Thursday, March 24, 2016

Our Trip to Georgia



First of all, it went by entirely too fast!  Why it is that time drags and drags when you’re waiting for something (like meeting your egg donor in PERSON) and then when the time comes those days just go by in the blink of an eye?  Regardless of the time going by too quickly, this trip what nothing short of AHHHmazing! We seriously had such a great time with our donor, Amy and her family, travel went smooth, our rental car was nice, the hotel was decent, I mean, EVERYTHING was amazing. 





Saturday was spent traveling.  2 hours to the airport in the car, 2 hours on the flight, 1 hour in line for the rental car, and 2.5 hours in the car to Augusta.  It was exhausting to say the least, but we got to town around 7:00 and we were determined to at least go out and find some local food.  Amy gave us some suggestions and we did some Googling and made our way downtown Augusta.  Such a cute area with some really neat looking bars, all of which had over 1 hour of wait time to eat.  This girl was HANGRY by this point.  It was probably about 9:30 and I was seriously starved.  We finally found a Mexican restaurant called Nacho Mama’s where we ordered at the counter & sat down and finally were able to enjoy chips and cheese, margaritas, and quesadillas.  I felt much better, but we were both exhausted so we called it a night. 


Sunday morning we got up and headed to Amy’s house to meet her and her family for the first time!  The suspense was killing me and I was so ready to meet them finally in person!  I didn’t feel nervous, just anxious and excited to spend the day with them.  Amy, Allen, & their kids Stella and Maxwell are seriously the sweetest.  They’re so down to earth and we have so much in common with them.  The guys got a long great and we really had a great time getting to know each other even better in person.  Unfortunately the weather was crappy, cold, and drizzly, but we made it all the way through the zoo and then went to The Melting Pot for probably one of the best meals I’ve ever had.  Amy talked this place up to me for a couple months and we were really looking forward to trying it.  It was everything she made it out to be & more.  After dinner we made the hour drive home from Columbia.  We were all very full & tried so Joe and I headed back to the hotel and went to bed early. 


Monday was our doctor’s appointment with Dr. Edouard Servy.  I liked him a lot and he seemed to be as baffled as we are about WHY I cannot get pregnant.  He did a full exam on me and we reviewed all of our history with him.  We sat down in his office where he suggested that we try a batch of my eggs along with a batch of our donor eggs.  It was nothing we had considered before but I felt like I was up for it & we ended up doing an ultrasound and having FDA bloodwork done in preparation for me to also do a fresh cycle.  Joe was able to have his sample frozen which was what we were hoping for.  Overall I liked the doctor.  I have heard great things about their clinic and was really happy with how polite the staff was.  The IVF coordinator is so sweet as were the other office ladies.  He also said (like Dr. Sherbahn) that I am borderline polycystic.  I also have a retroflexed (usually retroverted, or tilted back rather than forward) uterus that really isn’t too much of a cause for concern, but he said it could be causing my tubes to have trouble catching the egg when it’s released.  He said in the olden days they would do surgery to fix this, but that’s a thing of the past now and not really a cause of infertility.   I’ve known about this since we started with infertility treatment, but it’s nothing that I will ever have corrected. 





After our appointment we headed back downtown Augusta to check out the River Walk and do a little exploring.  We made a few stops then headed over to Amy’s house for dinner.  We decided to cook steaks on the grill & have some drinks.  It was very casual and relaxing.  Since we finally had met with the doctor I was able to give her a little more insight into the timeline and the process.  She’s totally on board as is her husband & we are so grateful that they are so determined to help us.  Amy will meet with the doctor on April 1st and she’ll have her exam and blood work done.  Once that’s all finished & the results are back we will be able to get the legal documents drawn up and signed & hopefully start the cycle sometime in April. 


After saying our goodbyes on Monday night we headed back to the hotel to get ready to head home bright & early the next morning.  I was seriously on Cloud 9.  I never felt so certain about anything before.  I truly followed my heart from the beginning of this new chapter & nothing has felt better.  It’s an amazing feeling to go with what your intuition is telling you and to have it work out so wonderfully.  I can tell Joe is excited and feeling good about it too.  He told them how thankful he was to them for being such gracious hosts to us and welcoming us into their home & for being so willing to do this for us.  I think we all agree that we are a great fit for each other. 


