day)

4. 33 hours before the retrieval date and time, a hormone is injected into me to prepare my eggs and to prevent my body from discarding my eggs (aka a period)

5. Retrieve as many eggs at possible while under anesthesia and then home to rest

6. Blood tests every morning for the next five days

7. Implant eggs back into me (aka transfer day) and home for bed rest for three days

8. Wait 12 days to take pregnancy test (this will be the worst part!!!!)

 

Thats the process and I will try to update as things happen. This is definitely a new experience for us but one I am happy to go through!