For most, making a baby is relatively simple, when a mommy and daddy love each other...For a few, the journey is complicated by infertility. Our journey started two and a half years ago. After a year of being off birth control and not conceiving I went to my doctor to begin testing for infertility. We went through another year of seeing different doctors and going through a wide variety of tests and at the end were told we had a 5% chance of conceiving on our own. It was hard to hear but we were glad to finally know the reason and be able to decide our next step. One of our Doctor's told us that our best hope for conceiving was In-Vitro Fertilization (IVF).
As you can imagine, we have been overwhelmed with questions. IVF seems to fall in a somewhat grey area. Who do you go to with questions? Who's wisdom do we seek? Should we just be open and share our infertility struggles, or keep it to ourselves and those dearest to us? What do you do if there are a lot of extra fertilized eggs? (We wouldn't want them thrown out.) No one close to us has gone through this experience. The last two and a half years have been spent praying for a miracle and ultimately, it seems God wants to work the miracle through doctors. We are extremely blessed that our health insurance will cover the procedure that otherwise would cost us about $10,000.
I decided to document the process, and figured online was the best way to share with friends and family this exciting and nerve racking experience. We are nearing the point of no return. :) I have been on birth control for almost 2 months to prevent my body from ovulating on its own, tomorrow will be my last day. We met with the IVF Coordinator on Friday, January 29, for my first medication class; starting Saturday, Feb. 6, I will be giving myself daily hormone shots for two weeks. Let me tell you how thankful I am that I do not have a fear of needles. :) I have been warned by the doctor that the hormones I will be injecting will cause all sorts of emotional drama, mostly crying over things that really aren't sad, so you all can be in prayer for poor Jeremy. :) My body should respond well to the hormones, and because I'm young should produce anywhere from 10 to 20 eggs.
My next doctor's appointment is Thursday, February 4. I will be getting an ultra sound and a blood test to make sure everything is OK before I start the injections. I would be lying if I told you I wasn't nervous, I'm having a harder time sleeping as each night brings me closer to day 1 of injections. We are extremely excited as well; it's surreal that we are finally here after so many doctors' appointments and tests.
We are so thankful that God has blessed us with the opportunity and ability to go through IVF. And while He didn't answer our prayers to conceive naturally, we know that He can use this experience for something good. Perhaps reaching out to other couples who go through the pain of infertility.