Joe and I did talk more about using my eggs again and my gut is telling me not to.  In the moment I really thought that was a good idea, but the more I thought about it, I realized it would be a lot of time, money, and effort, put again into something that just isn’t in our favor.  I have had my heart set on donor eggs for a few months now and I am totally content leaving it at that.  I know that this doctor, seeing that I have no clear diagnosis, probably thinks he can make this work for us, but after 3 fresh, 3 frozen, etc. etc. I am just not in the place to move forward with another cycle of my own eggs, and I don’t think I ever will be.  Not only do I just feel it in my bones, my bank account is also telling me otherwise.  This clinic is able to offer discounted IVF cycles because they don’t bill insurance so they can charge less.  I love the idea, but because of this, all the money for the cycle is due up front & then I would have to turn the bill in to my insurance and hope to recoup some cost.  Between my cycle and the donor cycle we’re talking $20,000 up front and that just isn’t possible for us.  I’d much rather spend my money with our donor where I think there’s more of a guarantee of good quality eggs & embryos. 


Once again I am beyond thankful to Amy and her family.   We are so blessed to have crossed paths with her and it seriously gives me chills just thinking about how this has unfolded so far, truly amazing.  I am so excited to get started and am very hopeful our cycle will take place sometime in late April or early May.  Thank you to everyone who has stuck around with us on this journey.  We know that it’s been a long road and we know we have so many people rooting for us and waiting for the day we get that BFP.  I really have a good feeling that this new journey will finally bring us to that point and we will get to be parents to a baby made with an abundance of love and generosity. 


You can check out more weekend snaps on my Instagram

13 comments:

  1. Woohoo!! Go with your gut lady!! That has been a bit part of the recent year with me. I always hesitate when I think something is "off." Before I would just push past that hesitation and it always bit me in the ass. Now, I slow down and see what happens, and it's typically always positive. Can't wait to see what happens in the coming months!!

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  2. WOOHOO!!! I am so excited for you guys and I am really glad you are following your intuition. I don't want to sound stupid or patronizing, but I have a REALLY good feeling about this. Seriously.

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  3. This is all so very exciting! I would probably proceed exactly as you are planning if I were in your situation. is that a picture of you and your donor at the top of this blog post? You two look like twins!!!! That's amazing!

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  4. So sweet girl! I love that it was just an overall GOOD weekend. So glad you are feeling at such peace about it all. I love that you got to spend time with Amy and her clearly amazing family.

    PS Nacho Mommas is DELISH!

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  5. Wishing you guys the best of luck! I really, really hope this works out and your fertility struggles are over. You deserve a break!!

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  6. Love this update!! So glad your meeting went well and they were everything you hoped!! Yay Ridley fam!!!

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  7. I got chills reading this-such an amazing turn in your story!

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  8. Love this! Elena, something in my heart tells me this is the start of many more blessings to come. This will unfold a whole new chapter in your life and before you know it unexpected things will come your way. Always praying for you girl! Have an awesome Easter weekend!

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  9. yayyy i am so happy that you're feeling so confident about this, and good for you for sticking with your gut intuition about using your own eggs. all my fingers and toes are crossed for you!

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  10. So happy to read this!! Your donor is beautiful just like you!! Hope you all had a great Easter weekend!

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  11. Ahh this post makes my heart happy! I'm glad you had a great trip and that you've been blessed to have met this wonderful donor! So excited for your journey to motherhood!

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  12. April is nearly here!!! And what a wonderful trip. Amy and her family sound like such a special blessingway. I cannot for you to start receiving all sorts of good news and a baby!

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  13. We are waiting for some test results, but will likely need to use donor sperm. One of the things I read that I found really helpful is that sometimes men ask the doctor to mix their sperm with the donor sperm, and that is generally an indication they aren't fully ready to move forward with donor sperm. I think how you are feeling is just an indication of how ready you are for this. This family sounds so special and I am so glad you have connected with one another!

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