Friday, July 17, 2009

Let's Get Ready to RUMBLE!!

Ladies & Gentlemen, in this corner, we have Kelley "Grandma Eggs" Franklin and in the far Corner we have I.....V....FFFFFFF.......Let's get it on!!!!!


So we had our first IVF appointment today with Dr. Haas in Arlington and I would say it went well to pretty well. I can't tell you how awkward it is when your doctor draws what he is explaining to you. During our consultation, he drew a cup (when he was talking about Josh's "specimen"), he drew sperm and then he drew my eggs. Yes, we did keep his artwork because he gave it to us b/c it actually does list the stages we will go through over 6 weeks. But more than anything it is just funny to look at.



Yes you read that right, this process takes 6 weeks!!!! I had no idea it would take that long when we started looking into all this. I thought I would go in, pay him my gajillion dollars and then everything would take place within a week! Not so much.....



On my first day of menses (you like these technical terms I have learned?), I will start a month of blood work and sonograms. He said it is very similar to when I went through IUI. I have the hcg shot to release my eggs, trial transfer, yadda yadda yadda.



Then comes the day Josh is dreading more than anything else on the earth, I start injections on the next cycle. He did say we will be starting out with a pretty aggressive treatment to stimulate my follicles and I will more than likely experience the mood swings I had with Clomid. So please pray for us (especially Josh). If I snap at you, please remember, it isn't really me, it is the hormones. And more often than not, when I am on the hormones and I snap, I will feel bad after and automatically start crying.









Oh and it gets better, not just a few injections, not just one a day, I will have to give myself injections in my tummy TWICE a DAY!!!! AAHHH!! But I will go to a class with a nurse that tells me how to do it. I am not sure what he means by class. Probably just I go in and the nurse is like "here's how you do it". I am thinking about breaking down and having Josh give me the shots because I don't think I can shoot myself in the tummy even once, let alone twice a day for 2 weeks!! So during these two weeks, you will probably want to avoid me like the plague. If these meds are anything like Clomid, I will be a raging "B" by day 3. Then they will go in and put me under and get all my lovely eggs that the horrible mean medicine will help my body make. Come on big number!!!! They will then take Josh's lil duders and actually insert them into the eggs (this is called ICSI, which is more extensive than just IVF) Hopefully at least 2 of my eggs will mature and his duders will do their thing and grow big and strong so they can put them back in my belly. (I keep picturing Fat Bastard saying "Get in my belly!!" when I think about this part, hehehehehe) and then we wait 12 days and go back for blood work. If the blood work comes back pregnant, then I will go back in at least once more for a sonogram to ensure there is a heartbeat. Then if everything works out, they will release me to go to my OBGYN.



Whew, that was a lot. I am sure I am leaving tons out. I wish I had his drawings with me to spark my memory...but this is pretty much what is going to happen.....Maybe I will scan his time table and drawings in on Monday so you guys can see it too.

Friday, July 10, 2009

Step 1 - admitting you have a problem.

Well I broke down and created this blog as an outlet for me to share my experiences with friends and family in one place but I also created this blog, so I would have somewhere to vent...not neccesarily to anyone but just to get things out.





A little background: Josh and I started trying to conceive in the Fall of 2007. In March of 2008, we got a positive pregnancy test and we were ecstatic that is happened for us relatively quickly. I went in for my first appointment when I was 8 weeks along and there was no heart beat. Over that next week, I had to get blood taken to test my levels and then return for another sonogram. We went in a week later and still no heartbeat. My doctor told me that I will eventually miscarry and I did so in May. After a few months, we began trying again and have had no luck in the past year and a half.



A few months ago, I went to see a fertility specialist and they did the first IUI in May, which did not work. We tried a second time in June but because of unforseen circumstances, we were unable to go through with the IUI in June.



The doctor feels in our cisrcumstance, IVF is going to have the best odds so we have our consultation on Friday July 17th to work out a game plan and get started with the process around the first of August.



I have so many emotions running through me it is overwhelming. I am more than anything scared but I also feel nervous, excited, happy, I could go on and on. I will update this as often as possible with where we are in the process. Let's hope and pray that in about a year, I will have a post that says "He or She is here!" and this journey will be one I can look back on with joy.