How We Got Here

I think the most common question we've received since the last post is, "So, how come you decided to do IVF?"I kind of thought the answer was obvious- you know, wanting to have a baby- but I suppose most people are looking for the more detailed explanation of how we got here. Well, that makes sense.

In April, Matt and I decided that I would get off birth control pills, which I had also been using to control the growth of my endometriosis. We figured it would take time to work back into my normal cycle and I would track things to gain a better understanding and plan for the future. During this time we thought we would try the "old fashioned way" (as some of our friends have referred to it) and see what happened.

Then in June I thought we'd had success and I made a doctor appointment to get a blood pregnancy test, but it came back negative, which wasn't making any sense since I was so late. That's what led to the beginning of tests to investigate if I had PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome) as well as my endometriosis. One doctor appointment led to another, and then one set of tests led to another.

In September we found ourselves at a fertility specialist (or at least that's what she called herself) in San Jose, and she put me on Clomid even though we felt in our gut that it wasn't going to work. Working with her was a mess- we couldn't understand her accent, she didn't seem to listen to us, got defensive over our questions, and would skip around the truth. After a series of test results came back she diagnosed me as having PCOS and endometriosis, and then prescribed the Clomid, reassuring me that it would work just fine. But a few appointments and weeks later, she told me that it would actually take a few months of using Clomid before we possibly saw any benefits.

At this point I called my sister, asking if this is how infertility doctors worked or if this lady was as cracked up as I was beginning to think she was. After a long conversation my sister made a very significant and insightful suggestion. She told me that if she could go back in time and could do it again, she would go straight to IVF and skip all of the pain, emotional ups and downs, and money wasted on procedures with a lower chance of success. Matt and I knew we were in a fortunate and rare position where our health insurance would cover the amount of about one round of IVF. So my sister made some calls and was able to connect us with the fertility specialist she saw in Thousand Oaks. He recommended a specialist in San Francisco but that doctor was an out-of-network provider and the doctor down south was in-network, meaning our benefits would go farther with him despite the distance we'd need to travel to get there.

So here we were in November, finally meeting with a doctor who knew what he was talking about, welcomed questions, made things easy to understand, and had numerous success cases. He presented us with a wealth of information and two options. First, I had a cyst on an ovary that was 6cm, or about the size of a lemon. If we wanted to move forward with this doctor then we needed to do so now (to be done before they close their office in December for the holidays) or wait until January to begin (which really means doing the transfer in February, so more like a 4 month wait). The trouble is that a cyst basically feeds on the eggs, and the less eggs you have the poorer the quality of the remaining ones, plus a cyst can continue to grow the longer you leave it. So if we waited four months we ran the risk of less success due to quality and number of eggs, and a chance that the cyst could grow and even rupture. Plus, a cyst of this size indicated that my endometriosis was at Stage 4, which is the worst stage. This combination was the factor that steamrolled us into our fertility treatment options.

Option 1 had a 20% chance of success and was to do everything like IVF- meds, tests, etc.- but the doctor inserts the sample directly at the prime moment. Option 2 had a 60% chance of working and was IVF, where after lots of meds and tests, the doctor removes the eggs, creates embryos, and inserts the embryos at the prime moment. Knowing that we only had one shot to do this, and insurance would only cover so much, we chose our stronger option. And we chose to do so now due to the cyst and the chance that my egg quality/quantity had been compromised due to my long history of cysts (and having them rupture, which is what first alerted us to my endometriosis in 2005).

So here we are. Starting injections today and planning for IVF. We didn't plan on going this route, we certainly hoped we wouldn't have to, but we're thankful that we have the opportunity, as most couples can't afford to. At this point, we're really only able to take things day-by-day and dose-by-dose. Matt is giving me my morning and evening shots and luckily for me, my husband was a vet tech assistant in high school and is familiar with giving them. We'll just be sure that as these hormones kick in, we don't compare me to any animals. ;)