In Vitro Part 1

I must admit, I am a very impatient person. After 3 months of trying to get pregnant, I called up my doctor to see if he thought something was wrong or had any suggestions. We tried every trick in the book and were still unsuccessful. We started doing some testing after 5 months and everything came back normal. We tried artificial insemination. We tried fertility drugs. Still nothing. "Keep trying. Sometimes it just takes some people longer than others." I heard this statement all the time. "It will happen when it's supposed to happen." That one, too.

After Trey and I spent about 18 months trying to get pregnant on our own, I finally went to see a doctor I'd been referred to. I had two separate blood tests throughout the month and after the results came back, they scheduled me to come in again. I could tell as soon as the doctor walked in that something wasn't right. She sat down right next to me and showed me some of my results, which I didn't fully understand. When I asked her to explain, she basically told me that I might be 25 on the outside, but my ovaries were like a 45-50yr old woman's who is nearing menopause. Awesome. Then she said, "The only chance you have of getting pregnant is through in vitro." I took the news bravely and drove home to where my mom, sister and friend were waiting. I walked through the door and they asked me how it went. I said, "Not good," and instantly, the tears started to fall. I guess it took the drive home from the doctor for things to really sink in...life wasn't going to be as I'd always planned. Is it ever? I really had no idea what in vitro (IVF) entailed, but if it could get me pregnant, I was up for it.

The doctor referred me to a fertility specialist, who I made an appointment with immediately. Without doing any testing, he scheduled us for the next cycle of IVF. Two months of preparation went by and the day I was supposed to start my shots came. I went in to get an ultrasound to make sure everything was good to go first, which they should have done from the beginning. They found two large cysts on my ovaries. In other words, in vitro cancelled. I held my composure until I got in the car, but started crying as soon as I shut my door. Why do I always go to these appointments alone?? I drove home completely discouraged. I had already calculated my due date based off this IVF working and now it wasn't even going to happen.

Two weeks later, I had another ultrasound by the fertility specialist's partner where he confirmed that I most likely had endometriosis at its worst stage and would need surgery to remove it. He made me feel better by letting me know that 60% of women who are trying for a baby get pregnant on their own after this surgery. Leave it to me to be the 40% that doesn't. We tried on our own for 7 months, though halfway through that time I was pretty positive the endometriosis was back already.

When the 7 months was up, we took a referral from my good friend, Shea and went to meet that doctor. What a difference between this guy and the other! If you ever need a fertility specialist referral, I can definitely tell you who to go to and who to stay away from. This time around, they scheduled me for an ultrasound right away and of course, found endometrial cysts on the ol' ovaries again. They weren't as large as the time that called for surgery so I was put on a very high dose of birth control to combat them. In a month, we would reevaluate and figure out when we could try another stab at IVF.

After the month was up, cysts were still present but much smaller so the doctor felt much better about that. He told me that the endometriosis had most likely depleted much of my egg supply so we might not get as many embryos as a normal couple but we would sure try our best for the most that we could get. In Vitro was scheduled for January 13, 2010 in Boise, ID.

Stay tuned tomorrow for part 2.