IVF Update

Today was our first IVF appointment.  We had a consultation with our doctor about the process (most of which I was familiar with) and set up some appointments and came up with a plan, which I am all about.  I am happy with our decision to move forward with IVF.  We know that I have a great response to the FSH so we should have no problem growing follicles.  Also, we are only planning on transferring one embryo so we will freeze the others & hopefully one day after we've had the children we want, we can donate our unused embryos to a couple in need.  What a wonderful gift that will be to give to someone.  

So here is our plan: May 20th I will have a fluid ultrasound to make sure that my uterus is free and clear of any endometriosis and is ready for IVF.  If anything is found I will have another laparoscopy done.  May 28th is our orientation where we go over everything and sign all of the legal documents that come with IVF. Since our doctors office is currently in an IVF cycle, the next scheduled cycle is July 9th through July 21st so our retrieval is tentatively scheduled for July 11th with the transfer to follow in either 3 or 5 days.  I'd prefer to get the embryos to blastocysts before transferring which would be a 5 day transfer.  FSH will be started approximately 10 days prior to retrieval, with Ganirelix to follow after 4 days of stims, then we will trigger with Lupron.  We will tentatively have the transfer done either July 14th or July 16th.  Two days of bed rest will follow.  Then hopefully by the end of July will will have a positive HCG test.  

We will have to drive to Rockford the night before the retrieval so that we are for sure there on time.  There can only be 35 hours between the trigger shot and the retrieval so timing is key for this procedure.  I started BCP tonight and will take that until the ultrasound.  I might have one natural cycle between the ultrasound and the IVF procedure, but as of right now we will not be trying naturally.  

We are both feeling good about this process.  It's definitely a very precise procedure, but is 45%-65% successful so we are feeling good about it.  There is always the chance that it might not work, but we won't really know much until we have our retrieval done.  They will tell us how many eggs were retrieved then they will keep us posted on the status of those eggs.  We are planning on both mixing the sperm with the egg and directly injecting the sperm into the egg, also known as ICSI (ik-see).  Dr. G thinks that we should do 50/50 so that we can see what works best for us and give ourselves the best chance of fertilization.  

It was definitely a lot to take in, but like I've said before, I've learned so much from this amazing community that I feel very confident about the entire thing.  I feel like I have a good understanding of the process and what my expectations should be.  Now comes that dreaded wait.