Ok- so I left off right before our first IVF. I started my IVF cycle in October 2003. This process included meeting with a psychologist (to make sure we could mentally deal with the stress of infertility). I thought that was odd... its a little late at this point... since I've been doing infertility diagnostics and treatment for 2 1/2 years.. but whatever, we met with him. I had to have a mock transfer done (sonohistogram)- to determine where to put the embryos. Jack had another semen evaluation & freeze back up sample. Just in case the man gets performance anxiety the day of IVF :). Next, we had to meet with a financial advisor to go over payments and how much of my bank account they were going to take... Then, we had to meedt with a the nurse to go over my protocol. Then, we meet with the doctor to go through the final logistics... including how many embryos to transfer, what are you going to do with the extra ones, what happens to the embryos if one of the partners dies or get a divorce... Jack and I had to sit down and seriously think about all these important ethical decisions.... Stuff you don't think you will be deciding when you get married. Of course, they give you all the risks and possible complications. We decided to transfer 2-3 embryos and freeze the remainder for future use for ourselves. I didn't want to be one of those couples on Discovery Channel with 6 kids.
I won't go through all the details of IVF- but let's just say I was on LOTS of medications which I had to inject into my stomach and thighs and take orally 1-2 x per day for the 6 weeks prior to the egg retrieval day. My darling husband cannot give a shot... so I had to give myself all my own shots. Mostly its a mental thing.... don't get me wrong... they hurt a little... but just sticking yourself with a needle can be mentally hard at first. I tried to have Jack do it.. he practiced on pillows and a cucumber. Let's just say he broke out in a sweat, got all nervous and shaky, and it wasn't pretty. He tried but chickened out when I told him to stick the 1 1/2" needle in my buttocks/ hip area. So, I had to do them myself.
My egg retrieval date was Dec 2, 2003. I was put under general anesthesia. They retrieved 13 eggs of which only 11 were mature. I promptly vomited when I got home from all the drugs. Yuck. My abdomen hurt for a few days and I got some pain meds for it- but they made me feel kinda shaky and woozy. Three days later, we were told only 5 of the eggs fertilized and only 2 were good qualilty. The other 3 were not going to make it. :(. So, we transferred the 2 good ones and hoped for the best. I was bummed--- no extra embryos for later. Two weeks later we did a blood test for pregnancy. I was so nervous all day I could barely concentrate at work. At the end of the day, we were supposed to call the nurse at a designated time for our results. I backed out at the last minute and asked Jack to call and tell me. We decided to call together. I couldn't believe my ears when I heard "positive". I cried so much ... I'm glad Jack heard the results on the other line or he wouldn't have been able to tell if my tears were happy or sad. :) A few days later, we had another blood test and my numbers were going up and things were looking good. As 6 weeks, we had an ultrasound and heard Devin's heartbeat for the first time. It was music to my ears. We were so happy. I was on progesterone injections for a total of 8 weeks... I was glad when those were done. My hips/ buttocks were badly bruised and sore.
Of course, as you all know, Devin was born in August 2004. She is truly a miracle child and we are forever grateful for her.
No comments:
Post a Comment