IVF

We have come to this point in our journey now- IVF. First there was trying to have babies the normal way, no luck. Then there were pills to help ovulate, which did not work so we upgraded to shots. That was still mostly natural as far as things go. Then we moved on to IUI- a syringe full of Georges "sample" injected into my uterus. All the important parts were still natural. Now, we move on to IVF. 

Step 1- A month of birth control to suppress the ovaries to start fresh. 
-I hate this part, I feel like it is a bit counter-productive...

Step 2- Pump Rachael FULL OF ESTROGEN and FSH (follicle stimulating hormone)
-Normal peak levels of E2 are around 300. 300 makes me irritable and feel crazy, because my whole life I have peaked at about 75. Now they want to see 1500-2000. O.O All aboard the CRAZY TRAIN. This is 2 weeks of 3-5 shots/day.

Step 3- Once there are a bunch of follicles (10 is really good, we are aiming for min. 6) and my E2 is really high, I have a trigger shot exactly 36 hours before...

Step 4- Egg retrieval.
-I will get put to sleep and a doctor will go though the uterine wall to retrieve the eggs. 

Step 5- Fertilization
-In a petri dish, Georges sample and my eggs are combined and incubated. The doctor will let us know that day how many fertilized.

Step 6- Embro growth
-We wait 3 days to see how the embryos develop. Some might stop growing, while others pull ahead.

Step 7- Transfer
-The doctor picks the best 2 embryos and puts them back into my uterus exactly where he thinks implantation is most likely. 2 Embryos have a higher chance of success than 1, but also have about a 40% twin chance. I am okay with twins, so I am fine with that. We could request only 1 if that was an issue. At my age, no sane doctor will give me more than 2.

Step 8- Freezing
-Any extra embryos that look good are frozen to be used in another cycle.

Step 9- WAITING
-We then wait 2 weeks to see if it worked. If not, we start a FET (Frozen embryo transfer), another fresh cycle, or if there is an egg quality issue, look into egg donors.

All the magic and natural-ness of creating a baby has completely been removed for us now =/ 
"Oh, you got pregnant! Was it planned?" OF COURSE IT WAS. 

The fun begins April 28- My brother's birthday. Retrieval should be mid-may if things go as planned (which, with my body, they tend not to.)

Rachael