Aaaaaand We're Back

So...it's been a while.  We were kind of lost in the wilderness for awhile there, but now we've been delivered.  Kind of.

The first weekend in August, Ryan and I participated in a 5k for the Pound the Pavement for Parenthood organization.  A doctor from the Utah Fertility Center was there, and when they were announcing winners for prizes, I wandered my way over to her.  I told her my story, and she said that I should have my records sent and come in for the free consultation they were offering for participants of the 5k.

So, two weeks ago I met with her (on our way to the Luke Bryan concert).  She looked over the records with my friend Aja and I, and the records from the last IVF cycle we attempted at the U were particularly interesting to her.  She said, even though my estrogen levels plateaued, if she had been monitoring my cycle, that she would have went ahead with an egg retrieval.

She said we'd start me out at relatively high dose of Follistim and Menopur, which both work to stimulate my ovaries to produce multiple eggs.  I have a lot of eggs (I feel like I should cluck here...), and she's a little concerned with ovarian hyper-stimulation syndrome (OHSS), where your abdomen swells full of fluid, and it's generally gross, and can require surgical intervention.  Dr. C. said that there is a special kind of trigger shot (which matures the eggs so that they're ready for harvest) that can help prevent OHSS, and depending on my ultrasound and blood test results, they'll give me that.

The doctor in Denver suggested harvesting eggs, making embryos, and then freezing them for a month so that I could heal and have my hormone levels stabilized.  Dr. C. said that we might be able to just do a fresh transfer depending, again, on my hormone levels.  If I do end up needing a D & C, we'll need to make freezer babies and do a frozen embryo transfer later.

So the plan is on October 18 to have a phone appointment with the IVF nurse to answer any more questions and get my calendar as to when I have to take what medications, go in for ultrasounds and blood work, etc.  Then, a week later, Ryan and I will go to Salt Lake for our big appointment where he'll do his business for an analysis and back-up for the day of retrieval, and I'll have blood work, a regular ultrasound, and a saline ultrasound so the doctor can see the inside of my uterine cavity.  That will be the determinant as to if I need a D & C or not.  My guess is that I will, unfortunately.  The good news is they can do that while I'm out for my retrieval.

So, we're moving forward again.  I think this is going to be it.  I can't handle any more.  Either it works, or it doesn't, but I think we need to move on with our lives, and build our family a different way if that's what we decide to do.  Dr. C. says we have a 75-80% chance of getting to retrieval this time, and the clinic has a 50-60% pregnancy rate with fresh IVF cycles.

Please pray for us as we continue down our road towards parenthood.  I watch Ryan sometimes, and I think about how he'll be such a wonderful father--fun, affectionate...I just can't imagine him not being a dad...