The Start to our IVF Journey

WOW!! I can't believe how many responses I got back from people who want to continue to follow our journey! I feel so blessed and I'm in awe of all the support. Thank you! I also want to ask those who I invited to continue to follow that nothing be said about my blog. You can talk to me about it but PLEASE no one else. There are reasons why I chose to make my blog private and there are reasons why I didn't invite some to continue reading. Please don't talk about it to family members, Eli, co-workers etc. Please respect our wishes! Thank you!

Okay, lets start from the beginning. For the last couple of months Eli and I had been trying to find a loan or some form of financing for IVF. We were having a difficult time and were getting turned down loan after loan. The economy has made it almost impossible for one to get approved for any type of loan! I had basically given up hope that we would find the right financing option and had it in my head we would just have to wait and save the full amount. I was feeling a little sad about this, I just wanted to start IVF, I felt like we had waited long enough. Well we don't have to wait anymore, it all changed thanks to my amazing husband. A couple of weeks ago Eli came home with two dozen roses and a card. Inside the card was a check for the amount we needed to pursue our IVF dream. I fell into his arms and cried and cried and cried. Next to the day I married this wonderful man, this was the best day of my life! I asked him when we could start. His response, whenever you are ready. Ready! I have been ready for the past 3 years! The next day I made the confident call to Dr. M's office and we started our process!

Our first step was meeting with Dr. M, which we already did. We met with him a couple of Fridays ago where he talked about the process of IVF, the risks, the benefits and answered any and all questions/concerns that we had, honestly. We went over so many things. He said that the hardest part for me will be the stimulation part of the cycle. The goal of IVF is to get about 1-2 dozen eggs mature with out hyperstimulating. Since I have hyperstimulated in the past he was a little concerned about it. He said on average 90% of people get through the stim part just fine. We just need to make sure I am monitored closely and the dosages of stim meds are adjusted accordingly. This makes me slightly nervous, but hopefully I will be a part of that 90%! We talked about a lot of other things, that I will make a post about sometime soon. Its just too much for this update!

My next step was to jump start a period with Provera. They checked to make sure I wasn't pregnant and also tested to see if I had ovulated since my last period in July. No I wasn't pregnant. No I hadn't ovulated. As frustrating as that was to hear, I was ready to start the Provera. I took it for 10 days and 1-2 days following started a period. Three days later started birth control, which I am still currently on. I will be on birth control until sometime in December. At our meeting with Dr. M he said I would be on them for about 6-8 weeks. I was aiming for 6 weeks bringing us to the second week in December.....which I later found out wouldn't work. The Dr.'s take a 3 week "break" from IVF in December. Of course! My luck! What would this journey be without any bumps in the road, right? So, I start stim meds December 26th and our estimated transfer date is January 4-11th, 2011 ! It feels so good to finally have a date! There are still some tests we have to do before then, both Eli and I. Eli has had some of his done and I have mine scheduled.

This is all becoming so surreal and we couldn't be happier! After our meeting with Dr. M, Eli hugged and kissed me in the parking lot and said "We are going to have a baby". Best feeling in the world!!

Love, Kristen & Eli