IVF Cycle 1 - Let the fun begin!

I know it's been awhile since I last posted (sorry!), but we've just been doing the waiting game on my natural cycle, then a few weeks of birth control and finally our big Program Start appointment this morning. Now I have LOTS to post about!

Today we met with our new clinic and doctor to go over all our paperwork, do some pre-screening tests, review medication and discuss our protocol for our first cycle. And I thought the IVF seminar was information overload...not even close to what we reviewed today. After an hour and a half of paperwork, it felt just like when we closed on our house. Some big, expensive decisions to be made but the outcome will be so worth it.

We decided on a warranty program called HOPE. This includes three cycles and if after that we're still without a baby, we get our money back. Now that's a guarantee worth paying for! A cycle not only includes our fresh embryos, but if we have extra embryos to freeze, we'll implant those before moving on to the next cycle, so we have a lot of opportunities for this to be successful. Our program also includes all the weekly monitoring appointments (bloodwork and ultrasounds) as well as all the stimulating medication, which can be anywhere from $3-$5K per cycle. This program is perfect for us since our insurance doesn't cover anything. We know the cost upfront and have one payment so no more stress from medical bills in our mailbox. This allows us to solely focus on what we're doing, stay positive and stress free! (or at least we hope!)

After all the big decisions were made and we signed our life away (okay, it's not that bad), there were some pre-screening tests I needed to have. The first was a trial transfer, which is just a practice round of when they transfer the embryo(s). This allows the Dr. to measure my uterus so at the time of the real transfer, he knows exactly where to implant. For this I needed a full bladder, as that helps position the cervix, so after drinking a lot of water during the first half of the appointment, I was starting to get uncomfortable. As soon as the Dr. got started, he told me my bladder was too full and I needed to empty half of it. HALF of it?! How do you do that?! Turns out that if you can't stop and stand up, you will stop peeing. (in case you ever need to know)
Once that was done, I was able to finally empty my bladder before doing the sonohystogram. This test allows the Dr. to see my uterine cavity by filling it with saline and then doing an ultrasound. The saline simply 'inflates' the uterine cavity to check for polyps or cysts or anything irregular. Sounds worse than it is and everything looked great.

The last part of our four hour appointment (I told you it was information overload!) was reviewing all the medications and reviewing the protocol for our first cycle.
To give you an idea of the medication, here's my list (everything that is checked):

Did you get all that? I think I may have earned an MD degree after all this! I can't even pronounce some of them, but no need, I'll swallow and inject whatever I need to make this work. Ready to become a human pincushion!