Alright, let's do this. It's time to put our money where our mouth is. It's time to start - (cue dramatic music) -
In Vitro Fertilization, commonly known as IVF. For some reason, known only to the cosmos, Devan and I have decided to journal this experience on our blog. We have a couple of reasons for doing so. The first is purely selfish on our part. I figured that if I wrote down in my blog things like how I was feeling and how everything was going I was get less questions in real life. (See, I told you it was purely selfish.) Another reason is because I think people in general are curious about the process but might be embarrassed to ask. Finally, I thought this might be a great learning experience for those of you out there. IVF is a mystical and confusing procedure that most people know nothing about. Warning, I'm not going to sensor myself very much. I'm going to put it all out there. I'm expecting a few days of joy but mostly days of sadness, anxiety, pain and probably even a little bit of anger. I'm going to skip the background to how we even got here. Let's just say that after many years, a miscarriage, and 5 failed
IUI's we find ourselves looking the IVF monster straight in the face.
***Side Note - When I use medical terms that I think the general public might not know I will try to put it in the form of link leading you to a website that will explain it. See how I did that for IUI. Pretty neat, huh.***
We had our first consult with the IVF coordinator on Thursday. The whole appointment took about an hour. She helped answer the questions we had about the procedure, which were many, and got us on a schedule for IVF. As of right now we are on track to have eggs harvested (by the way, I HATE HATE HATE that term) and then embryos planted back in at the end of July. That of course, is if everything up until that point checks out okay. Tonya, our lovely IVF coordinator, went and printed out our medicine, injection and appointment calendar for the next two months. I looked at June and thought "ok, this looks totally easy."
Not too bad right. Seems pretty empty for the most part. Then she handed me the July calendar. I thought "Holy Crap, that's a lot." See for yourself.
For the next couple of weeks the only pills I have to take are a prenatal vitamin and birth control. I know it might seem a bit counter productive to take birth control, but it's an important step. It helps the Dr control my body. If they can control my body then they know exactly what is (or in this case isn't) happening..which is NOT ovulating. Think of it like the control in any experiment. After our appointment Devan and I were talking about how weird it will be to take birth control. I haven't been on birth control pills since we got married. At one point Devan said to me "man, it will be nice to not have to worry about getting you knocked up." We both laughed. It's good to laugh during stuff like this.
Thats about all I have to write about today. I'm going to leave you with a quote from Tonya (IVF lady). When asking her about the discomfort associated with IVF she said this..."Your ovaries are normally the size of a walnut, we are going to make them the size of a tangerine or a small orange. It will feel like the worst period of life." Awesome...isn't it :)
Alright, let's do this. It's time to put our money where our mouth is. It's time to start - (cue dramatic music) - In Vitro Fertilization, commonly known as IVF. For some reason, known only to the cosmos, Devan and I have decided to journal this experience on our blog. We have a couple of reasons for doing so. The first is purely selfish on our part. I figured that if I wrote down in my blog things like how I was feeling and how everything was going I was get less questions in real life. (See, I told you it was purely selfish.) Another reason is because I think people in general are curious about the process but might be embarrassed to ask. Finally, I thought this might be a great learning experience for those of you out there. IVF is a mystical and confusing procedure that most people know nothing about. Warning, I'm not going to sensor myself very much. I'm going to put it all out there. I'm expecting a few days of joy but mostly days of sadness, anxiety, pain and probably even a little bit of anger. I'm going to skip the background to how we even got here. Let's just say that after many years, a miscarriage, and 5 failed IUI's we find ourselves looking the IVF monster straight in the face.
***Side Note - When I use medical terms that I think the general public might not know I will try to put it in the form of link leading you to a website that will explain it. See how I did that for IUI. Pretty neat, huh.***
We had our first consult with the IVF coordinator on Thursday. The whole appointment took about an hour. She helped answer the questions we had about the procedure, which were many, and got us on a schedule for IVF. As of right now we are on track to have eggs harvested (by the way, I HATE HATE HATE that term) and then embryos planted back in at the end of July. That of course, is if everything up until that point checks out okay. Tonya, our lovely IVF coordinator, went and printed out our medicine, injection and appointment calendar for the next two months. I looked at June and thought "ok, this looks totally easy." 
Not too bad right. Seems pretty empty for the most part. Then she handed me the July calendar. I thought "Holy Crap, that's a lot." See for yourself.
For the next couple of weeks the only pills I have to take are a prenatal vitamin and birth control. I know it might seem a bit counter productive to take birth control, but it's an important step. It helps the Dr control my body. If they can control my body then they know exactly what is (or in this case isn't) happening..which is NOT ovulating. Think of it like the control in any experiment. After our appointment Devan and I were talking about how weird it will be to take birth control. I haven't been on birth control pills since we got married. At one point Devan said to me "man, it will be nice to not have to worry about getting you knocked up." We both laughed. It's good to laugh during stuff like this.
Thats about all I have to write about today. I'm going to leave you with a quote from Tonya (IVF lady). When asking her about the discomfort associated with IVF she said this..."Your ovaries are normally the size of a walnut, we are going to make them the size of a tangerine or a small orange. It will feel like the worst period of life." Awesome...isn't it :)
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