Our Next Journey

After my last post, D and I had another appointment with the fertility specialist and had some major factors to look at and decisions to make. And a decision we have made!  

It's the biggest decision we've ever had to make and we had to take a long look at everything to make sure that this was the next step to take in our marriage. Yes, we love each other unconditionally but medical procedures and medical risks along with my age and the financial responsibilities that come with fertility issues are major factors we had to think about.  I am happy yet extremely nervous to say that as of a few weeks ago, the prep has started and officially in January, we will undergo IVF.

This afternoon we met with the team at the FP office and took a class on what will be happening over the next few months.  There is a lot of steps involved in order to ensure that we have eggs to retrieve and hopefully transfer next month. We met first regarding the financial and legal aspects of the procedure.  In all my life, I never thought I'd have to decide what would happen to any extra embryos or decide if I want specific procedures to help the formation and implantation of said embryos and ultimately how many embryos we want transferred.  It's a lot to think about and figure out along with deciding how the heck we're going to pay for the procedure and meds and then a child or children.

Then we met with our Fertility Coordinator who explained all of the meds and even let us practice giving the injections on a silicone stomach. I had no idea how many injections and medicinal cocktails I'd have to give myself throughout this process.  Thank goodness I have a supportive husband who isn't fearful of needles because he will be administering these for me, because I'm a chicken no matter how small the needles are.

Finally, we had to get bloodwork and urine analyses done in order to make sure we can take the next step. For me, I had to had to have one at the FP office to check for potential birth defects and then both D and I had to go to Quest and get the remaining tests run to check for infectious diseases. Unfortunately for me, I have horribly small veins and the phlebotomist wasn't there so the attempts at the FP office by the Medical Assistants were unsuccessful.  I have to go back tomorrow and hopefully will have a better outcome. Thankfully, the tests at Quest went easier!

So up next, we've got to get through the holidays. D and I are debating on whether or not we're going to tell our families during the time we'll be spending with them over the next few weeks. We've only told my brother and his girlfriend and a couple friends. It's one of those things that we're not sure if we want everyone knowing what's going on or just tell them after the fact. (Luckily, none of our family members besides my bro know about the blog so they won't find out from here!) It's something I'm not embarrassed to admit but I also don't want them to add additional stress/pressure right now.

It's amazing to think that 3 years ago today, D and I got engaged at Hoover Dam in Las Vegas and today, we're taking the next step to grow our family. 3 years ago, I would have never imagined we'd be on this IVF journey, but here it goes!