Climbing the Fertility Mountain

Finally some good news to share! I got my anticipated IVF protocol calendar from the clinic this week. My two week stimulation "stims" phase and egg retrieval are happening sooner than I anticipated! A themed calendar I created to keep track of appointments and meds for November. On my next cycle day one, expected early next week, I start birth control pills for two weeks. I know, crazy right! Check out this website if you're wondering, "Why take birth control before IVF!?" Then I have a baseline ultrasound to start the process the week of November 9th. Stims will begin the following week and then an expected egg retrieval the first week of December.  But, this is only step one. We then hope and pray that some of those little eggies fertilize and mature.  Any resulting embryos will be genetically tested before transferring the one of the highest quality. Praying we only need one cycle for this to work, looking at the finances required for the next few months of ...

Our third IUI has failed. I took a pregnancy test on my birthday with a glimmer of hope that I'd get a special birthday surprise, but no luck. While I was not super hopeful about this cycle working, it was still a bummer to see it confirmed.  Next week B and I will be meeting with our doctor to discuss moving forward with IVF. I am hoping that we will be able to start the IVF "stim" injections with my next menstrual cycle, but I don't know yet what the timeline will be. IVF brings a whole new set of challenges and meds, but I keep telling myself, "I can do this. It sucks, but I can do this."  Much love, Em