IVF Consult

Sound the air horn, we are on our way!

Our appointment yesterday went really well, except that my nurse thought the RE would do an u/s first, so I was up on the table with a sheet on (and nothing else that is, ahem, important on CD4...) when the RE came in and proceeded to tell me that he doesn't think an u/s is necessary today and then launches seamlessly into the consult. So needless to say, after a little over an hour of sitting up there, me and the table were a mess. Thank goodness for that paper and huge pad-looking-thing over the table!! I felt sorry to just leave it like that, but what am I supposed to do? I don't know how to change the paper, and it's CD4, people!!!

The other funny thing was that a resident came in to talk to me before the RE did. She goes "So, the RE did an IUI 2 weeks ago, and what has happened since then? Did you get your period?"

Um.

Haha.

I kind of felt bad for her- I answered as calmly and as nonchalantly as I could that yes, I got my period.... (And Mr. A mentioned after the appt that she looked bored when we were going over IVF. Perhaps this isn't the specialty for her?)

But anyway, down to business. My RE is great about explaining things and very thorough so he answered all of our questions and did a nice job of going through everything. I'll have another appt with him on CD21 (March 11), where he will do an u/s and, if there are no cysts, I'll start lupron.

The one thing that he said that is kind of a bummer is that with my response to follistim so far, he expects to retrieve no more than 6 eggs (I was already on 250iu for the last IUI, and the max dosage he generally gives is 300iu). Now, I should say that Mr. A and I are personally not too keen on freezing embryo's, so in a sense, the fact that I (probably) won't have many eggs, and therefore embryo's, is kind of a wierd lineup of physical and emotional/spiritual situations. But then you always hear of people who come out of ER with 23 eggs or something, and the engineer in me feels like there cannot be as good of a chance with retrieving only 6. But then I remind myself that we don't to have to freeze alot of embies. So around in circles I go.

But the RE actually said that if he retrieves 6 eggs and 5 are mature, that is way better than 23 eggs that are mostly not mature. And he said that just because they retrieve a smaller number of eggs doesn't really diminish our chance of success, either.

And amidst all of the talk about what we want, I am constantly reminded that it's pretty ridiculous of me to talk about how many embryo's we want. We are praying for a healthy baby blessing this year. I am reminded that God is the giver and sustainer of life, and it will be up to HIM as to how I respond this time, and how many embryo's He creates, and how many He sustains to the point where they can be transferred. And how many babies we bring home in December. (Oh yes, have I mentioned that if ER is April 1, my due date is December 23??? Have I mentioned that for the last two April's, I was so excited that I'd be due around Christmas?)

We left the appointment feeling a tad overwhelmed with all the info that is real now, but thankful that we were able to have he consult so quickly after the start of a new cycle. We are thankful to have the opportunity to see what God will do with our upcoming IVF. We are praying that I will respond well and that we will be blessed with good fertilization and healthy strong embryo's, and that God would bless us with peace and contentment no matter the outcome He has for us. We are praying for a baby blessing, but nevertheless, His will be done.