IVF Time

Well here are the Money shots, all my medicines!!! Wow a lot more then last time, and I HATE taking any meds. This is not going to be fun at all. NOw just waiting on aunt flow to begin the process. For those of your following the next month and 1/2 will go something like this.

1. Period Starts, Start Lupron ( this is a shot in the belly, it pretty much shuts me down like menopause) It will make me very irratiable and moody, tired, and sick to my stomach. FUN Stuff! I will take that for a whopping 21 days.

2. Then I will begin Follistim (another shot) and Menopur (another shot) These meds are helping me produce several eggs (hopefully 15-20 eggs) Normal women produce 1-2, so these meds make me very bloated, I look pregnant. These meds will control when I ovulate. I have a written out schedule that I have to follow very carefully.

3. I take these meds for about 5 days and then I start going in for a daily ultrasound to watch my eggs develop until they are considered mature, so at this stage its day by day. I could go in one day and my Dr will say they are ready.....or if they are not ready, we just let them grow for another day. I will also have many blood tests during this time, they can tell how mature eggs are by the blood test, this is a very important part because if they take eggs to early or late, IVF will not work.

4.Then comes the egg retrieval. This is where the doctor surgically removes all the eggs. I am slightly sedated. This happens when they have determined my eggs are mature and ready, they the night before I do an HCG shot, this is WORST part of the whole thing. The needle is HUGE and its and oily substance, so it goes in very, very slow. Then I wake up and they tell me how many eggs I got, the more the better. ( last time only 7 :()

5. Then my eggs are taken directly into a lab and the embyologist mixes the egg and sperm. Fertlization then takes place (hopefully) and then they are monitored for 5 days 24 hours a day. These embryologists are pretty much making sure our babies stay alive during the first 5 days.

6. Then 5 days later is the embryo transfer. This is where 2 of our best embryos (they are graded by the way they divide) are transferred into my uterus. (any extra willbe froze for later use) This is done through a catheter and we are both in there and we can watch them just float down where they need to go on a tv, its really cool.

7. Then I go home and I am on strict bed rest for 3 days and this is the most crucial part, embryo implantation. This is what did not happen last time. So this is where your prayers and thoughts will really be needed. We need those embryos to implant and want to stay put with me for 9 months.

8. Then 2 weeks later I will go in for blood work to see if we are pregnant or not. I just felt it in my bones last time even before I took the test that it was negative, worst day of my life. This time is going to be different, I just know it.

Once again, I want to thank everyone for their support. The next 2 months will be very exciting, scary, and nerve wrecking.......but I know with support of you all, my husband, my family, and most of all God. We will be okay, and in less then a year I will be a mom!

xoxo-Kari