I had my appointment yesterday with the IVF nurse. I had some questions on whether we could move forward in December or not with my Doctor. Before I paid the $150 consult fee, I wanted to be sure.
And yes, we can move forward in December. It will be cutting it close for whether my Dr. can do the transfer, but in my case he would allow the other Dr. to do it if he could not (not sure why I was initially told he doesn't have the other Dr. do?). Given the timing, my Doc will most likely be the one to do the egg retrieval (which seems more complicated to me, so I'd rather have him for this step anyway), and depending on whether they do a 3 day transfer or a 5 day transfer, he might be able to do it. I did some research on which is better, and it all depends on embryo quality, numbers of them, etc..My nurse said they don't decide until they see what they have to work with...but some sites say that 5 day is better because they have more time to grow, and fall out of process if not good. And some say 3. Guess I'll just go w/ it.
The one thing I wasn't prepared at all for was the significant amount of medication for the month that this entails. I counted like 10 medications! Good Golly!! Like 4 different injections, steroids, antibiotics, aspirin, etc.. it's unreal. I have this calendar and it is full everyday starting on November 29th. For some reason it hadn't dawned on me how much medication, monitoring, and commitment it will take to do IVF. Wow. When I think back to the IUI's, they were relatively easy. Take some pills on C.D 3-7, a few ultrasounds, one shot, and done)
And, when I was at the Dr. office for the consult I was actually nervous. Really nervous. Just thinking about going through w/ this, what it will do to my body (inclusive of all meds for IVF), the responsibility, all of it.
I still haven't had the 'gut' instinct to not move forward. But I can say a lot of fear has crept in. Not having supportive family around, etc..I worry.
Totally off the subject, but the other thing I wonder is do people actually read my blog? I don't get comments often, and just wonder? I suppose this is as much a journal as it is seeking out advice from people who have been there done that. Blogging is funny that way...I wonder how people end up w/ so many followers?
IVF is a big step, but once you go through it, the process doesn't seem nearly as intimidating as it is the first time. It is hard on your body though, but the results...the percentage of success....how much you learn about your fertility---IVF offers all of that. My numbers look great on paper, but through IVF I learned that I am poor responder and required the maximum dosage to get a decent response for my age. I am so thankful that I skipped IUI and went straight to IVF. It spared me a lot of months of disappointment. It does suck doing it on your own, but I know the day I get a positive HPT, it would have been worth it.
ReplyDeleteIVF scares the crap out of me, but honestly I would have done it had I had the funds (I was contemplating "mini IVF" if my 3rd IUI didn't work). It definitely has a better success rate, you probably feel more in control because you can see how many embryos form, etc, and it has the added bonus of possible freezing of future siblings, which was very attractive to me. And as noted above it does pay to skip months of disappointment, for sure. I never did figure out if it's best to just keep throwing IUI after IUI in the hopes of catching that "one good egg" or if it's better to cash in all your chips and go for the big IVF. I guess it's very individual. Best of luck to you and kudos for going for it!
ReplyDeleteGood luck moving forward with IVF. It intimidates me to think about what all is involved with it. You've got a good head on your shoulders though and trusting that instinct wont lead you wrong.
ReplyDeleteI lurk here and there. I'm not a huge blog commenter but I do love to read and soak up information ;)