Wednesday, February 29, 2012

2/29/12 - Where it all began...

After I decided to start In-Vitro Fertilization I immediately began googling “IVF Blogs” to read about other women’s experiences with the process.  I was obsessed with gathering advice and tips to help me understand the procedure.  That’s when I thought it might be a good idea for me to write down MY experience as I go through IVF, so that hopefully someday it will help another nervous IVF-er that might be googling “IVF Blogs”.

A little background info:
My husband and I have been married for 7 wonderful years.  We’ve been trying to conceive for 5 ½ years.  I remember the heart break I felt EVERY MONTH for the first few years.  We were ready to start a family and had all our duckies in a row, but it just wasn’t happening. 


After about 1 ½ - 2 years we saw a fertility specialist (one of the BEST in the country) to have both of us tested to see WHY it wasn’t happening.  After MANY tests we were informed that NOTHING WAS WRONG.  :o 

You sort of HOPE they find something, so you can fix it and move on.  But with the NOTHING IS WRONG diagnosis we figured we just needed to learn a little more about patience and give it time. 

Our fertility specialist DID say I MIGHT have endometriosis because of the severity of my cramps during my cycle, but that the only way to know FOR SURE is to actually have the laparoscopic surgery to fix it.  So I said “Sign me up!”.  My OBGYN did the surgery the next month and said he found a LITTLE bit of endometriosis which he cleared up.  The surgery was easy and recovery was quick.  I had a great surgeon.  :)  But... Nothing changed.  2 more years of nothing.   

I bought all the infertility books, took ALL the advice that people gave me (from taking baby aspirin every morning, to drinking Robitussin before ovulation, to meditating, to “just relaxing and going on vacation”, and many more tips), used ovulation calculators and kits, did 4 monitored cycles of chlomid, one cycle of IUI with my OBGYN, AND left a very stressful job that I was convinced was partially to blame for my infertility.  I found myself crying at baby showers and feeling bitter when church lessons were about Motherhood.

I will tell you that my emotions got a lot easier to handle once I decided on a PLAN.  After a few years I came up with a plan (in my head).  I decided that I would always know what my next step would be.  I would tell myself… “ok, we’re going to travel a lot and not worry about it for the next 2 months THEN we’re going to start chlomid and if that doesn’t work we’re going to see the specialist and start IUI and if THAT doesn’t work we’re going to do IVF.  MY advice to anyone going crazy with infertility is to figure out YOUR PLAN and just feel peace in knowing what your next step would be if this month wasn’t “the month”… again.

That brings us to the summer of 2011.  I went back to the specialist.  He did ALL the tests again, in case something had changed over the years, but everything was still normal.  

I did 3 cycles of IUI with the specialist and after January 2011’s IUI didn’t work we scheduled to start IVF on the next start date which is March 7th, 2012. 

4 comments:

  1. Love you both! Thank you for sharing this. Can you blog someone hugs? Here goes- I'm sending you HOPEFUL HUGS!!!
    Love, future aunt Stacie

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  2. Hi Kim, just popping over to support a new blogger and fellow IF'er. I have been down the IVF path once and will be heading into a Frozen transfer in April.
    I know how stressful and painstaking this process is and all of the emotions that are swirling around you. The feelings of an infertile are SO complex and it can be exhausting to feel alone in this battle.
    I have been struggling with this for almost 3 years and it has done a number on me, but I still have some hope.
    I know that between now and your blood test, you'll be needing to vent and get out of your head a bit. I'll be here to listen if you need it. One IVF lady to another.

    Good luck and keep writing.
    Here is my blog if you want to visit: (the blog that links to my picture is not my IF blog, just in case you end up there instead)
    http://missconception-ads.blogspot.com/

    Alissa

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  3. Wishing you all the luck in the world. After 5 years, 9 IUIs, and 3 Fresh IVF cycles we still do not have our little miracle baby. I can totally understand what you are going through. We are now going through our one and only FET this month. I'm hoping it may be a lucky month for us both!

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