So Kirk and I had our first appointment with our RE at the Idaho Center for Reproductive Medicine, yesterday and it was seriously one of the longest doctor appointments of my life! We showed up at 3 PM and didn't leave until 5 PM, and that's because they were closing.
While it was a long appointment we learned a lot, and felt reassured knowing we were being treated by the best, and most caring staff out there. We walked into the appointment not knowing what exactly to expect. I knew only what my OB/GYN had told me, but she admitted she was not a specialist and didn't know everything about infertility, and that I would be a good candidate to meet with a RE. The Dr. who we met with was Dr. Slater. She was just amazing! She told us how happy she was to have all my records, and how happy she was that Dr. Chasan had been proactive enough to order all the tests I had done. We still ended up having to do blood work, an ultra sound, and a lesson in jabbing myself with injections ;) but she said since I had the necessary tests done, half of the work was already done, and she had a care plan ready for us.
She went on to explain that since I suffer from PCOS I wasn't ovulating every month. She told us that in order to fix that to get pregnant she wants to over stimulate my ovaries. She said to do this I would take Clomid at the beginning of my cycle, like I did with Dr. Chasan, but the difference here was I would get three viles of Brevelle and inject myself with them so my brain would tell my body to mature the eggs even more. She said that the goal is get at least 2 mature follicles. (2 follicles = a chance at 2 babies!) She said sometimes it makes more than 2 follicles with obviously means the more mature follicles the more of a chance at getting more babies :) (As exciting as this sounds to me, Kirk is not thrilled about the idea of having twins or triplets haha) She then told us that if she saw mature follicles, and they had not yet released an the egg, she would give me the HcG trigger shot to signal the release of the egg. 24-36 hours after I receive the shot I will then go back to the office and have an IUI performed. She said it wouldn't end there. She told me they would want more blood work done, and they would be putting me on a progesterone to help increase the chances of the "baby" implanting in my uterus. She said I would continue to take the progesterone through the first trimester if we ended up pregnant, to help lessen the chances of another miscarriage.
As she told us all of this my head was swimming! I was thinking of how expensive (about $1000 a cycle) and time consuming this is all going to be. I mean what happened to making a baby in the comfort of your own home and on your own time?! :) But seriously, with school, work, and home obligations it's going to crazy to try and juggle everything. I know in the end it will be worth it to finally start our own little family. Having the ability to go to a specialist is such a blessing. It's also a blessing that I have a husband who works so hard to make the money that will pay for our little family, and he does all of this out of love for me and the family we will someday have. This has all been such a blessing in disguise, everything from being in constant pain to the pain of the emotional ups and downs from month to month. The pain has made me respect my body and myself a lot more, and helped me to realize the lifestyle changes that were necessary for us to make (even though if you ask Kirk soy milk and tofu sucks haha) The hardship that comes along with infertility is limitless. It has made our marriage stronger, helping us to communicate better with each other, and appreciate the other so much more. It has helped us to learn to save better. Fertility treatment isn't cheap and you can't just "put it on your tab" it's all due up front. It's also helped us realize that while we may have a few things in our life that is challenging, we really are very lucky to have what we have. And the biggest thing, is it has helped us to realize the amazing support system we have. We are so lucky to have the family and friends we do and we love you all so very, very much!
Until next time, remember to tell those that mean the world to you, that you love and appreciate them. Appreciate every day and every chance you are given. And, hey! If you have a hard time seeing the positive in a difficult situation, it could always be worse, right?!
