The Beginning is a Good Place to Start

I've wanted to start this blog for a long time now and am so happy I’m finally getting around to it!  Between working a regular 9-5, owning/running my own flourishing photography business (www.mybphotos.com - shameless plug), going through infertility treatments, and trying to have a social life it’s a miracle I did get around to it.  As many of you may know, we've been trying to start a family for a while now and have started down the bumpy road of fertility treatments.  For those of you who didn't know….”SURPRISE!?” 

I've decided to share our story because I know there are hundreds of couples going through the same thing. It’s been the openness of other couple suffering from infertility and sharing their stories that have given me hope so I hope that I can pay it forward and do the same.

I feel like there’s a lot of catching up to do to get to where we are now, so I think the easiest way to play catch up is through bullet points. Ready…here we go…

• First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes baby…..wait, the whole baby thing isn't working out like it should.

• We go see our first Reproductive Endocrinologist (who we later found out was actually just an OBGYN – more on this quack later).

• After many tests for both of us, it’s determined that we have both female AND male factor infertility. I don’t ovulate on my own and even if I did, Bill’s sperm is too lazy to look for the egg.  So we were left with IVF.

• IVF sucks…that’s all there is to it.  After over 75 shots, 20 blood draws, and countless ultrasounds I was ready for my egg retrieval.

• Retrieval day came and we only had SEVEN eggs, SEVEN. Only TWO were mature and only ONE became a 6 celled embryo.

• Two days later, we transferred this 6 celled embryo into my uterus and prayed (and continued shots).Two weeks later we found out the transfer was unsuccessful and cried (and finally stopped the shots).

• IVF isn't covered by insurance and is VERY costly, so we decided to explore other options.  We had heard of other couples having great success with acupuncture so we started seeing an acupuncturist, who in turn suggested we turn our diets upside down (after all, we are what we eat, right?). So now I get acupuncture once a week, we both take a handful (literally a handful) of supplements, we've started juicing and TRY to eat a vegan based diet.

• We FINALLY had our appointment with Dr Quack to go over our embryology report and failed cycle.  Turns out she either wasn't actually monitoring my IVF cycle OR she was and just didn't care because she pointed out to us that I had ovulated on my own 2 days PRIOR to my egg retrieval (as stated in my chart), so I didn't have any good eggs to retrieve. My cycle should have been canceled.

• Made the decision to seek a second opinion and possible treatment from one of the top rated Dr’s (and my old DR) in the Southeast U.S. His office is over 2 hours away, but his expertise is worth the drive.

• Drove the 2 hrs to his office just north of Orlando and immediately felt regret that we didn't go there first.  We had an amazing appointment and he confirmed all of our doubts about our cycle with Dr Quack.  He performed additional tests on both of us.

• On Saturday morning we got the call from the DR himself – IVF is still our only route and Bill may have additional health issues he felt needed explored.  Not what we wanted to hear, but we've been there before.

 That brings us to now.  Now we are saving every penny we make and are preparing for our next IVF cycle. I am still continuing acupuncture and we are doing our best to eat a healthful diet. Bill will see the DR again in a month to ensure he’s healthy and then we start the IVF roller-coaster again in October.  

So we ask that everyone pray, think positive thoughts, send baby dust, or do whatever you may do to send a happy healthy baby our way soon!  And in return I promise to keep you updated on our journey and hopefully growing family!