IVF Cycle (#1....and I hope that's all!)

So here we are doing IVF (In Vitro Fertilization).

September I started taking Birth Control Pills (sounds backwards, right?) to help calm my body before the 'storm'. During this time, I had a couple more tests done to make sure my body was really ready for what was about to happen. John and I went to West Palm Beach, FL at the Four Seasons for a conference my work was hosting...we had a great time...and relaxing too. We left a day early to fly to PA for my Grandfather's Memorial Service and saw a bunch of family...many of them saying a lot of prayers for us, which is appreciated SO much more than they know...we are so lucky to have such a large support system.

Monday, October 1st I took my last Birth Control Pill and started my first dose of Lupron. Lupron is a drug that makes your body think that it can produce more than just one egg per month; this is a shot that goes in your stomach (small needle...no pain). I did that shot while I flew to GA for a business trip (not nearly as relaxing as FL...and I got a nasty cold while I was there from all the flying we'd done recently). Also during that trip I got my (hopefully last) period...good the ball is rolling.

When I got back I went to the doctor to again on October 9th to make sure my body is ready to start this VERY involved process. All was well. On the 10th I started Follistim (a drug that makes your body produce as many eggs as possible); this is a shot as well that goes in your stomach...very small, fine needle (no pain). I took this shot every night along with Lupron every morning. I started the (almost) daily doctor visits for bloodwork & ultrasound (vaginal) to check my progress.

My first appt. on the 12th showed that I already had about 9 eggs growing, which was great! Saturday I started a shot that John had to give me in my tush (IM...IntraMuscular)....after that night my stomach started bloating and hurting. They kept my meds. at the same dosage and I went back on Sunday the 14th. I had a couple more little buggers in there and I went back Monday the 15th....again a couple more...but this time they said that my Estrogen level was getting pretty high pretty fast and they decided to lower my meds from 225units to 200units. I went back Tuesday. Still my estrogen was climbing to fast (this could be bad....if my estrogen went past 6,000 or I had more than 35 mature eggs, my 1st IVF cycle would be CANCELLED)...so they dropped my meds to 150units. I went back Wednesday and by this time I had 16 mature follicles and 34 total (holy crap!)...however, my estrogen was still a bit too high....so they lowered me to 37.5units (barely anything)...I went back Thursday which by now it was almost uncomfortable to walk cuz I had so many eggs....they told me to LIMIT activity because my egg 'sack' is so fragile, they could bounce right out....I had a total of 42 follicles (yikes), 32 were measurable, and 20 are 'mature'. That night I did the Ovidrel (which is a bit thicker of a needle, in the stomach, but still no pain). Ovidrel is the 'trigger' shot...it tells my body to ovulate.

Friday was a day of rest...no shots...yay!

Background

So where do I start....John and I got married on June 30, 2001. We met at college where we were both Resident Assistants...we were friends for a few months, then started dating in March of 99. In June of 2000 we bought our first (fixer upper) house and he proposed right after the closing on the front stoop....awww. He started his new job as a programmer and I finished up school while planning a wedding. :)

A year and a few months later (November 2002) we decided to start trying to expand our family. We were very excited and anxious to see what the next month would bring. Little did we know at that time what a long road ahead of us we had....

Month after long month, we had negative tests. We tried SO many things...among them are: standing on my head 'afterwards', feet in the air, vitamins meant for old people (a friend said she knew 2 friends that got pg taking them...not so much me), charting temps, charting cycles, ovulation kits, herbal teas and vitamins, acupuncture, progesterone supplements, clomid, Follistim with insemination, no hot tub for John, limited caffeine intake, no alcohol (for me), relaxing vacations (Florida, Italy, Aruba), 'Not thinking about it'--bad advice,-it's impossible, 'listening' to my monthly ovulation pain I've gotten since I was a teenager, reading books and websites, PRAYER, I got a new 'less stressul' job (although I do travel with it, which makes it tough with doc. appts.), we got a dog (it 'worked' for many of my friends), we moved to a much nicer neighborhood, we have had doctor visits on and off...just letting nature do its 'thang'...

But we have since grown impatient. Getting pregnant is the one thing that is literally out of our control...we can only do so much (as shown above)....but it is all up to God. We've decided to help our chances a bit more and we are just finishing up our first IVF cycle. I never thought that I would conceive a child without having sex....but hey, it will make it easier to explain to our kids where babies come from, right? "Just go downtown Chicago and pick 'em up" :) Yeah right, it's not that easy....

Joining the Craze

Hey there! So after months of seeing a few of my friends blogs, I decided I would join the craze of Blogland. :) I am new at this, so bare with me. As my life with my family gets more exciting I'll post more to keep everybody updated.